Inside the Moon
Winter Texan Welcome A2 Issue 668
Alamo A7
The
Island Moon The voice of The Island since 1996
February 2, 2017
Fishing A11
Night at the Races A9
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The Tower That Doesn’t Hold Water
Around The Island
By Dale Rankin Welcome to week one of the Chinese New Year everybody. It’s also known as the "Spring Festival" and is based on the Lunar New Year and kicked in last Saturday. This year is the Year of the Rooster although it is not gender specific so chickens are included too, so we got that going for us.
By Dale Rankin City crews are flushing millions of gallons of treated drinking water from the water tower on the south end of The Island each month in order to reduce the amount of chlorine which builds up in the water when it is stored for too long a period.
Fungus Among Us It starts as a tickle way back in your throat like a marshmellow that didn’t quite go all the way down, then comes the runny nose, and by the time the cough starts kicking in you know something just ain’t right. Welcome to the Flu Season Island style folks. We don’t have to tell many of you that there is a fungus among us and when it hits it sticks around longer than a cousin without a motorhome. The particular flu strain that has flown to our Island this season is a nasty one that has too many of us hacking and coughing and sneezing and on the first day thinking we are going to die and on the second afraid we won’t. Some Islanders have been fighting the bug for more than a month and are still singing in the Sniffler’s Choir. Patti over at CVS says Muchnex D is the magic elixir but we find that mescal also helps. Even so, the hacking and sniffling continue to provide the soundtrack for Superbowl 51. Always remember, if your nose runs and your feet smell you might be walking around on your head.
ISAC meeting change The next meeting of the Island Strategic Action Committee has been moved to 5:30, Monday, upstairs at the Veranda at Schlitterbahn. The meetings are usually on the first Tuesday of each month. The ISAC was formed as a result of the 2004 Mustang/Padre Island Development Plan and the Corpus Christi City Council this week approved on a second reading the new plan which was drawn up by ISAC members. The committee is an offshoot of the Tax Increment Refinance Zone formed that year to earmark property tax on new construction inside the zone since 2004 for use inside the zone. There will be some discussion on the recent push by homeowners along the Laguna Madre side of The Island to move duck hunters beyond the current 1000 feet boundary for shooting near houses. This is an issue that is as old as the ISAC itself and comes up every year about this time. It took more than four years to get the city council to admit it had jurisdiction to move the hunters away from houses and put the 1000-foot limit in place. The committee has been getting a good deal of attention from new city council members who are beginning to realize that in the squeaky-wheel system at city hall produces much better results for neighborhoods when the people organize. Due to the persistent work of the ISAC since its formation in 2010 The Island has pushed its way onto the city hall radar and finally, after decades of being the silent cash cow, we have started to get some attention from our city. In combination with the Island United Political Action Committee which focuses attention on the ballot box, The ISAC has changed the politics in Nueces County. In past decades city government’s role with regards to The Island consisted largely of taking money from Island taxpayers to throw at downtown
Around cont. on A4
See the special Winter Texan News on page 14 in this issue!
Live Music Calendar A18
Laguna Shores February 7-11
Scuttle Your Schooner at Boat Turn-in Days
Program provides solution to owners of kaput watercraft The Texas General Land Office (GLO) is partnering with the City of Corpus Christi and Texas Parks & Wildlife Department (TPWD) to offer local coastal Texans the opportunity to remove inoperable and derelict vessels through the Vessel Turn-In Program (VTIP) free of charge. Designed to provide owners with a voluntary method of disposal, interested boat owners are encouraged
to participate if the vessel is less than 26 feet long, with longer boats being accepted on a case by case basis. The vessel maybe delivered to the drop off point February 7th to the 11th, between the hours of 9:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. "The Vessel Turn-In Program is proud to provide Corpus Christi area boat owners a voluntary method to dispose of their run-down vessels in
a safe, environmentally-conscious manner," said Land Commissioner George P. Bush. " We want to spread the word: Never abandon or sink a vessel to dispose of it. Not only does it pose an environmental and navigational hazard, it's also illegal. Removing abandoned or sunken vessels can be hazardous to the safety of others and expensive for the State
The tower built in 2011 at a cost of $4 million was designed to help rectify the problem of “stale” water building up in the many dead end water mains on The Island. The lack of circulation through the Island’s water system has been an ongoing problem as a problem called “plating” forms an algae inside the lines which leeches out chlorine. City workers have
Turn-In Days cont on A4
Tower cont on A5
Barefoot Mardi Gras Season Kicks off This Week
Winter Beach Cleanup
Locals, it is time for our zaniest event of the year! Barefoot Mardi Gras is Saturday, February 25.
Seven beaches targeted for trash pick up
By Debbie Noble
Kick off the season with everyone at Doc's on Tuesday February 7 at 5:30. Meet with friends, have some drinks, float your float ideas, and help our charities! Then celebrate Fat Friday at The Boathouse on February 17 at 6. Drink some more and bid some more and collect some more beads. The Parade itself starts March 25th at 11 on the beach. Send in your parade registration forms to participate or put it on you calendar to attend. March or watch - just be
The 13th Annual Winter Beach Cleanup is set for Saturday, February 11 at seven Coastal Bend beaches. Registration begins at 8:30 a.m. The cleanup will take place from 9 a.m. to noon. there. Get there early to park and then stay afterwards to avoid traffic and enjoy the festival (11-5) with food trucks, beer, artisans, activities for the kids, music, parade awards and float displays. Then dress in your wildest, brightest attire to dance the night away at the King and Queen's Ball at 7 at
Barefoot cont on A4
The locations participating in the Winter Beach Cleanup are: Padre Island National Seashore − Check in at the Malaquite Visitor Center, 20420 Park Road 22, contact Buzz Botts at 361-9498068 or via e-mail at buzz.botts@ texasadoptabeach.org. Packery Channel − Check-in is at the parking lot off Highway 361 on
Cleanup cont on A4
Property Owners Association Annual Budget Report
The Padre Isles Property Owners Association collected $1,742,670 in 2016 and spent $1,429,248 on operations, according to figures presented to the Board of Directors at their regular monthly meeting on Tuesday. The figures were complete as of November 30, 2016. The board voted to place the difference in the two figures. $313,422, into the organization’s investment account which, according to figures released Tuesday shows a total of $6,946,826 with ready cash – Cash and Equivalents - at $1,310,301 and Cash on Hand at $2,028,898. The figures show total assets of $9,336,794.
Budget cont. on A4
A little Island history
Revolution in Mexico, Raid on a Texas Train, Heads in a Gunny Sack, and Finally Peace in The Valley
Editor’s note: This is the latest in a series of stories about the warfare which broke out along the Texas/ Mexico border in the area south of Corpus Christi one hundred years ago.
Pancho Villa in the north, the other by Venustiano Carranza who’s policies, unbeknownst to American President Woodrow Wilson, had been the cause of the cross-border killing spree along the Rio Grande River.
By Dale Rankin
Carranza’s flirtation with the Germans who were looking for a foothold on the American continent had encouraged him to foment the Border War. Even as the warfare continued along the border Carranza had forged an alliance with General Álvaro Obregon in Northern Mexico and was closing in on victory in the revolution.
The relationship between the United States and Mexico with regards to The Border has always been a symbiotic one. Whether it be a maquiladora plant where cheap Mexican labor assembles parts made in China with a finished product shipped to America, or whether it be a deadly border fight among drug cartels literally fighting for access to Pancho Villa (left center) and Emiliano Zapata in the National Palace in Mexico City an underground American market. said over the years that there are three to divide into five camps and fight The problems along the 1915 U.S./ ways of doing things; the right way, a Balkanized war of attrition. By Mexico border were much like the the wrong way, and the Mexican way. the fall of 1915 the revolution had ones we face now, except the cause The Mexican way to fight a narrowed to two groups; one headed of the fight going on in Mexico then revolution was not to divide into by agrarian land reformer Emiliano had nothing to do directly with the Zapata in southern Mexico and United States. It has been accurately two camps and fight it out, but rather
In October Carranza requested and was granted permission to move troops over the American Railroads from Eagle Pass, Texas to Sonora to reinforce Obregon’s forces fighting Villa. Wilson, unaware of Carranza’s double game of pushing a Border
History cont. on A4