Save Rollover Pass

As most of you know, I lost my home in Hurricane Ike. A vital part of our community is Rollover Pass, which the Texas General Land Office is now trying to get legislation passed to close it. They are blaming erosion and using the hurricane as an excuse to do something the General Land Office Commissioner, Jerry Patterson, was attempting long before the hurricane. However, since most people are uneducated on the issue, they are believing what they are being told, without conducting any formal testing, they are believing that closing Rollover Pass is the best answer. I, personally, believe that for the amount of funding Commission Patterson is requesting, alternative methods (such as jetties, a delta or a dike which have been proposed) could be implemented that would slow erosion while allowing Rollover Pass to remain open. I also believe that they should not close the pass without fully researching and studying the economic and ecological devastating impacts it would have to the community of Gilchrist and Bolivar Peninsula. Don't get me wrong, I am all for saving Bolivar Peninsula, but I believe this is a knee-jerk reaction to the hurricane and certain individuals are preying on the vulnerability of the tragedy.

I am asking, NO, PLEADING you all to email your Texas Senators and Representatives to not accept these bills until they have been revised. I am copying what I wrote to my senators and representatives, with my personal sentiments in italics. Feel free to add your own anecdotes and stories if you have visited. Even if you never made it, just let them know you oppose these bills they way they stand. I have a feeling that if Rollover is allowed to close, Gilchrist will not be able to return and it'll be like losing my home all over again. The House Bill goes for public hearing on WEDNESDAY, APRIL 1st, so please send this email tomorrow. If you don't know your representative or senator, let me know and I will help you find out! Pass this around to people across the state as well, the more that know, the better. If you have any questions about this matter, please don't hesistate to ask me or call me!

Thanks!
-Amanda


Title: Opposition to HB 3986 and SB 2043

As you may know, the community of Gilchrist was decimated by Hurricane Ike last September. A vital part of that community is Rollover Pass, which has been a unique recreational area for citizens of Texas and out of state visitors for over 50 years. It is the cornerstone of the Gilchrist community and serves as a premiere fishing destination for the Bolivar peninsula and Galveston County. If you have never had the pleasure of visiting there, it is simply a small man-made strait that cuts through the Bolivar Peninsula and connects the Gulf of Mexico with Rollover Bay. The opening of this pass has resulted in a tremendous fishing opportunity, thereby helping the economy of not only Gilchrist but also Bolivar Peninsula.

Now that Hurricane Ike has displaced many in the Gilchrist and Bolivar Peninsula community, the General Land Office is organizing to push legislation to close the Pass. How, in the wake of a catastrophic hurricane, can a governmental agency justify the taking away of this economic engine for our community? As people are trying to reorganize their lives after total upheaval, it is essential that we maintain and preserve one of the greatest cornerstones in our community. Regardless of who you ask, many can attest to how Rollover Fish Pass has provided an unparalleled fishing experience for those within and outside our community including young fisherman, disabled retirees and even experienced fisherman. As a resident of Gilchrist, I have seen first hand the benefit and necessity of Rollover Pass. My family has owned two successful businesses in Gilchrist that, before Hurricane Ike, thrived as direct result from the visitor’s patronage to Rollover Pass. What sets Gilchrist and the Bolivar Peninsula apart from traditional coastal cities, is our ability and desire to support each other. Rollover Pass remains not only an integral part of our identity as residents of the Bolivar Peninsula, but also vital for the ecological system thriving in Rollover Bay and the larger Gulf Coast.

The proposed House Bill 3986 and its companion Senate Bill 2043 still require considerable revision including inclusive language which would require the Texas General Land Office Commissioner to "modify" the Pass instead of merely allowing Rollover Pass to be closed. There are many factors that remain excluded from the conversation regarding the decision to the close the Pass. These factors include, but are not limited to, the economic rebuilding of Gilchrist and Bolivar Peninsula in addition to the ecological impact on the bird and fish species that thrive in and around Rollover Bay.

I ask that you stand with me and the community of Gilchrist and Bolivar Peninsula in not supporting HB 3986 or SB 2043 until social and environmental impact assessments can be conducted and further investigation is done to determine whether other options are available that allow Rollover Pass to remain open while still preserving the Bolivar Peninsula. As a last resort, should the Pass be determined as closed, at the very minimum, the companion bills must address specific details regarding an appropriate replacement due to the loss of this economic and recreational opportunity in our community.

Thank you for your time and consideration,

(Your Name)
(Contact Info)

Another Day in the Country

I had to drive to Abilene today, but I decided to take a detour and experience some country roads. These were taken with my new cheap sony cybershot. Obviously, I'm still getting used to it but I'm pretty pleased. I'll let the pictures speak for themselves. It was an enjoyable little rest stop. :D

I Hate Losing...

we got third. Second I could have dealt with, but third? Seriously? And could we have had a worse judge judging GE. Ridiculous.

Not to mention that a random monsoon happened while we were there. I got hailed pelted in my face and was soaking wet until I air-dryed.

AND I severely disagreed with someone on staff.

If it wasn't for the kids, I would have left. Sometimes I think I prefer the kids to adults.

So now I'm "celebrating" by having the day to myself and meeting up with an old friend tonight.

I love mail!!!

There's something about receiving mail that makes me giddy. Maybe it's the thrill of knowing someone took the time to hand write a letter rather than taking the easy way of email or a phone call.

I received this from my friend Jason. I think it's funny how he put the USA on my letter. It's just so old school. I wish I had lived back in the days were letter writing was predominant. Where young girls awaited letters from their soldiers overseas. When everyone knew the post master or the mailman. What happened to those times?

Obsessive...

I have to admit, once I dive into any/all things Hurricane Ike/Gilchrist related, I can't stop. It's so hard to break away. I want to know everything. I want to know everyone's opinions. I want to track down the people who leave ridiculous comments about how people deserved to die because they didn't evacuate or how Gilchrist and Rollover Pass doesn't matter because their land in Crystal Beach is better. I've been looking at articles for the past two hours. I'm about just to have to shut my computer to make it stop. Why do I miss it so much?

Short and Sweet

I realized I've kept up my food blog like I thought, but not so much this one. Every time I want to write, it's like an epic novel. I've decided anytime I have a thought, it's going on here. Much like updating facebook status. So sometimes I might have one sentence posts. But don't worry, because I know you love them so much, my standard 3 page long posts will still be on here. ;)

Hi, I'm Amanda and I'm a Band Nerd...

it's true. I was one in high school. I took band seriously. I volunteered for everything possible. In eighth grade, I was the color guard helper. My freshman year, I volunteered for drum line. My junior year I campaigned like a mad man to become band president. After my successful election, :-D, I worked hard to pull off the best band banquet ever. I became a music major in college (for a year). I joined a student group just for performing percussionist. I marched drum corps. My sophomore year of college, I started teching high school lines. At first it was just my high school. Then, the unthinkable happened. I actually got hired by someone else not my alma mater. I started working at schools across the state. I TAUGHT drum corps. NOW, at twenty-six years of age, I still teach band. I can't get away from it. It's a part of my life.

That's me in the red shirt, don't pay attention to that bass drum.
I'm teaching with an indoor drumline at a school in the Houston area. This Friday is STATE CHAMPIONSHIPS. I'm a little excited and a little nervous all at the same time. You see, we, the staff, have been working on this program since mid-December. It comes up in conversation at least once a day. I have no had a free weekend in 2009 YET. It's all been dedicated to indoor. Last year, I taught with the same staff, different kids, different school. We won EVERY competition we went to. Except of course, championships. It was a total killer. Those kids worked their little A's off and they deserved it. The hooker school that got first at championship was a bunch of tools and acted like because they were the bigger school and bigger name, they should have gotten it simply because they had for the past 5 years or something ridiculous like that. F'em....Anyways, I'm still bitter about that. Not even gonna lie. These are my kids from last year. Notice how only two of them are smiling; the rest were fighting back tears.


I'm so nervous that it could happen again this year. It's been almost an exact repeat of last year. We got bumped up to an advance class. We've won first every competition, except for one. I'm hoping that's our only second place we get this year. There's nothing worse than to look in the eyes of a kid who's been defeated/disappointed/had their spirits crushed. We have one last rehearsal tomorrow and the big show is Friday evening. I hope this one has better results!

Everybody's Gotta Get Away Sometime...

so says Pat Green. This has been a crazy stressful week. We've had more than one work "emergency" pop up, actually three to be exact. One of which involved me driving almost 8 hours to get to Waco for an hour meeting. I've also recently undertaken the position of fighting to keep Rollover Pass and Gilchrist alive which involved driving to High Island Monday night for a meeting, getting elected to the Board of Directors for the Gilchrist Community Association, then racing back from Waco to attend the Galveston County Commissioners Workshop hearing about closing down Rollover Pass. The implications of it's closing brings a fear to my heart that can't even be explained. If the pass is closed, I feel that Gilchrist will never be able to fully recover. In turn, I feel that Bolivar Peninsula will no longer be the way it was (which is something 86% of Crystal Beach can't seem to understand). Today, after my way home from that meeting, I got stuck on I-45. Not just a little bit of traffic, but stopped. I might as well have put my car in park. I then took the first exit ramp, which naturally was three miles down the road. By then it was 5. I spent the next 40 minutes trying to go 8 miles. It was painful. It wasn't helped by the fact that a friend told me, "Well I would NEVER go that way." There's not many other options to get from Galveston to Pasadena other than 45 genius. Thanks a lot. By the way, if you want to keep your life, you should probably never tell me to NOT do something when I'm in an already bad mood. Just a helpful hint.

FINALLY a good song came on the radio. I rolled down my windows and tried to enjoy it. The cool breeze. The warm sun. The wind blowing my hair. Ahhh. It was just what I needed. I decided to continue my windows-down driving with a little Pat Green, because those two ALWAYS go together. Coincidentally, it was also a part of the drive that I finally left the neighboorhoods and 47 stop lights in a row. There was just a wide open field.

Baby's just a little bit tired of the city,
Billboards and bullshit got her down,
Seem like you need a little hill country,
A Little back roads driving, little bit of the old top down.

That's EXACTLY what I needed. There is few things that can bring more joy to my heart than good music on my stereo, sunny day, all my windows down and a country road. I realized I began to get frustrated because, not to brag, but I can find twenty alternate routes down back roads to get from point A to point B without using a highway. However, there were none, I was trapped. In the city. With no grass. And no cows. My version of hell (well one of them). Suddenly, I was imagining one of the many routes I could take home to Gilchrist. There was always a small road I was eagerly waiting to discover that would make my afternoon. I just can't tell you how much I love driving out in the country. So next time you get frustrated, put on your favorite music, roll down the windows and just start driving!