Port O’Connor – Lynwood Raymond “Buddy” Boehm, 86, of Port O’Connor, passed away March 15, 2011. He was born Feb. 8, 1925, in Victoria, to the late Raymond and Elsie Boehm.

He was a Catholic and U.S. Navy veteran. After getting out of the Navy, he played baseball for the Victoria Rosebuds and was signed by and played for the Milwaukee Braves as a pitcher. He was inducted into the South Texas Hall of Fame as a pitcher. He also managed Little League teams in Victoria, winning the State Tournament for Jr.’s and the following year for Sr.’s and was voted Manager of the Year for the State of Texas.

Buddy worked as an assistant general manager for Hartman Distributing before retiring after 37 years of service.

He is survived by his wife of 63 years, Geraldyne Etlinger Boehm of Port O’Connor; two sons, Lynn Boehm Jr. and his wife Sandra of Victoria, and James “Jimmy” Boehm of Victoria and Port O’Connor. He is also survived by two grandsons, Jason and Brian Boehm, both of Victoria.

He was preceded in death by his sister, Ann Mueller.

Private family services will be held at a later date.

Memorial contributions can be made to Hospice of South Texas.

Heritage Funeral Home of Memory Gardens is in charge of arrangements, 361-578-3611. To leave a comforting message or share a fond memory, please go to: heritagefhvictoria.com.

Seadrift – Ofilia G. Moralez, 80, of Seadrift, passed away Thursday, March 10, 2011. She was born Aug. 25, 1930, in Premont, to the late Donaciano and Margarita (Chapa) Garcia. She was a homemaker and a Catholic.

She is survived by her husband, Fidencio Moralez Sr. of Seadrift; daughter, Adela Ureste of Seadrift; sons, Fidencio Moralez of Seadrift and Ecedro “Marty” Moralez of Houston; sister, Dora Hernandez of Dallas; 12 grandchildren; 19 great-grandchildren; and one great-great-granddaughter.

She was preceded in death by her parents; sons, Ruben Moralez and Ramiro Moralez; sisters, Maria Morante, Estella Garcia, Hortencia Morales, Eudelia Arevalo, and Leonore Trevino; and brothers, Federico Garcia, Amando Garcia, Jesus Garcia, Amador Garcia, and Baldemar Garcia.

Funeral Mass was celebrated on March 14 at Our Lady of the Gulf Catholic Church in Port Lavaca. Interment followed at Seadrift Cemetery.

Pallbearers were John Ureste Jr., Michael Ureste, Homer Morales, Albert Barrientes, Frank Villarereal, and Steve Ruppelius.

Honorary pallbearers were John Uresrte Sr., Senon Morales, Adrian Galvan, Jacob Morales, Ray Morales, James Bundrick, Jeff Alred, Abel Morales, and Paul Garza.

The Heritage Center, 2104 W. Austin, Port Lavaca, TX. and Sterling Griffith will present The Country Opry Tuesday, April 5, 2011.  Show starts 7 PM.  Admission $4.00 donation.  Brisket & Sausage dinner will be served from 6 PM until 7 PM for $6.00 donation.  Proceeds benefit the Calhoun County Senior Citizens.  For information call (361) 552-3350.

The Inner Circle by Brad Meltzer is the eighth in a series of fiction as created by Mr. Meltzer, and luckily, our Library has most of them.  Each book is unique in its own way, and each has a compelling theme that does give you the opportunity to think.  I’ve been lucky enough to have read several of his previous works; they are all spell binding, a book that keeps you turning the pages ‘til very late at night.  Meltzer not only draws a plot that moves; his characters are so deeply painted that you recognize their faces and foibles in your friends and neighbors.

The author seems enthralled with historical facts of our country. Some of his books are set in the Capitol as this is.  The plot begins in the National Archives with the finding of a book with missing pages, a book that has been a part of George Washington’s personal library.

The workings of the Archives of the United States as opposed to the Library of Congress make up the mechanics of the book as the main characters are all Archivists with some specializing in Military History from our beginnings.  This is a totally fascinating book with a complex set of characters in a complicated plot; the good guys are bad and the bad guys are good!

Tick Tock , one of the latest books by James Patterson in conjunction with Michael Ledwidge, tells of his latest character, Michael Bennett, a detective in New York City.  Mr. Bennett is an interesting man of Irish descent and the adoptive father of ten.  While on vacation at his beach house in Queens, he is called back to work because of a serial killer who has taken on the style of several previous serial killers in NYC.

Patterson’s books are all very easily read; he divides his books into short chapters which make for very easy and quick reading.  His plots are interesting; they do catch your attention; they are not very deep but developed enough that all the pages hang together.  And his characters are   lightly glossed over.  But he is a master when it comes to description: ”Dapper as can be in a chalk-pinstripe Alexander McQueen power suit …”  Or upon returning to the beach house …”Boogie boards and blown-up flotation devices …” and “… as many beach towels as there were flags at the UN.”

Patterson seems to pull in a new writer to help; one always wonders how much he is really involved with the writing of the book?

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

Democracy vs. A Constitutional Republic
Nation of Law? Part 2

Our proper form of government is a constitutional republic, with our God given rights protected by law. We have Equality before the Law that is to guarantee equal treatment of all Citizens. We elect Representatives and Senators to govern wisely for the benefit of “We the People”, and a President to enforce Constitutional law and be Commander-in-Chief to defend our borders, protect American interests abroad, and protect our Nation and Constitution from “all enemies, foreign and domestic”.

There are now many political leaders that are determined to overturn our Constitutional Republic and use ‘democracy’ to empower them to establish a centralized socialist system unrestrained by any authority.

There are three “Rules of Ten”- The Ten Commandments, the Bill of Rights, and the Ten Planks of the Communist Manifesto. The Ten Commandments were the basis of our Nation, our struggle for freedom both originally and throughout our history, and the foundation for our Constitutional Republic. The Bill of Rights was wisely added to our Constitution to prevent abuse and oppression of the People and the States by an overweening, unconstitutional centralized government. The Ten Planks of the Communist Manifesto call for totalitarian centralization of power and oppression of individual rights, freedom, and opportunity. Where our Constitution recognizes that our rights come from God and are rightly guaranteed by our Constitutional Republic, the Communist Manifesto says the people have no rights, only privileges given by the Central Government, to be decided by the dictatorship of the working class by the elitist bureaucracy of the ruling class or governing party.

I challenge each of you to compare these three sets of Rules of Ten and decide which one represents the current practices and aims of our current administration, and which ones you would choose to live under. John Adams said that democracy was only suitable for a moral people. Many of our Founders were greatly afraid of Democracy, that “pure democracy” was mob-rule, and they well knew that the poisonous core of Democracy was for greedy, lazy, and wicked voters to vote themselves a dole from the Public Treasury and even dispensation for their evil and even criminal acts. Even in a representative Republic the danger is there for irresponsible voters to elect irresponsible representatives – that is why the States put requirements on voters and The Senators were elected by the State Legislatures, not by popular vote.

The results of Democracy and socialist progressives century of expanding the vote to everyone without qualification- written test for understanding the Constitution and ability to read and write English, financial responsibility, and a poll tax to pay the cost of elections- has clearly resulted in:

1.   Equality before the Law has been replaced by “Social Justice”- a mish-mash of non-enforcement of law for certain groups, “hate-crimes” for added enforcement against other groups, and Judges with no judgment.
2.   Individual responsibility and community charity has been replaced by huge government welfare scams.
3.   Radical activists have been allowed to use environmental concerns, taxes, and unions to drive many industries from our shores.
4.   Consumer advocates and multi-national corporate lobbyists under the name of “Free Trade” have stopped import duties – the Constitutional source of revenue for the Federal Government. The People are taxed more so the Multi-nationals make more profit and Walmart has cheap foreign junk to sell.
5.   We are one of the richest nations on earth in natural resources but import most of what we consume, even oil.
6.   We are the richest in agriculture, but distill corn into fuel while the people of potential trading partners riot over rising food prices. Our taxpayers have to subsidize this boondoggle at over $1 per gallon.
7.   The rights and privileges of citizenship have been given to non-citizens, even illegal aliens. Why should non-citizens get welfare, free medical care, even to vote in some areas? And why should the children of illegal aliens born in the U.S. be granted US citizenship? They are not born under U.S. jurisdiction, but in DEFIANCE of U.S. jurisdiction!
8.   The meaning of “Natural Born Citizen” as a requirement for President has been twisted and ignored. Natural Born Citizen means born in the U.S. of both citizen parents. Barack Obama’s father was a British colonial citizen and never became a U.S. citizen; it makes no difference where he was born. John McCain’s mother preferred the luxury of the civilian Panamanian hospital over the U.S. Navy base hospital (U.S. jurisdiction) so technically he didn’t qualify either.
9.   The Federal government causes financial bubbles and then bails out political friends by printing ‘money’ that is backed only by debt that can never be repaid, but the taxpayers have to pay the interest.

The list goes on – limited only by space to print and time to study the Federal abuses of political power, lobbyists contributions (bribes), earmarks and subsidies.
The Constitution is a contract. If one party, the Federal government, refuses to abide by the contract, the other two parties, the States and the People, are released from abiding by the contract. Secession, or the serious threat of it, maybe the only way to stop the Federal usurpation of power and restore Constitutional government. Perhaps we can turn from being a mob ruled by media driven fads and return to being a Nation of Law.