Lifestyle

Pointing to the jump of 22 confirmed COVID-19 cases early in the week to 35 confirmed by Thursday, County Judge Nate McDonald ordered a mandatory stay at home order for Matagorda County at a press conference Thursday afternoon, April 2.

“I am announcing a mandatory order stay at home,” McDonald said.

Pointing out the 35 confirmed COVID-19 cases in the county, “that’s a large number,” he said.

McDonald - flanked by law enforcement officers including Sheriff Skipper Osborne, BCPD Chief Robert Lister and Palacios PD Chief David Miles - said, “They are going to enforce law.”

The judge’s order means only one person in a family can be delegated to go and make essential purchases.

McDonald asked the sheriff to put “licensed peace officers out there on the street to enforce this. This has the force of law.”

“Let’s be real clear on the orders,” McDonald said about the county and governor’s orders.

   Matagorda County now has 21 confirmed cases of COVID-19 as of the Bay City Sentinel’s presstime Tuesday, March 31.
   The most recent case is a male, between 50-55, who is at home, with no travel indicated.
   Three other positive cases reported Monday, March 30, fell into the 30-35, 60-65, and 70-75 age groups.
   At a press conference Monday afternoon, County Judge Nate McDonald announced a voluntary stay-at-home order for the county’s unincorporated areas.
   The judge said he was following the City of Bay City, which issued a voluntary stay-at-home order last week. 
   “Let me explain to you what that means. Voluntary is giving you all the credit to make good decisions,” McDonald said.
   “I can tell you if in a couple of days some of our bad actors are still making bad decisions, we’re going to make it a little bit tougher for everybody to get around, and we’re going to place you under mandatory shelter-in-place.”

   County Judge Nate McDonald and Precinct 2 Commissioner Kent Pollard promised to take action against those who violate county and state orders aimed at preventing the spread of COVID-19.   
   Pollard commented on how “some people didn’t want to pay attention to the signs” advising all county beaches are closed, at commissioners court’s regular meeting Monday, March 30. 
   The driver of one vehicle ignored the closing signs – and barrier at the beach entrances – and “got stuck in the dune” near Three Mile Cut northeast of the barricaded Beach Road “and it’s still there,” Pollard said.
   “It’s my intent to pursue charges for criminal trespass,” Pollard said about driver’s whose vehicle is stuck.
   Noting one warning sign was down in Sargent, Pollard said, referring to the county’s temporary order March 19 to close beach access areas, county parks, community centers and fairgrounds.

   AUSTIN - Peyton Creek Wind Farm, a 151 megawatt (MW) project in Matagorda County, recently achieved commercial operation. 
   The project in the ERCOT (Electric Reliability Council of Texas) south market is powered by 48 Nordex 3.15 MW turbines and can generate enough electricity to power more than 45,000 homes. 
   The Peyton Creek project overcame its fair share of challenges including the impact of Tropical Storm Imelda in September 2019. 
   Despite more than 23 inches of rain falling during the storm, including 15 inches in less than 24 hours, the construction team was able to continue on to completion.
   “This was truly a team effort to bring the project together and successfully start commercial operation,” said Paul Bowman, Director Development North America Onshore, RWE Renewables. 

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 Bay City Community Development Corporation (BCCDC) board members unanimously approved a two-month stay on rent payments for Schulman’s Movie Bowl and Grille (SMBG) during a teleconference meeting Monday, March 30.
   “As you know the theater kitchen is still open for curbside and to-go orders,” said BCCDC Executive Director Jessica Russell.
   “Mark Schulman wants to keep it open for as long as possible and to continue paying those employees. He’s asked to temporarily abate two months’ worth of rent to make this possible. He intends to pay it back later this year.”
   Russell added that Schulman would re-evaluate funds every two weeks until business equalizes again.

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Weeks before Matagorda County Judge Nate McDonald issued a voluntary shelter-in-place order Monday, March 30, for county residents, the “Matagorda County Love Thy Neighbor (COVID-19 Outreach) Facebook group was founded.
    “The longer we are in this place of social distancing and having to be extra cautious waiting for answers I feel tensions and emotions will arise,” said Leslie Enright, group founder and administrator.
   “I ask that we all work together. As fellow citizens with the ability and desire to help others, we wanted to shoulder some of that responsibility within our community,” she said. 
“We’re here to do the work while others focus on tackling the bigger issues.”
   The group’s mission is: choosing to volunteer to bring groceries and supplies to those at high-risk or simply unable to acquire the necessities for everyday life.

   I managed to score a coupon deal for Redbox movies that I hadn’t seen, but are fairly recent releases available for rent.  
   So, this is the first of two since the local theater closed for showings and I’m struggling to get a comprehensive list of recommendations done for Netflix and Amazon Prime.  
   The movie is rated R for disturbing violence and bloody images, terror and some language and is just over an hour and a half long.  
   As a fan of the original Japanese “Ju-On: The Grudge” movie, I was trying to see where this one fell in the timeline.  
   At first “The Grudge” was announced as a reboot of the 2004 American remake and the original Japanese horror film Ju-On: The Grudge, the film ended up being a sidequel that takes place before and during the events of the 2004 film and its two direct sequels.