Lifestyle

   A large slice of Bay City is still “dry.” 
   And the Bay City Chamber of Commerce – working on behalf of two local restaurants singled out in the city by a state law — is starting a campaign to change that.
   In the coming days, the chamber will be circulating a petition that will give city council the legal authority to let voters remove some decades-old restrictions on alcohol sales in parts of Bay City.
   “It’s one of those facts of life that I think has been handed down from county clerk to county clerk, and everyone has been doing their dead level best at enforcing the law, but there’s no records and no clean lines of what is represented when it comes to mixed beverages and beer and wine and those kinds of questions,” Thames said late last month. 
   “So, (the chamber) is creating a petition to present to city council, so we can put this to bed.”
   The only two establishments currently affected are Applebees and Chili’s, Thames said. 

  Issues tied to Matagorda County schools and local industries received a solid sounding at the Mid Coast Education Industry Alliance Wednesday, Dec. 4.
   “This is our introduction meeting,” Mitch Thames, president of the Bay City Chamber of Commerce, told those attending from local industries, businesses and county schools.
   Thames proposed follow-up meetings Feb. 3 and April 6.
   “Right now we need information that you as an industry, business and education want to share.
   “We have to have the best rural workforce – we can, we will be and we must do this,” declared County Judge Nate McDonald.
   “An educated workforce and populace will grow the community,” he said.
   Clarence Fenner, with STP and a former city councilman, used STP’s workforce training experience as a background for the importance of bringing industry, business and school leaders together to discuss issues of mutual interest.

   The 116th Annual Audubon Christmas Bird Count kicks off in North America from Canada to Mexico Dec. 14 from 6 a.m. until 5 p.m. and lasts until Jan. 5 2016.
   That makes it Matagorda County’s 22nd Annual Mad Island Marsh Bird Count since its inception in 1993.
   Matagorda County took first place in the count last year with 234 different bird species making this the eighth year in a row.
   The most ever recorded in the county were 250 different species in 2005.
   A Buff-breasted Sandpiper, Brown Booby and two Black Terns in Matagorda County were among others as the headliners for the state last year.
   That included six new species were reported and five of those were only found in Texas.

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   Two people were arrested on several illicit drug-related charges following an investigation by the Matagorda County Narcotic Task Force Thursday, Dec. 3, Bay City Police Department reported.
   During the arrest, police reports show, methamphetamine, marijuana and prescription drugs were found.
   Lisa Lynn Snyder, 47, was charged with: possession of controlled substance, a second-degree felony; tampering with physical evidence, a third-degree felony: and delivery of miscellaneous substance, a Class A misdemeanor, police reports show.
   Andy J. Martinez, 40, was charged with: possession of controlled substance, a second-degree felony; possession of marijuana, a Class B misdemeanor; and possession of miscellaneous substance, a Class A misdemeanor, police said.  
   The two were taken to the Matagorda County Jail, where they were booked.

   Between 600 and 800 Matagorda County children will get Christmas presents this year thanks to the 17th Toys for Kids campaign.
   Road Riders Inc. hopes to raise $13,000 for this year’s Toys for Kids, said Jeanette Lockhart, the motorcycle group’s president.
   Lockhart said the names for the Toys for Kids gift list come from Matagorda County United Way, which acquires the names from the Salvation Army.
   “We even have a Santa Claus sled,” she said.
   “We go to all of the apartment complexes in Bay City,” Lockhart pointed out.
   Road Riders Inc. members deliver the toys – on motorcycles of course - in one pile at apartments, then allow the children to choose their own, said the group’s vice president, Dick Carter.
   “When we take the gifts to the apartments, we honk the horn and everyone comes out,” Lockhart said.

   What does a Bay City High School student who’s fallen far behind in getting class credits toward graduation do? 
   Typically, students who are in danger of not graduating with their class spiral down into more failure and eventually drop out of high school. 
   But BCHS has a home for these students – The Alternative Center for Education, or ACE, and the Optional Flexible Day School Program, or “Evening School.”
   ACE is a “school within a school.” Students may be attending some regular high school classes to stay on track, come to the ACE classroom part of the day to work at a computer on getting caught up on whatever class credits they have lost. 
   Those in Evening School attend after regular-school hours – a new option BCHS started offering this school year. The after-school program runs from 3:30 until 7:30 p.m. Monday-Thursday on regular school days, and is directed by Assistant Principal Jamie Bates.

By Don Cudd
Sentinel Staff Writer
    Last year’s Victoria Texans semi-pro football team is planning to make Matagorda County its new home for the 2016 season. 
   And the first item of business for the Bay City Texans is  a pre-season “Texas Shoot Out” set for Saturday at Memorial Stadium. 
  The two-game shootout is set to start a 3 p.m.with a game between the Whartn Panthers and the 3rd Coast Hard Hittaz from Lake Jackson. 
   The Texans will then take on the Edinburg Landsharks for the night-cap game schedule for a 7 p.m. kickoff. 
   “The Landsharks have 3 championships under their belt. They are a good team,” said Texans Owner Rudy Guzman. “Their offensive line averages about 365 pounds. Those are some big guys. This game is going to be, definitely, speed verses power.”
   The annual pre-season double header is a Texan tradition that Guzman hosted as a charity fundraiser for several years in Victoria.