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Wine Making
MLS team ready to face Club America, the chief rival of its Mexican counterpart.
Juan Francisco Palencia smiled while taking pictures of the trophy that will be awarded to the winner of today's "InterClasico" match between Chivas USA and Club America at Home Depot Center.
When asked if the winner should drink champagne out of the cup, the forward suggested Chivas would fill it with red wine.
Of course, that remark was a direct reference to the color red, which Palencia hopes will fill the stadium. It's just as likely that the blue and yellow of Club America will be there in the stands. Even on Friday, 10 fans of Club America waited outside the team's hotel in Torrance hoping to catch a glimpse or an autograph of the players.
Club America is one of the most popular teams in Mexico and is also the biggest rival of CD Guadalajara, the original Chivas soccer club. Both teams think this match means a little more than the average MLS-Mexican League friendly because of those rivalry ties in Mexico.
"Club America playing Chivas, whether it's in Mexico or in the United States, whether it is a friendly or whatever, it is an important game," Club America coach Luis Fernando Tena said at a press conference on Friday.
Palencia said he's looking forward to playing against an old rival from his time with Cruz Azul and Guadalajara. Club America midfielder German Villa said respect for American soccer has grown leaps and bounds in the past few years.
"The elimination of Mexico against the United States in 2002 World Cup was clear proof that soccer has grown in Major League Soccer and in the United States in general," Villa said. "It's given us an opportunity to come and (find) competition here in the United States."
Club America had long been rumored to start its own MLS franchise in Houston and while it hasn't happened yet, Tena is inclined to believe it will happen.
"It won't take very long for Club America to come play here in the United States, to do something similar to what Chivas USA is doing here," Tena said. "We have got as much of a market here as they do and (a team like this) would also give a lot of importance to MLS. I don't think a lot of time will pass before Club America has a team here in this league."
Wine Making
MAYOR BEVERLY O'Neill's love of the city of Long Beach is appreciated throughout the city and across the nation. The reciprocal love of the city for its mayor was demonstrated June 15 at the Long Beach Convention Center. The Long Beach Police and Fire Honor Guards provided the solemnity and pageantry, with Lucy Daggett filling the hall with her outstanding voice as she sang "America the Beautiful," followed by Father Jose Mangana who gave the invocation.
City Manager Jerry Miller welcomed the throng and presented video presentations of Mayor O'Neill's tenure in office.
Long-term friend and Bev admirer Jim Gray, along with Jim Hankla and Doris Topsy-Elvord spoke of the "early challenges" that faced the O'Neill administration.
Jane Netherton, Steve Goodling and Kraig Kojian remarked on the "transformation of the waterfront and downtown."
Joan Van Hooten and Randy Gordon spoke of her "citywide impact."
Chris McKenzie delivered the "state and national stage" with Tom Cochran who sang, "She's the most people-ist person in the world" ... "She's the best person in four decades to bring people together."
And Judy Ross, the Rev. Garon Harden and Chris Steinhauser spoke of the visibility and pride transformations.
The comments by the participants had a common theme ' all spoke of her grace, charm and dignity, her high energy, her support and presence, her ability to listen and her ability to bring people together. One speaker said she was like a high-performance automobile, "classy lines, high performance engine and ability to get the job done!"
As might be expected, the evening wasn't without some sentimental tears intermixed with the laughter provided by the speakers. It was a very touching farewell, made all the more so by Mayor O'Neill's remarks. She said, "The past 12 years were an exciting and fulfilling time of my life, the time flew by and in the process Long Beach defined who I am. I do love this city, it's a good place. It has good bones, as they say. It's unique. It's big enough to disappear in and small enough to have a sense of community.
"It has evolved from a tired navy town. It's been transformed into an entirely different vibrant and diverse community. I ran because people didn't like their city ' they now feel a sense of pride ' and it is that pride that I hope will carry on. It's a good city, we should have pride in it!"
Seen at the scene: Gov. George Deukmejian and Gloria, Bill and Teresa O'Neill with Jason, Kathy Wieder, Diane Jacobus, Mike Sanders, Bill Burnett, Randal Hernandez, Skip Keesal, Larry Allison, Rich Archbold, John Bennett, Rose Fitzpatrick, Gloria Arango, Liz and John Hancock, Ellen and Chris Pook, John Morris, Linda Rahn, caryn and Shashin Desai, Nancy and Rear Adm. John Higginson, Jill Rosenberg, Susan and Mort Stuhlbarg, Jim Normandin, Dr. Mel Marks, Tom Poole, Jana Martin and her daughter Mackenzie, Pat Wong, Mary Soth, and Donna Griggs.
GRAPE EXPECTATIONS
The party line: The setting couldn't have been prettier for the Long Beach Public Library Foundation's "Grape Expectations" event, held at the Virginia Country Club estate of Steve and Stephanie Salyer ' the stately home and gardens overlooking the golf course were designed by Ed Killingsworth.
Some 275 people were on hand June 24 to honor Mayor Beverly O'Neill, while raising almost $50,000 for the various programs of the Long Beach Library Foundation. These programs include the Family Learning Centers at each Library, as well as the Raising A Reader program, which has
trained more than 1,700 parents to boost their pre-schoolers' literacy.
Special awards were given: the Lifetime Literacy Award was presented to Mayor O'Neill; the Boeing & Employees of Boeing Foundation received the Corporate Leadership Award; and to her great surprise, Diane Jacobus, a former Library Foundation Board president, received the Individual Leadership Award.
Theresa Gomez, community development analyst for the city, spoke about the effects of the Library Foundation's Raising A Reader Program ' a series of workshops given to low-income parents and caregivers to enable them to teach children under five to read and develop high level literacy skills.
After lots of excitement at the silent auction tables, bidders sipped the "nectar of the Gods" with Porter Singletary singing his mellow tunes in the background, as they chatted their way down to the pool area where beautiful tables were set for dining and enjoyment of the Jan Eisen Trio Jazz band.
The then Mayor-elect Bob Foster wowed the crowd as the lively auctioneer. Humorous, dynamic and energetic, his leadership style proved to be tremendously successful! The winning bidders were Diane Jacobus (a week in Paris); Tom Cossio from Boeing (will spend a week at Warm Springs Creek); Josephine Molina had the high bid for the Keesal, Young & Logan Feast with author D.J. Waldie; Alan Kolsky and David Goldstein teamed up for the Sundance Ski Week at Park City Utah; Tom Stolpman of Stolpman Vineyards outbid all for the beautiful 700 Bottle Wine Cellar; Diane Spiegel will spend a week in a condo on Kauai; lucky Donita Joseph will spend a week at a hacienda in Cabo San Lucas and one of the dinner sponsors, Barbara and Jack Irvin purchased a special dinner and tour of the Getty Museum.
Wine expert Dan Berger paired the wines with the dinner that was catered by Sofia Riley of TGIS Catering Services. The meal included grilled shrimp gazpacho, Long Beach crab cakes, Thai cilantro roasted chicken medallions, blackened beef tenderloin, and an assortment of desserts.
Seen at the scene: Mayor Beverly O'Neill, Mayor-elect Bob Foster and his wife Nancy, City Councilwoman Tonia Reyes-Uranga, Port Commission President Doris Topsy-Elvord, event chairwoman Ludmila Montoya, event coordinator Jordan Mercedes, President Mary Barton, Lorrie Hutton, Peter Bostic;
From the Press-Telegram: Trish and Mark Stevens, Pat and Rich Archbold, Larry Allison and Lorraine and John Bennett;
Mary Hines, Linda and Doug Drummond, Wendy and Dr. Ron Smith, Pam and Dan Munzer, Shirlee and Dr. Ray Bouch, Jeanne and Frank Bader, Barbara and Ned Gaylord, Cindy and John Costello, Sue and Dr. Darrell Cannon; Reva and Dr. Sy Alban, Joan and Dr. Arthur Nickerson, Mary Alice and Bob Braly
And event sponsors Jack and Barbara Irvin, Jean and Charles Lane, Margaret and Charley Durnin, Kurt Schulzman and Richard Neri.
Wine Making
LAKE JACKSON ' Drew Ryder's two seafood restaurants sit 10 miles apart in the same county, but they are subject to vastly different liquor laws.
At On the River in Freeport, servers must simply check IDs to ensure everyone who imbibes in beer or mixed drinks is 21.
At River Point in Lake Jackson, customers who want to drink must become members of the restaurant's private club, a separate corporation with a separate bank account.
The manager must keep up with everyone's information and a membership committee must meet to vote on new members regularly. Ryder also pays an outside company to maintain the data.
'When people find out how much we have to go through just to maintain our records just to maintain our permit, they're flabbergasted,' Ryder said. 'Basically, it costs about $6,000 a year (more) for me to operate the mixed beverage permit in Lake Jackson than in Freeport.'
Since Prohibition ended more than 70 years ago, pockets of Brazoria County voters have gone to the polls to create a hodge-podge of liquor laws.
Freeport, for example, has been a totally 'wet' city since 1978, allowing liquor stores, wine sales in grocery stores and mixed drinks at restaurants.
By contrast, Sweeny has been completely 'dry' since 1958, when even the sale of beer was banned.
'Everything started out dry in each community,' said Carolyn Beck, spokeswoman for the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission. 'There are some counties that are entirely wet, but most are something in the middle.'
Across the state, there are 36 completely wet counties and 51 completely dry counties, Beck said. The remaining 167 are 'partially wet' or 'damp' counties, where some cities or judicial precincts have voted to allow some level of alcohol sales.
Brazoria County voters approved beer sales in 1933 at the same time they agreed to repeal Prohibition. Over the years, voters have loosened the liquor laws in Angleton, Freeport, Iowa Colony, Quintana, Surfside Beach and, most recently, Pearland.
But most cities are like Lake Jackson: still beer-only burgs where restaurants must obtain complex private club permits if they want to serve other types of alcohol to their customers.
'It is not uncommon in dry areas for places like that to establish private clubs,' Beck said. 'It was intended so that people could get together and serve alcohol to their members in a public place.'
Technically speaking, the clubs aren't supposed to sell drinks, but to serve alcohol that already belongs to the club and is being stored there.
'It's just a totally different animal than a bar or restaurant,' Beck said.
Richard Wood opened the Wurst Haus German restaurant in downtown Lake Jackson eight months ago with only a beer permit. After exploring the possibility of getting a private club permit so he also could serve wines, liquor and beer with higher alcohol content, he decided instead to try to change the permits available in Lake Jackson.
Last week, Wood launched a petition drive in hopes of triggering an election to allow the use of a mixed beverage restaurant permit for food and beverage certificate holders, a permit created by the state in 1999.
It would allow restaurants with less than 50 percent of gross receipts coming from alcohol sales to sell mixed drinks without the burdensome administrative work that goes along with having a private club.
'A restaurant is a restaurant; they're not a private club, come on,' Wood said. 'But they do it because that's the only way they can sell alcohol.'
Wood hopes his restaurant and others around town can gather 2,400 signatures of registered Lake Jackson voters by Tuesday in order to meet the first deadline on the way to getting on the November general election ballot. People can sign at Lake Jackson restaurants.
'We're feeling very good,' Wood said Friday. 'We're on our 50th signature right now and that's just after two or three days of doing it.'
The 2,400 signatures represent 35 percent of the number of voters who cast ballots in the last gubernatorial election. Registered voters must live within the Lake Jackson city limits for their signatures to count.
Changes in state law three years ago have made it easier for voters to force a local-option election to change liquor laws, Beck said. Petitioners have fewer signatures to gather ' they used to need 35 percent of all registered voters, period. They also have 60 days, instead of 30, to gather those signatures.
Elections are becoming so common that TABC has created a section on its Web page to try to keep track of the ballot initiatives.
'We've only gained one completely wet county since the law changed, but 11 completely dry counties have gone damp,' Beck said.
Plus, many communities that already allowed some alcohol have changed their rules.
In 2002, Pearland, the largest city in Brazoria County, successfully held the same type of election Wood is advocating. A similar vote already is set in West Columbia for this November.
According to TABC's Web site, communities have petitioned for a variety of local-option elections since 2003. Many are seeking the restaurant-only mixed beverage permit, but some are considering permits that would allow grocery stores to sell beer and wine or to allow sales of all types of alcohol. Wood said he considered broadening his petition.
'It crossed my mind, but I thought it's probably too big of a step at one time, and this right here is more realistic in terms of how permitting goes,' he said. 'If we were to put a petition together to allow wine in grocery stores that would be a whole separate permit and that might be something the grocery stores might want to go after. That would actually open up more alcohol availability than what this one would.'
Elections to only allow restaurants to serve mixed beverages are becoming more common around the state ' and they tend to be successful, Beck said.
'It's less of a threat, I think, to a lot of communities, the idea of having distilled spirits in a restaurant,' she said. '(In) a lot of communities, what they don't want is they don't want bars. That (permit) doesn't allow for bars, so it's easier to get that issue passed than it is if they tried to go for all alcoholic beverages.'
Lake Jackson restaurant owners point out that the proposed change effectively only would reduce the administrative hassle for restaurants and the inconvenience to customers who have to keep up with membership cards or give up their licenses for a few minutes when they order drinks.
'This is a tool that's already in place that would just make it easier for restaurateurs to operate their businesses ' and less expensive,' Ryder said. 'It doesn't change anybody's ability or inability to be able to provide alcohol with their menu.'
Ryder said he thinks the private club permit has become outdated and unnecessary.
'It doesn't benefit anyone that I can see,' he said. 'Running a restaurant is hard enough as it is without adding other steps.'
Jen Sansbury covers Lake Jackson for The Facts. Contact her at (979) 237-0152.
County votes to ratify Prohibition, the 18th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
1933
County votes to repeal the 18th Amendment, amend the Texas Constitution to authorize the sale of beer and wine with alcohol content not exceeding 3.2 percent, and allow beer sales in Brazoria County.
1935
County votes to repeal statewide Prohibition, prohibit open saloons and allow for local-option elections.
1936
Voters reject legalizing the sale of all liquors in Brazoria County; beer sales still allowed. Voters reject amendment to give the state exclusive rights to sell liquor.
1937
Voters again reject legalizing the sale of all liquors; beer sales still allowed.
1947
Justice Precinct No. 6 votes against prohibiting the sale of beer.
Justice Precinct No. 8 votes against prohibiting the sale of beer.
1958
Voters in Justice Precinct 5, which includes Sweeny, ban the sale of beer. Sweeny becomes totally dry.
1967
Richwood voters ban the sale of beer. Richwood becomes totally dry.
1968
Richwood voters allow the sale of beer for off-premise consumption only.
1969
Bailey's Prairie voters reject the sale of all alcoholic beverages; beer sales still allowed.
1970
Clute voters reject the sale of all alcoholic beverages; beer sales still allowed. County votes to repeal the prohibition against open saloons.
1977
Angleton voters approve sale of all alcoholic beverages, including mixed drinks. Angleton becomes totally wet.
1978
Surfside Beach and Freeport voters approve sale of all alcoholic beverages, including mixed drinks. Surfside and Freeport become totally wet. Oyster Creek and Alvin voters reject a similar proposal; beer sales still allowed.
1979
Lake Jackson voters reject the sale of all alcoholic beverages, including mixed drinks; beer sales still allowed.
1982
Sweeny voters reject the sale of beer; remains dry. Justice Precinct No. 3 voters reject sale of all alcoholic beverages, including mixed beverages; beer sales still allowed.
1986
Bonney voters reject sale of all alcoholic beverages including mixed beverages; beer sales still allowed.
1992
Iowa Colony voters approve sale of all alcoholic beverages including mixed beverages; becomes totally wet.
1996
Quintana voters approve sale of beer and wine for both on- and off-premise consumption.
2002
Pearland voters approve sale of mixed beverages in restaurants by food and beverage certificate holders only.
2006
West Columbia voters to consider approving sale of mixed beverages in restaurants by food and beverage certificate holders only. Lake Jackson restaurants launch petition drive to get the issue on the ballot as well.
SOURCE: Brazoria County election office, Texas Legislative Council
AREA REPRESENTATIVES NEEDED FOR Physicians to Market Health ...
Wine Making
Canberra's win over St George Illawarra yesterday was all about proving things.
The Raiders, 31-12 victors over the NRL glamour club at Canberra Stadium, proved themselves as genuine finals contenders.
They proved they are no longer simply making up the numbers in the race to the play-offs.
And their win proved the old adage correct that a champion team always beats a team of champions.
The Dragons' side was equal to the best it had been all season, with Mark Gasnier a shock call-up to join Matt Cooper in the centres, Ben Hornby shifting to fullback and Jason Ryles joining Luke Bailey in the starting front row.
Between the 17 Dragons was 97 matches of representative experience, including the Australian centre pairing of Cooper and Gasnier and front-row duo Bailey and Ryles.
On the other side of the paddock, the Raiders combined had only racked up 43 representative matches, 32 of which belonged to five-eighth Jason Smith whose last representative fixture was six years ago.
For Raiders coach Matt Elliott, the win was obviously vital for the two precious competition points on offer.
But more important to Elliott was proof his side could produce a stirring performance as clear underdog against quality opposition in the run to the finals.
"They didn't save anything up, they came with their best team," the coach said of the merged venture's line-up.
"But when you get 17 people committed to what we had prepared to do, it certainly doesn't make it frustrating for me.
"We know what we're capable of and we knew we were capable of beating St George and now we'll move onto our next opposition."
That next opposition is South Sydney on Saturday night, a match where victory would elevate the Raiders into the top eight.
Yesterday's victory moved them to ninth position, only outside the all-important eight on a negative points differential.
Canberra Stadium resembled the Dragons' territory of Kogarah Oval yesterday, with opposition fans making the hike from Sydney and Wollongong in droves.
But that only served as inspiration to the home side, which capitalised on the added atmosphere that had been lacking at home matches during the season.
Canberra was its own worst enemy in the opening stages of the match, making unforgivable errors in its own half and twice failing to get a kick away on the fifth tackle when in the Dragons' danger zone.
The Raiders didn't play structurally brilliant football but strategically, they were at their best.
They gradually wore down their prey and almost annoyed the Dragons out of the match with consistent attack and strong scrambled defence.
Their forward pack led the way.
The Dragons led early but three unanswered converted tries and a field goal to the home side sucked the life out of the Dragons, who played the final seven minutes with 12 men after referee Paul Simpkins sent Ryles to the sin-bin for dissent.
St George Illawarra coach Nathan Brown was full of praise for Canberra after the contest, rating Elliott as equal to the best coach in the NRL alongside Melbourne's Craig Bellamy and complimenting the Raiders for their persistence.
"They're like when you get bad relatives over and they don't go home. They don't go away Canberra, they just hang around," he said.
"You wait for them to leave and they keep staying and drinking all your good wine and beer. It doesn't matter what the score is, they're there and that's how they play."
Raiders captain Clinton Schifcofske praised his centres Adam Mogg and Phil Graham, claiming their defence set up the win.
Schifcofske, who kicked five conversions from as many attempts, approached the game thinking if his side could stop the lethal combination of Gasnier and Cooper from dominating, its chances of victory would increase. "They shut down their two fairly handy centres [Gasnier and Cooper] really well," he said. "Adam Mogg's done that for three or four weeks now and I don't think there's a better defensive centre in the comp at the moment."
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