(with the two photos shown here)

May 15, 2006

For immediate release. Please announce the following event update:

CAN YOU DIG IT? – TRIED AND TRUE!

Saturday, May 13 finally came and Friends Of the River San Bernard (FOR San Bernard) witnessed their inaugural social event – Can You Dig It? as a picnic and a fun day in the sun came to fruition. To quote Mr. Roberts, it was “a beautiful day in the neighborhood”. Best estimates are that over 200 people found their way to the closed mouth of the San Bernard River to draw attention to the river’s peril.

Mother Nature smiled on the 160 men, women and children who lined up to symbolically dig a trench through the deposited sand where the river ended, to the Gulf of Mexico where it should be. There were enough people to accomplish the symbolic task. By the end of the party, the wind had already filled in most of the trench. That only proves how much sand needs to be moved to actually open the river’s mouth.

Men, women and children “dug” the river this past Saturday – and politicians either in office, or running for office, were in attendance to “dig” the beach. Politicians attending were: Congressman Ron Paul ®- Surfside Beach (wielding the BIGGEST shovel); Shane Sklar, Democratic candidate for Congress in the November election,; Florin Vrazel - Democratic candidate for Brazoria County Judge ; Mary Ruth Rhodenbaugh - Democratic candidate for County Commissioner, Precinct 4; and Shane Pirtle’s representative, Republican candidate for County Commissioner, Precinct 4.

Were you listening on Saturday? Did you hear the sound carried on the wind and the surf? If you were attuned to it, you would have heard the deafening sound of apathy shattering as the people who love the San Bernard gathered to send out the message that the river needs help. And did you see the numerous F.O.R. San Bernard signs and flags hanging from docks, flying from poles and from boats springing up all along the river like new life in the Spring?

There’s new life and new hope on the San Bernard River. The river may be dying, but the people who love it aren’t willing to throw in the beach towel yet. One child attending the dig, 4 year old Billy Schuble, knew why he was digging at the beach – so he would have that river to enjoy when he grows up. And after all, isn’t what all this fuss is about anyway?

The river still needs a hand – so if you did not make it to the “dig” on Saturday, bring your questions to a Town Hall meeting with Congressman Ron Paul’s Chief of Staff, Tom Lizardo on Friday, May 19 at Dido’s Restaurant (2219 CR 519 – Brazoria, Texas) from 7:00 p.m. – 9:00 p.m. If you want dinner, Pete Smirch is offering a special buffet available from 5:30 p.m. – 7:00 p.m. for $9.95. Please bring your questions and concerns about the San Bernard River and its future to this meeting. This marks the first time any federal politician has come to the river to ask its people what their concerns are.

For more information check the papers, talk to your neighbors and, please monitor: www.sanbernardriver.com – or contact Pat or Connie Webb at 979-964-4503, Vanessa or Nelson Taylor at 979-964-4402, or Roy and Jan Edwards at 979-964-4332.