A new state law from the recent legislative session will require mandatory boater education for more people in Texas starting Sept. 1, a move supporters say will save lives and make crowded waters safer.

According to a legislative report by the state’s Advisory Panel on Boating Safety, the primary cause of boating deaths nationally is drowning, with 543 in 2009, of which 385 were not wearing life jackets, usually in rough weather or on hazardous water.

Changes to Texas laws targeting boating safety include: mandatory boating safety education certification for anyone born on or after Sept. 1, 1993 to operate a vessel with a motor of more than 15 horsepower or a wind-blown vessel measuring more than 14 feet in length. While all boaters are encouraged to take boating safety education, those born before Sept. 1, 1993, are exempt from required certification.

Previously, only 13- to 17-year olds were required to complete a boating safety course to operate a vessel without adult supervision.

Texas’ state-approved boater education course is available as a one-day, classroom training, as a home-study course or as an online course at www.boat-ed.com . The course takes about six hours to complete. Costs range from $13 for classroom course to about $25 for the home-study course. Information about boater education, including schedules of upcoming classroom courses, is available at http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/learning/boater_education/

Boaters falling under the boater education requirement will be required to carry a valid ID and documentation of having taken and passed a boater education course. Failure to meet the requirements is a Class C misdemeanor, and violators have 90 days to complete a boater education course to have the charges dismissed.

The 82nd Texas Legislature during its regular session clarified the definition of a vessel to encompass such craft as standup paddle craft, kayaks and canoes. In Texas public waters everyone onboard a vessel that measures less than 26-feet in length must have a life jacket available and kids under 13 must wear one.

The Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council will hold a public hearing on Monday, August 1, at Plantation Suites, 1909 Hwy 361, Port Aransas from 6:00 to 9:00 p.m. to discuss two pending amendments.
Amendment 18 contains alternatives for actions to set Annual Catch Limits and Accountability Measures for Gulf group king mackerel, Gulf group Spanish mackerel, and Gulf group cobia. It also contains measures to remove cero, little tunny, dolphin, and bluefish from the fishery management plan, revise the framework procedure, and separate cobia into Atlantic and Gulf migratory groups.

Reef Fish Amendment 32 will establish annual catch limits and annual catch targets for 2012 to 2015 for gag and for 2012 for red grouper. The amendment contains actions to establish a rebuilding plan for gag; set recreational bag limits, size limits and closed seasons for gag/red grouper in 2012; consider a commercial gag and shallow-water grouper quota adjustment; and other considerations.

When driving down Hwy. 185 and 15th, you might see Mr. Dan Raby working in his garden. He first planted corn this year, which reminded me of the movie “Field of Dreams”, but with the drought this year, he has had to do a lot of watering to get anything to produce. Maybe next season will be better.  Mrs. Joyce Raby does most of the picking and preparing of the harvest.

Photo by La June Pitonyak

A very special lady suggested I read a book named The Kitchen House by Kathleen Grissom, whose background is extremely interesting. The book is set in two places in Virginia during the colonial period from 1791 to the early 1800’s in both rural Virginia and Williamsburg, the previous capitol. The kitchen house was exactly that, the outlying building in which the meals were prepared for the ‘big house’. The captain of an ocean-going ship and owner of Tall Pines, the Virginia plantation, arrives at home following a voyage from Ireland in 1791, bringing with him a small 7 year old Irish girl. Lavinia is the young girl and she has been orphaned on the sea trip from Ireland. The captain then places Lavinia in the care of Belle, his illegitimate half Negro daughter. Belle is in charge of the kitchen house and there Lavinia stays for several years until she is taken to the ‘big house’ to help with the care of the Mistress.

Growing up, one hears and learns of the power that the Master of the plantation had over his slaves, a life or death matter. And the death could be decided by a whim or a lie from another white person. The book brings out this power and amplifies it to its end. An extremely well written book, the author speaks of her discovery of an old map during the restoration of an old plantation tavern in rural Virginia. On it was an area labeled “Negro Hill” and the author then decided to learn what possible tragedy this meant. After much research concerning the area and the lives of the resident slaves, the book came into being.

David Baldacci’s newest The Sixth Man has an opening that is definitely different from those of the usual books he writes. The first scene shows a man seated before an enormous wall screen constantly changing with data flowing across the screen. He also has earphones attached to his head that forward more data. Pleading for the never ending attack on his intellectual capacity to stop, he is then led from the room to a waiting vehicle where he is murdered by the inhabitants. Skipping several months Baldacci returns previous characters Sean King and Michelle Maxwell, former Secret Service agents, to the plot when they discover the body of an attorney, Ted Bergin, on a country road in Maine. And the plot continues from there, running back and forth to the ambitious Homeland Security secretary to a Federal maximum security prison for insane criminals.

As usual, Baldacci’s plot draws you in while it drops unbelievable hints along the way, all misleading. The climax and ending will, of course, surprise.

Sharon Sala is a new writer to us of a donated book, which is listed as romantic suspense by the publisher, but there seems to be very little romance in it. Suspense, yes. Entitled Missing, a returning soldier from Iraq and Afghanistan goes to Fort Benning, Georgia, following his release from a POW camp. When an explosion levels the commissary and his wife and 6 year old son are killed, Colonel Wes Holden of Special Ops leaves for parts unknown and soon finds himself walking down a mountainous country road in Blue Creek, West Virginia. There he finds himself becoming a resident in a small house, a member of the community and a neighbor to both Granny Devon, the local “seerer”, as well as Ally Monroe, her father and two brothers. And frightening circumstances, involving both neighbors and a strange scientist develop. Easy to read book and the plot flows well.

We have a number of books, both hard cover and soft cover, available for sale at the prices of $1.00 for hardcover and $0.25 for the soft. They make excellent companions when you go on a trip and don’t want to worry about a due date from our Library. Do come and check them out! You won’t be disappointed.

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