FORUM

We will publish letters-to-the-editor if they are deemed appropriate and in good taste. Letters can be opinion or editorial in nature, or general comment about local issues. Please submit letters using the CONTACT US form click here.

Thank You


Comment to Post Small Village! Big Heart!
Craig Lang says:
A “Thank You” is hardly enough to say to The Big Store. I’ve been fortunate enough to live in Crystal Beach for over 20 years and the Big Store has made life easy when times are hard. During storms and power failures, you can always count on the Big Store to be my refuge in hard times. Keith has always been there

Forum

I want to tell all about my great experience with a local contractor, McDonald’s AC and Heating. I had my AC (both compressor and condenser) replaced this week and the workers did a great job, very nice, very efficient, and quick. I was very impressed. We need to support our local contractors and let them know when they do good, or bad.
Thanks, Madonna Powers, [5-10-2016]
409-584-0509, [email protected]

Golf carts on beach after dark

golfcart0By Jonathan Juan
I own a cabin at Rancho Carribe. My family and I are here for spring break. Monday we were on the beach in our golf cart at 8:00 pm when we were pulled over by a deputy sheriff. He said “what are you doing?” I said “riding our golf cart on beach.” He said “it is illegal to ride on beach after dark.” I said “what???” I am a Beaumont lawyer and the next

Hard work pays off

GED_0Congratulations to four Bolivar students who are completing their GED preparation classes. Classes began in January, and with hard work and dedication, they are now ready to take the GED exam. In appreciation for their achievements, Texas Crab Festival Charities (TCFC) presented each student with a new portable internet tablet to use in their future educational pursuits. Additional GED classes

HELLO! Bolivar Peninsula!

From Barbara and Ed Prenger:
We sure miss all the activities on Bolivar Peninsula! Especially Crab Festival…We are enjoying the Dallas Area too! IT IS WINTER UP HERE! Any of you traveling up this way? Come to Quinlan and you will find us! Keep up all the good work…

GCA Declares War Against GLO and Galveston County to Save Rollover Pass

By Ted Vega, President, Gilchrist Community Association
The Gilchrist Community Association, the legal owners of the property on which Rollover Pass was built in 1955 has declared war on efforts by the Texas General Land Office and Galveston County to use eminent domain to seize their private property. This treasured coastal resource, known for amazing fishing and recreation, is in immediate danger of being permanently closed by

Gilchrist Community Assn Requests Support

rollover(an open letter to Bolivar Chamber of Commerce Members)
Dear Chamber Member,
The Gilchrist Community Association is and has been the caretaker of Rollover Pass for many years. Ever since hurricane Ike made landfall and essentially destroyed the community, the Texas General Land Office has been trying to close Rollover Pass. A few people think

FORUM: Recycle Anyone?

recycleIs there anywhere on the peninsula where we can take aluminum cans, glass, newspapers for recycling? We don’t care if someone else makes a profit off them. We just want to know that they’re being recycled and not taken to a landfill.
 
Brenda Beust Smith, [email protected]


Help Save Rollover – Help Save Our Lifestyle

rollover0By Ed Snyder/Outdoors
Again, a few of our politicians are THINKING for us, the tax paying public. They THINK that we no longer want a place where we can relax and send quality time with our loved ones fishing, crabbing, or just relaxing in the sun enjoying what we all decide for ourselves what to enjoy. They THINK we need to take a vacation from this place (Rollover Pass) while

Katrina – 10-Year Anniversary

katrinaBy Ed Riley
Hurricane Katrina came aground in the United States for the second time at 11:10 UTC (6:10 CT) on August 25 having previously attained a Category 5 status at approximately 13:00 CT the previous day. Its peak strength showed sustained winds of 175mph and a minimal central pressure of 902 mbar. This made Katrina the 4th most intensive

If you aren’t ducking arrows…

Gcounty…You haven’t found the battle
Cheryl E. Johnson, RTA
Galveston County Tax Assessor Collector
Being a fiscal conservative and taxpayer advocate often places on in the line of fire of opponents of lower taxes and smaller government, particularly in Austin and especially from impostors who sustain the lingo only long enough

Go Topless 2015 Cleaned Up

denys_0By Jim Denys
Who wants to talk Trashy about this past weekend’s GO TOPLESS event on the Bolivar Peninsula? They came, they celebrated, and they had a great time. There was a record amount of Jeepers from all over the state converging on our little slice of paradise, estimates some say 4000 plus. The best part about it was they cleaned up before

Bluewater Addition Group says No HOA

Over a year ago the Private Facebook Bluewater Addition group was founded to share information inviting property owners to a friendly, informative platform to share opinions and ideas to keep Bluewater Subdivisions the happy, welcoming place it has been since its inception. The forum was established because there was an opposing very small group of relative newcomers attempting

Commentary – Rollover Pass

By Ed Snyder/Outdoors
The main problem here concerning the closing of Rollover is that we have a minority ruling over the majority; an interested few who moved to close the pass for reasons known only to them are trying to fix something that isn’t really broken-but can be fixed in other ways. Rollover Pass is a Mecca to many thousands of people who use this facility

Change in FEMA rules needed

By Matt Pace, Bolivar property owner
December 15, 2014

Commissioner Dennard,
I purchased my first piece of property on the Bolivar Peninsula back in 1987. I have also been writing coastal flood insurance in Texas for nearly 40 years now. The recent issue with FEMA’s enforcement of floodplain regulations is a concern to all of us and needs to be addressed in order for the area to maintain flood insurance eligibility. That is the immediate challenge that we face in the near future. But, there is also a more long-term solution to the problem———we need to get FEMA to change their rules a bit concerning ground level enclosures

How wide the dunes are getting

Have you noticed how wide the dunes are getting, 2-3 dunes wide and over 25′ deep? Lee Crowder had thought about spreading this excess material back onto the beach during the winter months, but that hasn’t happened. The water is up to the dunes at high tide when the wind is up now leaving us with NO beach. We

“Bird Island” in East Bay

We have started taking our visitors out to see Bird Island (what we call it) out in East Bay, the new “island” with thousands of birds on it? At the confluence of East Bay and Galveston Bay, about a mile or two off Baffel Point? They ask us so many questions about it, and I can’t find any information on it. I can only

Cleaning up the Slough

slough0A neighbor recently wrote to us describing the condition of the slough that borders her property. She writes, “I love this peninsula and all the wildlife we enjoy that comes with it. The sloughs on either side of us are usually clean but ours has always been a problem. At one time it was really beautiful and full of wildlife. I saw long, flowing cattails home to kingfishers and herons, turtles and toads…

Open letter to our friends on Bolivar Peninsula

First let me say that I am very appreciative of the volunteers, vendors, and contractors who have given of their time, materials, and labor to build a treatment facility for our veterans and their families. This past Saturday we were fortunate to have Marcus Luttrell and several in-service Navy Seals attend the ground breaking for the first Lone Survivor Retreat. While this is the very first facility that will

Residents’ dispute in Bluewater

As if the Bolivar Peninsula near Galveston, Texas wasn’t battered enough by Hurricane IKE in 2008 with hundreds of homes destroyed, a new plague has fallen on a tranquil subdivision that threatens the peaceful life at the beach. For years the Bluewater Subdivision on the eastern edge of Crystal Beach was a tranquil place

This Is My Opinion On The Oil Spill

By David Harris, GalvestonBayFishing.com
OK, here is the low down and my look at the spill on East Galveston Bay and for me fishing East Galveston Bay. I was all over Bolivar Peninsula today from the beach to French Town Rd etc. I didn’t see any oil or birds with oil on them. When the accident occurred at around 12:30 Saturday, we had just finished an incoming tide and had a

See y’all next year at TEXAS FROG FEST!!!!

To the SOLDIERS who sleep under their Humvees, while the sandstorms damage every inch of exposed skin, eat MRE’s 3 times per day, ration their toilet paper, live in barracks constructed of plywood (can you imagine what they smell like?) all while trying to not get blown to bits, I apologize for this American. It is because of the SOLDIERS that they are able to work in a free commerce country, earn lots of money, build a home at the beach and own an 80 pound lab with

GCA Responds to Galveston County MOU for Rollover Pass

Ted Vega, President
Gilchrist Community Association
Rollover Pass is in the news again, this time commenting on GLO Land Commissioner Jerry Patterson, and Galveston County signing a MOU (memorandum of understanding); comments from Galveston County Commissioner Dennard.

GCA – Caretaker of Rollover Pass

Ted Vega President
Gilchrist Community Association
Nov 17 at 9:17 PM
General Land Office Commissioner Jerry Patterson and Galveston County have been working on a plan to take Rollover Pass with the use of eminent domain. The County now has a 1.5 million dollar account to do whatever they have to do

Bolivar Peninsula’s agricultural history

Hello, Crystal Beach News-I was wondering, please, if anybody could tell me why agriculture is no longer commercially practiced on the Bolivar Peninsula? I remember reading that historically, the Peninsula was a producer of fruits and vegetables, and even grew some of the finest watermelons in all of Texas. When and why did this farming tradition end? (October 22, 2013)

A faceless, nameless newspaper??

We received this anonymous email the other day and were not sure how to take it. This person is asking for information…however the tone is somewhat confrontational. Since it is easy to mis-interpret an email sender’s desired message, we will not judge. Here is the email (Our answers are

ATV & ROV rules

Glad the sheriff dept put the rules out on atv & rovs. NOW THEY SHOULD ENFORCE THEM. LABOR DAY THERE WERE SO MANY ATVS & ROVS ON THE BEACH, and I counted only three trailers (to haul them to the beach) and no officers giving tickets(in fact I never saw any officer all day) so much lost revenue, but our property taxes sure went up. LITTLE KIDS unsupervised driving golf carts and atv/rovs. The sheriff’s dept stated all these could be driven on the Bolivar Peninsula beaches. That’s not true, drive them on the beach past High Island and you will be given a ticket by the FEDERAL GAME WARDENS garranted and these tickets go to federal court not to the local JP court. (G. Miller, 09-10-13)

Open Container Laws apply to Golf Carts

This past weekend, a neighbor on Crystal Canal shared a tough lesson he learned. Golf carts are considered vehicles and are subject to the same law as a car/truck. He was a passenger in the back seat of the golf cart, holding a cold one in his hand, when the sheriff pulled them over and he was given a ticket for $168.00. His only frustration is he only had the one can on board, had only taken a few sips, and nothing was done to all

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