May 2007

Summary of News, Accomplishments and Events:

May 2 Several F.O.R. Members attended the B.A.C.H. Fund raiser at the Brazoria County Fairgrounds. A River Cruise along the San Bernard was donated, to raise funds, in the name of Friends Of the River.

May 5 F.O.R.'S Breakfast on the Bernard, held at Dido's. May's featured couple was Gloria and Darrell Powell.

May 10 F.O.R. Board of Directors meeting: New F.O. R. Organizational chart presented. All committee budgets have now been approved by the Board of Directors. The Board voted unanimously to refund the paddle boat cruise funds raised at last years River Raiser, due to the Yellowstone being sold.

May 10 Memorial Day Boat Parade meeting held at Dido's.

May 12 2nd Annual Can You Dig It? Around 125 people participated in the event. A trench was dug from the San Bernard River to the Gulf and for a brief moment, water again flowed to the Gulf. Facts reporter, John Lowman, and Facts Photographer, Laurie McKenzie covered the event, which was also photographed from the air, by Fred Kanter, F.O.R.'s Environmental Committee Chairman.

May 16 Brazoria County Shoreline Restoration Task Force meeting with several F.O.R. Members attending. TX DOT had requested the meeting to discuss their plans to reopen the mouth of the river, but declined to attend this meeting as they were yet unable to address the CIAP funding involved in this issue.

May 17 Memorial Day Boat Parade meeting held at Dido's.

May 24 Memorial Day Boat Parade Captain's meeting held at Dido's.

May 26 F.O.R.'S 2nd Annual Memorial Day Parade, with 20 boats entering. An awards dinner was held following the parade. Read about it at: http://www.sanbernardriver.com /previous post -June1

May 31 Executive Committee meeting.- Board meeting agenda set up.

May 31 Perfect Storm Seminar in Lake Jackson - F.O.R.'S booth was filmed by and broadcast on Fox News June 1st.

Accounting: Nancy Kanter Director /Treasurer

May- F.O.R. San Bernard currently has $19,398.88 deposited in Lone Star Bank.

The Board of Directors each received a detailed summary of the checking and money market accounts.

The CPA costs for filing the 990 C 3A tax return was $475.00.

May Donations to F.O.R. General Fund:

In memory of Clifford Brant

Anonymous

Kiki Treichel

* Monetary donations /sponsorships specified for a particular F.O.R. committee will be listed on that committees webpage.

Friends Of The River thanks you for your donations, contributions of supplies, and support.

Contact nancy@sanbernardriver.com

F.O.R. San Bernard Committees

Any organization is only as strong as the resolve of its members and supporters.
If you'd like to help us in helping the San Bernard River, there are a many options open to individuals and companies. Whether it's time, expertise or something else you can offer, we need your contribution.

If you are interested in chairing a committee, or would like to volunteer on a committee, please contact any Board Member, or Committee Chairman.

*Attended Brazoria County Commissioners Court meeting and thanked all the county folks that helped with our very successful Clean-up event.

*Attended the ConocoPhillips CAP's meeting and gave them a quick presentation about the cleanup efforts, results and thanked them for sponsoring the clean-up, for 3 years running.

*Worked with ConocoPhillips plant manager about the dumping near the dam area. They have contacted all vendors and others with access to the property about "No Dumping".

*Work continues on the Pan American Road dumping issue. Brazoria County Health Department Environment Officer, Rodney Garret, is working on the legal paper work and legal notification to all the estate owners.

Email cleanteam@sanbernardriver.com for more information.

Environmental: Fred Kanter

Environmental Team Mission Statement: Ensure a safe clean river for recreational use – safe both for human and animal life.

Committee members include: Chairman Fred Kanter, Suzie Alford, Bruce Barner, Barbara Fritilla, Brian Meaghar, Elizabeth Moore, Vanessa Taylor, Colleen Robertson, Al Roco.

May 22 Meeting summary: Budget- At this time we do not foresee a need for a formal budget. We will request funds as needed for project completion. We are in an educational stage, seeking direction, researching environmental projects that will enhance our river community, while acting as an environmental educational resource for the San Bernard River community. Items up for committee discussion- watershed, land trust, drainage, estuaries, disaster response.

Intro to F.O.R. Oganizational Chart given by Pat Webb, F.O.R. President.

Email environmental@sanbernardriver.com for more information.

All F.O.R. Logo© merchandise on display at these locations- 2J's, Dido's, Quality Power -as well as on the website. Order forms and photos can be found on the website. Ideas and suggestions always appreciated.

http://www.sanbernardriver.com/merchandise/index.htm

Friends of the River appreciates your support!

River Mouth: Roy Edwards

*Ordered and received 25 information binders re the San Bernard River mouth data. New reports were added to this second printing of 25.

* Roy and Jan Edwards, along with FOR's President Pat Webb, manned a booth at the Perfect Storm Seminar. passing out F.O.R. brochures, event calendars, and HGAC San Bernard River watershed brochures. Fox news filmed the booth and was broadcast on their June 1st News segment.

*Committee members Roy and Jan Edwards and Gloria and Darrell Powell attended GLO’s CEPRA grant workshop in Bay City. Items discussed were the river mouth, past CEPRA request, and possible available funding.

*Members of the Mouth Committee attended an HGCA meeting /reception in Houston.

*Roy presented Commissioner’s Court with an original State Resolution (introduced by Representative Dennis Bonnen) to find funding to re-open the mouth of the San Bernard River.

*Attended the Honors Students Celebration in West Columbia, hopefully to have a minute or two discussion with Jerry Patterson, who was the keynote speaker. That mission was accomplished and Roy and Jan Edwards presented Commissioner Patterson with a F.O.R. logo straw hat – to keep our river on his mind.

Email mouth@sanbernardriver.com for more information.

Nomination: Keith Hardwicke

This committee will be ongoing, working to present a qualified slate of nominees for future F.O.R. Board of Directors. If you would like to be a part of this committee or have a name to submit for nomination -Please email Keith at nominate@sanbernardriver.com for more information. Interviews are taking place now, as names are submitted.

Time is growing short to submit your nominees for new Board Members... Deadline will be in August .

Parade: Vanessa Taylor

F.O.R. San Bernard's Parade Committee held a successful Memorial Day Boat Parade - (now gearing up for the 2nd Annual 4th of July Boat Parade to be held July 7th at 5pm.) *A "Design the Parade Shirt " (for the July 4th parade) contest was held at Sweeny Jr High and the winners were: 1st Cori Higgins: 2nd Katherine Kemp: 3rd Jordan Stone. We had a total of 12 of the best entries we have had so far! Great Job! Sweeny Jr. High Art Department.

Email parade@sanbernardriver.com for more information.

Website /Historian: Darrell Powell

For May we set a new record for website visits!! 13,827

Visits in 2006-106,985

Visits in 2007- January 9,891; February 8,551; March 10,441; April 10,824; May 13,827 -YTD -53,534

5 new members/see all weekly web stats http://www.sanbernardriver.com

Website advertising is available, please contact:webmaster@sanbernardriver.com or nancy@sanbernardriver.com for more information.

Proceeds from web advertising help to support our website !

Website Front Page Articles in May

 May 30: Mr.Kolache and Ms.Cinnamon Roll May 28: Hurricane Awareness May 25:Dead Water May 23:Spanish-moss May 21:The View from Above"May 18: Legends of Spanish Moss May 16: CAN YOU DIG IT? – YES WE CAN! May 14: Mother's Day - A Celebration In Honor of All Mothers""May 11: Cry Me a River May 09: Resolution H.R. No. 942 May 07: CAN YOU DIG IT (2)? May 04: May’s featured Couple: Darrell and Gloria Powell :May 02: San Bernard River Clean-up Results

The forum is being enjoyed by all. The forum is a great way to stay abreast of the latest happenings on the river, and with each other!

If you have not registered, please do so, and join in the fun!

During the month of May, 15 stories were published about the river or F.O.R. in The Facts, Brazoria County News, Angleton Times Community and The Bulletin. In addition, the spring Clean- up and Can You Dig It? Were on the Texas Highways Calendar of Events.

May 25: FOR San Bernard to honor fallen soldiers with boat parade May 24: San Bernard Boat Parade May 22: You Should ‘Dig It’ May 17: Line in the sand May 13: Volunteers dig symbolic trench at river May 11: Residents get pails ready for river event May 10: Can You Dig It? slated at river May 09: Dig It 2 & Memorial Day Boat Parade May 08: FOR San Bernard invite everyone to a ‘Can You Dig It’ party May 12 May 08: Can You Dig It? San Bernard River May 08: River group to dig up attention to cause May 06: River Cleanup Thank You Notes May 03: Can You Dig It Coming Again May 03: River Cleanup May 02: Cleanup nets 16 tons of trash

* 6 press releases were issued.

One of F.O.R.'s primary functions is to educate the public regarding the issues concerning the San Bernard River and it's communities. Contact Pat Webb pat@sanbernardriver.com to schedule a Guest Speaker for your group or special event.

Email webmaster@sanbernardriver.com for more information.

http://www.sanbernardriver.com

Contact Your Board Of Directors:

Pat Webb pat@sanbernardriver.com Tom Valliere tom@sanbernardriver.com Nancy Kanter nancy@sanbernardriver.com

Marie Breakiron marie@sanbernardriver.com Artie Burnett artie@sanbernardriver.com

Perry Stroud perry@sanbernardriver.com Jan Edwards jan@sanbernardriver.com Bruce Barner bruce@sanbernardriver.com

Ken Corley ken@sanbernardriver.com Chaney Moore chaney@sanbernardriver.com

Bob Bailey bob@sanbernardriver.com Linda Wright linda@sanbernardriver.com

Mike Demland mike@sanbernardriver.com Teresa Schlumpberger Teresa@sanbernardriver.com

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