As The Island Floats

Worker's Memorial Day

April 28 is Worker's Memorial Day. Today we remember the workers killed in workplace fatalities.

Grandpa & the Oleanders

I was quite surprised to read about my grandfather George Buest in the Houston Chronicle this weekend. He passed away over 15 years ago. My cousin Brenda Beust Smith told a story about him and her father in her column The Lazy Gardener on Saturday April 25,2008.

"When I look at an oleander, I think of my father, Walter Beust, who grew up in Galveston. He loved to tell us how he and his brother George would whip around the isle in their Model T Ford. As with everything metal along the Gulf Coast, the brakes quickly rusted in the salt air. When they wanted to stop, they'd look for the biggest oleander they could find and head right into it."

Brenda aslo wrote of the historical bond between the flowers and Galveston.

"Or I think about those incredibly strong women who, after the 1900 storm, saw in oleanders a way not only to restore the beauty of the island and raise spirits, but to put hundreds of islanders back to work, propagating plants from the few remaining specimens."

I miss my grandfather. He taught me so much about this island and about life. Many places here remind me of him. I cannot pass the 61st St. Pier without thinking of him fishing. Now I will think of him when I see the oleanders. The oleander bushes in my yard are full of pink and white flowers.

I am glad that I am still able to learn something new about him and about this island's history.

From Aunt Willie Dee

Woman Learned Lessons in 1947 Disaster By Willie Dee Criss The Daily News Published April 16, 2008 TEXAS CITY — I am writing about my survival of the 1947 Texas City Disaster so that others who read it could learn from my experience. Reading the newspaper about a man who had survived Japan’s atomic blast helped me survive the Texas City Disaster. He said when he saw the atomic “mushroom shape” in the distance, knowing that light (what he actually saw) travels faster than sound (the force of the actual explosion hit), he dived behind a huge concrete boulder, which protected him from the debris that whizzed past during the tremendous atomic blast. I must’ve made a mental note of his experience, causing my reaction that saved my life. I was a witness to the actual initial fire before there was any black smoke. I saw the “curtain of fire with red, yellow and white streaks” shooting straight up into a beautiful sky of blue. On the morning of April 16, 1947, I was 27 years old and resided with my family — consisting of my husband, Henry, and two children, Dona Kae and Henry Jr., at 727 Bay Street in Texas City. This was on the corner of Eighth Avenue and Bay Street, about 12 blocks from the site of the explosion. Looking southward through my bedroom window, I had a clear view of the Monsanto plant and the explosion site. My husband had recently returned from overseas service and would’ve been at work at Monsanto on a pipe fitter construction job. They were converting the old sugar plant into workspace for Monsanto’s usage. But due to a late shipment of pipes, he wasn’t to report to work this particular day. When we awoke that morning, I put on a heavy robe — the air was a little chilly — and I went into the front yard to get the morning newspaper. I noticed some beautiful orange-colored smoke rising from the Monsanto area. I rushed into the house, excited and called out, “Let’s all go see the fire!” Henry, not one to rush into things, said, “No, let’s read the paper and after breakfast, perhaps we could go down onto the dike and look across the bay waters and get a better view.” Little did I know then that his decision saved our lives, as there were a lot of spectators at the scene who lost their lives while watching the fire. So, we snuggled back in bed to read the morning paper. Our little girl left her bed in the other room and climbed in bed between her mother and father, like little girls like to do. This saved her life, as her pillow, where she would have been, was cut to shreds by glass slivers during the explosion. As we read the paper, probably the funnies and the sports page, as we hadn’t got to the crossword puzzle yet, I felt a sudden “jar” — a “thud” that seemed to come deep from the ground and through the bed. I immediately jumped up to look out the window. That instantaneous reaction was because of another incident that had previously occurred. I had missed seeing a fire at Monsanto one night — because I was asleep — and due to my curiosity, I didn’t want to miss another spectacular sight there. I will never forget what I saw — an unimaginable force (later, experts determined the 2,300 tons of fertilizer in the initial blast — at ground zero — had a greater explosive force than the atomic bombs at Hiroshima and Nagasaki) thrusting up curtain-like streaks of red, yellow and white heat with black lace-like edges made by matter being instantly sent a half mile high into air. No black smoke was visible to me, only fire. Remembering that you see something before you feel it, I yelled, “Look out!” and tried to dive across the bed to get beyond the foot of it to use the bed as a shield, but I never made it. I think the window sash hit me in the back of the head and I got some bleeding cuts through my thick hair in the back of my head. In my panic for self-survival, I didn’t think of anyone else — just diving to get behind something. My husband said when I yelled, “Look out,” he was getting up to look out the window. It seemed that our house was picked up and shaken several times and then thrown back onto the ground. Our roof was blown in, and almost every piece of glass in the house was broken. Slivers of glass flew across the room (sticking into the wall) and one sliver cut his eyeball as he was getting up to look out. My little girl did get a small cut above her upper lip, and the baby boy, who was in his crib in the other room, was protected because a huge old-fashioned dresser was blown across his crib, keeping the window glass slivers from him. My biggest concern was my husband’s slashed left eyeball. The white of his eye was protruding through a slit, and I felt I should do something about it. I went into the kitchen, where everything was broken and there was one little bottle of boric acid powder standing in the middle of all that mess. I heated some water and put some of the boric acid powder in it. I dribbled some of the solution onto the eye soaking the wet solution into a clean cloth. He held the clean cloth over his eye. I knew we had to get to an eye doctor as soon as possible, so we scrambled toward the car to head for Houston. Luckily, our car was full of gasoline. That is another lesson I learned; always have a full tank of gas in your automobile when you go to bed at night — because you never know when you might need it. It was chaotic in Texas City following the explosion. We saw people running down Bay Street from the site of the explosion with their skin and clothes blackened. At the time, the postal worker was delivering the mail. He said he couldn’t stop to help, as he had to deliver the mail! “The mail must go through.” I went to my neighbor, Mr. Kramer, who was laying in his yard with his hands under his head and his eyes glazed over. I wiped his face with my damp towel, asking him if he was all right. He replied, “Yes, I’m just waiting for my wife to return home.” But he told someone later on that he had been unconscious and that Mrs. Criss had come over and poured some water on him and brought him to consciousness. His wife, later, related what happened to her during the explosion while visiting with her neighbor: Slivers of broken glass were impaled onto the neighbor’s bald head, causing the blood to flow freely. The lady emptied a bowl of sugar on top of his head to coagulate the blood. Amid the many gruesome sights of that day, I do envision that one scene as amusing. Driving toward Houston, we met ambulances from other towns scurrying toward Texas City. In Houston, we stopped at a medical clinic. The doctors first thought they would have to remove Henry’s eye, but they recommended that we go downtown and see Dr. Robinson, an eye specialist. We did, and while Henry held onto the arms of a chair, the doctor took six stitches — three on the inside of the eyeball and three on the outside. He told Henry to walk on over to St. Joseph’s Hospital, about three blocks away; and when Henry questioned his being able to walk there, he said, “I operated on your eye, not your feet!” Henry walked to the hospital and when he removed his shoe, he found glass in the bottom of his shoes. About six weeks later, when bandages were removed from his eye, he could see how many fingers the doctor held up. Then the doctor said, “I’m the best damn doctor in the world.” Henry had been baptized 10 days before the explosion and I know God was with us when we survived the Texas City Disaster of 1947. Willie Dee Criss lives in Texas City.

Today is Election day for the Run-off in the Democratic Primary. Today voters will chose the Democratic nominee for Texas Railroad Commission. The Railroad Commission affects our energy, water and environment.

Check out the two candidates and chose the one that is best qualified to be the nominee.

Dale Henry  http://electdalehenry.com

Mark Thompson www.markfortexas.com

You cannot vote in this race if you voted in the March Republican primary.

From the Media

published in the Galveston County Daily News Sunday April 6, 2008

High-profile trials make for balancing act.

Galveston: Judge talks about protecting rights of accused, public
By SCOTT E. WILLIAMS

The Galveston County Courthouse is the site of hundreds of trials each year. Whether civil or criminal, each party in each case has rights, and protecting those is the duty of the judge presiding over each case.
When a case catches the attention of national media, judges inherit another bundle of concerns, as they must balance the rights of those in trial with the public’s right to know about court proceedings.
Judge Susan Criss, of the 212th State District Court, is no stranger to high-profile trials. Most recently, she has presided over the trial of Joshua Mauldin, convicted of injury to a child after he cooked his infant daughter in a microwave oven.
In the past year, Judge Criss has also presided over continual legal hearings over the March 2005 blasts at BP’s Texas City refinery, which killed 15, injured hundreds and launched thousands of lawsuits.
Both cases drew media attention from all over the world. However, Criss said she applied lessons to both trials that she had learned from a highly publicized murder case, about five years ago.
In 2003, she presided over the murder trial of Robert Durst. A jury ultimately acquitted Durst, a New York millionaire, in a case involving the death and dismemberment of his isle neighbor, Morris Black.
With national TV news agencies based in Durst’s hometown of New York, media coverage was heavy.
Criss said she tried to ensure the local, national and international press could report the trial, without allowing that coverage to interfere with the trial itself.
“The trial comes first, because everyone is entitled to a fair trial and to due process, but I try to find ways the press can do its job and let the public know what’s going on in court,” she said.
Judge Criss said that was easiest when a coverage plan was in place, before the trial even started. In Durst’s case, that meant allowing photographers time at the end of each day to get pictures of exhibits used in that day’s proceedings.
In Mauldin’s case, the plan included a pool camera to record lawyers and witnesses — but not jurors — for television, as well as establishing a media room for reporters and photographers to work in. That kept them out of the corridors, where they could have made for loud disruptions.
Keeping jurors from outside influence is something Criss takes seriously. During the Durst trial, the judge ejected a sketch artist from the trial, after finding the artist sketching the jurors. During Mauldin’s trial, Judge Criss repeatedly warned jurors they could face contempt of court if they discussed the case with anyone or violated her order not to watch, listen to or read any media account of the case.
“You have to enforce the rules fairly,” she said, adding that letting anyone get away with violating court rules, established to ensure everyone gets his or her fair day in court, sends a dangerous message.
Judge Criss also said that she had generally found media members to be fair, even when she had to rule against them.
“I know a lot of judges fear the media will distort things, but my experience is that if you explain a decision, they’re almost always very fair, even when there are things we can’t discuss, to protect things like attorney-client privilege,” she said. “Sometimes, I have to make a controversial decision, and either way it goes, I’ll get criticized, but the public does have a right to know what its elected officials are doing.”

Happy Annivesary!

Today is the 48th wedding annivesary for my parents, Lloyd & Diane Criss.

Remember to VOTE in the April Run-Off Elections

Please remember to vote in the April Democratic primary.

Early voting is from March 31 to April 4 from 7 am to 7 pm.

Election Day is April 8.

Dale Henry         http://electdalehenry.com

Mark Thompson  www.markfortexas.com

Things to consider as we go to our Senatorial District and County Conventions

Much concern and anxiety exists about how the senatorial distirct and county conventions will go this weekend. The extremely high number of new participants expected and the tensions between the presidential campaigns present new procedural challenges for those charged with the duties of conducting the conventions.

But we must remember those are challenges we should be thrilled to face. This level of voter participation and attention from national campaigns is what we have been hoping and praying for for years. Our party is growing and we are experiencing growing pains. We will be stronger for having gone through these experiences.

We must remember to be patient with the newcomers. They are full of enthusiasm and questions. And they need to be patient with those encharged with administering the process.

And those passionately involved in the Hillary/Obama battle must put aside their differences when the time comes to work together for real changes in our national government.

Below are some words of wisdom from persons who spent their lives embroiled in the political process to consider as we participate in our conventions.

The stakes are too high for government to be a spectator sport. Barbara Jordan 

We are never strong enough that you don't need help.  Cesar Chavez

We must learn to live together as brothers or we are going to perish together as fools. Martin Luther King Jr.

You can't do it unless you organize. Samuel Gompers

Activism is the rent I pay for living on this planet.  Alice Walker

The people united will never be defeated. Cesar Chavez

Bad officials are elected by good citizens who do not vote. George Jean Nathan

We come to reason, not to dominate. We do not seek to have our way, but to find a common way. Lyndon B. Johnson

I hope the two wings of the Democratic Party may flap together.  William Jennings Bryan

The future of this nation is in the hands of the American voter. Dwight D. Eisenhower

      

I'm Back!

For 10 months I have traveled all over Texas campaigning for statewide office. The demands of the campaign did not leave time to write much more than speeches, ad copy, and answers to candidate questionnaires. I wrote a few blog posts and comments but they were all about the race.

I missed posting on AsThe Island Floats. Now the campaign is over and I am back.

I lost 49% to 51% to Justice Linda Yanez in the Democratic Primary race for Place 8 on the Texas Supreme Court. For my first statewide race I did not think that was too bad. I won 198 counties out of 251. Three counties in the Panhandle did not conduct primary elections. I am not sure if there are any residents in those particular counties.

I had a wonderful time campaigning across this state. I made many wonderful new friends and reconnected with ones I had not seen in years. I learned things about campaigning statewide in Texas I could not have learned any other way than to just do it. I will defintitely put my new found knowledge to use in the future.

Losing is not as fun as winning but I am not unhappy about how things turned out. I am certain that something better will come along for me. And knowing that my primary opponent Linda is fully capable of doing a good job on the campaign trail and in the office is like the spoonful of sugar that makes the medicine go down. I am confident that the mission of my campaign will be acheived even if it is accomplished by someone other than myself.

Judicial ethics do not allow judges to endorse other candidates. I can tell you that I am supporting everyone on my party's ticket. Linda and I were friends before the race and are friends now. I look forward to working with her to improve our justice system.

I see brighter days in store for my party, my state, my country and my branch of government.These are the times we have been hoping, praying and working for.

For now I get to write again and continue presiding over criminal and civil trial dockets..

Are You Judging Me?

This weekend I went to the Galveston Home and Garden Show. While looking in one of the booths I ran into a friend I had not seen in a long time. She introduced me to her sister and told her that I was a judge.  The vendor of the booth was listening to our conversation. After my friend left I asked the vendor about some of her products.

The vendor was a young woman. She seemd nice but a bit nervous as she answered my questions. Finally she asked me if I was really a judge. I told her I was. Then she asked me, "'Are you judging me now?'

I realized that she thought I was judging the vendor  booths for the show. She was quite relieved when I explained to her that I was a real judge and worked in a courtroom.