The Bulletin Take One! It’s FREE! · Take One! It’s FREE! Oct. 15, 2013 Our 20th Year of Publishing (979) ... die-hard readers, with little regard for the damaging effects to

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Take One! It’s FREE!Oct. 15, 2013 Our 20th Year of Publishing(979) 849-5407 . mybulletinnewspaper.com

LAKE JACKSON • CLUTE • RICHWOOD • FREEPORT • OYSTER CREEK • ANGLETON • DANBURY • ALVIN • WEST COLUMBIA • BRAZORIA • SWEENY

(Continued on Page 7)

BulletinThe Weekly

BASF Signature Sponsor for “Black Tie & Boots”

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Dow Gives Education Grant applications available

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INSIDE THIS ISSUE

Brazosport College plans Transfer Fair on Oct. 28

See Pages 13 (Continued on Page 8

ROUNDABOUT

D.C. food fight trickles down

Paid circulation papers are their own worst enemyBy Peter FuntSpecial to The Bulletin

The biggest threat to newspapers today might be newspapers them-selves - or, to be more precise, the companies that own them.

Recently, Gannett’s USA Today doubled its cover price from one dollar to two. Can you think of any other struggling business that would raise prices 100 percent?

The U.S. Postal Service, similarly threatened by digital alternatives to its core business, is proposing to hike the price of a First Class stamp from 46 cents to 49. How many people, even those who eschew email, would continue mailing letters if the price was immediately doubled to 92 cents?

Gannett, along with several other newspaper groups, is effectively throwing in the towel on its printed products. The apparent strategy is to extract as much circulation revenue as possible from a small group of die-hard readers, with little regard for the damaging effects to the product itself. Meanwhile, publishers wait and hope for digital advertising revenue to increase beyond current levels.

The gambit is shortsighted and, moreover, a blow to journalism - even for those who don’t read or care much about the affected newspapers.

In most businesses, total revenue can be increased either by selling more units at or below the current Brazosport Regional is hosting three

separate free flu shot clinics for the community.

The first one was Tuesday morn-ing at St. Mary’s Catholic Church in Freeport. If you missed it, there are two more.

The second clinic is Wednesday, Oct. 16 at the Lake Jackson Civic Center from 8:30-11 a.m. The last clinic is in Brazoria at the Brazosport Regional Family Medicine Center on Friday, Oct. 18 from 9-11 a.m.

For additional information about the flu and the flu shot clinics, please visit www.BrazosportRegional.org or call (979) 285-1585.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the 2012 vaccinations reduced the vaccinated population’s risk of having to go to the doctor because of the flu by more than half.

Since 2010, the CDC has recom-mended that everyone six months and older should get a flu vaccine each year. Most people who get the flu will have mild illness and will not need medical care.

However, others are more likely to get flu complications that result in being hospitalized and occasionally result in death. High-risk people include any adult 65 years and older, healthcare

workers, adults with chronic or immuno-compromised conditions and pregnant women.

Influenza (flu) is a respiratory illness with symptoms like high fever, chills, dry cough, headache, runny or stuffy nose, sore throat, fatigue, and muscle aches.

Flu is thought to spread by droplets made when people with flu cough, sneeze, or talk. Moreover, you may be able to pass on the flu to someone else before you even know you are sick.

According to CDC, the single best way to prevent the flu is to get a flu vaccine each season.

Test your knowledge about the flu on Page 5.

Brazosport Regional hosts flu shot clinics

By John TothEditor and Publisher

If you noticed that the cartoons in The Bulletin have decreased, you are right.

Due to the government shutdown and the debt ceiling debate (or, the food fight), we had to cut back on the cartoons in this paper.

Don’t get me wrong, there is plenty of funding available for Bul-letin cartoons, and our syndi-cate service is continuing to provide hun-dreds of them weekly.

But 99 percent of them are about the food fight in D.C. The other one percent is from foreign cartoonists that we never use. They are just too serious, artsy, and not funny. We like funny cartoons.

Yes, this latest political escapade is a cartoonist’s dream, regardless of which side they are drawing, or blaming, or ridiculing.

But it has become this publisher’s nightmare.

These type of cartoons are only funny to those readers who agree with them, and often make other readers mad. Funny is in the eyes of the beholder. Political humor is only funny half the time.

We’re not a daily paper with edito-rial and op-ed pages. Our pages are sort of a free-for-all, with each one containing non-categorized stories about anything that our editorial staff thinks would interest readers.

Since I know that we appeal to both sides of the aisle, the hundreds of debt limit and shut down cartoons are to us completely useless.

I have tried to get the syndicate to negotiate in good faith with us about this, but they won’t budge. So, the cartoon shortage continues.

Page 2 THE BULLETIN October 15, 2013 (979) 849-5407 www.mybulletinnewspaper.com

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ABOUT US

John and Sharon Toth, Owners and Publishers

Since July 4, 1994THE BULLETIN is distrib-

uted each Tuesday by J&S Communications, Inc.. E-mail letters and press releases to [email protected]. Faxed or mailed announcements are no longer accepted. For advertising information, call (979) 849-5407. Advertising and news release deadline is 12 p.m. Wednesday.

Our 19th year of publishing!

Romeo is a special little boy. He is a white male Guinea Pig. Do you like the easy life? Then he would be the perfect companion for you. Can you help him find his “forever” home?. Maybe you are looking to adopt a cat? Maybe you are looking to adopt a cat? Chance is a black and brown male Tabby mix. Can you take a “chance” on him and help him find a new family?. Come by the SPCA-BC Shelter at 141 Canna Ln., Lake Jackson, or we are at Brazos Mall, Petco and Petsmart every Saturday, to visit with these pets and many of their friends. Kennel sponsorships are now available for large or small kennels. Why not have your company or family recognized with a plaque to show you care? Call (979) 285-2340, ext. 100, or visit www.spcabc.org for details. Help control the pet population. Have your pet spayed or neutered. Come by the SPCA-BC, and fill out an application today.

See who is waiting for you at SPCA-BC

UH, YEAH, I WORK HERE …ABSOLUTELY: A woman dropped off her $125,000 black Bentley GTC – a birthday present from her mother -- at a car wash in Manchester, England, leaving it in the hands of a man she assumed was an employee. He was not. He was actually a car thief, and was so excited at scoring the valuable prize that he crashed it into a wall.

YOU LOOKIN’ AT ME!? I SAID, ARE YOU LOOKIN’ AT ME?!!! A stork with three young babies has been terrorizing the town of Bergholz, Germany, attacking parked cars, because she sees her reflection in the windows and thinks it is a rival bird.

PAINFUL TO SAY THE LEAST: Firefighters were called to a hospital in Ibiza, Spain to free a German tourist from a steel sex device which he had secured to himself. They had to use a buzz saw, which produced “plenty of sparks,” and they had to change batteries twice in the two-hour procedure, during which the man complained a great deal.

AND FUTURE FAMILY GATHERINGS WILL BE PRETTY TENSE: Two young women and a young man in Kristiansand, Norway, faked a kidnap-ping to get money from one of the families. Police quickly saw through this, located them, and arrested them all.

THIS WILL NOT HELP YOUR CASE AT ALL, SIR: Police said that a man they arrested for drunken driving in Houma, La., told the officers he had “so many drinks that he could not remember how many.” He also said he could not remember the name of the bar at which he had been drinking.

NOW THAT’S WHAT I CALL EVIDENCE: A gang member was convicted of murder in Los Angeles. He had a tattoo of the scene of the crime on his chest.

SHOWTIME! A young couple got drunk, then got to know each other better in their hotel room in Myrtle Beach, S.C. Normally, this wouldn’t be a problem, but they ran afoul of the law because their room was at street level and the curtains were open.

CUPCAKE WARS: A woman riding with her mother got into an argument when they stopped at an intersection in Hampton, Va. They both reached into the back seat and grabbed cupcakes, which they started throwing at each other. When the ammo ran out, the hitting and scratching commenced. The fight continued when they got to the daughter’s boyfriend’s house, where they were hitting each other as they rolled around on the ground.

OK, RIGHT, THAT’S NOT EXACTLY HOW IT HAPPENED: A man called the police in Fairbanks, Alaska, to complain that his neighbor punched him in the face. The officers, who don’t necessarily believe everything that people tell them, soon discovered that the man was engaged in a prop-erty dispute with his alleged assailant, and questioned him closely. That’s when he admitted that he punched himself in the face to get the neighbor arrested.

YES, OFFICER, I HAVE HIS ADDRESS RIGHT HERE: A man applying for a job at a store in Ocala, Fla., reached over the counter and stole money from the cast register when the clerk wasn’t looking. The theft was captured on security video, and the man was captured because he had filled out a job application.

email: [email protected] (979) 849-5407 October 15, 2013 THE BULLETIN Page 3

Strange but True By Bill Sonesand Rich Sones, Ph.D.

Look for us on Facebook

E-mail your community announcements to [email protected]. We run all e-mailed notices, but do

not accept faxed notices or notices sent by regular mail. Email photos as is. We’ll convert them here for publication.

Getting by without these body parts

Q. Can you name seven “useless” human body parts?

A. You might start with wisdom teeth, says Judy Dutton in “Mental Floss” magazine. Are you among the 5% of people today with room for them? “Back in pre-toothpaste days when molars fell out, wisdom teeth were handy backup chompers.”

2. Tonsils in the back of the throat filter out bacteria and viruses but are prone to infection, and many kids have them removed. Luckily for adults, tonsils shrink with age and usually stop causing trouble.

3. Probably not as useless as once thought, the appendix may store benefi-cial bacteria for repopulating the gut after an illness.

4. The coccyx at the base of the spine consists of three to five vertebrae fused together, “remnants of our long-lost tails.”

5. “Arrectores pilorum” are mini-muscles that long ago made our ancestors’ body hairs stand on end to conserve heat and to make us look bigger, frightening off enemies. “Today, all they do is create goose bumps.”

6. About 1 in 200 people has a set of spare ribs to go along with the normal 12 sets; all chimps and gorillas have an extra set near the neck.

7. Pinky toes: Our ape ancestors used all their toes to grab and swing from branches. Modern man can remain upright using his big toe “with a little help from its three neighboring pig-gies. The fifth is just along for the ride.”

Game boards were betterQ. Players of high-tech Scrabble

no longer need huddle in small groups hunched over game boards. Rather, utilizing the Web, wireless and smart-phones, they can drop a ZYGOTES bingo on fellow players anywhere in the world. That’s good! But what new “psychic danger” is ever at hand?

A. After each move, a widget on the screen can now reveal what WOULD HAVE BEEN the best move based on the letters in the player’s virtual rack. “A game today thus affords competitors a plethora of regrets,” writes Steve Mirsky in “Scientific American” magazine. “And the worst come from not seeing a potential ‘bingo’--a rack-emptying play that earns a 50-point bonus.”

“For purposes of self-flagellation,” Scrabbler Mirsky records science-related bingos he himself missed over a few weeks of play. Among them: a rock-climbing REVERSO (68); PORCINI mushroom (72); ROSEATE spoonbill (73); NEGATON, also known as “electron” (77); Heimlich MANEU-VER (84); BOLIDES from outer space (95); and in the realm of metaphysics,

FOREKNOW (104!).

Our longing to be differentQ. At a nursery for newborns in a

U.S. hospital, what might underscore Americans’ growing individualistic tendencies?

A. Parents these days so much want “a child like no other child” that they choose a more uncommon baby name, says David G. Myers in “Explor-ing Psychology: Ninth Edition.” Around 1950, for instance, nearly 35% of boys were given one of the 10 most common male names, about 25% of girls’ names were similarly chosen. But by 2010 or so, these percentages had plunged to under 10%, with uniqueness and individualism more and more ruling the baby roost!

“Over time, the most common American names listed by year on the U.S. Social Security baby names website were becoming less desirable,” Myers continues. “An analysis of the first names of 325 million American babies born between 1880 and 2007 confirmed this trend.”

In the U.S. in 2012, the 10 most common male baby names in descend-ing order were Jacob, Mason, Ethan, Noah, William, Liam, Jayden, Michael, Alexander and Aiden. For female babies, Sophia ranked first, followed by Emma, Isabella, Olivia, Ava, Emily, Abigail, Mia, Madison and Elizabeth.

(Send STRANGE questions to brothers Bill and Rich at [email protected])


Send your community announcements to [email protected]. Make it to the point and concise, with the most important information near the beginning in case the story needs to be cut to fit into a space on the page. Photos should be sent in JPG format, minimum 200 dpi, color or black-and-white.

NOTICE TO CREDITORS

Notice is hereby given that original Letters of Administration for the Estate of Margaret Ellen Grounds, Deceased, were issued on October 1, 2013, in Cause No. PR033755, pending in the County Court at Law No. 3, Brazoria County, Texas, to: Christine Lesley Garcia.

All persons having claims against this Estate which is currently being admin-istered are required to present them to the undersigned within the time and in the manner prescribed by law.

c/o: Estate of Margaret Ellen Grounds 14407 Harvest Ridge RoadHouston, Texas 77062

DATED the 4th day of October, 2013

By:/s/ G. Riley HetheringtonAttorney for Estate of Margaret Ellen Grounds

State Bar No: 095545006363 Woodway, Suite 1000

Houston, Texas 77057Telephone: (713) 590-9620Facsimile: (713) 590-9602

MATAGORDA REGIONAL MEDICAL CENTERhas the following positions currently available:

LAN SUPPORT/NETWORK SPECIALIST – full time position available; Associates Degree or equivalent from a two year college or technical school; related experience and/or training; equivalent combination of education and experience; network server installation, maintenance, and support required; previous experience in healthcare environment is desired; 3-5 year training and/or experience installing and repairing computer/network systems hardware, software and peripheral device operations; must have a broad knowledge of troubleshooting both hardware, software and networking topology.

MEDICAL TECHNOLOGIST or MEDICAL LAB TECHNOLOGIST – full time position available for night shift (8:30pm to 6:30am); Bachelor’s degree or equivalent with current registration through one of the licensed agencies is preferred, and/or an equivalent combination of experience, education and with the eligibility for high complexity testing.Offering competitive salaries and an excellent benefit package consisting of educational assistance/tuition reimbursement, and much more. Qualified appli-cants may send resumes via facsimile at (979) 241-5544 or via E-mail address: [email protected] Regional Medical Center promotes a smoke and drug free environment.

104 7th Street * Bay City, TX 77414979-245-6383

www.matagordaregional.org

Migrating birds fly nonstop for more than six monthsLos Angeles Times (MCT)

LOS ANGELES— Talk about a red-eye flight. After attaching electronic monitors to half a dozen Alpine swifts, researchers say they were shocked to discover that migrating birds flew nonstop for 200 days.

That’s right, the birds remained airborne for more than six months, eating, drinking and sleeping on the fly, so to speak. Swiss scientists recently published their findings in the journal Nature Communications.

FEC wants former senator to pay penaltyMcClatchy Washington Bureau

WASHINGTON — Former Repub-lican Sen. Larry Craig of Idaho should personally pay a “significant civil penalty” of $70,000 for his “serious violations” of campaign finance laws.

Craig’s campaign committee should also pay a separate $70,000 penalty, the FEC attorneys argue. The proposed penalties, in addition to having Craig pay back $216,984 to the campaign committee, would also resolve the FEC’s complaint that Craig had improperly used campaign committee funds to pay for personal legal expenses he incurred after a disputed 2007 incident at the Min-neapolis-St. Paul International Airport.


Test your knowledge about the flu and the flu shot, and then get the shotBy Drs. Kay Judgeand Maxine Barish-WredenThe Sacramento Bee (MCT)

The flu season is rapidly approach-ing. Here is a quick quiz to check your flu-vaccine knowledge.

True or false: The flu shot can give you the flu.

False, says the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The flu vaccine contains killed viruses, which means the flu shot cannot cause infection. The Centers for Disease Control and Pre-vention found that “The only differences in symptoms was increased soreness in the arm and redness at the injection site among people who got the flu shot.

There were no differences in terms of body aches, fever, cough, runny nose or sore throat.”

For some people who notice symptoms immediately after the flu shot, it can be from the immune system making antibodies to the killed viruses in the vaccine that help fight off the flu.

True or false: The nasal flu vac-cine can give you the flu.

False. Unlike the flu shot, which contains killed viruses, the nasal spray vaccine does contain live viruses. However, the viruses contained in the nasal-spray flu vaccine are attenuated (weakened), which means they cannot cause flu illness. These weakened

viruses are designed to cause mild infection at the cooler temperatures found within the nose, but they cannot infect the lungs or other warmer areas of the body.

True or false: The flu shot doesn’t work half of the time.

False. The flu shot actually works more than half of the time. According to the CDC, the flu shot appeared to be about 60 percent effective for all age groups combined in the 2010-11 season. In earlier years, the effective-ness rates have been as high as 90 percent.

True or false: Getting the flu is no big deal. False. The flu can cause significant death and illness. Over the last 30 years, the flu has been linked to anywhere from 3,000 to as many as 49,000 fatalities a year in the United States, with more than 200,000 hospitalizations a year. Flu is a serious

disease, particularly among young children, older adults and people with certain chronic health conditions such as asthma, heart disease and diabetes.

True or false: You should get the flu shot in the winter, not the fall.

False. You should get the flu shot earlier in the year, and most clinics start offering the flu shot in October. That’s because once you get the vaccine, the protection lasts an entire flu season. The CDC recommends that all people

older than 6 months get a flu vaccine.True or false: You don’t need a flu

shot this year if you had one last year. False. The CDC recommends a yearly flu vaccine for people 6 months and older. The reason is that a person’s immune protection from vaccination declines over time, so a yearly vaccina-tion is needed.

If you had all seven questions cor-rect, congratulations. You have likely already lined up your flu shot.

How flu spreadsMost experts believe that flu viruses spread mainly by droplets made when

people with flu cough, sneeze or talk. These droplets can land in the mouths or noses of people who are nearby. Less often, a person might also get flu by touching a surface or object that has flu virus on it and then touching their own mouth, eyes or possibly their nose.

Certain people are at greater risk for serious complications if they get the flu. This includes older people, young children, pregnant women and people with certain health conditions (such as asthma, diabetes, or heart disease), and persons who live in facilities like nursing homes.


Texas A&M System joins the College Credit for HeroesThe Texas Workforce Commission’s

(TWC) College Credit for Heroes initiative reached a milestone recently when TWC Commissioner Represent-ing Labor Ronny Congleton and Texas A&M University System Chancellor John Sharp jointly announced that the A&M System has joined College Credit for Heroes.

This is a statewide program that seeks to maximize the award of college credits to veterans and service mem-bers for their military training.

“The addition of the Texas A&M University System to College Credit for Heroes expands opportunities for our veterans to have the skills and knowledge they gained during service to our country recognized,” said TWC Chairman Andres Alcantar.

Recognizing the need to help more student veterans earn degrees, all 13 A&M System campuses joined the College Credit for Heroes initiative and signed agreements with TWC, Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board and Central Texas College committing to review all www.CollegeCreditforHeroes.orgtranscript evaluations used to award college credit to veterans and service members for their military train-ing. A total of 30 colleges and universi-ties are now part of the initiative.

“Aligning our institutions with College Credit for Heroes demonstrates our commitment to keeping our military and veterans on track to achieve academic and career success,” said Texas A&M System Chancellor John Sharp. “Military training can absolutely match many academic courses, and this program offers substantial efficiencies and savings in time and money for our student veterans.”

Administered by TWC and launched in 2011, College Credit for Heroes is a workforce development initiative designed to recognize the excep-tional knowledge and skills gained by veterans and service members during their military service and award them with college credits for this experience, and thus accelerate degree, workforce certificate, and licensing programs, allowing them to more easily re-enter the workforce.

“College Credit for Heroes will enable our returning veterans to establish credentials qualifying them for work in a variety of occupational fields,” said TWC Commissioner Representing Labor Ronny Congleton. “The growth of this initiative will ultimately expand professional and academic opportuni-

ties for our veterans, and allow them faster entry into rewarding careers.”

Central Texas College was integral in the development of the College Credit for Heroes Web portal, www.CollegeCreditforHeroes.org, and is working to standardize evaluation of college credit for military training and experience

across Texas institutions.The Texas Higher Education Coor-

dinating Board also supports program expansion by consulting on various military and higher education-related issues and coordinating program part-nerships with higher education entities throughout the state.

By Reid KanaleyThe Philadelphia Inquirer (MCT)

We can’t duck the debt ceiling. The recurring battle over federal borrowing is about to overtake even the discouraging fight that prompted a partial government shutdown.

—Spending in the run-up to World War I is partly to blame for the existence of a U.S. debt ceiling, according to this post and accompanying video at Investopedia.com. The ceiling sets the maximum amount of money the federal government can borrow. President Woodrow Wilson and Congress came up with a debt limit as a way to keep tabs on borrowing to fund the war. While the limit has been continually raised by lawmakers, the very constitutionality of a debt limit is sometimes challenged. The grounds? “According to the 14th Amendment of the Constitution, ‘The validity of the public debt of the United States, authorized by law … shall not be questioned,’ ” notes the Investopedia post. http://bit.ly/1g0MFzo

—If the debt limit is not raised, what then? Let us roll back the calendar to the last time this issue was at a boil — just last winter! Who even remembers? Bankrate.com at that time posted this step-by-step road map to default and what could happen then. It isn’t pretty. “ ‘It would start to feel like September 2008,’ when the investment bank Lehman Brothers filed for bankruptcy protection,” says the post by Claes Bell, quoting an expert at the Brookings Institution.

—“The Economist explains,” a blog at Economist.com, says that “the Treasury reached the current debt ceiling of $16.7 trillion on May 19.” It has been juggling accounts to keep issuing bonds, but the wiggle room is almost used up. Now, if the Treasury misses a debt payment, “that would be virtually without precedent, and quite bad — just how bad, nobody knows.” By the way, a debt limit is a “quirk” that America shares “with almost no other countries,” the Economist says. http://econ.st/156j8zS

What hitting the debt ceiling really means


price, or fewer units at a higher price. However, the second option works a lot better for, say, thousand-dollar designer shoes than it does for mass media. And the first option generally requires improving the product, which many major newspaper owners seem unwill-ing to support.

Readers of dailies in California owned by MediaNews have watched the newspapers shrink, like prisoners on a starvation diet. The Oakland Tribune, for example, exists now in name only, while functioning as an edition of the San Jose Mercury News. The Merc-News, meanwhile, is shedding pages like a jet dump-ing fuel before a crash. The chain’s smaller dailies, such as The Mon-terey County Herald and Santa Cruz Sentinel, have seen their presses sold for scrap, with production moved to distant facilities.

In the same Bay Area market, Hearst’s San Francisco Chronicle recently cut costs by moving the copy deadline for its first edition to 5 p.m. Papers delivered to many California homes miss everything - news and sports - that occurs the evening before.

Many publishers have concluded, perhaps correctly, that ink-on-paper editions will not survive too far into the future. What is reckless - for papers and their readers - is that management is taking misguided steps to try and speed the process.

When Gannett cut 223 newsroom jobs in late summer, including 29 at its largest regional paper, the Arizona Republic, the Phoenix Business Jour-

nal obtained an internal memo from Gannett’s management. A telling pas-sage addressed the future of print:

“While consumer habits continue to change, the print edition remains a preferred format to many of our readers and an effective advertising vehicle for advertisers. A daily print edition will continue to be produced until a point (at which) there is no longer a significant demand for the product.”

Therein lies the rub. By natural process, demand will ebb gradually as digital alternatives improve and as older readers die off. Artificially, it will be hastened by newsroom layoffs, reduced page counts, earlier production schedules and jarring price hikes.

Some publishers see it differently. Aaron Kushner, the entrepreneur who owns southern California’s Orange County Register, has expanded the reporting staff and launched a sister paper in Long Beach, while holding the cover price at one dollar.

Among the national dailies, the

Wall Street Journal and the New York Times have high cover prices, but they also charge for digital subscrip-tions and had double-digit circulation increases in the latest reporting period ending March 31. USA Today, on the other hand, does not have a paid digital presence. Its circula-tion dropped 8 percent in the same period.

Newspapers are businesses, entitled to operate as they see fit. But in the best-case scenario, publishers profit by providing quality journalism. That’s not happening across much of the media landscape. It is disingenu-ous to cite reduced demand while working aggressively to reduce it.

On the first day of USA Today’s two-dollar price, the boxcar headline was about the federal government, but readers may have wondered if it was also about the paper itself. It said: Closing Time?

Peter Funt’s new book, “Cautiously Optimistic,” is available at Amazon.com and CandidCamera.com. ©2013 Peter Funt.

(Continued from Page 1)

Paid circulation papers are their own worst enemyA program titled “Passionate Expressions” will open the Brazosport Choral

Union’s 2013-2014 season at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 19 in the Performance Hall of the Clarion at Brazosport College.

The autumn-themed concert will feature some of the individual choirs that combine to form the Brazosport Choral Union.

The Brazosport College Chamber Choir will present Craig Hella-Johnson’s Gi-tanjali (Song offerings) Chants,with text by Rabindrath Tagore, a Bengali poet, painter, musician, playwright and 1913 winner of the Nobel Prize for literature, and Once Upon a Dream, from the musical “Jekyll and Hyde.”

The Brazosport College Jazz Singers will offer an arrangement of the jazz standard “Autumn Leaves.”

Matthew Todd and Barbara Carter serve as accompanists, with Rodney Mason serving as director. The concert is given free as cultural enrichment for the Brazosport community so no ticket is required and it is festival (first-come, first-served) seating.

B’port Choral Union to perform season-opening concert


At the moviesOCT. 18

“12 Years a Slave”: “Shame” director Steve McQueen returns with another artful provocation, this one based on the true story of a free black man (Chiwetel Ejiofor) from upstate New York in the pre-Civil War era who was abducted and sold into slavery. Michael Fassbender, Benedict Cumberbatch, Paul Dano, Paul Giamatti and Brad Pitt co-star.

“Carrie”: Chloe Grace Moretz takes over for Sissy Spacek as the bullied teen with telekinetic powers in this “reimagining” (aka “Don’t Call It a Remake!”) of the Stephen King novel. Director Kimberly Pierce (“Boys Don’t Cry”) reportedly con-sulted with Brian De Palma, who made the 1976 original, before shooting began. Julianne Moore co-stars as Carrie’s fanatically religious mother.

“Escape Plan”: Sylvester Stallone and Arnold Schwarzegger co-star for the first time (no, “The Expendables” movies don’t count) as convicts who attempt a daring prison break. Directed by Mikael Hafstrom (“1408,” “Evil”).

“The Fifth Estate”: Having finally put the “Twilight” saga to rest, director Bill Condon (“Kinsey,” “Showgirls) gets back to real movies with this drama about the price WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange (Benedict Cumberbatch) and his partner Daniel Domscheit-Berg (Daniel Bruhl) paid after they starting posting classified documents online.

Angleton High School counselors Terri Giles (far left) and Page Friudenberg (far right) present Chase Caldwell and Mary Waller with a certificate of com-mendation from the National Merit Scholarship Program.

Angleton High School seniors Chase Caldwell and Mary Waller have been named Commended Students in the 2014 National Merit Scholarship Program.

The two join approximately 34,000 other students across the nation who have earned the “commended” status for their exceptional academic promise.

Although they will not continue in the 2014 competition for National Merit Scholarship awards, Commended Students placed among the top five percent of more than 1.5 million students who entered the 2014 competition by taking the 2012 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT).

Two AHS students recognized for academic achievement

Most of the time, this is not a prob-lem. The syndicate’s many artists are all over the map on different issues and current events, and there are plenty of cartoons from which to choose.

Now, they are all drawing about only one topic – the food fight in D.C.

We all hope this is resolved and we go on to other fights that are a little less messy, and our cartoonists once again expand their horizons.

Meanwhile, I am enjoying the Facebook debate about the food fight.

The photoshopped posts are very good as they point out how wrong the other side is.

It feels good to vent a little, but I can honestly say that those posts will not convince the other side to see it your way.

And, it does no good to get into a political feud over the issue, raising the emotional level by each post, and even being insulting.

There are other issues that are more suited for such venture, like posting about the Houston Texans as you

watch the game. Both sides can agree on these posts.

“Like it or not, fixing Schaub is our best shot unless you are ready to write off this season and for next year again.”

“Schaub, you are a bum!!!!!!”“BREAKING: Matt Schaub says he

will not take the field unless the 49ers come to the table and negotiate.”

There were dozens more. The last one is my favorite. It was posted by a one-time Houston Chronicle colleague.

I wish my syndicated cartoonists

would watch football and get some ideas.

Or any other sport, or read the life-style pages, or any other pages than news and editorials.

I write these columns early, so I hope by the time it appears on Oct.15,

this “food fight” will be over, and both sides agree to do what’s best for the country.

Then we can all go back to ranting about sports (which is easy to do if you follow Houston teams), and I can get once again some usable cartoons.

Problems in Washington D.C. create all kinds of problems for this editor(Continued from Page 1)

Library system helps prescription drug take-back effortThe Brazoria County Library System

will participate in the DEA’s National Prescription Drug Take Back being held on Saturday, Oct. 26 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. across Brazoria County.

Three library locations, the parking lots of the Pearland, Pearland Westside

and West Columbia branch libraries, are among the nine locations around the county where people will be able to drop off unwanted, unused and expired over-the-counter and prescription drugs and needles for safe disposal.

“As soon as I learned they were

looking for more drop-off sites I said let’s make this happen” said Tom West, the Adult Coordinator for the Brazoria County Library System. The addition of the libraries more than doubles the number of sites this year.

The parking lots of the Pearland Library at 3522 Liberty Drive, Pearland Westside Library at 2803 Business Center Drive, and the Stella Roberts Recycling Center at 5800 Magnolia, are the three drop-off locations in Pearland this year.

The West Columbia Library at 518 East Brazos, has been added as a drop-off location in the southern part of the county.

The DEA’s National Prescription Drug Take Bake is coordinated by the Brazoria County Prescription Drug Abuse Task Force and the Bay Area Council on Drugs and Alcohol. Please visit www.BACODA.org or www.DEA.gov for a complete list of drop-off locations.




Sponsors of this column

(Send your queries to “My Answer,” c/o Billy Graham, Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, 1 Billy Graham Parkway, Charlotte, N.C., 28201; call 1-(877) 2-GRAHAM, or visit the Web site for the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association: www.billygraham.org.)

How we handle money indicates what’s really important to us

My Answer

By Billy GrahamTribune Media Services

The Bulletin runs annoucements and features like those above free of charge, but you have to help us by emailing the text and attach-ing the photos as jpg files. Make it as short as possible. Email: [email protected]

Q: Every year about this time, our church board presents the new budget to the congregation, and our preacher takes several weeks to preach about money and tithing and all that. Frankly, I get tired of it. In my opinion, he ought to be dealing with spiritual things, not with money. - H.C.

A: I don’t know if your pastor is spending too much time on this topic; if you think he is, perhaps you should express your concern to him or to a member of your church board.

But I do know this: How we handle our money is of great concern to God, and it’s just as spiritual an issue as anything else. Why is this? The reason is because how we handle our money indicates what’s really important to us. If our goal is to put ourselves first and provide just for our comfort and security, then that’s how we’ll spend our money.

But if God is at the center of our lives, we’ll want to use our money for His glory. Instead of spending it all on ourselves, we’ll want to use it to bless others and extend God’s kingdom. This is undoubtedly your pastor’s concern - and it should be yours, as well. Jesus said, “No one can serve two masters.... You cannot serve both God and Money” (Matthew 6:24).

Who is more important to you? Is it yourself - or is it Jesus Christ? Remem-ber, Christ gave His life for you; why do anything less for Him? Ask God to help you use the resources He’s given you for things that will count for eternity. The Bible says, “Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver” (2 Corinthians 9:7).

State Rep. Ed Thompson spoke about his experiences in local and state government during a meeting with the Alvin Community College Student Government Association on Sept. 18.

Thompson talked about the recent session of the Texas Legislature and his time on the Pearland ISD school board.

He encouraged students interested in politics and government to get involved soon.

“You have an opportunity to learn early,” he said. “There’s a lot of power in what one person can do.”

For more information about the Student Government Association, call 281-756-3551 or visit www.alvincollege.edu/studentactivities

State Rep. Thompson speaks to ACC student government

State Rep. Ed Thompson speaks with Alvin Community College students during a Student Government Asso-ciation meeting.

Longest-serving House Republican plans to retireTribune Washington Bureau (MCT)

WASHINGTON — C.W. Bill Young, the longest-serving Republican in the House, said he will retire at the end of his current term.

The Florida Republican disclosed his plans in an interview with the Tampa Bay Times, during which he also said tea party conservatives were driving the direction of the Republican Party.

“He withstood the pressure for a long time,” Young said, referring to House Speaker John A. Boehner, R-Ohio. “He finally has agreed to the outspoken minority of his conference. And they’re pretty much in charge right now.”

He credited the conservative bloc, though, for “doing what they think is right. That’s what I did.” He said his decision to retire was based on a number of factors, including his health. He is currently at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center with a back injury.

Young is one of just 17 House Republicans who represent a district that President Barack Obama carried in the 2012 election. Now 83, he easily won his 22nd term last November with 58 percent of the vote, though that was his lowest vote percentage in 20 years, and second-lowest ever. His current term ends Jan. 3, 2015.


History of the World

([email protected].)

By Mark AndrewsTribune Content Agency

Oct. 14: ON THIS DATE in 1066, William the Conqueror gained control over much of England by winning the Battle of Hastings. In 1947, test pilot Chuck Yeager broke the sound barrier for the first time in the Bell X-1 rocket plane.

Oct. 15: ON THIS DATE in 1917, Mata Hari, a Dutch dancer who had spied for the Germans, was executed by a French firing squad. In 1949, evangelist Billy Graham began his ministry.

Oct. 16: ON THIS DATE in 1859, abolitionist John Brown led about 20 men in a raid on the federal armory at Harper’s Ferry, Va. In 1962, President Kennedy was informed that reconnaissance photographs had revealed the presence of Soviet-built nuclear missile bases in Cuba.

Oct. 17: ON THIS DATE in 1931, mobster Al Capone was convicted of income-tax evasion and sentenced to 11 years in prison. In 1933, physicist Albert Einstein arrived in the United States, a refugee of Nazi Germany.

Oct. 18: ON THIS DATE in 1892, the first long-distance telephone line between Chicago and New York was opened. In 1898, the American flag was raised in Puerto Rico shortly before Spain relinquished control of the island.

Oct. 19: ON THIS DATE in 1781, British troops under Lord Cornwallis surrendered at Yorktown, Va., as the Revolutionary War neared its end. In 1960, the United States imposed an embargo on most exports to Cuba.

Oct. 20: ON THIS DATE in 1944, during World War II, Gen. Douglas MacArthur stepped ashore at Leyte in the Philippines, 2 1/2 years after he had said, “I shall return.” In 1977, three members of the rock group Lynyrd Skynyrd died in the crash of a chartered plane.

Answer to last week’s question: This week in 1964, the Soviet leader-ship forced Premier Nikita Khrush-chev out of office and replaced him with Alexei Kosygin and Leonid Brezhnev.

This week’s question: In 1836, who was inaugurated as the first president of the Republic of Texas?

The Brazoria County Historical Commission is beginning a Historical Medallion Project to recognize and encourage preservation of county historical structures through restoration for present and future generations.

The historical medallions will further

County Historical Commission initiates local Medallion Projecteducate the public and spark interest in local history.

Property owners who work to improve a historical structure, thereby extending its life and adding to the ambiance that old buildings provide, may be eligible for one of the Brazoria

County Historical Commission Medal-lions.

To conduct a feasibility study for possible action, a Medallion Project Management Team was appointed by Commission Chairman, Sandra Pollan. Members include: Jamie Murray, Beverly Nixon, Dr. Max Royalty, Ginger Tumlinson and Ron Livingston. Responsibilities of the team have included: Medallion Eligibil-ity Guidelines, Application Forms, Structure Restoration and Maintenance Guidelines.

The Brazoria County Medallion shall recognize restoration efforts when attempts to comply with the Texas His-torical Commission marker standards are not practical for the owner. There shall be no penalty for necessary relocation or additions to the structure, if the same integrity is maintained.

A structure at least 75 years old is eligible for consideration of a County Medallion. Applications may be secured from Jamie Murray at the Brazoria County Historical Museum Library, 100 East Cedar, Angleton, Texas.

The completed application, along

with a $50 fee for the honor and privilege of recognition, shall be submit-ted to: Sandra Pollan, Commission Treasurer, 400 College Blvd., Clute, TX 77531-4778.

The application shall be reviewed by members of the Medallion Team to determine any need for additional information.

It is the responsibility of the medal-lion applicant to establish historical significance with researched ownership documentation, compiled in written form, including photographs and any other memorabilia available. Structures do not necessarily have to be of state-wide or national significance.

The medallion applicant shall be financially responsible for restora-tion and future maintenance of the structure. Materials for restoration shall be as near the original as available. As maintenance is needed, the materials shall continue to be as near the original as possible.

When the structure meets the eligibility and restoration guidelines, final approval for the County Medallion will be granted by the Brazoria County Historical Commission.

Brazosport Health Foundation is pleased to announce BASF as the Sig-nature Sponsor for the 2014 Bluebonnet Social Club fundraising event. Chris Witte, BASF vice president and general manager of Freeport site, and Cindy Suggs, manager of Community & Government & Community Affairs, presented an $80,000 check to Al Guevara, Brazosport Regional President and CEO, to underwrite this community event. The Health Foundation biennially chooses an entertainment venue and group to rock out the community with music, fun, food and flair. Each year, the funds raised benefit a special project at Brazosport Regional. This year, the proceeds from the Bluebonnet Social Club are desig-nated to the renovation of the Emergency Services Department.

Chris Witte, BASF VP and GM of Freeport Site; Judith Pepper, Executive Director of Brazosport Health Foundation; Cindy Suggs, BASF Manager of Community & Government & Community Affairs; Al Guevara, CEO/President of Brazosport Regional Health System.

BASF is signature sponsor for 2014 Bluebonnet Social Club ‘Black Tie & Boots!’ event

Adverising that fits your business’ budget: (979) 849-5407


For students with questions and concerns about transferring to other schools, Brazosport College’s 2013 College Transfer Fair has the answers.

Parents, students, teachers and counselors from all area school districts, as well as local private and charter schools, are invited to meet with representatives from a number of colleges and universities at the College Transfer Fair on Monday, Oct. 28.

The event will be from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. in the college’s Student Pavilion area. Brazosport College is located at 500 College Drive in Lake Jackson.

More than 30 institutions of higher education will be repre-sented at the College Transfer Fair, including University of Texas, Texas A&M, University of Houston, Sam Houston State, Texas State and University of North Texas, along with a host of others.

Among the types of questions that can be answered on the spot include costs, financial aid, scholar-ships, academic programs and entrance requirements. Information on admissions and transfers will also be available.

“This is a great opportunity for students and parents to get infor-mation about a lot of colleges all at one time,” BC College Transfer Fair Coordinator Phil Robertson said.

The College Transfer Fair is carefully planned to be a valuable, educational and goal-planning resource for area high school communities. The event is an effec-tive, convenient and cost-efficient method to help parents as they develop strategies for their child’s higher education.

The College Transfer Fair is a collaborative effort between BC and the independent school districts of Angleton (AISD), Brazosport (BISD), and Columbia/Brazoria (C/BISD), and is held in the Student Pavilion area, located on the first floor of the college, next to the library.

For more information, contact Robertson at (979) 230-3236 or at [email protected].

BC to hold Transfer Fair on Oct. 28

104 7th Street * Bay City, TX 77414979-245-6383

www.matagordaregional.org

MATAGORDA REGIONAL MEDICAL CENTERWomen’s Center Unit

The Women’s Center at MRMC is looking for dedicated and compassionate Registered Nurses to become a part of our team in providing one of life’s most rewarding and memorable moments for our female population.Our Labor, Delivery, Recovery rooms are equipped with state of the art equip-ment and the most up to date technology to ensure professional care to our moms and babies.Registered Nurses with Texas license required; BSN preferred; previous experi-ence in L&D, Postpartum and Nursery required.Offering competitive salaries and an excellent benefit package consisting of educational assistance/tuition reimbursement, and much more. Qualified appli-cants may send resumes via facsimile at (979) 241-5544 or via E-mail address: [email protected]. Matagorda Regional Medical Center promotes a smoke and drug free environment.

Advertising does not have to be expensive. Call (979) 849-5407

9-year-old stowaway’s history: car theft, sneaking into water parkStar Tribune (Minneapolis) (MCT)

MINNEAPOLIS — Before a 9-year-old boy stowed away on a flight to Las Vegas last week, he had already stolen a car, sneaked into a Minnesota water park without paying and come under the scrutiny of child protection investigators, a Hennepin County official wrote Monday.

In a one-page e-mail obtained by the Star Tribune, Janine Moore, area director of the county’s Human Services and Public Health Department, told administra-tors and County Board members that since December 2012, county staff have conducted four child-protection assessments on the boy’s family.

She didn’t identify the boy, his family or where they live, but wrote that his mother works at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport, so “there is also an investi-gation into whether she aided him flying to Las Vegas.”

Activists free hundreds of mink from Minn. farmThe Miami Herald (CMT)

MINNEAPOLIS — A southeastern Minnesota mink ranch had hundreds of its animals set loose in the dead of night as part of a multistate assault by animal rights activists on an industry that serves a well-to-do clientele.

The four-generation Myhre ranch east of Grand Meadow was targeted late Sunday or early Monday, setting off a scramble by workers, friends and fellow farm-ers to retrieve as many of the suddenly free 450 or so mink, owner Einar Myhre said Tuesday morning.

Myhre said he’s been able to reclaim all but about 75 of the mink that were set loose.

The intrusion on Myhre’s farm was one of nine around the country in the past three months involving the raising of fur-bearing mink, according to Animal Libera-tion Frontline, a website that tracks these types of actions.


Solutions on the right side of this page

Bulletin Crossword Puzzle of the Week Complete the grid so each row, column and 3-by-3 box (in bold borders) contains every digit 1 to 9. For strategies on how to solve Sudoku, visit www.sudoku.org.uk.

Solutions

Across1 Their first parts are geog. indicators5 Her last film was “Two-Faced Woman”10 Newspaper page14 Injure, in a way15 __ dome16 Denpasar’s island17 __ mentality18 *Celebrating the big five-oh, say20 __-Locka, Florida

21 Sum, sometimes22 Country across the sea from Eritrea23 *Small museum piece27 Oil-rich African country29 City on the Rhone30 “__ Theme”: “Doctor Zhivago” song32 Tram contents33 Hog : sow :: rabbit : __35 Freak (out)36 Court cry37 What the answers to starred clues

end in, in more ways than one40 Pigeon-loving Muppet42 Fjord cousin43 __ Victor44 Bargainer with GM45 LeVar’s “Roots” role47 Bender51 Icky coating53 *Dancer with many fans55 Its young are called crias57 Rock’s __ Lobos58 Touch clumsily59 *Profit factors62 Siouan tribe63 __ d’amore64 Terse observation65 W.S. winner in four of the last five years66 Flex67 Leafy recess68 Pirate played by Laughton

Down1 Art movement2 Elude3 Code talkers’ tribe4 5-Across’s home: Abbr.5 Lose it6 Member of a large kingdom7 Clear8 Spa specimen9 Lacking siblings10 President with a B.A. from Columbia11 Shoulder-length hair styles12 The “you” in the 1968 lyric “Gee I think you’re swell”13 Imitated19 Brain tests, briefly21 “Put up your dukes, then!”24 Break up25 Statistician’s input26 Common folk group28 __ Perce tribe31 Seaweed extract34 Beige relative36 Atheist activist Madalyn Murray __37 Dennis the Menace neighbor38 German opener39 Super Fro-Yo sellers40 Eat at41 Drop zone?45 Dole’s running mate46 Put forth without proof48 City SE of Roma49 Ate (at)50 “__ Scissorhands”52 Checked for the last time?54 Like one who is 52-Down56 Fast horse59 Pen’s mate60 Brief commitment61 Crow’s croak62 Pen filler(c)2013 TRIBUNE CONTENT AGENCY, INC.

Boggle AnswersDAY YEAR WEEK MONTH DECADE SECOND CENTURY

In memory of Greg Wilkinson


THE MIDDLETONS By Ralph Dunagin and Dana Summers

ANIMAL CRACKERS By Fred Wagner

BROOM HILDA By Russel Myers

Jumble AnswersJumbles: DEITY PUPPY OPIATE NAUSEAAnswer: How the active toddlers left Mom -- TIED UP IN “NOTS”

MR. MORRIS By Rick Brooks

Bulletin HoroscopeTribune Content Agency

ARIES (March 21-April 19): Try thinking for yourself this week. Some-times it’s difficult to know whether your opinions and beliefs are your own or just an echo of the voices overheard on TV and the Internet. Stay out of the limelight today.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): Color inside the lines. Be precise about everything you do and say in order to impress others this week. As long as you’re willing to shoulder responsibili-ties you’ll have a true blue friend willing to share the burden.

GEMINI (May 21-June 20): Tell it like

it is. Some of the pressure has been relieved and in the week ahead you can discuss your options, as well as your feelings, more succinctly. Don’t begin anything of crucial importance today.

CANCER (June 21-July 22): Be conscientious and dutiful and someone will love you more. Your sociability

quotient is kicked up a notch this week, so expect a few innocent flirtations or a sense of healthy competition in the business world.

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): Hold your head high. It’s difficult for anyone to make you feel miserable when you feel worthy and proud. Repeat successful maneuvers this week. Take action to remain above criticism, even if it means redoing a project.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): Merge ambitions with the desire to please those in your intimate circle, and you’ll have a winning combination. In the week ahead, ask for assistance with tasks that could take a toll on your time and energy.

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): You’ll never have regrets if you help the weak when you’re strong and confess your faults when you’re wrong. Problems could occupy your mind early in the week, but this isn’t the right time to break free.

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): Your get up and go may have gotten up and gone. Try switching gears and tackling things from a different angle in the week ahead. Talking your problems

over with a friend or partner may provide a solution.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): Communication is the best tool to use to keep relationships on an even keel in the week to come. Shared finances could be the center of attention. Be sure to use your shrewd eye for making a profit.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): Money makes the world go around like a top, but you don’t need to use spin. Your financial know-how gives you the edge in delicate negotiations in the upcoming week. Wait until mid-week to start new projects.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): You are a bit wiser than usual this week, but socializing at the wrong time with the wrong person could generate gossip. Stay within the budget and talk over purchases with a good friend before you spend.

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): If you can’t beat them, join them. Someone you admire may demand precision and professionalism in the week to come. To earn respect, you may need to knuckle down and put forth some concentrated effort.


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The Bulletin Take One! It’s FREE! · Take One! It’s FREE! Oct. 15, 2013 Our 20th Year of Publishing (979) ... die-hard readers, with little regard for the damaging effects to