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Adopt-A-Beach Spring Clean-up
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The Island Moon The voice of The Island since 1996
Around The Island
By Dale Rankin editor@islandmoon.com Beach driving is getting tough this week as the natural beach south of Bob Hall Pier and the beach in front of the seawall are assessable only to the most hardy of four-wheel-drive rigs and the seaweed is piling up all over.
Opening Day at Schlitterbahn Set for May 31 The answer came this week from park developers Paul Schexnailder and Jeff Henry who said the park's soft opening will be Saturday, May 31, with the bottom two floors of the main park building open, the old Padre Island Country Club, which includes two restaurants, and the adjacent swim up bar. It is not known how many, if any, water rides will be open by June 1.
If you are heading down there you might want to take a rake to clear out a sitting spot.
Water line The long-planned second water line to The Island is becoming a reality. The project marks the end to a decades-long attempt to provide a redundant line to supplement the existing line which has been in place for four decades and is the sole water source for The Island and primary source for Port Aransas.
Lighthouse Rick By Dale Rankin Since the Schlitterbahn water park began rising up out of the ground late last year Islanders have had one overriding question: Will it be open by June 1?
Weekly May 1, 2014 Year 17, Issue 524
Inside the Moon...
Fish Stories A4
The May 31 open is in keeping with projections from park officials when work began for a scheduled soft open at the beginning of June with work continuing into the summer.
Schlitterbahn continued on A3
So Long Riley P. Dog
First Ridleys of the Season A8
Live Music A16
New Island Water Line on the Way We say so long this week to Rick Reichenbach the lighthouse keeper at the 158 year-old Aransas Pass Light Station, formerly known as the Lydia Ann Lighthouse. Rick has been the lighthouse keeper there for the past decade but is now heading for points south as he makes a move to Nicaragua and a new keeper takes over. Prior to the current Rick, the previous Lighthouse Keepers were Rick Pratt and his wife Cameron. The lighthouse was built in 1856 and is owned by Charles Butt, President of the HEB grocery chain who bought the structure in 1973 and hired the Pratts to refurbish it in 1984. The spiral staircase in the 70-foot lighthouse leads to the “biggest porch light on the coast.” Rick R. says the main duty of a Lighthouse Keeper is pretty simple; Dark, turn light on – Day – turn light off. Something tells us Rick will be making a few trips back to visit Port A.
Turtle season The turtle nesting season has begun with the first nests found last week. Keep an eye out as you drive down the beach, especially on windy days.
Billish Park A proposal to use groundwater to build a pond in Billish Park is moving forward with a meeting late last week with city planners. The idea is to tap the water table just below the surface and use the water supply to choke out the stickers. There is currently $500,000 in bond money available for improvements at the site.
By the time you read this I’ll be in Dog Heaven. I hit a bad patch last week and my humans are doing everything they can but I know it’s my time. We dogs know when it’s our time and this is mine.
By Bob Algeo The fire started about 3:30 pm, Sunday afternoon. Somebody drove a truck past the "No Trespassing" signs at the end of Sea Pines. The driver got it stuck in soft sand and dry brush when attempting a U-turn back to the dirt path (created by trespassers), just about 50 yards from the west end of Sea Pines. The truck exhaust system contacted dry grass and brush and set it on fire. Catalytic converters in exhaust systems are designed to get very hot, between 700-1000 degrees Fahrenheit, to work efficiently. Blades of dry grass should burn by 451 Fahrenheit, right? Remember Ray Bradbury's book?
Local Beaches Get a Makeover
Adopt-A-Beach Volunteers Sparkle
By Brent Rourk
Fire continued on A7
The project includes an 18-inch PVC water line, an 8-inch galvanized utility line, and a 4-inch line for fiber optic. The project is expected to be complete by the end of summer.
A Little Island History
How The Island Almost Escaped Annexation by the City of Corpus Christi The year is 1961 in a land far far away…that is to say OTB.
Tough week for Moon dogs
Say hello if you see us Around The Island.
There was plenty of thick dry brush where it was stuck, and it kept burning under the truck while it spread out in the strong winds. The truck was a Chevy Silverado, or GMC Sierra 1500, approximately model year 2000, and they
After decades of planning the installing of a second water line to The Island is moving quickly. Crews working from the Island-side of the Laguna Madre have already put in more than 800 feet of line which runs under the Intracoastal Canal. Crews are currently working from the Flour Bluff shoreline working toward The Island.
By Dale Rankin
For the second time in five months a trespassing car caused a massive brush fire across the main canal. Requests by the landowners to block the passage into the land at the end of Sea Pines have been stymied by city staff. The trespassers are accessing the land by way of a trail at the end of Sea Pines and attempts to keep them out have gone nowhere.
We’re going to miss our friends.
Riley P. Dog continued on A11
Tresspassing Car Ignites Massive Brush Fire
Brush fire
It’s been a tough week for Island Moon dogs as Ronnie Narmour lost Peanut and we lost Riley P. Dog. We want to thank everyone for their outpouring of support in this sad time. Riley was doing fine until last Friday and looked like he would survive a serious operation until Monday morning when he took a quick turn for the worse.
Unlike our human friends we dogs don’t have the gene that makes us dread death. We just go off gently into that good night.
What did a high heel shoe, a car mat, a golf club, 3 toothbrushes and a tire have in common last Saturday? Together with thousands of pieces of plastic bottles and bottle caps, Styrofoam, fishing line, cigarette butts, plastic utensils, and beverage cans they were all bagged, counted and placed in areas where the city or county picked them up and took them to the local landfill. Add in linoleum flooring, fishing nets and dead
Cleanup continued on A4
It started off when the 4002 residents of Flour Bluff, fearing annexation by the City of Corpus Christi, decided to circulate a petition calling for incorporation. They would fend off annexation by becoming their own city. This did not set well with the powers that be in Corpus Christi who believed that Flour Bluff’s future lay not in the hands of Flour Bluff residents alone but decisions on Flour Bluff’s fate should be made my wiser heads in Corpus Christi. The citizens of Flour Bluff turned in a petition signed by 132 Flour Bluff residents calling for an election to form the City of Flour Bluff. The City of Corpus Christi countered by urging Flour Bluffians to circulate a petition requesting a vote on
annexation of Flour Bluff into the City of Corpus Christi. Then barely one month before the scheduled August election the city passed an emergency measure placing a vote on whether to annex Flour Bluff on the same ballot after a petition to that effect was handed in containing 105 signatures of purported registered Flour Bluff voters.
History continued on A6