Palacios Beacon (Palacios, Tex.), Vol. 81, No. 49, Ed. 1 Wednesday, December 7, 1988 Page: 3 of 12
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Braggers' bag trophy
THE TURTLE BAY FIVE of Palacios out-cooked all
but two other Gumbo Cook-Off teams-and out-
bragged them all. With the prize checks, 3rd Place
trophy and t(»e 1st 'Annual Braggers Traveling Trophy
are (from left) Jesse Waldon, Jane Arnold, Bob
Arnold, Ted Farmer, and Minnie Baggett. The Pala-
cios Eagles' Club sponsored the Turtle Bay Five.
Second place went to the Gone Fishin' crew of
Matagorda with Tom Claiber, Captain, while the
special Showmanship award was deftly captured by the
Dixie Devils of Bay City with Cathy Westinghouse as
Team Captain. [Beacon Photo by Michael Scheib]
check with State Farm.
• Permanent Life.
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Like a good neighbor.
State Farm is there
INSURANCf
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Christmas Trees
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$7 & up
■TWINE-
(Continued From Page One)
like an ultra-light landing strip or
the site of the Skateboarders'
International Championship.
It is, however, the site of the
latest 10,000 square foot-expan-
sion of Palacios Net and Twine.
The metal building is projected to
be up and functional by January
1-"These buildings are just like
giant Erector sets; sure, we're
going to put it up ourselves."
You see Tom's old employer,
Brownell Marine of Moodis,
Connecticut, had been a domi-
nant force in the net-making
business since 1844 and, until
recently, had been the #1 net-
maker in the country. But as
Palacios Net and Twine contin-
ued to capture more and more of
the market, Brownell Marine
found "they just couldn't com-
pete with a good hard-down
Southern operation." With some
satisfaction, and considerabie
cash, Tom bought 'em out,
closing down Brownell’s New
Orleans outlet and is currently
loading their ten net-making ma-
chines onto his trucks in Moodis.
When those ten machines join the
16 already operating at Palacios
Net and Twine, about 70 percent
of the nation's total net-making
capacity will be located in the
City by the Sea.
The machines themselves are
mechanical marvels that can
make net over 250 feet deep and
as long as infinity ("or until we
run out of twine," as Ronnie
Callahan puts it-Callahan wasn't
real sure of his title, but guessed
he "must be a manager of some
kind," as he stayed on top of
everythirig at the facility except
the office and the actual net
production). Most net-making
machines are made either in
Japan or in the tiny European
country of Andorra and cost
about $150,000 each. The ones
at Palacios Net and Twine carry
up to 400 spools of twine, up to
400 bobbins and can tie over
5000 knots per minute.
Netting is essentially a very
coarse cloth and milling proce-
dures are similar. Nylon twine
of suitable weight (all, however,
of #1 DuPont fiber) is fed from
the spools as the "warp." The
machine simultaneously forms
loops on each strand, and the
bobbins supply the line to knot
each loop and form the "woof."
The net then moves through a
liquid nylon bath, which im-
pregnates the entire net.
One worker can operate two
machines simultaneously, but
must keep moving right along to
keep the spools and bobbins hill.
The machines automatically shut
themselves down in case of mal-
function. Anyone who's ever
had a backlash in a fishing reel
can imagine that a machine mal-
function at a net factory could b(
a mess of major proportions.
But that's when they call
Herbie Hodovsky, the Austrian-
born net expert who now oper-
ates as the Mill Superintendent.
He was supervising net-making
production back in the days be-
fore nylon, back when they used
cotton twine, and can fix even
the knottiest problems. (It may
have been naughty of me to
make such a dreadful pun about
knotty problems in a net factory,
but, doggone it, 1 just couldn’t
pass it up—it was such a sitting
duck.) Herbie adjusts all the
machines to use the difference
weights of twine and make just
the right mesh size. The wide
variance in humidity on the
Texas coast changes the handling
characteristics of the twine and
the air in the actual net factory is
maintained at a constant humidity
and about 72 degrees.
Herbie also schedules runs of
different sorts of nets against
anticipated demand and makes
sure the custom orders are
cranked out right on time. As
you might suspect, net-making is
somewhat seasonal in nature.
Right now, the demand is about
a third of what it will be in the
Spring and they're still cranking
out about 12,000 pounds of net
per week and stockpiling their
warehouse with about a half-
million bucks worth of net, just
to be ready.
Both Herbie and his wife,
Maria, are wrapped up in the
business. (Please forgive me;
I'm a weak, weak man.) Maria
is the Chief Inspector at the piant
and after Herbie’s function is
done and the net is made, the net
goes through an inspcction/rcpair
process and then onto a rack for
drying. After drying, it's loosely
packed into "bales," stuffed in
boxes and their truck fleet hauls
it off to the roughly 300 net
dealers who buy the netting by
the pound (at about $4 per
pound).
Palacios Net and Twine does
not affix floats, ropes, weights,
or do custom cutting of the nets-
that part is left to die retail dealer.
In the past, their total production
has been solely nets for the
shrimping industry, but recently
they've set up a couple machines
to make gill netting for commer-
cial fishermen on inland waters
in Alaska and the Pacific North-
west. They have a few more
things under consideration, but
chose not to discuss them in any
great detail last week, so, for the
time being at least, we'lt just
have to string along with them.
(Oh Lord, smite my tongue!)
But as Ronnie Callahan ex-
plained, "We're on the move and
if anybody, anywhere, wants to
get into the net business, they're
going to have to compete with us
and we're going to make it real
rough."
So that's the Tom McCarley
story-or part of it anyway. If
you want to know more, you’ll
just have to talk to Tom. And
that may not be easy. That blur
you may have seen heading
south the other day was Tom on
his way to Mexico and Peru,
opening up new markets "With
the dollar the way it is right
now," he said, "we're lookin' at
the world!"
Busy bobbin
v.
X ; KEEPIN' HOPPIN' to fill the bobbin, Trinh Thi
Nguyen operates two net-making machines and man-
ages to keep 800 bobbins (and 800 spools of twine)
operating all day. When ten more machines are
*;• iinstalled to supplement the 16 machines already in
X operation, Ms. Nguyen and her fellow employees will
X represent about 70 percent of the total net-making
L production capacity of the entire country.
vl---
'•X.
X;
Palacios Beacon, Dec. 7, 1988-Page 3
Gumbo champions
PROVING THEY CAN COOK IT too, the BAMA
Seafood Divers picked up 1st place out of 11 teams
competing in the Tenth Annual Texas Fishermen's Fes-
tival Gumbo Cook-Off in Matagorda last Saturday.
From left (rear) Johnny Penland, Clyde Hauff, and
Gino Farrow. (Farrow was not actually part of the
team, but rather one of the judges who, after finding
the best gumbo on the grounds, was not about to wan-
der too far away from it.) Front: Janie Penland and
Arlie Hauff. A gallon of the prize-winning concoction
was later auctioned off for $100, the proceeds (as all
profits of the Festival) to go towards college scholar-
ships in marine-related fields. BAMA Seafood also
won the new Ford pick-up. Oh well. [Beacon Photo
by Michael Scheib]
. 'J'.....-•*
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West, Nicholas M. Palacios Beacon (Palacios, Tex.), Vol. 81, No. 49, Ed. 1 Wednesday, December 7, 1988, newspaper, December 7, 1988; Palacios, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth730269/m1/3/?q=%22%22~1: accessed July 7, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Palacios Library.