Palacios Beacon (Palacios, Tex.), Vol. 78, No. 30, Ed. 1 Thursday, July 25, 1985 Page: 1 of 12
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Class project results in pen-pals
Oklahoma message bottle recovered on coast
Finding a message in a bottle
along the shores of Matagorda
Peninsula is a unique exper-
ience, but when the message
inside is from an elementary
class in land-locked Oklahoma,
the find is rare indeed.
However that is exactly what
happened back in April to a
couple who were staying at
Bayside Camper Park. Since
discovering the bottle on the
sandy shores, the couple-Mr.
and Mrs. Ray Culp-along with
Bayside Camper Park owners
Dick and Peggy Reddick, have
established a “pen pal” re-
lationship with the fourth grade
students of Pocasset, Oklaho-
ma.
How the Oklahoma message
bottle found its way into the
Gulf of Mexico and ultimately
onto the shore of Matagorda
Peninsula is a tribute to class-
room education and the imag-
ination of children.
The fourth grade class of
Dolores Cheat at Amber-Po-
casset School in Pocasset had
been'Studying ocean currents
and gulf currents as part of their
science 'course along with a
reading course on the means of
sending messages and codes.
The two subjects ultimately
became entwined with discuss-
ions on “bottle messages”.
That topic finally led to the
class' decision to try their hand
at writing messages, putting
them into two separate bottles
sealed with wax and having
Mrs. Choat "mail” them in the
Gulf during her spring break
vacation.
The “post office” Mrs. Choat
used was a charter ship (Rig-
runner) and an oil barge
(Alaskan Seahorse) in Cameron,
La. The captains of the two
vessels agreed to drop the
bottles in the Gulf on March 18.
Less than a month later, the
Culps found one of the bottles
around noon April 10 on the
peninsula about 18-miles south
of Palacios.
The elementary class back in
Oklahoma soon learned of the
recipients of their bottle mess-
age when the Culps sent their
own note to the class via the
more conventional mail route.
Exchanges continued bet-
ween the Culps and Reddicks
with the Oklahoma school stud-
ents. Maps of the Palacios area,
literature and personal notes to
each of the students soon foll-
owed, all of which were report-
ed by Mrs. Choat to having
been displayed on the class-
room bulletin board.
In a letter to the Reddicks and
Culps recently, Mrs. Choat
expressed her appreciation for
their interest in her class and
noted that "the students, their
parents and our administration
all became involved in the ex-
citement of receiving your an-
swer.”
The class also sent the Culps
and Reddicks a picture of
themselves in front of their
Palacios memorabilia. The ev-
ent, Mrs. Choat wrote, “made
quite an impression on our
small community and school.”
She added that “in our fast-
paced society, it has been a
pleasure to know that there are
still people who will take the
time to respond in such a great
way.”
Along with inviting the Culps
and Reddicks to visit whenever
they are in Oklahoma, Mrs.
Choat expressed the wish that
the beachcombing of her new
Palacios friends would “contin-
. ue to be a great experience and
open new worlds for you as it
has for us.”
In the meantime, the second
of the two "bottle messages”
continues to await discovery
somewhere in the Gulf of
Mexico.
4Hot9 dog and baseball
IN SOME CASES, man’s best the lap of his owner and Saturday. Despite the encour- more to bark about on Sunday
friend Is also a baseball fan. cheered on the Bay City Babe agement, the Bay City squad as Bay City upended host
Such its the case with this Ruth All-Stars in the opening lost an extra Inning encounter Palacios 7-0. [Beacon Photo by
canine rooter who donned his game of the state tournament to Ft. Bend 4-3. There was a bit Nick West]
own baseball cap,
On STP powerline
PUC requesting
information
More information about a high
powered overhead transmission
line that will connect the South
Texas Project with a Walker
County coal plant must be
furnished by the three utility
companies involved before con-
struction can begin.
Last week the Public Utility
Commission issued the ruling for
further information during a pre-
hearing designed to hear from
those opposed to the planned
DC (direct current) line. The
proposed line is being opposed
by a number of individual
citizens and groups in many of
the seven counties through which
the line is to be constructed.
The 400,000 volt DC line is
being sponsored jointly by Cen-
tral Power & Light, Southwestern
Electric Power and Houston
Lighting and Power. The line
would stretch 156 miles connect-
ing the STP plant with a coal
plant in Walker County. Other
counties, aside of Matagorda and
Walker, which are proposed to
host the line are Austin, Waller,
Harris and Grimes.
According to an article in the
El Campo Leader-News, the PUC
Commissioners reasoned that
maps and diagrams of the line’s
proposed routes would help to
alleviate confusion residents ha-
ve about it. The PUC is expected
to require county road maps with
superimposed routes of the line
to be posted in public buildings.
Aerial photographs with the
power lines drawn in are to be
posted in affected county court-
houses within one month. Land-
owners affected by the line are to
receive a map with the power line
shown on their property.
Wharton County Commission-
ers Court has already gone on
record as being opposed to the
line. Two citizens’ groups have
hired attorneys to represent
them.
Wharton County Concerned
Citizens, headed by William
Anslev, is being represented by
Dixon Montague, a Houston
attorney. WCCC is fighting an
original route that would take the
line through Spanish Camp,
[See LINE, Page 5]
Cheerleaders set
garage sale
The Varsity cheerleaders
will be having a garage sale
Thursday at the corner of 12th
and Perryman beginning at 8
a.m.
Hunting course
slated July 30
A summer course for certi-
fication as Texas Safe Hunter
will commence at Palacios
Sporting Goods Tuesday even-
ing, July 30. Contact Jim Dale
at 972-6311 for details and
registration.
Young girl ponders the senseless death of a pet
Why are grownups sometimes ‘so ignorant9?
EDITOR’S NOTEi The follow- asked me if 1 would like to have a and always stayed in our yard
tag story Is written by Marilyn puppy to be my friend. She said I unless we were visiting the
Fooat Jones and Is based on a could name it and feed it and play neighbors. 1 had also taught her
real Incident that occurred in with it and teach it all sorts of not to go into the street. Mom
Palacios several days ago. AH of things and I would belong to me. and Dad and Amy were surprised
the names have been changes That sounded really good to me, at how much she had learned in
except the name of the dog. like I was a grownup with real six months.
Some of the details have hem responsibility and something that Last week my Mom and Dad
flctlonallxed, bat the basic facts was all mine. had to go out of town Saturday
are trne as related to the writer One day Mom came home with and Sunday so they asked our
by the motorist who was first on my puppy in her arms. It was a next-door neighbors if we could
the scene after the Incident month-old female Dachshund. I stay with them. This was the first
happened. The writer also hopes decided to call her "Radie”. time Radie had been away from
the driver of the red Trans Am Nobody liked or understood the home overnight and the neigh-
reads this and understands.] name but that was okay with me. bors let her sleep in the room
BY MARILYN FOUST JONES I liked it and Radie liked it and with me and their daughter,
My name is Stacy and even that’s all that mattered. Angie. Radie acted really good
though I am only nine years old, I taught Radie to come when I and didn’t bother anyone. I was
something happened a few days called her, to take food from my very proud of her.
ago that 1 need to tell everybody, hand without biting me, to sit Sunday afternoon we were all
I think it is really important, down and be still when I wanted playing in the neighbor’s yard.
Because of it my life has been her to. I let her sleep in my room Amy and I were rolling the soccer
changed and I will never forget on a little rug. Sometimes when ball down the bank of the bar
it. somebody hurt my feelings I ditch and Angie was in the ditch
I live with my parents and my would go to my room and sit in trying to kick the ball back up
sister Amy who is eleven. All my my rocking chair and hold Radie into file yard. This way the ball
life Amy has been allowed to do on my lap. I’d tell her all about never went into the street. It was
stuff that I was told I was too how I felt. She always listened a good game and we were having
young to do. As soon as I get old and snuggled up to me like she a lot of fun. Radie was enjoying
enough, then Amy was doing understood I needed a friend, watching us as she sat on the top
something else. 1 never could When we took her to get her bank of the ditch at the edge of
enjoy anything because I always shots I carried her in my arms the street,
wanted to do what Amy was and talked to her so she’d know Suddenly we heard a car
doing when she was doing it. everything was okay and I would coming and all looked at once as
Now 1 love Amy a lot, but it never let her suffer without my a big red Trans Am came roaring
just seemed unfair because I was being there to share and Jielp her down the street. As it got closer it
too young. My Mom decided to the way she helped me. gunned the motor and curved
do something special for me. She Radie minded me really well toward Radie, aiming to hit her it
seemed. There was a horrible
thump and yelping and 1 felt a
terrible explosion inside my
heart. The car never stopped but
sped down the street and out of
sight.
It is hard to remember what
happened after that. Somebody
came by and picked up Radie and
we all went to the Vet. Then
somebody told me Radie was
dead. It wasn’t very long till my
parents came in and took me in
their arms. Amy tried to make
me feel better; Angie and her
parents tried too, but nothing
could make me feel better.
I wondered why....Why would
anybody try to kill Radie? Why
didn’t they stop to tell me they
were sorry or something? How
could anybody grownup enough
to drive a car be so ignorant of
what is right?
Yes, when this happened it
changed my life. I lost something
and someone very important to
me. But I learned something too.
Now I don’t care about being
older than I am. That is not
what’s important. No matter how
old I am I can be a person who
loves people and animals. I can
care about doing the right thing.
I hope the person who was
diriving the red Trans Am reads
this and I hope it makes that
person feel sorry.
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West, Nicholas M. Palacios Beacon (Palacios, Tex.), Vol. 78, No. 30, Ed. 1 Thursday, July 25, 1985, newspaper, July 25, 1985; Palacios, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth724534/m1/1/: accessed July 18, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Palacios Library.