Sunday, February 3, 2019 | Section C | San Antonio Express-News | ExpressNews.com and mySA.com Professional Denture Clinic 1114 Austin Hwy. | barndentist.com Repairs and Relines while you wait. • Extractions • Crowns • Fillings • Implants • Partials • Gum Treatment On SITE LAB Dentures $ 600 $ 600 Starting At Each with Warranty Denture Repair or New Set Coupon must be present. Expires 02/28/2019 Making smiles and friendships for over 25 years. I’m weirdly excited about a financial literacy program called SmartPath rolling out this year in Texas schools for first- through eighth-graders. I often complain loudly, and to whoever will listen, that we — as a society — do a terrible job of teaching young people about personal finance. You might catch me waving my arms and exclaiming, “Why don’t we teach this stuff in junior high? In high school? In col- lege?” at otherwise perfectly nice cocktail parties — until the other person slowly backs away or looks awkwardly down at her phone while moving across the room toward a fresh drink. Of course, many teachers and many schools do teach this stuff. It’s just that big barriers exist to making sure every kid actually knows what to do with their money when the time comes, like by age 18 or 22. So, about those barriers. We should acknowledge them. As noncore subjects, personal finance and economics will al- ways get a lower priority than reading, mathematics, science, history and foreign languages, with good reason. Teachers themselves may not feel confident about teaching finance. It’s hard to teach what you’re not confident in. At the classroom level, teach- ers are already overburdened with other curriculum mandates. If finance doesn’t naturally in- tegrate with core subjects on standardized tests, there might not be enough time in the day. But for all those reasonable barriers in the classroom, I’m still waving my arms madly at inappropriate times because every kid deserves to know the basics of their future finances. Certainly most families don’t know enough to pass on the right lessons. Anyway, I spent some time recently learning from Susan Doty, director of the Center for Economic Education and Fi- nancial Literacy at UT Tyler, about a program she’s champi- oning in Texas schools. She brought SmartPath to Texas schools in 2018 with the financial support of the Texas Banker’s Association. I went through the curricu- lums for grades one through five with Doty. You’ll all be relieved to know I did pretty well on the quiz parts, thank you very much. With SmartPath, a classroom teacher typically presents the animated online program to an entire class. A teacher leads the group activity, then prompts the discussions, then returns to the narrative, then returns to the group for problem-solving. A full grade module takes about five hours. Long enough to dig into some grade-appropriate sub- stance. Short enough to fit into an already packed semester. New financial program teaches the schoolchildren well MICHAEL TAYLOR The Smart Money S.A. Taylor continues on C3 LACOSTE — After 18 years and $35.4 million in development, the founders of NaturalShrimp are convinced shrimp lot No. 180 at the company’s remote Medi- na County fish-tank complex is their aquaculture pay dirt. The translucent, beady-eyed crustaceans zooming through the salty water are now into their 22nd week of growth. They’re about 5 inches long and weigh about 18 grams apiece. They are gulping down food pel- lets dropped hourly with aban- don, well on their way to a har- vest weight of 23 grams. NaturalShrimp is one of the companies trying to prove you don’t need a big body of natural saltwater like the Gulf of Mexico to raise shrimp — that they can grow to commercial propor- tions in specialized tanks on land. The business’s aim is to de- liver fresh shrimp to restaurants and markets far from the sea. Survival rates at the Natural- Shrimp facility are beating ex- pectations and could wind up being well above the 50-percent rate considered notable in the industry. For the first time, workers haven’t had to wade Photos by William Luther / Staff photographer NaturalShrimp President Gerald Easterling, left, and Michael Pineda examine almost-market-ready shrimp in their LaCoste production facility. Survival rates at the facility are surpassing expectations. Raising shrimp indoors no small feat for company Technology fights deadly bacteria that can decimate the crustaceans By Lynn Brezosky STAFF WRITER NaturalShrimp is working toward dependable harvests of the in-demand seafood. Shrimp continues on C3 Kathleen Sommers’ bou- tique, a fixture in San Antonio for decades, is closing months after the fashion designer’s death. The store on North Main Av- enue will close in mid-Febru- ary, and going-out-of-business sales are ongoing, said manag- er Blanquita Sullivan. “It’s a big loss for the com- munity,” she said. Longtime customers and employees of Sommers, who died Oct. 20 from cancer at age 73, recalled her honesty, en- ergy and support for local arti- sans. She treated clients like dear friends, they said, and in- spired others pursuing careers in fashion. The clothes she designed and the brands she carried at the store were classic, comfort- able, well-made and unique, they said. Sommers would spend hours focused on small details, such as buttons and sleeve length. “She would often say, ‘I don’t care what the trends are,’ ” said Barbara Olson, a customer and former store em- ployee. “She wanted people to be able to come in and buy an outfit that was well-made and different, an outfit that they could feel good in and keep.” Sommers started designing caftans, bikinis and evening- wear while living in Mexico in the 1970s, according to Ex- press-News archives. Eventual- ly she moved to San Antonio and opened a shop, which car- ried her collections and other brands. Her first order was for six pieces of clothing she made herself, and she used the earn- ings to make more garments. She expanded her business over time, reaching retail and wholesale customers all over the United States, and often held poetry reading and craft- ing, jewelry and other events Kathleen Sommers’ boutique is closing Decades of retail, popular line to end months after designer’s death By Madison Iszler STAFF WRITER Sommers continues on C4 Sommers Legal Notices Page C4 Jobs Pages C6-8
Transcript
Sunday, February 3, 2019 | Section C | San Antonio Express-News | ExpressNews.com and mySA.com
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Making smiles andfriendships for over 25 years.
I’m weirdly excited about afinancial literacy program calledSmartPath rolling out this year inTexas schools for first- througheighth-graders.
I often complain loudly, and towhoever will listen, that we — asa society — do a terrible job ofteaching young people aboutpersonal finance.
You might catch me wavingmy arms and exclaiming, “Whydon’t we teach this stuff in juniorhigh? In high school? In col-lege?” at otherwise perfectly nicecocktail parties — until the otherperson slowly backs away orlooks awkwardly down at herphone while moving across the
room toward a fresh drink.Of course, many teachers and
many schools do teach this stuff.It’s just that big barriers exist tomaking sure every kid actuallyknows what to do with theirmoney when the time comes,like by age 18 or 22.
So, about those barriers. We
should acknowledge them.As noncore subjects, personal
finance and economics will al-ways get a lower priority thanreading, mathematics, science,history and foreign languages,with good reason.
Teachers themselves may notfeel confident about teachingfinance. It’s hard to teach whatyou’re not confident in.
At the classroom level, teach-ers are already overburdenedwith other curriculum mandates.If finance doesn’t naturally in-tegrate with core subjects onstandardized tests, there mightnot be enough time in the day.
But for all those reasonable
barriers in the classroom, I’mstill waving my arms madly atinappropriate times becauseevery kid deserves to know thebasics of their future finances.Certainly most families don’tknow enough to pass on theright lessons.
Anyway, I spent some timerecently learning from SusanDoty, director of the Center forEconomic Education and Fi-nancial Literacy at UT Tyler,about a program she’s champi-oning in Texas schools. Shebrought SmartPath to Texasschools in 2018 with the financialsupport of the Texas Banker’sAssociation.
I went through the curricu-lums for grades one through fivewith Doty. You’ll all be relievedto know I did pretty well on thequiz parts, thank you very much.
With SmartPath, a classroomteacher typically presents theanimated online program to anentire class. A teacher leads thegroup activity, then prompts thediscussions, then returns to thenarrative, then returns to thegroup for problem-solving. A fullgrade module takes about fivehours. Long enough to dig intosome grade-appropriate sub-stance. Short enough to fit intoan already packed semester.
New financial program teaches the schoolchildren wellMICHAEL TAYLORThe Smart Money S.A.
Taylor continues on C3
LACOSTE — After 18 years and$35.4 million in development,the founders of NaturalShrimpare convinced shrimp lot No. 180at the company’s remote Medi-na County fish-tank complex istheir aquaculture pay dirt.
The translucent, beady-eyedcrustaceans zooming throughthe salty water are now intotheir 22nd week of growth.They’re about 5 inches long andweigh about 18 grams apiece.They are gulping down food pel-lets dropped hourly with aban-don, well on their way to a har-
vest weight of 23 grams.NaturalShrimp is one of the
companies trying to prove youdon’t need a big body of naturalsaltwater like the Gulf of Mexicoto raise shrimp — that they cangrow to commercial propor-tions in specialized tanks onland. The business’s aim is to de-liver fresh shrimp to restaurantsand markets far from the sea.
Survival rates at the Natural-Shrimp facility are beating ex-pectations and could wind upbeing well above the 50-percentrate considered notable in theindustry. For the first time,workers haven’t had to wade
Photos by William Luther / Staff photographer
NaturalShrimp President Gerald Easterling, left, and Michael Pineda examine almost-market-ready shrimp in their LaCosteproduction facility. Survival rates at the facility are surpassing expectations.
Raising shrimp indoorsno small feat for companyTechnology fights deadly bacteria that can decimate the crustaceansBy Lynn BrezoskySTAFF WRITER
NaturalShrimp is working toward dependable harvests of thein-demand seafood. Shrimp continues on C3
Kathleen Sommers’ bou-tique, a fixture in San Antoniofor decades, is closing monthsafter the fashion designer’sdeath.
The store on North Main Av-enue will close in mid-Febru-ary, and going-out-of-businesssales are ongoing, said manag-er Blanquita Sullivan.
ergy and support for local arti-sans. She treated clients likedear friends, they said, and in-spired others pursuing careersin fashion.
The clothes she designedand the brands she carried atthe store were classic, comfort-able, well-made and unique,they said. Sommers wouldspend hours focused on smalldetails, such as buttons andsleeve length.
“She would often say, ‘Idon’t care what the trendsare,’ ” said Barbara Olson, acustomer and former store em-ployee. “She wanted people tobe able to come in and buy anoutfit that was well-made anddifferent, an outfit that theycould feel good in and keep.”
Sommers started designingcaftans, bikinis and evening-wear while living in Mexico inthe 1970s, according to Ex-press-News archives. Eventual-ly she moved to San Antonioand opened a shop, which car-ried her collections and otherbrands.
Her first order was for sixpieces of clothing she madeherself, and she used the earn-ings to make more garments.She expanded her businessover time, reaching retail andwholesale customers all overthe United States, and oftenheld poetry reading and craft-ing, jewelry and other events
KathleenSommers’boutiqueis closing Decades of retail,popular line toend months afterdesigner’s death By Madison IszlerSTAFF WRITER
Sommers continues on C4
Sommers
Legal Notices Page C4
JobsPages C6-8
San Antonio Express-News | ExpressNews.com and mySA.com | Sunday, February 3, 2019 | C3
BUSINESS Greg Jefferson, Business Editor: [email protected], 210-250-3159
Q: We live in Texas and haveno children. Everything we ownis community property ac-quired during our 25 years ofmarriage, and the assets we dohave wouldn’t turn any heads.Is it necessary to have a will? Ifone of us dies, won’t everythingwe have automatically go to theother? Will there be any legalroad bumps without a will?
A: You should definitely havea will.
What occurs when one of youdies depends on the types ofassets you own. You didn’tmention whether you own anyreal estate, but if you do, thenhaving a will would be useful ifthere is a need to put the prop-
erty into the name of the surviv-ing spouse.
Also, if you have any ac-counts that are not survivorshipaccounts, or other investmentsthat are not payable to the sur-viving spouse, then a will wouldmake it easy to get those assetsinto the name of the survivingspouse.
The main reason you bothshould have wills is because ofwhat happens after you bothhave died. Keep in mind, thetwo of you might die together ina common occurrence. Or oneof you might die, and the sur-vivor might never get around tosigning a will.
Without a will, you will be
leaving the disposition of yourassets up to Texas law, withyour property passing to thosewho are considered to be yournext of kin by statute. Often,these are not the people youwould want inheriting yourestate.
Q: I assisted my mother-in-law through probate after thedeath of my father-in-law. Wewere able to obtain letters testa-mentary with the assistance ofthe military legal office. Sheresides in their house, and thedeed is still in both their names.She plans to live in the housefor as long as she can. Since wedon’t anticipate that she willsell the house, is it necessary
for her to change the deed toher name only?
A: Your father-in-law’s willserves as a deed that transfershis half ownership interest inthe house to your mother-in-law.
Many lawyers would haveprepared an executor’s deed inconjunction with the probate,but in your mother-in-law’ssituation, it probably was notnecessary. When your mother-in-law decides to sell the house,a title company will have notrouble checking the probaterecords to determine that yourmother is the sole owner of thehome.
If she wants, your mother-in-
law can have the property taxrecords changed to reflect thatshe is the sole owner.
The information in this column isintended to provide a generalunderstanding of the law, notlegal advice. Readers with legalproblems, including those whosequestions are addressed here,should consult attorneys foradvice on their particularcircumstances.Ronald Lipman of the Houstonlaw firm Lipman & Associates isboard-certified in estateplanning and probate law by theTexas Board of LegalSpecialization. Email questionsto [email protected].
STATE YOUR CASE by Ronald Lipman
Is a will really needed for a couple without kids?
through the tanks with buckets,fishing out floaters.
Investors in the penny-stockcompany are perking up, with theshare price rising 353 percentfrom Jan. 2 to its Jan. 31 close of 7.7cents.
But despite the small burst ofexcitement, Dallas-based Natural-Shrimp is just getting started.
The next step is to restock afterharvest and add three more65,000-gallon indoor tanks to thecomplex. From there, the compa-ny will attempt to replicate theprocess in places far from seawa-ter but a less than a half-day’sdrive from metro areas teemingwith markets clamoring for chem-ical-free, never-frozen shrimp.
Or salmon, sea bass, lobster,clams or oysters.
Natural Shrimp’s patent, grant-ed this past Christmas Day — pa-tents are only granted on Tues-days — covers all aquatic species.
“We know it works — it’s justnow ramping up production,” co-owner Gerald Easterling said. “It’snot a concept any more, it’s a real-ity.”
By “it,” Easterling was referringto a pricey system of pumps, fil-ters and a proprietary device that,after the latest round of tinkering,is in its fifth iteration. It essentiallyuses selective electrical currentsto destroy the bacteria and breakup the effluent ammonia that sofar have destroyed crop after cropof shrimp — and globally madeshrimp farming a shaky proposi-tion.
“It basically singes (shrimp-kill-ing bacteria) and disintegrates itso it’s not able to spread,” said Pe-ter Letizia, CEO of Florida-basedF&T Water Solutions, which part-nered with NaturalShrimp to de-velop the technology.
Electrostimulation has beenaround for more than 100 years,Letizia said, and is commonlyused to sterilize surgical equip-ment. But it’s beginning to ex-pand to commercial agriculture.Letizia also has been workingwith fruit, vegetable and marijua-na growers to test its capabilitiesas an alternative to pesticides andherbicides.
But the expense and complex-ity so far has kept the technologyfrom widespread use in food pro-duction.
“Trying to just put electricity inwater is basically the science, butthere is an art behind exactly howdo you do it,” he said. “What kindof electrodes do you use? Whatkind of power source do you use?What kind of spacing? How muchvolume? There are all those intri-cacies that take it from a scienceand make it more like an art.
“NaturalShrimp has it down towhere they know exactly howmuch they can grow a pound of
shrimp for, and basically theyknow how much they can sell itfor. So it’s actually a very predict-able or predictive market, whichis kind of why we like it.”
Jim Bloom, managing partnerat San Franciso-based investmentfirm Vopne Capital, calledNaturalShrimp a “fundamentallyattractive investment.”
“NaturalShrimp continues toshow signs of breaking out afterunderperforming in 2018 on in-vestors taking note of the compa-ny’s push to strengthen its growthprospects,” Bloom wrote in ananalysis published Jan. 22. “Thecompany is fresh from receiving anew patent for the commerciallyviable system for growing aquaticspecies indoors. The companynow owns worldwide rights forgrowing shrimp species indoorsleveraging its new-patented tech-nology.”
NaturalShrimp started in 2001in a tank in the basement of co-owner and Chief Technology Offi-cer Tom Untermeyer. Untermey-er, then a newly retired SouthwestResearch Institute program man-ager, wanted to use his electronicengineering background to helpstart a business.
There’s no doubt of the strongdemand for shrimp.
Shrimp is the United States’top-selling seafood, with the aver-age consumer eating 4.4 pounds
of it per year. As ocean stocks havedeclined from overfishing andpollution, farming it has become abig business, overtaking wild har-vesting in 2007.
Traditional shrimp farms arebuilt on coastlines that have aready supply of saltwater to fillopen ponds. Inland shrimp farm-ing has been evolving, but pro-duction has mostly been inconsis-tent and companies have had tostock their ponds at low densitydue to water treatments that in-troduce bacteria and cloud thewater.
“The reason we’re here, (why)we stayed with it, is we alwaysknew the market and the need,”Easterling said. “What we havehere is phenomenal. It answers allthe problems in the industry asfar as raising aquatic species in-doors.”
Texas leads in U.S. shrimp culti-vation. But that production hasdeclined, from a 2003 peak of 9million pounds valued at about$18 million to between 2.5 millionand 2.9 million pounds per year.Texas shrimp farms in 2016 gener-ated revenue of about $8.3 mil-lion.
Aquaculture consultant Gran-vil Treece said the farms have tak-en hits from young shrimp notsurviving the transport or accli-mating to man-made environ-ments. Fewer than half make it to
market. Bowers Shrimp Farm,which operates the state’s largestshrimp farm, near MatagordaBay, had the state’s highest surviv-al rate at 54 percent.
It’s the same for farms aroundthe world. And even when the lar-vae take, shrimp in all producingcountries have frequently suc-cumbed to disease outbreaks.There also are concerns aboutaquaculture operations damagingestuaries and contaminating nat-ural fisheries with toxic outflows.
A 1999 disease outbreak in Ec-uador nearly wiped out that na-tion’s shrimp farm industry, aswell as some 100,000 jobs. Mexi-co in 2016 suffered devastatinglosses to disease and prematureharvest.
Many in the industry thoughtthey’d found the solution withbiofloc, a water-filtration methodthat uses probiotics to help neu-tralize bad bacteria. But after sixyears and an investment of $15million, Natural Shrimp’s leadersconcluded biofloc didn’t meet theneeds of their high-density busi-ness plan.
One week they’d sell out theirshrimp at the Pearl Farmers Mar-ket, the next they’d be no-shows.Harvests would, within a fewdays, drop from 1,000 pounds to40 as bacteria quickly proliferat-ed.
“We would have tanks full, and
then we’d start having them dieoff,” Easterling said. By the timethey noticed the first few deadones, it was too late.
While NaturalShrimp won’tharvest the current tank till mid-to late February, the goal for the30,000-square-foot facility is4,000 pounds of shrimp a month.The aim is to produce 7,000pounds each week once the newtanks are operational, sendingtruckloads rumbling past neigh-boring corn, cotton and sunflow-er fields to buyers like MichaelScott, the corporate chef at Rose-wood Texas Raised Wagyu Beef.
Scott first came across theshrimp about a decade ago at aDallas food show. He has since be-come a NaturalShrimp sharehold-er.
“I thought they were Hawaiianblues,” a variety of shrimp, hesaid. “I walked over, snapped thehead off and I bit into the tail raw.... I said, ‘This is buttery — this isvery clean.’ I said this is like the‘Kobe beef of shrimp.’ ”
Scott likes that the shrimparen’t washed with citric acid andsodium for extended shelf life,and haven’t had exposure to wa-ter pollutants.
“When I clean these shrimp,we’re not pulling big poop linesout,” he said.
At NaturalShrimp, the sea creatures are raised in 65,000-gallon indoor tanks. A patented system uses electrical currents to destroythe bacteria and break up the effluent that typically destroy shrimp crops.
A few great design elementsstand out.
First, the program collectsdata on results of the programand aggregates it to measureeffectiveness. All students take apretest and post-test for finan-cial literacy.
Next, the program is 100 per-cent free to schools. In Texas,the Texas Bankers Associationhas funded an initial rollout andlicensing fees for up to 250teachers. In return, industryrepresentatives typically get toattend a post-program party tohand out certificates.
Third, teachers are rewardedwith $100 stipends for trainingon the program and on comple-tion of the pre- and post-tests.Doty says this small incentive
recognizes the additional effortof teachers who receive trainingin SmartPath, and ensures com-pletion and data collection.
The SmartPath funding modelmakes financial sense to me. Itwas created by the nonprofitEconomic Center at the Universi-ty of Cincinnati, and centerdirector Julia Heath set out todevelop SmartPath as a revenue-generating, self-sustaining pro-gram that charges a licensing feeto users nationwide.
As Heath told me, its creatorstried to align incentives to satisfya bunch of important criteria:
1. Teachers get a stipend.2. Philanthropic contributors
get branding recognition.3. The program collects data
to measure effectiveness andmake improvements.
4. The program is self-sustain-ing through licensing fees.
For this to work best, Heath
has designed the program sothat state and regional champi-ons such as Doty work to findlocal business sponsors who canadopt the program locally. Thenational rollout seems to begoing well, with Heath citing22,000 teachers nationwide whohave adopted SmartPath. Dotyenvisions a larger presence withmore schools and more teachersin Texas by seeking additionalregional sponsorships.
The data collection part,which I admire, seemed obviousand essential to Heath. As shetold me, “I’m not going to go toa person with a big (philanthrop-ic) ask without having the datathat shows them ‘here’s what wedid with your money.’ ”
Heath reports that studentsimprove an average of 30 per-cent across all grade levels.
Both Doty and Health saidteachers report more confidence
in teaching the subject afterleading the SmartPath program,which itself counts as a win.
As Mary Lange of the TexasBankers Association told me, thefirst appeal of SmartPath is that“it’s very scalable, it’s online,and it’s driven by the teachers.”
But just as important, shesays, “It’s an accountable pro-gram, with measurable out-comes.”
By June, once they havetrained 250 teachers in Texas,Lange says, “we want to be ableto evaluate what the teachers aresaying, and what the studentsare saying.”
For all the focus on the pro-gram’s financial sustainability,Heath also allows parents andteachers to access and use theSmartPath program for free.Free access online — outside ofthe licensed version sponsoredby the Texas Bankers Associa-
tion — doesn’t include pre- andpost-assessment tests and theteacher stipend. But, hey, free isa pretty good price, too.
In Texas, the curriculum co-sponsor of SmartPath is theTexas Council on EconomicEducation; Doty serves on theboard. The council also sponsorslonger-standing programs forteacher professional develop-ment in financial literacy, as wellas high school-level competi-tions such as The Stock MarketGame, the Personal FinanceChallenge and the National Eco-nomics Challenge.
Michael Taylor is a columnist forthe San Antonio Express-Newsand author of “The FinancialRules For New CollegeGraduates.”[email protected] |twitter.com/michael_taylor
