Lions Club
Adds Trio
To The Pride
Palacios hosts
Japanese
Students
Sharks
Compete At
State Meet
See PagE 3
See PagE 5
See Page 10
Shrimp industry faces uncertainty with shortage of H-2B visas
BY ALAN C. SCHULMAN
Palacios Beacon - Reporter
‘All dressed up and nowhere to go’ is
a good description of the current state
of paralysis that exists in the shrimping
industry along the Texas Gulf Coast in
general, and Palacios in particular. The
current situation of not having enough
workers for shrimping fleets is due to
a shortage of temporary worker visas
and the expiration of the “Returning
Workers” program.
Why the need for foreign workers
on shrimp boats?
Local shrimping industry veteran
Craig Wallis explained that the available American workforce can’t ‘cut it’
on shrimp boats. Wallis stated, “I hate
to say it, but the calibre of people that
we can get, the American people, they
have a lot of issues, whether it be drug
problems, drinking problems, their
diet, their health. It all comes back on
us when we put them on that boat, that
boat is back in the dock in a week, two
weeks, whether it be DTs from drinking or non-drinking, whether it be staff
infections from bad diet they’ve had
when they’re in port, and they basically can’t get the job done.”
It is very demanding work and Gulf
shrimp boats stay out on the water
for as long as 70 days, so looking for
workers at the local unemployment office probably won’t yield any qualified
candidates, though there are rules em-
PALACIOS
March 29, 2017
VOL. 110 • NO. 14
PALACIOS
TEXAS
The Only
Newspaper In The
World Published Just
For The Palacios Area.
MEMBERS of the Palacios shrimping community work with elected officials and their representatives to find a solution to the H-2B
visa shortage that could sink the 2017 shrimping season. Pictured
are: (left to right) Palacios City Manager David Kocurek, Port of
Palacios Port Director Debbie Morris, Matagorda Co. Judge Nate
McDonald, W&W Dock’s Craig Wallis, J.D. Kennedy of Congressman Blake Farenthold’s Office, and Israel Linarte, Director, Marine
& Industrial Safety Association. (Beacon Photo by Alan Schulman)
BEACON
WEDNESDAY
•
ployers must follow to determine that
there are not sufficient U.S. workers
who are qualified and available before
hiring foreign workers.
Why is there a shortage of Visas?
The H-2B non-agricultural temporary worker program has a limit of
66,000 H-2B visas per fiscal year, with
33,000 allocated in the 1st half (Oct.
1 - Mar. 31) and 33,000 allocated in
the 2nd half (Apr. 1 - Sep. 30). Current regulations prevent shrimping
industry employers from applying for
these visas sooner than 90 days prior
to the date of need, which is during the
1st half of May. The problem is that,
by the time the shrimping industry 90(See VISAS, Page 2)
USPS 418460
Serving The City By The Sea Since 1907
P. O. Box 817 • 317 Commerce
Palacios, Tx. 77465
(361) 972-3009/Fax 972-2610
E-Mail: [email protected]
Website: palaciosbeacon.com
Citizens prod
Pavilion Cmte.
for answers
Beacon Deadline
5 p.m. Friday
BY ALAN C. SCHULMAN
Palacios Beacon - Reporter
Except for paid advertising, all
articles, photos or other information submitted on Monday
will be published on a space
available basis only.
Open 8:30 a.m.-5 p.m.
Beacon Closed Wednesday
Observing Our
th
110
Year
1907-2017
BEACON
BRIEFS
■ St. Anthony’s
Lenten Fish Fry
Fri. at KC Hall
St. Anthony of Padua’s
Catholic Church in Palacios
will hold its Lenten Fish
Fry on Fri. (Mar. 31) for
$9 per plate dine-in or take
out, from 4 p.m. until sold
out. Plate includes fish,
shrimp, coleslaw or rice,
pinto beans, hush puppies,
dessert and tea.
PLAY BALL!
THE Palacios Little League officially kick started the 2017 season last Saturday with Opening Ceremonies and a day long lineup
of teeball, softball and baseball games. (PICTURED ABOVE) Jacob Arguillo of the Rangers hurdles Astros pitcher Landon Sides at
home after a passed ball. (PICTURED LEFT) Jett Johnson of the
Goonies aims his throw to first base in hopes of beating the Wolverines baserunner. The Palacios Little League Fields will be hopping
with games on most nights of the week, except Wednesdays. You can
find a copy of the Palacios Little League Schedule on the Palacios
Little League page on Facebook. (Beacon Photos by Ryan West)
■ BBQ chicken
dinner Sun. at
VFW Hall
The Palacios VFW Auxillary will hold a BBQ
chicken dinner on Sun.
(April 2) from 11:30 a.m. 1:30 p.m. at the VFW Hall
located at 200 Commerce.
Plates are $10 dine-in
or take-out and includes
BBQ chicken, dessert, and
tea or coffee.
■ MCRTA meets
Tues. at TBE
The Matagorda County
Retired Teachers’ Association will meet on
Tues. (April 4) at 11:30
a.m. at the Texas Baptist
Encampment in Palacios.
A program on Health &
Fitness Information and a
musical program by First
Voice will be give. The
entree will be roast beef.
For more information call
979-245-5109.
SUBSCRIBE TO THE
PALACIOS
BEACON
1 SECTION, 10 PAGES
County’s registered sex
offender total decreases
BY RYAN WEST
Palacios Beacon-Publisher
The number of registered sex offenders residing within the Palacios city limits has remained
the same over the past 12 months, while the
countywide total reflects a small decrease in
the number of registered sex offenders that call
Matagorda County home.
As of March 24, the Texas Department of
Public Safety’s (TXDPS) Sex Offender Registry listed four offenders living within the Palacios city limits, and 11 total in the 77465 zip
code. In reality, the 77465 zip code has only
10 sex offenders due to the registry erroneously
listing a Markham address with an inaccurate
77465 zip code.
Over the past year, there has been an decrease
from 96 to 93 offenders residing in Matagorda
County, with four females included in the total.
According to the TXDPS, when an offender
is released from prison and is labeled ‘likely to
(See OFFENDERS, Page 3)
Now seeing patients!
New Palacios Medical Clinic open for business
BY RYAN WEST
Palacios Beacon-Publisher
After months of construction, the new Palacios Medical
Clinic officially opened it doors
on Mon. (Mar. 27) to see its first
ever patients with a ‘soft’ opening.
Prior to opening its doors to
the public, the providers that service the Clinic, and members of
the Palacios Community Medical Center staff were joined by
Rev. David King who bestowed
a blessing on the new facility and
(See CLINIC, Page 2)
It was only a matter of time
before those who hold feet to
the fire in town would appear
at a Palacios Beautification
and Pavilion meeting, and
appear they did during the
public forum at last Wednesday’s meeting.
Noting that the City of Palacios has now committed its
citizens to foot the bill, in the
form of taxes, for the remaining debt of the new Pavilion,
Bonnie Benson was in attendance to hold the Committee’s feet to the fire on their
promise to continue fundraising to reduce the amount of
debt incurred by the City.
Chip Woolf was there seeking evidence that the Committee had actually planned
for all eventualities of running a ‘business’, which the
new Pavilion will be. Woolf
was frustrated, as usual, that
a ‘business plan’ was not
readily available because the
Committee has been focused
(See PAV, Page 2)
PISD making
turnaround
in cafeterias
BY ALAN C. SCHULMAN
Palacios Beacon - Reporter
“It’s really impressive
when you take into account
that the food quality actually
has improved, from the feedback I’m getting.” That was
PISD School Board Trustee
Peter Zamaripa’s response
to the Financial Update presented by James Schumann
at Last Monday’s Regular
Meeting.
The report revealed that,
since implementing a new
in-house food service this
year, Palacios ISD has gone
from subsidizing the food
service at local campuses to
the tune of approximately
$200,000 per year to slightly
less than $25,000 this year.
Schumann believes that, with
some tweaking, the food
service might even become
profitable in the near future.
Schumann attributes the turnaround to efficiencies gained
by bringing the food service
in-house and using a consulting service where an outside
food service company was
(See PISD, Page 4)
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