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Inside the Moon

Seashore Happenings A9

Barefoot Mardi Gras A2

Port A. Mardi Gras A9

The

Issue 672

Island Moon

The voice of The Island since 1996

March 2, 2017

Beach Clean-up A11

Live Music Calendar A18

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Around The Island

By Dale Rankin There was smoke on the water but no fire in the sky. The fire was low down to the ground. We are accustomed to seeing a haze around here but last weekend the haze was accompanied by the acrid smell of smoke as crews burned off more than 9000 acres of grassland down Padre Island National Seashore Way. The haze made its way all the way OTB and lingered in Island skies until Monday.

Beach drivers beware

Be carful if running PINS in the dark. This tree is at the Turtle shack and would do you a lot of damage.

If you are heading way down PINS way to Little Shell Nick Meyer over at Breakaway warns to watch out for this gnarly dude sticking out into the driving lane, especially if you are driving at night or riding a dirt bike.

Anybody got a chain saw?

Island vandals and sneak thieves The Island’s Vandal Squad and Sneak Thieves Association appears to have moved its base of operations from the seawall area to the area around Fortuna Bay this week. The group has been active along the seawall and beach in recent weeks where they have twice destroyed the sign at Michael J. Ellis Beach and were seen by witnesses turning over Port O Cans on the beach – no word on whether they were occupied at the time. From the looks of this week’s police reports it looks like they have moved from destroying property to stealing from cars and even breaking into houses. The police are aware and keeping an eye out but if you see this roving band of trouble up to their mischief let the PD know.

Winter Texans leaving The Winter Texan diaspora has begun as our visitors from the Great White North begin the trek home before the 2017 Spring Break Invasion. We had a bumper crop of Winter Texans this year. Patti who owns the Harbor Lights eatery at Woody’s in Port A reports that the winter business was better than ever and parking lots at Island restaurants have been full of out of state plates.

Some of them will weather Spring Break, with the higher rental prices it brings, and see it through to the sweet spot of our season in April. But

by Tax Filing Deadline in mid-April we will see the last of the out of state plates disappear OTB until next year.

We like our Winter Texans around here.

Spring Break 2017 We have one week before the initial onslaught but March 18 is the overlap weekend when we get the full Spring Break monty along our beaches. So we have one week to hit the H.E.B. and stock up on supplies and make sure the boat motor is running well enough to get us to the Ski Basin, far from the madding crowd.

Last year’s Spring Break attendance was down some, partially due to a restriction on beach alcohol in Port Aransas. But alas, that was a year ago and incoming freshmen, and mostly likely their upper-classmen as well, will likely scant remember it and things will get back to normal this year.

The drive up the Island Runway from Padre to Port A will be especially hairy this summer as construction has constricted the driving lanes. It’s a good time for we Islanders to hunker down or head for the Hill Country.

Get ready everybody here they come, say hello if you see us Around The Island.

Barefoot Mardi Gras First place winning float The Padre Island Ukulele Club. See page A2 for more winners!

POA Monthly Meeting Erupts in Accusations, Heated Exchanges and a Board Resignation

Traffic-Blocking Beach Bollards to be Removed

Annual members meeting Sat., March 11

By Dale Rankin

Since mid-2016 there has been an armed guard at each of the monthly meetings of the Padre Isles Property Owners Association. So far he has not had to draw his weapon but if things continue down the path trod at the organization’s monthly meeting Tuesday the day may not be far ahead when a warning shot is in order.

The most tumultuous meeting in memory, it included a vigorous hour-long exchange between board members and about thirty agitated, POA members/Island homeowners, voicing long-held complaints about lack of transparency, POA landscaping regulations, and a perceived lack of communication between association members and board members, ending in a request from several audience members that the organization needs to “move in a new direction.”

Before the night was over issues were raised including the eligibility of sitting board member Stan Hulse, who is also running for re-election, leading to the announcement of his resignation from the board on Wednesday; the reassigning of a health insurance policy for three POA employees away from the account of the son-in-law of Executive Coordinator Maybeth

Christensen due to a possible conflict of interest; and the using of the words corruption” and “shameful” by audience member, Bob Algeo, who is also running for a board seat, who said the organization attempted to use city code enforcement officers to retaliate against him for his complaints about board actions, which prompted a response from Board President Brent Moore that Algeo needed to provide proof, and accused him of “seeing black helicopters.” (See the related letter in this issue).

Algeo’s heated response was drowned out by the rising decibel level of the crowd and the meeting devolved into a verbal melee in which Moore told the crowd, “If you want fireworks let’s have some.

There are very few members who are complaining,” Moore said. “I’ve got e-mails complaining about your complaints.”

POA cont. on A4

Next ISAC Meeting Tuesday, March 7th at the Veranda Restaurant 5:30 p.m.

The public is invited to attend.

By Dale Rankin One week after bollards were placed on the beach north of Newport Pass Road blocking northbound beach traffic into Mustang Island State Park officials have announced that most of the bollards will be removed.

The change in plans that will allow a free flow of vehicles between Access Road #3 on the north and Zahn Road on the south during the busy Spring Break weekend. Park Superintendent Scot Taylor said while some of the newly placed bollards will remain on the beach to denote the park’s southern boundary they will not impede beach traffic.

“People will be able to access the beach in the same way they have in the past during Spring Break,” Taylor said. “We are still working on some of the details of the plan but it will essentially be the same as in previous years.”

In years past Corpus Christi Police have turned Beach Access Road #3 into one-way headed toward the beach and drivers could then drive

down the beach to Zahn Road which was temporarily made one-way from the beach. Some version of that plan will be used this year but the details will not be determined until early next week.

When the bollards were placed last week the Spring Break plan called for Beach Access Road #3 to be used as an emergency lane, not open to the public, which would have meant the only way to access the 4.5 miles of beach between the bollards at Newport Pass and the entrance to Mustang Island State Park would have been through the park’s main entrance which requires a $5 entry fee.

That plan was shelved after questions from District 32 State Representative Todd Hunter and the decision was made by park officials to remove the vehicle-blocking bollards at Newport Pass. Taylor said after Spring Break the bollards will not be replaced, meaning beach traffic will continue as usual from Newport Pass Road north.

A little Island history

The White House Pier in The Bluff was a Landmark

Editor’s note: Bobbie Kimbrell moved to Flour Bluff in 1943 where he was a commercial fisherman and where he still resides.

By Bobbie Kimbrell

The White House Pier in Flour Bluff was what would be called a landmark since it was possibly, when built, the farthest, southmost building in Nueces County.

There is a bronze landmarker located about 100 yards of where the WHP used to be. The SWP was located about two miles south of the old Don Patricio Causeway that spanned between Flour Bluff and Padre Island. It was a two-story building built in the edge of water of the Laguna Madre where Jamaica

Street ends after crossing Laguna Shores Road.

for holding the cattle awaiting cattle cars.

The WHP had a large room downstairs and the bedroom and living room were upstairs. There was a large porch in front and a covered porch in the back where the pier started about six feet above the water extending about fifteen feet out into the Lagoon with a covered cross pier built across the end where people could sit and fish in the shallow water about three feet deep.

That parcel of land is still undeveloped to date and might encourage some history buffs to put up an historical market there. Roger South, a developer and sometimes gambler, had the WHP built and it isn’t known if he lived in it and operated it or not, but it is known that Roger built the first ever motel amidst the orange groves in Brownsville after World War II was over.

Dunns Crossing was about one-half mile south of the SHP and was where cattle were herded from Parde Island to Flour Bluff to be sent to the market.

It was the shallowest route available and it had corrals on the Lagoon side

A few years later Roger built the largest ever commercial fishing motorboat ever used in the Lagoon.

It was about 50 feet long and wide enough for a standard-sized bed on each side with a walkway in between.

Barkley Tyler and Johnny Edwards fished the boat in Alazan Bay, which is north of Baffin Bay, and made some record catches of drum due to the large icebox capacity. The boat was eventually sold to a fisherman who took it to Port Isabel where he anchored it on the east side of the bay and lived and fished on it.

The WHP was vacant for a long time in the early forties, possibly because gasoline was rationed and car tires were scarce. At that time a fisherman lived in the WHP as a watchman. His name was Slim Kinser and he had some trotlines out front to supplement his income, if any, for being a watchman. Slom

History cont. on A4

A2

March 2, 2017

Island Moon

Barefoot Mardi Gras!

Second place winner

3rd place winner

Best in Show -- Coastline Properties

JUST LISTED! 15721 Finistere

$250,000

• 2 garages for 3 cars (1 garage has 220 volt, place for hobbies and toys!)

• GORGEOUS UPDATED KITCHEN Enclosed boat/trailer/rv/ • parking on concrete

March 2, 2017

A3

Island Moon

Moon Monkeys Mike Ellis, Founder

Letters to the Editor

Distribution Pete Alsop Island Delivery

Two Tier POA Dues System

Coldwell Banker Advertising Jan Park Rankin

Editor’s note: Jack Eidman is an Island resident and retired attorney and former president of a POA board in the Houston area.

Classifieds Arlene Ritley Production Manager Abigail Bair Contributing Writers Joey Farah Andy Purvis

In view of the discussions by POA Board candidates and appearing in the Island Moon and Next Door concerning grandfathered POA dues, I though it appropriate that I provide background information on why that occurred.

In the early 2000’s it became apparent to the POA Board and others that existing dues were not adequate to maintain the bulkheads and make other necessary expenditures the POA felt should be made. Repeated attempts were made to amend the restrictions of the various subdivisions without success.

Mary Craft Christiansen Jay Gardner Todd Hunter Dotson Lewis Ronnie Narmour

Ultimately, the POA Board and others desiring to amend the restrictions realized that it would only be possible to do so if it was agreed that POA dues of existing property owners would never be raised so long as they owned their property.

Brent Rourk Photographers Miles Merwin Jeff Dolan Mary Craft Ronnie Narmour Office Security/Spillage Control (Emeritus) Riley P. Dog

The POA then sent the attached letters to property owners. The POA promised existing property owners that it “will not raise your annual fee!” and that “so long as you own your property, your fee will not increase; but if you sell, the new owner will be required to pay a substantially increased fee.” Without this agreement, it would have been impossible to amend the restrictions to make needed changes.

Obviously, under elementary contract law (the theory of promissory estoppel/detrimental reliance) an enforceable legal contract exists between the POA and grandfathered property owners that their POA dues will never be raised so long as they own their property.

Publisher Dale Rankin About the Island Moon The Island Moon is published every Thursday, Dale Rankin, Editor / Publisher.

Total circulation is 10,000 copies. Distribution includes delivery to 4,000 Island homes, free distribution of 3,000 copies in over 50 Padre Island businesses and condos, as well as 600 copies distributed in Flour Bluff, 1,400 copies on Mustang Island and Port Aransas businesses.

The current focus should not be on the existing moral and legal commitment to grandfathered property owners, but on the prudent utilization of current POA revenues, such as whether to employ off duty police officers and constables to patrol the subdivisions and whether having three plant patrollers is necessary.

Jack Eidman

Balli Park

News articles, photos, display ads, classified ads, payments, etc. may be left at the Moon Office.

14646 Compass, Suite 3

Can you shed some light about the progress of the work at Balli Park, what will it have to offer and when will it be open.

Corpus Christi, TX 78418

Enjoy your paper and keep up the good work.

The Island Moon Newspaper

R.L. Shaw --Island

361-949-7700 editor@islandmoon.com Facebook: The Island Moon Newspaper

Where to Find The Island Moon Port Aransas Lisabella’s Restaurant Pioneer RV Park

WB Liquors Port A Arts

North Padre All Stripes Stores

A Mano

Angry Marlin

Coffee Waves

CVS

Moby Dicks

Whataburger

Spanky’sLiquor

Doc’s Restaurant

IGA Grocery Store

Snoopy’s Pier Isle Mail N More

Carter Pharmacy

Island Italian

San Juan’s Taqueria

Brooklyn Pie Co.

Wash Board Laundry Mat

Holiday Inn

Ace Hardware

Port A Parks and Rec

Texas Star (Shell)

Public Library

Scuttlebutt’s Restaurant

Duckworth Antiques Back Porch Woody’s Sports Center

Jesse’s Liquor

Subway Island Tire And all Moon retail advertisers WB Liquor

Shorty’s Place

Flour Bluff

Giggity’s

H.E.B.

Stripes @ Ferry Landing

Liquid Town

Gratitude Gift Shop Keepers Pier House Port A Glass Studio The Gaff

The money found Balli Park already under

Whataburger on Waldron Ethyl Everly Senior Center Fire Station Police Station Stripes on Flour Bluff & SPID

indicate that Island homeowners will not see a rise in water levels in the canal, but they will see an influx of more water from the Gulf of Mexico which will serve to flush stale water from canals which are currently too far from the Packery Channel opening for tidal flux to reach.

Currently several Island canals have aerators to replenish the oxygen supply in the water in dead-end canals. Those should not be needed once the channel is opening.

Also under consideration, but not funded through the oil spill settlement money, is a twelve-foot wide walking and bike trail linking Balli Park with the Padre Island National Seashore to the south.

For more information see the column in this issue.

Work to add RV sites and improved restrooms and other amenities is moving forward at IB Magree Park in Port Aransas.

The work at each of the two parks, including all four phases of the planned work, will be done in the next five years and will mean a complete makeover for both parks.

Canal Questions After reading your posts in the Island Moon about the TIRZ #2 Board's votes last week, I wanted to point out that although this seems to represent good progress, there's one thing that still hasn't been addressed (as far as I can tell): the potential for significant volumes of water going through the canal at high velocities. If/when the canal is finally excavated from the Padre Isles to connect to Lake Padre, it seems that this issue may not have been addressed properly (if at all).

I have tried finding detailed information about the canal that is supposed to connect the Padre Isles development canals to the planned marina complex associated with Lake Padre. I haven't seen that there's been an evaluation of the frequency and speed of water currents that may occur within the connecting canal. Anyone driving westward on the JFK Causeway can observe the strong currents that regularly occur just north of the Causeway. It's very likely that similar strong currents may also occur within the proposed canal. Are there any studies that have been conducted or are planned to assess the potential currents there? As a future homeowner within Padre Isles, I'm concerned about long-term impacts on the existing canals and bulkheads.

If you are aware of such a study, can you point me to it, please? It would be great if you could also address this in a future issue of the Island Moon. Not to be a wet blanket, but it seems that in the rush to get this development underway, that the current residents of Padre Isles may be affected negatively and that isn't being considered.

Jon Brandt Editor’s note: Jon, the short answer to your question is yes, there has been extensive study on this subject both by private and public entities.

Here’s what I know. In the area where the canal passes under the bridge the water will be about 8 feet deep and forty feet wide. The bottom and both sides of the canal are required by the applicable U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Permit to be made of concrete to avoid erosion.

Since 2003, two years before Packery Channel was opened a study to monitor the channel and the water flowing through it has been funded by the Island Tax Refinance Zone and conducted by the Conrad Blucher Institute at Texas A&M Corpus Christi. The coverage area of that contract was extended two years ago to include the main canal on The Island. Developer Paul Schexnailder, who owns property on both sides of the bridge site, has also done extensive study on the subject. The information they compiled

NOTICE OF ANNUAL MEETING MARCH 11, 2017 THIS NOTICE AND BALLOT/PROXY FORM REPLACES THE NOTICE AND FORM SENT EARLIER THIS MONTH THAT WAS MAILED IN ADVANCE OF THE MAXIMUM 60 DAYS ALLOWED. ANY BALLOT/PROXIES SUBMITTED ON THE PRIOR FORM WILL BE ACCEPTED, BUT ONLY ONE VOTE WILL BE TABULATED FOR EACH LOT. The Padre Isles Property Owners Association, Inc.'s Annual Meeting will be held at 10 a.m. on Saturday, March 11, 2017, at the Seashore Learning Center Gym, 15801 S Padre Island Dr., Corpus Christi, Texas (Encantada @ Park Rd 22).

Property owners will receive the audit, various annual reports on the Association and elect two (2) members to the Board of Directors for 3-year terms. You have the following options for casting your vote for Board of Director candidates and other business: Option 1: If you do not plan to attend or if you are not sure whether something might cause a change in plans, you may vote in advance by completing the Ballot/Proxy. Please fill out and mail the enclosed Ballot/Proxy to arrive at Kirk, Monroe & Klostermann, L.L.P., no later than noon on Friday, March 3rd, 2017. If you attend the meeting in person, you may revoke your proxy and vote in person if you prefer.

Option 2: If you do plan to attend, you may vote at the Annual Meeting by turning in the enclosed Ballot/Proxy or obtaining a Ballot at the door and using it.

NOTE: Property owners are entitled to one vote per lot.

2017

Padre Isles Property Owners Association, Inc. OFFICIAL BALLOT BY PROXY

2017

I authorize the Board Secretary to record my vote(s) for the following candidate(s): Three-Year Term Nominees – Vote for Up to Two Persons

 Stan Hulse Carter Tate William Kent Kerr David Dare

George Potter Dennis Sprout

Marvin Jones Robert Algeo __________________________________

The number in the BOX above equals the number of lots owned and the corresponding number of votes for this ballot. By signing below, I/we authorize the Board Secretary to cast the vote(s) indicated above.

OPTIONAL GENERAL PROXY If you cannot attend, and if you want to designate a proxy for the meeting as to other matters, you may designate one person to vote on your behalf at the 2017 Annual Meeting. You may write in as your proxy someone you know who is going to attend the Meeting or one of the above candidates, or you may check the box of one of the current members of the Board of Directors listed below:

Write in__________________________ Brent Moore Nancy Tressa Leslie Hess Darrell Scanlan

Dale Rankin

Aquarius Light Aquarius Lights - Some Facts: 1. The light at Aquarius is the most technologically advanced traffic light system in all of Corpus Christi.

2. When someone pulls into the turn-left lane to head into Aquarius from Park Rd 22, the traffic light sends radar beams to measure the volume and the speed of the traffic coming off the bridge approaching the light, performs an algorithm and based on that, it decides the best time to stop traffic to allow the turning vehicle/s.

3. In traffic engineering the area immediately preceding the light is known as the ‘dilemma zone’ – I know you all know what that is. It’s that zone where you have to make a decision whether to stop on yellow or go through the light and hope it doesn’t change to red as you approach. Coming off the bridge, the large overhead warning light, which is synced to the traffic light, will flash if it determines that you are going to have to stop at the light. This means that if it’s flashing yellow (the only color it uses), start to slow your vehicle because you’re going to have to stop at the light. This also means that when it’s not flashing you can continue at your regular speed because the light is not going to stop you.

As a side note, TXDoT has set their electronic sign near Cos Way Bait Stand (headed to The Island) to read something like … New Traffic Light at Aquarius. Be Prepared to Stop.

Vicki Marsden -- Former QA CC former Public Works manager for the city of Corpus Christi

Mayor's Race Why not have a contest and let all the people running for mayor submit common sense solutions to our many city problems. One requirement, they could not involve an outside consultant or engineer. Free would gain more points. Such as Joe McComb suggestion[ Feb. 16 Island Moon] that instead of venting water out of fire hydrants offer a monthly credit to citizens to water their lawns.

If the city staff did not comply with common sense, remove them from their jobs.

Sincerely,

Padre Isles Property Owners Association, Inc.

Sandpiper Condos

Stripes @ Beach Access Rd. 1A

Chamber of Commerce

Editor’s note: The work at Balli is ongoing but got a huge shot in the arm last week when $7.5 million of the settlement money from the British Petroleum oil spill was awarded to the Nueces County Coastal Parks Board for improvements to Balli Park and to IB Magee Park in Port Aransas.

construction of Phase I of the work there with three phases left to go. The current work, which is scheduled to be complete by the end of 2017, includes RV sites, restrooms (already complete), walking trails, and some on-site wetlands which will be preserved. The remainder of the project’s design includes a small retail space for items needed by campers, a meeting hall for use by Island organizations and guided tours of the area.

Stan Hulse Cheri Sperling John “Jack” Sharlow

This Ballot/Proxy, when properly executed, will be voted in the manner directed by the undersigned. If a General Proxy is made, it will be voted at the discretion of the proxy holder as to other matters arising at the annual meeting. If it is not marked, or if marked improperly, it will be counted toward a quorum only. This form must be signed in order to be valid.

Signature

Second Signature (if applicable)

Printed Name

Printed Name

Date:

Date:

The voting public could make up their minds easier if they knew who was really on their side.

Bob Wilson Sweet Bay Corpus Christi TX

A Few Good Men The recent diatribe by Bob Nash directed at Dotson Lewis (Military Spending?) brought a smile to my face and was somewhat evocative of Jack Nicholson’s soliloquy playing Marine Colonel Nathan R. Jessup in “A Few Good Men”: “Son, we live in a world that has walls, and those walls have to be guarded by men with guns… I have neither the time nor the inclination to explain myself to a man who rises and sleeps under the blanket of the very freedom that I provide, and then questions the manner in which I provide it. I would rather you just said ‘thank you’ and went on your way.

Otherwise, I suggest you pick up a weapon and stand a post. Either way, I don't give a d---…”

Bob’s comments are well taken and he certainly represents his views well. I just hope that the next time he slips on his Birkenstocks and prepares to hitchhike across the galaxy, some U.S. Marine somewhere decides to give a d---… and has his back.

Dr. Richard Carhart

Island Vandals Vandals have targeted the Mike Ellis Beach and Seawall Sign in the parking lot twice over the last several weeks. It has gotten to the point where the City Parks and Rec supervisor Russ Armstrong has had the sign removed.

Beth and I met with him last Friday and he explained that they were going to do a new, sturdier sign and secure it directly to the posts (not frame it like the original sign). Also, they are planning on putting bollards around the base of the sign to prevent vehicles from running into it, which is what the scofflaws did on their first attempt. The new sign will be put up sometime after Spring Break (good idea).

However, it hasn't stopped there. Just recently two of the Handicapped Parking signs and the No Glass Containers sign have been vandalized (picture sent under separate cover). These idiots seem to have found a great "hunting ground" to have their fun!

This has got to stop! For those of you on the Island who knew and loved Mike and want to honor his memory, and for those of you who enjoy his legacy, the weekly Island Moon, or just for those of us that abhor scofflaws/ vandals, we would like to encourage all to keep a watchful eye for this type of activity and to report any suspicious activity. We would especially encourage the residents of Portofino Condominiums, who have a bird's eye view of the parking lot, to be particularly watchful. We have to have a concerted effort to put an end to this and to bring these vandals to justice!

Dave and Beth Yonke

POA Annual Meeting Saturday, March 11

Editor’s note: The annual meeting of the Padre Isles Property Owners Association will be held at 10 a.m. on Saturday, March 11, at the Seashore Learning Center Gym, 15801 S Padre Island Dr., (Encantada @ Park Rd 22).

One item of business will be to elect new officers. Property owners can (A) vote early by using the ballot sent in the mail (B) attend the meeting and bring the ballot filled out (C) Obtain a ballot at the meeting, however this is not suggested as it causes delays.

The above is a copy of the ballot.

Artist Wade Koniakowski with Father James Derkits will present this beautiful surf board to the Bishop

A4

March 2, 2017

Island Moon

History cont. from A1

rolled his own Bull Durham cigarettes but never lit one. He just stuck the cigarette in his mouth and chewed and sucked on it until it was all gone! Slim also had a small commercial fishing motorboat that was jacked up on wood block in the edge of the water. He never used the boat but after the pier was sold to Vernon Warlick, he put the boat back in the water, cranked it up and took off and was never heard from again.

Vernon Warlick bought the WHP in about 1945. Before buying the pier, Vernon was working at one of the oil refiners on the Port. An explosion and fire at the plant burned Vernon’s left hand and some of his body pretty bad. The left hand was burnt so bad the doctors put his thumb in the palm of his hand and let it heal that way. Vernon got a very large settlement, quit the job and bout the WHP. Vernon’s wife Dovey made breakfast and hamburgers for the early morning fishermen and Vernon built some rental skiffs and built a one-room rental cottage.

He also built a boat shop where he and a Mr. Shaffer built boats.

Vernon also bought a 25-foot Farley-built motorboat that he used to pull a skiff to the deeper water below Pita Island to work his trotlines.

In about 1946 the commercial fishermen formed a CIO Union and the meetings and swearing ins wre held at the WHP. It was kind of a community place. After the Intracoastal Canal was completed between Flour Bluff and Port Isabel, Vernon and Mr. Shafer built a commercial fishing motorboat with living quarters. After finishing the boat, Vernon and his brother Bert left the WHP with Dovey and Mr. Shaffer and moved to Port Isabel and started commercial fishing. To the best of remembrance, after Vernon left, Dovey sold the WHP to Red Coburn and his wife. Red Coburn put in a Mercury outboard motor dealership and put in a parts store and did outboard repair work. After the JFK Causeway was completed in about 1950 Coburn and his wife joined the Flour Bluff-Padre Island Business Association.

Later on a couple of hurricanes damaged the SHP pretty bad and it was demolished.

After many years at the WHP, Red and his wife bought the boat barns at the corner of Yorktown and Laguna Shores Road and put in an RV park and fared very well. Whoever it was that took of the metal building pit in a skateboard fixture.

The neighbors complained of this loud music and eventually the skateboard went under.

Just lately a developer has put in a cement road and lots for cottages with two of the cottages being built by Eddie Savoy, a homebuilder and resident of Flour Bluff for over 80 years. Eddie and his wife Leona once owned and operated the RV park near the end of Skipper Lane in Flour Bluff. Dockage structures have been put in about where the WHP was for the cottage owners boats. As stated earlier, the White House Pier was used as a location guidance; i.e. north or south of the WHP, off to the west of the Pier, or down the Lagoon near the White House.

It’s possible the WHP was built before Tex Allen’s Place was built in 1931. The WHP pier was also an attraction that led people to settle in Flour Bluff due to the emptiness and yet unannexed part of the city – no city building code and county taxes only, if any. Away from the bustling city, near the White House!

POA continued from A1 “We don’t want fireworks,” an audience member said. “We want the board and the membership to cooperate.”

Attention on the POA organization has intensified since 1997 when an increase in membership dues, required as a condition of home ownership on The Island, was put in place for new homeowners. The annual operating budget of the organization has gone from about $500,000 in 2005 to over $1.5 million today.

Board eligibility The eligibility of Hulse to serve on the board as well as his eligibility to run for re-election was raised by another board candidate, attorney and Island resident Marvin Jones, who presented those in attendance with copies of deed records showing that Hulse did not own property on The Island from October 4, 2016 to January 9, 2017; a period of time which appeared to include the filing deadline for the board election (See the related letter in this issue). After reviewing the documents, Hulse told the crowd, “It is correct that I did not own property between those dates which I did not know.” (See the related letter in this issue) On Wednesday the organization announced a Special Meeting at 10 a.m. on Saturday, March 4 at the POA office, with the only item on the agenda being Hulse’s resignation. The question of his eligibility to run for re-election was still being studied as we went to press Wednesday, even as completed ballots in the race are being collected.

“If he can’t run all of the people who voted for him would be disenfranchised,” Christensen said.

The ballots in the board race had to be mailed a second time when Jones pointed out in January that they had been sent prior to the sixty-day window leading up to the March 11 annual meeting counter to state law. It is not clear as of this writing what would happen with the election if Hulse is ruled ineligible.

Early balloting is currently underway for two seats on the board – see the ballot and list of candidates in this issue – with the final votes and announcement of winners at the annual meeting of POA members on Saturday, March 11, 10 a.m. at the Seashore Learning Center Gym at the corner of SPID and Encantada.

Insurance policy Also at Tuesday’s meeting Moore raised the issue of a recently signed health insurance policy for three of the five POA employees in which Christensen used her son-in-law as the agent. The policy called for the POA to allocate $50,000 in this year’s budget to pay the premiums on the policies. Prior to the policy the POA did not provide health insurance to its employees. Christensen said Wednesday the policy will be re-directed to another agent in the firm and that only $25,000 of the allocated $50,000 will be needed.

Letter From Island Foundation Seashore Charter Schools Funding Request Editor’s note: Members of the Padre Isles Property Owners Association at their annual meeting on Saturday, March 11, 10 a.m. at the Seashore Learning Center Gym at the corner of SPID and Encantada, will be asked to vote on a measure to provide funding for Seashore Charter Schools on The Island. The requested amount is for one-time payment of $100,000 or $20,000 per year for five years.

The following is a letter from the schools outlining the request.

Valued homes, safe neighborhoods, and great schools are hallmarks of a high quality community. The PIPOA and Island Foundation have worked independently and in partnership to develop and sustain these key indicators of the Island’s prosperity. Join them at the Annual Homeowner’s meeting on March 11 to discuss collaborative efforts for the future of the Island community and Seashore Charter Schools.

Forty years ago, PIPOA was organized with this mission: to promote the social welfare of our marina type community of the highest quality, and further the benefit and common good of all the property owners and residents of North Padre Island. That mission was outlined in the Articles of Incorporation and are the foundation for the success and high quality of the Island.

Twenty years ago, four Island residents established Island Foundation and brought highquality, tuition-free educational opportunities to the Island community. Their grassroots efforts and the efforts of the dedicated faculty, staff, volunteers, and generous donors who followed in their footsteps have made Seashore Charter Schools the premier school of the high-quality Island community.

Island Foundation operates three schools: Seashore Learning Center (free, public school K-4th), Seashore Middle Academy (free, public school 5th-8th) and Seashore Early Childhood Academy (tuition based preschool for ages 2-5yrs). Island Foundation employs 68 faculty and staff members who serve 520 students on three campuses. Families do not pay tuition in Kinder-8th grades. State funds provide for basic student needs but Seashore receives less funding than traditional public schools: approximately $2,000 less per student per year.

The gap in funding amounts to approximately $1,000,000 per year. Seashore receives $0 for facilities and does not directly benefit from or have access to local property taxes. Island Foundation’s Capital Campaign aims to fill the gap in facility funding and meet Seashore’s immediate needs for a permanent facility to replace the 3 temporary facilities on the elementary campus.

Through the Capital Campaign and the gala fundraiser, Whoop It Up, on April 1, Island Foundation is asking individual donors, foundations, organizations, and its surrounding community to help them raise the final 30% of the projected cost for the new facility.

Island Foundation has specifically requested a donation from the PIPOA on the premise that a premier school serves the good and benefit of all homeowners. Island Foundation is asking for a donation from existing funds gathered by the PIPOA to honor and commemorate the natural partnership between Island Foundation and the Island community.

The PIPOA will discuss this request for partnership at the Annual Homeowner’s Meeting on Saturday, March 11 at 10am at the Seashore Learning Center gym. Island Foundation is encouraging homeowners to attend the meeting and voice their support for 20 more years of premier education on North Padre Island.

Letter from City Inspector Editor’s note: Islander Bob Algeo, who told POA Board members Tuesday that he was targeted by POA enforcement personnel due to his agitation against certain POA rules. He was challenged by board members to produce proof, and as a result sent us a copy of this internal memo from the City of Corpus Christi which he obtained through a Freedom of Information Request. We print it here in its entirety, Good Morning, I wanted to give you an update and as brief as I can, the background of this this Zoning case. I believe that you may hear from the POA about the results of the investigation and I wanted our office to be prepared.

These are the facts: A POA Code Official personally took me to a vacant lot at 15630 Cumana and stated that this man “ was an a—---- and that he causes problems for the POA.” She stated that she wanted a zoning case started because she believed that he was storing boats on this lot, for a fee. (She) also stated that she did not want the property owner to find out, that the POA had sent me to this property.

At scene, I observed that It was a stretch to even see the violation from the street, as the vacant lot was surrounded by a privacy fence and had palm trees around it as well. The only visible boat, was the very top of a large boat that, again, was difficult to see from the street. The lot looked well maintained. After researching the property on pictometry, it was discovered that this vacant lot was partially connected to 15629 Three Fathoms Bank Drive.

The property on Three Fathoms Bank Drive has a home on it and both properties are owned by Mr. Robert Algeo. I subsequently, initiated a Zoning‐ Illegal land Use Case.

Upon receipt of his Correction Notice letter, the property owner, Robert Algeo contacted me.

Mr. Algeo stated that he has boats that belong to him on his property and that he tinkers with these boats, as hobby. He also stated that he was having issues with the POA and that he believed that the POA was doing this, in retaliation for his efforts to unite Island residents against the POA’s recent unethical practices. He stated that

the POA was not following the covenant and making up their own rules. He stated that the POA was out of control with civil penalties being levied on residents for things such as “brown palm leaves” on their trees and “children’s toys sitting in the yard too long.” Mr. Algeo further stated that the POA was angry with him because he gathered a signed petition from hundreds of Island residents, that are angry with the POA , for the POA’s continued disregard for their covenant. He stated that he also took the POA to task, for sending out citations and letters to residents, passing themselves off as City Code Officers. He stated that the letters and citations signed by one of the Code Enforcement Officials, were signed as a “Code Enforcement Officer.” According to Mr. Algeo, The POA had to rescind these letters and citations and begin sending the correspondence correctly, as signed by “Code Officials” As you can readily see, I was caught between a political sandwich. Jon and I conferred and it was determined that Mr. Algeo could seek a replatting of the two properties, with Development Services. Mr. Algeo did just that, spending $1,100.00 to have his property surveyed.

After Review, Andrew Dimas of Development Services advised me, that Mr. Algeo could store boats on his vacant lot, as long as they belonged to him.

I advised Mr. Algeo of this news and requested a meeting with him, so that he could prove to me that the boats belonged to him. I met with Mr. Algeo on 12‐29‐16, at his vacant lot. Mr. Algeo had two complete boats and three “boat shells.” Mr Algeo also had in his possession, the titles for all of the boats. Mr. Algeo explained that as a hobby, he likes tinkering with boats.

He likes to change out engines or consoles to different boats. He advised that two of the boats are going to be scrapped soon, as he is done removing parts from them and they are now just shells. He also stated that he has never stored boats that were not his, on his property with or without a fee.

After conferring with J--, I have closed this case as complied.

Our office has also taken measures to ensure that our Code Officers are not used again, as a pawn during political disputes between the POA and Island Residents. New Calls are now directly entered by POA Code Officials on‐line and they can also be entered as anonymous.

This practice, will better enable me and future assigned Code Officers to investigate Island cases, in a fair, objective and impartial manner.

Respectfully Submitted, David DeLuca Corpus Christi Code Enforcement Officer

Letter to POA Members

By Stan Hulse At the last POA Board meeting, one of my opponents for the POA Board, Mr. Marvin Jones, very publicly and officially brought issue to a situation that affects my status as a PIPOA board member.

After hiring Security Title to look into my qualifications, he discovered that from October 4, 2016 to January 9, 2017, due to the outcome of my divorce, I did not own property legally within the POA. An assertion that he is correct about. He also asserted in his detailed document that I was "well aware of [my] invalid participation with the Board," and that I "perpetrated a falsity upon the PIPOA." To this charge I deny.

At the beginning of 2016, my business partner and brother, through our partnership, bought property on North Padre Island within the PIPOA. Due to advice from a financial consultant, we only put the property in my brothers name and as a consequence, only his name appeared on the original deed. Therefore legally, I had not owned that particular property despite the fact that I paid for it and received rent from it. The property was bought before my divorce and the intention was to add my name to the deed by the end of the year. After the divorce, and after deeding my residence to my ex-wife in October of 2016, it had not dawned on me that I was no longer a property owner until my ex-wife kindly reminded me and the POA office at the beginning of 2017. It was an unfortunate oversight that I quickly remedied.

I legally became an owner of my investment property on January 9, 2017. Nonetheless, I take full responsibility for my oversight and any damage or lack of confidence I may have caused our membership.

Mr. Jones also asserts that no vote on my part for any board action during the two meeting within the three months (out of 6 years that I have served) is a valid vote. An assertion, I once again do not argue. Luckily, after reviewing all minutes from the two meetings that apply (October and November - there was no meeting in December), all votes (and quorums) taken are not affected. He has also asked me to step down as a board member for the remainder of my term - which is only 10 days more from the writing of this letter. And as a commitment to taking responsibility for my oversight, I have done so and tendered my resignation as your PIPOA Board member.

My board candidate opponent has also requested that my name be removed from the current ballot of election for the next board term, despite the fact that I am now an owner. He uses a policy that candidates must be POA members - that I was not legally a POA member during the registration for candidacy in November of 2016. Again, he is correct that I was not.

However, I submit that the PIPOA ByLaws do not reference "candidates" and simply states that "Board members" must be POA members.

I am currently a member and will be upon reelection, if I am so lucky.

In a twist of irony, Mr. Jones was the individual who demanded a second set of ballots to be sent out due to the original ballots being sent out too early and not within the prescribed 60 days before the election. The second set (and presumably the legally binding one) were made official within the 60 days before our March 11 elections, making that slate of candidates the legal slate - at which I was then a POA member.

As of this writing, I have not yet received the legal opinion from our POA attorney as to the validity of my candidacy and intend to stay a candidate unless I have no legal recourse in his

Did Ya Hear?

By Mary Craft mkay512@aol.com

New Advertisers Coldwell Banker Island Realtor Guy Davis presents Pathways to the Sea a new development located at Windward Drive and Whitecap Blvd. They’re offering 2/1 condos starting at 219,000 and 2/2 condos starting at 229,000. Contact Guy at 361-688-5159 for more information.

Corpus Christi Symphony- presents “A Night at the Movies on March 11th at 7:30.

The show will be at the TAMCC performing arts center. See their ad in this issue for details.

Business Briefs Schlitterbahn Water Park will be open March 11 – March 19.

The Parrot Heads of Port Aransas are having their 7th annual Spring Phling on March 4th 4 – 9 pm at the Roberts Point Park Pavilion. The Party starts at 4pm to 9pm.

There will be live 60s music, silent auctions, raffles and food. The tickets are $15.00 each in advance or $20.00 each at the door.

Tickets can be purchased at Gratitude or contact Deno Fabrie 749-0256. byob event.

They are promoting this byob event as the senior spring break.

The Annual Port A Museum Dinner & Auction will be held on March 4th. There will be live music and dinner provided by Lisabella’s. Tickets are $150 and can be purchased on their website.

The Island Farmer’s Market & Art Walkwill be at Island Presbyterian Church on Thursday, March 2nd from 4 until 8. Fresh produce and work from local artists along with food trucks make for a fun evening.

Janet Harte Library next to Flour Bluff High School has a fun Music & Motion program for children’s program for ages 0 5 on Tuesday mornings at 11 am. They learn songs, nursery rhymes, number and alphabet systems while shaking rhythm sticks, eggs and musical instruments. and the board's opinion. My intent is to serve, not intentionally circumvent the rules. I have served the PIPOA and the whole Island for many years, am committed to our Island, and have had the confidence from the members that voted for me in landslide measure my last two terms. I do not intend to disenfranchise those voters if I can help it. And if Mr. Marvin Jones is lucky enough to be elected by you, I hope he uses the same zeal to serve the PIPOA members as he did with his attempt to discredit me.

Letter to P.O.A.

Dear Board Members and Executive Director, The Padre Isles Property Owners Association, Inc. Bylaws state as amended September 24, 2013, and published as the current version on the POA website: 1. “1.01 MEMBERSHIP, Each person (which term shall be construed to include partnerships, corporations and any other type of entity or organization) who shall have acquired or shall hereafter acquire the record legal title to all or any portion of the property situated on Padre Island, Nueces County, Texas (hereinafter sometimes referred to as the “Subdivisions”) as shown by the following listed recorded plats thereof, to-wit: …List of Subdivisions …

Such membership shall continue for the duration of the ownership of property within the Subdivisions.”

2. “2.02 QUALIFICATIONS. Directors and Officers shall be natural persons of the age of eighteen (18) or over, and must be members of the Association.”

Mr. Stan Hulse was not a Padre Isle Property Owners Association Member from October 4, 2016, through January 9, 2017. On October 4, 2016, Mr. Hulse deeded title to the residence at 13838 Eaglesnest Bay Drive to his ex-wife Shelly Kay McGinley.

On January 9, 2017, Mr. Adrian Hulse (Stan’s Brother) deeded a 50% ownership interest in 14816 Leeward Drive to Mr. Stan Hulse.

According to Security Title of Corpus Christi, Mr. Stan Hulse owned no other property in Nueces County from October 4, 2016, through January 9, 2017. Therefore, Mr. Stan Hulse was not a member of the PIPOA from October 4, 2016, through January 9, 2017. Because Mr. Stan Hulse was not a member, Mr. Hulse was precluded from serving as a Board Member during that period. Thus, his position as a Board Member was invalid. Mr. Hulse was well aware of his invalid participation with the Board. Mr. Hulse perpetrated a falsity upon the PIPOA. Demand is hereby made that Mr. Stan Hulse not be allowed to continue acting as a Board Member. Demand is hereby made that all Board business conducted during the above stated time period be reviewed to determine the validity of all motions and votes taken by the Board.

Because Mr. Stan Hulse was not a member of the PIPOA, he was not eligible to register in November 2016 to run for the Board in the March 2017 election for Board Member.

In addition, to the Bylaws requiring Board Members to be members of the PIPOA the Fall 2016 PIPOA newsletter states “Candidates must be members of the PIPOA in good standing, and at least 18 years of age.”

Therefore, Mr. Stan Hulse’s registration to run for a Board Seat and his name on the ballot are invalid. Demand is hereby made that any and all ballot votes made in favor of Mr. Stan Hulse be declared invalid and his votes not counted in the election.

In the event you fail to meet the aforementioned demands and a rapid resolution is not achieved, then litigation will ensue to right this wrong perpetrated on the PIPOA members.

Marvin L. Jones, PIPOA Member

March 2, 2017

Island Moon

Stuff I Heard on the Island

A5

By Dale Rankin

By the numbers Shortly before our deadline on Wednesday word came down that city staffers will announce at the next meeting of the Island Strategic Action Committee that work is now scheduled to begin on the Park Road 22/Water Exchange Bridge in August.

On March 15 the bids on the project will be opened and with funding in place and the political will to move the project forward questions have now begun about what that will mean to the water flow and quality in our Island canal system. We include a response to one of the letters in this issue.

First let me say that the study of hydraulic flow, like that of its first cousin Traffic Flow Engineering, is not an intuitive field. What would seem to be common sense solutions to the layman are soon shown to be exactly wrong by the hard school of experience. Conversely, things that seem ridiculous to the laymen are in fact great ideas when put into practice by those who know what they are doing.

With that said, here is an overview of what to expect.

Tides of the Week Tides for Bob Hall Pier March 2 - March 9

Day

High /Low

Tide Time

Th

2

High

5:55 AM 12:04 PM

2

Low

2

High 5:08 PM

2

Low

F

Height in Feet

Sunrise Moon Time Sunset

1.2

6:52 AM

Rise 9:45 AM

0.6

6:30 PM

Set 10:53 PM

Moon Visible

12

11:49 PM

0.9

0.0

3

High 7:26 AM

1.2

6:51 AM

Rise 10:30 AM

3

Low

1:37 PM

0.9

6:31 PM

Set 11:56 PM

3

High 5:12 PM

1.0

4

Low

Rise 11:18 AM

31

4

5

42

5 6

Tu

Sa

Su

M

W

Th

12:46 AM

-0.1

6:50 AM

High 9:14 AM

1.3

6:31 PM

Low

1:52 AM

-0.2

6:49 AM

Set 12:59 AM

High

11:18 AM

1.4

6:32 PM

Rise 12:10 PM

Low

3:06 AM

-0.3

6:48 AM

Set 1:59 AM

6

High

12:49 PM

1.5

6:32 PM

Rise 1:05 PM

7

Low

4:21 AM

-0.4

6:47 AM

Set 2:57 AM

7

High 1:46 PM

1.6

6:33 PM

Rise 2:03 PM

8

Low

5:31 AM

-0.4

6:45 AM

Set 3:51 AM

8

High 2:28 PM

1.5

6:34 PM

Rise 3:02 PM

9

Low

6:35 AM

-0.3

6:44 AM

Set 4:41 AM

9

High 2:59 PM

1.4

6:34 PM

Rise 4:02 PM

9

Low

8:31 PM

9

High

11:23 PM

21

53 65 75 84

1.1

1.2

First, think of Lake Padre as a 58-million gallon reservoir, as tidal water flows in from Packery Channel it will simultaneously push water under the bridge and into the island canal system. The water gate between Packery Channel and Lake Padre will be increased to a width of 85 feet and with no wind, it would take about 3 hours and 15 minutes for the incoming tide to “fill” Lake Padre so that the majority of water coming in from the Packery would then flow on into the canal system. When the tub is full the incoming water flows over.

Prior to the opening of Packery Channel it took about three hours for the water flowing into the channel in Port Aransas to reach North Padre canals meaning that the tidal fluctuations seldom pushed new water in the back of the canal system. The water levels of the pass in Port Aransas, 18 miles away, were about 1 inch different than those in the Island canal system.

That changed with the opening of Packery Channel as residents on the north end of The Island, nearest the channel, noted that the water quality improved, there were more oyster beds, and a wider variety of fish, and more of the same is expected with the new canal since the distance the tidal water will have to travel to reach canals is drastically reduced. While this will not mean higher water levels in our canal system, it is expected to mean that tidal fluctuations will be more frequent and will have a much greater impact on the quality of canal water by bringing in new Gulf water with each tide.

Here are a few basic numbers as listed in studies done by various parties from private stakeholders to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

The canal under the bridge will be 48 feet wide, 8 feet deep, and the walls as well as the bottom will be made of concrete to prevent erosion It takes 58 million gallons of water to raise water levels by one foot in Lake Padre which has a surface area of 175 acres.

The canal from Whitecap to the Gypsy Bridge covers 140 acres of water and holds about 46 million gallons of water.

Not including the water already in Lake Padre about each tide will move about 75 million gallons of water over a 223-acres surface in the Island canal system On the Island Walk feature, a 3200-foot long retail, commercial, residential feature along the canal from Lake Padre to Schlitterbahn, from the new marina on Lake Padre to Whitecap the surface area of the canal equals 16 acres and requires 5.5 million gallons to fill.

Three times as much water will flow under the bridge as would have been the case with only water exchange culverts The moving stream of water as it flows through Lake Padre is 100 feet wide One foot of water moving through a 40-foot opening at the bridge will move 15.8 million gallons of water in one hour.

Conclusion The exact speed of the water flowing under the bridge is currently not known. Some conclusions can be drawn based on the flow of water under the Packery Bridge is an indicator, but is in a different part of the water flow that the bridge under SPID will be. It is safe to say the water flow in the narrow part of the Main Canal, between the Gypsy Bridge and Cruiser, will increase. The prevailing southeasterly wind will push water up the channel toward the Laguna Madre bringing in new Gulf water at the Lake Padre end of the system. There will be no noticeable change in water levels in the canals but we will see a quicker flow and more new, clean water from the Gulf of Mexico.

After more than a dozen years of trying the fruition of the Water Exchange Bridge project is in sight, and on top of the advantages to Island boaters it brings, it will also mean much better water quality in our canals. It will be a welcome change.

For more details or questions attend the ISAC meeting at 5:30 p.m. on Tuesday, March 7 at the Veranda.

On an annual basis, Packery Channel is a net outflow canal, more water flows out than in.

TPWD Closing Oyster Harvest in Mesquite Bay and Aransas Bay The Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD) is closing TX-28, TX-29 and TX-30 in Mesquite Bay and Aransas Bay to commercial and recreational oyster harvest on Saturday, March 4, 2017.

This closing is based on samples collected in February 2017 by TPWD in response to concerns expressed by the oyster industry.

Chapter 76, Parks and Wildlife Code, and the Oyster Management Proclamation, Section 58.21(c)(1), provide for the emergency closure of an area to oyster harvesting when it can be shown that the area is being overworked or damaged.

TPWD and the Oyster Advisory Workgroup, a group of Texas commercial oyster fishermen and dealers, have established criteria based on the abundance of market-sized oysters (greater than 3 inches) and the percentage of small oysters (2-2.9 inches) for determining when an area should be closed.

“This closure is designed to provide some protection to undersize oysters so they can reach legal sizes. The area will be closely monitored by TPWD and will reopen when criteria thresholds are met,” says TPWD’s Coastal Fisheries Deputy Division Director Lance Robinson.

Send letters and photos to editor@islandmoon.com

If anyone is missing a buoy it is on the beach at PINS

The BACK PORCH Davin James Scarecrow People Mark Monaco Chris Saucedo Cody Bryan Cruise Control

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A6

March 2, 2017

Island Moon

Senior Moments

King Kong-The Story of the 1933 Movie Special to the Island Moon Dotson’s Note: It is hard to believe that it was Willis O'Brien created an oil painting depicting only 84 years ago (March 7, 1933) that the epic the giant gorilla menacing a jungle heroine and movie hit the big screen. I remember seeing the hunter for Cooper. However, when it came time movie and being haunted by it until my aunt for O'Brien and Marcel Delgado to sculpt the (age 16) convinced me that King Kong was not animation model, Cooper decided to back pedal real. I am not sure when the movie first played in on the half human look for the creature and the Palace Theater in Ralls (population 1500), became adamant that Kong be a gorilla. O'Brien Texas. My guess is that it was late in 1933, on the other hand, wanted him to be almost because I could get in for free if I would sit on human-like to gain audience empathy, and told the lap of a paying customer. If there was any Delgado to "make that ape almost human." empty seat next to my host I was allowed to sit Cooper laughed there unless a paying customer wanted to sit in at the end result the seat. That worked for Saturday matinees if saying that it you were 6 or under. My mother’s baby brother looked like a allowed me to accompany him. He was about cross between 14 and had a paper route, so he could afford the a monkey and cost of admission, which I believe was 5 cents. a man with If you haven’t seen the 1933 version of King very long hair.

Kong some information follows...Wikipedia For the second model, O'Brien contributed some of the facts for this report. again asked Delgado to add human features Meet King Kong but to tone it down somewhat. The end result King Kong is a giant movie monster, (which was rejected) was described as looking resembling a colossal ape that has appeared in like a missing link. Disappointed Cooper various media since 1933. The character first stated, "I want Kong to be the fiercest, most appeared in the 1933 film King Kong, which brutal, monstrous damned thing that has ever received universal acclaim upon its initial been seen!" On December 22, 1931, Cooper release and re-releases. The film was remade in got the dimensions of a bull gorilla from the 1976 and 2005. The character has become one American Museum of Natural History telling of the world's most famous movie icons, having O'Brien, "Now that's what I want!" When inspired countless sequels, remakes, spin-offs, the final model was created (one that Cooper imitators, parodies, cartoons, books, comics, ultimately approved of), it had the basic overall video games, theme park rides, and even a stage look of a gorilla but managed to retain some play. His role in the different narratives varies, humoresque qualities, such as a streamlined ranging from a rampaging monster to a tragic body and a removed paunch and rump, distinctive aspects of the gorilla's anatomy that antihero.

Delgado purposefully removed. O'Brien would The King Kong character was conceived and incorporate some characteristics and nuances of created by American filmmaker Merian C. an earlier creature he had created in 1915 for the Cooper. In the original film, the character's name silent short The Dinosaur and the Missing Link is Kong, a name given to him by the inhabitants into the general look and personality of Kong, of "Skull Island" in the Indian Ocean, where even going as far as to refer to the creature as Kong lives along with other oversized animals "Kong's ancestor." When it came time to film, such as a plesiosaur, pterosaurs and other Cooper agreed that Kong should walk upright dinosaurs. An American film crew, led by Carl at times (mostly in the New York sequences) in Denham, captures Kong and takes him to New order to appear more intimidating.

York City to be exhibited as the "Eighth Wonder of the World."

Origin of The Name Cooper became fascinated by gorillas at the age of 6. In 1899, he was given a book from his uncle called Explorations and Adventures in Equatorial Africa. The book (written in 1861), chronicled the adventures of Paul Du Chaillu in Africa and his various encounters with the natives and wildlife there. Cooper became fascinated with the stories involving the gorilla, in particular, Du Chaillu's depiction of a particular gorilla known for its "extraordinary size” that the natives described as "invincible" and the "King of the African Forest." When Du Chaillu and some natives encountered a gorilla later in the book he described it as a "hellish dream creature" that was "half man, half beast" It was these stories that planted the seed of adventure in young Merian's mind.

Making of The Movie Decades later in his adult years, Cooper became involved in the motion picture industry. While filming The Four Feathers in Africa, he came into contact with a family of baboons. This gave him the idea to make a picture about primates.

Merian C. Cooper was very fond of strong hard sounding words that started with the letter "K". Some of his favorite words were Komodo, Kodiak and Kodak. When Cooper was envisioning his giant terror gorilla idea, he wanted to capture a real gorilla from the Congo and have it fight a real Komodo dragon on Komodo Island. (This scenario would eventually evolve into Kong's battle with the tyrannosaur on Skull Island when the film was produced a few years later at RKO.) Cooper's friend Douglas Burden's trip to the island of Komodo and his encounter with the Komodo dragons there was a big influence on the Kong story. Cooper was fascinated by Burden's adventures as chronicled in his book Dragon Lizards of Komodo where he referred to the animal as the "King of Komodo." It was this phrase along with Komodo and C(K)ongo (and his overall love for hard sounding K words) [ that gave him the idea to name the giant ape Kong. He loved the name as it had a "mystery sound" to it.

When Cooper got to RKO and wrote the first draft of the story, it was simply referred to as The Beast. RKO executives were unimpressed with the bland title. David O. Selznick suggested Jungle Beast as the film's new title, but Cooper was unimpressed and wanted to name the film after the main character. He stated he liked the "mystery word" aspect of Kong's name and that the film should carry "the name of the leading mysterious, romantic, savage creature of the story" such as with Dracula and Frankenstein.

RKO sent a memo to Cooper suggesting the titles Kong: King of Beasts, Kong: The Jungle King, and Kong: The Jungle Beast, which combined his and Selznick's proposed titles. As time went on, Cooper would eventually name the story simply Kong while Ruth Rose was writing the final version of the screenplay. Because David O. Selznick thought that audiences would think that the film, with the one word title of Kong, would be mistaken as a docudrama like Grass and Chang, which were one-word titled films that Cooper had earlier produced, he added the "King" to Kong's name to differentiate.

The Story In the above photo Merian C. Cooper looks up at his creation.

A year later when he got to RKO, Cooper wanted to film a "terror gorilla picture." As the story was being fleshed out, Cooper decided to make his gorilla giant sized. Cooper stated that the idea of Kong fighting warplanes on top of a building came from him seeing a plane flying over the New York Insurance Building, then the tallest building in the world. He came up with the ending before the rest of the story as he stated, "Without any conscious effort of thought I immediately saw in my mind's eye a giant gorilla on top of the building." Cooper also was influenced by Douglas Burden's accounts of the Komodo Dragon, and wanted to pit his terror gorilla against Dinosaur sized versions of these reptiles stating to Burden, "I also had firmly in mind to giantize both the gorilla and your dragons to make them really huge. However I always believed in personalizing and focusing attention on one main character and from the very beginning I intended to make it the gigantic gorilla, no matter what else I surrounded him with." Around this time, Cooper began to refer to his project as a "Giant terror gorilla picture" featuring "A gigantic semi-humanoid gorilla pitted against modern civilization.”

Once the film got green-lit and it came time to design King Kong, Cooper wanted him to be a nightmarish gorilla monster as he described him in a 1930 memo, "His hands and feet have the size and strength of steam shovels; his girth is that of a steam boiler. This is a monster with the strength of a hundred men. But more terrifying is the head--a nightmare head with bloodshot eyes and jagged teeth set under a thick mat of hair, a face half-beast half-human."

Attack of the Zombie Insects From (Probably) Space

By Abigail Bair

By Dotson Lewis

The Creation of King Kong

Anecdotingly

Kong escapes and climbs the Empire State Building, only to fall from the skyscraper after being attacked by airplanes with guns. Denham comments, "It was beauty killed the beast," because he climbs the building only in an attempt to protect Ann Darrow (played by Fay Wray), an actress originally offered up to Kong on Skull Island as a sacrifice.

Dotson’s Other Note: If you haven’t seen or don’t remember this classic movie, you can find it on YouTube. Needless to say, my first crush was the damsel in distress, Fay Wray. She died in her sleep of natural causes on August 8, 2004 (age 95). Two days after her death, the lights of the Empire State Building were extinguished for 15 minutes in her memory. (After compiling this article I learned that now, 84 years later, a third “version” is set to be released on March 10th “ Kong: Skull Island.”)

Your thoughts regarding this or any articles appearing in The Island Moon are greatly appreciated. Thank you for reading and commenting on Senior Moments. I can be reached at: dlewis1@stx.rr.com and/or Land Line: 361-949-7681 Cell: 530-748-8475.

Please Note: The next Veterans Round Table Meeting will be Tuesday, March 7, 2017, 9-11 AM, 3209 S. Staples. All Veterans, their families and anyone interested in Veterans affairs, are invited. Coffee & doughnuts are provided. Hope to see you there. Also our Veterans Radio Round Table is on the air on KEYS AM 1440, 8 – 9 AM, Saturdays. The next will air February 25, 2017.

Please listen and call in. The listener/text line is: 361-560-5397…It’s your show.

Hang in there/Have fun!

I am a former Northerner. For you inveterate South Texans, that means that I come from a place where the ground is the temperature of your standard ice cube for at least four months out of the year, but much more difficult to make a margarita with. Cold is bad in many ways, it makes your bones ache and turns your nose into a snot spigot. Sledding and hot chocolate seem great until you actually have to spend a day trudging miles through snow drifts, only to have your younger brother get way more marshmallows. Several years ago, my parents and I decided Norman Rockwellesque, ruby cheeked winters (which involved less happy children and more power outages, black ice, and yucky slush) could metaphorically suck it in favor of warm weather and plentiful tequilas.

We soon found, however, that winter is a clear winner over warmer climes in one way: freezing temperatures kill bugs.

much WebMD) diagnosed herself with the Hanta Virus and spent two hours crouched in a bathroom convinced that she was going to die a horrible diarrhea death. She identified the critters as: “either some kind of South American meal worm, weird maggots, or those things they put in the guys’ ears at the beginning of Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan.” None of these were helpful classifications, but during her search, I managed to lay down salt traps to make the creepy crawlies very uncomfortable, and concocted a bug murdering spray out of common household products like salt, baking soda, vinegar, bleach, ammonia, drain-o and honey for stickiness. It was really, really smelly and evidently pretty toxic, as it shriveled the larvae upon contact. Stadler vacated the house and hid under the hammock in the back yard.

There were seemingly insurmountable armies of insects. I was at it all night: spray, crunch, This week marks my discovery of just how spray, crunch – bag to trash, crying the whole bad the bug problem can get. I knew that one time and choking on what I later learned was must have an exterminator in South Texas, and pretty much entirely mustard gas. I also sent the directly after I moved into my house, I employed Rev increasingly worrying texts that advanced a nationally recognized pest control company. several conspiracy theories involving my fired I had to divest myself of their services after they exterminators, threats that I was going to report violated our contract several times, appearing this whole problem to NASA or Homeland in my backyard sans appointment. This would Security (whichever had a local office), tearful be okay, probably, if you aren't the kind of snifflings about how no one loved me, and telling person who often explores the perimeters of her we needed to get some crows to set loose your property in your underpants, dancing to in the house. Around 3 a.m., I finally caught, unfortunate metal music. No one takes your murdered and disposed of the last of them, but complaints seriously when you've just been I couldn’t sleep because I was convinced there caught dancing to White Snake wearing only an was a lone survivor waiting to Wrath of Khan Avenger's t-shirt and Oscar the Grouch panties. me as vengeance for my genocidal behavior.

I am, sometimes abashedly, a creative type.

I boogie to the beat of my own drummer, but when it comes to things like oil changes, tire rotations, appliance maintenance, insurance and other boring things (including fiduciary responsibility) I tend to fall off the edge of the world and resurface only when someone more competent deals with it. This is not a terrific, or even adequate way to live one’s life, but please remember, you’re reading the writings of a woman who manages to hit herself in the face with a vacuum cleaner on at least a weekly basis. My parents (known as the Rev ((Reverend Mother/Mom)) and the Great Provider (G.P./ Dad) are the constant mopper-uppers in my little dancing universe, and are less than thrilled with the position. I keep telling them that they really should’ve considered condoms, and that these whole designated-for-life deals are the equivalent of buying a time share in sunny Abu Ghraib.

Overkill

At 6 a.m. the phone rang. It was a fairly concerned Rev who gave me the cell phone number of Jeff the Bug Guy and told me to call him immediately. Jeff was not thrilled to get a call at 6:07 a.m., but agreed to come over.

I paced like a tiger until 9:38 a.m. when he arrived. Jeff was a comforting sight, a cowboy towing a huge can of some industrial grade/ magical bug disintegration spray. I hid on the sofa, peering over the arm as he searched my kitchen for the creatures. There weren’t any. After lying down on the floor and peering at my baseboard, Jeff asked me to come over and show him these “bugs.” Not one little corpse remained. “Sometimes we all have a rough night, honey, but there aren’t any bugs, see?” Jeff said skeptically. I went outside and crawled into the dumpster to retrieve a zip loc baggy full of bug squish to show him. Jeff lost his suspicious demeanor, but couldn’t identify Cut to two days after I fired my exterminators. them because they were more smear than insect.

Both of my parents were out of town – the “This might be a case of overkill,” said the man Rev at a spiritual retreat and the G.P. at a folk with the tank of Malathion. music festival/probable wine tasting. Neither Yesterday, my parents and I were enjoying a of them had cell reception, and had to drive to beer at our local watering hole, and the Rev retreat/festival adjacent hills to call to check noted that she would again be going on her in. I was in charge. My parents have a great annual spiritual retreat. I said, “Oh no, that deal of optimism regarding my ability to deal means it's bugiversary!” “Abigail,” she replied, with things when they’re away. I really think “you killed them so thoroughly that they they’re just secretly hoping that I’ll accidentally couldn’t have matured enough to reproduce. burn everything down so that they can move to They can’t possibly come back.” “NOT IF Hawaii. They're glass half full people.

THEY’RE ZOMBIE BUGS FROM SPACE, MOTHER,” I screeched (becomingly), “YOU Zombie bugs from outer space KNOW NOTHING OF THEIR HELLISH Stalder and I were returning from a run, sweaty REPRODUCTIVE SYSTEMS.” Some people and happy, when I saw them: strange, white, are just so unscientific. She’s leaving Friday. maggoty looking, alien worm things crawling out of my wall! There were approximately a millionty-billion of the horrible larvae, sliming Charter Boat Owners and Operators Wanted their way across the ivory tiles of my kitchen for new location on Packery Channel floor. I immediately started sweeping them up into a dustpan, sealing them in freezer bags, squishing them with my cast iron skillet and then running each bag outside to the dumpster.

I called the Rev. No answer except a cheery message that said that the subscriber refused TM to set up their voicemail. I called the G.P. It Floating Cabin Repairs didn’t even ring. I called my friend Lena Large Boat Slip (22’ x 40’) available good for either repairs or rebuilding crying. She insisted that I send photos so that Located under the JFK bridge on Packery Channel she could identify the insects to better advise Call for lease terms me on how to murder them. I was so desperate Packery Flats Marina that I gratefully requested advice from Lena, a woman who once (due to alcohol and too

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Island Moon

Barefoot Mardi Gras Ball

Island Moon on a Spoon

Carnival Fritters “Chiacchiere” Instructions

By Chef Vita Jarrin lthough Carnival is over, I wanted to share with you a recipe that we traditionally make this time of year. It’s easy to make, yet a little time consuming. But don’t let that deter you. It’s doesn’t take any longer than baking cookies from scratch, not to mention the worthy jaw dropping presentation they provide.

Italy, just like North America, celebrates carnival. Carnival is what’s known as the last day of the Mardi Gras festivities.

Lots of celebrations across the world are inclusive of lots and lots of food. Mardi Gras translated into English means Fat Tuesday.

Just like in the U.S., Italy celebrates with various food traditions, parties, music and what I’m sharing with you today…chiacchiere (pronounced –key-ya-kia-rri).

Sift all dry ingredients in a stand mixer bowl.

Place paddle attachment on mixer and start mixer on low. Add the butter a few chunks at a time. Add the vodka & vanilla. Add the egg yolks and then add the eggs one at a time. If the eggs are larger than some, you may only need 3.

You have to see how the dough comes together.

If the dough forms by coming away from the bowl, you may not need that 4th egg. If it still looks dry and crumbly you need it. Be careful not to add too many all at once, because when the dough is too soft, you will not be able to roll the pasta through a pasta machine.

After dough comes together, switch to a dough hook. Let mix in the mixer for 10 minutes.

Dough should look smooth, like pasta dough.

If dough seems slightly softer than you wanted, feel free to add a little flour to dough. Place dough in a bowl and cover with a sheet of plastic and let sit for 30 minutes.

As you can probably guess, I grew up on these treats. For the most part, my Mother would make them after she would make cannoli shells for carnival or holidays. They would take the left over dough, cut them into strips and fry them in the same oil they made the shells from.

I’m finding it more and more rewarding to share recipes inspired from my childhood, because I hear so many wonderful stories from people who thank me for reminding them about the foods they ate growing up. Food is a wonderful vehicle to transport us back to our roots and it reminds us to reopen our recipe boxes and create magic in the kitchen with our families, so that they too have memories to share with their families later on in life.

As you can tell by the photo, these fritters are a delicate, light and airy. So after having a full meal, you can still indulge in a light dessert. If you’re looking for a little more decadence, try melting a good quality chocolate and dipping them. You can eat them right away, or let the chocolate harden and then sprinkle with powder sugar. That will truly elevate this dish for a party.

Yields about 50-60 Fritters ***NOTE Best results call for a pasta machine/ but can use rolling pin

While dough is resting, get your oil in a pot or deep fryer ready. Get a bowl and paper towels ready, along with a sheet pan for strips you are going to fry and two forks or tongs to flip the fritters once they are cooking in oil.

If using a pasta machine, cut a small portion of the dough and roll in a pasta machine in the widest setting. Rub a little flour on both sides and put it through. Go to the second widest and so on. Each machine is different. But the sheet of dough usually goes through 3 times and it looks like a thin pasta sheet. With a ravioli roller or knife, cut into 2 in wide by 3 inch long strip. Add a slit or two down the center and place on sheet pan. When you have your dough ready, heat oil to 375 degrees or see if oil is hot by dropping a test fritter after oil has heated for about 7-10 minutes.

Fry fritters until they are golden and place in a paper lined bowl. As they cool they will harden. Sprinkle the fritters with sifted powder sugar and serve. If you get too many, you can freeze them in air tight container and serve at a later time.

Ingredients: 4 C all-purpose flour ½ C granulated sugar 11/4 tsp baking powder Pinch of salt

Tip of the week!

4 large eggs

This recipe is best made with the help of a person or two. One can cut the strips while the other tends to the fryer. Total process takes about 2.5 hours with that 30 min resting time included. But oh so worth it!!!

2 egg yolks ½ C Vodka 1 stick butter large dice Peanut Oil for frying Powder sugar for sifting over fritters

The important this is to Have Fun! Try New Things! Happy Eats… Enjoy!

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SPORTS Sports Talk Special to The Island Moon

Texas High School Wrestling Program Makes National Headlines

By Dotson Lewis

Special to the Island Moon Dotson’s Note: Transgender high school wrestler Mack Beggs identifies as a male. He just won the Texas state girls title. I believe that this matter should be brought to the attention of all who are aware that in Texas, all of the public schools have competitive sports programs. It is my concern that the decision to allow boys to compete against girls in school sports could have a far reaching effect and could cause some very serious consequences. For the record, I have not discussed this matter with my friends, the UIL Director, Dr. Charles Breithaupt and/or the UIL Athletic Director, Dr. Susan Elsa. Kent Babb writer for AllMetSports contributed to this report.

Transgender Teenage Wrestler Wins Texas Girls' State Title Mack Beggs ended a highly controversial and dramatic weekend by becoming the first transgender participant to win a Class 6A girls’ state championship in Texas high school wrestling. Mack Beggs, a teenager who is transitioning from female to male, wins the Texas girl's state championship. Booed and bloody, Mack Beggs dropped to his knees to celebrate. He was, after four wins and two days and all the rest, a state champion.

the peace he sought and the ambition he had.

“I want to be somebody,” he said long before all this; before the boos and the cameras; before his coach whisked him on and off the arena floor to minimize Beggs’s visibility; and before a tournament run that sparked an arena, a state and a nation to confront a subject that previously could have been avoided. “Somebody who does something — not just a page in a book. I want to be a book.”

A No-Win situation Beggs spent most of the weekend in a staging area, cordoned off and out of view. When it was time for him to wrestle, he jogged in from a tunnel unused by most other participants and trailed by his wrestling coach and grandmother.

“Trinity High School put a safety net on us,” Nancy Beggs, Mack’s grandmother and legal guardian, wrote in one of several text messages.

It kept other opponents, onlookers and an unusually large group of assembled media largely away. Beggs, his grandmother and coach, Travis Clark, were among those Trinity encouraged to decline interviews.

Jawbreaker Part II

By Andy Purvis Special to the Island Moon As it is for most fighters, Norton’s first 25 or so opponents were nobodies, “cupcakes” if you will. Fighting young up-and-coming fighters was a way to build your win total and confidence, while learning how to become great. His 28th win was over veteran Henry Clark, whom he knocked out in the ninth round. Ali had become Norton’s 31st opponent and 30th victory. Seven months later, Norton would be knocked down three times in Caracas, Venezuela, by “Big, Bad” George Foreman. Norton never made the bell for round three, and this fight became known as the “Caracas Caper.” Norton would continue on while besting Ron Stander, Jimmy Young, Gerry Cooney, Scott LeDoux, Earnie Shavers, and Randall “Tex” Cobb.

Norton’s victory over Larry Middleton in 1976 would be labeled “The Battle of the Jawbreakers,” as Middleton had broken Joe Bugner’s jaw and Norton, Ali’s. Middleton managed to finish the fight, but lost in a technical knockout (TKO). In 1977, Norton jumped on Duane Bobick like a fat kid on an ice cream cone. The scene on Bobick’s face looked like he had just eaten a really big lemon.

Norton knocked out the undefeated Bobick in round one.

Two years ago, Beggs pointed a camera at himself and described a childhood of struggle and confusion — before, he said, discovering a word that simplified what he had experienced: transgender.

“I knew who I was,” he said in the video, “but I just couldn’t find words for it.”

He had come to loathe his full first name, Mackenzie, and began encouraging friends and family to call him Mack because his given name “reminded me of who I was.”

In a 12-2 victory against Chelsea Sanchez in the 110-pound classification, Beggs ended a highly controversial and dramatic weekend by becoming the first transgender participant to win a Class 6A girls’ state championship in Texas high school wrestling.

“I just witnessed my sport change,” a longtime Texas wrestling coach said moments after Beggs, a 17-year-old junior at Trinity High in Euless whose transition from girl to boy began two years ago and now includes testosterone injections, won a championship. The victory was seen as equal parts unavoidable — quick and noticeably strong, he entered the tournament unbeaten in 52 matches against girls — and contentious. The University Interscholastic League, which oversees sports in Texas public schools, ordered Beggs to continue competing in the girls’ division despite heavy uproar and a lawsuit earlier this month in a Travis County district court.

So Saturday, those who had packed into Berry Center, a multipurpose facility in suburban Houston, were divided — like the state and country. It seemed an unlikely place to stage a raging political discussion, but the tournament ended a week in which President Trump revoked federal guidelines allowing transgender students to use public restrooms that match their gender identity; it played out in a sprawling and culturally diverse state divided over a controversial “bathroom bill” similar to the one roiling North Carolina.

In this time and place, with Beggs cruising to a state championship, the hundreds here had no choice but to confront one of the nation’s most divisive and highly charged issues.

“She’s standing there holding her head high like she’s the winner,” said Patti Overstreet, a mother of a wrestler in the boys’ division. “She’s not winning. She’s cheating.” Overstreet, upset Friday in the moments after Beggs’s openinground victory, went on. “It’s not equal,” she said. “It’s never going to be equal.”

Other parents tiptoed around the discussion, wondering what to say and how to say it. Kids confronted coaches about topics as complicated as gender identity and as simple as fairness, leading some to squirm and others to attempt explanations.

“Everybody has been talking about it. It’s in the ether everywhere,” said one longtime Texas high school wrestling coach, who requested anonymity because his school district prohibited its employees from publicly discussing Beggs’s situation. “All this week I’m in school and kids are coming up and talking about it. I’ve never seen anything like this.”

Beyond the politics are the young people who have been forced to participate within a discussion and scene that, by any measure, is difficult to make sense of. The coach said one of his girls quit the wrestling team rather than face Beggs, who has documented and shared the results of his testosterone use on social media.

James Baudhuin, the attorney suing the UIL over Beggs’s participation in the girls’ division, has a daughter who had wrestled against Beggs and, at least before the suit, was among his friends.

The ordeal grew complicated, on and off the mat. Baudhuin himself said he was so conflicted that, though he’d filed a petition to keep Beggs off the mat, he would nonetheless be cheering for Beggs to win the championship.

“The 16 girls who are in Beggs’s bracket have been put in a very, very unfair situation because of the grown-ups,” Baudhuin said. “To me, this is a complete abject failure of leadership and accountability from the people who regulate sports in Texas. They’re doing wrong by Mack, and not just these 15 girls but all the other girls she wrestled all year.”

Then there is the experience of Beggs himself.

Nearly two years ago, in a video diary explaining his transition, he discussed the sport he loved,

“Everything is great,” Beggs said in the video.

“The message I’m trying to send, the overall universal message I would say to y’all is don’t give up and don’t give up on yourself, because you don’t know when you’ll find yourself.”

As time passed, attorney Baudhuin said, Beggs requested to wrestle against boys, though because UIL guidelines determine athletes’ gender based on their birth certificate, that request was declined (citing privacy, the UIL would not discuss that request or Beggs’s specific case); in a brief interview before the championship final, Nancy Beggs would not comment on whether her grandson hoped to eventually participate in the boys’ division.

Last year, coaches in the Dallas-Fort Worth area began hearing about changes in Beggs’s physique. He was strong and lean, and coaches noticed an unmistakable strength advantage that hadn’t been there even a year earlier.

A few coaches and parents became concerned their girls wouldn’t compete on equal terrain.

Other coaches disagreed, more impressed by Beggs’s commitment to improvement and his mental preparation. Sides were established.

Discussions became increasingly tense.

Questions became more difficult to answer.

Why, several girls asked the wrestling coach who had asked to remain anonymous, was it okay for Beggs to receive hormones but not them? Why endure training and risk injury if there was no discernible path to victory?

“It’s a dominant American value: fairness, the equality of the pursuit of something,” the coach said. “. . . There’s no doubt that coaches are troubled by this; kids are troubled by it.”

As you get older, you lose the ability to throw the punch. You can still punch and you can still see the opening, but you can’t pull the trigger. The boxing game never loses; boxers’ performance weakens with age, and the sport benefits with time. “Never fight too long” is a lesson well-learned. Everyonce in awhile, a boxer appears to be able to beat Father Time; but how untrue that is. The desire of the mind is there, but the body can no longer compete.

Norton finished with a career record of 42-7-1, with 33 knockouts. Norton’s peak was 19731978. At the age of 37, Norton decided to retire.

Norton was showered with glory. Ken Norton was voted Fighter of the Year in 1977, by the Boxing Writers Association of America. He was inducted into the World Boxing Hall of Fame in 1989 and the International Hall of Fame in 1992. In 2001, Norton joined the San Diego Hall of Champions. Also in 2001, Norton was inducted into the California Sports Hall of Fame. He also became an inductee into the United States Marine Corps Sports Hall of Fame in 2004 and was a 2008 inductee into the World Boxing Council (WBC) Hall of Fame.

He was voted # 22 of the top 25 heavyweights in history by The Ring magazine. “Ken Norton was the nicest of the whole bunch of us,” said George Foreman. Ken remained close to the fight game and his opponents.

Norton appeared in about twenty different motion pictures. The A-Team, Knight Rider, and Superstars are a few. Norton was also pegged to play “Apollo Creed” in Rocky but pulled out at the last minute. He could not reconcile losing to a non fighter, even in the movies. The part went to Carl Weathers. Norton also worked as a radio and television sports commentator.

He cut his hair and told his grandmother that he wanted to be a boy. Nancy Beggs said Saturday that her grandson felt relief after identifying as transgender, like a longtime affliction had finally been diagnosed.

In 2015, Mack Beggs began taking supplements to begin his physical transition. In the video, he predicted a complicated future regarding UIL rules but nonetheless declared that he wanted to go on participating in the sport he had fallen in love with. Also he began taking testosterone in 2015.

I often wondered why Ken Norton and Joe Frazier never fought each other; then I found out that they did spar with each other occasionally. The reason was that they were both trained by the same man, Eddie Futch.

In 1978, Norton was awarded the World Boxing Council’s Heavyweight Championship (WBC) when he defeated Jimmy Young in the 1977 title elimination fight, and Leon Spinks refused to defend the title. Norton became the only Heavyweight Champion to never win a title in the ring. Norton would lose that title in June of the same year, to Larry Holmes. The Larry Holmes and Ken Norton bout was a war, 15 rounds of testosterone. Holmes won the fight on a one-point split decision. This fight between the two has been listed as the tenth greatest heavyweight fight in boxing history

by The Ring magazine. Again the three judges had scored the fight 143-142 for Holmes, 143142 for Holmes, and the third judge 143-142 for Norton. The Associated Press also scored the fight in favor of Norton. Larry Holmes later wrote that his fight with Ken Norton was his toughest match in over 70 contests.

Norton was known for using what was called the “guarded stance,” a system of crossing his arms. The left arm was low across the torso and the right hand was held up by the left ear. He would bring both arms up across his face when the number of blows increased. Most fighters during his day fought with their elbows at their side. This stance was also used by Archie Moore. George Foreman and Joe Frazier, too, adopted the stance at certain times during their career. Norton was best when he advanced, placing pressure on his opponent. Norton was also known for staring down at his opponent’s feet during the start of the fight. He claimed he was gathering his thoughts and had no use for the stare down that usually precedes a boxing match.

A 1986 car accident was nearly fatal for Norton. He was confined to a wheelchair for several years and experienced slow and slurred speech. He also remained estranged from his son, Ken Norton Jr., who starred as a linebacker at UCLA and played professionally with the Dallas Cowboys and San Francisco 49er’s. Ken Jr. is now the linebacker coach with the Seattle Seahawks. They finally reconciled several years before his death.

Ken Norton understood that people would enjoy life more if, once they got what they wanted; they could remember how much they wanted it. All come to a point in their lives where they can’t get any better as an athlete. You just have to be satisfied with who you are. Norton always questioned who set the boundary, who says you can’t do this or that. Norton published his autobiography titled Going the Distance, in the year 2000.

Ken Norton died on a Wednesday, September 18, 2013, in a veteran hospital located in a Las Vegas suburb, Henderson, Nevada. Norton was visited by Mike Tyson, Thomas Hearns and Earnie Shavers before he died. He suffered from congestive heart failure and a stroke.

Norton was 70 years old.

Cicero, a Roman philosopher, once said, “The life of the dead is placed in the memory of the living.” I remember Ken Norton.

Andy Purvis is a local author and radio personality. Please visit www.purvisbooks. com for all the latest info on his books or to listen to the new radio podcast. Andy’s books are available online and can be found in the local Barnes & Noble bookstore. Andy can be contacted at purvis.andy@mygrande.net. Also listen to sports talk radio on Dennis & Andy’s Q & A Session from 6-8 PM on Sportsradiocc.com 1230 AM, 96.1 FM and 103.3 FM. The home of the Houston Astros.

In December, Baudhuin said, parents began asking him to do something about this. They viewed social media posts documenting the changes to Beggs’s body, and Beggs made quick work of every opponent he faced. During the state regional tournament, Beggs’s two opponents forfeited rather than face him.

On behalf of the father of one opponent, Baudhuin sent a certified letter in January petitioning the UIL to move Beggs to the boys’ division. This month he filed a lawsuit that asked for Beggs to be allowed to wrestle boys or removed from the championship tournament.

For now, he said, the court has made no decision.

The UIL issued a statement Friday that said the birth-certificate rule could change in the future, and Beggs’s school district determined his testosterone was “well below the allowed level.”

Beggs has one year of high school eligibility remaining and could face additional scrutiny and potential courtroom battles next season.

“You’ve got a kid who’s either going to quit the sport entirely or she has got to wrestle against girls, which she doesn’t want to do,” said Baudhuin, who said he still refers to Beggs by the female pronoun because he struggles to see his daughter’s old friend as a boy. “She’s in a no-win situation.”

Dotson’s Other Note: This is one of the many times that I am pleased that I am no longer directly involved with the Texas University Interscholastic League. Your comments, suggestions, questions and concerns regarding Sports Talk articles are greatly appreciated, please call the Benchwarmers at 361-560-5397 weekdays, Mondays thru Fridays, 5-7 PM, or contact me. Phone: 361-949-7681 Cell: 530748-8475 Email: dlewis1@stx.rr.com Have fun -30-

Send letters and photos to editor@islandmoon.com

Champions!

The Pelican Pool Team is the grand champion of the Island pool league after their recent victory. The champs attributed their big win to a keen eye, clean living, and not too much time wasted on shuffleboard.

Left to right: Eddie “The Eagle” mascot, James Kuykendall, Craig Kerr, Kim Stephenson, Gary Vaughn (not pictured: Captain Jim Brenner, Co-Captain Marvin Arreana, Christian Durante. Way to go you guys!

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Port A. Mardi Gras a Hit!

Seashore Happenings

SLC 2nd grade Brownies rocking the Mardi Gras parade!

SLC observes TX Independence Day by dancing the cotton eyed Joe at the annual Lone Star Stampede! Held March 10th, the celebration includes a school wide student hoe down, barbecue and lots of Texas history presented in the classroom.

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Open Sunday 2/26 2‐5 p.m.

Nicely updated Village on the Greens townhome. Now allows short term rentals. 3-2.5-2 + loft.

Master down. Walk out your door to the pool. Call Cheryl 361-5630444.

15233 Reales 3 bedroom, 2 bath, 2 car garage waterfront home.

Fresh exterior and interior paint.

1,667 sq. ft. $339,000. Charlie Knoll 443-2499.

Open Sunday 2/26 2‐5 p.m.

New Construction by R.T. Bryant. 4 bedrooms, 2 baths, 2 car garage. 1,854 sq. ft. of living area.

Close to beach. Quiet area. $269,000. Call Terry 549-7703.

Condos, Condos, Condos

Check Out these Condos available in Wonderful Complexes allowing Short Term Rentals!

Walking Distance to Schlitterbahn!

Compass Condo 2-2-1 on water.

Being sold unfurnished. 2nd floor unit, elevator. Move in ready. Call Cheryl 563-0444 for an appointment. $219,900.

Reduced! Beach Club #394.

Efficiency condo with lots to offer!

Walking distance to beach. $99,000. Call Charlie Knoll 4432499 or Terry Cox 549-7703

1818 Rodd Field I-5 2 bedroom, 2 bath centrally located townhome with 1,134 sq. ft. of living area.

Private patio. Well cared for property. $114,900. Charlie Knoll 361-443-2499.

Flour Bluff retail opportunity.

Stand alone building 950 sq. ft.

Central H&A. 522 Caribbean, $99,000. Call Shonna to preview. 361-510-3445.

14901 Canadian Mist 4/2.5/2 with 2,342 sq. ft. of living space.

Backs up to a pond and the golf course. Two stories with master located down. $270,000. Charlie 443-2499.

Marquesas #401 2/2 unit Great complex $184,900

Beach Club Condos One bedroom, one bath units #285 $129,900 #334 $119,000 Two bedroom, two bath units #262 $179,900 #375 $162,900 Studio #394 $99,000 #291 $105,000

Call Charlie 443-2499 or Terry 549-7703 to view!

Sale Pending

15821 Vincent 3/2/2 interior lot home. New carpet in bedrooms.

Freshly painted. Open airy floorplan. Granite countertops in kitchen. Call Cheryl 563-0444.

Lot 9 Block 218 Cruiser Great waterfront lot perfect for multifamily construction. 80x120. $160,000.

Call Shonna Soderqvist 510-3445.

13830 Hawksnest Bay completely updated inside/out 4 bedrooms, 3.5 baths, 2 dining, 3 living, over 4500 sq. ft., $699,900. Cindy Molnar 549-5557 to preview.

13722 A La Entrada 3 bedrooms, 4 baths, 2 car garage w/3,769 sq. ft. located on a wide canal. Gourmet kitchen, dramatic fireplace, cathedral ceilings, office & more! $1,150,000. Charlie 443-2499.

Great Mustang Island 2/2 condo, updated, covered veranda, pool/spa, private beach access, short term rentals apply, $180,000. Call Dorothy 361-5638486.

14945 S. Padre Island Dr. Corpus Chris�, TX 78418 (361) 949‐2131 (877) 269‐2131

www.rentpadreisland.com Superior Service, Outstanding Reputa�on since 1999 Looking for Professional Long Term Property Management Services?

Our services include:  Tenant Qualifying  Collec�ons of Rents  Coordina�ng Repairs & Maintenance  Professional Itemized Monthly Statements  Marke�ng/Adver�sing

Open Sunday 2/26 2‐5 p.m.

Open Sunday 2/26 2‐5 p.m.

Looking for Long Term Rental Property?

Below are some of our available rentals:

14861 SPID #113 3/2.5/2 $1650

14901 Canadian Mist 4/2.5/2 $2000

14806 Highland Mist 3/3/2 $2500

13953 Fortuna Bay 5 & 7 2/2 ea. $1200 ea.

Mys�c Harbor #308 1/1 $850

13705 Cayo Gorda 4/3.5/2 $3200

Beach Breeze #503 3/2.5/1 $1550

14205 Jacksh A 3/2/1 $1425

Beach Club #324 1/1 $900

Beachfront Aransas Princess #407 Fantastic Gulf views! Boardwalk to beach. 2 pools, garage parking, storage, elevators. $375,000. Charlene 361-2442344.

New Golf Course construction.

Enjoy incredible views from this 3 bedroom, 2.5 bath, 2 car garage home with 2,315 sq. ft. Tile throughout. Call Cheryl.

Open Sunday 2/26 2‐5 p.m.

Duplex for Sale. Each unit has 3/2/1, open plan, oversized RV garage 12’x73’x15’. RV has 30 amp & 50 amp power & hook ups.

Carrie 361-949-5200.

13914 Mingo Cay 1 bedroom, 1 bath waterfront condo with boat slip, covered patio and washer/ dryer hook up in unit, $115,000.

Call Cindy Molnar 549-5557.

Portofino #407 4th floor corner unit w/3 bed., 2 baths, 1,406 sq. ft. of living space. Wonderful beachfront complex, great pool. $190,000. Cheryl 563-0444.

El Constante #217 Great views of the Gulf from this 3 bedroom, 3 bath condo with 1,060 sq. ft. of living area. Fully furnished. $194,900. Call Terry 549-7703.

Looking for Vaca�on Rental Services you can trust?

Call Padre Escapes, Padre Island’s Premier Vaca�on Rental Company at 361‐949‐0430 Visit us online at www.padreescapes.com email at vaca�on@padreescapes.com

Wonderful 3-2.5-3 new construction. Corner lot. Room for a pool.

2254 sq. ft. Bonus room. Tile floors. Mudroom and butler’s pantry and much more. Cheryl.