May 14, 2019 Our 25th Year of Publishing (979) 849-5407 PLEASE mybulletinnewspaper.com © 2019 TAKE ONE LAKE JACKSON • CLUTE • RICHWOOD • FREEPORT • OYSTER CREEK • ANGLETON • DANBURY • ALVIN • WEST COLUMBIA • BRAZORIA • SWEENY Sky, bugs, trucks are bigger in Texas I protested my appraisal There was no line, and I received an informal The Bulletin’s biggest Ticket Give-Away Contest hearing right away We’re going to send some lucky Bulletin readers to Schlitterbahn Waterpark in Galveston again this year. But this time, we’ll send more There are certain things I really than ever. We plan to give away a set of two tickets ($100+ value) to 10 don’t look forward to, like going to winners. All you have to do is fill out this entry blank completely and mail the dentist, getting a colonoscopy, it to The Bulletin, P.O. Box 2426, Angleton, TX 77516. If you want to save or heading down to the Brazoria a stamp, you can fax it to us toll-free at 1-866-844-5288, or email the County Appraisal District offices to completed entry form to [email protected]. One entry per person, try to bring my property appraisal please. Entry deadline is May 28. Winners will be announced on June 4, back down to Earth. 2019. My dentist is really nice, and I overcame that fear a long time ago. NAME:_____________________________________________________ I’m not going to make any com- ments on colonoscopies. People By B.A. Belthoff azure blue its expansive appear- ADDRESS:_________________________________________________ my age know The Bulletin ance. At first, it felt like it enveloped what that is One of the first things visitors have me, making me feel tall, yet at the CITY:______________________TX., ZIP_________________________ amblings all about. But remarked to us upon visiting Texas same time, like a tiny speck on the R I try to put off for the first time planet. It’s similar EMAIL___________________________________PH_______________ By John Toth going down to is, “Wow I can’t Transplanted in Texas to the feeling you the appraisal believe how big get when you stand Why do you want to enter?_____________________________________ Editor and Publisher office, using the sky is here!” on the shoreline looking out at the __________________________________________________________ every excuse available to me. Then While we all know the sky is ocean. __________________________________________________________ I start running out of time, and there the same size everywhere, it’s the The sky is bigger, the bugs are __________________________________________________________ I go. flatness of our terrain and lack of __________________________________________________________ (Continued on Page 4) The last time I was there a few tall trees and buildings that give the years ago, the place was packed. It took about three hours to see an INSIDE THIS ISSUE appraiser. It took about an hour Perfect fishing plans turn into picking up others’ trash and a half to get my driver’s license Ernie’s column By Janice R. Edwards enjoying her bounty. have just flown out of someone’s renewed in person in Angleton last The Bulletin The fishermen motored into their boat as they went zipping along the year, so you see why I was trying on how to spot The sun rose all yellow and pink “secret” fishing hole silently, using water’s surface. No big deal – or to find any excuse not to go to the filling the morning with color. The their trolling motor. Perfect! No one was it? appraisal offices this year. river was cool green and glass else was in sight! It was shaping up One fisherman cast out along the But my assessed property value fake news was just crazy high, and the visit SEE PAGE 10 calm. There was a tantalizing to be a perfect day – just the fisher- shoreline and started to reel back in breeze beckoning the fishermen men and their quarry. - only to get hung up on something could not be put off any longer. They to “come hither” to their favorite But then the day took a turn for on the bottom. After some tugging didn’t single me out. Residential Read this before fishing hole. They had bait, tackle the worst - a glint of red bobbing and a few choice words, he reeled property values have been shooting and time – so off they went, expect- along the shoreline reflecting the in a small log completely enmeshed up for a while with all that indus- getting your kid a ing to find the peace that comes morning sunlight – someone’s dis- in discarded fishing line. His buddy trial expansion down here and the from being with Mother Nature and carded Coke can. Oh well, it must (Continued on Page 5) housing market lagging behind the pet alligator demand. SEE PAGE 6 When it’s a lopsided seller’s market, like today, that’s what property values do – they shoot up. Library’s summer I understand that part. But there has May 18 reading program (Continued on Page 11) Like us on Facebook offers prizes facebook.com/ SEE PAGE 9 brazoriacountybulletin Page 2 THE BULLETIN May 14, 2019 (979) 849-5407 www.mybulletinnewspaper.com was a limit to how many pounds A 2014 story posted on necessary out on the scorching Apollo 11’s not so Tranquility Base of instruments and gear the Eagle NASA.com offered greater detail on lunar surface, were too cold for the sleeping problems the Apollo 11 Module, nicknamed Eagle, was could carry for its moon landing sleeping inside the Eagle. The best By Roger Simmons astronauts faced: Orlando Sentinel (TNS) designed to land them on the and subsequent liftoff to bring the Aldrin managed was a “couple The Eagle was not a sleepy After landing on the moon, taking moon’s Sea of Tranquility — it was astronauts back to their orbiting hours of mentally fitful drowsing.” place. The tiny cabin was noisy one small step for man and a couple not designed to give them a tranquil command module. Armstrong simply stayed awake. with pumps and bright with warning of giant leaps for mankind, it was night’s sleep. “Quickly discarded were stools When the wake-up call finally lights that couldn’t be dimmed. Even finally time for Apollo 11 astronauts With just 160 cubic feet of space for the pilots,” noted a 1969 Orlando came, “Tranquility Base, Tranquility the window shades were glowing, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin to inside, the LEM had no beds for the Sentinel story about the LEM’s Base, Houston. Over.” illuminated by intense sunshine wind down and get some sleep. The weary Apollo 11 astronauts. It had weight issues. “It was decided the Armstrong answered with alacrity, outside. problem was where? no seats, either. astronauts could stand, with the aid “Good morning, Houston. Tranquility “After I got into my sleep stage Their tiny Lunar Excursion The reason was weight. There of harnesses.” Base. Over.” In the early hours of July 21, and all settled down, I realized there The long day was done. It was 1969, after wrapping up a thrilling was something else (bothering time to go home, to Earth, for a but grueling period of astronauting me),” said Armstrong. The Eagle good night’s sleep. on the lunar surface, it was time for had an optical telescope sticking out Since the nearest motel was Armstrong and Aldrin to go to sleep. periscope-style. “Earth was shining more than 238,000 miles away, Their mission of becoming the first right through the telescope into my NASA needed to find a way for humans to walk on the moon was eye. It was like a light bulb.” Apollo astronauts to sleep on future more successful than becoming the To get some relief, they closed moon missions. first to sleep on it. the helmets of their spacesuits. It By Apollo 12’s launch in Novem- BACK AGAIN SO SOON? After being released from jail in Fort Neither was able to fall asleep. was quiet inside and they “wouldn’t ber 1969, the space agency had a Pierce, Fla., where he had been confined for grand theft, a man walked “Neil has been lying on the engine be breathing all the dust” they had sleep solution that was lightweight out into the parking lot and proceeded to break into cars while waiting for cover and I curled up on the floor,” tramped in after the moon walk, said and would allow astronauts to lie his girlfriend to pick him up. He was filmed doing this by the jail’s surveil- Aldrin reported when the astronauts Aldrin. Alas, it didn’t work. down horizontally in the LEM: moon lance camera, which, for some reason, he was unaware of. He was a received their “wake-up” call from “The suit’s cooling systems, so hammocks. free man for about 15 minutes. Mission Control. NO FEMININE MYSTIQUE HERE: A woman showed up at the wedding of her former boyfriend in the Hunan Province of China wearing a wedding dress and begging him to take her back. She grabbed him by the hand and tried to pull him away from the altar, while saying “I was wrong” and “Come back to me,” before collapsing to the floor. The groom declined her request. CAN’T WE OUTRUN THEM? A man who yelled obscenities and caused disturbances in a number of businesses in Indialantic, Fla., told arresting officers that he is a super villain called “the saint,” and threat- ened to release his turtle army to destroy the people of the town. THAT’S IT, PAL, A ZERO STAR RATING FOR YOU: An Uber driver drove a couple to the airport and then returned to their home in San Mateo, Calif., and burglarized the place.