The Bulletin Take One! It’s FREE! · when it comes to retail sales. That’s when stores make 25-30 percent of their gross. It’s make-it, or break-it time. Black Friday is when

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Take One! It’s FREE!Nov. 12, 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 11)

BulletinThe Weekly

How to pay property taxes using your smart phone

See Page 7

Will Alamo fall under the control of United Nations?

See Page 2

INSIDE THIS ISSUE

Brazosport College Spring registration under way

See Pages 12 (Continued on Page 8)

Reward clerks who have to listen to holiday music by buying locally

A game of and for all ages, and it’s not footballBy Peter FuntSpecial to he Bulletin

TEMPE, Ariz. -- Roughly 15 mil-lion people watched each of the six games between Boston and St. Louis on TV last month, while here in the Phoenix metroplex a concurrent ama-teur World Series sparked every bit as much passion, maybe even more, among 324 adult baseball teams.

So, is baseball gaining ground, or in a slump?

TV ratings for the Big League Series were up this year, but there remains concern that baseball is losing its place as the Great Ameri-can Pastime. The NFL has exploded in popularity -- not just on Sunday afternoons but on Monday, Thursday and Sunday nights as well. A routine Sunday night NFL game now draws more viewers than the World Series.

Fantasy devotees, video game fanatics and sports bar denizens are making football the armchair champ. However, you won’t find thousands of diehards -- from 18-year-olds, to guys in their seventies - participating in football the way the teams here play hardball.

The players are as colorful as their team names, such as the Quad City Blasters, the Santa Ynez Sox or the SoCal Fire. They come from all walks of life, with even a few former Major Leaguers among them, united in their love of the game.

By John TothEditor and Publisher

The sound of holiday music caught my attention as I went inside the mall. The decorations are being put up in the hallways.

But isn’t it a little early? Halloween was only a few days ago.

The stores are ready for Christmas. I went to a hardware store the other day, and they had a great collec-tion of artificial Christmas trees on display. I like the holiday season as much as the other guy, but aren’t we jump-starting it a bit this year?

We’d be starting earlier were it not for Halloween, which all by itself also is a good money maker for retailers. I heard that on the radio while driving one morning. They ran a report on why

retailers are starting Christmas earlier than usual.

The holidays carry a big burden when it comes to retail sales. That’s when stores make 25-30 percent of

their gross. It’s make-it, or break-it time. Black Friday is when retailers begin to make a profit for the year.

So, the way we set up this consumption-based economy, the Christmas season, or holiday season, is

the most important part of the year when it comes to

retail sales. Without it, retailers would go broke.

There is one less week to sell during the holiday season, which starts on Thanksgiving Friday, because Thanksgiving is a week later this year. So, merchants have decided to start the holiday theme earlier to try to make up

some of the earnings for that lost week.Here is something they don’t want to

hear. The majority of the holiday sales this year will be done online. This is something that merchants did not have to worry about a decade ago. Now the online giants with the lower overhead are putting more pressure on local retailers than ever.

So, here is how we can all help out. Let’s browse the Internet to see what we’d like to buy, and after deciding, let’s go to the local store and buy them there.

When you do that, the sales tax you pay stays in the city where you shop. Buy as much as you can in the city where you live, so that the sales tax you are charged can be used by your city.

Even if you purchase from a national box retailer, as long as it’s located in your city, the sales tax stays local. It’s

also easier to return an item locally.However, if the store is owned locally,

then not only the sales tax will help your city, but the retailer is going to turn over the dollars you spend many times in your community.

And, just to get your business, retailers are willing to endure endless hours of holiday music blaring through the speakers. How many times can you listen to that Rudolph song or “Jingle Bell Rock,” anyway, without going batty?

I personally avoid Black Friday like the plague, but many people love it. It’s like a game or a sport to them. I prefer to sleep in and have a nice quiet Friday. Then I’ll buy everything on my list whenever it’s most convenient.

Many stores are now promoting Black Friday deals so that you don’t have to do battle early Friday morning.

ROUNDABOUT

The fall and holiday bazaars are starting to gear up, and they are a great place to find home decor, personal items and gifts.

Santa’s handcrafted bazaar is a new craft show that benefits St. Mary’s Star of the Sea Catholic Church in Freeport. It will be held Saturday, Nov. 16, inside the Lake Jackson Civic Center. Only vendors with hand-made items are allowed to exhibit.

St. Michael’s Catholic Church of Lake Jackson will hold its annual Mums & Mistletoe Market at the church hall on Friday, Nov. 22, and Saturday, Nov. 23.

Market Days will return to the county fairgrounds in Angleton on Saturday, Nov. 23 and Sunday, Nov. 24, and is probably the largest show of its kind in Brazoria County. Please see times for above events, which have free admission, in ads in The Bulletin.

The Holiday Chef Market will be held Sunday, Dec. 8 at two locations, the Heritage Hall (the old junior high gym) in West Columbia and the Lake Jackson Civic Center. 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Admission is $2, good for both shows. Homemade goodies are fea-tured as well as crafts and fashion.

Holiday happenings

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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!

YOU KNOW, HE ALWAYS DID SEEM TO HAVE CHANGE FOR A DOLLAR: Over an eight-year period, a parking meter mechanic stole more than $200,000 in quarters from about 75 meters in Buffalo, N.Y., and no one was the wiser, because the meters didn’t keep track of how much money was put into them. He was caught when the city switched to computerized pay stations, and officials noticed they were bringing in $500,000 more a year.

HI, SURPRISED TO SEE ME!? After eating at a seafood restaurant in Newark, N.J., a woman was handed another customer’s credit card by mistake. Instead of giving it back, she went to the mall across the street and did some shopping. The victim tried to cancel the card, and was told that transactions were being made on it, so he got the restaurant to give him surveillance photos of the woman, and went looking for her. He alerted mall security, and they grabbed her within the hour.

ME!? I THOUGHT YOU WERE SUPPOSED TO GET GAS! Two men who broke into the storage unit of a home in Fort Bend County, Texas., were caught because their getaway car ran out of gas about 100 yards from the scene of the crime.

WHAT WAS THAT, OFFICER? I WASN’T LISTENING: Police in Santa Cruz. Calif., detained a man they suspected in a child porn case. While they were questioning him, he was downloading child porn images onto his cell phone.

YOU LOOKING FOR THIS, BUB? A suspect, about to go on trial with two other men for a home invasion robbery case in Pensacola, Fla., wrote a note to his accomplices on what they should say to “get their stories straight.” Unfortu-nately, he accidentally dropped it in the jury box, and a deputy found it. Guilty as charged.

GOING SOMEWHERE, SON? A man who tried to shoplift $4,500 worth of designer handbags from a store in Farmington, Conn., was confronted outside by police. He then tried to steal a car that happened to be idling nearby. But the vehicle was owned by a man who had been convicted of drunken driving, and it was equipped with a device that prevents the car from moving until the driver blows into it to check alcohol levels. The thief did not know how to operate it.

I SUDDENLY REALIZED HOW TIRED I WAS: A crack cocaine addict broke into a woman’s car in the garage of her home in Hazel Park, Mich., at 4 in the morning in an attempt to steal it. He was caught because he fell asleep inside the vehicle.

Will Alamo fall under UN control? Patterson responds: Horse hockeyAUSTIN — Despite spectacular

and erroneous reports to the contrary, the Alamo is not being turned over to the United Nations — or anyone else for that matter.

Texas Land Commissioner Jerry Patterson today attempted once again to let Texans know that if the Alamo and the other Spanish mis-sions in San Antonio are added to the UNESCO World Heritage List, the

Alamo will remain entirely under the control of the state of Texas and the Texas General Land Office.

Responding to a media report that the UN flag will fly over the Alamo, Patterson responded bluntly: “Horse hockey.”

Patterson reiterated that a World Heritage Nomination will not change

authority, jurisdiction or ownership of the Alamo or any of the other Spanish missions.

“Some folks might think that getting on this list means the UN has some sort of influence at the Alamo. Those folks must not be from around here,” Patterson said. “The people of Texas own the Alamo now and in the future. Nothing is going to change that.”

“My legal team at the Land Office has reviewed this. I have personally met with the National Park Service staff working on this nomination and

I am absolutely satisfied that a World Heritage Nomination will have no affect on the Alamo other than a pos-sible increase in foreign tourists.”

Patterson said the World Heritage Nomination is akin to the National Historic Landmark program operated by the National Parks System.

“Just because the Alamo is a National Historic Landmark does not mean the federal government owns the Alamo,” Patterson said. “It’s a tourism designation indicating it’s a place of historic significance. That is all. Same goes for the World Heritage List.”

“The people of Texas own the Alamo now and in the future.”

email: [email protected] (979) 849-5407 November 12, 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.

Does online matchmaking work?

Q. When is being online a truly LOVE-ly idea?

A. When it facilitates would-be romancers falling in love. “Once con-sidered ‘creepy’ by many, online dating has become mainstream with the rise of dating websites such as Match and OKCupid,” says “Science” magazine. A new survey of 200,000 Americans suggests that “spouses who met online have marriages at least as stable and satisfying as those who met in the real world – possibly more so.”

Psychologist John Cacioppo of the University of Chicago and an advisor to eHarmony, a huge online dating site, asked the company to analyze the responses of the 20,000 (out of 200,000) who participated in the survey. About a third of the respondents reported meeting their spouse online; of that number, about half met through online dating, the rest through online venues such as chat rooms, games or other virtual worlds. These people were asked to assess their degree of happiness and their understand-ing of their spouse’s feelings. Online marriages, it turned out, were durable. In fact, as reported by the team in “Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences,” “people who met online were slightly less likely to divorce and

scored higher on marital satisfaction.” Cupid’s arrows get on target online!

Viscosity plays a role in your picnics

Q. What is “viscosity” and what’s a simple way to see this physical property at play at a backyard picnic?

A. Viscosity is a measure of how easily or with difficulty a fluid can flow. For example, cold molasses has high viscosity and flows sluggishly, whereas water has low viscosity and flows freely, explains Jearl Walker in “The Flying Circus of Physics.”

Ketchup (catsup) is a fluid whose viscosity depends on how it is made to flow. If it’s left undisturbed for a while, it has a high viscosity, making it difficult to pour from a bottle with a narrow opening. However, if it is shaken or stirred for a few seconds, its viscosity noticeably drops as portions of the fluid slide over other portions, probably untangling some of the interlocking long-chain molecules.

At a picnic, you might notice this effect when trying to pour ketchup on your hamburger, only to discover that someone else had just shaken the container – and now you end up with more ketchup than hamburger on the plate. Let’s hope it’s only a few swear words that go flying and not something a whole lot more substantial.

Just how old is baseball or “base ball”?

Q. Is it possible that America’s “National Game” could have been invented somewhere else?

A. Actually, scholar David Block has discovered proof that “base ball” (two words) was being played in England in 1755 and was mentioned in English books as early as the 1740s, answers Dorothy Seymour Mills in “Chasing Baseball: Our Obsession with Its History, Numbers, People and Places.” The earliest evidence of play in the U.S. points to the 1790s, although an English book mentioning the game of base ball came into print in the U.S. in the 1740s.

This discovery has startled scholars of the game. Although they knew that the English were playing base ball very early, they couldn’t be sure the English created the game, since for centuries people around the world have enjoyed a game uncommonly similar to it, including the Germans, the Russians and the Finns. In fact, simple sketches show ancient Mayans, Greeks and Egyptians playing some version of an older stick-and-ball game.

Furthermore, games like baseball, hopscotch and others may boast even more ancient origins, prehistoric rather than historic. “So the modern game of baseball that Americans like to consider their own creation may have truly primi-tive ancestry in spiritual and religious rites. It could have evolved from there into the polite social game played in eighteenth-century England.”

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


L E G A L N O T I C EApplication has been made with

the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Com-mission for a Wine and Beer Retail-er’s Permit (BG) and a Food and Beverage Certificate (FB) by Monte Dave Baldwin and Tammi Schilhab Byrd et al, a Texas General Part-nership, operating as Main Street Steak House & Bar to be located at 1802 Main Street, Danbury, Brazoria County, Texas. Partners in said partnership are Monte Dave Baldwin and Tammi Schilhab Byrd.

Americans spend less now than in ’73, report saysBy Walter HamiltonLos Angeles Times (MCT)

Even with the added cost of smart-phones and other technology, American families spend less of their total income today than 40 years ago, according to new research.

But people aren’t saving that extra money.

The average person spends 81.2 percent of his or her post-tax income on food, housing and other expenses, according to ConvergEx Group, a New York brokerage.

That’s down from the 85 percent that Americans shelled out for mandatory and discretionary items in 1973.

The analysis doesn’t fully explain how and where Americans spend their money. It’s based on a consumer expenditure survey by the Labor Department that doesn’t capture where every dollar goes.

The roughly 14 percent of unac-counted-for income today may go toward expenses such as debt, but it’s impossible to be sure, said Sarah Millar, the author of the report.

Still, it’s clear that Americans aren’t socking away the extra money for the future.

“In short,” the report says, “spending — and saving — among American con-sumers is changing, and not necessarily for the better.”

The U.S. saving rate is a fraction of what it used to be: 4.6 percent today versus 13 percent four decades ago, according to the report.

“Where are we putting the extra money? Not into retirement accounts, stocks or bonds, clearly,” the report says. “The 1973 households surveyed are still more or less in decent financial standing today; we’ll see how it works out for those of 2012.”

The analysis provides an interesting snapshot of American spending habits.

In 1973, according to ConvergEx, the average American had post-tax income

of $9,700. Annual spending was $8,270, or 85 percent of income.

Income has risen to about $63,000 today, but per-person expenditures average only 81.2 percent.

That may seem counterintuitive given that smartphones, Internet access and ubiquitous pay TV didn’t exist in the era of Watergate and the Arab oil embargo.

Americans spend about the same percentage on phone service today (2.4 percent) as they did in 1973 (2.2 percent), according to the report. Phone companies have raised cellular rates, but that’s been offset by consumers scrapping their land lines.

Overall housing costs have risen to 32.8 percent of income from 30.8 percent.

But the cost of so-called shelter, an owned or rented dwelling, has jumped to 19.2 percent from 15.9 percent.


Aetna CEO: Public, private exchanges are future of health careBy Matthew SturdevantThe Hartford Courant (MCT)

FARMINGTON, Conn. — Aetna Inc. Chairman and CEO Mark T. Bertolini said Thursday that the steep rate of medical inflation is changing the health insurance marketplace from a business-to-business model to a retail market shared by private as well as public exchanges.

Bertolini, speaking at an annual economic conference sponsored by the Tunxis Community College Founda-tion, said the ever-escalating cost of medical services and health insurance has led employers to shift more of the price of health insurance onto workers. Soon, he said, the average worker will be paying more than 50 percent of employer-based health plans.

He referred to a graphic showing a 90 percent increase in health insurance premiums from 2000 to 2011, mirroring

the rate of inflation in underlying medi-cal costs — everything from doctors and hospitals to biotech and pharma-ceuticals. During that same period, he said, wages increased only 33 percent.

That’s a shift from business-to-busi-ness to a retail marketplace, Bertolini said.

“I know a lot of employers are looking at, ‘Should I put my employee in the private or public exchange?’ ” Bertolini said. “ ‘Should I give them the money to go buy their own health care and let them make their choices?’ ”

Bertolini’s comments echo findings last year by J.D. Power and Associ-ates that 47 percent of 6,579 surveyed employers across the U.S. said they “definitely will” or “probably will” switch their health insurance offerings to a “defined contribution” model within a private exchange. A defined contribu-tion is when the employer gives work-

ers money to buy whichever health insurance they want.

The future of health care is public and private exchanges, Bertolini said. Rather than people buying one of a few options offered through their employer, the employer will give the workers money to buy on a private exchange.

Private exchanges are already a part of the health care market. Some companies, such as Walgreen Co., Sears Holding Corp. and Darden Restaurants Inc., are already in private exchanges, which offer a wider buffet of health plans than the usual two to four options of ordinary employer-based coverage.

“We are the largest public-exchange participant in the country,” Bertolini said.

Aetna is the low-cost option in many of those markets.

Chicago Tribune (MCT)CHICAGO — The Food and Drug Administration has moved to virtually elimi-

nate trans fat, an artificially created artery-clogging substance, from Americans’ diets.

The move follows a massive effort by food makers and restaurant chains to remove the substance over the last decade, as consumers become more edu-cated about risks and vote for healthier alternatives with their wallets. The FDA has required nutritional labels break out trans fat content since 2006, a regulation that spurred many companies to alter their recipes.

Trans fats, still used in a number of products from margarine and coffee creamer to frozen pizza, are a major health concern for Americans despite lower consumption over the last 20 years. The primary dietary source of trans fats in the American diet come from partially hydrogenated oils.

Trans fats are used mostly for texture and stability — they allow products to have a longer shelf life, give flakiness to crusts and biscuits and keep peanut butter from separating.

FDA moving to ban trans fat from processed foods


America’s zoo elephants are getting fat, study saysSt. Louis Post-Dispatch (MCT)

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Don’t tell Dumbo, but he’s got too much junk in his trunk. That spherical silhouette, it turns out, isn’t so healthy — even for elephants.

Zookeepers have long suspected it. And now they have some science to back it up.

America’s zoo elephants have gotten fat.

“Look at what percentage of the U.S. population is currently obese. Are we surprised that we’re feeding our elephants a little too well?” said Anne Baker, former director of the Toledo Zoo. “We’re feeding ourselves a little too well.”

This fall, zoo researchers from across the country are wrapping up the biggest study of zoo elephant health in the nation’s history. And they’ve

uncovered a range of major findings, from the health of elephant feet, to the miles they walk, to the prominence of their posteriors.

Over three years, the team exam-ined more than 100,000 pages of medical records, 6,000 blood samples and 40,000 pounds of elephant dung. Subjects included 255 elephants in 70 zoos from Mexico to St. Louis to Miami.


How to pay property taxes online using smart phonesAdd paying your property taxes to

the list of things that can be done with a smartphone. Brazoria County Tax Assessor-Collector Ro’Vin Garrett says that’s now possible through a QR code on recently-sent 2013 tax statements.

“Taxpayers can now scan the QR Code on their tax statement with a mobile device, which gives them direct access to their account, making it easy to pay online using a credit card or echeck,” announced Garrett.

In addition to paying taxes by mail with check or money order or credit

card, Brazoria County Tax Office also accepts online payments using credit card and echeck.

Garrett adds, “There is a charge of up to 2.5% for paying with credit and a charge of $1.50 for echeck payments. ACH payments are available for those contacting the tax office directly with information to process such payment, at no additional fee imposed from the tax office.”

Garrett stressed, “The fee covers the cost of making payment by credit card and ECHECK possible. No part of this fee is retained by Brazoria

County.”“Taxpayers are still welcome to

come to any of our eight tax office locations within the county to pay their taxes in person using check, money order, credit card or cash. There are still friendly clerks available to take your payment and issue a receipt at that time,” Garrett concluded.

For a list of tax office locations to pay in person, or for the searchable tax roll in order to pay your taxes online without the QR code, visit the tax office website at www.brazoria-county.com/tax


Dickens on the StrandTicket Give-Away

Yes, here we go again with another Bulletin FREE tickets Give-Away contest. Well, it’s not really a contest; More like a drawing. All you do is fill out this coupon and mail it in to us at: The Bulletin, PO Box 2426, Angleton, TX. 77516.

We plan to give away 4 admission tickets ($56 value) to Dickens on the Strand (Dec. 6-8 in Galveston) to at least 4 entrants. The tickets are good for any single day. One entry per reader, please. Good Luck!NAME__________________________________________________________ADDRESS_______________________________________________________CITY________________________________(TX), (ZIP)___________________PHONE_________________________________________________________WHERE DID YOU PICK UP THE PAPER?_____________________________

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

Actually, the battle continues because it’s not just about the stuff. To many, it’s a quest. The winners return to their homes dead-tired with the grand prize: Some electronic device discounted to next to nothing.

The only way I’d fight the crowds is if the stores pays me to buy the stuff.Since merchants are getting nervous about the bottom line this year, we’ll get

to enjoy Black Friday on ... Thursday. Well, some of us, anyway. I’ll still be eating turkey.

“Feliz Navidad” is now playing. This one is actually not so bad. I can listen to this for like three minutes. Good, it’s over. Oh, no. It’s the endless loop of holiday music. I’m running.

Buy locally and help your community(Continued from Page 1)

Information session to highlight opportunities for women in construction

The construction industry con-tinues to grow at a rapid rate and workers are always in high demand. As a result, this provides various employment opportunities through-out our area for not only men, but also women.

Brazosport College and TIC, Inc. are teaming up to present an information session designed to help women learn about the many employment opportunities in the construction industry.

The Women in Construction Information Session will be at 5:30 p.m. on Nov. 19. The event, which is sponsored by TIC, Inc., will be in Gator Hall, on the Brazosport College campus at 500 College Boulevard in Lake Jackson.

Those attending the information session will learn from successful TIC employees and create cama-raderie with other women in this fast-growing and dynamic industry. Whether one is interested in office administration, payroll, welding, pip-efitting, millwright or other careers, this is a prime opportunity to join in an open dialogue session about what it’s like to be a woman in the construction industry.

The session is open to anyone interested in working in the construc-tion industry.

For more information, contact Beth Cassidy at (979) 230.3153 or e-mail [email protected].

Send your area announcements to us, and we’ll make sure people find out about your fundraiser or other event. Email them to [email protected]. Include photos as is. We’ll reformat them to meet our needs. :)


Abigail Mahurin of Lake Jackson participates in the Stephen F. Austin Birth-day Party celebrations held Nov. 3 at Henry Munson Park in Angleton. The event was sponsored by the Daughters of the Republic, Sons of the Repub-lic of Texas, Brazoria Co. Parks Department, Masonic Lodge and SFA 500.

Stephen F. Austin birthday bash Enter to win a guided Texas Heritage Trail tourism tripThe Texas Historical Commis-

sion (THC) turns 60 this month, and to celebrate that milestone, as well as the agency’s many accomplish-ments, the THC is focusing on its award-winning Texas Heritage Trails Program and accompanying website, TexasTimeTravel.com.

A sweepstakes promotion allows Texans to celebrate the anniversary by entering a drawing to win a heritage

tourism trip with members of the THC.The winners will be randomly

selected after the sweepstakes closes on Nov. 17 –– 60 years to the day after the first meeting of the Texas State Historical Survey Committee, which later became the THC.

Winners will receive a guided, four-day, expense-paid trip for two in the Texas Heritage Trail region of their choice. The itinerary, to be

developed by the THC, will show-case historical programs and sites in the chosen region. To participate, visitwww.woobox.com/qajkpx and follow instructions to complete the entry form. All travel must be completed in April.

To learn more about the regions, or to start planning your own trip, visit www.texastimetravel.com and learn about the heritage travel regions of Texas.


By Ralph K.M. HaurwitzAustin American-Statesman (MCT)

AUSTIN, Texas — Using the Hubble Space Telescope and an observatory in Hawaii, researchers at the University of Texas, Texas A&M University and other institutions have detected the most distant galaxy discovered so far.

Their findings, published in the journal Nature, document a place in the far reaches of the universe known by a name only scientists could love: z8-GND-5296. Unlike our own Milky Way, which creates one or two sun-like stars every year or so, the newly discovered galaxy forms about 300 such stars a year.

“We were thrilled to see this galaxy,” said UT astronomer Steven Finkelstein, who led the research team.

When scientists look at distant galax-ies, they see them as they appeared in the past because of the time it takes for a galaxy’s light to travel to Earth.

Texas astronomer leads team that discovers most distant known galaxyThe newly discovered galaxy was seen by the researchers as it appeared 13 billion years ago.

“Because of its distance, we get a glimpse of conditions when the uni-verse was only about 700 million years old — only 5 percent of its current age of 13.8 billion years,” A&M astrophysi-cist Casey Papovich said.

Taking into account the con-tinuous expansion of the universe, the researchers estimate that the galaxy is now about 30 billion light years away; a light year is the distance light travels in a year, or nearly 6 trillion miles.

The team chose this galaxy and dozens of others for research from about 100,000 galaxies discovered in a Hubble survey. They focused on how much the galaxies’ light wavelengths have shifted toward the red end of the color spectrum during their travels to Earth, a phenomenon called “redshift.” The researchers probed the heavens

April 17 and 18 — two crisp, clear nights — from the control room of the W.M. Keck Observatory perched atop Hawaii’s dormant Mauna Kea volcano. The observatory houses two of the larg-est earthbound telescopes.

“This is a very skeptical group, and everyone was pretty convinced about this galaxy from their first look … though it wasn’t until a couple weeks later that we did enough testing to believe it,” Finkelstein said. “We have to do a process called data reduction, where we remove instrumental effects,

stack together all of the data we took and calibrate the data.” There might well be more distant galaxies, but z8-GND-5296 turned out to be the most distant ever confirmed, with a redshift of 7.51 — meaning it was created about 13 billion years ago. The galaxy with the previous record for distance, with a redshift of 7.2, also has a high rate of star formation and is situated in the same part of the sky as the new distance-record holder.

“So we’re learning something about the distant universe,” Finkelstein said.

“There are way more regions of very high star formation than we previ-ously thought. There must be a decent number of them if we happen to find two in the same area of the sky.”

UT and A&M are also collaborating in other studies of the cosmos. For example, they and other institutions are working on a project at UT’s McDonald Observatory in West Texas that will attempt to learn about dark energy, a mysterious force thought to permeate space and drive the expansion of the universe.

US students fare well in science on international test, study findsBy Adrienne LuStateline.org (MCT)

WASHINGTON — Comparing American students to their international peers typically prompts hand-wringing over the failures of U.S. schools. But a new study shows that when compared to their foreign counterparts, U.S. eighth-graders attending public schools in 47 states are actually above average in science.

Americans also fare well in math, with students in 36 states above the interna-tional average.

The study by the federal National Center for Education Statistics used scores from American eighth-graders who took the National Assessment of Education Progress (NAEP) in 2011 to predict what their performance would be on the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS), a highly respected gauge of academic ability.

Researchers used the actual TIMSS scores of students in nine U.S. states to test their predictions.

Although most U.S. states were above average, the study showed wide dispari-ties among them. And even the U.S. state with the highest scores, Massachusetts, produces far fewer top-performing students than the top-ranked education systems: Nineteen percent of eighth-graders in Massachusetts were rated “advanced” in math, compared with about half the students in Taiwan, Korea and Singapore.

In 2011, students from more than 60 countries and subsections of countries participated in TIMSS.

“We conducted this study because it’s important to know how students educated in U.S. states are performing against international standards,” said NCES Commis-sioner Jack Buckley.

In math, average state scores ranged from 466 in Alabama to 561 in Massachu-setts. The average score in the U.S. was 509. Korea, Singapore, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Japan all outperformed Massachusetts.

Among the 36 states with average scores of at least 500 in math, the proportion of students scoring high or advanced ranged from 29 percent in Arkansas to 57 percent in Massachusetts.

In science, average state scores ranged from 453 for the District of Columbia to 567 in Massachusetts. The average score in the United States was 525. Singapore was the only education system with a higher science average than Massachusetts.


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.)

With Christ, daughter can overcome the pain and brokenness of divorce

My Answer

By Billy GrahamTribune Media Services

Q: We prayed and prayed that our daughter’s marriage would work out, but it hasn’t, and now her divorce has been finalized. Why didn’t God answer our prayers? Isn’t marriage supposed to be for life, according to the Bible? - Mrs. E. McF.

A: God gave marriage to us - and yes, His plan from the beginning was that marriage should be for life. Jesus said, “Therefore what God has joined together, let man not separate” (Mark 10:9).

God’s original design for marriage is still part of His perfect will, and every husband and wife should strive to make it a reality in their lives - particularly today, when so many take their marriage vows casually or thoughtlessly. I believe churches and parents should do more to prepare our young people for the joys and responsibilities of marriage, helping them understand God’s plan for this sacred relationship. What will our children (and grandchildren) learn from observ-ing our marriages?

Sadly, sin has invaded our world, corrupting everything it touches, including God’s institution of marriage. God’s perfect will has not changed, but marriages still fail, leaving heartache and confusion in their wake. Even in the midst of this, however, God is still able to forgive, and He is able to heal the brokenhearted.

Pray for your daughter, and do all you can to assure her of your love and compassion. Your pain may be great, but I suspect hers is even greater. In addition, encourage her to turn to Christ and find new strength and hope in Him. Jesus’ promise is for her, and for all who carry the burden of a broken marriage: “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest” (Mat-thew 11:28).

This annual event has grown steadily since its launch in 1988, and organiz-ers keep creating new age divisions to accommodate players who have attended for a quarter century and just won’t quit. This year, a special division

was launched for players over 75. Part of the appeal is that all games

are played at facilities used by Major League teams during Spring Training. And, of course, the Arizona weather in October is as ideal as in spring.

But there’s a lot more to it, having to

do with a unique combination of team competition, individual achievement, fresh air, green grass and, of course, baseball lore.

Most of the players here can talk a great game as well as play one. They congregate at Don & Charlie’s in Scottsdale, arguably the nation’s best baseball-themed eatery, and recount how they turned a 6-4-3 double play, or lost a pop-up in the glaring Arizona sun.

As if this weren’t enough to confirm baseball’s magical appeal, there’s also the Arizona Fall League, in which 180 pro players from all 30 Major League teams play during October and Novem-ber. This is one of baseball’s best, little-known attractions -- with tickets costing $7 to see many of MLB’s top prospects at five Phoenix-area stadiums.

Other sports, like golf and tennis, are frequently cited as those that can

be enjoyed by people of all ages. But the scene here each fall, when the very youngest pros and thousands of the nation’s best amateurs crowd the fields of dreams, reminds us that baseball is also a game that appeals to all age groups.

Maybe football will take over as America’s most popular sport, at least as far as ticket sales and TV ratings are concerned. But it’s hard to imagine that football will ever match baseball’s participatory passion.

The other night a waitress at Don & Charlie’s was talking about how her husband had been sleepless for weeks, waiting for the amateur World Series to begin.

Imagine that. At age 60, her husband, Brian Kingman, was still overcome with anticipation about taking the mound -- even after all the years he

spent pitching for the Oakland A’s and San Francisco Giants.

What a great game.

It’s a game of and for all ages; Everybody can play it, and it’s not football(Continued from Page 1)

Estate SaleNovember 16th

8 a.m.6223 5th Street, Danbury

Contents of M&S Auto Diagnostic equipment

ToolsTool boxes

Carts, dollies, creepersWelding equipment

Tires, wheels New: wipers, head lights,

filters, gas caps, bulbs, fuses, belts, filters etc…


Notice for PublicationNOTICE OF APPLICATION FOR

CERTIFICATE OFCONVENIENCE AND NECESSITY

(CCN) TO PROVIDE WATERUTILITY SERVICE IN BRAZORIA

COUNTY, TEXASSand on the Floor, Inc., has filed an application to obtain a CCN with the_Texas Commission on Environmental Quality to provide water utility servicein Brazoria County.The proposed utility service area is located approximately 22 miles southeast of downtown Angle-ton, Texas, and is generally bounded on the north by County Road 257; on the east by approximately 500 ft. west of Palm Street; on the south by the Gulf of Mexico; and on the west by approximately 3,000 ft. west of Palm Street. The total area being requested includes approximately 42 acres and 0 current customers. The proposed amendment affects customers and/or areas located in the following zip code: 77541. A copy of the proposed service area map is available at: 1520 W. 29” Street, Austin, TX 78703 (512) 577-5646.A request for a public hear-ing must be in writing. You must state (1) your name, mailing address, and daytime telephone number; (2) the applicant’name, application number or another recognizable reference to thisapplication; (3) the statement, “I/we request a public hearing”; (4) a briefde-scription of how you or the persons you represent, would be adverselyaffected by the granting of the application for a CCN; and (5) your proposedadjustment to the application or CCN which would satisfy your concerns andcause you to withdraw your request for a hear-ing. Persons who wish to intervene or comment should write the:Texas Com-mission on Environmental Quality Water Supply Division Utilities and Districts

Section, MC-153P. O. Box 13087Austin, TX 78711-3087within thirty (30) days from the date of this publication or notice. A publichearing will be held only if a legally sufficient hearing request is received or ifthe Commission on its own motion requests a hearing. Only thoseindividuals who submit a written hearing request or a written request to benotified if a hearing is set will receive notice if a hearing is scheduled.If a public hearing is requested, the Execu-tive Director will not issue the CCN and will forward the application to the State Office of Administrative Hearings (SOAH) for a hearing. If no settlement is reached and an evidentiaryhearing is held, the SOAH will submit a recom-mendation to the Commissionfor final decision. If an evidentiary hearing is held, it will be a legalproceeding similar to a civil trial in state district court.If you are a landowner with a tract of land at least 25 acres or more, that ispartially or wholly located within the proposed area, you may request to beexcluded from the proposed area (or “opt out”) by providing written noticeto the Commis-sion within (30) days from the date that notice was providedby the applicant. All request to opt out of the requested ser-vice area mustinclude a scaled, general location map and a metes and bounds descriptionof the tract of land. Persons who meet the requirements to opt out, and wish to request this option should file the required documents with the:Texas Commission on Environmental Quality Water Supply DivisionUtilities and Districts Section, MC-153P. O. Box 13087Austin, TX 78711-3087A copy of the request to opt out of the proposed area must also be sent tothe applicant. Staff may request additional informa-tion regarding yourrequest. Si desea informacion en Espanol, puede llamar al 1-512-239-0200.

Brazosport College’s priority pre-registration ongoing; Online registration continues through Jan. 7Priority Pre-registration for Brazos-

port College’s 2014 spring semester is under way, and students are encour-aged to register and pay tuition and fees online from their own computers at their convenience.

Students will be allowed to pre-register on specific dates depending the number of credits completed. For example, honor students, veterans and students with 45 or more completed credits will be able to register on Nov. 4, while students with 30 to 44 hours began registering on Nov. 11. The registration dates for other returning

students will be staggered each week throughout November, depending on each student’s amount of completed credits. For a full schedule, check online at www.brazosport.edu/register.

Open registration for all students begins Dec. 2.

To register online, students can use Brazosport College’s registration system, myBC, which can be found atwww.brazosport.edu/mybc.

Online registration will continue through Jan. 7.

To be eligible for online registration, students must first:

• Be cleared by the admissions office or have been enrolled for at least one semester within the last year;

• Be eligible to self advise or have met with a college counselor and been cleared for online registration;

• Have no holds on their record; and• Have turned in a Meningitis Vacci-

nation Documentation. If not, please log on to www.brazosport.edu/vaccine for more information.

Onsite registration is also available at the college beginning Nov. 4 during

normal working hours.The same as registering online,

students can only register onsite on specific dates depending on credits earned. Open onsite registration starts December 2.

New students are not immediately eligible for online registration, but can start the registration process by apply-

ing atwww.ApplyTexas.org. After the application process is

completed, a college representative will contact prospective students with more information.

For more information, visit www.brazosport.edu/register or call the college’s main switchboard at (979) 230-3000.


History of the WorldBy Mark AndrewsTribune Content Agency

Nov. 11: ON THIS DATE in 1620, 41 English Pilgrims aboard the Mayflower, anchored off Massachu-setts, signed a compact calling for a “body politick.” In 1918, fighting in World War I ended after the signing of an armistice between the Allies and Germany.

Nov. 12: ON THIS DATE in 1933, the Nazi party received 92 percent of the vote in Germany. In 1948, Japanese premier Hideki Tojo was sentenced to death by a war-crimes tribunal.

Nov. 13: ON THIS DATE in 1789, Benjamin Franklin wrote a letter to a friend in which he said, “In this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes.” In 1927, the Holland Tunnel opened to the public, providing access between New York City and New Jersey beneath the Hudson River.

Nov. 14: ON THIS DATE in 1851, Herman Melville’s novel “Moby-Dick” was published in the United States. In 1862, during the Civil War, President Lincoln gave the go-ahead for Maj. Gen. Ambrose Burnside’s plan to capture the Confederate capital of Richmond; the resulting Battle of Fredericksburg proved a disaster for the Union.

Nov. 15: ON THIS DATE in 1806, explorer Zebulon Pike sighted Pike’s Peak. In 1926, the NBC radio network went on the air with 24 stations.

Nov. 16: ON THIS DATE in 1864, Union Gen. William T. Sherman and his troops began their “March to the Sea” during the Civil War. In 1933, the United States and the Soviet Union established diplomatic rela-tions.

Nov. 17: ON THIS DATE in 1800, Congress first met in Washington in the partially completed Capitol build-ing. In 1869, the Suez Canal opened in Egypt.

Answer to last week’s question: This week in 1982, Yuri Andropov succeeded Leonid Brezhnev as leader of the Soviet Union.

This week’s question: In 1863, President Lincoln delivered a famous speech that began “Four score and seven years ago ... “ at what Civil War battlefield?

US students fare well in science on international test, study findsBy Adrienne LuStateline.org (MCT)

WASHINGTON — Comparing American students to their inter-national peers typically prompts hand-wringing over the failures of U.S. schools. But a new study shows that when compared to their foreign counterparts, U.S. eighth-graders attending public schools in 47 states are actually above average in sci-ence.

Americans also fare well in math, with students in 36 states above the international average.

The study by the federal National Center for Education Statistics used scores from American eighth-graders who took the National Assessment of Education Progress (NAEP) in 2011 to predict what their performance would be on the Trends in Interna-tional Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS), a highly respected gauge of academic ability.

Researchers used the actual TIMSS scores of students in nine U.S. states to test their predictions.

Although most U.S. states were above average, the study showed wide disparities among them. And even the U.S. state with the highest scores, Massachusetts, produces far fewer top-performing students than the top-ranked education systems: Nineteen percent of eighth-grad-

ers in Massachusetts were rated “advanced” in math, compared with about half the students in Taiwan, Korea and Singapore.

In 2011, students from more than 60 countries and subsections of countries participated in TIMSS.

“We conducted this study because

it’s important to know how students educated in U.S. states are perform-ing against international standards,” said NCES Commissioner Jack Buckley.

In math, average state scores ranged from 466 in Alabama to 561 in Massachusetts.


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 Singer Bryant6 Tooted in a Revolutionary band11 Jacques, e.g.14 Common java hr.15 “__ of Two Cities”16 Be in the red17 Michael Jackson memorabilia19 Coal container20 Met display21 Met supporter: Abbr.

22 Completely drained24 Cold War concerns27 Web address ending28 Line-drawing tool33 Fruity36 Aristotelian pair?37 Cauliflower __: boxing injury38 “Exodus” author39 Heavy curtain41 Head of a family?42 Channel for film buffs

43 Jalape-o rating characteristic44 Nemo creator Verne45 Conversational skill49 Info source, with “the”50 Like early life forms54 Shakespearean actor Kenneth58 SALT subject59 Worker who handles returns, briefly60 Tune61 Uno ancestor, and, in a way, what are hidden in 17-, 28- and 45-Across64 Prune65 New worker66 Pick of the litter67 Sot’s symptoms68 Readied, as the presses69 Deep sleep

Down1 Engaged in armed conflict2 Beatles jacket style3 Contract change approvals: Abbr.4 Tit for __5 Motel Wi-Fi, for one6 Singer-dancer Lola7 Jurist Lance8 Top choice, slangily9 Type of sch. with low grades?10 Iron-fisted rulers11 “Don’t sweat it”12 Baby’s boo-boo13 Convalesce18 First in a car, say23 Uno e due25 Retired fliers26 Straddle29 Spark plug measurement30 Color31 Look open-mouthed32 Valentine’s Day deity33 Target of a joke34 St. Louis symbol35 Sci-fi travel conveniences39 Dict. feature40 Dirty one in a memorable Cagney line41 Sugar shape43 Terrace cooker44 Night-night clothes?46 DDE, in WWII47 Worn at the edges48 Sarcastic remark51 TV monitoring device52 Most likely will, after “is”53 Surgery beam54 Not in need of a barber55 Mob action56 It may run from cheek to cheek57 Carol opening62 Zip code start?63 Day-__: pigment brand(c)2013 TRIBUNE CONTENT AGENCY, INC.

Boggle AnswersTIN IRON GOLD ZINC COBALT COPPER NICKEL

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: DUSKY RIGOR MORTAR JACKALAnswer: When the geologist made an important discovery, he became a “ROCK” STAR

MR. MORRIS By Rick Brooks

Bulletin HoroscopeTribune Content Agency

ARIES (March 21-April 19): Drive and determination can carry you far. Getting organized and being efficient in the week ahead will get you even further. Make it your priority to complete assignments and meet deadlines.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): Bake a cake. In the week ahead, you might be preoccupied by business and material matters. It might be a good idea to set aside some quality time to reconnect with your domestic, emotional side.

GEMINI (May 21-June 20): What

seems feasible today could prove impossible by the end of the week; not all the facts are in and conditions may not be ripe. Use business know-how to handle finances with finesse.

CANCER (June 21-July 22): In the week to come, stick to routines that have served you well in the past. If

you cross all your “T’s” and dot all your “I’s” no one will need to take a red pencil to your work. Hold off making major purchases.

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): Put a lid on it. Turn down the heat and don’t let frustrations boil over in the week ahead. Family commitments may take up a great deal of your time or interfere with your ability to make career progress.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): Take pride in careful analysis. To be suc-cessful in the week ahead, examine the facts and abide by the rules. Remember to handle your money as though it was all you were going to get.

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): Sometimes more is less. In the week ahead, friends may urge you to dive right into a new project or accept a proposal that could prove costly. You’d be wise to take more time to look at all the angles.

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): Put down an anchor and remain close to shore. This is not a good week to set sail on a new journey or begin anything new. Your best bet is to ride

out any pressing urge to make invest-ments or life changes.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): Get what you need and need what you get. In the upcoming week, you should be cautious about spend-ing and conscientious about paying bills on time. Daydreaming could be counterproductive.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): Control freaks put on a show. In the upcoming week, you might find it difficult to make headway with your goals because someone else wants to run the show or inject much more than their two cents.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): Set the alarm and don’t oversleep this week. Too much work and not enough play might make Jack a dull boy, but too much play can interfere with work. The boss might not overlook a black mark.

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): You can ride high on a bubble of inspira-tion in the week ahead, but don’t neglect mundane tasks. People will be less forgiving than usual if you make mistakes or don’t hold up your end of a bargain.


Documents

The Bulletin Take One! It’s FREE! · when it comes to retail sales. That’s when stores make 25-30 percent of their gross. It’s make-it, or break-it time. Black Friday is when