Halloween is not really a scary time of year; it is more a time to be able to play dress up and become someone else for a few hours and allowing your imagination to run wild. Beneath the fun and the candy and the decorating however, there have always been a couple of urban legends that go along with the holiday that are scarier than any ghost or goblin.

One of those has to be the idea that children have gotten poisoned Halloween treats while Trick or Treating, as it plays on our deepest fears…

Has a child ever died from poisoned Halloween candy?

Yes, but the tale behind it is not quite what you would expect and it happened right here in Texas.

Ronald Clark O’Bryan was a optician from Texas who had a wife and two children, a eight year old son named Timothy and a five year old daughter named Elizabeth. O’Bryan was also a deacon at his church. On Halloween Night in 1974, O’Bryan took his son Timothy and daughter Elizabeth Trick or Treating in Pasadena, Texas, along with a neighbor and his two children.

Eventually the group reached a house where no one would answer the door. Ronald O’Bryan stayed behind at this residence while the rest of the group moved on. O’Bryan rejoined the group a short time later, returning with five large straws of the powdered candy known as ‘Pixy-Stixs,’ which O’Bryan claimed were from the house that did not immediately answer when the group was together at the house. O’Bryan gave two of the Pixy Stixs to each of his children and two to each of his neighbor’s children as well. The fifth Pixy Stix was given to a ten year old boy O’Bryan knew from his church.

Before bed Timothy ate some of his Halloween candy including one of the five Pixy Stix. Timothy complained about the taste of the candy to his father, drinking Kool-Aid to wash the powder down. Timothy also had to be helped getting the powdered candy out of it’s straw wrapper. Almost immediately after consuming the candy, he complained of stomach pains and began to convulse and vomit.

Timothy O’Bryan died in an ambulance on Halloween Night about an hour later. Later tests would reveal that the five Pixy Stix were poisoned with potassium cyanide. The ends of the straw wrappers of each piece of candy had been cut off and the last two inches of the candy powder was replaced with poison and stapled shut.
Although none of the children in possession of the other four pieces of candy consumed them, the local area was swept by panic and many parents turned in or disposed of their children’s Halloween candy as a precaution.

Later O’Bryan would recall that the tainted Pixy Stix came from the house the group had stopped at where no one had answered the door. O’Bryan claimed a ‘hairy’ arm reached out from behind the front door of the house without turning the porch lights on and handed him the five pieces of candy.

Police soon dismissed this version of events because the man who owned the home in question worked as an air traffic controller and was not home on Halloween Night until around eleven p.m., and nearly two-hundred co-workers could verify him being there all of Halloween night.

It was also discovered that Ronald O’Bryan was deep in debt and was in danger of being unemployed. Records also showed that O’Bryan had a taken out various life insurance polices on both his children totaling to around sixty-thousand dollars between January and October of 1974.

O’Bryan had inquired about claiming these policies shortly before Halloween and was found guilty on one count of murder and three counts of attempted murder sentenced to death and executed in March of 1984 by lethal injection.

Although there has been a couple other instances of Halloween candy tampering with substances such as laxatives and the like, the only true case of Halloween candy being poisoned occurred right here in your backyard…and that is scarier than anything that will come to your door this Halloween.

Best Friends for Life, Me Me and Ree Ree taking a big red.
-Capt. Jeff Larson

Hallelujah!!! We are getting into the swing of Fall Fishing and Hunting. Dove Season has been pretty good for most hunters who have visited the Lodge last month. The guys who had spent some time shooting Skeet and/or Trap usually shot their limit. Fishing is still steady. Wade fishing seems to be the best way to catch trout, reds and flounder. October will be the last Month to Gig Flounder until December 1st. The limit on flounder is reduced down to 2 from 5 until December 15th. However on Dec 1st at midnight you can start gigging again. Since flounder gigging is done at night you can maximize your time before midnight and after midnight. Here is the catch. A fisherman cannot have more than his possession limit. You must gig your 2 flounder a person before midnight and take them back to the landing. Then you can go back out after midnight and get 2 more. Do Not get smart and efficient by getting 4 per person; even though, that’s the economical way to get your 2 day possession limit a person can only have 2 until December 16th at 12:01 am.

It’s not an easy law to understand but TPWD is looking at conservation and harvest measures to ensure a better fishery for our future. We will run Gigging Trips during this time so if you are unsure call Scott at the Lodge and he will hook you up with our Flounder Pounder Department.

The last couple of days have been great fishing with artificial lures. We had our limit of trout and a bonus redfish using only top water style lures. The color of choice was blue and chrome. I did notice that we had an out going tide with bait busting all around us. The trout were feeding real hard up against a small front. The slower you worked the bait the bigger the fish. I’m not sure what that was about but a twitch, twitch, stop was better than walking the dog without stopping your retrieve. Thinking that today would be as easy as 1,2,3 was not the case. We went back to the same Honey Hole we went the day before and waded the same route. Nothing really. Mike caught a good 1, about 2#. I lost a keeper.

Not wanting to waste a major feeding period before a front. We jumped back in the boat and ran to another part of San Antonio Bay and switched to soft plastics. We chose the windward side of the bay because the tide wasn’t really moving. Down South Lures is a great soft plastic bait. Mr. Bosse is a saltwater fisherman and created a bait that will last several trips and he has the right colors that match the hatch. I was spanking trout using a 3/8 Oz lead head. Yes that’s heavy, I know, but I like being able to throw my bait a mile and keep it on the bottom.

The color of choice was DSL Chicken Of the Sea. My favorite color is red shad.

Fishing the windy side paid off and we caught our 5 trout and headed to the cleaning table.

A quick side note for the next couple of months. Redfishing at the jetties, shorelines and back bays has been and will be off the charts. It’s a great time of year for fishing and hunting. With November right around the corner from Halloween and if you are wanting to enjoy a Cast and Blast Get A Way, Now is the time to get your dates on the book. We have tons of options and avenues so let’s start banging out some memories.

The Saltwater Water Lodge Get Away Hotline is: 361 785 3825

Throw some tops, tails and bait,

Capt. Jeff Larson 281 217 0399

Wade fishing pays off big in the Fall. – Capt. Jeff Larson

Deidra McCollum and Tammy Rigamonti present a check to POC Chamber President Mary Jo Walker.

About a year ago, my good friend and I sat chatting about a tournament we had just fished and we started thinking…..Why doesn’t Port O’Connor have a women’s only fishing tournament? This is one of the premier fishing destinations on the Gulf Coast, why don’t we share this with all the other female anglers in this area? And while we’re at it we can do something to benefit a good cause in the area. And so it began…

As of September 30th we had 31 teams registered to fish our tournament, we could never have imagined we would have that many teams. Our goal to start was 15 teams, we definitely over-achieved.

The tournament was a huge success, with prizes and trophies for winners in two divisions and three categories.

Best of all we were able to raise and donate $9,500 for Golden Crescent CASA and an additional donation of $500 to the POC Chamber of Commerce Kingfisher Beach Pavilion.

None of this could have been accomplished without the amazing help from the community, the volunteers, our sponsors and participants. Also, thanks to our tournament directors who worked tirelessly to pull off a huge event….Lori Mackey, Mike Mackey and Shane Hoefling.

We want to celebrate all of our salt sisters out there that love to fish just as much as the guys, right here in our own little slice of paradise. Where the road ends and the fun and fishing begins!

Thank you,
Deidra McCollum

Monique, Candace, Dreama
Local team gets it done at the Bombshell Blowout with Scott Weiler at the helm.