Sports Association of Port O’Connor

Archived in the category: Announcements, General Info, Organizations
Posted by Joyce Rhyne on 12 Jan 12 - 0 Comments

The next meeting of the Sports Association of POC will be held on Monday, January 16, 2012 in the back meeting room of the Community Center. The meeting under the leadership of President, Sylvia Rodriguez will begin at 7:00 p.m. All community residents with an interest in creating an area for playing various sports here are cordially urged to attend. We need your interest and commitment to this project in starting Phase I of the Sports Complex, which will include a Walking Trail for adults and a small playground with equipment for the children and picnic tables for all.

Further information regarding these plans and the aims of this organization can be obtained at the meeting on Monday, January 16th or by contacting any of the following officers: Sylvia Rodriguez, President, 655-3521; Calvin Ragusin, Vice President, 655-0498; or Amy Gosnell, Secretary-Treasurer. 935-8745. Planning meetings are held the 3rd Monday of each month in the Community Center, beginning at 6:30 p.m., and dues for the year are $10.00 per year.

If an organization with these plans benefiting both the children and adults of this Community are of interest to you, please plan to attend the January meeting on Monday, January 16th. We hope to see you there.

-Sue Kubecka

Nature Programs at Aransas National Wildlife Refuge

Archived in the category: General Info
Posted by Joyce Rhyne on 12 Jan 12 - 0 Comments

The Aransas National Wildlife Refuge will present family interpretive nature programs on all Saturdays, from 12:00 to 12:45 p.m., throughout the months of January, February and March for the general public. These free programs will range from alligator and whooping cranes to red tide and night sky presentations. All programs are led by Texas Master Naturalists, wildlife professionals, and other leaders in the natural resources fields.

For January we will have these programs:

January 14 – Alligators of Aransas. Norm Hirsch (Texas Master Naturalist) will present the natural history of one of our most famous denizens at the refuge. Learn more about our toothy, scaly predators of the Aransas with this fascinating program.

January 21 – Texas Toxic Coastal Critters.
Ever wondered about the red tide and other little “beasties” found in our waters? Meredith Byrd (Texas Parks and Wildlife) will help to provide an understanding of a form of life we may not know much about, but affects us daily.

January 28 – Attwater’s Prairie Chickens: Past, Present and Future.
At one time, the Attwater’s Prairie Chicken was a common bird of the prairies of Aransas. Today the bird can no longer be found at the refuge. Learn more about this amazing creature and where it still survives with this program by Ferris Calderon, assistant refuge manager at Attwater’s Prairie Chicken NWR.

In addition, free 2 hour van tours of the refuge take place at 10:00 a.m. and 1:00 p.m. every Saturday and Sunday at Aransas. Please join us for these exciting programs with your family and friends at one of the great National Wildlife Refuges in our country.

For more information, please contact park ranger David True or other staff at the Aransas National Wildlife Refuge at 361-286-3559 or email david_true@fws.gov between 8:30 am to 4:30 pm.

Thank you and hope to see you here.

Letters to the Dolphin

Archived in the category: General Info, Letters to the Dolphin
Posted by Joyce Rhyne on 12 Jan 12 - 0 Comments

Lost Something?

Will the person who put out some corn at the golf driving range please call me. I have something you lost and would like to have back.
Call me and give me its identity and I will see that you get it back.

G.B. Robertson
983-4498

To: Joyce Rhyne, Editor
Dolphin Talk

Dear Joyce,

The Kiecke family wants to thank you for the nice editorial you had in the November 25, 2011 Dolphin. (Re: A Tribute to my Teacher)
I was Albert’s older brother and he was a great one.

I have fished Port O’Connor for years but age is catching up with me. A friend who fished Port O’Connor brought me the paper.
It was nice to see old friends’ names in your paper, like G.B. Robertson and Bob Hill.

But I go back to people like Lee Richter and Jimmy Crouch.

Thanks again,

Howard Kiecke
Brenham, TX

To the Editor:

Recently a woman who just moved to Victoria wrote a letter to the editor stating that Victoria was the trashiest city she’d ever seen. Evidently, she had not been to Port Lavaca. Otherwise, Victoria would have become the 2nd trashiest city she’d seen, and Port Lavaca the first. The rest of this is not directed to you people whose parents taught you the proper place to dispose of trash.

It seems there are people who were not taught this, and they don’t know what the barrels, trash cans, etc, are for. There are usually places to dispose of trash just about everywhere. There is no excuse to buy a bag of ice and fill you Igloo and leave the empty bag in the parking lot as you drive off or to leave dirty diapers in the parking lots at grocery stores, post offices, etc. There is some talk of banning plastic bags but whatever replaces them will still be thrown out.

I propose to use Herman Cain’s digital symbols which were 9-9-9 to teach people to dispose of trash properly. Evidently, the present fine, which I don’t think is ever enforced, does not work. I propose that we use 3-3-3, which is a $300 fine. If you don’t have any money to pay the fine, you have a choice then of 3 days in the slammer or 3 days going down the streets picking up trash.
Our sheriff and police chiefs must give their law men a great incentive to arrest someone leaving trash in the wrong places. I would suggest giving the officer that makes the arrest an automatic day off from being on duty. In other words, he can sleep late, go fishing, watch the ball game on TV or whatever he desires. To aid him in making an arrest, maybe let him use an unmarked car.

By the 3rd arrest, the easiest punishment probably would be picking up litter from the roadsides, because by then, word has spread all the way to New York City for people not to “Mess With Texas”, and Port Lavaca and Victoria, in particular. The officers making these arrests would be doing our citizens a favor.

Curtis Foester
Port Lavaca

To the Port O’Connor Community

I recently received a recap of the 9th Toy Run as summarized by my contact who is head of Logistics with the group. I’ve tried to summarize some of the document to make it shorter, but still wanted to get the info out to our community.

There were 30 boats making the trip from Surfside to POC on Saturday, December 3, 2011, and 140 participants involved with this event. This proved to be an increase of over 30% from the Toy Run in 2010. And the estimate of over $70,000. worth of toys coming into this community and surrounding areas to create a Christmas for so many youngsters was almost overwhelming. Additionally, there were cash donations of $3400 which really goes to provide a lot of batteries for those games!

All of these toys and cash were obtained in 2011 by members of “Toy Run” in the Houston area; they spent their time seeking donations of money and toys for the year prior to December. Some of the participants drove from their homes in Louisiana and Lake Conroe towing their boats so they could launch them in Surfside and be a part of the Run; others came to POC driving cars filled with toys for their place in this incredible event. And each person, whether arriving by boat or by car, spent his own money for the trip.

Meeting and speaking with each of these persons, you cannot help but be impressed by the dedication of each to providing a Christmas to a child who would be without. And over and over again, the written and spoken sentence is: “Wait till the 10th Toy Run of 2012!” The North Pole establishment of Santa Claus and his Elves cannot compete with these giving individuals.

An interesting note: the first Toy Run was held October 12th when 12 boats and their crews made it to POC despite bad weather. Originally starting with 20, several dropped out prior to completing the Run. These boats landed at the Fishing Center where both Mike and Bridget Raby provided additional help to Kay Middleton and Sue Flanagan in unloading the boats, sorting the toys, and repacking them on Bob Allen’s flat bed trailer for storage prior to delivery that Christmas.

Sue Kubecka

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

Area Candidates File for Election

Archived in the category: General Info
Posted by Joyce Rhyne on 12 Jan 12 - 0 Comments

Calhoun County Democratic Primary

Sheriff: George Aleman, 58
Mark Daigle, 46

Co. Tax Assessor/Collector: Gloria Ochoa, 63, incumbent

County Commissioner, Pct 1: Roger Galvan, 66, incumbent

County Commissioner, Pct 3: Neil Fritsch, 65, incumbent
Cylde Syma, 56

Constable, Precinct 1: Eugene Menchaca, 61, incumbent

Constable, Precinct 2: William Billings, 35, incumbent
Kenneth Wenske, 57

Constable, Precinct 3: Fritz Wilke, 65, incumbent
Alvin Bland, 68

Constable, Precinct 5: Johnny Amador, 46, of Port O’Connor, incumbent

County Party Chairman: Evelyn Burleson, 76, incumbent

Calhoun County Republican Primary

Sheriff: Troy Baxter of Point Comfort

County Commissioner Pct 1: Wade Wilson

Constable, Precinct 5: Nathan O’Neal

Constable, Precinct 3: Bruce Blevins

Constable, Precinct 4: Kevin Koliba

Primaries will be held April 3, 2012.

Turkey Crossing

Archived in the category: General Info
Posted by Joyce Rhyne on 12 Jan 12 - 0 Comments

Traffic stopped by a flock of turkeys - only in Port O’Connor! -Photo by LaJune Pitonyak

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