Publisher’s Perspective

An interesting few weeks

Posted

It has been an interesting past few weeks to say the least.

I attended my first ever NRA banquet, had guests over to the RV park to celebrate my new motor home, and even hosted a night of trivia at the Long Branch Saloon. It has kept me busy, but I have enjoyed every minute of it.

Let me share a few of the memories of the past few weeks before I head north to Minneapolis to visit my son and one-year old grandson Theodore.

At the NRA event, I met up with Reid Means to attend the annual gala. I was surprised by the large turnout and saw so many people that I have met since I started as publisher here in Gonzales. There was lots of laughter, joking and business talk all night long. Then the auction and drawings started at the end of the evening.
As winners of the drawings were announced, I couldn’t help but notice just how well one table was doing in taking home the hardware. My good friend Gonzales County Sheriff Matt Atkinson, his undersheriff Lynn Wilburn, and former sheriff Glen Sachtleben were all sitting at the same table. As the winners were announced, I noticed all of these guys were winning a lot of the good stuff. I started cat-calling from the cheap seats kidding the men on their good fortune. I told Matt in my next life I was going to get into law enforcement so I could win a few prizes at public events. He just laughed. I was happy for all of them. I didn’t win anything.

On Saturday, Aug. 24, I had a few guests at my place at my new abode in the RV Park. Randy and Trish Berger, Bimbo, Tina and Miss Connie all came out to spend a day enjoying the sunshine and soothing waters of the San Marcos River.

After sitting in the river for an hour or so enjoying a few adult beverages, we detected the aroma of someone smoking pot in the group next to us. Trish did not notice the smell like Randy, Tina and I, but we all talked about being downwind from the group that was tubing next to us. A little while later, I noticed Trish was holding her nose. She suddenly looked up and said to our group, “There is a skunk in the area. It’s going to be down by the river any second now.”

We all looked at her and burst out laughing. The “skunk” wasn’t a skunk at all — it was the group next to us smoking some more. We literally roared at Trish. I made the comment that it was skunk weed she was smelling, and she just blushed. Forever more, skunk weed and Trish will always be linked together in my mind.

On Thursday night, Aug. 29, I was the guest host of trivia at the Long Branch Saloon. Four teams showed up to play, and it was one of the most fun nights I have had in a long time. When it came down to the final category, the remaining teams were tied for the lead.

The final category was college football, and I thought everyone would get the questions easily.

Boy was I wrong.

It turns out the group in attendance that night knew country music, grunge, state capitals, Star Wars and Tombstone, but no one knew or cared about college football. The teams were all hissing at me about the questions, and I could only smile. When I asked the first question about who the current defending national champion was (Clemson, by the way is the correct answer. Texas A&M play Clemson this Saturday in South Carolina) and no one knew, I realized it was going to be a long night.

But at the end of the day, it came down to the final question and one team came out on top. Tyler, Phillip and Wally had outlasted Karen, Reid and Daniel for the victory. They all left with a Craft Beer Festival T-shirt and souvenir Thirsty Planet beer mug.

A fun night, and one I hope to repeat in the next month.

Comments