Almost a ton of shrimp draws state officials

By John Tompkins
The Facts

Published March 21, 2007

AUSTIN — With 1,800 pounds of cooked shrimp, Brazoria County knows how to draw a crowd.

More than 600 Brazoria County residents, state officials, lobbyists and Capitol staffers turned out Tuesday at Fiesta Gardens in Austin for what Brazoria County Day organizers call the world’s largest shrimp cocktail.

“That’s what they say,” said Corky Melass, co-chair of Brazoria County Day’s steering committee. “We got blessed with good weather.”

The event is the hallmark to Brazoria County Day, the biennial event scheduled for every regular session of the Legislature for the past 36 years. Tuesday’s cocktail followed a 7:30 a.m. legislative breakfast and resolutions passed in the House and Senate recognizing Brazoria County Day.

The cocktail is popular with state officials and staffers who arrived in busloads to dine on the shrimp, which was prepared Saturday in Brazoria County. Even newcomers to the Capitol heard enough about the event to turn out.

“I had heard about it and people said it was good,” said Zach Vaughn, who joined House Speaker Tom Craddick’s office last year. “You can’t pass up shrimp.”

Representatives from the Texas Film Commission stopped by the shrimp cocktail to talk about scouting future film locations in Brazoria County.

“It’s very close to a production center in Houston,” said Lindsey Bernal, location scout for the commission. “We’re going to go out and scout it out thoroughly.”

Film commission officials met with Brazoria County representatives Monday to talk about future film prospects.

Events for Brazoria County Day actually started Monday with county officials and residents holding meetings with state department heads.

Tuesday’s events kicked off with the breakfast in which residents received an update from their four legislators at the Hyatt Regency Hotel just outside downtown Austin.

Sen. Mike Jackson, R-La Porte, told Brazoria County delegates that legislators have been busy with a record number of bills this session.

“That means we’re going to have a record number of bills that die,” he said to applause.

The battle over Gov. Rick Perry’s HPV vaccine order, which would require all 11- and 12-year-old girls to be vaccinated against the human papillomavirus before entering sixth grade, is ongoing in the Legislature, said State Rep. Dennis Bonnen, R-Angleton.

“This is such a fascinating issue,” said Bonnen, who authored a bill to nullify Perry’s order, claiming vaccination should be a family decision. “No one’s saying this vaccine is bad, we’re simply saying this is how it should occur.”

Legislators have a lot more funding to work with than previous legislatures due to a $14 billion surplus, Sen. Kyle Janek, R-Houston, told the crowd.

“That can evaporate very quickly,” he said. Some legislators are trying to set aside a portion of the surplus for leaner times, Janek said.

Representatives from local organizations also arrived for Brazoria County Day in hopes of finding support for their projects from state agencies.

“We came up here primarily to make contact with the General Land Office,” said Roy Edwards, chairman of the open mouth committee for Friends of the River San Bernard.

Representatives of the non-profit group spoke with officials about the possibility of receiving part of $5.8 million in available state funding to open the river’s mouth, Edwards said.

“We’re wanting the Texas Department of Transportation and the General Land Office to support our grant applications that we’ve turned in,” Edwards said.

John Tompkins covers Brazoria County for The Facts. Contact him at (979) 849-8581.