This year the Port O’Connor Chamber has a lot going on.

If you have a child that went to school in Port O’Connor and now will be a graduating Senior in 2017 and has plans to attend college, make sure they fill out the Chamber of Commerce Scholarship application. Each year we award two $500.00 scholarships. Deadline for these to be turned in is March 21st, so now is the time to start the process.

Looking and asking for  volunteers to help with the many things it takes to put on this years Crawfish  Festival. If you can help, please give  us a couple hours, doesn’t have to be all day, a couple hours will do. Contact, shrimper@tisd.net or darla611@aol.com.

Attention business members, we have a Chamber of Commerce Facebook page.  We want to share your posts to help support your business, so please remember to post from your business page.  If you do not have a business Facebook page, set one up and take advantage of another way to promote your business in our wonderful community.
If you have an event or Tournament, contact the Chamber so this can be added to our calendar of events.

I drove by King Fisher Park and noticed the new volleyball area being added. The Port O’Connor Ladies Service Club has finished the process of getting this added to the park for the enjoyment of our young people and everyone else. Nearly every time I drive by the park there are people playing basketball, I know the volleyball area will be well used. THANKS LADIES!!!!

The Annual Chamber Membership drive begins March 1st, The applications will be mailed out or go to www.portoconnorchamber.com; click on “join the chamber”, fill out and you can pay online; we need the support of everyone. It doesn’t matter if you are an individual or business, we need your support in our community. I am sure you have noticed our community has had growing pains, which means we Chamber Chat, need more involvement from more people to keep things growing.

Our next meeting will be March 13th at 6:30 p.m. in the Port O’Connor Community Center, Come out and get involved — Looking forward to seeing you!!!!

New Memberships: Nervous Water Fishing; Amber Bricker; Debbie Michalek; Goldman, Hunt, & Notz LLP

The Port Lavaca Mainstreet theatre will hold auditions for this year’s all children’s production, “Monster in the Closet” on Saturday, March 4 beginning at 10:00 a,m,, Monday March 6 at 6:00 p.m. and Tuesday, March 7 at 6:00 p.m.

Parts are available for ages approximately 5 to 15. Auditions will be held at the theatre located at 315 E. Main St. in Port Lavaca.

For copies of the audition packet and more information, contact Jody Weaver at jweavergoog7117@gmail.com or text at 361-649-6116.

February marks the 5th year of operation for the POC Liquor Store, located at 8th and Adams Street here in Port O’Connor. Opened by Noral McCauley following the closing of Alvin’s Liquors, Noral has achieved much success in this endeavor.

Noral instantly hired Janet Johnson, the former manager of Alvin’s, to take control: serve customers, order stock, and somehow convey her knowledge to him. With her help and guidance, Noral then added to his collection of wares, all aimed at the customer’s requests.

Sadly, Janet became ill, and Noral then repeated his previous standard of business by hiring Alyse Munsch to become manager. Alyse not only was there to speak with all customers in her very friendly manner, but to give to them constant help during a visit.

When Alyse left, several very competent employees took over; Noral has appreciated their help and dedication. Teresa Scott is currently employed with Noral; she had worked with Janet previously at Alvin’s, and, therefore received excellent knowledge of the business.

Many different faces of employees have worked with POC Liquors, and each conveying to the customer the courtesy and desire to be of service to everyone who enters the store. This is the type of attitude that makes a business successful, and Noral has been extremely fortunate in his selection of people.

Noral rates his business success to the support of our locals; many residents come in to say “hello” and catch up on the local news; buy a soda or cigar; a sixpack or even the latest Texas vodka. This is a business that is owned and operated by a local, and welcomes the input of our residents.

Noral’s fame with the POC Liquor Store has spread “far and wide” as I learned very emphatically one day in December. I was walking down Royal Street (after a day of shopping) in New Orleans when my cell phone rang. Answering, I received a request for the hours of the Liquor Store. Somewhat astonished, I then learned that the caller was a POC resident on holiday in Mazatlan, and he would be back in town within a week to place an order. Talk about fame!

Did you celebrate Valentine’s Day?  It is arguably the most important day of this month.  That is, of course, unless it happens that your birthstone is an Amethyst.  Of those born in February some small percent are denied a birthday every four years.  So, for those less than one percenters you had your day last year.

Why is February so short a month you might ask.  It probably goes back to those pesky Romans. For a long time they didn’t think the winter months really should be counted and so they didn’t.  Then they had trouble deciding whether it should be the last of the year or not.  Some of us still think the year should start in the spring and end in the winter.  However, the Calendar Gods have split the seasons up spring starts near the end of March.

Heavens even the Groundhogs of the world know that as of February second there are probably six weeks left in the winter.  There is one good thing about February. It lasts exactly four weeks. So the first of March is on the same day as The first of February. That is except for that Pesky extra day every four years.

I guess we ought to blame Mother Nature for the way our calendars are more or less haphazard.  First the year is nominally 365 days. Now we have decided to break it up into 12 months so it can’t come out even. Then the actual length is something like 365.25and change long. So we have to add a day approximately every four years and then do something with the change at some time.

Some folks propose making the year 13 months of 28 days each. That leaves at least one extra day each year plus an extra day to cover the fractional time Mother Nature gives us to work with.  The best way to deal with that is make those days Holidays.

The length of the day is not exactly a 24 four timespan as it is slightly variable. In these precision times we now slip in those leap seconds. They could come to make our Holidays a little longer. Those people who made the butter commercial claimed that is was “not nice to fool with Mother Nature”   Well , for sure, it is messy to try and make her nice and neat like we try to do with our yards and homes and cars and things like that.

It seems like the world is just getting a little messier as time goes by.  As one who reads history I am convinced that the world is a little more civilized than it was hundreds of years ago. But because we move faster, and a little more furiously, we get into a mess a little quicker.  We argue a little more about things that we probably won’t ever agree on.   It just may be that we should go back to messing with Mother Nature and our calendar.

Once board approval is obtained, the POCID will post a monthly article in the Dolphin Talk every month.

The POCID wants to support our community newspaper and the POCID must keep all ratepayers informed of all happenings within the district and to keep ratepayers informed of current and future projects for our district.

Did you know that the POCID can inform you by phone text or email of current or future water outages, construction notices or even boil water notices?
To participate in the phone texts or email notices all you have to do is call the district office and provide your phone number or email address. That’s All.
Have you had the opportunity to visit the POCID website @ www.pocid.org? There, you can contact customer service, request forms and reports, read news and notices and see frequently asked questions.

By visiting the website, you can also read online the district agendas and the minutes for each agenda. So, if you missed a meeting, you can read what the board was discussing and know how the directors voted! This is your website, enjoy.

If you do not have internet connections, please visit our website by using the computers at our library. Or, stop by your district office and we have an IPad and wi-fi connection for your use.

The district phone number is (361) 983.2652. Ask for Kim or Evangelina who will gladly assist you. To contact the district after hours, call the same phone number, because we also have after hours answering service to serve you.