Stacy Valigura Brobston of Port O’Connor won first place in Calhoun County in the Step Off Challenge that was held statewide by the Texas Association of Counties Health and Employee Benefits Pool (TAC HEBP).

The contest required participants to wear a high tech pedometer which logged their steps for three weeks. Stacy logged 710,824 steps (359.82 miles) in those three weeks, earning third place amongst all 1,219 county workers participating across the state.

Stacy works as a Dispatcher for the Sheriffs Department.

Next Sunday, July 29, is a very special day in the Chapel’s calendar of events. Our special friend, the Reverend Joe Granberry, will be our honored guest. The Reverend Granberry was the Superintendent for over 350 churches in South Texas until his retirement earlier this year. He will be leading us in a very special “Holy Communion” service. We are looking forward to an anointed time of remembering the works of Jesus Christ and His death for us. The special service will begin at 11:00 a.m and all are welcome to attend.

What can we say about Poco Bueno? It was a long week – Yes! It was a very busy week – Yes! It was one of the highlights of the summer for Fisherman’s Chapel – Yes! We express our sincere appreciation to Mr. Walter Fondren and the Poco committee, who make us a part of the largest bill fishing tournament on the Gulf Coast. Each evening, Danny brought the gleanings from the evening meal for us to care for and pass along to others. We received a large percentage of the bay fish that was weighed for the tournament. We received three blue marlin that were weighed and three of the weighed dorado found their way to our cleaning tables. Special thanks to the anglers who were a part of Poco and generously donated their catch. Those who kept records for the Tournament are special friends of the Chapel, for they asked each fisherman if they would like to donate their fish! Henry Anderson provided the ice we needed for the tournament – Thanks!

But, this is only part of the picture – what about all those folks, some of which are Chapel members and others friends of the Chapel, who did the hard work – thanks and may your rewards in Heaven be increased greatly because of this labor of love. When I name people, I will miss some important people who helped, but let me shout-out to our son, Ray, who took time off of work in order to help! Thanks Zach, Julian, and Patrick who spent a lot of hours getting things ready, working the cleaning tables, and cleaning up afterwards! Thanks to those from the community who helped, like our neighbors Daryl and Dennis and others! Thanks to Joane who headed up the “gleaning” crew! Thanks to those who provided the necessary money to buy all the products we needed for the crew to get their work accomplished successfully.

Strong Tower Ministry from Hitchcock, Texas was our special guest. Ten of them came and helped with every area of fish cleaning, including helping to fry up some of them for the workers.
Poco Bueno has come and gone (well, we are still cleaning up everything), but the Texas Shoot-Out happens this weekend. We will be helping Mr. Randy Bright and his team with the same process we have just experienced. We appreciate the opportunity to glean in order to have to give.

Vacation Bible School begins at the Chapel on Monday, July 30 (6-9 p.m.) and will conclude on Sunday morning, August 5. Devon Vasquez is our director and the theme is “Sky”. A lot of planning and much hard work are going on to make this event one to be remembered. One thing that is being planned is a “sleep-over” on Friday night, August 3. There are so many things happening that those who miss a single evening will miss something very important and lots of fun!

Fisherman’s Chapel is a vibrant congregation that is working to see God’s Kingdom advanced in any area that we feel we might make a difference. Whether it is fixing breakfast tacos for Warrrior’s Weekend, cleaning fish, providing a community pantry, helping with Thanksgiving and Christmas food baskets, being a part of Easter Sunrise Service, or any number of other community projects that we involve ourselves in, we do it to serve God by serving our community. One will always find a warm welcome at the Chapel, and you are urged to, “Come, grow with us!”

Aurora G. Soto

Aurora G. Soto, 90, of Port Lavaca passed away July 16, 2012. She was born August 25, 1921 in LaGloria, TX to the late Thomas and Asencion Salinas Garza. She was retired from Lavaca Shrimp Company and was a member of Our Lady of the Gulf Catholic Church.

She is survived by her sons, Abel D. Soto, Jr. and wife, Suzanne of Anaheim, CA and Rudy R. Soto of Port Lavaca; brother, Casimiro Garza of Port Lavaca; son-in-law, Lupe Flores, Jr. of Port Lavaca; 7 grandchildren and 8 great-grandchildren.

She was preceded in death by her husband, Abel G. Soto; daughter, Aurora “Nena” Flores and parents.

Funeral Mass was held Thursday, July 19, 2012 at 2 p.m. at Our Lady of the Gulf Catholic Church. Interment followed at Port Lavaca Cemetery.

Pallbearers were Carlos Mireles, Frank Reyes, Juaquin Lerma, Omar Longoria, Oscar Mireles and Oscar Mario Garza.

Honorary Pallbearers were her grandchildren, Abel Soto III, Sean Soto, Alex Soto, Richard Rosas, Ian Patrick Soto, Roxanne Flores-Perez and Angela Flores.

Words of comfort may be shared with the family at www.richardsoncolonial.com.

Did you know that science approximates that 10 particles are going through your thumb per minute? 50 times that many would bombard your thumb above the earths atmosphere, and people who live at higher elevations receive several times more of these cosmic particles bombarding our planet every second, and long distance airline pilots can double their yearly doses of these particles.

They are known as “Energetic Charged Subatomic Particles” or “Ionizing Radiation” and very little is known of there origins, they have long been a conundrum to science and were first detected in 1785, The search for these particles have come from many countries, There was once an electroscope mounted to the top of the Eiffel Tower in France.

These particles are known to originate from space; about 89 percent of them are simple protons and hydrogen nuclei, but the question has always remained “where are they coming from” and what are their health effects to humans, as they are the biggest barrier to human interplanetary travel. Sciences knowledge in this area is still poor, When the Apollo Astronauts reported seeing sparks in their eyes, NASA immediately turned to the physicists for answers. As it turns out, they were seeing the effects of sub atomic particles hitting their retinas. What is known is that these particles when received in large doses can damage the DNA of reactive oxygen species, and that most of these cosmic particles cause little to no damage to us on the planets surface as there are a number of factors that protect earths inhabitants, However these cosmic particles contain very high energy, so high in fact that when they collide with molecules from our atmosphere they split in more particles. They are millions of times more energetic than the collider “CERN” in Europe, and that is how they know they are not going to blow up the world as some believe with the CERN particle accelerator, some of these particles have reached earths surface based collectors with enough energy to be dangerous to us humans; they are very few but the search for there origins continue.

The greatest contributor to our knowledge of these particles was the Austrian physicist and Nobel Laureate Victor Hess who climbed aboard his highly combustible hydrogen filled balloon on August 7, 1912 to try and learn more about this mysterious particle. Armed with a small brass encased electroscope, he lifted off at the Bohemian town of Aussig and gained an altitude of 5,300 meters while taking measurements, both day and night, at great risk to himself, before landing near Berlin, Germany,

Dr. Victor Hess Nobel Prize Winner

Dr. Victor Hess discovered that the particles were not being radiated from earth as previously theorized but that they were coming from cosmic origins, The higher the altitude, the higher the radiation. This discovery earned him a Nobel Prize in 1936. Dr. Victor Hess escaped Nazi persecution with his Jewish wife to the United States in 1938 and became Professor of Physics at Fordham University before dying in 1964 in New York.

A group of physicists looking to catch a few “rays” have taken a trip south – and that brings us to the South Pole, As many countries set up laboratories at the South Pole, the ice in some areas is 9,000’ ft thick and that makes it a perfect place to research and study these tiny Sub Atomic Particles moving at near the speed of light “186,000 miles per second” and striking earth from all directions. The largest telescope in the world is located under the ice in Antarctica with one of its primary purposes to catch these tiny elusive particles, not to see out, but to receive in. Also used is a 450”ft balloon that circles 20 miles above the icy continent to catch cosmic rays, The study continues today, There are many people in Antarctica huddled in their laboratories at ice-stations searching for the answers of our health, our planet, our cosmos, and of course “Our Thumbs”.

Wesley J Hunt wes81461@yahoo.com

Crossroads Astronomy Club meets every 3rd Monday at the University of Houston at Victoria, room 223, West Building at 7:00pm

If you would like to view Mr.Hunt’s blog: http://wesleyjhunt.blogspot.com/