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Friends, As most of you know, the River Mouth
Committee attended all planning meetings and
volunteered to help with Brazoria County Day
activities, held March 18-20. Thank you to
this committee, F.O.R.'s Environmental
Committee, Board Member attendees and all other
members of F.O.R. San Bernard, who were there to
"let our voices be heard"
in Austin last week.
Pat Webb
President, F.O.R. San Bernard
Texas State Capitol, Austin Texas
Tales from River’s End
– Passport to Adventure
Brazoria
County,
Austin,
Spring and Other Thoughts
By Jan Edwards
Greetings from
River’s End.
Sure is true that
time flies when you are having fun. This time last
week, Roy and I were going to Austin to join the
Brazoria County contingency there, bring some tables
for the Largest Shrimp Cocktail for our
county neighbors and Texas legislators at the party
in Fiesta Gardens, stuff some goody bags to give to
attendees, and visit with the legislative agencies
and our legislators about the San Bernard River.
While I
packed the clothes and cleaned the kitchen up,
Roy
went to Station 1 of the River’s End Volunteer
Fire Department and gathered the 16 tables they
promised for the event. He brought the tables to the
house, washed and dried them and loaded them into
the trailer. He loaded ladders and sundry items we
might need to help set up for the World’s Largest
Shrimp Cocktail. Next thing you know, the alarm
clock was ringing – way too early – and we were off
to
Austin.
I don’t
drag trailers, so, as
Roy
drove the 200 miles, I had the chance to look out
the window at the countryside. If I had started to
fall asleep, what I saw brought me to a state of
wide awake. The old grandfather Oak trees with their
long Spanish Moss beards were yawning, stretching
their awakening arms up to the sun and sporting
their new green crew cut hair. The Bluebonnets along
the roadside were just beginning to wink open a
sleepy white eye here and there looking for the
warmth of the spring sunshine, preparing to jump up
and once again entertain their spring time
paparazzi. Leon Hale used to write that he and his
friend (who was also from
Brazoria
County)
would drive north to find the Spring. By accident,
looks like going to
Austin
gave us that experience this trip.
I just wanted to shout out,
“Wake up, everyone, it’s SPRING!!!”
Town
Lake/Hyatt -Austin
We finally
got to
Austin,
got settled in the Hyatt and went to the
Hospitality Room where Ken and Sharon Corley –
among others – were setting up the headquarters. Roy
helped bring up things they needed and I joined Keri
Bradley (Brazoria Chamber of Commerce),
Debbie Pennington (Economic Alliance and
event-coordinator for Brazoria County Day)
and a couple of other wonderful hard working women
stuffing “goody” bags to give to Brazoria County
attendees as they signed in. They say we stuffed
about 300 bags, but I think it was a LOT more than
that.
Domed
Ceiling - Texas State Capitol
The next
morning, there was a Continental breakfast and
legislative assignments were meted out. Tickets to
the World’s Largest Shrimp Cocktail along
with invitations and Brazoria County Day logo mugs
were placed in bags and off people went – all over
the capital to hand them out. After all, we had
1,800 pounds of succulent Brazoria County Shrimp
that was ready to be eaten. The party was on. After
the invitations were handed out, groups of concerned
Brazoria
County
citizens and elected officials had agency and
Legislative visits. Roy and I went to different
agencies, but in all we got to visit with Texas
Dept. Transportation, the Texas General Land
Office, and the Historical Commission.
We also had a chance to meet and speak with
Representative Mike O’Day, Representative Dennis
Bonnen and Senator Kyle Janek. The thing that most
impressed me about this day was that the agencies
and legislators knew who Friends Of the River San
Bernard were. We Friends should all be
proud. To put this in perspective, a year ago we did
not know anyone in
Austin,
and they did not know any of us. But this year, some
of us had the opportunity of one-on-one discussions
with some of the people who could fix our river. To
use a cliché line – “what a difference a year
makes”. The day ended with an hors d’oeuvres
reception in the Hyatt (the host hotel). This was
another chance to meet more people from our great
county and the people who represent us in
Austin.
I am usually a wall flower in situations like this,
but even I felt comfortable representing F.O.R. I
realized what I think I already knew – people coming
from
Brazoria
County
are probably the most
gregarious, engaging people I ever met. They are
open and – just wonderful. There is not a better
place on earth to live, work and play.
Brazoria Display at the Hyatt
I have written over
600 words here – and I still have the big World’s
Largest Shrimp Cocktail part of the story. So,
looks like I’m going to leave you with a
cliff-hanger, here. I’ll be back with as Paul
Harvey says, “the rest of the story” in my next
post. I know, I know… I still owe you the Lafitte
story.
In the meantime,
what’s happening at the end of the river now?
Check back in a
while and see what
Capitol idea I can recount..
Here’s wishing you the joy of Spring, Martins
singing at your house, Black Bellied Whistling
Ducks feeding at your bird feeder, a boat full
of boiled shrimp, a full belly, a stretched fishing
line, a good story and your own River’s End.- Jan
One of F.O.R.'s
primary functions is to educate the public
regarding the issues concerning the San Bernard
River and it's Communities. Contact Pat Webb
pat@sanbernardriver.com to schedule a
guest speaker for your group or special event.
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