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

Summary of News, Accomplishments and Events

 October 1  F.O.R. members manned tables at Stewart's Grocery in Brazoria and Churchill's Bernard Grocery for River Rasier Raffle Ticket and Dinner Ticket sales.

 October 5 A public "Planning Meeting" was called by Fundraiser Chairman Fred Kanter.  F.O.R. members offered ideas and suggestions and volunteered to help at the upcoming fundraiser.

October 10 Clean Team Chairman, David Pope, and other FOR members, met with the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TECQ) Representatives at the F.M. 2611 boat ramp. Lythia Metzmeier and Karen Atkinson provided a demonstration and explanation of San Bernard water sampling. For complete story and photos please go to Previous Updates/November 3 on the website.

October 11 F.O.R. Committee members made plans to attend the Brazoria County Beach Restoration Task Force meeting, regularly scheduled in Surfside.  The meeting was cancelled due to lack of data for discussion.  CIAP grant applications for Brazoria County are pending.

October 12 F.O.R. Board of Director's meeting was held at Brazoria City Hall.  Election of F.O.R. Officers resulted in the following : Executive Officers: President: Patrick Webb, Vice President: Tom Valliere, Treasurer: Nancy Kanter, Secretary: Marie Breakiron.  A Management Committee consisting of Perry Stroud, Chaney Moore, and Artie Burnett was chosen, in accordance with the bylaws.  Other Committees and Chairmen chosen at the meeting were:  Environmental Chairman: Fred Kanter,  Nominating Committee Chairman: Keith Hardwicke, Merchandising Chairman: Connie Webb. Website Chairman: Darell Powell.

Board Mtg.Agenda items : Review of bylaws, Roles and Responsibilites, Treasurer's Report. Fundraiser Chairman, Fred Kanter gave an update on plans for the upcoming fundraiser. Committee  Board meetings will be held the second Thursday of each month at the Brazoria City Hall at seven o'clock p.m. All members are invited to attend.

October 17 Mouth Committee Chairman, Roy Edwards, took approved materials concerning the mouth of the San Bernard, to area print shops for estimates of printing in book form. Action Print Shop of Freeport will handle printing.  These booklets will be used as an aide to further the cause of the mouth reopening.  Due to expense, a limited supply was ordered: books will be available, on loan, to any interested member. If you would like to review, or purchase, a copy please contact Roy Edwards or any Board Officer.

October 18  F.O.R.'s Theme Song and three additional songs (written and performed ) by members: Patrick Webb, Nancy Kanter and Eveline Nachtegaele were recorded, in Brazoria, at the studio of Craig Spears. Thank you, Craig for your generous donation of your time and recording equipment !  If anyone would like to have a copy of the music contact Pat , Nancy, or Eveline. 

October 20 A Celebration day!  F.O.R. received approval of 501(c)3 (non-profit status)

October 20 Printing of River Mouth booklets were completed. Plans have been made for copies to be taken to Washington D.C. in November.

October 21 The River Raiser Fundraiser was a resounding success !  It was a wonderful day of fun and fellowship, and a tremendous amount of support was shown by all  " Friends of the River ". Contributions for auction items, raffle tickets and dinner sales ensured that F.O.R. will have funds for future organizational expenses, and suggestions submitted for river project ideas and plans for the future are now being discussed, in earnest.

October 23 Roy Edwards contacted Commissioner Dude Payne's office concerning a low hanging wire at Sportsman's Span bridge. The wire crossed the river, and was touching radio antennaes on tug boats as they passed that area of the river. This hazardous situation was brought to the River Mouth Committee's attention by Raymond Butler(GICA). The problem was resolved within twenty four hours.

October 26 The River Mouth Committee met with Todd Running and members of Texas Clean Rivers Program, in Houston, for Houston /Galveston Area  Council, for discussion of the river mouth status and to solicit any help they could offer.

F.O.R. San Bernard currently has $18,082.10 deposited in Lone Star bank, with outstanding receivables of $5,615 expected .

Two new items have been added to the FOR Inventory and Online Market :

 Navy Blue F.O.R. Ballcaps and Friends Of the River Floating Keyrings, in the shape of a lifejacket!  (see Fun Things on website)

The 20th Annual Christmas Boat Parade Tshirts (green) are being designed and will be available soon.  Please order early, if you would, this will ensure a sufficient quantity, without the expense of excess  shirts being ordered. Thanks to webmaster, Darell Powell -a new order form is available on the website.  Parade T-Shirts will be available, upon arrival, at Dido's, 2J's, Quality Power and parade meetings, as well as the website.  (see website calendar for parade meeting dates.)

Sweatshirts of the same color/design will be offered, by special order only. They also will be available for pick up at the Captains Meeting on December 7th -7p.m. at Dido's or by calling Judy at 798 7565  Deadline to order sweatshirts is Nov 30. Again, please get your shirt orders in early, if possible. 

F.O.R. Christmas Gift Baskets are available by special order. Email merchandise@www.sanbernardriver.com for more information.

Judy Burnett will be creating new Christmas window displays at Brandi's Quality Power Products in Brazoria on Monday November 13 at 10 a.m.  If you would like to help with this fun project please contact Judy or stop by the location to lend a hand.  We will soon be creating new displays in other locations and are in need of new or used glass display cases. Please contact Connie if you have any information to share on this subject. If you are interested in displaying F.O.R. logo merchandise in your place of business, please let us know.  Friends of the River appreciates your support!

Check  " Notices and Reminders " for arrival of shirts.  Note: Shirts are 50/50 blend.

To place an order contact Judy  merchandise@sanbernardriver.com 

*Plans are underway for PayPal  to be available on the order form very soon !

Visits in: March 8,427, April 8,427, May 11,942, June 10,569, July 9,418, August 12,114, September 12,260

Webstats for October

It just keeps getting better!  October visits to our website: 13,039

A total of 13,039 distinct visits were made to the site!

Distinct web pages were viewed a total of 25,544 times

Downloadable files were requested 215 times.

New web pages this month: F.O.R. Committee Chairman/ new order form

Updates to Board Of Directors and Committee Chairman pages will be completed soon. Also a new page, "The History of F.O.R." is being created.

Front Page Articles in October

Oct 27: Tales from River’s End - Passport to Adventure

Oct 25:Friends of the River San BERNARD “RAISE” THE ROOF

Oct 23: Tales from River's End - Passport to Adventure

Oct 20: San Bernard River "Trash" Dude

Oct 18: Friends of the River San BERNARD HOPE TO “RAISE” PUBLIC AWARENESS… AND FUNDS

Oct 16: Great News on the River!

Oct 13: Are you A Mosquito Magnet

Oct 11: How to Kill a Deer Without a Gun

Oct 09: The River Raiser planning meeting

Oct 06: State of the River – Public Boat Ramps and Parks

Oct 04: Trees of the San Bernard Basin Part 2 - Pecan

F.O.R. San Bernard Discussion Forum

Created and maintained by Tim and Rita (Spirit) Ellerd, is a great place to visit, share recipes, jokes, and poke fun at each other. But on a more serious side, this site is an invaluable communication tool -  During the recent flood, it was responsible for the peace of mind and prevention of loss to property, for folks not able to be at their river homes.  Through this site people could check on their homes, boats, obtain up to date flood information - In October, through this site,  Friends Of the River members were able to "save" two boats. Thank you, Tim and Rita for your donation of "The F.O.R. San Bernard Forum.

 In The News

During the month of October, 7 stories (not counting mentions in What’s Going On? in the Community section of The Facts) about the San Bernard and/or F.O.R. San Bernard activities were published in: The Facts, The Brazoria County News, and The Bulletin. In addition, One unsolicited editorial endorsement for a political candidate (mentioning the San Bernard closure as a major problem of this area) appeared in The Facts.