DenisGScott

ORDER TO VACATE BOLIVAR PENINSULA, GALVESTON COUNTY, TEXAS Whereas, Hurricane Ike struck Galveston County, Texas on September 12, 2008 and on September 13, 2008 with catastrophic winds and storm surge, inflicting widespread and severe damage, injury, loss of life and property; Whereas, Bolivar Peninsula in Galveston County, Texas, has suffered extreme and extensive damage from Hurricane Ike and is estimated to be 90% destroyed; Whereas, the storm surge on Bolivar Peninsula has led to extreme and massive damage; Whereas, on this day, BolivarPeninsula remains under water, impassable, inaccessible, and isolated; Whereas, there is no water, power, or other utility services on BolivarPeninsula; Whereas, there are no open stores, other amenities, or means of communication functioning on BolivarPeninsula; Whereas, there is no usable infrastructure on BolivarPeninsula; Whereas, Galveston County recognizes its obligation under law to preserve and protect public health, safety, and welfare; Whereas, the County Judge of Galveston County, Texas, has declared a local state of disaster for Galveston County, Texas; Whereas, the Governor of the State of Texas has proclaimed a state of disaster for Galveston County, Texas; Whereas, the President of the United States of America has declared a state of disaster covering Galveston County, Texas; Whereas, on September 11, 2008, the Health and Human Services Secretary of the United States of America, Mike Leavitt, declared a public health emergency in the State of Texas due to Hurricane Ike; Whereas, rescue efforts are underway on BolivarPeninsula to continue to locate and rescue survivors; Whereas, the continuing presence of survivors located on BolivarPeninsula will hamper and impede ongoing rescue efforts; Whereas, the continuing presence of survivors located on Bolivar Peninsula will contribute to or exacerbate a public health emergency on Bolivar Peninsula; and Whereas, Galveston County is facing extraordinary circumstances in the aftermath of Hurricane Ike. Now Therefore, it is hereby ORDERED by the CountyJudge of Galveston County, Texas, that: all survivors located on BolivarPeninsula shall be and are hereby ORDERED to vacate BolivarPeninsula; and this Order shall take effect immediately from and after its issuance. IT IS HEREBY ORDERED, on this, the 14th day of September, 2008. Signed James D. Yarbrough, County Judge of Galveston County, Texas

My gut feeling says that when all is said and done that Ike will make Katrina/Rita look very pale by comparison. The population of Houston alone is what 6-8 times that of New Orleans and thats just Houston not Galveston, the Triangle etc? Add to that the number of Katrina evacuees living off the FEMA for the last 3 years currently in Houston who never left after Katrina was over will be amongst the first in line with their hands back out. Plus, the fact that as a whole Houston is a wealthier city than NO for insurance purposes will probably crater the insurance market bankrupting many firms, then once Entergy gets power back up you will hear again as we did post Rita about how much money they lost damage wise which will mean jacking the electric rates thru the roof, if i'm not mistaken they were trying to raise rates this summer before Ike and still attributing it to Rita. Not to even mention the price of gas in my guess will hit $5 per gallon by end of the month because of possible damage to the rigs and the all the area plants. And the gov't thinks the economy sucks now, it has not yet begun to suck

better question ... what sucks more OU or losing to Arky State at home??

game time tonight vs Florida at 6:30, webcast available live at b2livetv.com

Fair point his readers want to be informed, yet Bob has said on more than one occasion he hates hockey and will NOT write about nor cover it. If he wants to write that in his column where it is opinion thats fine. However by refusing to cover it at all, is that not doing a dis-service to PA and mid county, so there are zero hockey fans in Nederland, Port Neches, Port Arthur by his logic. True? Same with the Drillers, when was the last article in the Port Arthur Snooze about them? Never. If you use the logic of Beaumont versus Port Arthur, then why write about Lamar since it is in Beaumont? Lately the Catters have drawn crowds just as big as most LU games, and certainly more than the LU women both of which get coverage from the PA fishwrap. Boob is much like a politician he only writes about things that further his own agenda.

a better question would be "Who cares what Boob West has to say?" He is without doubt one of the biggest douchebags writing anywhere, a true legend in his own mind.

I know I am, good thing we dont play at home again until the 9th, my voice needs a rest, glad we didnt have a Sunday game today, though still have to do the Drillers game this coming Saturday.

its Reign not Reigh. And while the ECHL franchise may in fact be moving to California, the Catters may well be staying and playing here in the CHL which professionally is the same level of hockey, double A. There is a lot going on behind the scenes that I cant input here. Now there is a possibility they may have to take a year off 2008-09 and pick up play in 09-2010 but hockey is not done here yet, the crowds have grown bigger the last half of the season going into the playoffs now, the last 2 games against Charlotte drew 3200 and 4270 fans, enough to support the team pretty well.

Sweeney makes me beg for Nick Suhy, and Rollins is just as bad as Sweeney this past weekend

correct the judge and the CC do NOT like hockey, Walker was one of those dead set on NOT having FP to begin with. They dont think in terms of its built and you cant return it. They look at it losing 1 million a year, why, because what other events do they have out there? They blame FP losing money on the Catters. What has SMG scheduled out there besides the catters and drillers. Answer...NOTHING. They were supposed to have a tennis match out there months ago with Sampras and Kournikova, guess what no one bought tickets. Tracy byrd, Mark Chesnutt, Zona Jones concert coming up next month has ALWAYS been at FP....not this year...its on Crockett St. why??? Because SMG and FP wanted $42,000 for the Exhibit Hall for the show. Isnt that what the amphi-theater is for???? Walker and that special ed class known as commissioners court, think by basically closing down FP, and only opening it for the YMBL Rodeo and the South Texas State Fair, they will only lose 250k a year. Walker's ego wont let this go, he wants to prove he's right that FP was a waste and he if has to kick the area's only pro team out to do so he will, then turn around and whine about how much it cost, how much its in debt, when the company they hired to run it, SMG, couldnt organize a kindergarten kickball game. The Catters not only secured another hockey franchise in the CHL but also had set up a MISL franchise for here as well, as many kids here play youth soccer, having a pro indoor soccer team in the arena as well would have been a great move. But Walker has one objective ... to shut down FP at any and all costs.

there were good crowds friday and especially Saturday, Sunday, well they've never drawn well on Sundays. Sorry ABR but to say it looks like there arent more than a "few hundred" is no different than myself seeing LU highlights where the MC is much more tightly put together than FP is, plus something you may or may not have considered...unlike basketball you cannot shoot highlights at game level like you can for basketball, and you cant shoot behind the goals because of the netting there to prevent some pucks from going into the stands so camera crews are somewhat forced to shoot from the corners down to the ice (not exactly prime seating), if LU basketball highlights were shot from that same vantage point on the corner from baseline to endline and up on the concourse looking down how full would LU look too? The MC is basically a square, where as FP is oblong for lack of a better word thus enabling more fans to sit on the glass which spreads the crowd out.

That vidoe makes me literally sick, &^*%&^$&%^$ Branick all smug almost to the point of laughter when talking about it. Grade A douchebag.

yes the locker room is open for that for 30 minutes following the game

its because of the story he wrote in Sundays paper, no one wants to speak with him.

I may be wrong but I dont think it was the local ford dealers who kicked in but the company Ford itself. I'm not saying all Catter/hockey fans are from Jeff County but I would highly doubt many of those from Jeff County will vote to re-elect any of them. The difference as I understand it between the 10,000 per game off and the 4,000 per game offer is that the 10k per game was one flat rate, whereas the 4000 per game does not include parking revenue (80% to the county), concessions (again 80% to the county) and things of that nature which would obviously increase that 4000. Hypothetical 500 cars at $5 each = $2500 in parking which means another $2000 to the county that brings the total to $6000 then concessions say 2000 people and an average of $5 per person spent = $10000 which means another 8000 to the county making it really about 14000 per game rent. I know there is more to it than just that, just trying to create an example. I would say Walker is an idiot and a retard but I wouldnt want to put down those who really are by including him in with them, he's just a special kind of stupid.

Saturday's attendance 3507, good crowd saw a good game Catters win another one 5-2, though this Ryan Sweeney who is the referee this weekend is by far the absolute worst ref we've seen all year, this idiot couldn't referee a one legged man in an ass kicking contest. That number was helped by there being an overnight stay for the area cub scouts, boy scouts, girl scouts, Sitel night and the DESK program which were about 500 tickets for each one of those then add in season ticket holders and walk up. Time to go take another throat lozenge almost blew my voice during the last half of the third period on the mic tonight.

it's the usual Jefferson County good old boy network at work again, if it were a prominent friend of those on the county court you can bet you arse this deal would have been done. If they cant get one of their own buddies in there they just pull the plug. It was already bad enough that there is already a large group of people who refuse to support anything at FP to begin with, now by telling the TWC to vacate they have only managed to add to that group of people who will never again support anything out at FP whether it is a Driller game, concerts, rodeo, you name it. It's not like they're going to give us tax breaks because the arena will be empty.

and the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor goes to..... Kris Tebbs of the Texas Wildcatters. Boy the allergies around here with all the plants and that 67 second flu is a mother. ;D TEXAS WILDCATTERS 2008 ECHL SOUTH DIVISION CHAMPIONS!!!!

the pink ice was like a bull seeing red tonight, the catters ripped the columbia inferno apart 7-0. 2 power play goals, 2 short handed goals, total dominance. Columbia only managed 13 shots for the game, 7 in the first period, 2 in the 2nd and 6 in the 3rd. This Catters team is freaky good, when they are all on cylinders its like watching the Patriots play a high school team. Just a total shame that we cant get 4000-5000 in the arena.

I was called Thursday by the LU office to inquire about me doing their baseball PA for this season but dont think I will with the Catters doing so well, plus with the upcoming playoffs I have no clue what the playoff schedule will be or how long thus making it hard to commit to LU.

I left for family reasons to help my mother take care of my ailing grandmother in Austin, obviously when I came back the spot was filled by Bob. And I have spoken to some with the athletic dept at LU, it was my understanding that basically they had a speaker box that was sitting on the floor and thats where the sound was coming out of and when I went to the SLU game they were no longer doing that but had sound out of the overhead speakers. I know there is an audio board in one of the corners about 2/3 of the way up, they need someone whose job it is is to run that and monitor levels and equlaize sounds, I would think they may be able to get someone from the communications department major to do it for a small fee. I didnt get rich doing those game and dont get paid to do the Catters games but I look at it in the sense of its money I save not buying tickets to go as a fan and I get great seats!

Bob does a good job he took over out there from me doing PA out there in 1999 when I moved to Austin only to return a short time later, before I started doing the PA at the Montagne in the early to mid 90s it was John Dennis who used to do the morning news on radio with Gary Lee Love. The equipment does need some work out there. I made it to one game a couple of weeks ago the SE La. game, half the speakers sound blown and the need to be re-pointed and re-coned after all they are what 20+ years old. But the system sounded like it had no bass to it. Bob is a great guy though and very passionate about the sport. It was a nice game though, but in all likelihood the only one I will make with me doing the Wildcatters PA now at Ford Park for the last 3 seasons.

I think there is more to it than just the start up cost of the program, coaching staff, etc. LU would have to try to make that money back eventually over the course of time would they not? I remember going to the games in the 80s back when I was working at KLVI and helping Hofferth and Caldwell with the broadcasts, I remember one of the very first WB/Central games played at LU on a Friday night, the LU promotion was that you got in FREE to the LU game on Sat afternoon with ticket stub from the WB game the night before, the WB attendance was overflow in the stands, on the hill, everywhere...the announced LU attendance was right at about 1000. And that was with free admission. If they spend 30 million on starting the program, what are individual game tickets going to cost to the general public then? $25-30? Is this generation of football fan so much better than the one of 20 years ago who didnt show up when it was free? Yea, I'd take in a game or two, depending on who LU is playing, at what time, and how much tickets cost, but I wont blindly just jump in and say I'm in for season tickets no matter what.

Rumor has it that Booker T was less than impressed and said the hell with it and no showed Saturday night, any truth?? I'll watch wrasslin' on tv on occasion but hell will freeze before I drop $23 a ticket for it.

This deal makes sense on a lot of levels, Lidge face it was never going to be the closer he was before that Pujols HR ever again. Bruntlett was a nice utility player but those are easy to come by. This keeps Berkman at 1b now and sets the outfield with Lee and Pence. Now the question becomes with the money Drayton saved in this deal and by obviously not going to go after Hunter, will he draw deep on some possible free agent pitchers, thats what the Astros need more than anything.