Carly Rosenboom

September is Childhood Cancer Awareness month, and Port O’Conner finds itself more aware than ever this year. 16-year-old local girl Carly Rosenboom, who had already beaten Cancer once as a young child, was diagnosed with a new aggressive sarcoma in her chest on the final day of the school year in May 2018. She and her family spent the entire summer in and out of MD Anderson Children’s Cancer Center enduring heavy chemo treatments. Port O’Connor residents came together and held a fundraiser to help cover some of Carly’s medical expenses with a fish fry and raffle. The event was a huge success and the tremendous outpouring of love for their beloved home town girl was incredibly heartwarming.

As summer ended and Calhoun County High School students returned to campus, Carly was unable to return to regular class sessions with the chemo treatments dramatically weakening her immune system. She enrolled in the CHS online home school program. The student body became immediately aware of Carly’s absence and illness as school began. As an active member of Student Council, her presence was greatly missed within their club. Council members jumped in and started the ball rolling right away by designing and printing up blue “Stronger Than Sarcoma” shirts with all the profits again going to Carly and her family to help fight this battle. Word spread like wildfire among students and faculty and soon almost everyone purchased a shirt. Building on that, students next gesture was to dedicate the first Sandcrab Varsity Football home game to her and play in her honor. Teachers and staff, already in awe of the students kindness, took it up a notch and coordinated the coinsiding season’s first Pep Rally around Miss Carly.

The CHS gym was filled to the rafters August 31st with students, teacher and parents, all wearing blue, as Carly, mother Carol and Port O’Connor support group entered the building. The entire crowd sprang to their feet and cheered and the band rang out upon her arrival. Banners and signs flew high saying “Fight Carly Fight!” “We got Courage for Carly!” and “No One Fights Alone”. Carly made her way across the gym floor and was met with a barrage of hugs and joyful tears as she took her seat. And then began what seemed to be an endless parade of Calhoun football players, each one holding a long stem yellow rose representing Childhood Cancer Awareness and tied in Carly’s blue ribbon. Gently over fifty of them individually hugged Miss Rosenboom with the utmost of care and presented her with their personal flower and well wishes. Students were on their feet crying and cheering them on. Parents and faculty as well were incredibly moved as many of them found themselves “Ugly crying”. The moment was made more poignant and a hush fell over the crowd as everyone wiped their tears and placed their right hand over their hearts. Most faced the flag and several quietly searched for the source of the angelic voice singing out the National Anthem. “Big Country”, Varsity Football player Nate McClellan had stepped forward from a sea of black jersesies to amaze us all.

The pep rally swiftly moved forward like a five act play as Coaches, Cheerleaders, Dance Team, and Girls’ volleyball each took center stage to dedicate their game and performances to Carly. Afterwards it seemed Miss Rosenboom had taken celebrity status with cameras flashing and multitudes of students stopping by to wish her well as they scurried back to class. An then they were gone. All that was left was the glow of Carly’s smile. Nobody looked back over their shoulders or asked if she enjoyed it. They all selflessly emptied their hearts out to her, made sure she knew they loved her and simply disappeared. The whole event was incredibly moving. A few teachers watched as she cradled her arm full of roses, sat back in her car and was quietly whisked away.

Later that day Carly gracefully thanked all the students for such an overwhelming gesture via her Instagram. Soon she will be finishing her chemo therapy in hopes of shrinking the sarcoma enough for surgery. In the meantime, CHS Student Body stands behind her 100% and anxiously awaits her return to school.

End of Summer Brings Lots of Rain

Greetings from the island everyone. I hope that all of you are doing well, and are looking forward to the first day of Fall/Autumn, which begins tomorrow, Sept. 22. I have always referred to this season of the year as Fall myself, and felt that Autumn was more of a northern used word. I don’t know, maybe that’s just the coastal blood in me. But regardless of the chosen word, Fall is upon us. . . Yay!

And goodness gracious, Summer has decided to go out with a rainy bang. As I sit here downstairs at my kitchen table on Friday, Sept. 14, the rain gauge out on the pier walkway has measured a total of 18.8” over the past fourteen days, and it’s still falling from the sky. That’s a lot of rain, folks! Yes, several weeks ago, and actually for most of the summer, my prayers included the mention of rain. . . and they have certainly been answered. But okay, Mother Nature, you can shut the sprinklers off now.

My rain tanks, providing all of my inside fresh water usage, are of course completely full. I did notice one day after a heavy rain that filled my tanks, that the level on one of the tanks was down 250 gallons. After further inspection, I discovered a small crack in the tank about half way up, causing the water to leak out, not a good thing. Luckily I keep “black & yellow” on hand, a two part putty-type epoxy that works great even under water, and was able to repair the leak.

And the abundance of rain also replenishes our below ground water supply for the water wells, which provides all of my outside water use. So yes, even though this amount of rain can be frustrating and inconvenient, and make a muddy mess of the chicken pen area, the heavenly fresh water is needed and I am thankful to receive it.

With summer now behind us, I normally would have a small Fall garden, maybe 6-8 tomato plants and a few assorted varieties of peppers. I always focus my efforts and time on my Spring garden, which is my favorite season of the year. I’m going to forego a Fall garden this year, and just get all of my raised beds prepared and ready for next Spring. I need to add lots of organic material to all of my beds, as I believe the soil has become depleted of nutrients.

Going into the mainland 2-3 days a week to spend time with Mom doesn’t afford me the extra time right now to devote to a garden. But that’s ok, Mom is the priority and she is getting better all the time. I’ll have plenty of time to get everything ready and hopefully have a great Spring garden with lots of fresh tomatoes.

Even with the hot summer and recent heavy rains, my chickens and guineas have continued to lay very well. Just prior to them beginning to lay in December, I started them on 20% protein laying pellets, and I believe this has really made a big difference. With 15 layers and 3 guinea hens, I’m averaging 12-14 chicken and 2-3 guinea eggs every day. I’m very happy with their egg production, and enjoy raising them.

Even though I don’t watch TV very often, I have one in the kitchen and one outside on the covered porch, I do rely on them for tracking storms and late night watching. Well, within two days both TV’s went out on me, the Dish receiver box inside and the actual TV outside. Some great friends gave me the porch TV, and I am thankful for the time it lasted, so now I have a new one outside. This salt air environment plays havoc on any type of electronics. Just part of island life.

That’s it from the island for now; everyone take care and enjoy this Fall weather.

The City of Seadrift has compiled a list of 41 properties in the city limits that have been deemed “uninhabitable”. Two of these have recently been issued Repair Permits and one is under contract to be sold. A few of these dwellings are still being lived in. A few are a result of hurricane damage, but many have been uninhabitable for years. As a result, the City is considering how to best resolve the situation.

The other area of Code Enforcement which has become a problem is Weed/Brush, Trash/Debris. In the month of August, the City sent out 62 Code Enforcement Letters to property owners who are non-compliant with this Code. There were only seven burn permits requested and issued before the No Burn Order was issued by the County.

In a statement at the September 6 Council meeting, Mayor DeForest said:

“Since it has now been a year since Harvey, the City is looking into ramping up the unpleasant task of Code Enforcement regarding substandard structures, debris, trash, overgrowth and etc. on both private  AND public property. Those that want quick and more forceful results may not be completely pleased with the City’s plodding pace AND it is a given that those on the receiving end of Code Enforcement actions will, unfortunately, definitely not be pleased as well. Timelines for different Code Enforcement actions can vary from as little as 30 days to as long as 12 months, or longer. I’m sure that most of you understand and appreciate that the Ciy has certain powers, but these powers should not be abused at the expense of residents.

The City should proceed diligently and cautiously to make sure everything is done in an orderly and legal manner, appreciating the fact that many residents are on fixed incomes and sometimes had trouble making ends meet before Harvey, much less after Harvey. The City will work with everyone equally and evenly making any Code Enforcement actions easier to accomplish and possibly less burdensome, IF there is a spirit of cooperation between the City and residents.

My final thoughts, in regard to Code Enforcement: IF you are on the receiving end of any Code Enforcement Letters, please immediately contact the City to see what needs to be done. The worst thing one can do is ignore Code Enforcement Letters. If ignored, the City will have no input from you, and will have no recourse but to begin the more stringent follow-up actions needed to abate the problem.”

At the September meeting, the Council also approved a new tax rate for the City. Council raised the tax one-half cent ($0.005) from $0.5350 to $0.5400 per $100 of valuation to help offset tax revenue lost because of Harvey damages to taxable property for the 2018-2019 fiscal year beginning October 1st.