State Representative J.M. Lozano at the December 5 Republican Club meeting
– Photo by Karolyn Kinsel

The Calhoun County Republican Club will hold its next regular monthly meeting on January 2nd at the KC Hall in the 6-Mile area. Roshanda S. Thomas, MHA, CEO of Memorial Medical Center, will give updates about health services and hospital news.

The meeting starts at 6:00 p.m. A catered dinner ($12) will be served from 5:00 to 5:45. Reservations are required for the dinner, but, as always, the meeting is open to all interested persons.

For more information or to make dinner reservations, contact Connie Hunt at chunt36@yahoo.com.

At the December 5th meeting, State Representative J.M. Lozano, Chairman of the House Committee on Youth Health & Safety, Vice-Chairman of the House Public Education Committee, and member of the Transportation Committee, was the featured speaker.

Senior Citizen’s Christmas Luncheon: The POC Service Club’s “Merry and Bright Senior Citizen’s Christmas Luncheon” was held on December 2, 2022, treating all to a day full of great fun, holiday spirit, and wonderful Christmas cheer!!! The Service Club Ladies worked hard to turn the POC Community Center into a beautiful winter wonderland of brightly colored Christmas trees and décor; and treated everyone to a delicious meal, scrumptious desserts, door prizes filled with cash, wonderful fellowship, lots of laughter, and jolly Christmas music thanks to Lilli Soto and her entourage! Pastor Joanie McDonough, of Fisherman’s Chapel, led the group’s blessing prior to the meal. In addition to all the fun, the Club honored three wonderful POC ladies for their hard work and exemplary service to the citizens of Port O’ Connor, by presenting each with their annual “Community Champion Award” consisting of a framed certificate and a cash prize! Those honored were: La June Pitonyak; Eloisa Newsome; and Nan Burnett! (See photos on page 16.) Congratulations, Ladies, well deserved!! We love and appreciate you!!! The Club wishes everyone a very Merry Christmas, a Blessed Holiday Season, and a safe, healthy, and Happy New Year, 2023! Thank you for your continued support of the Port O’ Connor Community Service Club. We could not do what we do without all of you!

Chili Cookoff: Come One, Come All on Saturday, January 14, 2023 12 Noon to 7:00 PM, to Josie’s Mexican Food and Cantina for the “2023 Chili Cook-Off”, with all proceeds going to the “Port O’ Connor Community Center Facelift Project”!!! The Community Center Board will join with Josie’s MFC and the Chili Cookoff organizers, with the help of the POC Service Club and other great POC Organizations for a Silent Auction, Raffles, tastings, competitions, and other fun events, Please come out and support this important and much needed project!

Farmers Market: Please continue to support the Service Club’s Booth at the Farmers Market, held the second Saturday of every month, next one being Saturday, January 14, 2023 from 8:00AM to 12:00 Noon. We have a variety of homemade breads and sweets, plants, hand crafted items, and, of course, our “Service Club Cookbooks“! There is something for everyone, so please stop by!

Meetings: The Service Club’s next meetings will be January 5, 2023 and January 19, 2023 10:00 AM at the POC Community Center. If you are interested in joining this fun, hardworking group, please feel free to contact one of the ladies listed below, or visit one of our meetings and check us out!! All Ladies are welcome!!

Spring Mega Garage Sale: The Club’s “Spring Mega Garage Sale” will be held on Saturday, April 1, 2023; and plans are already underway. As always, we appreciate your generous donations of gently used household, decorative and kitchen items; small appliances (in good condition and working order}; clothing; shoes; toys; children’s and baby items. For your convenience, our “Donation Drop Box” located at the front of our Donation Center, which is the building immediately behind the Community Center Pavilion. (Please note that we cannot accept computers, electronics, mattresses, or microwaves!!) To donate, please contact one of the Service Club Members below. Thank you for your donations and your support!!

Alane Haardt- 281-416-6028
Marie Hawes- 361-920-2322
Nan Burnett- 832-276-5948
Nancy Ladshaw- 830-832-0510

Club Update:
POCCGC is getting ready to start constructing 24 raised beds using the cinder blocks that were delivered last week. There are only a few beds still available, so if you are interested in having a 4×20 plot ready for a spring planting, contact us immediately.

Also, we are sponsoring a “Come Help Us Grow” fundraiser January 28th to raise necessary funds to fill the beds with quality soil. Mark your calendars – more details are coming soon. We appreciate all the community support and look forward to growing!

It’s the end of the year…

Spring has sprung, Summer has gone, Fall dropped its embrace around us to leave us here at the start of Winter’s reign, and the cycle begins anew.

In my case, I am hoping the new year brings new hopes. Still on the end of a short rope as far as housing and finances go and I am hoping that 2023 can end the merry-go-round I’ve been riding on since 2020.

To be blunt, I am quite tired of 2022 and even though it’s more symbolic than any meter of real change like income or assets, I will still be glad to see the backside of this year wandering off into the sunset.

But, what good does that do you dear reader, especially as you have heard my complaints since about October, before expressing how grateful I am for those things that DO work in November because I refuse to be, in my middle aged brain which has processed way too much bull to let the muck and slime of the outside world take me down completely, because once I forget who I am and who I strive to be it’s game over.

So what to write about then?

I don’t want to whine, but neither do I feel like putting up the holiday decor and roasting chestnuts by an open fire…besides saying ‘happy birthday’ to Jesus, whose teachings should be part the foundation we base our entire ethos of life on, I have very little cheer.

It hardly even feels like Christmas and New Years are only a short time away, but feels like everything since September has been sped up like an old record, everyone is talking like chipmunks and the melody, although not unpleasant, is WAY too fast to dance to.

I suppose I could preach, part of me wants to, part of me wants to tell you all how lucky you probably have it (probably because I’m sure I’m not the only one out there in dire need, hell, I know I’m not), rake myself over the coals of that fire about everything I don’t have and yes, maybe I’ll have those moments to myself, but they are not for publication, those are my embarrassments, they are to be brought in and fixed, not allowed to run about screaming.

I suppose I could cry, but I’ve never been sure what that actually solves anymore…and that’s just it, maybe there is no solution…there can be improvement, there can be a falling off but a solution is kind of an odd choice of words.

Life cannot be solved. as if we did there would be no point to it, rather to me the point during this holiday season, this end of year party where we shed old and ring in the new is not a solution and that is not what Jesus talked about either.

This is time to tell you all that I love you and Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays no matter what they are to you and to try and meditate on the other thing Jesus brought…hope.

Things are continuing to happen for the POC Community Center Facelift Project. Saturday, December 10, Josie’s Mexican Restaurant hosted a Turkey Cookoff benefiting the center. It had been rescheduled from November because of bad weather. This time the weather was beautiful and it was a perfect day for a fundraiser .Several teams competed in a variety of categories, including fried turkey, ribs, chef’s choice and more. All the judges had their work cut out for them trying to pick a winner for each. The winners are pictured elsewhere in the paper.

Besides the cookoff, items were donated for a silent auction. Everyone was very generous in their support of the project and the amount raised was certainly a welcome addition to the money already raised. All of this couldn’t have been accomplished without the generosity of Josie’s Mexican Restaurant and the help of the wonderful ladies (and their husbands) from the POC Community Service Club. Everyone worked tirelessly for hours to make this day so successful. A big “Thank You” to all who participated in any way.

Our next event for the project will be a Chili Cookoff on January 14, 2023. This will also be held at Josie’s Mexican Restaurant. The categories will be chili, gumbo and beans. If you are interested in competing, contact Terry Williams at 512-738-2273, or Jim Hooper at 361-935-1150 or hooper@pdq.net. First National Bank in Port O’Connor continues to collect donations for the community center and are also selling raffle tickets for the patriotic bench built and donated by Jim Cooley .The drawing for the bench will be held in May at a fundraiser benefiting the center.

The center is used several times a month all throughout the year. Local groups such as Senior Citizens, Bunco Ladies, Chamber of Commerce, Service Club, children’s groups, etc, are able to use the center for free. Funerals, memorials, weddings, and other similar functions are also held at the center free of charge. It was built through the efforts of many townspeople for the people of POC. Paying groups include fishing tournaments, business meetings, cookoffs, etc. These events bring revenue to merchants, motels, guides and restaurants. The complex is a great asset for our small town. Please consider giving to this worthy cause to preserve the complex for the generations to come. Thank you.

May this Holiday Season be filled with peace and joy for you and yours.