Palacios Beacon (Palacios, Tex.), Vol. 74, No. 45, Ed. 1 Wednesday, November 11, 1981 Page: 1 of 14
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’81 Bay
has biggest
crowd ever
Organizers tailed it the largest
crowd ever as hundicus upon
hundreds of persons turned out to
enjoy the wide range of activities at
the 3rd Annual Bayfest held at
Palacios City Park Saturday.
The weather could not have been
more perfect for those who attend-
ed to take part in the numerous
contests, races, craft sales or to
simply enjoy good food and relaxa-
tion under the trees. All the
proceeds from the different booths
and events will go toward funding
of the proposed Senior Citizens
Building to be built at 8th and
Commerce.
the day began with the annual
three-mile race along the bavfront
with Scott Remlinger setting a new
Ba' lest record with a time of 15:40.
A total of 54 persons took part itr
the run, competing for awards in
different age groups. The complete
lists ot winners and runners
appear on page 4
Around 40 entries were included
in the Ki.Hic Parade sponsored by
the Palacios Brownie Troop. Lead-
ing the way were Miss Piggy and
Kcrmit the Fiog. In the smallest
pet category awards went to Dana
Ramsey an t Zcb Lang. The largest
pet awards went to Jeff Stewart
and Kim Ellis with Lisa Harvey
receiving honorable mention.
Stacey Stuhrenberg had themost
unusual entry.
Karon Moore won for the
youngest girl and Lee Goodner and
Anthony Goodner tied for youngest
boy. First place in the boys
homemade costume category went
to Justin Eggemeyer with Jeff
Stewart second and Morgan Gillett
third
Boys Bought Costume winner
was Tom Latta with Mike Gonzales
'.V.'XvXvXvXv/XvIvXvIsvXvI-XvI.XvV.X.V.vtX.Xv::’'.;
second.
Girls Homemade Costume hen- £
ors went to Carra Eggemeyer first, 8
Julia Stuhrenberg second and g
Leann Lemons third. $
A tie developed in the Fat-Off g
Contest sponsored by the Palacios g
Physical Fitness Center. Hortencia f
Hernandez and Becky Montgomery ig
deadlocked with a losr of 13‘/4 i
pounds. After a drawing, first g
I See BAYFEST. Pace 21
Weather
V,.
a§§
111
The City
l
DATE
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NOV. 8
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Palaci
By The Sea
JLJ
VOLUME 74, NO. 45
WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 11.1481
PALACIOS, TEXAS
Brown & Root pullout
gives STP another jolt
jFOLmTEE£JPAGj£
: The problem plagued
South Texas Nuclear Pro-
ject received its third and
biggest blow within two
months as it was an-
nounced last week that
Brown & Root will be
replaced as constructor at
the Matagorda County
site.
Failure to reach an
agreement on a revised
contract was cited as the
cause for Brown & Root’s
departure. The decisions
by the company to pull
out of the construction
project and the plan by
STP co-owners Central
Power and Light and
Houston Lighting and
Power will affect some
2,000 Brown & Root
employees involved at
the site.
CP&t spokesman Dal-
las Ford, who made the
announcement concern-
ing Brown & Root last
Thursday, said that sev-
eral companies experi-
enced in construction of
nuclear plants were be-
ing considered. It was
announced this week that
a shutdown of six months
will occur soon.
The pullout of Brown &
Root had been rumored
ever since Sept. 24 when
Litter problem discussed
C of C recalls directors
T he Palacios Chamber of Com-
merce went forth with its decision
to hold a recall election of its board
ot directors, electing seven mem-
bers to the approved reduced size
board. T he Chamber had voted to
call forthe election last month after
members discussed the lack of
• V attendance at Chamber functions
the existing ! 5-member board,
t was agreed to reduce the number
to seven to allow better opportuni-
ties to have a quorum present when
needed, The newly elected board
members will serve until the
regular election in January.
Chamber president Dale Porter
said the election was needed in
hopes of “trying to get some active
directors that would take a greater
interest in the Chamber business.”
He added that the Chamber ot
Commerce should be one of the
strongest organizations in the city
but that it has not been in the recent
past.
Margaret McElrath questioned
the need to hold a recall election.
Having been read the names of the*
15 board members, she said that ii
was such a good slate that if each
director were talked to individual-
ly, they could be encouraged to
attend.
Jack Goodner suggested that the
Chamber not approve bills at each
bi-montly meeting and save them
for a director's meeting. He said
that could be an incentive for
directors to attend and added that
if there were more work for the
directors to do. then more would
attend regularly.
It was pointed out, however, that
it was the duty of the directors to
come ud with work that needs to be
done rather than have members try
and find something for the direc-
tors to do.
In the secret balloting, the newly
elected directors were Billy Harri-
son. Jack Goodner, Bert Miller,
Esther Smith, Kathic Moore, Nick
yVec‘ a: d Pam Connis Automa-
tically on the tear-! arcprcsident
Dale Porter and ex-president Leo-
nard Lamar.
1 he Chamber also discussed the
litter problems in the city, speci-
tiriallv along the bavfront, with
municipal judge Butch Bowers.
Bowers noted that the problem
with fining litterers is "finding an
offender to begin with”. He said
that he has not had a litter case
appear before him in the past three
months.
He said that the maximum fine
f$ec CHAMBER, Pnge 2\
that company was reliev-
ed of its design and
project engineer roles at
STP and replaced by
Bechtel Power Corpora-
tion. Brown & Root was
asked to stay on as
constructors at that time.
Brown & Root agreed to
do so until it had the
opportunity to reevaluate
its contract situation with
the nuclear plant owners.
In a press release
issued by Brown & Root
after last week's an-
nouncement W.B. Pei-
per, senior vice-president
for the company, said
that it and HL&P had
been unable to agree on
the basis for Brown &
Root’s continued partici-
pation in the construction
of the plant.
“When we were told
fer UUCP that Bechtel
Power Corporation had
been retained tor the
responsibility of engi-
neering design and con-
struction management
services for the project,
we advised HL&P that
we could cooperate fully
in the transition of man-
agement responsibility to
Bechtel,” Peiper said.
"However, we told
HL&P at that time it
ISeeSTP, Page 2|
(
AREA HAPPENINGS
VfW marks Veteran's Day
Businesses as well as residents are asked to
remember the sacrifices made by American
Veterans by flying the national flag today
(Wednesday) in observance of Veter—.s Day.
VFW Queen -Hamlin Post 2467 and the “Ladies
Auxiliary will honor the deceased veterans by
placing a flag on their graves in ceremonies today.
Golf tourney Sunday
T he Palacios Golf Association will feature a Best
Ball tournament Sunday. Tee off time will be 1 p.m.
Deadline to sign up will be Sunday at noon.
For more information call the Pro “Shop a.
472-2666.
Auxiliary meeting Nov. 17
The F.O.E. Ladies Auxiliary <73821 will meet on
Nov. 17. Among the items on the agenda will be
final-action on the tour by-law amendments.
] ‘East’ beats ‘W est’
in jetties battle
Main Street
speedster
WITH EYES dead-set on the finish line, Cora
Goodner displays her fierce determination during
the adult heat of the tricycle race down Main Street
Saturday in the Bayfest. The contest was one of
many held during the day. More photos on pages
6-7- i Beacon Photo by Nick West]
By a score of 2.424 to
1,420, the "East” defeat-
ed the "West” last week
in the Mataj-wda County
"Jetties" Bowl. The vic-
tory by the East squad
allowed for the passage
of a $2.5-million bond
issue to begin work on
the navigation and diver-
sion channel project near
the mouth of the Color-
ado River.
The county election
last Tuesday shaped up
as an "East-West" affair
and the results of the
voters reaffirmed that
situation as all but one of
the voting precincts west
of the Colorado River
voted against the bond
issue. However, taxpay-
ers on the Eastern side of
the river boundary,
wheie the biggest back-
ing of the project took
place, made the differ-
ence by casting enough
"for'' ballots to offset the
West’s offensive. Just
one Pet. east of thr river
opposedthe bond issue.
Many of the eligible
voters in the county
opted to stay out ot the
fracas apparently with
only some 4,000 of the
16,452 qualified to vote
exercising that privilege.
While the county as tr
whole had only a 24-per
cent turnout for the one
county issue on the ballot
and seven state amend-
ments, those in the Pala-
cios area showed a great-
er interest, Approx-
imately 33 percent of the
registered voters in the
Palacios area cast their
ballots with the results
f See BOND, Page2|
Creative Handwork Mart
preparing for Dec. 5
The AARP sponsored
Creative Handwork Mart
is scheduled for Dec. 5 at
the First Presbyterian
Church from 10 a.m. to 3
p.m.
This annual event was
started five years ago to
promote the creative ta-
lent of Palacios. It be-
came so successful it was
necessary to move to
larger quarters at the
First Presbyterian
Church. Most of the
regular participants have
registered again this year
and several new ones.
there are two tables
left of the twentv avail-
able. The fee is $3.00
payable in advance.
The AARP doe? not
receive any financial ben-
efit from the affair. The
organization sponsors it
under the jurisdiction of a
special committee. All
funds are used for adver-
se CRAFT, Page 2|
Construction workers taking ’beating’
.I BY NICK WEST
Weeks of contract discussions
likely took place in fancy Houston
office buildings among the hier-
archy before Brown & Root finally
made its decision to pull out of the
South Texas Nuclear Project.
While both the project owners
and Brown & Root attempted to
protect their gains and cover their
losses, it was the average construc-
tion employee and his family that
became the only real loser.
With rumors abounding in the
long-drawn out affair, the average
worker at the plant was left in
limbo, not knowing whether he
would still have a job the next day,
let alone the next week. Though his
job status and future~was being
controlled elsewhere, the worker
had to face the everyday realitiy of
providing food for his family and
paying his bills.
Even now that the workers for
Brown & Root have confirmed one
rumor -with the fact that that
company will no longer stay on, he
faces an even harsher reality-he
must make a decision.
There is no doubt that the
"career” Brown & Root employee
will likely stay with the company
and be taken care of. However less
certain -is the position of the
average laborer and those who
have been at SI P for only one or
three years.
The decision he faces is whether
he should uproot his family and
take his children out of school for
another job that Brown & Root may
or may not offer; siay on in the area
hoping that the new ST P contractor
will hire him hack; or look on his
own for another job either in the
area or elsewhere.
Many of those Brown & Root
employees have become instilled in
die communities, have bought
their homes and have wives who
have their own jobs here. By taking
ajobelsewhere with Brown &. Root
they would be required to let all
that go and start over. Although
that decision will likely rest with
the husband and father, it could
well effect others as well.
Many of the wives who are
employed in the communities have
jobs that are not that easily given
up. Some are employed with school
systems, some have their own
businesses and other work in a
variety of occupations. T hey also
have a lot that would be sacrificed.
For those employees who decide
to take their chances on getting
hired by the new SIP contractor,
their future is also somewhat
cloudlx. Some may have been
offered a job elsewhere hy Brown
and Root. Although some may have
been withthe company only one or
two years, by opting to stay here
they are letting go a sure job and
also the benefits and seniority they
had been building up. As officials
have pointed out, there are no
guarantees they would be hired
back by a new contractor.
In the meantime, white waiting
to apply and get a response from
the new contractor, their job could
be terminated as part of the
transition period. If that happens,
they must decide how to make ends
meet during the interim. He,
perhaps, finds himself itr the
toughest position of all. While
looking for an interim job tie must
find one where the employer does
not mind the fact that the worker
may be leaving to go back to STP
and how long the interim period
will last is vague.
It's the basic workman at the
plant that will be hurt the most by
the action announced last week at
SIP. CP&L public relations
spokesman Dallas Ford agreed
saying that "there will be number
of those hurt..I can’t see how it’s
not going to hurl some of them
certainly."
Ford noted that the decision
rests with the individual workman.
"To me it would be how the*
employee feels about living and
working down here in Matagorda
County. If he's pleased, then we
have a lot of work out there yet to
be done,” Ford said. Agreeingthai
the average worker's future is
questionable, he remarked "that’s
the sad part about it. The construc-
tors on this job have done one
whale of a job. You can go out there
and see these" guys are proud ot
what they've done. ’
Pur bluntly, Ford said that "the
construction guys are the ones
taking a licking on this thing. We
are talking about people's lives.
The construction guy and his wife-
and family have to have the dollars
to continue to survive. Basically
they are going to take a beating.
According to some reports, that
"beating" has already set in with
some workers told that heavy
layoffs could be expected this
T hursday and next Thursday and
final layoffs occurring on Dec. 10.
As for right now, the employees
have gotten the long-sought after
answer as to whether Brown &
Roof is coming or going at STP
Now he must find the answer to
another question: what is he,
himself, and family going to do?
T here are better ways to ap-
proach the upcoming holiday sea-
son.
1
I
I
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Palacios Beacon (Palacios, Tex.), Vol. 74, No. 45, Ed. 1 Wednesday, November 11, 1981, newspaper, November 11, 1981; Palacios, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth725999/m1/1/?q=%22%22~1: accessed June 28, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Palacios Library.