Hope High Schools Environmental Club took part in the annual fall beach clean-up. The school has adopted the Point Comfort beach next to the causeway. The group collected fifteen bags of litter along with six tires, a flat screen t.v. and a toilet. Pictured: Logan Smith, Jacob Kief, Joshua Smith, Shelby DeForest, Tabatha Gage.

Magnolia Beach Clean Up
By Rhonda Cummins

The threat of rain may have kept folks away from our 30th annual fall beach cleanup at Magnolia Beach. Only 121 people registered at either the Crabbin’ Bridge or the fire barn. These hardy volunteers collected a total of 2,375 pounds of trash, including some odd items like a broken television, an old computer monitor, and a windshield wiper blade. Thank you to all the volunteers for being a part of the day and helping to make Texas beaches better since 1986.

I would also like to thank the Magnolia Volunteer Fire Department for letting us host the appreciation lunch after the cleanup in their barn, the people from Our Lady of the Gulf Catholic School for cooking the lunch, Precinct 2 Commissioner Vernon Lyssy for hauling all the trash away on his trailer, Teri Austin and Debbie Case for conducting registration, Calvin Anderle for donating bottled water, J&T’s One Stop for donating ice, and my Calhoun County Marine Advisory Committee for buying the food.

Being a parent is the hardest job I’ve ever had. Just bringing kids up to be happy and healthy is just the tip of the iceberg when your ultimate goal is preparing them for anything they might encounter in an overwhelming life. But, the reward is indescribable when that little bundle of your life’s work drops your jaw, tears away a small portion of your worries, and reassures us “you did get through. I’m going to be fine”. I have personally had that moment.

At the age of 16, my son has proven to have more determination and drive than I ever had at that age. He keeps an A/B average in school, while holding a job to maintain the truck he purchased with his own earnings. He has stayed out of trouble and is on track to have a career where he will never work as hard as his parents have. He is happy, healthy, and I am grateful. Now his sister has had a much steeper grade in her life.

At 14, my daughter has had more pain and challenges than I would wish on any person. When my little girl was 9, doctors recommended surgery to correct her feet and relieve some of the constant pain she lived in. So would you believe that after four individual surgeries (two on either foot) spanning four tough years, that they would diagnose her with a serious case of scoliosis? Of course not, who is that evil! So naturally, about the same time we began discussing options to fix the scoliosis, she gets bitten by a rattlesnake while making a trip she had made every day since she began walking. This incident grounds her with several days in the hospital the first year in four years that doctors were going to leave her alone and give her some “normalcy”. The “lucky” jokes got old real quick!

So, to catch things up to present day, surgery was the only option for her scoliosis. A five hour procedure where two rods and some screws were inserted into her spine then wrapped in “living clay”. Over the last six years, I’ve had to stand by and just watch as my daughter lived through a constant cycle of pain and recovery, with my “Dad” powers unable to take all her pain away. Yet, nothing had prepared me for the four spirit crushing days in a recovery room, following the surgery. Her strength humbled me.

With everything my daughter has overcame in her earliest chapters of life, I don’t know why I was so surprised when she got herself out of bed and caught me off guard while making lunch just three days after bringing her home from the hospital! I will admit that knowing that my daughter is already stronger at the age of 14 than I will ever be, eases some fears associated with being a parent and makes me a proud father.

I would like to thank everyone that helped, kept in their thoughts and prayers this modest family that has endured a ton. We could not have done it alone! And to my little girl, you are my hero and my source for strength. I love you very much Paige. -Dad

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