wE-Woks for a CURE at FNB!

Calhoun County Relay for Life
(Star Wars Theme)
Friday, May 4th, 2018 – Calhoun County Fair Grounds – 6pm – 10pm

You can help us raise money for our team by donating $5 (or more) for a luminary bag.
The bags will line the track, be filled with sand and a candle & decorated with a loved one’s name that has
survived cancer, is battling cancer, or in honor of one lost to cancer.

Stop by First National Bank, Port O’Connor Branch & make your donation.
We would be honored to decorate the bag for you!
Thank you ~ Dawn, Debbie & Amber

“The Way I See It” is an attempt by the columnist to enlighten readers on a subject as he views it, and does not necessarily reflect the views of this publication.

Good News & Obstruction
Why is it that the really good financial news is rarely repeated on Liberal News. Trump keeps stressing things in his speeches like:

1. Black unemployment at its lowest.
2. Hispanic unemployment at its lowest.
3. Women’s unemployment at it’s lowest since 2001.
4. 3 million new jobs. And mostly in the Private Sector, not govt.
5. Capital returning to the US.
6. Tax cuts and bonuses for workers.
7. Anti-business regulations repealed.
8. Highest Small business confidence, because of #7 and ObamaCare roll-backs.
9. Today’s news, 3/1/18: a) Jobless claims plunge to 49-year low… b) Incomes Up Most in Five Years…c) US crude oil output hits all-time high; Takes out 1970 record…

If any of these things were not true, the Lib Media would have facts to disprove it, and we would hear it 24/7. There has been a great financial revival since right after Trump won the election, because of the people’s confidence he would do something positive, (and he wasn’t Hillary). It was instantaneous, after the election. And despite nothing but Resistance, Obstruction, and unrelenting personal attacks for everything imaginable, it keeps getting better. Can you imagine what could be accomplished if Dems, Rinos, Media, Wall Street, and the FED actually tried to HELP?

The next big political fight will be DACA. Trump has already offered to give DACAs legal resident visas and a pathway to citizenship. I’m basically against rewarding Criminal Invaders for breaking law, but this is an embarrassment because it wasn’t solved before. We know the Dems can NOT be trusted, because they promised increased Border Security for the 1986 Amnesty, but once they got their Amnesty for about 3.5 million illegals, we got nothing like that, but tens of millions of new illegals & semi-legals from chain migration. There was little enforcement by Clinton, Bush, or Obama. Catch & release. Obama stopped deporting most, even after they got out of jail for felonies. If the Dems want a deal for the DACAs they have to give us real Border Security this time. I don’t think they care about the DACAs, among themselves they brag about Open Borders “Changing the demographics” and giving them votes, even without citizenship! THAT must stop!

But Trump wants to fix the problem. The best path to Citizenship is Military or National Guard service. Other govt services could be included. I say we need to trash the Visa Lottery anyway, so let’s roll that over to the DACAs and they get Permanent Resident Visas for the best 50,000 every year. Based on a competitive scale: school, job, assimilation, citizenship activities, public service, even a written test like the Citizen Test. Criminal record and Welfare dependency are disqualifiers & should be Deportable Offenses. So deport the worse criminals first, and deport all “New Arrivals” . The Dems must act, or admit they don’t care about DACAs or National Sovereignty, only Party Power. And unlike Trump, they don’t care about carrying through on their promises, especially to citizens, and their Oath to the Constitution. We need to take the Anchor Baby question to the Supreme Court and prove it was an unlawful court decision that past Presidents were to cowardly to face. No “14th Amend” citizenship unless one parent was a legal resident or citizen. The ones raised here should get resident visas, but not automatic citizenship, give them a little better deal than the DACAs, but all the foreign babies born here for “Tourist Citizenship” get nothing.

It looks like the Dems are hardening their line on Gun Control. Not only are they beating the “Semi-auto Assault Weapon Ban” to death, many are finally admitting they want the “Diane Finestein Solution”: she said in 1995,” If I could get 51 votes in the Senate, it would have been total confiscation. Mr. & Mrs. America, give them up.” The “Semi-Auto Gun Ban” they want is not just for ARs & AKs, but all Semi-Autos – pistols, rifles, and shotguns. Followed by the “Australian Solution” of banning all pistols, all “rapid repeaters”- pump & lever action rifles & shotguns, and limiting even simple rifles and shotguns to strict Registration and “need” – if you own a ranch and have a coyote problem, you might get permission for a bolt action rifle. They fully intend to overturn the Second Amendment, even the wishy-washy “Duck Hunting” Liberal interpretation of it. Or simply ignore it, like the Tenth Amendment.

Most of the Mass Shooters have criminal records or histories that haven’t been properly updated, fix that first! We need better records of Mental Disease and instability. Also, since 2000, 16 of the 34 mass shootings were done by first or second generation immigrants. Many Muslims. And now many mass killings are done with vehicles, not guns. We need to tighten up our Citizenship requirements to people that actually assimilate, not come here and live in tribal ghettos with no intent to become Americans.

We need to tell Hollyweird and all the TV networks, they are banned from depicting any violence or crime, using any firearm, or anything that resembles a firearm (such as the infamous Pop-Tart gun), and see how they like that.

Anyway, this is great for gun sales. And Gun Control has long been a “Political Third-Rail” for Dems. The artificial “popularity” generated by Fake News & Hollyweird soon dies, but leaves a deep suspicion in the minds of most Americans. Dems are gearing up to make it their Big Platform for 2020, as well as this year. They will lose seats this year, and 2020 will be a GOP landslide. As it should be, for many reasons.

The Lib/Progs ignore the Constitution and the People. It is all about their Agenda, and they only listen to their own propaganda.

Texas is a state proud of its independence and its history, proud of the way it holds onto traditions and also, proud of its sports and the sportsmen that play them.

This includes hunting, a pastime that although I fired many a gun in my youth when my father was friends with eighth district Chicago Police Officers, I never have partaken in.

However, I feel I agree with the Native Americans that if you eat and use the animal in the proper manner, there is nothing wrong with hunting, unless you are talking about hunting an endangered species of course.

It is the connection to man’s distant past, the age when if you were hungry you had to go out into the world to get it, and not just going to a job to punch a time clock and stop off at HEB to buy a frozen pizza and some potato chips, but rather you had to put your body and your mind on the ‘front-line’ and go and get dinner like our ancestors did.

In today’s political climate, and in the wake of too many mass shootings, especially at schools, where our most precious resources are really held, there has been much talk about gun control and how to stop these horrible tragedies from occurring.

I am going to focus on the former, because I have as said had experience firing guns of all types and calibers as a child and still keep one Taurus Five shot .38 revolver for home and self defense. On the latter, stopping these outbreaks of violence, would not only take tremendous thought before I would feel competent as a writer to give an opinion but also it would probably take more words then I can use here.

What I wanted to state was that I am a bit of a misplaced soul in Texas, being a liberal and usually backing the Democratic or Independent tickets in most elections but I also think for myself and as a liberal some of the talk I have heard through comments on news articles online and on social media make me shake my head as much as some conservative policies sometimes do.

Mainly the over the top suggestion of abolishing the second amendment all together, which, while I do not think it will happen, is absolutely nonsense because it was put in place to not only give the American citizen the right to protect himself and his family and provide his own food from the wild, but also is in place because the forefathers knew when you take away the common man’s guns, the ‘kings’ have all the weapons in the kingdom and can now use them to control you.

If it sounds farfetched, that last bit, it might be, but it was part of the reason for being there in the first place and I would rather be safe than sorry, especially the way the modern world is turning today, with all of the random violence.

All in all, my belief is, even as a liberal. that the great document that started this country is once again being tested and my hope is that although some changes could be made to the process it takes to obtain legal firearm ownership, that document once again prevails against those that would take her power.

Is Our Water Safe?

Is our water safe to drink, who knows it seems like some people were not notified to boil your water since el president did away with Code Red and put in place his own version of how to notify the people. There is a lot wrong with our water system.

Legal fees have gone way up. The old legal fees before this board ran about $3,800.00 to $4.500.00 a month. The new legal fees run around $7,800.00 and up.
Meeting notices are not being posted correctly according to the open meetings act. USWUG has left at the end of January. They could not continue to work in a hostile environment. Here is part of the reason they left from their termination letter.

1. POCID has refused to fund the M&R (maintenance and repair) fund as required.

2. POCID has engaged and continues to engage in conduct that violates the agreement.

3. Under Texas law the agreement contains an implied covenant by each party that it will not hinder prevent or interfere with the other party’s performance of its contracted duties.

POCID has breached such covenants repeatedly and in numerous respects. By way of example:

The agreement includes a carefully crafted reporting framework designed to avoid costly inefficiency, to ensure that important information is properly channeled to everyone who needs it, and to enable POCID to operate consistently with open government and other legal requirements.

By contrast, certain POCID officials continue to insist that district information be discussed only with select board members, and often in response to rambling, sometimes incoherent and abusive late night e-mails directed to USWUG personnel other than those responsible for this agreement.

This problem was called to POCID attention more than a year ago, yet the situation has only gotten worse.

While the agreement places upon USWUG full responsibilities for its staffing and personnel decisions it also vests USWUG with full discretion concerning those decisions. Nevertheless certain POCID officials have repeatedly inserted themselves into matters involving USW employees. By way of example: Director Brown demanded that USW terminate employee Kim Stafford, that she be fired and threatened that POCID would terminate the agreement if she was not. As you may know Mrs. Stafford has threatened to take legal action against USW as a result of Director Brown’s conduct. Director Brown has also interfered with USW hiring of District Manager and while repeatedly insisting that he was not trying to tell USW how to do their job.

Following Hurricane Harvey Director Raybon inserted himself into USW inspection of the vacuum pits and attempted to take charge of directing USW personnel conducting these inspections.

There is so much more wrong with our water system and it is getting worse. Three directors have resigned because no one can work with director Brown and his two cohorts. They have no idea what it takes to run a water and sewer district. They are the ones that should have resigned.

After USW left I understand that there were not enough licensed personnel to operate the system according to TECQ rules. IS OUR WATER SAFE????

Teddy Hawes

To All POC,

Enclosed is a letter I submitted to the Port O’Connor Improvement District. A lot has happened leading up to this letter. This letter is for all of you that have expressed your concerns to me. People have said the POCID is in the worst position that it has ever been in. You might be right. I have no hidden agendas, I wanted to be straight forward. The POCID lost its only operator, leaving us in a serious violation. I wanted to help by using any licenses I had, but I had concerns of its legality. Unfortunately TCEQ informed me it is NOT legal for me to be on the board AND act as an operator. The majority of the board tried to force this on me in a meeting where the topic was not allowed any discussion. I have many concerns about actions that have been taken by certain board members. I definitely do NOT like the drama! It doesn’t matter if you want to see POC grow or if you want it to stay small. My actions are for you. Right is right, and wrong is wrong. This isn’t a complicated fix. Companies WANT to work for us and with us, just not for or with certain board members. Please know I do this for you and your district.

March 2, 2018
To whom it may concern:

I want to address the Board’s decision made yesterday to use my license and appoint me as the operator of the District’s water system. First of all I DID NOT and DO NOT give POCID permission to use MY license in any shape or form. At yesterday’s meeting, I was not allowed discussion or any input on Agenda item B1 of the Emergency Meeting March 1st 2018, “Leon’s meeting”, concerning this issue. I had questions for legal counsel. I got notice of the meeting at 1307 of the emergency meeting. At 1328 I tried to contact legal counsel with no success. This would have been in the best interest of the Board as well. I believe that there are issues with the Board’s actions under TAC 30 Rule 293.32A7. My understanding is that it is illegal for a board member to be an operator per Texas Administrative Code TAC 30 293.32A7. I could not voice this concern since I was told that it was “not open for discussion” during the meeting. I am sending a copy of this e-mail to Blas Rizzo with TCEQ to give TCEQ notice that I DO NOT and DID NOT give POCID permission to use MY license to operate its water system. I have concerns regarding the District’s inability to keep operators and keep out of violations because of the actions of certain Board members. These members have run off every operator the District has had in recent past. Many of the decisions made by these Board members have put the District in violation. These members have shown in the last year that they are incapable of properly overseeing the District. The actions that were taken during Hurricane Harvey were another indication of their inability to run the District properly. The District is behind in services, taking money from customers without providing service because of the dismissal of US Water. It was recently brought to my attention that the District may be collecting taxes to repay a bond that was never issued. It was also recently brought to my attention that past meeting agendas may not have been posted correctly. I demand the IMMEDIATE resignation of Leon Brown and Marshall Bradford. If Leon and Marshall resign, there is a good probability that the District’s violations caused by these Board members could be resolved today. I am only asking this for the good of the community.

Thank you,

Nathan O’Neill

Trash!

The trash all over town and in the ditches etc is getting out of hand. Take a drive around town and look. If you own a business and your ditch is full of trash, how can you drive by it every day and not pick it up! How bout the people who just mow around or over the trash?!! Really??!! Lot of out of town people put the cans out on Sunday only to have the wind or whatever dump the can over and then the trash gets blown all over the ditches etc. They come back days or weeks later and pick the can up but leave trash all over the roads and ditches! And its not just the out of towners.. Full bags of trash along the highway??!! How bout along Coloma Creek bridge where everyone fishes? Totally trashed… well done morons! Pick your trash up and keep POC a nice clean town

Disgusted POC Resident

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.
Letters to the Dolphin: Dolphin Talk P.O. Box 777 Port O’Connor, TX 77982 dolphin1@tisd.net

Years ago, as a young teenager, I had the exciting privilege of camping out with my Sunday School class for a couple days on the Boguehoma River, in Mississippi. Our class set up camp on a rather picturesque sandbar where the river ran deep and slow. The dark water that flowed lazily by, made for a mysterious foreboding to an otherwise calm scene.

The night was filled with fishing with our rods and reels from the bank of the river. We also threw out some trot-lines farther upriver, in hopes of snagging a monstrous catfish. Boy! Were we having fun?!! What a thrill it was to lay out under the stars all night while discussing endless questions with some of the adults who came along to prevent any pandemonium. Not only that, but we filled our gullets with all sorts of sweets and “junk food.” We also drank assorted soft drinks and fruit-flavored drinks like they were going out of style. I thought I was in “hog-heaven.” Perhaps that explains some of the piggish ways I exhibited.

The next morning I awakened bright and early, and decided to go for a swim in the river. Looking back, that decision wasn’t among the smartest ideas I’ve ever conjured up. For one thing, I hadn’t had a “real” meal to speak of, and what I did eat was loaded with sugar. Added to the fact that I’d stayed awake until almost dawn, and you have a disaster waiting to happen. You see, though I didn’t know it at the time, I had low blood-sugar—hypoglycemia, the doctors call it. I’d been in the water only minutes when my body began to feel like lead. The harder I tried to swim back to the bank, the more I kept being sucked under. With that I started frantically yelling, “Help!”, “Help!”, “Help!” As I was going down for the third time, I heard my pastor yell from the riverbank, “Get him Gerald!”

Gerald was a first year college student, who I’d looked up to as a thirteen-year-old kid. For a long time I’d looked up to Gerald Gunn. He was strong, smart, personable, good-natured, and confident. He was all the things I figured I wasn’t. About the time I’d resigned in my mind that I was about to see God, I felt a strong arm entwine itself around my chest. You guessed it; it was Gerald Gunn. He quickly pushed me above the river’s surface and said, “I’ve got you; it’s okay; it’s all right.” At that moment, I was as limp as a dishrag. I couldn’t respond at all. But I was certainly happy to be alive. I was amazed that my friend had so willingly endangered his own life to save mine. Later, I shared my gratitude with Gerald, and told him how grateful I was that he was there to save my life.

The story I’ve just shared with you is true. However, I find in this story a resemblance to another true story that has become meaningful not only to me, but also to all who have turned to Jesus Christ in faith and trusted Him for spiritual rescue. Allow me to shed some light on the point I wish to make with the following:

Dwight L. Moody used to tell of a man who went out to seek his fortune and then sent for his wife and son. The wife and son got on a ship and sailed toward California. On the way, the ship caught on fire. There were not enough lifeboats and people were fighting to get into the ones that existed. The woman begged for a place on one of the boats and a man agreed to let her in the boat. Instead, she tossed her son into the boat at the last moment and remained on the ship to die.

As the lifeboat drifted away, people heard her shouting to her son, “Tell your daddy I died in your place; tell your daddy I died in your place!”

That is what Jesus did for you and for me. He died in our place. The Cross shouts the message, “Jesus died in your place.” 1

Dear friend, do you know Christ as your personal Lord and Savior? He won’t barge His way into your life. You will have to be willing to turn from your sin and invite Jesus into your heart. At that very moment He will take up residence in your heart and life. Won’t you accept Christ while there is still time? God’s Word says, “…Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation (2 Cor. 6:2b). The Bible also says, “For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved” (Rom. 10:13). Give your heart to Jesus. It’s time.

1 J. Mike Minnix, Editor, www.pastorlife.com