See PAGe 2

Sendoff ForJohnston

At CofC

Olives Raised, Oil Made Across The Bay

- Not The PondSee PAGe 2

WEDNESDAYMAr. 11, 2020VOL. 113 • NO. 11

BEACONBRIEFS

P. O. Box 817 • 310 Fifth St.Palacios, TX 77465

(361) 972-3009palaciosbeacon@gmail.com

Website: palaciosbeacon.com

The OnlyNewspaper In The

World Published Just For The Palacios Area.

PALACIOS,

•

TEXAS

Beacon Deadline 5 p.m. Friday

Except for paid advertising, all articles, photos or other information submitted on Monday will be published on a space available basis only.

thObserving Our

113Year1907-2020

Open 8:30 a.m.-5 p.m.Beacon Closed Wednesday

Palacios Beacon• A Member Of •

Texas Press AssociationSouth Texas Press Association

Texas Gulf Coast Press Association

(See PRIMARY, Page 2)

BY BRANDI GARCIA WESTPalacios Beacon

BY RYAN WESTPalacios Beacon-Publisher

■ St. Anthony’s Lenten Fish Fry

St. Anthony of Padua’s Catholic Church in Palacios will hold its Lenten Fish Fry on Fri. (Mar. 13) at the Parish Family Center, located at 1004 Magnusson, for $10 per plate dine-in or take out, from 4 p.m. until sold out. Plate includes fish, shrimp, coleslaw or french fries, hush puppies, dessert and tea.

• Deadline for Articles, Classified & Display Ads 4:30 p.m. Friday•

BY RYAN WESTPalacios Beacon-Publisher

BY MICK SCHEIB Palacios Beacon

SUBSCRIBETO THE

PALACIOSBEACON$30 A YEARIN COUNTY$40 A YEAR

OUT-OF COUNTY

Voter registration deadline April 2 to

cast City, PISD ballots in May

See PAGe 11

PHS BandWins

Sweepstakes

Proudly Serving The City By The Sea Since 1907USPS 418460 1 SectiON, 12 PAGES

PalaciosPalaciosBEACONBEACON$1.00

■ Free Lenten Soup Lunch & Fellowship Friday’s at St. John’s Episcopal

Free Soup Lunch and Fellowship each Friday during Lent (exclud-ing Good Friday) at the St. John’s Episco-pal Church starting at 11:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m.

(See VOTE, Page 4)

Primary election season not quite over, runoffs coming

TPWD taking public input on oyster farming (See VIRUS, Page 2)

Knowledge is power in battle against

Coronavirus

Do you want your voice to be heard when it comes to who sets the policy for Palacios Inde-pendent School District or the proposed $83-mil-lion bond initiative? Are you looking to cast your ballot in the contested races for seats on the Pa-lacios City Council?

If you do, then make your that you have reg-istered to vote. The last day to register to vote for any city or school board election is Thursday, April 2.

Voter registration may be done online at, www.votetexas.gov, or by fill-ing out a voter registra-tion application located at the post office, library,

The old saying “knowl-edge is power” is key to help decrease the anxiety and fear associated to the novel Coro-navirus, respiratory disease, reportedly increasing in vari-ous places around the globe.

Amanda Campos, Matago-rda County’s Emergency Management Coordinator, reassured the Palacios Bea-con, that “the County is on top of it.” Campos stated that the County’s Command and Control Team is activated and the county is maintain-ing communication with the State of Texas and Center for Disease Control and Preven-tion (CDC) and that the rec-ommendation at this time is simple.

It is recommended you wash your hands for 20 con-secutive seconds regularly and avoid contact with your face at all times, especially touching your mouth and nose. Ideally the use of soap and water is recommended; however, it is also suggested to regularly use antibacterial

In the not-so-distant fu-ture, you may hear a Palacian boast of the “family farm,” and they’ll mean three acres of leased water column on the Texas coast where they grow oysters. In the not-so-distant past, that wasn’t even possi-ble. Twenty-one other states, two Canadian provinces, and a smattering of foreign countries had an oyster mari-culture industry in place, but Texas – with 2,000 miles of salt water coast – hadn’t the civic infrastructure in place to even consider such a thing.

That changed when Rep-resentative Todd Hunter (R – District 32 [Corpus Christi) introduced Bill 1300 and it passed both House and Sen-ate with only one nay vote. That legislation made it pos-sible for entrepreneurs to “farm” oysters but wisely the legislature didn’t chisel the legal details in stone, leav-ing the tweaking to the Texas Parks and Wildlife Depart-ment (TPWD).

Lance Robinson, a Dep-uty Division Director with

TPWD, hosted a hearing on March 4th at the Navigation

District building, outlin-ing the current thinking of

TPWD and asking for pub-

WORK began last week on the City of Palacios’ $402,500 water line work along Fifth St. from Ritchie Ave. to Morton Ave., and down Lucas Ave. from First St. to Fifth St. The project, which will replace water main lines, service lines and fire hydrants, is funded through a Texas Dept. of Agriculture CDBG program with $350,000 funded by the State of Texas and the City’s matching share was $52,500. (Beacon Photo by Brandi G. West)

(See OYSTERS, Page 3)

Grand Champion GoatMalorie Hansen

Country Youth 4-H$3,500

Grand Champion SwineMadison DyerTidehaven FFA

$5,750

Grand Champion Lamb

Aubree PageRound-Up 4-H

$2,750

Grand Champion Poultry

Wyatt SalasHelping Hand 4-H

$2,750

Local Grand Champions

Though last week’s Primary Elections set-tled that there wouldn’t be a new sheriff in town, several races are still undecided with runoffs necessary on May 26.

In the highly contested race for Matagorda County Sheriff, incumbent Frank ‘Skipper’ Osborne defeated Pct. 6 Constable William ‘Bill’ Orton with 53% of the vote, 2,631 to 2,319.

Lone Democratic candidate for Matagorda County Commissioner Pct. 3, Greg Seaman, will have to wait until May’s runoff to find out his opponent come November.

The race for the GOP nominee for Pct. 3

saw Troy Shimek capture 411 votes, followed by second place candidate Steven Johnson’s 154, 118 ballots cast for Ruben Gonzales, 114 for Johnny Tran and 41 for Dennis Smith. While Shimek ran away in the totals, he fell short of the 50% threshold at 49.05% and thus May’s runoff with Johnson was deemed nec-essary.

Texas House District 25In the race to replace Dennis Bonnen in the

House District 25 seat in Austin, Republican candidates Ro’Vin Garrett and Cody Vasut emerged out of the five person field and are heading to runoff in May.

According to the Texas Secretary of State Office, Garrett was the clear front-runner in the race with 6,681 votes, 28.6% of the vote,

followed by Vasut’s 22.2% of ballots, 5,193. Third in the race was Troy Brimage with

4,941 votes, with Rhonda Seth in fourth (4,584) and lone Matagorda County candi-date Mitch Thames in fifth with 1,983 votes.

Thames overwhelmingly carried the county with over 37% of the total 4,717 ballots. Seth came in second county wide with over 20%, followed by Brimage, Vasut and Garrett.

The winner of May runoff will face Demo-cratic candidate Patrick Henry in November’s general election.

U.S. House District 27On the Democratic ticket to challenge GOP

incumbent Michael Cloud for his seat in the U.S. House District 27 seat come November, Ricardo ‘Rick’ De La Fuente won the nomi-

nation over Charlie Jackson 20,714 to 12,978.Items of note

There were more items on last week’s pri-mary ballots and we could go on forever, but we thought we’d point out a few items of note.

While there are 21,480 registered voters in Matagorda County, just over 30% cast bal-lots, with 6,547 taking to the polls.

Matagorda County Republicans were over 93% in favor of Donald J. Trump for POTUS. coming in second were over 3% ‘Uncommit-ted’.

On the Democratic presidential primary ticket 16 of the 17 candidates received votes, led by 676 ballots for Joe Biden and 295 for

DEADLINE 4:30 P.M. FRIDAYPage 2 - Palacios Beacon - Wed., March 11, 2020

•The Palacios Beacon • Serving the City by the Sea since 1907

BY ALAN C. SCHULMANPalacios Beacon - Reporter

Suspected illegal cash seized at U.S. 59 stops

March 11th- March 17th

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LONGTIME Chamber member and Palacios promoter Mary Johnston (center) was given a send off for her 40-plus years in Palacios as she moves to be closer to family in Webster. She was presented a cake by CofC’s David King and Pam Oliver. (Beacon Photo by Alan Schulman)

I want to Thank everyone that got out and voted,

especially for me.

I’m overwhelmed by the support of my family,

friends and community throughout this political race.

There will be a runoff election on May 26th and I hope everyone will once again take time from

your busy schedule to get out and Vote.

Again I deeply appreciate everyone’s support. Thank you, Troy Shimek

(Pol. Adv. pd. for by Troy Shimek, Treasurer, 23878 Hwy. 35 S. Palacios, TX. 77465 )

VIRUS (Continued From Page 1)

hand sanitizer and sanitation wipes if soap and water is unavailable. Be mindful to cover your cough and sneeze with your elbow. And con-sider decreasing physical contact with your neighbor by giving a head nod or fist bump rather than shaking hands. All of these simple reminders can be instrumen-tal in avoiding the spread of germs.

If you begin feeling flu like symptoms and especially if you’re running a fever, stay home, if necessary seek med-ical attention first by calling your primary care physician or make a doctor’s appoint-ment. If you’re not feeling well ask a friend or family member to run your errands and to bring you your gro-ceries. If the symptoms can-

not be handled at home and you’re not able to get an ap-pointment the option remains to call EMS or go to the hos-pital.

According to the CDC, the “Coronavirus that was first detected in China and which has now been detected in almost 70 locations inter-nationally, including in the United States. While infor-mation so far suggests that most COVID-19 illness is mild, a report out of China suggests serious illness oc-curs in 16% of cases. Older people and people with cer-tain underlying health condi-tions like heart disease, lung disease and diabetes, for ex-ample, seem to be at greater risk of serious illness.”

Campos put my mind at ease by stating that it was her

belief that no child under the age of 16 has been diagnosed with Coronavirus and if so this is the rarity.

According to a recent Pa-lacios ISD Media Press Re-lease, Superintendent Dr. Glenn stated, “ I want to as-sure you that our school dis-trict is keeping track of this situation through proven and

trustworthy sources: our lo-cal health department, the Texas Department of State Health Service (DSHS), and the Centers for Disease Con-trol and Prevention (CDC). These health officials believe that the risk to our school community is low at this time.”

Olives raised, oil made across the bay - not the pond Who knew that not all olive oil is pro-

duced in faraway countries such as Italy and Greece? Well, if you thought that most olives are grown across the pond, you’d be partly right.

While it’s true that the top producers of ol-ive oil are Spain, Italy, and Greece, the fact is, there is an olive farm right across the bay in Collegeport that grows and harvests supe-rior olives that are processed into extra virgin olive oil by J Welch Farms in Victoria.

Barbara Corporon, of Maverick Orchards, speaking at last Thursday’s Palacios Cham-ber of Commerce General Membership Meeting, described the flavor of their extra virgin olive oil as “butter with a little burn of pepper in the back of your throat.” Maverick

Orchards consists of 80 planted acres with 50,000 olive trees.

Victor and Barbara Corporon planted their first olive trees in October, 2015, and now sell their olive oil in over 200 stores in eight states under the names Maverick Orchards, J Welch Farms, Ooh La La!, and Fuerte, and many restaurants also use their products.

Though no retail outlets in Matagorda County carry their products, their extra vir-gin olive oil and balsamic vinegar can be pur-chased at J Welch Farms in Victoria.

New Members and GuestsGail Purvis introduced the New Executive

Director of The HUB, Dolores Kimball, and noted that current director Marsha Baumann will remain with the HUB as supervisor of the Parents as Teachers program.

Business of the MonthThe ‘Business of the Month’ was award-

ed to Palacios Abstract & Title Company, and owner Bobby Wilkinson stated that he opened the company in 1997, has moved to several different locations, and now operates out of the Chipman building on Henderson Ave, “and we’re there to stay.”

Upcoming EventsThere will be a send-off for Mary John-

ston on Mar. 12, from 5 - 7 p.m., at Bayshore Lodge, located at 514 E. Bayshore Dr. The Palacios Historical Asso-ciation Soup & Salad will be on Mar. 17, Matagorda Bay Birdfest/ Parade will run from Mar. 27 through Mar. 29, Easter Cantata at First Baptist Church will be on Apr. 12, the Palacios Area Fund Breakfast with the Stars is on Apr. 25, Palacios

Trail Riders Association Annual Trail Ride Apr. 18 & 19, and LaBelle Day PAHA Fund-raiser will be on May 1 & 2.

Upcoming MeetingsPalacios Chamber Board of Directors’ Meet-

ing on Mar. 12 @ noon, Palacios Economic Development Director Meeting Mar. 18 @ 1:15 p.m., and the next Chamber of Com-merce General Membership Meeting will be on Apr. 2 at Texas Baptist Encampment.

PALACIOS Abstract & Title was named the Chamber of Commerce Business of the Month at last week’s monthly meeting. Pictured are: (front, l-r) Leland Singer, Marsha Bauman, Huyen Tran, Clissa Mills Leslie Machicek, Mary Johnston, Bobby Wilkinson, Mary Crocker, Caroll Carney and Pam Oliver; (back) Delores Kimball, Gail Purvis, Glen Smith, Mary Van Borssum, Tuyen Gonzalez, Teri Cartwright, David King, Terry Lee and Dan Tucker. (Beacon Photo by Alan Schulman)

PRIMARY(Continued From Page 1)

Bernie Sanders. Marianne Williamson as the lone candi-date to not receive a vote in Matagorda County.

Playing both ends of the court, Roque ‘Roccky’ De La Fuente Guerra) received 33 GOP votes for President and seven votes on the Democratic ballot.

A full breakdown on the vote totals for Matagorda County’s Primary election may be found on the County website at www.co.matagorda.tx.us/page/matagorda.Elections, and the State totals may be found on the web-site of the Texas Secretary of State, www.sos.tx.gov.

Palacios Abstract & Title named CofC Business of the Month...

Palacios Beacon - Wed., March 11, 2020 - Page 3DEADLINE 4:30 P.M. FRIDAY

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“Matagorda Bay’s Birdfest 2020 offers a rich diversity of natural settings for spectacular bird watching” - Laurie Beck

Individuals listed have been arrested and/or charged with an offense. Inclusion in this report does not imply that the person is guilty of any crime. The following are offense and arrest reports submitted by the Palacios Police Dept. to the Palacios Beacon as of noon Friday.

• Palacios Police Reports •

From the Police ChiefBy Police Chief

David MilesPeople are

beginning their spring cleanup; remember open burning is pro-hibited in the city. Brush can be taken to the county barn. I would call them before you go.

lic input. More TPWD/public in-terchanges are scheduled along the coast until the end of August when the plan must be final.

The end result is a 2 ½-inch oyster destined for the half-shell market. A grower can participate in one or all three of the growth stages; hatchery, nursery (to bring the oysters to ‘seed’ size), and/or the final grow-out stage. The market wants a 2 ½-inch size and that is a size attainable by genetical-ly-altered sterile oyster in about half the time a wild oyster takes to attain the 3 ½-inch size. A wild oyster takes much of its caloric intake and time to develop a reproductive system; a sterile oyster will not. (Much like your neutered tom-cat, a sterile oyster will not stray far from home either.) A rule of thumb says about 100,000 seed oysters can be started and raised in an acre of water column. As you might suspect from that fact, oyster farming is a labor-intensive business.

Currently it’s illegal to harvest, possess or transport any oyster less than 3 inches in length, so you can see there necessarily will be a system of other rules, permits to handle the 2 ½-inch oyster.

It doesn’t stop there. If you want to

take up the oyster-farmin’ trade, the very first thing you’ll need is a wa-terproof pen to fill out all the applica-tions.

Leases are awarded for ten years, with a year given to develop the lease once awarded. To get a lease, you’ll need approval from state and federal agencies including; TPWD, the Gen-eral Land Office (GLO) because be-neath that water column is the land, TCEQ (Texas Commission on En-vironmental Quality) for discharge permit, TDA (Texas Department of Agriculture) for the mariculture per-mit, DSHS (Department of Health Services) for sanitation training, US-COE (United States Corps of Engi-neers) for shellfish permit, and oth-ers. (So far, the SPCA [Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals] does not demand a signed, notarized pledge that you won’t use whips on the oysters to stimulate growth.) You will also need US Coast Guard ap-proval.

Considerations for siting are many and varied. For instance, an oys-ter operation will not be allowed in a known marine thoroughfare, nor where the area is already in use, say, gas and oil operations. A lease will

not be given for a recre-ational area like a popular

wade-fishing spot. Neighbors will have a say as well as an oyster opera-tion does break up the natural scen-ery with posts and cages often visible from shore. Naturally, oyster mari-culture will be discouraged where tides, fresh water influx or other nat-ural conditions are not conducive to oyster growth.

Continued and continual oversight of the leases may require adjustments for the lease-holder. For instance, if the posts, cables and cages – normal infrastructure for an oyster grow-out facility – draw in many roost-ing birds, action may be necessary to deal with the resultant excess bird droppings in the area. Vibrio concen-trations in the water may require the oysters be moved so they can self-cleanse. Oysters are living organisms destined for food and living in pub-lic areas. As such, they are subject to sharp scrutiny as to what substances they take in and what substances they put out. No way around it; regulation is necessary.

Represen-tatives of var-ious bureau-cracies were present at the meeting and all prom-

ised to facilitate applications to and through their agency. Robinson com-mitted TPWD as the primary contact for any applicant, promising to help any applicant through the required paperwork.

An oyster industry on the coast would mean both cleaner water and improved fishing, as well as other more subtle advantages for the envi-ronment. It’s a win/win business that would employ or otherwise benefit locals as well as attract more tourists and bring more dollars to the Texas coast.

Oyster mariculture is a complex in-dustry, new to Texas. Regulations are currently in flux but for those will-ing to work hard and adapt, there’s a promise of economic success and we will see scores, if not hundreds of family farms popping up – in the waters of the Texas coast – in the not-too-distant future.

OYSTERS (Continued From Page 1)

4th annual Matagorda Bay’s Birdfest set to take flight March 27-29

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Palacios Area Historical Association

Tuesday, March 17th

5:30 p.m. City by the Sea Museum • 401 Commerce

6:30 pm to 7 pm Annual Meeting 7 p.m.- 7:30 p.m. Guest Speaker

Tickets at the door: $8/Members - $10/Non-Members(Memberships available)

For more information contact 361-972-1148 or email paha@citybytheseamuseum.org

+ = SOUP &

SALAD!

Ona Lea PierceChairperson of Matagorda County

Historical CommissionRON

PISD TruSTeePOS. 5

The following have paid to have their names listed as candidates for Pos. 3 on the Palacios ISD Board of Trustees. The cost for the Candidate Listing is $30. The cost for the candidate listing plus a one time candidate announce-ment article is $50. The deadline for inclusion in the Candidate Listing or to submit a candidate announcement article is 5 p.m. Friday.

LAWS[Pol. Adv. pd for by Tammy Hill, Treasurer,

222 Welch. Ave, 77465]

CANDIDATELISTINGS

PALACIOS - Organizers of Matagorda Bay Birdfest in Palacios are in high gear to make good on the promise that the fourth annual educational event connects people, birds, and nature.

Birdfest spans the weekend of Friday, March 27, through Sunday, March 29.

The small coastal town of Palacios on Matagorda Bay and its surrounding wetlands and estuaries offer a rich setting for experi-enced birders and adventurous beginners.

Friday’s birding tours include five excur-sions beginning with a daybreak trek to the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department’s Pow-derhorn Ranch at 6:30 a.m. The Powderhorn’s saltwater wetlands offer year-round habitat for shorebirds, wading birds and waterfowl. Its woodlands, freshwater wetlands, and restored coastal prairie provide critically important “fall-out areas” for migrating songbirds.

Another early morning tour, to the Nature Conservancy’s Clive Runnels Mad Island Marsh Preserve, promises sightings of ducks, cranes, waders, rails, raptors, shorebirds, wrens, and sparrows.

Three Birding on the Bay boat tours begin at 8 a.m., 11 a.m., and 2 p.m.

A Friday evening reception at the historic Peaceful Pelican Bed and Breakfast will offer Birdfest participants the opportunity to meet their tour guides and to meet the event’s key-note speaker, Romey Swanson, Texas Audu-bon’s Director of Conservation Strategy.

Friday evening culminates with the 2020 Roseate Spoonbill Art Contest Exhibit and Concert at the East Side Annex, 901 Second St. The concert features singing zoologist Lu-cas Miller.

Saturday’s tours include outings to Oyster Lake, Western Roads, Palacios Hot Spots, and a daybreak kayak tour to Oyster Lake.

A Parade of Birds and Raptor Show begins at 10 a.m. Saturday morning at First Street and South Bay Blvd. and ends on the grounds of the historic Luther Hotel. The colorful walk along the waterfront showcases the imagina-tive handwork of young and old to fashion bird costumes.

Speaker sessions are on tap Saturday after-

noon beginning at 1:30 p.m. at the East Side Annex 6th Grade Wing. Among the Birdfest speakers are Glenn Olsen of Rice University on “Miraculous Migration;” avian biologist Susan Heath on “Wading Birds of Matagorda Bay;” Dr. Liz Smith of the International Crane Foundation on “The Conservation Legacy of North American Cranes.”

Other sessions feature David Newstead on “As the World Turns: A Year in the Life of A Texas Waterbird;” Leslie Hartman of Texas Parks and Wildlife on “Prey! When Birds Say Grace, What Is It They Are Thankful For?;” wildlife photographer Kathy Adams Clark on “Photographing Birds;” Brigid Berger on “History and Perspective of the Audubon Christmas Bird Count In Matagorda County;” and Gary Clark on “Reconnecting People with Nature.”

Environmental steward Bill Balboa, Execu-tive Director of the Matagorda Bay Founda-tion, will moderate a Q&A session at 4:30 p.m.

Saturday’s events culminate with dinner at the Palacios Educational Pavilion and the key-note address of conservationist Romy Swan-son of Texas Audubon. His topic is “Survival by Degrees: The Future of Birds.”

The dinner features the culinary talents of Chef Robert Mayberry who will offer a menu of redfish from Turtle Creek, Texmati rice pilaf, bread made of Tex-as wheat, and locally sourced vegetables.

Birdfest offers four early bird tours Sunday morning — a kayak outing to Keller Bay, two to the Nature Con-servancy’s Mad Island Marsh Preserve, and another to the Powderhorn Ranch.

For detailed information on all Birdfest events, reg-istration, guidelines for the photography contest, vendor information, and lodging — and to view a phenomenal inventory of photos of local and migratory bird sightings — go to matgordabaybird-fest.org

Birdfest director Laurie Mann Beck can be reached at (956) 285-3234 and at laurie-beck@becktv.com.

12 tours on land & water, speakers on conservation & stewardship, parade, art contest & exhibits

DEADLINE 4:30 P.M. FRIDAYPage 4 - Palacios Beacon - Wed., March 11, 2020

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