April 2006 F.O.R. San Bernard Activity Update

Greetings Friends of the River SAN BERNARD,

Thank you for subscribing to periodic email updates and notices from Friends of the River SAN BERNARD. This is the email update for April 2006. Details to unsubscribe are at the bottom of this email.

Accomplishments in April

Organizing Committee

NINE newspaper articles in April about the San Bernard River,
including one on the front page of the Houston Chronicle and several on the front page of The Facts.
Bank account opened at Lone Star Bank in Brazoria under the name of Friends of the River San Bernard.
Federal ID Number (FEIN) obtained, as a step to obtaining a State tax ID.
Articles of Incorporation and Bylaws filed are being drafted and soon will be filed, as step to becoming 501(c)3 non-profit organization.
F.O.R. San Bernard received a check from San Bernard River Foundation for $2,435.35.
Bids are underway for liability insurance for the organization and its officers and board.
River Zones for the organization defined.
Teresa S. and Neal Graham joined the Organization Committee.
Can You Dig It media event planned for April 8, and cancelled at the last minute due to very high winds that destroyed all event structures at the beach.
Can You Dig It Try Try Again media event planned for Saturday May 13.
Memorial Day Boat Parade scheduled for Saturday, May 27th during the day. Plans are still underway.
F.O.R. San Bernard flags and banners for sale and seen along the river and in downtown Brazoria. We have over $1,200 from the sale of the flags so far.

David Pope’s Spring Cleanup

Mar 27: Brazoria County cleaned “The Junk Yard” near the RR bridge of 12,000 lbs. of junk
Apr 17: Heavy Debris Team of Spring Cleanup cleared 4,000 lbs. of junk
Apr 29: 164 volunteers, 53 boats and 6 jet ski’s cleared 10,000 lbs of junk and debris from the banks and waters of the San Bernard River
Apr 29: Over 100 volunteers attended the BBQ following the Spring Cleanup at Nelson & Vanessa Taylor’s.

Roy & Jan Edwards’ Mouth Activity

Attended Wetlands Workshop sponsored by the U.S. Army Corps of engineers on 4/15.
Met with Houston Chronicle reporter Richard Stewart, resulting in a front page article on 4/3
First of two magazine articles published in national magazine Southern Boating, and was covered more in depth in the April edition of Mariner’s Log, which is distributed along the Gulf Coast.
Roy Edwards gave a San Bernard River Mouth presentation to a Nalco CAPS meeting April 13.
Communication with U.S. Congressman Ron Paul’s Chief of Staff, Tom Lizardo who will be in our area in mid-May to further discuss issues surrounding the mouth of the river.
Much ado regarding the cancelled and rescheduled Can You Dig It media event at the mouth.

F.O.R. San Bernard in the News

Apr 30: Residents Rally for Cleanups

Apr 18: River Cleanup Gets Head Start

Apr 13: Brazoria County News Front Page: Dig Blown Away...

Apr 09: Facts: San Bernard River event postponed

Apr 09: Chronicle: Winds cancel San Bernard River dig

Apr 06: Friends of San Bernard to dig Saturday

Apr 06: Group hosting Saturday river dig

Apr 04: Email Newsletter from FOR San Bernard

Apr 03: Front Page article in Houston Chronicle

Can You Dig It? Event Planned, Cancelled, Rescheduled

The Can You Dig It media event at the beach at the mouth of the river was scheduled for April 8^th. Several OC members spent the night on the beach getting everything set up for the planned activities. The wind was so fierce during the night that all tents and tables were blown away; some borrowed equipment was irreparably damaged. The wind prevailed until morning and the event was cancelled at 10 AM because we could not provide the promised activities. Nevertheless, almost 100 people showed up, including U.S. Congressman Ron Paul. A “practice dig” was held, but the event was rescheduled.

We hope to have 400 people at the Can You Dig It Try Try Again event on Saturday, May 13 at the beach near the dead-end mouth of the San Bernard River. We will make a line from the river to the beach and symbolically dig out the sand. Hopefully we will have reporters for great publicity for opening the mouth and for our organization. Please try to attend. Shuttles will be provided for those who cannot take a boat. Watch the website for more information. Event Flyer.

Memorial Day Parade Planned

Plans are underway for a daytime parade on the Saturday proceeding Memorial Day. We hope for a great turnout of boats. Some decorations to consider are flags, balloons, crepe paper, paper mache things, costumes for the crew. A good simple idea, effectively carried out, will have the most impact.

Flags and Banners for Sale

F.O.R. San Bernard flags and banners are for sale on the web. They were made by Rick Gardner who has a place near 2J's and a business in Houston, Gardner and Martin. Our organization has had great success selling these, with over $1,000 raised in the few weeks they have been available. Pictures and an order form are available on the website under the top menu item of “Merchandise for Sale”. The direct link is http://www.sanbernardriver.com/merchandise/flags/flags.htm.

Mouth

The first two of Mike Holmes’ articles went to press. The mouth of the San Bernard went national in Mike Holmes’ Gulf Coast Report in Southern Boating, and was covered more in depth in the April edition of Mariner’s Log, which is distributed along the Texas Coast. There will be other Mike Holmes articles later in the summer.

Richard Stewart, a reporter for the Houston Chronicle, discovered www.sanbernardriver.com, contacted Eileen, then Roy and Jan Edwards. Roy and Jan, Pat Webb and Mark Hazelrigg gave the reporter the grand mouth tour and his comprehensive article about the mouth of the river was published on the front page of The Houston Chronicle Monday, April 3.

Roy and Jan received e-mail notification that Brazoria Co. through the Brazoria Co. Shoreline Restoration Task Force and their lobbying entity were working toward including the mouth of the San Bernard to the Resolution for comprehensive study of the Brazoria Co. shoreline and that was being submitted to the appropriations committee through Congressman Ron Paul’s office on April 7.

Roy Edwards gave a San Bernard River Mouth presentation to a Nalco CAPS meeting April 13.

Roy and Jan attended a Wetlands Workshop sponsored by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers April 25. They learned what lands are considered wetlands, and the different kinds of permits necessary. Roy and Jan learned that if the federal government took on the project to open the mouth of the river, no permit would be necessary, but that a comprehensive study would be needed to show the depth of the project and to identify federal interest in funding the project.

On April 28, Roy and Jan received the following e-mail form Tom Lizardo, Ron Paul’s Chief of Staff:

I am planning to be in Texas next month. My still-very-tentative timeframe is to be in the State from around May 15 through May 24. If you can make use of some of my time in Texas please let me know. The purpose of this trip is to provide an opportunity for constituents to bring items of importance to the Office of Representative Paul.

If you would like to meet, either at Congressman Paul's offices or have me come to your office (or tour a site or sites) please feel free to send me a reply e-mail in the next week or ten days and let me know what times might work for you or what events you would like for me to consider putting on the schedule. I hope to finalize my schedule the week prior to arrival.

Roy and Jan again invited Mr. Lizardo to the dig event. Roy and Jan think a specific time needs to be set for a meeting with him. We are in the midst of setting up a date for a public meeting with Mr. Lizardo

Accounting

F.O.R. San Bernard currently has $ 4,200 deposited at Lone Star Bank - Brazoria Branch. The account currently has 4 signatories, which are the interim officers. Two approvals are required before a check can be issued. There is only one pending disbursements, for the flags. The organization now has a Federal ID Number and soon will have a State Tax Number.

Organization

F.O.R. San Bernard will soon apply to be recognized by the IRS as a non‑profit 501(c)3 organization. It is our good fortune that Attorney Lynn Klement has donated his services to file the papers necessary. Lynn is the president of Columbia-Brazoria ISD School Board and a supporter of Friends of the River. We will reimburse him for the filing fees and the incorporation binder. In addition, he has agreed to attend our next public meeting to address questions and concerns regarding the organization.

Among the many benefits of non-profit organizations are:

Eligibility to apply for grants
Possibility of corporation donations
Limited liability for officers and board of directors

Bylaws and Articles of Incorporation are being drafted and are soon to be filed with the Texas Secretary of State. The interim Board of Directors and the interim officers were named for the purpose of filing the papers. The first interim officers and board will step down when the first officers are elected. That is expected to be September this year.

The permanent Board of Directors will have 15 members serving 3‑year terms, with 5 members retiring each year. Obviously, the first few years will be a little different. After one year, five members will voluntarily retire and five new board members will be appointed. After the 2nd year, the same would occur. Thereafter each board member will serve a 3‑year term. The Board will have an annual meeting on the 1st Saturday following Labor Day each year.

The Annual Meeting of the organization will be on the 2nd Saturday following Labor Day each year. The meeting will be published on the web and in the community section of the local newspaper. A quorum is represented by those present at the meeting and all present have voting rights. The Annual Meeting will be held at the Brazoria Heritage Civic Center in Brazoria.

Liability Insurance

We need to obtain liability insurance for the organization. Liability for the officers and board of a charitable organization in Texas is limited IF it carries liability insurance of $500,000.00 per person/ $1,000,000.00 per occurrence for personal injury and death, and %100,000.00 per occurrence for property damage. The liability of the organization is then limited by law to the insurance coverage amount. Liability is not limited if the insurance coverage is not carried.

The OC is currently seeking bids. If anyone has a suggestion or recommendation of an agency that will write non-profit liability insurance, please contact Nancy Kanter frednancy@sanbernardriver.com.

Website

The website continues to be very popular with our river community, area citizens, and government officials. Web stats for each week are available via the menu on the web. During the month of April 2006:

A total of 8,658 distinct visits were made to the site.
473 distinct web pages were viewed a total of 20,759 times.
The average visit contained 2.40 page views. People spent an average of 1 Minute and 45 Seconds viewing a page.
Downloadable files were requested 328 times. On average 0.04 files were downloaded per visit.

The following new daily postings were made:

The following pages were updated during the month:

Fishing Pictures section added to the web . Send yours!!!
Merchandise for Sale section added
River Height/Flow data updated for March with water temperature included!!
All new news articles added
New photos of the Mouth
Updated river calendar
Pictures of the cancelled Can You Dig It
Pictures of the Spring Cleanup

See Accomplishments in March

To Unsubscribe

You subscribed at our website to receive periodic email updates and notices from Friends of the River SAN BERNARD. To unsubscribe from e-mail updates, send an email to webmaster@sanbernardriver.com with the word unsubscribe as the Subject line. If you have questions about this message, please contact webmaster@sanbernardriver.com or any OC member listed below

Pat & Connie Webb: patco@sanbernardriver.com
Roy & Jan Edwards: royjan@sanbernardriver.com
Nelson & Vanessa Taylor: rd@sanbernardriver.com
John & Jane Wallace: johnjane@sanbernardriver.com
Fred & Nancy Kanter: frednancy@sanbernardriver.com
Tom Valliere: bill@sanbernardriver.com
Mark Hazelrigg: mark@sanbernardriver.com
Buddy & Eileen Kenneda: eileen@sanbernardriver.com
Teresa Schlumpberger: teresa@sanbernardriver.com
Neal Graham: neal@sanbernardriver.com

This update was prepared and sent by Eileen Kenneda, OC member and webmaster, with approval by the Organizing Committee.

Visit our website:
http://www.SanBernardRiver.Com
or
http://www.FORSanBernard