Summertime And The Living Is Easy!

By Virginia Dell Lichac, President

Well, maybe not too easy for Friends of the Port O’Connor Library, Inc., as we are still working diligently toward our goal of a state-of-the-art library and learning center here in POC! The Annual meeting is coming up on Saturday, June 27, 9:30am at the First Baptist Church Fellowship Hall. The community is invited to attend. A review of this past year’s activities and events will be presented. Also members of the Board of Directors and officers will be elected. The coming year will be another very bustling time!

Mark your calendars for these fun and exciting events:

• Saturday, August 29, all-community hot dog barbecue at the front beach pavilion
• Saturday, September 19, “A Night under Texas Stars” fundraiser featuring Texas authors at the Sanctuary
• Saturday, October 24, the annual chili/gumbo cook-off and silent auction sponsored by Jim Hooper
• A fundraiser is planned in April 2016—theme to be determined.

Look for more information in upcoming Dolphin Talks.

“Friends” supporters are encouraged to participate in these important events as we head into 2015-2016. Help us get the Library and Learning Center built and serving the community!!

Jeanette Larson

Friends of the Port O’Connor Library, Inc., Advisory Board Member Receives the Texas Library Association’s 2015 Distinguished Service Award

AUSTIN – April 29, 2015 – Jeanette Larson of Rockport, Texas, received one of the state’s highest recognitions for librarians and educators across the state. The Texas Library Association (TLA) honored Larson, a former librarian and current author and consultant with the 2015 Distinguished Service Award, which salutes a librarian who demonstrates superlative leadership and provides outstanding and continuing service to the library field.

Larson received the prestigious Library Distinguished Server Award medal before thousands of her colleagues on April 15, during the Association’s annual convention held in Austin.

* TLA is the largest state library association in the United States with almost 7,000 members who work in public, school, academic, and special libraries and who support educational institutions.

The Student Advisory Board for the Friends of the Port O’Connor Library celebrated a successful and fun year with hot dogs, a scavenger hunt, and a picture right before cutting the cake.

Thanks to our generous supporters at our Fireman 4 run, 4th of July BBQ and our Wild Game Dinner last year, we raised enough money to buy this truck. Hopefully, we will raise enough this year at our annual 4th of July events to turn it into a fire fighting brush truck!
-Port O’Connor Volunteer Fire Department

BBQ Fundraiser
Saturday, July 4th
Port O’Connor Fire Department
serving begins at 11:00 a.m.

When you get right down to it, the Fourth of July is a birthday really, one that encompasses an entire country and culture. Since all birthdays are a celebration of whatever it is the birthday is for, I am going to abandon my usual slightly skeptical political view point and just go along with the celebratory flow.

The United States of America was born out of a time when a aura of real independence covered the East and some of the South East as well. The colony’s, although separated by some ideals and customs, strove for a life that could not be had in Europe.

This eventually of course lead to a war for independence, one that to this day still stands as one of the biggest revolutions in history. In this age of violent protests and rampant corruption, it is easy to forget that many rights that were fought for well over two hundred years ago still stand true today.

Religious freedom, right to vote for our representatives in the government, the freedom to move freely around the world, the right to information as varied as we can find and the rights that still have not be entaken away yet to raise arms against any invader or corrupt leadership.

The list could go on and on and most likely fill at least a couple pages of this fine locally produced American product that you hold in your hand (did I mention freedom of the press?), a list that is less dense in other parts of the world.

As with all ideals and social structures, those same freedoms can fall victim to the darker temptations and Human folly that can and will infest good intentions. However, if one half of a field of crops goes bad, you don’t throw the other good half away just because of the bad half’s misfortune.

Outside of this sacred printed space I am so graciously afforded every month, I am tuned a bit more into the radical and skeptical view of how our country is currently being run. This is only because I know that although I love the historical philosophy of this great land I also know that there is no thing as a ‘best’ country because there is always room for improvement.
Once you believe you are the best, you forget about the fight that got you to that plateau in the first place.

Now we have reached a direct demonstration of just how powerful the victories won on that day were. Because some of the words I just typed above, straight from mind to blank virtual canvas could not be written everywhere in the world today.

In some places there would be misfortune, imprisonment or possibly even death.

Patriot is a word that is thrown about a lot these days, mostly in outrage at just how badly some of the dreams of our founding fathers are being kept. Some outrage is righteous, while others sadly just have an agenda of one sort or another attached.

I use the word patriot to identify myself, not despite my radical viewpoints but rather because without that document, that one declaration of still resounding freedom, they might not exist at all.

This small collection of words, like so many others being written or sung or played out on a stage as you read this are testament’s to that one original collection of words that preceded it.

Art exhibit benefits children.

German artist Dieter Erhard, proprietor of Art Center Seadrift, spends much of his talent and time supporting children. His latest exhibit, including 20 art pieces, opened April 17 in front of the castle “Weissenstein” in the town of Pommersfelden, Germany.

The benefit night began with children singing songs about whales. A magic show and auction with some donated limited edition artworks by the artist, filled a wonderful evening.

The centerpiece of the evening was the unveiling of the 25-foot whale as it was highlighted by black light flood beams. When Dieter built the plexiglass whale, he went to the local jail for assistance. Twenty-eight inmates, including the director and social worker, helped put the plexiglass pieces on. It took three people counting all afternoon to count the number of plexiglass pieces.

The selected 90 guests were given chances to guess how many pieces composed the whale. Number varied from 6,000 to one million, 38 thousand!

The opening exhibit raised $5,000 to equip the local school with new musical instruments and $2,400 for the center for starving children in San Miguel Duenas in Guatemala.

The whale is now being exhibited at other locations to raise more money for children as chances are purchased to guess the correct number of plexiglass pieces comprising the whale.