By Rebecca Collins [email protected]On Saturday, September 17th, runners from all around the Houston area, including many from Seabrook and La Porte came out for the 4th An- nual Toughest 10K in Kemah. The race started promptly at 7:30 AM from the Kemah Boardwalk. According to one of the events organizers Robby Sabban, this year’s marathon saw a record of 928 registered runners and 829 finishers. The Toughest 10K Kemah is one in a series of three races known as Texas Bridge Series which include the upcoming La Porte Half Marathon, which crosses the Fred Hartman Bridge between La Porte and Baytown and The Toughest 10K Galveston, which crosses the Galveston Causeway. The Texas Bridge series are considered tough because of the bridge crossings. Accord- ing to TxDOT, the Kemah/ Seabrook bridge features a 4.3-percent grade from north to south and a 5-percent grade from south to north, as it rises to approximately 83 feet over the water. Crossing it twice is not an easy task for even the most seasoned runners. One notable runner in this year’s marathon is Josh Bur- ton of La Porte. Josh makes running marathons look easy, and finished the race in one hour and twenty-six minutes. Josh was named Male Ath- lete of the Year for the Spe- cial Olympics Texas Gulf Coast twice, and has become a serious marathon runner. In the past he has run in the La Porte by the Bay ½ Marathon, Galveston Mardi Gras ½ Mar- athon, and the Seabrook Lucky Trails Marathon. The La Porte Half Marathon is scheduled for Sunday, De- cember 4th. Organizers hope to attract more than a thousand runners to its start at Sylvan Beach and finish at La Porte’s Five Points Town Plaza area. The Toughest 10K Galveston is also scheduled for October 22nd. This 10K starts and fin- ishes at the Galveston Daily News Building on Teichman Road in Galveston. The Toughest 10K was assist- ed by volunteers from the Clear Lake Fitness Club, Bay Area Running Club, and The Bridge Over Troubled Water. Every- one enjoyed the post party music and food, and there was ice cream for all. For more in- formation visit the official web site at www.onetough10k.org. By The Bay FUMC Fall Festival First United Methodist Church - La Porte Saturday, October 1 9 a.m. to 4 p.m Craft Show, Silent Auction , Kids activities. Contact Rebecca Dudley at 281-478-4673 or dudleytrio@ comcast.net 2nd Annual Saltwater Derby Sept. 30, 2011 • 6 a.m. Outriggers Restaurant Seabrook Fish Times: The tournament will start at 6:00 a.m. on Friday, Sep- tember 30, 2011 there is NO early check-in or captains meeting. You may be on your spot anytime before 6:00 a.m. The fishing will end no later than 3:00 p.m. You may launch from any public ramp on the bound- ary waters. You can enter and pay online at http://www.ci.seabrook.tx.us. Rules are on the City of Seabrook website also, or enter and pay at Outriggers restaurant in Seabrook. GriefShare Recovery Seminar Bayshore Baptist Church La Porte Sundays at 5:45p.m. GriefShare recovery seminar and support group meets at Bayshore Baptist Church in La Porte Sundays at 5:45Pm beginning September 11, 2011. The church is located at 11315 Spencer. GriefShare is a 13-week program featuring nation- ally recognized experts on grief and recovery topics. Seminar sessions include the Journey of Grief; The effects of Grief; When your Spouse Dies; Your Family and Grief; and Stuck in Grief. For more informa- tion call Bayshore Baptist Church at 281-471-0332/www.bayshorebc. org. Please feel free to contact if you have questions or would like more information. “Around La Porte” Booksigning La Porte Bay Area Heritage Society Depot Sept. 25th • 2 to 4 p.m. Authors Ann Uloth Malone and Dan becker will be signing their pictorial history book “Around La Porte” at the La Porte Bay Area Heritage So- ciety Depot in La Porte on Sunday, September 25th from 2 to 4 p.m. Meet the authors and stay for a visit at the museum. Iris Blue First Baptist Church La Porte Sept. 24h & 25th Mark your calendars! Sept. 24th & 25th, 2011 Iris Blue will be at First Baptist Church of La Porte, TX to give her testimony. If you are not fa- miliar with her story, we encourage you to read “Iris: Trophy of Grace”. It is an amazing story that can touch every generation. Iris Blue, her husband Duane and their son Denim will each have a blessing to share with you. You and your family are encouraged to attend Saturday, Sept. 24th at 6:30 p.m. and Sunday, Sept. 25th starting with Sunday School at 9:30 a.m. We will be accepting love offerings. For more information please call 281-471-0338. Codependents Anonymous Meeting Up the Street Club Webster Wednesdays & Fridays 6:30 p.m. The ACME CODA bookstudy meets Wednesdays and Fridays at the Up the Street Club at 6:30 p.m. in Room 4. The club is located at 508 Nasa Rd.1 near corner of Wal- nut in Webster in the strip shopping center behind the auto repair shop. Our group works to overcome co- dependence by learning to: esteem ourselves appropriately, make func- tional boundaries, own our individ- ual reality, identify needs and wants, and live in moderation. We will be using Pia Mellody’s “The Intimacy Factor” and “Facing Codependence. For more information call 281-286- 1431. INDEX Community .......................2 Obituraries.......................2 Editorial/Opinion.............4 Sports...............................4 LPISD Newsletter .........5-8 Police News.....................9 Classifieds.....................11 In The Garden................12 Cuisine...........................12 VOLUME 2, NO. 38 LOCALLY OWNED & OPERATED THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 22, 2011 The Bay Area Observer Community News For The Galveston Bay Area Onsite or In-House - 2 Locations La Porte - 281-867-0429 Webster - 713-893-8920 Business-Residential PC-Laptop-Server Networks - Xbox-TV Repairs-Security Camera Home Theater Installs ABC COMPUTER SERVICES - 24 X 7 4th Annual Toughest 10K In Kemah Sees Record Number of Runners Continued on page 2 By Rebecca Collins [email protected]On Tuesday September 13th, Seabrook City Council voted 5–2 to adopt the FY2012 Budget. Paul Dunphey and Laura Davis opposed. An amendment to the budget, which includes a $6,700 increase in the Legislative Travel Bud- get was also passed by a 5-2 vote with Paul Dunphey and Laura Davis opposed. This amendment brings the budget item to a total of $15,000. Without the addition of the amendment, the budget includes a total of $16,991,068 for the General Fund, Enterprise Fund and Debt Service Fund budgets, and $12,676,347 for special budgets, not including the Economic Development Corporation bud- get and crime control district budget. The adoption of a 2011 tax rate of $0.649978 per $100 valuation passed unanimously. The tax rate of $0.649978 is equal to the city’s ef- fective tax rate for 2011. The effective tax rate provides the city with approximately the same amount of revenue it had the year before on properties taxed in both years. If property val- ues go up, the effective tax rate goes down. A comparison of property tax revenues from one year to the next determines whether there will be a tax increase. The breakdown of the total rate is as follows: $0.482691 per $100 valuation will be desig- nated for maintenance and operation of the city, with the remaining $0.167287 designated for payments on the city’s debts. The new tax rate reflects an increase from the 2010 rate of $0.626808 per $100 valuation. City council voted unanimously to adopt the FY 2012 budget for the Crime Control and Pre- vention District. The district’s budget will total $684,335. The FY2012 budget for the Seabrook Eco- nomic Development Corporation was passed by unanimous vote. The Economic Develop- ment Corporation budget for the year will total $724,420. The City of Seabrook, Economic Develop- ment Corporation, Crime Control and Preven- tion District, and the adoption of the tax rate were approved on first and final reading. A one-time three percent cost of living adjust- ment for the city’s employees was approved. All other items were approved by unanimous vote. All members were present. Seabrook City Council Approves Budgets and New Tax Rate Seabrook Roads Update The State recently approved the expenditure of funds allocated to the City as part of the Hur- ricane Ike recovery funding provided by the federal government. Three projects were iden- tified that fit the eligibility criteria: Lakeside Drive north of NASA Parkway, El Mar Lane & Seascape entrances, and Waterfront Drive. The Lakeside Drive project will simply re- place the old concrete pavement from just north of NASA Parkway to the southern entrance of Lake Cove subdivision. Some of the median openings will be shifted to align with the ma- jor driveways and reduce the number of U-turn movements required on the street. The City has been expending ever-increasing amounts on pavement maintenance on this section of road- way and this grant will enable us to restore the street to like-new condition. Construction is expected to start around the middle of October and take approximately 16 weeks. The road will remain open to two-way traffic throughout con- struction. The El Mar Lane project will replace the ex- isting pavement with concrete. The City has reworked the street several times over recent years, but the unusual design of the street and limited funds prevented the needed full recon- struction. The grant funds will allow the street to be completely repaved with concrete to make a long-lasting facility. The pavement will slope to the curb (and new storm water inlets) rather than to the median ditch, preventing debris from washing onto the roadway. Construction of this project is expected to begin around the first of the year. Unfortunately, access to property will be inconvenient during the project. Construc- tion will progress in segments so that the incon- venience to each homeowner will be as short as possible. As part of the same contract as El Mar Lane, the two entry roadways into the Seascape neigh- borhood will be replaced with concrete pave- ment. The generous areas of these intersections allow for relatively high speed turning move- ments and the asphalt pavement has required extensive maintenance. The Waterfront Drive project is actually aug- menting funds previously secured by the Sea- brook Economic Development Corporation to revitalize The Point area. The EDC’s project was directed toward enhancements such as sidewalks, underground utilities, and new pave- ment. The Ike funds have allowed for the right- of-way to be widened and the street elevated to eliminate the periodic tidal flooding which hampers business. This project is also expected to begin construction at the first of the year. From the City of Seabrook website at www. ci.seabrook.tx.us 812 S. 8th St. La Porte, TX. 77571 281-471-1430 NASA Announces Design for New Deep Space Exploration System NASA is ready to move forward with the development of the Space Launch System -- an advanced heavy-lift launch vehicle that will provide an entirely new national capability for human exploration beyond Earth’s orbit. The Space Launch System will give the nation a safe, affordable and sustainable means of reaching beyond our cur- rent limits and opening up new discoveries from the unique vantage point of space. “This launch system will create good-paying American jobs, ensure continued U.S. leadership in space, and inspire millions around the world,” NASA Administrator Charles Bolden said. “President Obama challenged us to be bold and dream big, and that’s exactly what we are doing at NASA. While I was proud to fly on the space shuttle, tomorrow’s explorers will now dream of one day walking on Mars.” The SLS rocket will incorporate technological investments from the Space Shuttle Program and the Constellation Program in order to take advantage of proven hardware and cutting-edge tooling and manufacturing technology that will significantly reduce development and operations costs. It will use a liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen propulsion system, which will include the RS-25D/E from the Space Shuttle Program for the core stage and the J-2X engine for the upper stage. SLS will also use solid rocket boosters for the initial develop- ment flights, while follow-on boosters will be competed based on performance requirements and affordability considerations. The SLS will have an initial lift capacity of 70 metric tons. That’s more than 154,000 pounds, or 77 tons, roughly the weight of 40 sport utility ve- Josh Burton Finished The Marathon in One Hour and Twenty Six Minutes. Burton is an Award Winning Athlete From La Porte Who Has Been The Special Olympics Athlete of the Year Twice. Artist concept of SLS launching. (NASA)
On Saturday, September 17th, runners from all around the Houston area, including many from Seabrook and La Porte came out for the 4th An-nual Toughest 10K in Kemah. The race started promptly at 7:30 AM from the Kemah Boardwalk. According to one of the events organizers Robby Sabban, this year’s marathon saw a record of 928 registered runners and 829 finishers. The Toughest 10K Kemah is one in a series of three races known as Texas Bridge Series which include the upcoming La Porte Half Marathon, which crosses the Fred Hartman Bridge between La Porte and Baytown and The Toughest 10K Galveston, which crosses the Galveston Causeway. The Texas Bridge series are considered tough because of the bridge crossings. Accord-ing to TxDOT, the Kemah/Seabrook bridge features a 4.3-percent grade from north to south and a 5-percent grade from south to north, as it rises to approximately 83 feet over the water. Crossing it twice is not an easy task for even the most seasoned runners. One notable runner in this year’s marathon is Josh Bur-ton of La Porte. Josh makes running marathons look easy, and finished the race in one
hour and twenty-six minutes. Josh was named Male Ath-lete of the Year for the Spe-cial Olympics Texas Gulf Coast twice, and has become a serious marathon runner. In the past he has run in the La Porte by the Bay ½ Marathon,
Galveston Mardi Gras ½ Mar-athon, and the Seabrook Lucky Trails Marathon. The La Porte Half Marathon is scheduled for Sunday, De-cember 4th. Organizers hope to attract more than a thousand runners to its start at Sylvan Beach and finish at La Porte’s
Five Points Town Plaza area. The Toughest 10K Galveston is also scheduled for October 22nd. This 10K starts and fin-ishes at the Galveston Daily News Building on Teichman Road in Galveston. The Toughest 10K was assist-ed by volunteers from the Clear
Lake Fitness Club, Bay Area Running Club, and The Bridge Over Troubled Water. Every-one enjoyed the post party music and food, and there was ice cream for all. For more in-formation visit the official web site at www.onetough10k.org.
By The BayFUMC Fall Festival First United Methodist Church - La PorteSaturday, October 19 a.m. to 4 p.mCraft Show, Silent Auction , Kids activities. Contact Rebecca Dudley at 281-478-4673 or [email protected]
2nd Annual Saltwater Derby Sept. 30, 2011 • 6 a.m.Outriggers Restaurant SeabrookFish Times: The tournament will start at 6:00 a.m. on Friday, Sep-tember 30, 2011 there is NO early check-in or captains meeting. You may be on your spot anytime before 6:00 a.m. The fishing will end no later than 3:00 p.m. You may launch from any public ramp on the bound-ary waters.You can enter and pay online at http://www.ci.seabrook.tx.us. Rules are on the City of Seabrook website also, or enter and pay at Outriggers restaurant in Seabrook.
GriefShare Recovery SeminarBayshore Baptist ChurchLa PorteSundays at 5:45p.m.GriefShare recovery seminar and support group meets at Bayshore Baptist Church in La Porte Sundays at 5:45Pm beginning September 11, 2011. The church is located at 11315 Spencer. GriefShare is a 13-week program featuring nation-ally recognized experts on grief and recovery topics. Seminar sessions include the Journey of Grief; The effects of Grief; When your Spouse Dies; Your Family and Grief; and Stuck in Grief. For more informa-tion call Bayshore Baptist Church at 281-471-0332/www.bayshorebc.org. Please feel free to contact if you have questions or would like more information.
“Around La Porte” BooksigningLa Porte Bay Area Heritage Society DepotSept. 25th • 2 to 4 p.m. Authors Ann Uloth Malone and Dan becker will be signing their pictorial history book “Around La Porte” at the La Porte Bay Area Heritage So-ciety Depot in La Porte on Sunday, September 25th from 2 to 4 p.m. Meet the authors and stay for a visit at the museum.
Iris BlueFirst Baptist ChurchLa PorteSept. 24h & 25thMark your calendars! Sept. 24th & 25th, 2011 Iris Blue will be at First Baptist Church of La Porte, TX to give her testimony. If you are not fa-miliar with her story, we encourage you to read “Iris: Trophy of Grace”. It is an amazing story that can touch every generation. Iris Blue, her husband Duane and their son Denim will each have a blessing to share with you. You and your family are encouraged to attend Saturday, Sept. 24th at 6:30 p.m. and Sunday, Sept. 25th starting with Sunday School at 9:30 a.m. We will be accepting love offerings. For more information please call 281-471-0338.
Codependents Anonymous Meeting Up the Street ClubWebsterWednesdays & Fridays6:30 p.m. The ACME CODA bookstudy meets Wednesdays and Fridays at the Up the Street Club at 6:30 p.m. in Room 4. The club is located at 508 Nasa Rd.1 near corner of Wal-nut in Webster in the strip shopping center behind the auto repair shop. Our group works to overcome co-dependence by learning to: esteem ourselves appropriately, make func-tional boundaries, own our individ-ual reality, identify needs and wants, and live in moderation. We will be using Pia Mellody’s “The Intimacy Factor” and “Facing Codependence. For more information call 281-286-1431.
INDEXCommunity.......................2Obituraries.......................2Editorial/Opinion.............4Sports...............................4LPISD Newsletter.........5-8Police News.....................9Classifieds.....................11In The Garden................12Cuisine...........................12
On Tuesday September 13th, Seabrook City Council voted 5–2 to adopt the FY2012 Budget. Paul Dunphey and Laura Davis opposed. An amendment to the budget, which includes a $6,700 increase in the Legislative Travel Bud-get was also passed by a 5-2 vote with Paul Dunphey and Laura Davis opposed. This amendment brings the budget item to a total of $15,000. Without the addition of the amendment, the budget includes a total of $16,991,068 for the General Fund, Enterprise Fund and Debt Service Fund budgets, and $12,676,347 for special budgets, not including the Economic Development Corporation bud-get and crime control district budget. The adoption of a 2011 tax rate of $0.649978 per $100 valuation passed unanimously. The tax rate of $0.649978 is equal to the city’s ef-fective tax rate for 2011. The effective tax rate provides the city with approximately the same amount of revenue it had the year before on properties taxed in both years. If property val-ues go up, the effective tax rate goes down. A comparison of property tax revenues from one
year to the next determines whether there will be a tax increase. The breakdown of the total rate is as follows: $0.482691 per $100 valuation will be desig-nated for maintenance and operation of the city, with the remaining $0.167287 designated for payments on the city’s debts. The new tax rate reflects an increase from the 2010 rate of $0.626808 per $100 valuation. City council voted unanimously to adopt the FY 2012 budget for the Crime Control and Pre-vention District. The district’s budget will total $684,335. The FY2012 budget for the Seabrook Eco-nomic Development Corporation was passed by unanimous vote. The Economic Develop-ment Corporation budget for the year will total $724,420. The City of Seabrook, Economic Develop-ment Corporation, Crime Control and Preven-tion District, and the adoption of the tax rate were approved on first and final reading. A one-time three percent cost of living adjust-ment for the city’s employees was approved. All other items were approved by unanimous vote. All members were present.
Seabrook City Council Approves Budgets and New Tax Rate
Seabrook Roads Update The State recently approved the expenditure of funds allocated to the City as part of the Hur-ricane Ike recovery funding provided by the federal government. Three projects were iden-tified that fit the eligibility criteria: Lakeside Drive north of NASA Parkway, El Mar Lane & Seascape entrances, and Waterfront Drive. The Lakeside Drive project will simply re-place the old concrete pavement from just north of NASA Parkway to the southern entrance of Lake Cove subdivision. Some of the median openings will be shifted to align with the ma-jor driveways and reduce the number of U-turn movements required on the street. The City has been expending ever-increasing amounts on pavement maintenance on this section of road-way and this grant will enable us to restore the street to like-new condition. Construction is expected to start around the middle of October and take approximately 16 weeks. The road will remain open to two-way traffic throughout con-struction. The El Mar Lane project will replace the ex-isting pavement with concrete. The City has reworked the street several times over recent years, but the unusual design of the street and limited funds prevented the needed full recon-struction. The grant funds will allow the street to be completely repaved with concrete to make a long-lasting facility. The pavement will slope
to the curb (and new storm water inlets) rather than to the median ditch, preventing debris from washing onto the roadway. Construction of this project is expected to begin around the first of the year. Unfortunately, access to property will be inconvenient during the project. Construc-tion will progress in segments so that the incon-venience to each homeowner will be as short as possible. As part of the same contract as El Mar Lane, the two entry roadways into the Seascape neigh-borhood will be replaced with concrete pave-ment. The generous areas of these intersections allow for relatively high speed turning move-ments and the asphalt pavement has required extensive maintenance. The Waterfront Drive project is actually aug-menting funds previously secured by the Sea-brook Economic Development Corporation to revitalize The Point area. The EDC’s project was directed toward enhancements such as sidewalks, underground utilities, and new pave-ment. The Ike funds have allowed for the right-of-way to be widened and the street elevated to eliminate the periodic tidal flooding which hampers business. This project is also expected to begin construction at the first of the year.
From the City of Seabrook website at www.ci.seabrook.tx.us
812 S. 8th St.La Porte, TX. 77571
281-471-1430
NASA Announces Design for New Deep Space Exploration System
NASA is ready to move forward with the development of the Space Launch System -- an advanced heavy-lift launch vehicle that will provide an entirely new national capability for human exploration beyond Earth’s orbit. The Space Launch System will give the nation a safe, affordable and sustainable means of reaching beyond our cur-rent limits and opening up new discoveries from the unique vantage point of space. “This launch system will create good-paying American jobs, ensure continued U.S. leadership in space, and inspire millions around the world,” NASA Administrator Charles Bolden said. “President Obama challenged us to be bold and dream big, and that’s exactly what we are doing at NASA. While I was proud to fly on the space shuttle, tomorrow’s explorers will now dream of one day walking on Mars.” The SLS rocket will incorporate technological investments from the Space Shuttle Program and the Constellation Program in order to take advantage of proven hardware and cutting-edge tooling and manufacturing technology that will significantly reduce development and operations costs. It will use a liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen propulsion system, which will include the RS-25D/E from the Space Shuttle Program for the core stage and the J-2X engine for the upper stage. SLS will also use solid rocket boosters for the initial develop-ment flights, while follow-on boosters will be competed based on performance requirements and affordability considerations. The SLS will have an initial lift capacity of 70 metric tons. That’s more than 154,000 pounds, or 77 tons, roughly the weight of 40 sport utility ve-
Josh Burton Finished The Marathon in One Hour and Twenty Six Minutes. Burton is an Award Winning Athlete From La Porte Who Has Been The Special Olympics Athlete of the Year Twice.
Artist concept of SLS launching. (NASA)
PAGE 2 THE BAY AREA OBSERVER THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 22, 2011
Opinions in this paper are those of the authors and not necessarily those of the news-paper. Any erroneous statement which may appear will be corrected if brought to the attention of the publisher. Liability for errors is limited to the reprinting of the cor-rected version. Submissions are encouraged by mail, by fax, or by email to [email protected].
Sales Representative...............................................Ann BrunkowSeabrook/Kemah/Bay Area • 832-434-3363 • [email protected]
Sales Representative...........................................Michelle DudleySeabrook/Kemah/Bay Area • 832-875-1236 • [email protected]
The Bay Area ObserverServing the communities along Galveston Bay.
El Jardin BAYFEST 2011Come Join The Fun October 2nd At The Beachfront Park In El Jardin!
Rodeo Committee • Lots Of Great Food
Cheap Beer • Kids Games • Raffle
Helicopter Rides • Live Music
Fun For Everyone Of All Ages!
For Directions And More Information Please Visit
www.eljardindelmar.org
Second Chance Pets’ Adopt a Less Adoptable Pet Continues September 24th
NOLIA VERRET GREEN
Nolia Verret Green, 101, of La Porte, Texas passed away on September 15th, 2011. She was born on July 22nd 1910, in Hayes, Louisiana to Aurelan Derouen and Marie Derouen. Her husbands Clarence Verret and Corbit Green, daughters
Janet Crather and Sharon Sue Verret, precede her in death. Her children Elizabeth Jeffers, Peggy Holland, Gerald Verret and wife Diann, 17 grandchil-dren and numerous Great Great Grandchildren and Great Great Great Grandchildren, survive her. She was a devoted Wife, Mother, and Grandmother. If she wasn’t in the kitchen cook-ing she was outside in her man-icured yard. Strangers would stop and admire her yard and several of these people became close friends. She was known by Mo Mo by all that knew her. Visitation will begin at 1:00 PM on September 19th, 2011 at Paul U. Lee Funeral Home with rosary to follow at 7:00 PM and Mass will be held at St. Mary’s Catholic Church at 11:00 AM on September 20th, 2011.
OBITUARIESFire Danger Closes
Nature Center Trails Record high temperatures and low rainfall have resulted in an extreme fire hazard at Armand Bayou Nature Center in Pasadena, Texas. While the core exhibit areas remain open, staff has decided to close five miles of primitive hiking trails to public access. All staff supervised education programs and stewardship projects will occur as scheduled, provided that conditions do not worsen. The Discovery Loop interpretive trail will also remain open. Only prairie and forest trails are posted and blocked at this time. The Harris County “no open fires” ban also applies to the nature center, and smoking is always prohibited. ABNC Stewardship Coordinator Mark Kramer reports, “I have never seen drought conditions so bad, and I grew up here. A fire now would be a catastrophe.” Nature personnel and volunteers are urging the surrounding neighborhoods and businesses to please ex-ercise extreme caution with any flames or smoking materials. For many years Armand Bayou Nature Center has used prescribed burns on its prairie grasslands to restore and maintain the rare hab-itat, but an uncontrolled wildfire would threaten the equally rare coastal forests and bayou shoreline. Tallgrass prairies are adapted to fire, but the hardwood forests and understory shrubs are not. In normal rainfall conditions, both the prairie and forested areas of Armand Bayou Nature Center are classified as wetlands. Armand Bayou Nature Center is located at 8500 Bay Area Blvd. near Red Bluff Road in Pasadena, TX. The Center is open Wednesday through Saturday at 9:00 AM. On Sundays the Center opens at Noon. The last admission is at 4:00 PM. The gates and parking lot close at 5:00 PM. Admission fees are $2 for seniors over 59, $4 for adults, $2 for children 4 to 12, and children under 4 are free. Visitors are encouraged to wear sturdy shoes and be pre-pared for changing weather conditions. More information about Armand Bayou Nature Center is available at www.abnc.org
Keep La Porte Beautiful Keep it CLEAN La Porte! The City of La Porte is again, re-introducing our Keep La Porte Beautiful Program and everyone is reminded to do their part to keep La Porte clean and beautiful. Several years ago the City of La Porte created the Voluntary Contribution Plan for beauti-fication and trails in our com-munity and kicked off the Keep La Porte Beautiful Program with a beautification project funded by the Voluntary Con-tribution Plan. This plan is still in place and affords residents of La Porte the opportunity to contribute to the fund on your utility bill. These contributions are used for creating and main-taining flowerbeds, landscape projects, and trails for our com-munity. The program initiates projects that relate to beautifi-cation and conservation. Since the Keep La Porte Beau-tiful Program and the Voluntary Contribution Plan began, the tree planting program facilitat-ed by volunteers and city staff has been a huge success, with trees being planted on Canada
Road, in Pecan Park, and sev-eral other areas around the City. Efforts by the program was to bring increased aware-ness to our citizens regarding the benefits of recycling and since then, an expanded recy-cling program is now available for our citizens. Litter has also become a huge eyesore in our community and has cost City of La Porte tax-payers to clean up. Volunteers of non-profit organizations have the opportunity to raise money for picking up litter around the City. For more in-formation on becoming a vol-unteer or information on recy-cling, visit the City’s website at www.laportetx.gov or call the Public Works Department at 281-471-9650. As a member of the communi-ty, you can participate by using trash and/or recycling recep-tacles and please don’t litter. We can do all of these beauti-fication projects and more with your help. When you pay your water bill, don’t forget to check the contribution box to Keep La Porte Beautiful!
hicles. The lift capacity will be evolvable to 130 metric tons -- more than 286,000 pounds, or 143 tons -- enough to lift 75 SUVs. The first developmental flight, or mission, is targeted for the end of 2017. This specific architecture was selected, largely because it utilizes an evolvable development approach, which allows NASA to address high-cost development activities early on in the program and take ad-vantage of higher buying power before inflation erodes the available funding of a fixed budget. This architecture also enables NASA to leverage existing capabilities and lower development costs by using liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen for both the core and upper stag-es. Additionally, this architecture provides a modular launch vehicle that can be configured for specific mission needs using a variation of common elements. NASA may not need to lift 130 metric tons for each mission and the flexibility of this modular architecture allows the agency to use different core stage, upper stage, and first-stage booster combinations to achieve the most efficient launch vehicle for the desired mission. “NASA has been making steady progress toward realizing the president’s goal of deep space exploration, while doing so in a more affordable way,” NASA Deputy Administrator Lori Garver said. “We have been driving down the costs on the Space Launch System and Orion contracts by adopting new ways of doing business and project hundreds of millions of dollars of savings each year.” The Space Launch System will be NASA’s first exploration-class vehicle since the Saturn V took American astronauts to the moon over 40 years ago. With its superior lift capability, the SLS will ex-pand our reach in the solar system and allow us to explore cis-lunar space, near-Earth asteroids, Mars and its moons and beyond. We will learn more about how the solar system formed, where Earth’s water and organics originated and how life might be sustained in places far from our Earth’s atmosphere and expand the boundaries of human exploration. These discoveries will change the way we understand ourselves, our planet, and its place in the universe.
NASA Announcement .....Continued from page 1
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NICHOLAS GREENNicholas Green, JR., 78, of La Porte, Texas passed September 19th, 2011. He was born in Morgan’s Point, Texas in 1933 to Nicholas Green, SR. and Ju-lia Dudley. He is preceded in death by his son Chris, brother Victor, and sister Jessie. Wife Opal Green, children Mike Green and wife Alma, John
Green and wife Kellye, Patrick Green and wife Christy, sister Julia Dautriel, grandchildren Brittany, Bobby, Chelsea, Mi-chael, Austin, and Briana sur-vive him. Rosary will be at 9:00 A.M. on September 22nd 2011 at St. Mary’s Catholic Church with mass to follow at 10:00 A.M.
Bay Area Welcome Neighbors met September 15 at Bay Oaks Country Club for their monthly luncheon & meeting. A wonderful Fashion Show by Back Bay Boutique in Seabrook was moderated by owner, Robyn Weigelt. Models were BAWN members: Ann Yadon, Betty McElvain, Sue Lenes, Cheryl Butler, Sandy Records, Dorothy Krejci, Anna Ward, & Kathy Dalton BAWN meets the 3rd Thurs-day of each month at Bay Oaks Country Club. Guests welcome. Contact Su-zanne Lamminen for reserva-tions at [email protected] or 832-724-2019.
Bay Area Welcome Neighbors Monthly Luncheon & Meeting
Features Fashion Show By Back Bay Boutique
SCP will continue to showcase its less-adoptable pets on Sept. 24th. A special cage-card will alert pro-spective adoptive parents to the specific cats and dogs included in the program. The card will read “Don’t Pass Me By Because I’m: special needs, older, shy, or less popular color/ breed, etc., Adopt me because I need you.” Calypso, a sweet calico was thrown from a car as a kitten and rescued by a fireman has special needs due to neglect. In addition
there is Miracle: burned as a kit-ten, adopted out, relinquished at an Austin shelter and“miraculously” returned to SCP from that shelter because of her microchip. SCP microchips all of its adopted pets. For more information email Sec-ond Chance Pets at [email protected], call 281-286-3535 or visit www.secondchancepets.org. SCP adoptables are shown on Saturdays from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Petco store (Bay Area and Space Center Blvds.) and cats are shown at the Petsmart store across from Baybrook Mall the first and third Sundays of every month. Selected cats may be seen during the week at the Petco location and photographs of most adoptables are posted on our website. Almost all animals are fostered in local homes because it does not have a shelter. As always PLEASE SPAY AND NEUTER YOUR PETS. Second Chance Pets is a nonprofit 501 (C) (3) animal wel-fare organization. All donations are tax deductible.
THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 22, 2011 THE BAY AREA OBSERVER PAGE 3
LA PORTE SAFETY FAIR
La Porte Football Boosters Air Products Make Ice Cream With Liquid Nitrogen
The LPISD Transportation Department Serves Sno-Cones
Representatives With Al Anding Seated On The Right From
Al Anding’s Insurance Office
La Porte Fire Department Gives The Crowd A Demonstration On How The “Jaws Of Life” Are Used.
BayCert Volunteers
Grace, A Student At Lomax Junior High Tries Her Hand At Handling The Fire Hose
If It Matters To You,
It Matters To Us
The Bay Area Observer
281-907-3140
La Porte Jr. High Assistant Principal Mike Clyde Gets Dunked
PAGE 4 THE BAY AREA OBSERVER THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 22, 2011
EDITORIAL /OPINION
Support Continuing Efforts To Protect Texas Rivers & Bays
Ask Your Legislators To Support The Texas Bottle Bill In 2013Visit www.TexasBottleBill.com or www.BottleBill.org
By Keith Schul
It was an ugly game at Turner Stadium last Friday, but the La Porte Bulldogs found a way to pull out a 26-7 win over the Atascocita Ea-gles. Thank you to Lance Johnson for attending and giving out updates! Follow him on twitter @LPdogLJhookem. The game started with a good drive from La Porte and Junior Running Back Keith Whitely (16 carries, 91 yards) capped it off with a 21 yard touchdown run early in the first quarter. After a few back and forth possessions La Porte was intercepted by in their own territory and Atascocita mad them pay with a 35 yard touch-down pass from Grant Ashcraft to Jemarcus Jones. The rest of the half featured two Junior Kicker Eric Medina field goals, a 42 and a 34 yarder. At halftime the score was La Porte 13 Atascocita 7. The second half came and went with the La Porte Defense completely shutting down the Atascocita offense. On the night the Eagles only had 2 first downs and 80 total yards. La Porte’s offense was having a hard time getting
much going as well, but finally broke through in the 4th quarter with Senior Quarterback Josh Vidales taking the ball himself for a 23 yard touchdown with ten minutes left. The Bulldogs finally seemed to wear down Atascocita’s de-fense and a good drive was capped off with a 1 yard Chad Sutherland touchdown. La Porte’s defense came into the game with-out standout Junior Nosetackle Corey Lee. The defensive ends Senior Blake Turlington and Ju-nior Alex Jones stepped up in his absence and the Bulldogs D did not miss a beat. Atascocita abandoned their running game in the second half and La Porte put so much pressure on the Eagles offense they could not get anything go-ing. Atascocita had more penalties yards marked off then they had on offense 102 yards in pe-nalites and only 80 of offense. La Porte needs to work on stopping all of these penalties as well as they had 11 penalties for 120 yards marked off. Make these mistakes against teams like Deer Park and they will make you pay. Speaking of, it’s DEER PARK WEEK!
SPORTS
By Keith Schul
The much hyped match-up of La Porte’s Defense The big game is upon us as Friday night at Bull-dog Stadium the La Porte Bulldogs take on the Deer Park Deer in the yearly rivalry game. The Bulldogs are looking to avenge last season’s 21-19 loss in Deer Park. La Porte comes into this weeks game 3-1 after a big win over Atascocita last week 26-7. La Porte’s defense held Atascocita to 80 total yards and 2 first downs over the whole game. Deer Park comes to La Porte with a 4-0 record. Last week the Deer beat Westside 27-25 despite giving up 327 yards rushing to standout Westside running back Ben Catalon. Deer Park is ranked #10 in the Houston area by the Chronicle. On offense Deer Park has been lighting up the scoreboards averaging over 29 points per game. Senior Quarterback and 3 year starter Austin Rainer leads the pro style Deer attack. Rainer has had some success through the air with 726 yards and 7 touchdowns. His favorite receiver is Junior Eric Luna (15 catches 342 yards 5 touchdowns). On the ground Senior Running Back Demetrius Banks has been a dominant force with 705 yards and 6 tds including a couple of 200 yard perfor-mances. On defense Deer Park is lead by Linebackers Casey Westmoreland (Sr) and Vincent Vega (Jr). The Deer defense has been vulnerable and have given up almost 22 points a game. La Porte should be able to get some points on the board this week. On offense La Porte features a lot of different backs and offensive sets. Junior Keith Whitely leads the Bulldogs in rushing with 258 yards and 4 touchdowns. He is followed closely by Sopho-more Jonathan Lewis (202 yards, 6.3 yards per carry). Senior Quarterback Josh Vidales (311 pass
yards, 119 rushing) provides a leader in the back-field of a very young Bulldog offense. At receiver Senior Aaron Nance-Garrett (9 catches, 128 yards) is looking for a breakout performance this week. Junior Kicker Eric Medina has been outstanding this season with some long field goals. On defense the Bulldogs feature the great line-backer play La Porte is becoming famous for with Seniors Cameron Whilley, Chad Sutherland and Chris Hickey as well as electric Sophomore Hoza Scott. La Porte will be in the backfield all night forcing mistakes and negative plays for the of-fense. Nance-Garrett leads the secondary along with Whitely and Juniors Ellis Hutchinson and Malik Graves. On the defensive line the Bulldogs have featured the outstanding trio of Senior Blake Turlington and Juniors Corey Lee and Alex Jones. Corey Lee was out last week and we will see if he is back in the lineup Friday night. Keys to a La Porte Victory:- Make Rainer try to move the Deer through the air. Controlling the ground game will give the Bulldogs control of time of possession and will wear down the Deer defense in the 4th quarter.-Win the battle of field position. La Porte’s young offense has struggled with mistakes and a short-er field can help get the Bulldogs into field goal range. Medina and Vidales have been outstanding this season in kicking and punting.-La Porte must find an identity on offense this week after struggling the last two weeks. The game this week will be on 1560 the game AM radio locally this week as well as online at 1560thegame.com. I expect we will have a capac-ity crowd at Bulldog stadium and the stadium will be full early. Lets get loud and support the La Porte Bull-dogs!
Final La Porte 26 Atascocita 7 Postgame Analysis
La Porte Orange & White ReportWeek 4 La Porte vs Deer Park Preview
Keith Schul is the owner and writer for La Porte Bulldog Football Blog at http://lpbulldogs.blogspot.com.
You can also follow along on Twitter @lpbulldogblog
Rusty’s Corner Shouldn’t Every Day Be Constitution Day
By Rusty Cates
September 17 was Constitution Day and this week is Constitution week. Did you notice? Or was it like so many other days that go by with hardly a notice: National Non-Smoking Week, January 20-26; National Farm Safety Week, March 14-20; Clean Air Day June 4 (It’s not clear what we are supposed to breath the rest of the year.); and the upcoming Ataxia Awareness Day, September 25. (Despite the sound of its name, this in not the Tea Party’s high holiday.) September 17 was the day in 1787 when the delegates to the Constitutional Convention signed their work and sent it out to the states for ratification by the people and the United States Constitution was born. On that day, we celebrate the world’s second oldest function-ing constitution. (The 1780 Constitution of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts is the oldest. Interestingly, John Adams, who was the author of the first, was a key drafter of the second. In that sense, the U. S. Constitution was his second draft.) Much is said about limited government; how-ever, at the time of its drafting, the delegates at the convention in Philadelphia were more con-cerned about a weak government. They had been called to propose changes in the existing Articles of Confederation which had left the young nation so weak that its viability was in doubt. The government under the Articles was a crea-ture of the states, delegating very little power to
the national government. There was no separa-tion of powers, no permanent administration, and no way to resolve differences among the states. The congress had no power to tax, leaving it to beg the states for contributions, and worst of all, any amendments required unanimous ratifica-tion; an impossible hurdle.The single most important thing about the Con-stitution of the United States is that it changed the relationship between the people and their national government. The opening words of the Articles of Confederation were, “To all to whom these Presents shall come, we the undersigned Delegates of the States affixed to our Names send greeting.” (Not exactly a call to national patriotism.) The government it created was en-tirely dependent on the voluntary cooperation of the individual states, much as the United Na-tions is today. Under the Articles, people were citizens of the states and the state governments controlled the nation. The opening words of the Constitution are, “We, the People of the United States ... do or-dain and establish this Constitution for the Unit-ed States of America.” The Constitution was not ratified by the state governments but by special conventions of the people called in each state. Our, government, the one whose Constitution we celebrate this week, is a creation of the peo-ple of this great nation acting as a single whole. And that is why, as we say our Pledge of Al-legiance; we can say proudly that we are, “One nation, under God, with liberty and justice for all.” It’s just a thought.
Rusty Cates is the owner of Coffee Oasis at 4650 NASA Parkway (At Kirby) in Seabrook. He can be reached at [email protected] or better yet, stop by Coffee Oa-sis , find a cozy corner and enjoy a great cup of coffee or wine.. Visit www.coffee-oasis.com for a list of the great en-tertainment that can be seen almost any day of the week!
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Things are rapidly ramping up for the US Team Racing Champi-onship for the George R. Hinman Trophy, and the Houston Yacht Club is privileged to have been selected to host this year’s champi-onship scheduled Sept. 29 through Oct. 2 at HYC. This championship, which is de-scribed as one of the most exciting and fast-paced regattas in the Unit-ed States, is raced in Vanguard 15s and draws the best of the best na-tional and international sailors and skippers from all over the world, according to Stephanie Wright, re-gatta chair. “The Bay Area has a very ac-tive fleet of Vanguard 15 sailors who regularly compete on Clear Lake and Galveston Bay, and to be selected to be the host location attests not only to the reputation
of the Houston Yacht Club and the Galveston Bay area as a prime event venue, but also to the reputa-tion of our sailors and the quality of sailing we have to offer,” Wright said. “This event was held in Se-attle, Washington last year, and it is our hope that this year’s event will surpass the superlative job that last year’s host demonstrated.” The US Team Racing Champi-onship selection process is exhaus-tive and the competitors are by invitation only. There will be 15 national and international teams participating in this year’s event. “We expect to witness some of the best team racing sailing available,” Wright said. “Additionally, nation-al and international umpires will be here to oversee the racing.” As our neighbors, we would like to invite you to come out and enjoy
the racing action. For more infor-mation, please visit us online at www.houstonyachtclub.com on the Race and Regatta page. About the Team Racing Champi-onship for the George R. Hinman Trophy. Sailing World staged a re-gatta for racing teams in 1980 that was so popular that US Sailing de-cided to stage similar races the fol-lowing year. The trophy that goes to the winner is named for George R. Hinman, a former president of the North American Yacht Racing Union who served in America’s Cup racing as helmsman, syndicate manager, and chairman of the se-lection committee. Three-boat/six-person teams take part in the regat-ta by invitation only. Rolex, Laser Performance, Gill and Old Pultney are this year’s national sponsors.
The 2nd Annual J/Fest Southwest Regatta will be bigger and better than ever as forecast by Lakewood Yacht Club’s Race Committee Chairman Dwight Bengtson.“Through working with Scott and Terry Spurlin of J Boats Southwest in Austin, we are promoting this regatta throughout all of the Gulf Coast States. In fact, we have a rac-ing contingency coming from Dil-lion Yacht Club in Colorado!” he explained. At least 70 boats from all over the country are expected to participate in this regatta. Hosted by Lakewood Yacht Club, this national regatta will be held on Galveston Bay on Sat., Oct. 29 and Sun., Oct. 30. With racers coming to Bay Area Houston from numer-ous locations, many will be staying in our local hotels. Keeping this in mind, the city of Seabrook has stepped up to the plate for the sec-ond year as the regatta’s Platinum sponsor with monies from the hotel/motel tax. Through the hard work of Rear Commodore Carl Drechsel
and his J/Fest Committee, there are three Silver level sponsors: J/Boats Southwest, Parkway Chevrolet, and J/World Annapolis. Bronze level sponsors are Water-line Works, Gary Trinklein Photo-graphs, John Lacy Photographs and Harken. Copper sponsors include Hall Spars and Riggings, North U., the Nassau Bay Hilton, Blackburn Marine Supply, West Marine, and UK Halsey. The focus of J/Fest Southwest Regatta is to provide a venue that is all inclusive to J/Boat owners, their family, and friends. While the racers are on the water, their family and friends can enjoy the numerous activities in the area using materials
provided by the Bay Area Houston Convention & Visitors Bureau. One design fleets slated for the J/Fest Southwest Regatta are J/22, J/24, J/80, J/105 and the J/109. It will be a circuit stop for the J/24’s and the J/80’s. All J/Boats are wel-come to race in the PHRF classes and in the J/Cruise class. Any J/Boat is eligible to participate and the regatta organizers intend to of-fer several exciting formats for the non One Design racers. The Skippers’ Meeting will be held in the ballroom of Lakewood Yacht Club on the evening of Fri., Oct. 28, 6:30 pm for check-in, meeting, and refreshments. A pool party with live music and dinner are planned after the races on Saturday and the Awards Ceremony will take place on Sun., Oct. 30, after the races. For further information or ques-tions, please go to the website www.lakewoodyachtclub.com or www.JfestSouthwest.com.
J/Fest Southwest Expands Sponsors And Participants
Houston Yacht Club selected to host Racing Championship
THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 22, 2011 THE BAY AREA OBSERVER PAGE 5
5953 Fairmont ParkwayPasadena, TX. 77505
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PAGE 6 THE BAY AREA OBSERVER THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 22, 2011
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THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 22, 2011 THE BAY AREA OBSERVER PAGE 7
PAGE 8 THE BAY AREA OBSERVER THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 22, 2011
Does Your Business Want To Support The LPISD Newsletter?Your Ad Could Appear Here! Call Us Today For Details & Rates.
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THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 22, 2011 THE BAY AREA OBSERVER PAGE 9
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LPPD Continues Active DWI Enforcement Efforts
With area rodeo events sched-uled for the final weekend of September, the La Porte Police Department is preparing for a potential increase in the num-ber of intoxicated drivers op-erating along local roadways. To address the increase, the department is taking proactive steps to ensure the safety of the travelling public by hosting its fourth “No Refusal” DWI cam-paign. “No Refusal” operations have been one of the many
tools credited in decreasing the number of drunk-driving inci-dents along area roadways. Under the “No Refusal” pro-gram, when a suspected of-fender is arrested for DWI they are given an opportunity to provide a specimen of their breath and/or blood. Should the offender choose not to provide a specimen, officers will have a Harris County District At-torney on site to draft a search warrant, in order to obtain the desired specimen. A La Porte municipal judge is also present at the City of La Porte’s Police Facility to validate the warrant. This validation process ulti-mately allows for the collection of a specimen by a qualified representative from local Bay-shore Hospital. Such a process gives officers and prosecutors the physical evidence needed to successfully convict those who choose to drink and drive.
To maximize police enforce-ment efforts, several additional La Porte Officers will be as-signed specifically to DWI pa-trol duty, while Harris County PCT. 8 and members of the Texas Department of Public Safety will also be in the area looking for DWI offenders. Outside agencies making their DWI arrests during the “No Refusal” program will bring those offenders to the La Porte Police Department for their processing as well. This is es-pecially pleasing, as every ad-ditional, targeted, arrest made in and around the La Porte area keeps the same offender from driving along the shared road-ways within our neighboring communities and thus prevents these offenders from causing additional harm. The “No Refusal” Operation will be held at the La Porte Police Department on Friday,
September 30th and is expect-ed to be equally productive as previous events. During the previous year, LPPD exhibited a significant increase in DWI arrests, with an increase of more than 50%. The increase is believed to have been due, in large part, to the proactive ef-forts such as DWI - No Refusal Nights as well as other, more focused, efforts designed to ap-prehend those who choose to drink and drive. Members of the La Porte Police Department sincerely desire for their citizens to ex-perience the safest weekends possible. Therefore, LPPD continues to promote the very same message being promoted state-wide - If you drink and drive, you will go to jail. If you have any questions about La Porte PD’s “No Refusal Week-end”, please contact the agency at 281-471-2141.
POLICE NEWS
LP Fire Marshal’s Office Tips to Prevent Grass and Brush Fires
By now everyone is aware of how dry it’s been. With a lack of rainfall, the risk of grass and brush fires has become extreme-
ly heightened. As a result, the La Porte Fire Marshall’s Office asks that residents follow the tips list-ed below to help reduce the risk of grass fires in our community: Dead vegetation poses a sig-nificant fire danger and should be removed. With the magnitude of the drought in Texas, many grasses, shrubs, and trees have fallen victim. Even if a copious amount of rain were to fall to-morrow, significant damage has already been done. Therefore, be cautious when using powered lawn equipment. Ensure that all engines are prop-erly oiled and are not generat-ing sparks. When equipment is turned off after use it should be
placed on a non combustible sur-face so that the hot engine will not cause a fire. Those that smoke should be vigilant of where cigarette butts are discarded. A careless smoker flicking a cigarette out of a win-dow is all-too-often a common cause of grass fires. Smokers should discard all smoking ma-terials in an approved container. When using charcoal grills, you should use caution when dispos-ing of coals. Ensure that all coals are completely extinguished be-fore discarding by soaking them in water or waiting at least 24 hours so that they have time to completely burn out. Citizens of La Porte should
also keep in mind that un-per-mitted campfires or the burning of trash and vegetation is illegal in the city. As a result, residents discovered in violation of the City Ordinance may be issued a citation. All community members can do their part in helping to reduce the risk of grass fires by keep-ing grass and weeds cut short. Tall dead grass is a readily ignit-able fuel and can often produce quickly burning grass fires. La Porte’s Office of the Fire Marshal suggests that by follow-ing the listed steps, residents can actively participate in area fire prevention.
A Very Special Thank You To Our 2011 Sponsors
Tournament FormatFour-Person Scramble (best ball). Cost includes: Green Fee, Cart, Range Balls, BBQ Dinner, Goodie Bags & Drinks. Trophies given out for 1st, 2nd, & 3rd places and for Hole Challenges.
RaffleWe are having a Raffle for golfers on the day of the event. If you would like to donate a service, goods, tickets, or other items to promote your business, give Kenny Martin a call.
October 1, 20111:30pm ~ Shotgun Start
Bay Forest Golf Course 201 Bay Forest • La Porte, Texas 77571
All proceeds will fund a scholarship for a LPHS student
Tickets are availiable at: 10428 Spencer at front desk from 8-5, M-F Raffle will be drawn at the LPPOA Golf Tournament on 10/1
For more info call 281-739-4582
Tickets are $5/each or 6 tickets for $20
Two prizes are being raffled: 1) A remington 870 12g shotgun
2) A guided one person dove hunt for 2012-2013 season.
City of La Porte- Leash Law The City of La Porte would like to remind residents of the City’s Leash Laws, which regulate the control of domestic pets within the city limits. The ordinances have been es-tablished in order to protect both citizens of La Porte and guests of the city, as well as the animals within their control. The following is a definition of the “running at large” as it pertains to animals (dogs and cats) within the City of La Porte: Running at large off the premises means any dog which is not restrained by means of a leash or chain of sufficient strength and not more than six feet in length to control the actions of such an animal while off the premises, or any cat which is off the owner’s property. Running at large on the premises means any dog not confined at the premises of the owner by a substantial fence of sufficient strength and height to prevent the animal from escaping, or secured on the prem-ises by a metal chain or leash sufficient in
strength to prevent the animal from escap-ing from premises, and so arranged that the animal will remain upon the premises when the leash is stretched to full length. A dog in-truding upon the property of another person other than that of the owner shall be termed at large. Any animal within an automobile or other vehicle possessed by its owner or owner’s agent shall not be deemed at large. A female dog in heat that is not enclosed shall be considered at large, whether on or off the premises. As noted, the City of La Porte has an “at large” violation even if the animal is on its own property but not under the direct con-trol of the person responsible for the animal. When you are not in an enclosed area your animal must be restrained at all times. The leash laws are in place to protect you, your pet, fellow citizens, and other animals with-in our community. If your animal gets loose, and is later picked up by Animal Control, it will be taken to the
animal shelter at 1201 South 4th Street for impound. The impound fees are $35.00 for the first day, and an additional $5.00 for each day the animal is at the shelter. If the animal is not currently registered with the City, a fee of $5.00 is also applied to your fees for the registration. If your animal is also not current on its rabies vaccination status then an additional charge of $10.00 for a rabies shot will also be applied to your fees. If your animal has been sterilized, then the City reg-istration fee is waived. The leash law exists for everyone’s pro-tection as well as for that of your animal. Therefore, it is recommended that the next time you are out for a walk or on the beach, be sure and remember to put your dog on a leash. It is not only the right thing to do, but it is also the law in the City of La Porte. If you have any questions about this or any other topic related to animal care, please feel free to contact Animal Control Officer Patrick Smith at 281-842-3700.
PAGE 10 THE BAY AREA OBSERVER THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 22, 2011
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NOTICE OF DRAFT FEDERAL OPERATING PERMITDRAFT PERMIT NO.: 02291
APPLICATION AND DRAFT PERMIT, La Porte Methanol Company, L.P., P.O. Box 1058, La Porte, Texas 77572-1058, an Industrial Organic Chemicals facility, has applied to the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) for a renewal of Federal Operating Permit (herein referred to as Permit) No. 02291, Applica-tion No. 16480, to authorize operation of the La Porte Methanol Plant. The area addressed by the application is located at 11603 Strang Road in La Porte, Harris County, Texas 77572. This application was received by the TCEQ on June 2, 2011.
The purpose of a federal operating permit is to improve overall compliance with the rules governing air pollu-tion control by clearly listing all applicable requirements, as defined in Title 30 Texas Administrative Code § 122.10 (30 TAC § 122.10). The draft permit, if approved, will codify the conditions under which the area must operate. The permit will not authorize new construction. The executive director has completed the technical review of the application and has made a preliminary decision to prepare a draft permit for public comment and review. The executive director recommends issuance of this draft permit. The permit application, statement of basis, and draft permit will be available for viewing and copying at the TCEQ Central Office, 12100 Park 35 Circle, Building E, First Floor, Austin, Texas; the TCEQ Houston Regional Office, 5425 Polk Street, Suite H, Houston, Texas 77023-1452; and the La Porte Community Library, 600 South Broadway Street, La Porte, Texas, beginning the first day of publication of this notice. At the TCEQ central and regional offices, relevant supporting materials for the draft permit, as well as the New Source Review permits which have been incorpo-rated by reference, may be reviewed and copied. Any person with difficulties obtaining these materials due to travel constraints may contact the TCEQ central office file room at (512) 239-1540.
PUBLIC COMMENT/NOTICE AND COMMENT HEARING. Any person may submit written com-ments on the draft permit. Comments relating to the accuracy, completeness, and appropriateness of the permit conditions may result in changes to the draft permit.
A person who may be affected by the emission of air pollutants from the permitted area may request a notice and comment hearing. The purpose of the notice and comment hearing is to provide an additional op-portunity to submit comments on the draft permit. The permit may be changed based on comments pertaining to whether the permit provides for compliance with 30 TAC Chapter 122 (examples may include that the permit does not contain all applicable requirements or the public notice procedures were not satisfied). The TCEQ may grant a notice and comment hearing on the application if a written hearing request is received within 30 days after publication of the newspaper notice. The hearing request must include the basis for the request, including a description of how the person may be affected by the emission of air pollutants from the application area. The request should also specify the conditions of the draft permit that are inappropriate or specify how the preliminary decision to issue or deny the permit is inappropriate. All reasonably ascertainable issues must be raised and all reasonably available arguments must be submitted by the end of the public comment period. If a notice and comment hearing is granted, all individuals that submitted written comments or a hearing request will receive written notice of the hearing. The notice will identify the date, time, and location for the hearing.
Written public comments and/or requests for a notice and comment hearing should be submitted to the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, Office of the Chief Clerk, MC-105, P.O. Box 13087, Austin, Texas 78711-3087, or electronically at www.tceq.texas.gov/about/comments.html and be received within 30 days after the date of newspaper publication of this notice.
A notice of proposed final action that includes a response to comments and identification of any changes to the draft permit will be mailed to everyone who submitted public comments, a hearing request, or requested to be on the mailing list for this application. This mailing will also provide instructions for public petitions to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to request that the EPA object to the issuance of a permit which is not in compliance with the applicable requirements or the requirements of 30 TAC Chapter 122.
MAILING LIST. In addition to submitting public comments, a person may ask to be placed on a mailing list for this application by sending a request to the Office of the Chief Clerk at the address above. Those on the mailing list will receive copies of future public notices (if any) mailed by the Chief Clerk for this application.
INFORMATION. For additional information about this permit application or the permitting process, please contact the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, Office of Public Assistance, MC-108, P.O. Box 13087, Austin, Texas 78711-3087 or toll free at 1-800-687-4040. General information about the TCEQ can be found at www.tceq.texas.gov. Si desea información en Español, puede llamar al 1-800-687-4040.
Further information may also be obtained for La Porte Methanol Company, L.P. by calling Mr. Patrick Boyle at (713) 767-4175.
Notice Issuance Date: August 31, 2011
PUBLIC NOTICES
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The Bay Area Observer • P.O. Box 305, Seabrook, TX. 77586 • 281-907-3140Name:___________________________________________________________________________________
PAGE 12 THE BAY AREA OBSERVER THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 22, 2011
Tough Times for Texas tomatoes - Dry, Hot Conditions Lead to Poor Growing Conditions
IN THE GARDEN
By Steve Byrns – AgriLife
If you’re a Texas gardener, you know it’s been a terribly tough year for Texas tomatoes...and the folks who grow them. “It’s near the end of the summer gardening sea-son, and most of us are wondering where are all those beautiful, red ripe tomatoes have been,” said Dr. Russ Wallace, Texas AgriLife Extension Service vegetable specialist at Lubbock. “Don’t feel like a failure, the lack of a crop plagued most West Texas tomato growers and many others across the state,” Wallace said. “To-matoes are native to South America, and grow best under more temperate climates. The best air temperatures for tomato pollination are 68-75 de-grees Fahrenheit at night and 60-90 degrees dur-ing the day. “Our Lubbock May through Sept. 14 optimal growing months mostly averaged daily highs of 95 degrees or hotter with very little nighttime cool-down. Spritz those temperatures with a scant 1.17 inches of rain, add low humid-ity and stir in high winds, and you’ve cooked up
the perfect recipe for tomato disaster.” Wallace said while many tomato plants made ample vegetative growth this year, the high tem-peratures caused the flowers to abort. The heat also caused the stems and leaves to curl and roll -- a condition called physiological leaf rolling. “Generally, the leaf rolling doesn’t reduce yields, but the condition coupled with this year’s extreme weather caused the plants to just shut down,” he said. What can tomato growers do to prevent losses again next year? If next year is like this year, not much, according to Wallace. Ways gardeners can limit risk include:
• Select heat-tolerant varieties.
• Plant as early as possible by protecting plants with clear plastic-wrapped cages.
• Plant where late afternoon shade helps cool the plants to reduce blossom drop.
• Mulch with shredded bark or white plastic, not heat-absorbing black plastic.
• Water, but not too much, and stick to a fertilizer schedule aimed at optimal growth.
“While Mother Nature certainly wasn’t kind to Texans this year, the good news is that histori-cally, this year has been more the exception than the rule,” Wallace said. “The National Weather Service reported that West Texas temperatures were the hottest on record, even beating those of the Dust Bowl era. “So, for all you eternally op-timistic Texas tomato growers, it’s probably best to forget this season and look ahead. There’s al-ways the promise of better times next year.”
Ingredients
• 1 store-bought rotisserie chicken• 1/4 cup hot sauce (recommended: Frank’s Red Hot)• 1 teaspoon ground black pepper• 1 3/4 cups sharp Cheddar• 1/4 cup freshly sliced scallions• 1 cups all-purpose flour• 3 eggs, lightly beaten• 2 cups panko bread crumbs• Vegetable oil, for frying
Blue Cheese Dip
• 1 1/2 cups mayonnaise• 1/2 cup packed blue cheese, broken up• 1/2 teaspoon hot sauce• 2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce• 1 teaspoon salt• 1/2 lemon, juiced• 1 teaspoon chopped garlic
CUISINEBuffalo Chicken Cheese Balls
Forsythia SageA Spot of Yellow
DirectionsHave oil heated to 350 degrees F.Pick the meat from the chicken and discard the skin. Place the chicken in a large bowl and add the hot sauce, pepper, cheese, and scallions, and toss to combine. Roll the chicken into 2-ounce balls, about the size of a golf ball.
Place the flour, eggs, and bread crumbs in 3 separate bowls. Roll each ball in the flour, then the egg and then the bread crumbs. Set aside.
When the oil is hot fry the chicken balls in batches. Cook for about 2 minutes per batch. Remove the chicken to paper towel lined plate to drain the excess oil.
To make the sauce, combine all ingredients in a large bowl and adjust the seasoning if necessary. Serve the chicken alongside the dipping sauce.
Heat caused tomato plant stems and leaves to curl and roll, a condition known as physiological leaf rolling. (Texas AgriLife photo by Dr. Russ Wallace)
When gardeners think of a salvia garden the bright reds, pinks, light and dark blues and purples come to mind. Garden-ers will even put white salvias in before they think of yellow. And that’s too bad, because nothing catches your eye like a bright yellow spot in a garden design. Forsythia sage (Salvia ma-drensis) is a fall blooming, beautiful yellow salvia. It is a large robust perennial that makes an excellent backdrop for other colors. It is especial-ly dramatic when paired with either dark purple flowering Mexican bush sage (Salvia leu-cantha ‘Midnight’) or Salvia guaranitica ‘Black and Blue’. The yellow flowers from for-sythia sage set off dark purple and deep blue like nothing else can. The purple and dark blue sal-vias will usually wind down their blooming about late fall but forsythia sage will contin-ue well into winter. The large plant averages about five feet tall and has a spreading, clump-ing growth form that can grow to about the same width. The yellow flowers are arranged in whorls on twelve-inch spikes.
Its leaves are heart shaped and spinach green in color. Put it in the back of your garden in a partial sun- par-tial shade area. Since it is large, some support may be
needed. Do not plant it near bright night-lights, as forsythia sage is a short day, long night bloomer. And of course plant it in well-drained humus rich soil.
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Gardeners of all levels are invited to attend the Gardeners by the Bay meetings held the first Wednesdays of each month, from September to May, at University Baptist Church (Great Room on 2nd floor) located at 16106 Middlebrook Drive. Members and guests enjoy a light brunch from 9:00 to 9:30 AM. A brief business meeting is then held prior to the main program. Guest speakers present timely programs of interest to all gardeners. Anyone interested is welcome to visit or join. Our membership includes novice gardeners as well as certified Texas Master Gardeners who are eager to share their expertise and knowledge in response to questions and concerns. Local trips are planned each year to gardens or other places of interest to gardeners. Visit us at http://gbtb.org.
FALL PROGRAMS:
Oct. 5, 2011 - “Blue Berries in the Backyard” with Dr. David CohenNov. 2, 2011 - “What’s Blooming in the Lazy Gardener’s Garden with Brenda Beust Smith, Editor of the Lazy Gar-denerDec. 7, 2011 - “Amaryllis” with Betty Lenderman, owner of Enchanted Forest Nursery.
FALL TRIPS:
October, Wed. 26 or Thurs. 27: Heritage Society at Sam Houston Park in Houston. It is a tour of 5 houses of the Vic-torian era so there will be some walking involved. We will eat at the Spaghetti Warehouse. Bus Donation: $3.00 per person*, Fee for Tour: Senior (65+) $8.00, (Below 65) $10.00. Lunch is $8.00 which includes drinks and food.November 10 or 17 Thurs: All day trip to Ellison’s Greenhouse in Brenham. Bus Donation: $3.00 per person*December 19 or 20: Heritage Garden Club – Christmas House Tours in Friendswood. Private Car PoolingPlease call Joanne at 281-286-4938 for information.
Gardeners By The Bay Fall Schedule
Clear Lake Park Building (lake side) • Wednesday, October 5 • 7:30PMWould you like to learn about African Violets? Do you have one with problems? Bring it and join us for an informative program and refreshments. We meet the first Wednesday of each month at 7:30PM.Clear Lake Park Building (lake side). Anne Greer - (281) 326-5843
Presented by Master Gardener Mary Demeny. Discussion on vegetable gardening in your own backyard. Gardening on a smaller scale and making use of vegetables interplanted in your flower beds and in pots will be emphasized. E-mail [email protected].
PLANT SALE PREVIEW October 1, 2011 • 9:00 - 11:00 a.m.
Heidi Sheesley of Tree Search Farms will give a PowerPoint presentation highlighting the plants that will be available at the October 15 Ornamental & Perennial Sale. E-mail [email protected]
BURIED TREASURES - BULBS, CORMS AND RHIZOMES October 8, 2011 • 9:00 - 11:00 a.m.
Help! My bearded iris did not bloom! What are all these orange streaks on the daylily leaves? What is eating holes in the leaves of my canna plants? Master Gardener Anna Wygrys will give a Pow-erPoint presentation on the various plants from bulbs, corms, rhizomes and tubers, which thrive in the Southern gardens of the upper Gulf Coast of Texas. E-mail [email protected].
Galveston County Master GardnersGulf Coast Gardening 2011 Saturday Seminar Series
