Members of Calaveras Bike Club and the Carriles Family

On April 23, bikers from around the area, members of the Calavaeras Bike Club, rode into Port O’Connor to participate in a poker run honoring Moe Carriles.

With support from Madden’s Lounge and Dock’s Bar & Grill in Port O’Connor; Bubba’s in Seadrift; Legends in Port Lavaca; and Victoria Harley Davidson and Another Round in Victoria, the club raised funds to go towards the purchase of a headstone for Moe.

Abel “Moe” Carriles passed away two years ago from pancreatic cancer. He was a lifelong shrimper who resided in Port O’Connor. He is buried in Port O’Connor Cemetery.

“It is a beautiful thing to come together in this time of need,” said Club spokesperson Amanda Flores. “We all help each other.”

Connie Hunt receiving recognition for 20 years service from Sen. Kolkhorst and Rep. Geanie Morrison at the Senate District 18 Caucus.

Delegates from Calhoun County recently attended the Texas Republican Convention. Russell Cain, County Chair, was unable to attend the Convention because of some medical problems. It was a great disappointment to all, as he was slated to be a candidate for the National Convention. His leadership was greatly missed. The remaining six delegates all arrived Thursday, May 12 and attended the afternoon Caucus. On Friday and Saturday mornings at 8:00 a.m., they attended Senate and Congressional Caucuses where delegates to the National Convention in June and the State Republican Executive Committee Representatives (SREC) for SD 18 were elected to serve the next two years. Michael Cloud, Victoria GOP County Chair was elected to replace retiring representative Ben Zeller. Congressman Blake Farenthold, Senator Kolkhorst, and Representative Geanie Morrison were all on hand to visit and answer questions.

At the General Sessions in the afternoon we voted on the party platform, the State Chairman, and the two Republican National Committee (NRC) for the next four years. Tom Mechler was reelected as State Party Chair; Dr. Robin Armstrong and Toni Ann Daschel were both reelected to the RNC.

Several planks of the Texas Republican Platform were avidly debated. The most vigorous discussion occurred over Texas’s right to secede. It was so contentious and prolonged that the Convention was forced to go to a paper ballot. The entire body voted plank by plank (266) on a paper ballot. The final platform should be available on line in the next few weeks. Several of the resolutions submitted by the Calhoun County Convention were included in the platform.

Calhoun delegates at Ice Cream Social hosted by Senator Lois Kolkhorst. (L to R) Anne Burt, Jan Faulkner, Judy Torres, Connie Hunt, Kingsley Scott, Jim Faulkner

Living The Solitude Life

Greetings from the island everyone. I hope all of you are doing well and had a wonderful day with mom on Mothers Day, whether in person or visiting with her in heaven.

I braved the weekend mainland chaos and ventured in to attend church with mom and the family, and then out to lunch at Baytown Seafood. The food is pretty dang good there. And a big Thank You to Rex and Mittie for treating everyone.

People often ask me if I get lonely living alone on this barrier island. I honestly rarely get lonely out here. I tell them there is a huge difference in being alone and being lonely. There have been a few instances during past harsh winters, when I was only able to venture outside for a few minutes each day, that I felt a little lonely. But as with most all negative things, those feelings passed, and the sun began shining brighter. And I’m of the opinion that the bright sun, short of overdoing it, is a most wonderful thing to bask in and enjoy.

I’ve made sure the past few years to stock up on books to read throughout those winter times that I was stuck inside. Thank you to those that have provided me recommendations on books that I might like to read. I have honed my writing skills over the years, primarily from the benefit of reading books. Books are good!

When I first stepped foot on this island over 16 years ago, searching for a spot to build, my intentions were to eventually seclude myself from most everyone. Having worked in police work for many years, let’s be honest, you don’t deal with the cream of the crop in regards to people. But after living out here full time for over 10 years now, my outlook has somewhat changed. True, I still prefer my solitude and occasional hermit ways, but I have also discovered that there are many good and decent people that I have had the privilege to meet and now call my friends. I’ve had to take baby steps in looking beyond my past dealings with people, to realize the goodness of others. Admittedly, I have a ways to go, but I’m getting there. Thank you to those good friends that have made a difference. Okay, enough of that!

My 20 tomato plants are doing fair, but I can recognize that there is still an issue with the contaminated horses manure that I unknowingly mixed into my soil last year. I had read that it takes several years for the weed killer tainted manure to dissipate completely, and I’m finding that to be true. A word to the wise. . DO NOT use horse manure in your garden, especially with tomato plants!

On the positive side, the watermelon and cantaloupe and pepper plants are doing just fine. The planting beds for these did not have horse manure added to them last year, thank goodness. I’ve got four varieties each of watermelon and cantaloupes, and hoping for a good crop this summer. Not much better than a sweet cold watermelon on a hot sultry summer day.

The hummers and assorted migrating colorful birds have been abundant on the island this Spring. I love sitting and watching the beautiful Baltimore Orioles as they try to get the sweet sugar water out of the hummer feeders. I researched and found that they love oranges, so next year I will have a feeding area ready for them with pieces of oranges. One of God’s beautiful nature creations, gotta love that.

Well that’s it from the island for now, everyone take care and have a most wonderful day.

Members of the Port O’Connor Service Club modeled their purchases from their Spring Garage Sale. Pictured left to right: Marie Hawes; Autumn Anderson (most complete Garage Sale outfit); Evelyn Kitchens; Susan Braudaway (most stylish); Susie Onishi; Linda Orrick; Donna Vuichard; Madeline Bourg and Becky Carville.

POC Community Service Club is ready for summer. Our Spring Garage Sale was a huge success and our members rocked the food and drink ticket booth at the Crawfish Festival. We awarded two scholarships to local grads to help them further their life plans and helped to complete some great community projects this past year.
As we do every year, we will be cutting our monthly meetings to one only for May, June, July and August. The first Thursday of each month at 10:00 a.m. we will meet in the back room of the POC Community Center and continue to work on current service projects and manage our outreach. We will be actively involved in the community and the many summer activities during this time, but taking a well-deserved break from two per month meetings.

Big congratulations to Miranda Stringo and Robyn Stringo on their recent graduation and receipt of our 2016 Service Club Scholarships. We love to see our local graduates do so well, and we look forward to seeing the exciting next chapter of their story. A story with deep POC roots, so we are proud to have a part.
These hot summer months are the perfect time for you to clean out some closets or drawers and donate good used items for our October Garage Sale. The County building behind the library is available for storage of those donations. Feel free to drop them off M-Th and we will put them to good use.

It is also a perfect time to organize your recipes and pick the best for our upcoming cookbook. There is still time for you to include your favorite dessert or best recipe, most successful cooking tip or family meal in the next issue of the POC Service Club Cookbook series. Generations of cooks swear by them already, and you can add your expertise to the next edition. Get your contribution to any service club member to be included. Very limited copies of the previous cookbooks are still available. Get yours before they are gone.

Have questions? Need Information? Want to be a part? Come join us for our June 2 meeting and see what we are all about. We welcome women of all ages and talents to join us as we make a positive difference in our little place in Port O’Connor. You might find the perfect place to plug in and be a part of something good!

So, until next time, be safe, live simply, love openly, forgive generously and remember this from an anonymous quote I love: “Volunteering is the ultimate exercise in democracy. You vote in elections once a year, but when you volunteer, you vote every day about the kind of community you want to live in.” Come cast your vote for a positive POC.