It is the oyster silly season
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Luckily there are only two District Judges in Chambers County. We have already made one of them angry, so let’s make it unanimous.
Today that other Judge in Chambers County has stopped the State from moving oysters in a wide section of Galveston Bay to safer waters. Judge Chap Cain signed an order extending a temporary restraining order against the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, even though Judge Randy McDonald signed an order just the other day, sending the case to Travis County. Of course, Judge McDonald wasn’t at work today, so enter Judge Cain.
Wonder if they talk?
If you have your Galveston Bay Oyster scorecards ready, let’s recap.
The State had given oyster producers just two days in early October to transfer oysters to safer waters to protect public safety. Judge McDonald then issued a restraining order to stop the entire process, without even asking the State in advance. A Chambers County company called STORM (Sustainable Texas Oyster Resource Management), run by a local Justice of the Peace and his politically powerful kinfolk, got the order. STORM claims it owns every oyster in 23,000 acres of Galveston Bay after getting a no-bid backroom deal from the unelected bureaucrats on the Chambers-Liberty County Navigation District Board. The State of Texas has sued both.
After Judge McDonald’s ruling, Dolcefino Consulting expressed concern that “home cooking” in the Chambers County Courthouse was casting a shadow on this legal fight. Diplomacy is our strong suit and we made another friend. Judge McDonald took exception with a long speech on the independence of the Chambers County Judiciary, but transferred the case back to Travis County anyway, along with the news release from Dolcefino Consulting, “The smelly deal” one.
His decision meant the state could go ahead and allow oyster companies to protect the crop. The big transplant was on again, and was going to happen tomorrow, but today STORM found the other Judge in Chambers County to put the restraining order back on, claiming Texas Parks and Wildlife issued permits to transplant this morning, before the original restraining order was set to expire at the end of today. I know, silly, but good enough in Chambers County.
So, no oysters can be moved until after the next hearing on October 19, 2015. That means they likely won’t be safe to eat by November 1st, when the public oyster season begins.
Luckily there are only two Judges in Chambers County!
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