The Island Moon Published by Island Moon Publishing, LLC 15201 S. Padre Island Drive Ste. 250 Corpus Christi, TX. 78418 editor@islandmoon.com (361) 949-7700
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Island Moon The Island Newspaper
Island Area News ● Events ● Entertainment
January 26, 2012
Photo by By Miles Merwin
The Only Island with a Beach Named After the founder of a Newspaper Next Publication Date: 2/2/2012
Around The Island
Inside the Moon... Adopt a Beach Summit
By Dale Rankin editor@islandmoon.com By Dale Rankin
We hate to jinx it but the last week has been some textbook Chamber of Commerce weather friends. Beautiful days suited for the beach or the golf course, then cooling off after the early afternoon making for great chiminea fires and dock sitting. Beach driving has been treacherous from the Packery south into Kleberg County with soft drift sand piled up at least a foot and high banks right down to the high tide line. It is very unusual beach conditions for this early in the season but lack of rain will do that. Parade of Homes We are launching the First Annual Island Parade of Homes in April of this year. Things are still in the preliminary stage but the date has been set as April 28 and 29 and a list of homes to be included is being put together. We think this is an idea whose time has come and it should be a lot of fun as you can attend by car, boat, or golf cart. It will also include builders, home improvement companies, interior designers, dock builders and anyone connected with the housing industry. You can contact us here at the Moon or Mary Ann over at Coldwell for more details or to enter – her e-mail is included in this issue with her column.
Page A 2 Revenge of Martini Alley Part 2
Frostbite Betty
Page A 11 Fishing with Farah
Progresso trip We still have a few seats on the bus for the trip to Progresso, Mexico on Valentine’s Day, Tuesday, February 14. See the story in this issue for more details. We may make a stop at King’s Inn for dinner on the way home.
Page A 12
Power outage We had a transformer blow over near Sea Pines on Sunday that gave us a few power outages on the south end of The Island. We should invent a term for that fleeting moment of panic that sets in when the lights go out and you start thinking about all the stuff in your refrigerator that will go bad if it stays off long enough. Around Continued on A5
Taking the OTB Challenge
Page A 13
Adler Announces Mayoral Run
Year 15, Issue 407
Analysis
Island Duck Hunting is Producing a Free Fire Zone Homeowners complain, hunters confused, police caught in the crossfire By Dale Rankin
Page A 9
Facebook: The Island Moon Newspaper
We started out writing this story as a simply news story. However, you will notice it is now labeled analysis because due to the overlapping, incomplete, contradictory, and missing facts the laws that apply to duck hunting on The Island are about as clear as duck soup. Last time we mentioned the large number of duck hunters who have turned up on our Island in the past few weeks as the duck hunting season draws to a close. The result is that we have heard from hunters and homeowners alike about what should or should not be done about the cacophony of shotgun blasts emanating from the shores of the Laguna Madre each morning about daybreak. As the season winds to a close it seems the sounds are getting closer and closer to homes and this is borne by the increasing number of calls to the Word Factory, some wanting to know what was going on, some wanting us to make it stop, some from hunters wanting to know what is legal and what is not, and some just wanting to complain. The reason the hunters are spilling into areas nearer to neighborhoods than they have in other years is the drought. A huge cattail swamp located about five miles south of Flour Bluff on the King Ranch where ducks have traditionally gone for fresh water is now dry. The ducks are using a series of fresh water ponds, one near Ducks Continued on A 12
Barefoot Mardi Gras Parade
Three lines no waiting. Work continues on the dredging of the Packery Channel. Crews are using three slurry lines to move the dredge sand to the south end of Michael J. Ellis Seawall where it is being used to re-nourish the beach. The work will remove about 380 cubic yards of sand, much of which was left in the channel by Hurricane Ike. The work is schedule to be finished by the end of February.
Work has begun at the site where the proposed Water Exchange Bridge will be built. Crews are drilling down to 80 feet at the site along SPID (Park Road 22) to take soil samples. They will continue the work onto the Padre Isles Country Club as part of the due diligence for the proposed Schlitterbahn Resort and Waterpark and the Island Beachwalk.
Island United Political Action Committee Board of Directors Meeting
The Board of Directors of the Island United Political Action Committee will meet on Wednesday, February 1, 2012, 6:00 PM at the Holiday Inn SunSpree, 15202 Windward Drive. The Board Agenda will address the upcoming change to the November election, the expected change in the composition of the City Council and the importance that the Island votes in huge numbers and as a block. . The IU-PAC is currently seeking volunteers to
assist in ‘Getting Out the Vote’. Island residents are encouraged to attend PAC meetings, express their views, discuss local needs, and offer their services so that our Island can continue to have control over its destiny. Further information may be obtained on Facebook (www.facebook. com/islandunitedpac) and at our website (www. islandunitedpac.com.) If you would like to volunteer, email JJ Hart at jjhart9869@yahoo.com.
Volunteer Opportunities with Kemp’s Ridley Sea Turtle Nesting Project By: Donna J. Shaver, Ph.D., and Dimitra Guerrero National Park Service, Padre Island National Seashore E-mail: Donna_Shaver@nps.gov
We ask all businesses and residents to participate in our “oh, so much fun” parade. Whether it be a float, pick up, cars, boats on trailers, golf carts, bicycles or just plain ol’ walk in Mardi Gras Theme. We are trying to promote our island as well as helping with a nice donation for Big Brothers and Big Sisters. Parade will start at Noon and end at 2:00. in the Briscoe King Parking Lot for naming the 1st 2nd and 3rd place winners of the parade. Trophies will be given out for the combination of originality, creativity, and theme reflection. Refer to www. barefootmardigras.com for parade registration forms. Do not forget about the hilarious party from 6:00 to 10:00 at the Padre Isle Country Club. A full cajun dinner will be served, with Ponte Bones and the Squeezetones playing. $30.00 per ticket will also get you one free drink. Pick your tickets up at the POA, Michelle’s Salon or the Office Lounge.
District 4 City Council Member Chris Adler announced her candidacy for mayor this week. Adler is currently serving her second term in District 4 which covers The Island. At-Large Council Woman Nelda Martinez has also announced for the Mayor’s race.
Islander Colleen McIntyre is scheduled to announce on Monday, January 30, at 11:30 a.m. at the Padre Isles Country Club that she will run for the District 4 seat being left vacant by Adler’s announcement. The city elections will be held in November.
The staff at Padre Island National Seashore is looking forward the upcoming 2012 sea turtle nesting season and excited to announce the spring volunteer training events occurring in March. The spring training events are the first opportunities the staff has to meet all new interested volunteers and also to welcome back the many returning volunteers. It is just a matter of time before the beaches are humming with patrollers searching for nesting Kemp’s ridley sea turtles and nests on local beaches!
About the Program The Kemp’s ridley sea turtle is the most endangered sea turtle species in the world. For more than three decades Padre Island National Seashore has shared in a global effort to help
recover the populations of threatened and endangered sea turtles, especially that of the Kemp’s ridley sea turtle, the smallest and most endangered species of sea turtle. More than half of the Kemp’s ridley nests found in the U.S. each year are located at the National Seashore and this number is growing.
Kemp’s ridley sea turtles nest in south Texas from April through mid-July. Females nest one to four times throughout the nesting season, at intervals of 14 to 28 days. They often come ashore in synchronized nesting events called arribadas (Spanish for “arrival”). The Kemp’s ridley typically comes ashore during daylight hours, on windy days, crawling above the high tide line. Once a nest site is selected, she uses her
Turtles Continued on A6