Letter to the Editor:
In the August 10, 2012 Dolphin Talk, Thomas Spychalski attempts to make the point that stricter gun laws would not have prevented the carnage that took place in Aurora, Colorado. Perhaps. I would argue that a ban on assault weapons, while not preventing such an incident, might have reduced the number of innocent people who lost their lives. Similarly, the argument could be made for banning the large capacity clips readily available to all. I spent my younger years in Wisconsin where hunting is a valid excuse to miss school. But I never met a hunter worth his/her salt that needed more than two rounds to bring down game. Assault weapons and automatic weapons with high capacity clips cannot be justified for hunting or protecting oneself. I would support federal legislation to ban both assault weapons and high capacity clips. To me, that is common sense.
Clearly, to be effective, legislation would need to be federal. Unfortunately, if left to the states, there would always be an Arizona selling any and all weapons to anyone old enough to carry them out of the store. These weapons would find their way throughout the country (and Mexico) as they do now.
James Hummel, Port O’Connor
My Two Cents Worth
No matter which political party is in control, the same people who are taking advantage of our welfare system will continue to do so until we can find a way to put those who aren’t really in need to work.
In Houston along the freeways you will find some who look like they just got out of prison wanting to clean your windshield for a dollar or two.
I bet you that if you told them you would give them five dollars to pick up the trash that they leave scattered under the overpasses, you would get laughed at and turned down. That’s my two cents worth.
G.B. Robertson
Funding the Border Patrol
G.B. raised the question of how President Obama could find the $3 million to triple the size of the Border Patrol in Texas, last week. Two ways come to mind immediately. Keep Michele home for a couple of weeks, and/or stop wasting Dept of (In)Justice manpower and funds on suing the states that passed laws requiring photo ID to vote.
Michele usually gets an Air Force executive 757 plus 1 or 2 heavy lift transports to haul all the vehicles for her Security, aids, servants, and press that won’t fit in her plane. She has been flying all over 3 or 4 days a week, making appearances that are really campaign speeches. Should the tax payers be paying for that? Oh, she does have to “re-compensate” the Air Force the cost of one airline ticket if it’s not official business. That’s fair, isn’t it?
Stop wasting DoJ money is self explanatory. Also they should cut of the funds being funneled to ACORN (under new names now) to pay them for registering illegal aliens to vote. But, do you really think they want to stop the illegal invasion? HA! Also $3 Mil is “lunch money” to the Obamunists. And it’s not their money they are wasting, but the Taxpayers. So what, there’s plenty more. They’ll just have Ben Bernanke print some more.
Bill Brayshaw, Seadrift
Downtown?
A visiting friend on his first trip to POC asked me where the downtown section of Port O’Connor was. I could only reply “the Speedy Stop”.
Tom Gleinser
Editor’s Note: I wish that Port O’Connor had a real “downtown”. Even better would be those “courthouse squares” like many old towns have. However, since there was never a courthouse (to my knowledge), that is not to be expected.
There is, however, an old “down town” area in Port O’Connor. Appropriately, it is on Main Street. The only businesses left there however are Maddens Lounge and Poco Loco Lodge. Madden’s Lounge is on the site of the old Madden Mercantile. Poco Loco Lodge was once a grocery store owned by Mr. Burger and Mr. Streidel, Directly across from Poco Loco is Fisherman’s Chapel, housed in the old lumber/hardware store owned by Joe Bright.
On the corner of Main and 3rd stands the old Post Office, now a private residence. Cater-cornered from the Post Office is the old movie theater and on the 2nd Street corner you’ll find concrete steps are all that remain of the old bank. (Historians and old-timers, please correct me if any of my information is wrong.)
What Happened To The Port O’Connor Parrot?
We asked the above question in our last issue and received information from Brush Freeman and Petra Hockey. Thank you, Petra and Brush!
At least one of the parrots was shot by a kid near 7th and Jefferson. There were actually more parrots, but that one was our town Brown-Hooded …actually a large parakeet. As I understand it there was also a few Monk Parakeets that built a communal nest in the eaves of a house which was destroyed I don’t know what became of those….The POC Parrot was buddies with those.
Brush Freeman
After one of the Brown-hooded Parakeets was shot, the remaining bird paired up with a Monk Parakeet for a couple of years. They were often seen together. Only problem, Brown-hooded nests in cavities and Monk builds a stick nest. They were not compatible. The stick nest that the Monk built was under the eaves of the house behind Jimmy Crouch’s. I personally saw the Monk at the nest and the Brown-hooded perched on a tree nearby.
Petra Hockey
Top Ten Reasons To Dislike Mitt Romney:
1. Drop-dead, collar-ad handsome with gracious, statesmanlike aura. Looks like every central casting’s #1 choice for Commander-in-Chief.
2. Been married to ONE woman his entire life, and has been faithful to her, including through her bouts with breast cancer and MS.
3. No scandals or skeletons in his closet. (How boring is that?)
4. Can’t speak in a fake, southern, “black preacher voice” when necessary.
5. Highly intelligent. Graduated cum laude from both Harvard Law School and Harvard Business School…and by the way, his academic records are NOT sealed.
6. Doesn’t smoke or drink alcohol, and has never done drugs, not even in the counter-culture age when he went to college. Too square for today’s America?
7. Represents an America of “yesterday”, where people believed in God, went to Church, didn’t screw around, worked hard, and became a SUCCESS!
8. Has a family of five great sons….and none of them have police records or are in drug rehab. But of course, they were raised by a stay-at-home mom, and that “choice” deserves America’s scorn.
9. Oh yes…..he’s a MORMON. We need to be very afraid of that very strange religion that teaches its members to be clean-living, patriotic, fiscally conservative, charitable, self-reliant, and honest.
10. And one more point…..pundits say because of his wealth, he can’t relate to ordinary Americans. I guess that’s because he made that money HIMSELF…..as opposed to marrying it or inheriting it from Dad. Apparently, he didn’t understand that actually working at a job and earning your own money made you un-relatable to Americans.
A Concerned, Working, Tax-Paying Port O’Connor Citizen
Thought for the Day
The essential difference between liberals and conservatives is that liberals could not exist without conservatives to defend their freedom and support them economically.
Conservatives, on the other hand, could exist and live quite well without liberals.
Connie Hunt
Port Lavaca
The Dolphin welcomes letters from our readers on any subject that is of general interest to our audience. Letters should be 300 words or less (with exceptions at the Dolphin’s discretion). Letters reflect the opinion of the writer, and not that of Dolphin Talk staff, and we retain the right to determine suitability for publication. It is the policy of this newspaper to promote area interests: therefore, complaints against local businesses should be directed elsewhere. Letters must be signed and include day and evening phone numbers, which will not be published. Your name will be withheld upon request, but anonymous material will not be considered for publication.
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Dolphin Talk, P.O. Box 777,
Port O’Connor, TX 77982
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