Petty Officer 3rd Class Simon Samaniego is an aviation electrician’s mate with the Mighty Shrikes of VFA-94, which operates out of Naval Air Station Lemoore. Photo by U.S. Navy
CANDIDATE TO WORK FOR PORT
One of two candidates for the Republican nomination to serve in Congress representing District 27, which includes Nueces County, is going to work for the Port of Corpus Christi. Bech Bruun lost in his bid to be on the November mid-term election ballot to Michael Cloud of Victoria during a May primary runoff. Although his name is still on the ballot for the special emergency election to fill three to five months of the current term for that office, he has endorsed his former opponent, Cloud, for the spot.
A former chairman of the Texas Water Development Board, Bruun will focus his port work on water issues. His contract runs from June 1 to Dec. 31, 2018. Pay is not to exceed $49,000 for that time period, according to the contract approved by port commissioners.
EXXON GIVES $ TO AQUARIUM
Gulf Coast Growth Ventures and ExxonMobil recently donated $20,000 to the Texas State Aquarium. The GCGV project is a 1.8 billion-tonne ethane cracker plant planned for San Patricio County near Portland. The group, which has boots on the ground in Corpus Christi, is a joint venture with ExxonMobil and Saudi Arabia Basic Industries Corp. to build the plant.
The money will be used for the aquarium’s Wildlife Rescue program.
LOCAL IN NAVY FIGHTER SQUAD
Petty Officer 3rd Class Simon Samaniego, a 2011 graduate of Incarnate Word Academy in Corpus Christi, is currently serving with a U.S. Navy strike fighter squadron. The squad flies one of the world’s most advanced warplanes, the F/A 18 Super Hornet. The jet, which operates from aboard aircraft carriers, can destroy targets located hundreds of miles inland. Samaniego is stationed at Naval Air Station Lemoore and works as a Navy aviation electrician’s mate, responsible for the maintenance and repair of the electrical systems.
TINY HOMES NEED A PLACE TO LIVE
A Skills USA competition and a Del Mar College project could soon provide homes for 15 area homeless people similar to Austin’s Community First Village. The Austin tiny home project houses nearly 600 people.
The tiny homes in Corpus Christi were framed by Skills USA competitors. Del Mar College students, with the help of Braselton Homes and Hogan Homes, have taken on the project of finishing the homes to make them livable. What they need next is an organization to manage them and a location to put them.
The goal is to have all 15 occupied by the end of the year, said Paulette Kluge, CEO of the Convention and Visitors Bureau and a member of the Advisory Board on Homelessness. Once established, the project will continue with more tiny homes being added each year through the Skills USA competition and Del Mar College.
POTHOLE PIZZAS
The world’s largest pizza company is tired of potholes ruining its pizzas. To help solve the problem, Domino’s Pizza started a national “Paving for Pizza” initiative. Domino’s pledges to help fill potholes in towns nominated by pizza lovers across the United States. Potholes are already being repaired in Bartonville, Texas; Milford, Delaware; Athens, Georgia; and Burbank, California.
Nominate Corpus Christi at pavingforpizza.com.
