Palacios Beacon (Palacios, Tex.), Vol. 49, No. 15, Ed. 1 Thursday, April 12, 1956 Page: 8 of 8
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PALACIOS BEACON, PALACIOS, TEXAS
1 .
mmm
Thursday, April 12, 1956
Margve Darnall's
Theme Judged
Best Of Group
Margye Darnall, a student in
one of the third grade classes at
Central Elementary School, is a
young miss who may be giving
newspapermen a little competition
in future years.
Three Central Elementary School
teachers judged Margyc's theme
on the subject of the three classes'
field trip to Bay City the best out
of approximately 130 other writ-
ings.
The third grader describes, with
few misspelled words and almost
perfect English, the Easter field
trip in detail.
It is titled Easter Vacation and
begins;
We children started our vacation
by boiling and dying Easter Eggs
at home. When we got to school
Wednesday morning our eggs were
checked in and we boarded the
school bus for a field trip.
Our first stop was the Palacios
Brick Plant. )We saw big ovens
that were called kilns in which the
brick were baked in molds of twos.
Later we saw men break them in
two and stack the bricks one by
one in very high stacks to be sold
to builders. Our school is made of
brick.
From there we went to Bay City
with a police escort, who took our
pictures. We went to the 7-Up
plant. A man talked to us and
showed how this drink was made,
Using a specially treated water
and gas. Then they capped the
drink in sparkling clean bottles.
We were given a 7-Up drink and
a trading card with historical pic-
tures on them. We also watched a
film about the making of 7-Up.
Miss Walton showed us pictures
o'f Kim Kelly and herself.
)We rode over to KIOX, the radio
broadcasting station of Bay City.
The rooms were decorated with
pictures. A man showed us the
recording room, and explained how
the magnitized glass and heavy
carpeting were important to
sound vibrations. He led us into
his own office, where he checked
library recordings. He showed us
a lot of buttons and gadgets, one
which he said was the most im-
portant of all. Then we went back
into the broadcasting room to
make a recording of ourselves. We
sang: "There Are Many Flags in
Many Lands". We heard the news
ft tie! weather being reported.
Then we got on our bus and
went to the Bay City Meat Pack-
ing Plant. We went through the
chill room and the packing room
where sausage had just been made.
In the cutting room, the halves of
meat were cut up into steaks,
roasts and ground meat. We saw
the poultry room where chickens
were being dressed by two ladies.
Next we visited Le Tetulle Park
for an Easter Egg Hunt, and a
picnic lunch.
(We ate lunch and hurried to our
next place, the Bay City Coca-
Cola plant. The guide showed us a
steam suds washing machine that
washed the dirty bottles. We saw
them put Coca-Cola into bottles
and water treated like that used
in making 7-Ups. They were then
shaken down well and put in boxes
to be stored until sold to stores.
The guide gave each a book, a little
plastic Coke bottle and a Coca-
Cola to drink.
From there we rushed over to
the c'ourt house for a tour of that
building, where we saw a lady
With many kinds of writing pens.
, We saw the many business offices
and the court room.
Our last place to visit was the
jail. There we saw some prisoners.
It was a neat jail. Sheriff Jack
Cole gave each of us a fingernail
file, match card and his voting
card.
I want to thank the Bay City
iHcflrt Program
I Featured At Rotary
"Heart disease kills more peo-
ple each year than all your other
major diseases combined," Dr. E.
B. Sanford, program chairman,
told the Rotary Club at their meet-
ing Wednesday noon at the Green
Lantern Inn.
Dr Sanford presented Miss
Blanche O'Conner of Markham,
ivho is chairman of the Matagorda
County Heart Association. Miss
O'Conner presented all the mem-
bers with information on the func-
tion and care of the human heart
and details of the heart associa-
tion.
IWeldon Sullivan of the Palacios
School system ran a film titled
Heart to Heart, revealin that the
human heart pumps more than
12,500 allons of blood a day.
Frank Seerden of Houston was
a uest o'f Tom Brandon. Other
guests were Mrs. E. A. Constance
of Markham, Mrs. H. C. Ham of
Bay City and Dr. Young of Gal-
veston.
Parents Warned
Third Polio Shot
Musi Be Taken
Now that the polio season is
here again, all parents with chil-
dren six years of age or older
should be sure their children have
been protected, Roy G. Reed, act-
ing director of the Matagorda
County Health Unit, warned this
week.
"The efficiency of Salk Vaccine
as a preventive measure for polio
has been proven beyond a shadow
of a doubt," he said, warning that
one injection gives some immunity,
but the process is not complete un-
til three shots have been taken.
Reed pointed out that the second
injection increases immunity, but
said that complete protection could
not reasonably be expected until
the third shot is taken.
He said the recommended time
interval of these injections is four
weeks between the first and second
shots and seven months between
the second and third booster injec-
tion.
There is some shortage of the
Salk Vaccine, but the State Health
Department does not condone post-
ponement of the third injection
due to shortage.
"Therefore," Reed said, "all in-
dividuals who received their second
dose o'f the vaccine as much as
seven months ago are encouraged
to contact their family physician
for this injection if or when the
vaccine is available."
Local Co-Op Gin
In New Building
The Palacios Farmers Co-op Gin
is expecting to complete a $65,000
reconversion project before the
end of this month.
Already housed in a new all-
metal building, the installation of
four new gin stands, new lint
cleaners and a new 50 foot plat-
form scale is almost complete.
R. D. Chamblee said that farm-
ers in this area would be relieved
to know that the seed sterlizer will
not have to be used on local cot-
ton this year.
Chamblee said that there has
been a state ruling requiring the
sterlizing of local cotton seeds, but
improved ginning methods now
make the process unnecessary.
school for their buses that helped
with our trip.
I enjoyed my trip very much
and want to thank every one 'for
our field trip.
'0 t
HIGGINS SLACKS
Airy-Light Breezy Cool
Fliteweight Fabrics
WASH 'N WEAR
ORLONS
DACRONS
GABARDINE
NYLON CORDS
SEE OUR LARGE SPRING ASSORTMENT NOW!
BRANDON'S
DRY GOODS, NOTIONS. SHOES, HATS
LIKE A GENIE—
(Continued From I'age 1)
and drilling.
A new obstacle arose to plague
the area. Pass Cavallo, a long used
natural outlet from Matagorda
Bay to the gulf, began to silt up,
and became unsafe for vessels to
use. The shrimping industry, which
had shifted operations from the
bays to the gulf because of the in-
creased demand and supply, found
that more than 40 percent of the
time it could not gain access to the
productive gulf grounds.
The majority of the area's boats,
those operating out of Port Lavaca
and Palacios, were forced to go 70
miles either cast or west, to gain
a safe outlet to the Gulf. These
long trips sharply decreased the in-
come from this source because of
the increased1 operating costs, and,
then too, boats were forced to cut
down on their actual shrimping
time.
The pass was dredged in 1949
under a joint venture in which the
United States granted an emer-
gency appropriation of $75,000
plus one half the cost in excess of
$75,000, with local interests
guaranteeing the remaining half
of the excess cost over $75,000.
But simply dredging the pass was
not enough. By 1953 it had all but
closed up again.
Although shrimping was tem-
porarily stymied, other industries
became interested in the region. In
rapid fire succession, the Alumi-
num Company of America, in 1948,
the du Pont Company, in 1949, ana'
Union Carbon and Carbide, in 1953,
all established plants in this region.
The first to come, Alcoa, has
since undergone two expansions,
and is in the process of enlarging
their present facilities a third
time. They have also indicated that
the company will build a 35 million
dollar plant in this same general
location if it is feasible. Carbide
is presently undergoing its first
expansion.
These corporations just served
to wet the appetites of the people
in the area.
Each county in the region, since
Pass Cavallo became impassable,
had been bombarding the govern-
ment with requests to dredge a
channel to the gulf. Calhoun, Mata-
gorda and Jackson had all sought
to have a channel dredged.
Finally after several years of
confusion, 79 leaders from these
three counties and also from Whar-
ton, Victoria and Refugio coun-
ties, met in 1954 and formed the
Texas Mid-Coast Water Develop-
ment Association. The Association
had, as its sole purpose, the pro-
moting of the public interest in
the cities and towns of the Mid-
Coast area through improvement
of salt water facilities and con-
servation of fresh water supplies.
The Association designated as
its first project a concerted effort
to secure a reliable pass from the
Intracoastal Waterway to the Gulf
in the Texas mid-coastal area.
Specifically the association sought
only a safe, dependable, navigable
pass at any practicable location
within the 140-mile stretch be-
tween Aransas Pass and Freeport,
Texas. This area presently does
not have any outlet except Pass
Cavallo.
In July of last year, at a public
hearing held by the United States
Corps of Engineers, the Associa-
tion presented a brief in which it
made no request for a specific lo-
cation but indicated its willingness
to accept the recommendation of
the District Engineer after com-
pletion of the preliminary exami-
nations and surveys.
Apparently deeply impressed by
these counties sincerity and co-
operation, the engineers quickly
moved to approve a 12-foot cut to
the gulf into the Matagorda Bay
region.
But the association realized that
it moved too quickly, and did not
take full advantage of the situa-
tion. The area was expanding, in-
dustries were coming in, and a 12-
foot channel, although it would
boost the barge traffic and help
the shrimping industry, would not
provide the basis for rapid expan-
sion of port facilities to accom-
modate sea-going vessels.
After a re-valuation of the
situation, the Association sought,
and obtained, another hearing be-
fore the engineers. This time they
asked for a 30-foot channel from
Matagorda Bay to the Gulf, and, it
was proposed at the hearing, to
have two 30-foot feeder channels
leading to the pass. One of the
channels would begin at Port La-
vaca and the other at Palacios.
It was at this hearing that Al-
coa pledged to construct their new
multi-million dollar plant at Point
Comfort if the channel was con-
structed. A new company, the
Luther-Parker Lime & Cement
company also revealed that it
would construct a 5 million dollar
plant near Palacios if the channel
was constructed. Oil industries,
holding thousands of acres of
leases off Matagorda Island, in-
dicated that they were vitally in-
terested in the proposed channel.
Since the last hearing, groups
within the six-county region have
undertaken various projects de-
signed to provide fresh water
reservoirs, and by. so doing, create
an additional incentive to indus-
tries seeking new locations.
The Palacios project, which is
da county leads the state in oil
the fartherest advanced, has the
preliminary plans for the damming
of the Tres-PalacioS River dralvn,
and a public agency set up ready
to "talk business."'Edna has also
progressed considerably in this di-
rection. Preliminary plans are be-
ing drawn up for the damming of
the Lavaca and Navadid Rivers,
and a presentation has been ob-
tained securing the excess waters
of these rivers from the State
Board of Water Engineers.
With the possibility of fresh
water and the coming of a deep
water channel nearing reality, the
ai'ea is girding itself for a boom
that will rival and probably sur-
pass industrial activity in this
region over a century ago.
Congressman Clark Thompson's
announcement at the mid-coast
association's annual meeting Sat-
urday, when ALCOA announced
the construction beginning immedi-
ately of a t|ew $45 million-dollar
alumina plant at Point Comfort,
that the deep water pass has clearr
ed the Bureau of the Budget and is
now almost sure to pass congress
this session is enough alarm clock
to wake the giant.
The genie's magic wand will be-
gin to be felt immediately through-
out the entire Matagorda Bay
Area, although Point Comfort and
Port Lavaca will be most affected.
A more reliable pass through
Cavallo will increase shrimping
industry in Palacios almost im-
mediately. More ships will be
working from our turning basin
here, putting many people on pay-
rolls of fish processing and boat
repair companys.
Many of the more than 650 new
workers that will be employed at
the new ALCOA plant will build
their homes in and around Pala-
cios and near-by areas, bringing
their buying power with them.
And the ALCOA plant promises
to be only the beginning.
Local expansionists point out
that at least components necessary
for 12 different types of industries
will be readily available within the
six-county area.
They say that the region will be
an ideal location for: manufactur-
ing plants, to which cheap natural
gas for fuel is the dominant fac-
tor, chemical industries, utilizing
naturaVgas and crude oil; heavy in-
dustry, to which low-cost water
transportation is an important
factor; cotton-oil mill, to utilize
production from one of the na-
tion's richest cotton-growing areas,
fishery by-products plants, to
capitalize on the tremendous fish
and shellfish scrap available; tex-
tile industries, utilizing local la-
bor, abundant supplies of raw cot-
ton and low transportation; cot-
ton compresses, to take advantage
of an acute need by the industry
to utilize water shipping; metal
manufacturing, to utilize some of
the "pig" aluminum produced in
the local Alcoa plant; plastic
manufacturing, to utilize some of
the plastics produced at the local
Carbide and Carbon plant; cement
plant, to use the vast store of oys-
ter shell located in the bays; plas-
tic industries, to utilize the hun-
dreds of by-products of crude oil
and natural gas, and food proces-
sing industries for utilization of
commercial fisheries, fruits and
vegetables of the area.
Chambers of Commerce at Port
Lavaca, Palacios, Edna and Ga-
nado have reported' that since the
hearings on deep water, and the
subsequent activity toward estab-
lishing agencies concerned with the
development of the area's fresh
water potential, they have received
hundreds of inquiries from indus-
tries throughout the country.
These queries have tended to
stimulate local interests to the
point of "hold-your-breath expect-
ancy", and expansionists within
the area feel that another boom is
definitely on the way.
Their outlook seems to have been
corroborated by Charles Layng's
dramatic pronouncement at a re-
cent College Station Industrial
Conference.
Layng, who is the associate edi-
tor of the Industrial Development
Magazine, and a research econo-
mist with the Southern Research
Institute, said that, "Within a
decade the Southwest, Texas,
Louisiana, Arkansas, Missouri, Ok-
lahoma and New Mexico,) will fur-
nish the new locale for over 3,500
plants, practically all of them in
the multi-million dollar bracket.
Fifty-one of these will be of the
billion dollar class, and twenty-two
of them will be manufacturing
products not even thought of to-
day."
Layng's remarks were based on
surveys and analysis by the South-
ern Research Group, and as a sub-
stantial indication, he pointed out,
that 812 new plants have came to
the Southwest since January 1, of
this year.
After a long sleep the genie is
beginning to rub the sleep from
his eyes.
The Giants have nine catchers
on their roster, counting Coach
Ray Mueller and Utility Man Bob
Hofman. They need them, says
Ho'fman, because of the strikout
speed among the pitching rookies
in camp. The strikeout artists,
says The Sporting News, are Pete
Burnside, Jim Constable, Joe
Margoneri, Ernie Broglio and Dom
Zanni. The witty Hofman said the
other day that he left the club last
fall as the third-string catcher
and came back to find himself
ninth-string. I
Fellowship Meet
Scheduled April 14
Al Encampment
A Christian Men's Fellowship
Retreat, with men from District
VIII Christian Churches invited,
will be held here at the Baptist
Encampment April 14 through 15.
Registration for the retreat will
begin at 1 p.m. April 14. Six dol-
lars will be charged for the par-
tial time. Those attending will be
expected to bring Bible, pillow,
sheets, towels, etc.
State Director of Men's Work
Nemo Golston will be present,
along with R. E. Meek, district
governor, of El Campo.
Anyone interested in preregis-
tering for the fellowship should
write Milton V. Petersen, 707 Ave.
D, El Campo.
GIANTS PLAY SUNDAY
The Palacios Giants, a hard-
ball team of local men, will play
their first home game Sunday on
the new ball diarhond on High-
way 35 cutoff across from Guy
Johnson's.
Joe Gonzales, a, lefthander sup-
posed to start against El Cam-
po last week in a rained-out
game, will pitch against New-
gulf Sunday.
James Treybg, manager, in-
vited all local baseball fans to
drop out and take in the game
Sunday afternoon.
RUTH CLASS
The Ruth Class of the First
Baptist Church met April 10 at the
home of Mrs. R. -L. Henry for a
business meeting and social.
The meeting was called to order
by the president. Mrs. Louis Miller
led in prayer.
«The minutes of the last meeting
were read and approved. Mrs. Joe
Ruth reported we had a nice box
of candy and cookies sent to the
Texas Baptist Children's Home at
Round Rock for Easter. The group
sang the class song "Let The Beau-
ty of Jesus Be Seen in Me."
The group captains gave their
monthly reports. The secretary
gave a report showing an average
attendance of 15, and a total of
43 contacts for the month of
March.
Mrs. R. J. Hinson brought a very
interesting devotional on service.
The business meeting adjourned
and everyone enjoyed a period of
fun and games.
Mrs. Hiram Roberson was sur-
prised with a shower of farewell
gifts, as she is leaving our church
membership. After she had opened
and admired her gifts the lights
were turned out, and the group
sang Happy Birthday to our
teacher Mrs. R. C. Florip and sur-
prised her with a birthday cake
and a gift.
Refreshments were served to the
17 members and seven visitors
present.—Reporter.
At The Bayview
Patients In Hospital;
Dr. J. R. Wagner, Mrs. E'ffie
Palmer, Mrs. J. H. Huffman, Miss
Mamie Singleton, Gen. John Hulen,
Millard Smith, Henry Bentz, L. D.
Karn, Mrs. F. Gutierrez and baby
girl, Leo Duffy, Ted Fields, A. E.
Louderback, Brenda Doyle, Delores
Morales, Alvin Rampmeier, Mau-
rice Huffman, Port Lavaca; How-
ard Robinson, Rodney Tucker.
Patients Dismissed:
Rev. F. Gutierrez, Samuel
Gutierrez, B. T. Elliott, Arthur
Lee Hall, Ilia Ray Aoughsten, Ella
Salinas, Cedric Maddox, Mrs. Rob-
ert McCrory and baby boy, Mrs.
Gertrude Brown, Mrs. Carl Carl-
son, John Beard, Gary Brotemar-
kle, Russell Thompson, C. L. Kocu-
rek, Lloyd Frederick, Mrs. John
Musselman, Mrs. T. B. Tumlinson,
Mrs. G. E. Seaquist, Richard
Evens, Frank Brhlik, Vonda Motes,
Edward Malcolm, Dennis Ellis, Ed
Grather, Doyle Motes, Mrs. Lynn
Cooper, Mrs. Wayne Fore, Doris
Hunter.
Mr. ana Mrs. R. L. Middleton
and daughters, Debbie and Kathy,
o'f Tomball spent the week-end
here visiting homefolks, the Cled-
die Harveys, and friends.
The Sporting News says that
the Cleveland Indians soon may
have more appeal to Italian-
Americans than the Yankees had
in the days of DiMaggio, Lazzeri
and Crosetti. Besides Rudy Re-
galado, it says, players likely to
stay around with the Indians for
a while are Rocky Colavito, Joe
Altobelli and Sam Mcle, not to
mention Sal Maglie and Coach
Tony Cuccinello.
If you want something to mull
over for a little while, listen to
these brainteasers sent in to The
Sporting News by a Brooklyn resi-
dent, Robert Dinkin. How, asks
Dinkin, can a pitcher make 11
pitches to the same batter in one
turn at , bat, discounting fouls ?
Another teaser: What record can
be tied but never broken? The
Sporting News is playing a teas-
ing game, too. It's reserving the
answers until next week's issue.
Matagorda County
Soil Conservation
Charles Cobb has seeded 22
acres of Ahgleton bluesteni seed
for cover and for grazing on his
farm located north of Bay City.
Before planting the grass, Charles
levelled the laftd and with the as-
sistance of the Soil Conservation
Service Engineer, he installed a
conservation irrigation system
which will permit him to water
the pasture during dry periods.
More mie^io bluestem is, being
planted in', the Matagorda Soil
Conservation District. Cooperators
who are planting medio multiplica-
tion seed plots are Hoyt Johnson,
Louis Harper, Henry Insall, Jr.,
and Ramon Rooth. Their plant-
ings are being made in the Mark-
ham area. W. A. Turek and Oscar
Smith are making plantings on
their farms near Palacios and A.
B. Penland will make a planting on
his farm near Collegeport.
Medio bluestem is a new grass
that was introduced in the district
two years ago and promised to be
a very good grass for this area for
a conservation crop and 'for graz-
ing. The Soil Conservation Service
furnished the district with one
pound of seed and Carl Hiltpold,
cooperator of the district, planted
one acre from this one pound of
seed. The grass made excellent
growth and Carl saved enough
seed to enlarge his planting to 20
acres last year.
Medio is similar to Angleton
bluestem botanically and in gen-
eral growth habit medio bluestem
has finer stems, is more leafy,
greener in color, and forms a more
dense turf. It is a high producer
and is very palatable to livestock.
It is an escape of unknown origin
and was named "medio" because
it was discovered first in the Medio
Creek watershed of Bee County. E.
R. Neumann, Soil Conservation
Service Technician, says this is an
excellent grass for Matagorda
Soil Conservation Distrct farmers
to use in rotation with row crops
and in rotation with rice. It is
hoped that after one or two years
the plantings will be increased to
the extent that enough seed will
be produced' to enable district
farmers to use this grass for grass
field crop rotation.
Farmers of the listrict are urged
to visit some of the above named
farms and observe the plant. Carl
Hiltpold is increasing his plantings
again this year.
According to tradition, the first
printed news sheet appeared in
Nuremberg, Germany in 1457. It
was called The Gazette.
Beacon Lights
Will Be Installed
At (ity Airport
City and Chamber of Commerce
Ajrport Committeemen said this
week that two beacon lights, one
white and one green, will be in-
stalled on a 51 foot tower at the
Palacios Airport.
The committees are also work-
ing on plans for lighting the two
main runways at the airport. They
have been inspecting lighting sys-
tems at other local airports in this
area in an effort to determine the
best lighting system to purchase.
The rotating beacons, both 24
inch lights, will be placed back tu
back. The white beacon will come
from the Beard property near
here and the green beacon will be
obtained from a Beaumont beacon
station.
The white light will be moved to
the airport immediately following
May -1. The Beaumont beacon will
be transported here as soon as pos-
sible.
Mrs. McCluhan
Services Tuesday
Rev. Logan Cockrum officiated
at funeral services in the Palacios
Funeral Home Monday for Mrs.
Ethel McCluhan, 72.
A resident of Palacios for three
years, Mrs. McCluhan died Sunday.
She is survived by one sister,
Mrs. Edith Minich of Palacios; one
brothei-, Frank Powell of Seattle,
Wash., and two nieces.
7171 _ FIRE PHONE — 7171
FOR YOUR—
WATER PUMPS
AND
PLUMBING SUPPLIES
—SEE US!
Free Estimate On Your
Plumbing Jobs, Large or Small
WICKHAM
PLUMBING CO.
PHONE 2211 OR 7656
ATTEND THE
BIBLE CONFERENCE
FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH
H. C. (Howard) CAMPBELL
GENERAL INSURANCE
4th & Commerce Phones: Res. 3551, Off. 3001
THURSDAY NIGHT SPECIALS f
BARBECUE CHICKEN, BEEF RIBS & SPARE RIBS j
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IPS
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Cooper, Ed. Palacios Beacon (Palacios, Tex.), Vol. 49, No. 15, Ed. 1 Thursday, April 12, 1956, newspaper, April 12, 1956; Palacios, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth428100/m1/8/?rotate=90: accessed July 17, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Palacios Library.