Inside the Moon
Famous Mazochs A2
Columbian Peace Vote A6
The
Issue 658
Island Moon
The voice of The Island since 1996
November 24, 2016
Around The Island
By Dale Rankin You know fall has arrived on The Island when your Saturday morning alarm clock is .12 gauge. The duck season is in full bloom through Sunday so expect the cacophony to carry on along the Laguna Madre until then. The fishing continues to be good all over The Island. Anglers have been catching flounder in the canals and there are several reports of Spanish mackerel being caught from the beach fifteen to twenty miles down Padre Island National Seashore. Large trout have also been caught up and down area beaches. We can always tell when the fish are moving because the shores of Packery Channel by the bridge fill up with wade fisherpersons; maybe the mathematically inclined amongst us could come up with a formula there - 2 fisherpersons X 78-degree water = 10 SPH (Specks Per Hour). Offshore fishing has also reportedly been good on the days when the wind lays down enough to go out.
Red Light talkin’ The agenda for the next meeting of the Island Strategic Action Committee, 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, December 6, at Schlitterbahn, is not out yet but expect a discussion of the traffic light currently being installed at the SPID/Aquarius. The original plan for the light has hit some snags as the 105-room hotel which was the raison d'être for the light in the beginning has, at least for now, disappeared from the plan. The question at hand is what kind of warning device, if any, should be placed on the JFK Causeway as drivers approach the high point in the bridge, and the blind spot behind it, as they approach The Island from the Flour Bluff side. The fear is that on busy days traffic at the light will back up onto the bridge and drivers coming over the top will have nowhere to go when they encounter stopped cars on the downside.
Turkey Bowl A18
Texas Rangers A6
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Tortuga Dunes Headed for New Ownership
Tortuga Dunes as originally envisioned By Dale Rankin After almost a decade of inactivity due to the cost of flood insurance the moribund Tortuga Dunes beachside development along Zahn Road north of Packery Channel appears headed for new ownership. Developer Jeff Lampkin, the driving force behind the successful beachside mixed-use development Cinnamon Shore in Port Aransas, has made an offer to buy the 137 acre-tract, with
66-acres of developable property at a price, according to sources, of under $3 million, according to the listing the property had been on the markets since spring, 2016 at price three times the final purchase price. The remainder of the property on the site must be maintained as wetlands. “We have the property under contract,” Lampkin said last week. “So far we have not decided what we will do with it if we buy it.”
The dune walkover is ready for use. Lampkin said building singlefamily homes, as envisioned by Forestar Group which originally developed the property, is unlikely. When Forestar built and marketed the property in 2008 they told potential buyers that while federal
Where There's Smoke...
flood insurance was not an option due to FEMA restrictions placed on the property due to its location adjacent to the Gulf of Mexico, a deal had been struck with Lloyds of London to provide private insurance. However, according to potential buyers at the time the original cost of a slab for a 2000 square-foot house could have run as high as $225,000 with monthly flood insurance premiums at around $5000 per month.
In spite of the obstacles the original investors went ahead with Phase I of the project which included building infrastructure including, electric power, water, telephone, and gas and
Tortuga cont. on A4
December 9-10
La Posada!
The La Posada Lighted Boat Parade and the activity leading up to it are only four weeks away. The Old Farmer’s Almanac calls for higher than normal temperatures this year and the Old Farmer usually knows about these things. The kickoff party is Tuesday December 6 at Scuttlebutt’s, bring your toys. For full schedule and information see the section in this issue.
If you have an interest in what happens at that intersection the ISAC meeting will be the place to get information and/or make your opinion heard.
Port A talkin’ We had a big night at Shorty’s last Saturday as the Moon Monkeys stayed out till way past dark. Our old friend Michael Martin came down from S.A. and we old geezers who usually set with the sun risked throwing out backs out by dancing. We’re trying to limber up for the Turkey Bowl at the Back Porch Bar at the end of this month. The annual event is a bittersweet time because it marks the end of the season at the venerable outdoor bar and we kind of wander around in circles until next February when they reopen. It’s almost time for the Winter Texan Season which means things will heat up at The Gaff as the belt sanders take to the track. There is a rumor that the Winter Texans only go to see those belt sanders crash but we don’t’ believe that. We think they go because it’s free.
La Posada talkin’ It’s about time to La Posada everybody so get some toys ready and make sure your blender is working. There is no heartbreak like a broken blender at a La Posada party. We once knew a guy who had to stir his batch of margaritas with a boat oar and after that the thing would only paddle his boat in circles. The bad news was he never really got where he was going, but the good news was that he never go lost either, he just ended up right back where he started. But then isn’t that the case with just about everything in this world. Say hello if you see us Around The Island.
A large brush fire broke out Monday afternoon on the back of The Island south of Sea Pines. Investigators said it appeared whoever started it arrived by boat because there were no tire tracks to the site. It started west of the houses and the wind blew it away from the subdivision so no structures were threatened.
A little Island History
Thanksgiving: An Alternative Story
plunder and profit. Four-fifths of the cost for the venture was paid for We all grew up hearing the story by noble lords, including the Earl of Thanksgiving. You know the of Orford, the Baron of Romney, one, the Pilgrims suffered through a the Duke of Shrewsbury, Sir John tough winter with the Somers, and Lord help of their Native Richard Bellomont American friends and a tall, gout-ridden, then threw a big party sixty-year old Irish to celebrate and bang, aristocrat who was we got Thanksgiving. heir to a baronetcy Well, that makes for a in Ireland but broke. warm and fuzzy story Bellomont managed but that may not be to bring King William exactly how it went III of England into the down. project and Kidd was Author Richard presented with a letter Zacks in his book of marque, signed “The Pirate Hunter personally by the – The True Story of CaptainWilliam Kidd King which reserved Captain Kidd” tells 10% of Kidd’s a slightly different captured loot for the version. Crown, and subsequent historical evidence suggests that the King may England 1695 have even fronted some of the money The story begins in England in 1695 for the voyage himself. when some of the most powerful At the time, Bellomont had secured men in the Empire put financial an appointment as Governor of backing behind the voyage of Massachusetts Bay in the New ship captain William Kidd whose World and was looking to add the mission was to put to sea and raid the ships of England’s enemies for Alt-Thanksgiving cont. on A4 By Dale Rankin
It Wasn’t Official – But the First Thanksgiving in America was Celebrated on the South Texas Plains in 1534
Thanksgiving holiday as we now know it began to take shape. Days of Fasting were called for after the drought of 1611, and for relief from the plagues of 1604 and 1622; in 1588 it was the defeat of the Spanish Armada, and in 1705 the deliverance of Queen Anne, then the failure of the Gunpowder Plot in 1605.
By Dale Rankin
It wasn’t an official Thanksgiving as there was no such thing yet. It was November, 1534 and four shipwrecked Spanish wanderers making their way across the prairies of what is now South Texas had little to be thankful for – at least until the end of November rolled around and their fortunes began to change.
Lord Belmont
A Moorish prediction Before 1536 there were 95 Church holidays, plus 52 Sundays, when people were required to attend church and forego work and sometimes pay for expensive celebrations. In 1536 reforms reduced the number of Church holidays to 27 and the
These were Protestant celebrations that were foreign and probably unknown to the four Catholic Spaniards who had found themselves washed upon what is now the Alabama shoreline on November 4, 1528. The men had set out from Spain in 1527 to seek their fortune in the New World. On their voyage to Florida by way of Santo
First Thanksgiving cont. on A4