Rita Cook

Tales from Paranormal Ports and Eerie Estuaries Five adjacent Texas counties--Jefferson, Orange, Liberty, Hardin and Chambers--share more than borders and proximity to the Gulf. Their local lore tells of haunted hotels, schools, parks and more. Haunted Hotel Beaumont, the John Jay French Museum, the Julie Rogers Theatre and the Tyrrell Historical Library all dot Beaumont's landscape. Port Arthur's haunts included the Sabine Hotel, the Model Prison, the Island of the Dead and the Sabine Pass Lighthouse. The Ott Hotel, the Chambers Plantation Mansion in Anahuac and the historic town of Wallisville possess paranormal activity. Near Lumberton, spirits haunt the Old Kountze Jail and Village Creek State Park. Cemeteries throughout the area house restless souls, including Magnolia Cemetery and Calvary Cemetery, as well as Port Neches' Abandoned Cemetery and Silsbee's Knupple Cemetery. Join author Rita Cook on a ghost hunt in the land of oil and sea.

A place with wild men and wilder women," 1920s Dallas boasted one bar for every one hundred people, and a thirsty Texan could find a drink nearly anywhere. Although home to the Texas Anti-Saloon League, drinks never stopped pouring in Dallas and Fort Worth, fueled by the likes of Jack Ruby, Benny Binion, saloons and dance halls. Homegrown moonshine and bathtub gin yielded specialty recipes that today's barkeeps have honed into tasty concoctions for a contemporary palate. Join Rita Cook as she explores prohibition in Dallas and Fort Worth and learn from Jeffrey Yarbrough and his band of local mixologists about their modern takes on classic drinks so readers can step back in time, drink in hand."

In Fort Worth, the past and present exist side by side and spirits walk among the living. Stay the night at Miss Molly's Hotel; the oldest bed-and-breakfast in the city boasts frequent eerie occurrences and unexplained sightings. Nearby, Cattlemen's Fort Worth Steak House features a special like no other, just watch out for flying liquor From Bonnie and Clyde's old "haunts" to the once notorious Hell's Half Acre, Fort Worth is filled with historic spots rumored to play host to lingering ghosts and specters.

Tales of the strange and supernatural echo through the halls and city streets of the Big D. At the Renaissance-inspired Majestic Theater, it is rumored that the curtains are lowered by ghostly hands, and it is said that there is a sadness that lingers at the Sixth Floor Museum in the room where Oswald aimed at JFK. Travel downtown to the grand Adolphus Hotel, where guests from the turn of the century still dance to the strains of a phantom waltz, but beware of the stretch of road along White Rock Lake where a mysterious force kills the engines of unwary motorists. Join local author Rita Cook as she journeys into the darkest corners of the Texas heartland with this chilling collection of stories.

Robert's Rules of Order have been around since 1876, when Henry Martyn Robert published the first edition of his book, which was then known as the Pocket Manual of Rules of Order for Deliberative Assemblies. The book based its outline on the House of Representatives' meeting procedures and adapted these methods for use in society as a whole. Since these rules debuted, they have become the most commonly adopted parliamentary method in the United States, with approximately 95 percent of all clubs, organisations, and governments practising them. When the copyrights of the original editions expired, many other Robert's Rules of Order began to surface. Today, many of these books are the same - with one apparent problem: a lack of focus on current trends, specifically the Internet. However, The Complete Guide to Robert's Rules of Order Made Easy emphasises this fact and stresses how society has changed due to the advent of the Internet. Clubs, organisations, and societies need to know how to meet and communicate online, and this book provides the answer. In this book you will learn about technology, conducting meetings online, communicating online, teleconferences, Web conferences, and Web seminars. You will also learn the proper ways to address and send e-mails, as well as how to communicate using instant messenger software. The Internet has transformed the meeting space, and you need to incorporate these changes into your meetings. Additionally, you will learn about all the more traditional rules, including such things as quorum, abstention votes, votes of no confidence, friendly amendments, proxy votes, executive sessions, points of privilege, parliamentary inquiries, and debates. You will also learn how you can adopt Robert's Rules of Order, how to qualify as a legal meeting, how to follow the standard order of business, how to handle a motion, and how to nominate and elect officers. Also included is a discussion of the various motions, including privileged, incidental, subsidiary, main, and unclassified, as well as the basic by-laws and the required paperwork, such as minutes, treasurer's reports, and committee reports. This guide will serve as your guide to conducting orderly and fair meetings in the 21st century. The rules for using the Internet as a meeting and communication space are clearly defined, easy to understand, and simple to apply.