Inside the Moon
Moon on a Spoon A7
Rock the Dog A2
Traveling Moon A9
The
Issue 679
Island Moon
The voice of The Island since 1996
April 20, 2017
Around The Island
Live Music A18
Free
Weekly
FREE Island Eggstravaganza!
By Dale Rankin They lined up behind the tape by the thousands before noon on Saturday, baskets in hand ready to harvest the eggs and goodies that taunted them from the short grass. With a blast from the siren of Constable Bobby Sherwood’s patrol car – the only thing missing was a booming voice saying, “Gentlemen, start your children!” and they were off…the Great Annual Island Easter Egg Hunt at Billish Park was underway.
Photo by Bruce Bair
10th year running!
Seashore Middle Academy Students Advance to State in Science Olympiad By Avica Burrill Student Reporter This weekend, a team of Seashore Middle Academy students will once again head to College Station to represent our region at the Texas State Science Olympiad.
With Easter in the rearview it’s now safe to wear white pants and break out the seersucker jackets and jump back in the pool without feeling like a polar bear. We’ve hit the sweet spot of the Island calendar and life is good on our little sandbar.
SMA has been open 10 years, and every year the school has advanced to the state competition. However, when it comes to Science Olympiad, SMA does not have the advantage. The other competing schools have
The Trula B. has left The Island
...and they're off! By Brent Rourk
We’ve had questions about what happened to the beautiful blue and white boat that has been an Island landmark alongside the JFK Causeway for about two decades. It is named the Trula B and belonged to Islander Norm Baker but has now set a course for Tampa Bay where it will be a charter. A number of we Islanders have celebrated big days on the Trula B over the years, marriages, sprinkling of ashes at sea, birthdays, and even a few divorces. The new owners brought in the Pros from Destin to deliver the boat to Florida but they encountered many difficulties including overheating the engine, running out of fuel in one engine near Lake Pontchartrain , and getting lost in the Lydia Ann Channel. We told Norm that the crack Moon Boat Captain Team could have done all that and probably run it aground at no extra charge! So long Trula B, you will be missed.
Packery Channel restrooms and showers approved The Corpus Christi City Council on Tuesday approved $422,000 for portable air-conditioned restrooms and showers for the beach on both sides of Packery Channel. Funds for the project will come from the Island Tax Increment Reinvestment Zone #2. City staff said earlier this month the restrooms, which will be on skids so they can be removed in case of an approaching storm, should be in place for the summer season 2017. It only took fourteen years to get done, but would never have happened without the persistence of the Island Strategic Action Committee which over the course of the last six years reduced the cost from $3 million to under half a million. No more sweating it out in the portable sweatboxes or heading for the dunes. We have entered the era of indoor plumbing everybody!
KIII Island Report Every Wednesday, the Island Moon Newspaper and KIII television will team up to produce a weekly Island Report featuring stories about all things Island. The first story is about the artists that make SandFest in Port Aransas this weekend come to life. The Island Report is scheduled to air each Thursday at 10 p.m. on KIII. If you have a story or person on The Island you think would make a good subject for the series please let us know at editor@islandmoon.com. Don’t forget the big beach cleanup this weekend and get out there and enjoy the beautiful weather. In the meantime say hello if you see us Around The Island.
They gathered around the barriers at Don and Sandy Billish Park Saturday waiting for the horn that would signal the start of the 20th Annual Island Easter Egg Hunt and affiliated festivities. Families turned out to enjoy what some might call an egg hunt but others more appropriately term an egg gathering since there was no place for the eggs to hide in the thin ground cover at the park.
Lots of Activities Whatever the name, it was another great hit for kids who enjoyed the resident park playground equipment, several children’s rides and slides, hot
SandFest 2017 This Weekend How do they do that?! How to get there
Dale Rankin
When the 300,000-plus visitors descend on Port Aransas this weekend for SandFest 2017 at some point in the event they will turn to the person next to them and say, “How do they do that?” The artists who work in beach sand pile up and carve sand in ways that often seem to defy gravity. So what is the process and how do they get it to stay put? First it is the sand. The fine sand on area beaches that finds its way down
SandFest cont. on A4
A little Island history After our story a few weeks back about plans to put air conditioned restrooms around Packery Channel we got several inquiries about the history of the channel and when it was opened. The channel separates Mustang Island on the north to Padre Island on the south. The channel gets its name from a meatpacking plant which was located along its shores in the 1870s. The channel was part of several channels which cut through The Island referred to collectively as Corpus Christi Pass. Historically, and especially at times of high water
dogs and cotton candy, face painting, a visit with the Easter Bunny (surprisingly large and soft spoken), socializing with their friends, and for the grand finale the annual Easter Egg Hunt. The expansive park grass did not hide the eggs but rather by virtue of its short height and contrasting green color made the eggs quite visible to eager youths who clutched their Easter baskets and waited somewhat patiently for the high noon siren to liberate them from the plastic restraining strips set up to mark the starting line. Kids, along with a sizable smattering of accompanying parents in all age
groups, dashed to their favorite spots and began to fill their baskets with eggs, hoping for the special numbered eggs that would give the ‘finder’ a special gift. The older kids ran and collected in record time, clearing their section of the field in what seemed like a minute. They swarmed the field leaving it bare in no time, like a swarm of grasshoppers devastating a tender crop - in this case a crop of Easter Eggs. Younger kids still ran but took longer to clear their sections, taking perhaps two minutes, while the toddlers and their parents took their time. Little tykes stopped, bent
Three-year Science Olympiad veteran Marlena Osgood shows 5th grader Alex Smith a paper chromatography test.
Eggs cont. on A2
Hearing on Zoning Variance for Portion of Schlitterbahn Property Set for Wednesday Special ISAC meeting Monday
As we went to press Wednesday afternoon we received word there will be a public hearing before the city’s Board of Adjustment next week on a petition by Upper Padre Partners. L.P. the owners of the Schlitterbahn waterpark and surrounding land to “consider a “variance to eliminate the zoning district buffer yard requirement between the “CR-2” Commercial Resort District and the “RS-6” Single-Family 6 District on the property described below:
The land in question is zoned CR-2 Commercial Resort District and is the site of a portion of the golf course. The residential land to the west of the property, along Dasmarinas Dr. is residential and zoned RS-6 Single Family.
Island Fairway Estates, Lot 27C, located along the west side of Compass Street, west of Park Road 22, south of Commodores Drive, and north of Whitecap Boulevard.”
After learning of the request late Wednesday Libby Edwards, Chairperson of the Island Strategic Action Committee said she will call a special meeting of the ISAC Committee at 5:30 p.m. Monday, April 24, at the Veranda to discuss the request. That meeting will be open to the public.
(See the complete notice on A4).
BIG Beach Clean-Up This Saturday!
See Page A7 For Details!
City officials said late Wednesday they are unsure of the exact scope and nature of the request. The hearing will be in City Council Chambers at City Hall, at 1:30 p.m., Wednesday, April 26.
If there are changes in the meeting time or site we will post them on our Facebook page theislandmoonnewspaper.
Packery Channel Jetties
7th grader Ashton Haney and partner Davis Spivey won first place at the regional event. Seashore cont. on A4
Early Voting Starts Monday, April 24
Voting in the May 6 Special Election for Mayor of Corpus Christi will begin Monday, April 24. On The Island ballots can be cast at Schlitterbahn from 8 a.m. – 6 p.m. through Friday, and on Saturday April 29th from 8 a.m.- 5 p.m., May 1st and 2nd 7:00 a.m. — 7 p.m., and on Election Day, Saturday, May 6 7 a.m. – 7 p.m. Voters do not have to vote in the
Voting cont. on A4
events, the channel cut through what is now Lake Padre and emptied into the Gulf of Mexico at the end of where Whitecap is now located. The area where the seawall is now located was a separate Island often referred to on early maps as The Middle Ground. With the dredging of the Corpus Christi Ship Channel in the 1920s water flow through Packery Channel was reduced and over the years the channel silted shut and was completely closed by the 1940s. Then in 2000-2001 an effort was
Packery groundbreaking
History cont. on A4