Carmine’s
“The end of the road” has been my fishing destination for many years. Even though fishing conditions are unpredictable, Carmine’s restaurant was always wonderful. I looked forward to fresh Texas oysters, crawfish etouffe, oyster stew, grilled whole flounder that was swimming last night. The coleslaw tasted better than it should. And those grilled potatoes, perhaps a touch of butter gave that irresistible taste. The food was every bit as good as my grandmother’s fare in New Orleans, not surprising since Carmine and Larry are New Orleans natives.


But the food was not the only attraction. Larry and Carmine would greet me and everyone else with enthusiasm. Larry took me fishing and showed me his “honey hole”. He shared his extensive knowledge of fishing spots holding back nothing. Larry and Carmine became dear friends. I’d like to think it was my magnetic personality that appealed to the Gibson’s. Not so. No one walked into Carmine’s who was not an old or future friend.


No restaurant in POC can come close to Carmine’s, a victim of the recession, a huge loss to the community. I wish the best to the Gibson’s and hope good will come to them. I will miss you.
Sonny Haro

To: Adolph and Walter
THANK YOU. It’s true; the nicest people live in Port O’Connor.
Sincerely,
Henry and Sue

To the person that took down the American flags during the first week of February at King Fisher Beach and the Community Center: I don’t know the reason and don’t care to know, but I try my best to keep these flags up and in good condition. These flags cost the P.O.C. Grand Slam $25.00 each and when people take them down and keep them, it adds up.
Calvin Ragusin

As spring is in the air, it is a bitter sweet moment – We at Beacon 44 RV Park will be saying goodbye till we meet again next winter to our Winter Texan Family. As we strive to reach out and bring these fine folks to our area, we would like to let everyone in our community know how much these folks contribute to POC and the area.


They will visit Speedy Stop for groceries and gas, visit our restaurants, gift shops, seafood shops, local hotels for their visiting family members. They get their hair cuts, love to attend Sr. Citizen Tuesday lunch; some are involved with the churches and helped in preparing the Sweetheart Banquet.


So my point is – it is our turn as POC business owners to welcome these folks to our area! It is a real win situation for most business owners. We have a few months until they will be returning; let’s see how POC can Welcome them back for Winter 2011-2012.


This winter we have had folks from Canada, Michigan, Montana, Arkansas, Colorado, to name a few places – and they love our little town. Let’s continue to grow in winter – think what you can do to make them welcomed back to POC.


Doug & Mary Jo Walker
Beacon 44 RV Park
www.beacon44rvpark

THANK YOU!
Thank you for your outstanding letter, Mr. Tomlinson. Your last paragraph was inspired truth! I encourage all readers to re-read this letter and consider the events of the last week. While Unionized Gov’t ‘public service’ workers riot to preserve their unsustainable wages and benefits, Prez Barack Hussein Obama publicly says that “Oil is the energy of the past!”, and backs a ‘Bullet Train’ as the future solution to transportation. His 100MPH Bullet train will spend half it’s time in stations loading and unloading, and accelerating and decelerating so it’s average speed is maybe 50 MPH. My pick-up averages better than that on the Interstate – in fact better on most Texas country roads. And what industrial magic will power this wonderful Bullet Train? Well, uhh, diesel-electric locomotives are the most efficient and by far the safest, so it still depends on the Wicked Oil Industry. Also these Magical Bullet Trains can not use existing track, so a whole new infrastructure must be built on land that must be taken from Citizens and constructed by Union Labor. Sounds like another colossal Boondoggle to me. Huge contracts to buy or condemn the land, as well as construct this yet to be designed rail system as well as the Bullet Train. And of course, huge new bureaucracies to micro-manage the project to the point where it will be impossible to get anything done. This will only grow more bureaucracies, Gov’t usurpation of citizens rights, and union corruption. A huge money waster! The commuter trains of the Mega-cities work on existing track and are paid for! Build better roads and drill more oil wells! The Free-Market will produce more efficient cars and trucks. Gov’t intervention has used tax-payer money to push ethanol, it takes a gallon of diesel to produce the corn to make a gallon of ethanol, so the tax-payers pay for Gov’t subsidies while food price rise dramatically. Gov’t intervention is now subsidizing electric cars that are very unsafe, stupidly expensive, and functionally useless to most people in Texas. And most of the electricity is still generated by fossil fuels. A $450+ million solar-panel factory in Massachusetts, after being subsidized with $58 million of Gov’t grants, had to close because they can’t produce a competitive product – union labor, again. If they built in Texas it would be cranking out truck-loads of solar panels daily!


The Beltway Buffoons are putting a Moratorium on what works to provide tax-payer support to their theories and their Union supporters for election rigging and demonstrations. Yes, I think they are using their current political power to bring a totalitarian socialist Federal Gov’t into being, no matter what the cost to the average citizen. The Unions, Liberal Progressives, and welfare parasites think they are getting a good deal, but they don’t read the history of socialism. Like Margaret Thatcher said,”Sooner or later you run out of other people’s money.”
Bill Brayshaw
Seadrift

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.

The author Sidney Sheldon was a man of many talents: a screenwriter and creator of several television shows as well as an accomplished novelist and playwright, his death left a hole amongst his followers. Therefore, I was quite intrigued to find a book, Mistress of the Game published following his death. Thinking perhaps it had been a work in progress, I read it and found that the Sheldon family had entrusted the development and writing of this book to another author, Tilly Bagshawe. (However, I really wonder if that is her name and not a nom de plume.).


But Ms. Bagshawe was more than capable as she seems to be quite talented and able to recreate Sheldon’s style of writing as well as his characters.


Sheldon’s style of writing is not unlike that of a playwright; he carefully sets a scene and then plays it through in conversation, which really makes a book extremely easy to read. His characters, both major and minor, are women and all exhibit very strong tendencies — sometimes almost appearing as using a “steamrolling” technique. But the strength and depth of his characters make for enjoyable reading.


Now that Ms. Bagshawe seems to have succeeded in following Sheldon’s lead, I wonder how many more books she will write under his name.


Sorting through a box of donated books, I found a totally delightful one, Julie and Romeo as written by Jeanne Ray. This is a first one for Ms. Ray and after finishing it, I certainly hope she continues writing.


Set in a suburb of Boston, the story involves two florists involved in a generational fight; Julie is the daughter of the Rosemans and Romeo, the son of the Cacciamani family, and each family hates each other from the grandparents on down. Life becomes quite complicated for Julie and Romeo, who reunite after many years in their 60’s and become deeply involved. The characters are so believable that you can actually see them, but Romeo’s grandmother is totally irrepressible. Yes, a takeoff, somewhat, from Shakespeare, but with quite a few twists. I heartily recommend it if you are looking for something with no pressure but sheer enjoyment.


Bad News for the Library: The County has cut our budget by 50%, which means a definite decrease in the amount of books and magazines we can order each month. There is no money for the children’s section, nor are there funds for DVDs. And so, we must depend upon donations from our patrons. And we thank you in advance, as we want to keep our Library as current as possible.


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


Karin Gillespie

The evening’s setting was perfect; the champagne fountain was flowing, stars lined the ceiling, cheerful chatter filled the room and we found ourselves aboard the ill-fated maiden voyage of the RMS Titanic at Our Lady of the Gulf (OLG) Catholic School’s 2011 Valentine Gala. Captain Ronnie Best, passengers, Melissa Crowley, Father Bazar and shipmate, Dillon Janecka, Mariner class of 2010, took center stage and set the mood.

Deemed the largest passenger steamship in the world, the Titanic was said to be “unsinkable.” However nearly 100 years ago, after four days of travel from England, on April 14, 1912, the steamship hit an iceberg. The following morning, the ship sank to the bottom of the ocean, taking with it 1,517 lives, resulting in one of the most tragic maritime disasters in history.

We, as passengers, quickly became enthralled with “surviving” the evening for a chance at winning a necklace inspired from Titanic’s famous “Heart of the Ocean” blue sapphire necklace. Auction items filled the room and our odds of survival were increased by purchasing Titanic Trivia message bottles, Lifesavers with passenger names and by bidding on puddle ducks which were constructed by the OLG students with assistance from Texas Sea Grant agent, Rhonda Cummins and Seadrift Sail and Yacht Club commodore, Jack LaBarge. The puddle ducks were cleverly decorated with numerous local sponsors and fit the nautical theme to a t! All proceeds are for the OLG Teacher Bonus Fund. The evening was delightful; a delicious meal and dinner were served.

OLG School 7th and 8th graders with their completed puddle ducks. the ducks brought in almost $2,400 for the teacher bonus fund.

As the night came to a close, Hope Boyle took the stage and began to sing “My Heart Will Go On.” Quickly remembering the women and children first rule, I knew I had slim chances of survival as 36 year-old, 2nd class passenger, Mr. John Henry Chapman; Jackson was a 52, 2nd class passenger named Mr. Charles Henry Chapman. We all anxiously read the names as they appeared on the black screen in the room, waiting to see if we had a chance of arriving in New York; HOGEBOOM, Mrs Anna Louisa, 1st Class, KREUCHEN, Miss Emilie, 1st Class, MAIONI, Miss Roberta Elizabeth Mary, 1st Class…we were doomed!

One of the puddle ducks sponsored by 1610 Kayak Radio.

Congratulations to Kati Durham, Mariner class of 2006, who was awarded the “Heart of the Ocean” necklace. She is a world/national/Texas record holder in power lifting and is a 2010 Calhoun High School Alumni. While my husband Jackson and I did not survive, there were six survivors at our table. We all had a blast at the gala! Special thanks to everyone that put so much time and hard work into developing a successful event. We look forward to the next gala! Visit the OLG website at http://www.olgmariners.org/.

OLG Principal, Theresa Dent, and Titanic survivor and lucky winner, Kati Durham. Kati won the “Heart of the Ocean” necklace at the OLG Valentine Gala.

As we all know, everyone and everything are having to cut back, the County’s budget included. This affects our Port O’Connor Community Center.


We are calling out to all our citizens to pitch in and help us stay afloat. If you have any services you could donate or offer at reduced cost to our Center, it would be helpful to the community. (We can offer a tax write-off to your company.) These services could be anything from sweeping floors, flower beds, painting, picking up trash, cleaning cob webs, dusting, mowing, cleaning out cabinets, scrubbing baseboards – the list goes on and on.


The price of maintenance has risen just like yours have. If we could get a few of these things done by volunteers, we will still be able to offer this building to the community for memorials (of POC residents), community functions (open to public with no charge), and all youth groups. We have in the past used the building for these functions on the average of about 70 times a year.


On this note, one company has stepped up to the plate and donated his services to do the pest control: Cash Pest & Termite of Victoria, owner Mike Story (361-573-1041) said he would like to give back to the community, as he does do business in POC.


If we all band together, no matter if you’re a business or one person, if you have any spare time or ideas, we can keep this Center up and running. The Community Center is 11 years old and it is showing some wear. We need to take care of this before it gets away from us and we won’t have the money for repairs.


Our community worked hard to build this Center. Let’s all pitch in and keep it something we can all be proud of.


Thank you,
Marie Hawes, Port O’Connor Community Center Association
We will be having two work days in March:
March 3: the POC Service Club ladies and any other ladies who would like to join them.
Work will begin right after the club meeting, about 10:30 a.m.
March 19, 9:00 a.m.: will be a town clean up day. Everybody is welcome. Please come join us to keep our Center in good shape. Please bring any tools you think we may need: hammers, ladders, clippers, screw drivers, sockets, etc.