The Port Lavaca Wave (Port Lavaca, Tex.), Vol. 124, No. 96, Ed. 1 Saturday, September 12, 2015 Page: 1 of 14
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THE PORT - L AVAC A WAVE
75 CENTS
Volume 124, No. 96
PLWAVE.COM
Saturday, September 12, 2015
WEEKEND EDITION
EMS director’s
Student assaults 2 PLPD officers, Travis staff member
retirement
See ASSAULT Page A2
Church, family recall Deacon Calzada’s life
*
Al
See COUNTY Page A5
Port board
calling
See CALZADA Page A6
PL man receives life-saving transplant
/ 4
became
See PORT Page A2
he
not
was
Find us on
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9
7
A6
www.facebook.com/portlavacawave
(Value = $204)
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Calhoun County’s Newspaper
4s Constant As The Waves - Since 1890
approved
during
commissioner’
approves security
charge increase
Deacon Al Calzada gives the reading earlier this year on Ash Wednesday at Our Lady of the Gulf
Catholic Church. Calzada passed away Sept. 2 after serving as deacon 21 years. (Melony Overton/
Wave photo)
ARRESTS
CLASSIFIEDS
COMMUNITY
ENTERTAINMENT
OBITUARIES
SPORTS
YOUTH
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By KAYLA MEYER
PORT LAVACA WAVE
and
Henry
By KAYLA MEYER
PORT LAVACA WAVE
By MELONY OVERTON
PORT LAVACA WAVE
Check plwave.com for current
conditions, updated forecasts
and weather radar.
See Page
By MELONY OVERTON
PORT LAVACA WAVE
“We may not have it all
together, but with God, we have
it all. ”
-Calzada family motto
Today 88/70
, ■ Isolated thunderstorms.
'T-H ighs in the upper 80s.
Lows in the low 70s.
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www.lavacadental.com
Call 888-352-6322
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Se Habla Espanol
233 Calhoun Plaza, Suite 11,
Port Lavaca, TX - 77979 (Next to HEB)
be pepper sprayed. The juvenile
then swore at Riedel, the officer
said.
“I moved in to use the
pepper spray when the subject
tried to hit me with the metal
stick,” Riedel said. “As the metal
stick came down, I rushed in
and disarmed the subject.”
The juvenile then struck
Riedel in the nose with his
fist, the incident report stated,
causing the outside of the
officer’s nose to bleed. Riedel
stated in his report that he filled
out a juvenile detention police/
probation report for the offense
of assault on a public servant.
PLPD Sgt. Scott Keese, who
was later kicked by the juvenile,
observed the altercation.
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working, Graham was kept on
his employer’s insurance.
In October, the specialist
determined Graham needed a
liver transplant and referred
him to Memorial Hermann.
“The day before Christmas
Eve the specialist told me he
had done all he could do, and he
told me to check myself into the
Keese stated in his report
that he also observed Rangnow
instructing the juvenile to put
down the metal stick, which he
swung at Riedel. Keese said the
juvenile was holding the metal
pole like a baseball bat.
The juvenile was restrained
in handcuffs and taken back to
his cell, the report stated.
“After the initial assault
on Lt. Riedel, I, Sgt. Keese,
attempted to process (the
juvenile),” Keese wrote in his
report.
While escorting the juvenile
the fingerprinting and photo
area, the juvenile kicked Keese
using a mule kick technique,
court Thursday
By JAY WORKMAN
PORT LAVACA WAVE
facebook.
the matter.
While in custody of CCISD
law enforcement officers an
altercation happened at the
PLPD facility between PLPD
officers and the juvenile. PLPD
is the designated holding facility
until a juvenile is seen by the
juvenile probation officer, said
PLPD Chief James Martinez.
The incident at PLPD
occurred Tuesday, Sept. 1.
According to the PLPD
incident report, PLPD Lt.
Brandon Riedel was sitting in
his office at PLPD headquarters
when he heard screams coming
from the juvenile processing
room, where he also heard
juvenile probation officer
Monica Cortinas say, “You need
Memorial Hermann emergency
room because my liver was
going down,” he said.
Graham went to Memorial
Hermann Dec. 26 spending 12
hours in the ER.
“I crashed when I was in
there,” he said. “From Dec.
26 until I had my transplant I
See TRANSPLANT Page A2
for your family,” he said to
Calzada’s widow, Mary Calzada.
“His second calling was
to be a deacon of the church, a
servant at the holy altar of God,
to the people of God. Deacon
Al showed us the attitude that
a servant must have. A servant
is one who has to be selfless,
giving up your likes and dislikes
for the good of another person.
Ultimately a servant cannot
belong to his own,” he said.
“Ultimately, Deacon
looked toward the good of our
church family, especially our
brothers and sisters who speak
Spanish. And for that all of us
priests who served here are
immensely grateful,” he said.
Chen said selfless servitude
is the essence of a deacon’s
ministry.
“When we are servants and
we give of ourselves so much
eventually we disappear. A
servant doesn’t do it for himself,
he doesn’t help so he may be
recognized or be praised,”
he said. “And when you are
finished serving you say, ‘I am
an unprofitable servant.’”
“Today we come to give
thanks to the almighty God
for the service of Deacon Al.
This unprofitable servant, who
-.AS J/YvY
■IB
Two Port Lavaca Police
Department officers and one
Travis Middle School staff
member were assaulted last
week by a Calhoun County
Independent School District
student.
The juvenile was arrested
by CCISD law enforcement
officers on charges of a
terroristic threat and assault
with a deadly weapon, which
was a pair of scissors, on a
staff member at Travis Middle
School, CCISD Superintendent
James Cowley said in a press
release Thursday afternoon. He
did not comment further about
Johnnie Graham, of Port
Lavaca, who was dying from
liver disease and cirrhosis of
the liver, was given a week
to days to live in March. He
received a liver transplant
Aug. 6 and is on the road to
recovery. (Melony Overton/
Wave photo)
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Dr. Geetika Rastogi, DMD
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Dr. Mahesh Dholariya, DDS
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May 2014. He was working as an
oilfield consultant and his legs
began swelling.
“I started getting dizzy
and lightheaded. I thought it
was diabetes. I went to my local
doctor Timothy McFarland. He
did a test and said, ‘No. It’s not
that.’ But my family has had a
history of liver disease, plus I
did things earlier in my life that
didn’t help the situation,” he
said.
Liver tests were done and
Graham was sent to a specialist
in Victoria in late July 2014 who
told him he had liver failure
with cirrhosis. Graham also
has hepatitis C.
“I thought I was treated
for my hepatitis in 2007.1 never
thought anything about it. It
definitely did some damage,
between that and it (liver
disease) being hereditary,” he
said.
His grandmother died
of cirrhosis of the liver. His
In March, doctors told
Johnnie Graham, 48, of Port
Lavaca to call family and
friends because he only had a
week or slightly more to live.
Graham was dying of liver
failure and cirrhosis of the
liver.
“I have a 9-year-old son. I
waited until the last day to call
him,” Graham said, his eyes
welling with tears.
Graham received a liver
transplant Aug. 6 at Memorial
Hermann Hospital in Houston.
Weeks after the surgery, his
voice is weak, his hands are
shaky and he uses a walker to
get around.
“I want Christ to be
glorified in this. I would not
be here if it weren’t for Him,”
Graham said. ”How would I
have made it without God?”
Graham’s ordeal began in
The pews of Our Lady
of the Gulf Catholic Church
were filled Tuesday, and some
parishioners stood throughout
the funeral Mass, to say their
final goodbye to Deacon Al
Calzada, who passed away Sept.
2 at the age of 82.
Bishop Emeritus David
Fellhauer, who ordained
Calzada a deacon, officiated.
In his homily, Fr. Tommy
Chen compared Calzada to a
humble servant of the church
as alluded to in the Gospel of
Luke, where Jesus has a brief
discussion with his apostles
about what it means to be a
servant.
“We thank God for his
(Calzada’s) ability and all
his faithful years of service.
He showed us what it is to be
faithful to God, to fulfill our
vocation and calling in life,”
Chen said.
“His first calling was
marriage and children and
grandchildren. How faithful
he was as the spiritual guide
to put that down.”
“I heard more screams,
so I started down the hall to
investigate what was going
on,” Riedel stated in his
report. “I observed (PLPD)
Det. Colin Rangnow at the
juvenile processing room telling
someone that he better not hit
him.”
Riedel said in the report he
entered the juvenile processing
room, where a young male was
standing in the middle of the
room holding a metal stick
standing in a fighting stance
with the stick raised over his
head “ready to strike.”
Riedel further stated that
he informed the individual to
put down the stick or he would
The resignation
retirement of
Barber, director of Calhoun
Emergency Medical Services,
was approved Thursday
by the Calhoun County
Commissioners’ Court before
a roomful of EMS workers.
Barber started the EMS
here in 1980. In the first
full year of service there
were 800 calls answered.
In the latest year, 2,987
calls were responded to
with 24 employees and five
ambulances.
Barber said he has a
total of 43 years working
with emergency services, 35
of them in Calhoun County.
Several EMS workers spoke
with gratitude of his strict
training and he received
several rounds of applause
from the crowd.
Commissioners approved
his request that assistant
director Carl King be named
as EMS director. They also
retired Barber’s radio call
sign, Unit 1.
A resolution was
passed paying tribute to law
enforcement, fire protection
and emergency medical
services and designated Sept.
11, 2015, as First Responders
Day.
On another matter, the
commissioners nominated
Commissioner Vern Lyssy for
another term on the county
Appraisal District board of
maternal uncles and aunt died
of some liver complication, he
said.
The specialist put Graham
on a restricted diet of fruits,
vegetables and no sodium for
a year and a half. He went from
weighing 238 pounds to 163
pounds.
“He tried to treat me with
medications and different
things. The dizziness was
because my ammonia level was
getting so high. He put me on a
medication for that. He tried to
treat me the best he could. He
did a wonderful job,” Graham
said.
On Sept. 23, 2014, Graham
had doctor’s orders to stop
driving.
“I basically
disabled,” he said.
Graham received disability
in April.
“I had zero income coming
in,” he said.
Although
The Calhoun Port
Authority board approved a
security charge increase at its
regular meeting Wednesday
morning.
Board members voted 5-1
to increase security charge
for vessels by five percent to
$33.21. Since approximately
2006, security charges for
vessels have been $31.63 per
hour and for barges $31.62 per
day per tow, according to Port
Director Charles Hausmann.
Board chairman Randy
Boyd cast the lone dissenting
vote.
“(From) 2006 to 2015 at
only five percent? That don’t
sound like enough to me,”
Boyd said, adding that a two
percent annual increase over
nine years would bring the fee
to $38.55.
Hausmann said the tariff
was not necessarily a source
of revenue for the port, but
enough cover fees from the
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French, Tania. The Port Lavaca Wave (Port Lavaca, Tex.), Vol. 124, No. 96, Ed. 1 Saturday, September 12, 2015, newspaper, September 12, 2015; Port Lavaca, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1301477/m1/1/: accessed July 17, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Calhoun County Public Library.