Remember on Memorial Day
A veteran is someone who, at one point in his life wrote a blank check payable to
“The United States of America” for an amount “up to and including his life.”

A boy went to war in 1914 and left his bike chained to a small tree.
He never made it home, and his family left the bike by the tree
in his memory. This is that tree today.

What an OUTSTANDING celebration Port O’Connor had for our “Warriors” this past weekend! A salute and a BIG THANKS to all the volunteers who worked many, many hours putting everything together. To my knowledge, not a single thing was overlooked, everything was professionally done. Behind the scenes many people assembled bags of fishing gear, baked cookies and placed them in bags to be placed on every Warrior’s bedtime pillow, Men and women were installing display flags, and men were ready in their fishing boats awaiting the Warriors. Volunteers labored professionally hour after hour on the “Sand Castles” at the Community Center. The Sheriff’s deputies and Sheriff Browning himself were there at the arrival of the Warriors. The list goes on and on of all the preparations and work volunteered by many. I was pleased to see the many signs posted “This is a Non-Alcoholic Event”. School busses were everywhere, loaded with excited students, thousands of flags were flying and if you missed this Post O’Connor event, you missed a BIG ONE! As people waited for the 14 bus loads of Warriors to arrive at Froggie’s Bait Dock, they were offered free bottles of water and free donuts and rolls, served by the many volunteers. You did not have to walk from your parked car several blocks away; there was a Golf Cart (courtesy of Calhoun Golf Car Association) ready to pick you up and take you to the arrival area. Now that’s class!

The Church experienced wonderful inspirational services this past Sunday morning and evening. Brother Donnie Martin delivered a fine message and Brother Raymond Grant led the congregational singing and gave a super children’s sermon.

Vacation Bible School is only three weeks away. The school begins on Monday, June 11 and continues through Thursday, June 14. VBS starts at 9:00 a.m. and is over at noon each day. The church van will be picking up children each day and taking them home at noon. This year’s theme is “Amazing Wonders – Aviation”. Children Pre-School through Grade 6 are invited to participate. Each day the children will attend attend a worship rally, have Bible study, learn new music, make crafts, have recreation and snacks, and learn about missions. They will encounter God’s awesome power! On Thursday of that week, the children will be treated to an “all you can eat hot dog lunch”. On Thursday evening, June 14, at 6:00 p.m., the children will have a Graduation Ceremony in front of their parents and they will demonstrate what went on during the week. Refreshments will be served.

Children’s Summer Camp will be June 18-21 at Palacios Baptist Encampment. Children in Grade 3 through Grade 6 will depart Port O’Connor on Monday, June 18 and return on Thursday, June 21. This is a great Christian camp and the children will have a wonderful time swimming, playing games, attending concerts and finding new friends before returning home.

Youth Camp this year begins June 25 and the youth will return to Port O’Connor on Friday, June 29. The camp is at Camp Zephyr on the shore of Lake Corpus Christi. Several of our Port O’Connor youth are registered to attend this great camp.

Our Church Revival begins on Sunday, September 16 and continues through Wednesday, September 19. Brother Shannon Talley, Pastor of First Baptist Church of McAllen, will be preaching both services Sunday and at 7:00 p.m. each evening. Our Church men are meeting each Tuesday morning at 7:30 a.m. for coffee and prayer, praying for God to send a great revival to Port O’Connor! The ladies of the church have their Revival Prayer Meeting at 6:00 p.m. each Tuesday evening. Both prayer meetings are held in Fellowship Hall.

Don’t forget to vote and pray for our Nation daily.

See you in church Sunday!

Occasionally I have the opportunity to return to previous books I had read earlier.  And this seemed to be the case with several of those as written by John Grisham.  Possibly the favorable impression I had received from re-reading both THE CLIENT LIST and THE PELICAN BRIEF was due to the fact that this time in re-reading the books, I paid more attention to the facts in the story, rather than the plot.

Both of these books had been turned into movies; and I am uncertain as to which provided the most impact.  Possibly THE PELICAN BRIEF as I could identify more with the heroine, a 2nd year law student at Tulane, who decided she would research the unexplained and sudden deaths of two Supreme Court Justices.  Grisham not only brings into play plenty of law in the book but also the underlying workings of both the FBI and the CIA.  Additionally, he does not hesitate to show his leanings towards the ecological  impact in the drilling for oil in Louisiana.  A much better book to read the second time around.

THE CLIENT LIST is more a study of characters than plot; the prime character is a young boy of 11 yrs of age who somehow witnesses the suicide of a man in a hidden area near the mobile home park where he lives with his mother and younger brother.  As the suicide is a very prominent attorney representing a member of the Mob, our young man becomes the object of a hunt because of spoken knowledge from the victim.  The young boy then hires a family law attorney to represent him while facing not only the local state attorneys but the FBI as well.  You admire the character of the young man; he seems somehow to be so much older than 11.  Fun to read and a very well handled movie too.

On another subject is a book entitled THE NANNY DIARIES which leaves you with a semi bad taste in your mouth.  Unfortunately, as written by 2 former nannies, the book details the hiring of a young college student to care for a child in Manhattan by a wealthy and on-the-go socially active mother.  And this becomes not a job for a few hours a day; the Nanny then finds herself as the sole care giver for a young boy who then constantly wonders about the welfare of his mother.  Complicated in this story is a father with more than a wandering eye, and the boy then finds himself becoming constantly shuttled from person to person.  Well written, the knowledge that this has become a common occurrence among the wealthier families in New York City and other areas leaves the reader with a great deal of sadness.

“When an old person dies, a Library burns down.” -Karin Gillespie

Books For Sale

The Port O’Connor Library has an vast array of books available for purchase at our Library, both hard cover and soft cover, of all types of fiction and even nonfiction. Come see us before you take your trip!

And we welcome all you summer visitors to our Library; we may be small but we have a lot of good books and DVD’s! Just takes a Library Card!

Leah

Leah is a small Chihuahua/terrier mix about 6-7 months old – a little bit of this, a little bit of that which results in a whole lot of love.

Leah is 100% Happy, hasn’t found anyone yet she doesn’t adore. If your life isn’t already perfect she just might get you there.

Come see her and all the other animals at the Port Lavaca Animal Shelter, 201 Stringham Drive (across from the rodeo arena), Monday through Saturday,10 to 2, or call the Calhoun County Humane Society, 553-8916. You can also view her and other animals ready for adoption on line at www.calhouncountyhumanesociety.org
Thanks and we’ll be waiting for you!

Letter to the Editor:

I met a crippled gentleman during our recent travels who had served in the military in Viet Nam. He spoke of returning to the U.S. on a litter and the tragic welcome he had received in California. At that time I was in Berkeley and can so sadly remember those demonstrations by somewhat radical individuals. Despite the fact that our involvement in Viet Nam was an undeclared war and a very unpopular military action, to treat returning soldiers with unbelievable disrespect is intolerable. Luckily there are several programs in Canada and locally to honor our current returning military. But there are so many veterans from other wars and military actions that need to be honored at some time during their lives. Let’s not forget them.

Sue Kubecka
Port O’Connor

Graduating this year?
Send us your photo, name, address, and school by June 2 and we will feature you in our June 8th issue. (or drop by our office at 2232 Monroe, POC)
dolphin1@tisd.net

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.

Letters to the Dolphin:
Dolphin Talk, P.O. Box 777, Port O’Connor, TX 77982
dolphin1@tisd.net