Inside the Moon...
Fish Stories A4
Geraldine Mock A6
The
Island Moon Weekly
Inside the Palace of a Cocaine Cowboy A7
FREE
March 27, 2014
The Island where flip flops have been temporarily replaced by UGGS.
Around The Island
By Dale Rankin editor@islandmoon.com
Spring Break for college kids has now turned into a Spring Break for locals that will carry us all the way to the fourth weekend in May when the summer season kicks off with Memorial Day. Our Winter Texans are gone with the season. The folks who are still here now are officially Spring Texans and they either stuck it out through the Spring Break Invasion or arrived just after. Some recent arrivals said they decided to head south late in the season after a couple of 26-degrees below zero days up north; and that wasn’t the wind chill. So for all the complaining we’ve done during this Winter of Our Discontent about our “severe cold” here on our little sandbar it pales in comparison to the real winters they have up north. The Spring Texans know this and we welcome them.
Farmer’s Almanac The Old Farmer’s Almanac calls for average April temperatures in South Texas to be 67.5° which is 1.5° above average; with 4 inches of rain, which is 2 inches above average. The Old Farmer says April 1-3 will be sunny and warm; April 4-10 will be see rainy periods; April 1115 will be sunny and warm; April 16-18 will be cool with showers; April 19-25 will see thunderstorms then be sunny and cool; April 2630 will be sunny and hot on The Coast. We will see how accurate the Old Farmer turns out to be but if he’s right then April will be everything it’s cracked up to be. After April the redundant summer South Texas Forecast kicks in until September, which is; hot, wind out of the southeast growing in the afternoon, little or no rain, did we mention hot, and if it rains for more that two hours pack your bags and run because it’s a hurricane.
Island Moon ArtWalk We are getting daily calls asking if we are going to do an Island Moon ArtWalk this season. The short answer is yes; we will have an announcement soon and the ArtWalk will be back. We will let you know when we have details.
Out on the jetties Out on the jetties the Jackfish have started biting and the sheepshead have kept right on biting. Fisherpersons are reporting that in some cases the sheepshead are hitting on lures, which they say is unusual. Beach driving is fair as the traffic stream is keeping at least one driving lane open from the seawall south to PINS. Driving on the beach at the seawall is a problem as the loose sand runs the driving lanes right through the tanning lanes. The subject is to be discussed at the next Island Strategic Action Committee which is Tuesday, April 1, at 5:30 p.m. at Comfort Suites on Windward. The meeting is open to the public. So take heart fellow Islanders, the warm weather is nigh upon us, SandFest is just around the corner and Progresso is still just a short ride away. Say Hello if you see us Around The Island.
The witherill's new book, the full title is “The Blades Carry Me. Inside the Helicopter
Free
Next Publication Date: 4/3/2014
Whoop It Up! Sunday, March 30
Island Foundation Raising Funds for Expansion
Facebook: The Island Moon Newspaper
Year 17, Issue 519
Sprint to the Finish
By Brent Rourk
Island Foundation School’s largest fundraiser, Whoop It Up, will be held at Whiskey River on Sunday, March 30th with doors opening at 6:00 P.M. All islanders are invited to participate in this annual evening extravaganza and are encouraged to bring family members, friends, and neighbors (attendees must be 21 or over). Tickets cost $25.00 in advance and $35.00 at the door, and proceeds benefit the three Seashore Schools (SLC,SMA,SECA). Ticket prices include BBQ dinner, dancing, and the opportunities to bid on both silent and live auction items. This year’s funds are earmarked for construction projects at all three schools: SMA is getting a new cafeteria. SLC is getting a new classroom building. SECA will have a new facility on the SLC campus. This is a multimillion dollar project, so funds raised now mean less debt to carry. Call Kim Evaristo at 361-779-4888 to make a tax deductible donation or contribution. These projects at the three schools are much larger projects than in past years and they should provide needed classroom space and facilities as the three campuses continue to expand. Seashore Middle Academy opened its doors at the old Dairy Queen building located at SLC over 7 years ago with about 40 students. In its present location, SMA has been expanding by about 20 students per year and continues to need more instructional space. Likewise SLC needs the new classroom building. It’s a chance to support your local schools while enjoying a boot-stomping time. Help your local schools fund their construction goals. Donate cash, items and services. Attend this gala event with friends and purchase auction items. Get your tickets today at any of the Seashore Schools or call 361-949-0076.
2014 Coastal Bend Veterans Summit Monday
On Monday, March 31st, Congressman Blake Farenthold is hosting the 2014 Coastal Bend Veterans Summit to connect veterans with representatives from various federal offices. The event is from 1-6:30 p.m. at the USS Lexington, 2914 North Shoreline, and is free for Veterans and Enlisted Personnel and Their Families; Representatives from Department of Veterans Affairs; State of Texas Veterans Service Agencies; County an City Veterans Agencies; Workforce Solutions of the Coastal Bend and Service Academies will be providing information regarding VA Clinic/Health Benefits, educationm employment, Housing and Land, Transportation, Social Services, Business Development, VA Cemeteries and more. For more information contact Christopher Lawrence at 361 884-2222 or e-mail at Christopher.Lawrence@mail.house.gov.
By Dale Rankin With just over sixty days to go before its scheduled opening the 180-plus workers at the new Schlitterbahn waterpark are in a sprint to the finish – or maybe it’s the starting - line. Park
officials say while the entire will not be ready by the planned June 1 opening that was never in the plan but that some, if not most, of the features will be ready for opening day. Schlitterbahn continued on A7
A Little Island History
The Island During the Civil War
Yankees Blockade the City, Raid Flour Bluff, The Affair of Padre Island By Dale Rankin
Islanders Pen Book Reliving a Year Flying Helicopters Into Combat in Vietnam
While Islander Jim Witherill was literally flying for his life in Vietnam in 1967-1968 Martin Luther King and Robert F. Kennedy were assassinated in the United States. While most Americans were mourning the deaths, Witherill was stationed at a base surrounded by concertina wire near Phu Hiep, Vietnam; a dot on the map in the middle of the county’s East Coast. Based there for one year, he flew CH-47 Chinook helicopters all over the mountainous northern sector of Vietnam, including during the Tet Offensive.
Live Music A16
Photo by Miles Merwin
“The Blades Carry Me”
By Brent Roark and Dale Rankin
Seashore Academic Teams A9
War in Vietnam,” is an upclose and personal look at the people who fought the war from just above the treetops, one day at a time, and sometimes hand- tohand on the ground. It is full of the full-throated dialog that made up the daily lives of those whose blades carried them from one fire fight, and one overrun American firebase to the next. The job of the Chinooks, which could carry 10,000 pounds, was to ferry supplies, men, and casualties to and from hotspots on the battlefield. They flew to where the fighting was the hottest because that’s where ammunition and troops Vietnam continued on A14
At the outbreak of the Civil War, Padre Island was the lonely home of a few hardy men who wrung a living from its hard environment. Corpus Christi had grown into the largest trading center south of San Antonio. The town was a wholesale center and distribution point for the Gulf Coast area and northern Mexico. Immigrants heading for California often landed in Corpus, where they outfitted for the overland journey.
Union blockade stops commerce on Texas coast
Aransas Pass lighthouse was in use during the civil war
In the countryside cattle covered the vast expanses of open range and giant ranches, such as the famous Kenedy and King spreads, were supplying beef to the New Orleans market. When Texas joined the Confederacy, the residents of the coast from Corpus Christi south to Port Isabel and Brownsville rallied to the support of the state's leaders. The decisive military events of the Civil War of course took place on battlefields far to the east of Padre Island. Although the Texas gulf coast was not the scene of major military action, its citizens were not spared the presence of the enemy and the roar of gunfire. Union ships, intent on blockading all Confederate
attempts to ship the South's valuable cotton crop to the English mills, patrolled the entire Gulf coast from Key West to the Rio Grande. The effectiveness of the Yankee blockade forced cotton growers from as far away as Louisiana to ship their foreign exchange earning crop across country to Mexican ports south of the Rio Grande. The coastal trade was also disrupted. Schooners out of New Orleans carrying manufactured goods from northern factories or cloth from England no longer regularly visited the gulf ports to pick up cattle, hides, and other agricultural products. Peacetime commerce came to a halt.
History continued on A6