© 2003, Guidry News
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© 2003, Guidry News
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Links: The Arts Alliance of Clear Lake Galveston Island Pachyderm Club Galveston Independent School District University of Texas Medical Branch East Texas Rural Access Program The Arts Alliance of Clear Lake Galveston Island Pachyderm Club Galveston Independent School District University of Texas Medical Branch East Texas Rural Access Program The Arts Alliance of Clear Lake Galveston Island Pachyderm Club Galveston Independent School District University of Texas Medical Branch East Texas Rural Access Program The Arts Alliance of Clear Lake Galveston Island Pachyderm Club Galveston Independent School District University of Texas Medical Branch East Texas Rural Access Program The Arts Alliance of Clear Lake Galveston Island Pachyderm Club Galveston Independent School District University of Texas Medical Branch East Texas Rural Access Program The Arts Alliance of Clear Lake Galveston Island Pachyderm Club Galveston Independent School District University of Texas Medical Branch East Texas Rural Access Program The Arts Alliance of Clear Lake Galveston Island Pachyderm Club Galveston Independent School District University of Texas Medical Branch East Texas Rural Access Program The Arts Alliance of Clear Lake Galveston Island Pachyderm Club Galveston Independent School District University of Texas Medical Branch East Texas Rural Access Program The Arts Alliance of Clear Lake Galveston Island Pachyderm Club Galveston Independent School District University of Texas Medical Branch East Texas Rural Access Program
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The Mardi Gras excursion train that transported passengers between League City and Galveston for the past two weekends was a success despite a fee to ride and a derailment that caused one trainload of passengers to be returned to the Clear Lake area in buses, according to transportation consultant Barry Goodman. Listen "During the two Mardi Gras weekends, the City of Galveston implemented another successful passenger demonstration program and carried approximately 3,000 passengers and the vast majority of them were very happy with the experience of riding passenger rail service," Goodman said. Goodman said the sponsors of the demonstration project learned that the tracks must be upgraded if passenger service is to be restored. "We need to work with our partners, Union Pacific, AMTRAK and others to ensure that they are comfortable in moving forward with another demonstration project," Goodman said. "These demonstrations will be the underpinnings of pursuit of funding in Congress that will lead toward permanent commuter rail service between Galveston and points on the Mainland," Goodman said. "Congressman Nick Lampson is going to carry legislation to make efforts through the reauthorization of the transportation bill to gain more Congressional funding for this type of service." Goodman
says another demonstration project is possible on the Fourth
of July weekend, but a decision on that will come later. El Lago City Council at this week's meeting approved the allocation of $100,000 to match another $100,000 to be contributed by Harris County Commissioners Court for the repair of streets in the city. The list of streets scheduled for repair include, 323 Cedar Lane through 518 Cedar Lane, Cedar Lane from Lake Shore Drive to Confederate Way, Cedar Lane from Terrace to Biscayne Boulevard, Cedar Lane from Bayou View to Willow Vista, Bayou View from Confederate Way to Biscayne Boulevard, Woodland Drive from Pebblebrook to Willow Vista, Willow Vista from Woodland to Cedar Lane, Tallowood from Woodland to Ferndale, Bayview from Lake Bluff to Bellgrove, Bellgrove from Bayview to Seaway, Sorrento from Bellgrove to Creek Hollow, Whitecap Drive from Lake Arbor to Bellgrove, Lake Arbor from Whitecap Drive to Crestwood, Crestwood from Lake Bluff to Huntercrest, Lakebluff from Crestwood to West Chelsea, Les Tally from Whitecap Drive to Humble. The city council also approved a joint resolution with the commissioners court to adopt an interjurisdicational, comprehensive all-hazard mitigation plan. All
other items on the city council agenda were approved. Representatives of Big League Dreams will present their initial progress report to League City City Council at a workshop scheduled for Tuesday, April 1, at 6:00 p.m. in the Johnnie Arolfo Civic Center, located at 400 W. Walker. The report will include the size and location of the proposed facility, revenue and expense projections, financing options and the anticipated economic impact of the facility. The workshop is one of the first goals to be met during
the 90-day evaluation period that the city council voted for last
January. The
information presented at the workshop will help to
determine the feasibility of this project for League City. The Arts Alliance Center at Clear Lake The Arts Alliance
Center at Clear Lake will host the dedication of a memorial
service for the astronauts lost on the Columbia Space
Shuttle disaster at 11:15 on Saturday, at the TAACCL offices
at 2000 NASA Road 1, in Nassau Bay, directly
across from the Johnson Space Center. Galveston Island Pachyderm Club Dr. Michael Kemp, vice president and CEO of Texas A&M University at Galveston, told the Galveston Island Pachyderm Club that the Pelican Island Campus is growing and will continue to grow. "If you were to ask me, 'In 20 years what is Texas A&M at Galveston going to look like?' I would tell you 'I don't know'," Kemp said. "I think the potential to have 10,000 to 20,000 students over there is very possible." Kemp discussed proposals for a new training ship and expansion of the curriculum of the college. Next
Thursday, Fred Wichlep, executive director of the Historic
Downtown Strand Partnership will speak to the Republican
club. The city of Galveston is asking residents for their ideas and opinions on proposed Seawall enhancements and funding for those improvements. A short survey, in English and in Spanish, is being mailed to 22,000 city utility customers beginning this week. The surveys will be mailed in the billing cycle over the next four weeks. Residents are asked to complete the one-page questionnaire and return it in their payment envelopes or drop it off with their payments at City Hall. Information gathered from the survey will
help guide the Seawall Future Enhancement Committee in its
recommendations to the city council on issues such as what
improvements should be made to the Seawall and how fees for
paid parking should be spent. Galveston Independent School District The Galveston Independent School District's Fourteenth Annual Fine Arts Festival will be at 7 p.m. on March 11 at the Grand 1894 Opera House, as a part of Fine Arts Month, which is March. Performances by the honor choirs and bands of Austin, Bolivar, Central and Weis Middle Schools will be featured, along with the Ball High School Singers, choir, concert band and jazz band. Refreshments will be served in Edna's Room following the performance. "Fine Arts Month is a time to recognize the talents of GISD teachers and students," said Cynthia Antonelli, director of fine arts. "We are extremely proud and want to share the gifts that our children give us through music, art and drama." The
performances are underwritten by the Harris and Eliza
Kempner Fund. San Jacinto College South's annual open house will be at 6:30 p.m., Tuesday, March 18 in the J.D. Bruce Student Center, 13735 Beamer Road. Members of the community may visit booths set up by representatives from various college departments. Pertinent information about degree plans, courses and the college in general will be available. Attendees are invited to tour the campus and see first-hand how the college works for them. In addition, advisors and counselors will be on hand to answer questions about how to apply for financial aid, register, and to recommend what classes to take. Registration
for the open house event is recommended. For more
information, e-mail Rosie Flores at rosie.flores@sjcd.edu
or Cynthya Campbell at cynthya.campbell@sjcd.edu,
or call (281) 998-6191. University of Texas Medical Branch Dr.
James R. Halpert, chairman of UTMB’s Department of
Pharmacology and Toxicology, has been elected
secretary-treasurer of the American Society for Pharmacology
and Experimental Therapeutics. Pharmacology is the science
that explores the way drugs and other chemicals act on the
body. Oleander Festival 2003 will be held on Galveston Island over the weekends of May 16-18 and May 24-25. The event opens on May 16 with a kick-off luncheon at the Moody Gardens Hotel, and continues through the weekend at the Moody Gardens Visitors Center. The Moody Gardens events include gardening lectures by master gardener experts, a floral design contest and display, floral art show, craft workshops, children's activities and a sale of oleanders and other tropical plant varieties, plus booths and exhibits from environmental organizations and gardening societies. The Oleander Patio Sale at Bishop's Palace is May 24-25, when the bulk of the hard-to-find oleander plants go on sale to the public. Free public bus tours will visit exquisite oleander sites around Galveston.
The theme for this year's festival and floral design contest
is The second annual floral/botanical photo contest, which is open to the public, will be held in conjunction with the festival. All Oleander Festival 2003 events have free admission, except the kick-off luncheon. For more information visit the
International Oleander Society web site at www.oleander.org
or call (409) 770-9077. A combination of frigid artic weather dipping as far south as Texas and low inventories of natural gas drove the market price of natural gas to new highs last week. Texas Gas Service is warning its customers in Galveston that March bills will reflect this increase. The cost of gas factor of the March bills will be $1.14273 per hundred cubic feet. This is an increase of 59 percent from February’s cost of gas factor. Actual increases will depend on usage. Texas Gas Service and other gas utilities in Texas do not mark up the cost of gas or make a profit on the sale of gas “Essentially, the customer pays exactly what we pay for natural gas," said Bobbie Barker, regional vice president for TGS. "When the market price goes up, we all pay more. Fortunately, we believe that prices will moderate substantially in March due to warmer weather and increased supplies.” Texas Gas Service is encouraging customers to
conserve gas and to join its average bill plan.
The Company estimates usage and customers pay the
same amount each month.
For more information on conservation or joining the
ABC Plan, www.txgas.com
or call (800) 700-2443. House Majority Leader Tom DeLay predicted that Democratic leaders would " look the other way" despite the "outrageous utterings" of one-time Democratic presidential hopeful Representative Marcy Kaptur of Ohio. Kaptur told the Toledo
Blade this weekend, "One could say that Osama bin Laden
and these non-nation-state fighters with religious purpose
are very similar to those kind of atypical revolutionaries
that helped to cast off the British crown." Winston Cup Race Car Display in Houston The Number 77 Jasper Winston Cup Nascar race car will be on display in the Paddock Gallery at Davy Jones KartZone at 6111 Skyline Drive on Sunday, March 23 from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. "The
car will be on display one day only," said publicist
Mary Jo Naschke. "The exhibit, sponsored by
Jasper Engines and professional race car driver Davy Jones,
is open to the pubic and free of charge." East Texas Rural Access Program The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation has awarded a $500,000 grant through its Southern Rural Access Program to the North East Texas Economic Development District Inc. to provide for the start of a revolving loan fund for residents served by the East Texas Rural Access Program. The revolving loan fund program will support other ETRAP efforts to expand access to primary health care in rural areas and the local economic and employment opportunities associated with that primary health care. The North East Texas Economic Development District will administer the fund. "NETEDD has extensive experience in administering three successful loan funds, each of which has had a relatively low default rate," emphasized Michael Beachler, Southern Rural Access Program director. The RWJF grant will be used to provide equity in making individual projects become bankable loans. The seed capital will be used for reserves and subordinated loans along with private and public financing sources to complete individual loan packages. Both not-for-profit and for-profit healthcare providers will be targeted as recipients of loans that will generally range from $50,000 to $500,000. RWJF funds can leverage up to 25 percent of the total loan. Funds can be used for renovation, construction, equipment, working capital and refinancing of loans.
"These grants will be an important piece in our funding
puzzle. We have had
pre-application discussions with several professionals who
currently operate
primary care health clinics in rural areas,"
said Jerry Sparks,
NETEDD economic development manager and loan fund project
director. " These are areas
where no other
primary care facilities exist and patients are driving miles
to see a
doctor, physician assistant, or nurse practitioner." Al Mainwaring Cartoon This
week's cartoon by Al Mainwaring is a commentary on the
difficulty of the Galveston Park Board of Trustees to find a
new executive director. Scheduled
Meetings Friday, March
7
Saturday, March 8 Monday, March
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Story Links, on the left side of this page, is composed of "bookmarks" to the stories in the newsletter. Click on the link to go directly to the article. Print individual articles by first clicking on the "Print Version" link, then using your regular print program. On The Online News Station, if you click on an audio cut and the photos stop loading, click on Refresh or Reload and they will resume. Gulf Coast E-news, published by Guidry News Service, provides comprehensive coverage of posted public meetings in Galveston, Harris and Jefferson Counties.
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Galveston Island in Galveston County reporters, covering the city council meetings of all 13 municipal governments plus several school boards and special utility districts, include Jinelle Boyd, Drew Gilbert, Shannon Hall, Kristina Weaver, Tom Foster, Jo Ann Gowing and Dedra Kratts. Weaver, Foster, Gowing and Kratts also cover the Harris County entities surrounding Clear Lake. Scott Nowell covers Harris County Commissioners Court, Houston City Council, and meetings of organizations in downtown Houston. Carl Guidry, representing Guidry News Service in Jefferson County, covers Jefferson County Commissioners Court, Beaumont City Council and Port Arthur City Council. We are seeking additional reporters to expand our coverage in Jefferson County. Gulf Coast E-news also will continue coverage of regional organizations in the Gulf Coast area. Gulf Coast E-news is interactive with The Guidry News Service Online News Station, providing coverage of special events and public meetings with photos and audio. Terry Arnold and Barbara Ward are marketing representatives for The Online News Station. Marketing representatives are being recruited in Harris and Jefferson counties. Subscriptions to Gulf Coast E-news are $300 per year, or $75 per quarter, plus sales and use tax. A fax-only version of the newsletter is available for $350 per year or $87.50 per quarter, plus tax. Current subscribers to Galveston Fax or Clear Lake Area E-news will automatically receive Gulf Coast E-news.
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