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The Island Newspaper since 1996 Island Area News ● Events ● Entertainment
October 25, 2012
Photo by Mike Ellis
The Island where Ghosts and Goblins Go for Tasty Treats Next Publication Date: 11/1/2012 Facebook: The Island Moon Newspaper
Around The Island
By Dale Rankin editor@islandmoon.com
Tourist Dollars Up 17% for Fiscal Year
$49 million for the local economy from conventions
Year 15, Issue 446
Let the Voting Begin! Just under 300 Islanders per day so far
By Dale Rankin The final numbers for tourism in the city are in for the fiscal year which ended in July and the number of visitors in the previous 12 months numbered 7.1 million – up by 500,000 over FY 2010. The Hotel/Motel tax – 7% - generated $9.3 million during that time, up from $8.3 million the previous year – an increase of 12.3%. For FY 2011-2012 130,000 conventioneers paid for a total of 105,000 room nights and pumped $49.7 million into the local economy, an increase of 17% over the previous year. A fisherperson caught this 12-foot 3-inch female Tiger Shark at Bob Hall Pier this week. The shark was eventually set free but after a four-hour fight was weakened and didn’t survive and after being set free washed up on the beach. There is some question about whether the person who caught the fish was part of a research project which tags sharks for tracking purposes. Tony Amos from the Animal Rehabilitation and Keep (ARK) in Port Aransas was on the scene and is investigating.
Shoulder Season This is the time of year that the professionals in the tourism business refer to as the Shoulder Season. The time of year when the frantic months of the summer season are behind us and the blistering winds of winter have yet to blow our Winter Texan friends down our way. It’s also a confusing season this year because like the Fourth of July the official Halloween holiday comes in the middle of the week; so which weekend is Halloween when the actual holiday is on Wednesday? It’s bewitching. Most of the parties are this weekend because, well, it just doesn’t seem right to celebrate Halloween in November. But we Moon Monkeys have decided to just throw caution to the wind and celebrate Halloween both weekends. Why not? The fact is that after you get out of college you just don’t get that many chances to dye your hair funny colors and dress up in goofy clothes and run around and do stupid stuff so you got to take every chance you get, right? Riley P. Dog is going as an aircraft carrier this year and he’s heading over to the Dog-Gone Days BBQ and Music Festival at the Animal Hospital of Padre Island on Saturday. Last year he went as a coffee table but that didn’t work out so well for him because every time he sat down the weenie dogs ate the tasty treats right off his costume. There are parties all over The Island and it’s the last weekend for the Back Porch in Port A to be open so there’s a pajama party, then a Halloween Party on Saturday and then on Sunday the annual Turkey Bowling Extravaganza. Also in Port A it’s the weekend for the Old Town Festival which kicks off with a parade from 1112 on Saturday and then goes the rest of the day. For a complete list of events see the ad in this issue.
Islandfest Keith Arnold, who is the Big Chief down at the Convention and Visitors Bureau, gave a presentation to the Corpus Christi City Council on Tuesday and he told them that he wants to add a new festival to the calendar each year. We contacted him and suggested that The Island would be a good candidate for the next new addition and he agreed. So here’s a challenge to those among us who sometimes complain that we need more to do on our Island; let’s make something happen. We plan to meet with Keith in the next couple of weeks and start the planning process so anyone who is interested in being part of it contact us here or Stan at PIBA, which is also involved, and let’s get things moving. Everything is on the table as far as the time of year and the type of event we want to do. The Moon Suggestion Department is open for business.
Watch out There was a sighting of a naked man working on a boat propeller down along the Laguna Madre last weekend. Well, he actually wasn’t technically naked because he was wearing a blue bandana around his head, but nothing else so naked is as naked does. It kind of gives a new meaning to a dinghy on the water. Have a safe First Halloween weekend and say hello if you see us Around The Island.
The month of July, 2012 alone saw the highest Hotel/Motel tax total ever for a single month at $1.4 million.
Island voting precincts traditionally have the highest turnout in the city, a fact not lost on office seekers. By Dale Rankin
The average visitor spent 2.5 days in town and spent an average of $153 per day. The figures came from the Corpus Christi Convention and Visitor’s Bureau in their report to the City Council on Tuesday. Historically about 80% of the visitors who come to this area are what the industry refers to as Nature Tourists – people who are here to go to the beach- and the number of those type of visitors increased by 15%. The CVB does not keep separate figures on visitors to The Island. “The type of trips people are taking is changing,” Keith Arnold, CEO of the CVB, told the council. “People are taking more trips of shorter duration than in the past, and that is good for us because we are a drive in market.”
When it comes to elections Islanders vote early and vote often. That has certainly been the case since early voting began on Monday for the November 6 General Election. There has been a steady stream of voters at Padre Isles Country Club where early voting is taking place and continues through November 2. According to poll watchers about 800 ballots had been cast at Padre Isles Country Club by mid-afternoon Wednesday – official totals at press time don’t include Wednesday numbers – with the busiest times being between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. The official totals at Padre Isles Country Club (Monday and Tuesday only) were
313 ballots cast on Monday, 296 on Tuesday for a total of 609 – about 10% of registered Island voters. This round of balloting marks the first time the City of Corpus Christi elections have been held in conjunction with the Presidential elections, and based on turnout during the first two complete days of early voting the turnout this round looks to be almost identical to the 2008 total – the last Presidential election cycle. In that vote in 2008 a total of 104,000 voters cast ballots countywide, at a rate of 52%. By the end of the second day of voting in that Election Continued on A6
The Great Pumpkin is Here!
Arnold said the biggest increase in tourism last year was in the non-summer months – traditionally the slowest months for tourism.
Ten years ago this week
There Has Been Only One Recorded Tornado Death in Corpus Christi History Ten years ago from Wednesday, in the early afternoon hours of October 24, 2002, a thunderstorm produced a family of tornadoes that tore through the northwest portion of Corpus Christi that, amazingly, produced the first recorded tornado death in the city’s history. Three of the tornadoes produced significant damage resulting in 26 injuries and the single fatality. According to the local office of the National Weather Service the three tornadoes were produced by a mini-supercell thunderstorm that moved just east of the Corpus Christi International Airport. The first report of a tornado was about 9 miles south of the Corpus Christi airport at 1:19 p.m. It was located just south of the London community near Farm to Market Road 43. The first tornado was estimated to be less than 50 yards wide, traveled through mainly open land, and tracked about seven miles before dissipating just southeast of the intersection of Old Brownsville Road and Padre Island Drive at approximately 1:28 p.m. It did minimal damage during its nine minute existence. The next tornado formed four minutes later at 1:32 p.m. just to the east of where the first tornado had dissipated, near Navigation Boulevard and Old Brownsville Road. It moved northeast into the Del Mar College West Campus where the most extensive damage to property occurred. This tornado, which was rated as an F2 tornado, had a path length of 2 1/2 miles and was 100 to 200 yards wide. This was the tornado that hit the campus of Del Mar College killing professor Buster Gillis who stayed behind as the storm approached to make Tornado Continued on A3
The “Island Pumpkin Patch” is Back at Island in the Son United Methodist Church beginning October 7th through the 27th. Pumpkins will be delivered to our grounds where they will be for sale daily until dusk. A large variety of pumpkins will be available, priced according to size. This is our 5th year to have a Pumpkin Patch available on the Island and it has proven to be popular with local residents and passersby
on Highway 361. Come on by and pick from the patch! Island in the Son United Methodist Church is located at 10650 Highway 361 on Mustang Island between Newport Pass Road and Beach Access Road #3 (2 miles north of Packery Channel, 12 miles south of Port Aransas). For more information call the church at 316-749-0884 during office hours, 9 AM-2 PM, Monday through Thursday.
Island of Redemption
Surviving the 1933 Hurricane Editor’s note: This is the latest installment of the memoirs of Louis Rawalt who along with his wife Viola lived at various locations on Padre Island after being given six months to live due to injuries from a mustard gas attack in World War I. He lived on The Island for more than 40 years. In the last issue Rawalt had been harvesting gunnysacks of Old Hospitality Bourbon whiskey which had been thrown overboard by the captain of the I’m Alone smuggling ship in the Sigsbee’s Deep where the ship was shot full of holes and sunk by the Coast Guard. By Louis Rawalt So, the days flowed into weeks, and the weeks became months and years. I had grown steadily stronger, and seldom gave a thought to the fact that I wasn’t even supposed to be alive. I could walk for miles without tiring, and many nights I slept on the sand with only a piece of tarpaulin around me when I was fishing away from the camp. It was one of the times when I had gone alone to a spot thirtyfive miles below our shack that the car stalled. No amount of coaxing or tinkering could get a sound out of it. There was nothing to do but start walking. It was seventy miles to Corpus Christi Pass where someone lived who had a car. The tide was exceptionally high, and I had little hope that any fishermen would be venturing down the beach that day.
Aftermath of the 1933 hurricane It was early morning when I started out. A little before sunset I reached our shack. Viola was visiting my people in Kingsville at the time, so the place was still and empty feeling. I ate, drank coffee, and rested for a few moments before starting again. The tide was rising rapidly. It looked as though a storm might be brewing in the Gulf. If I didn’t get the car up out of reach of the water, I wouldn’t have a car. This thought kept my bare feet plodding through the sand all night. It was dark as pitch. Sudden squalls blew in keeping me drenched most of the time. But with the first gray light of morning, I could see by the familiar outlines of the dunes I was only a few miles from the pass. Bill White, another fisherman, was cooking breakfast in his tarpaper shack when I knocked at his door. I was too tired to eat, History Continued on A4