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361-949-7700 editor@islandmoon.com The Island Newspaper since 1996 Facebook : The Island Moon Newspaper
July 4, 2013
The Island With Fire in the Sky on the 4 of July th
Around The Island
By Dale Rankin editor@islandmoon.com Up in Austin pink sneakers and a rowdy gallery in the State Senate are dominating the headlines, in Jolly Old England they are making bets on names for the new Royal Baby, and up in Waco researchers think they may have found a way for teeth to re-grow themselves making the dreaded root canal process obsolete. Here on our Island we actually had more than an inch of rain, the turtle release season is in full bloom, and we are getting ready for the boat parade and some Fire in the Sky on the 4th of July. We have had a bit of relief from the off-the-charts humidity and heat and the water temps have been unseasonably low; lower than the normal for this time of year Bathtub Warm to a something more akin to what we Texans refer to as Rodeo Cool.
Photo by Miles Merwin
Next Publication Date: 7/11/2013
It’s time for some Sailgating!
14th Annual Boat Parade and First Time Fireworks Show Set for 4th of July
Facebook: The Island Moon Newspaper
Year 16, Issue 481
Groundbreaking on Newest Island Development
By Dale Rankin
A little parade music…
From jazz to thump thump But this week has shown the signs of the coming 4th of July Storm. We’ve all seen the symptoms and we know the signs. Houses along our canals that usually set quiet and dark with the storm shutters rolled down now blaze with lights and noise. As the week goes on the number of boats in the canals starts to increase as some early holiday arrivals hit the water and the music changes from oldies to country and shouts of “play some Skynyrd man!” pierce the night air. You can tell when the tourist crowd hits The Island by the type of music that wafts landward from passing boats. When The Island is empty it is jazz from slow moving boats, with a little more of a crowd that turns to Jimmy Buffet and still no wake, then comes Bachman-Turner Overdrive and the waves begin to lap our docks with a gentle sway. Then finally come the tsunamis and the music discernable only by the regular thump of the base and the Go Horns sign plus the thump thrust skyward which by O-Dark-Thirty has become a cacophony of Free Bird and Call Me the Breeze. The short-timers are here.
Anybody missing a boat?
Stewart Mann & the Statesboro Revue from Austin/New Braunfels will be playing during the 4th of July Boat Parade on the deck at 13766 Three Fathoms Bank next to the judging stand on the main canal. Their new CD “Ramble on Privilege Creek” is making its way up the Texas Music Charts. So anchor up and listen in. If you are not reading this until after Thursday night you missed it. But if you got an early copy of the Island Moon get ready this IslandBlast! Fire in the sky on Thursday evening, July the Fourth of July 4th, for the 14th Annual 4th of July Boat Parade which kicks off at 7:30 p.m. followed by the 1st Annual Island Blast 4th of July fireworks show which will blast off on North Padre Island at 9:15. The fireworks reach for the sky at 9:15 p.m. on Thursday from the empty lot at the west end of Whitecap and run for about thirty minutes. The show will take place between 300 and 500 feet above sea level so they will be visible from most anywhere on our flat Island with an unobstructed western view. For the best viewing spots from land and by boat see the map on this page.
Work is now underway on The Island’s newest short-term rental development. Alex Harris broke ground on Nemo Cay Resort on Nemo Court Drive, just off SPID, on Monday. The 44-unit development is adjacent to the Schlitterbahn Beach Country Resort now under construction. The new development is sold out.
Turtle Season
Come Watch Kemp’s Ridley Sea Turtle Hatchlings Get Released
By Donna J. Shaver, Ph.D. Division of Sea Turtle Science and Recovery National Park Service Padre Island National Seashore e-mail: Donna_ Shaver@nps.gov
Releases of Kemp’s ridley sea During the show 107.3 radio, Jake FM, will turtle hatchlings been broadcast live from the intersection of Whitecap have underway at Padre and Catamaran playing patriotic music. The National music will be played live at the site as well as Island Seashore since over the air so that anyone watching the show June 22, and we can tune in on their radio. are excited to report that they Boat Parade Google Maps https://maps.google.com/maps?q=corpus+christi+tx&oe=utf-8&client=fi... are going very well. We welcome the public to Prior to the fireworks show the 14th Annual 4th attend about 10-20 of these releases each year of July Boat Parade and Block Party will launch and we hope to see you at a release this year! at 7:30 p.m. from the canal at the Padre Island Address Corpus Christi, TX Our first public hatchling release this year was Yacht Club. Muster for the parade will begin at 6 p.m. so to join the parade gather at the yacht held on June 22 and was attended by nearly 1,500 club canal and pass by 13766 3 Fathoms Bank people. I thank Brent Rourk for his wonderful where the judges will be gathered and make article in the last issue of the Island Moon yourself known; or tie up and join the party. The describing the first release. His accompanying route will be primarily up and down the Main photos were lovely. Miles Merwin from the Canal but not limited to that area. If you have Turtles continued on A5 any questions about the parade or would like to This boat was found adrift in the Palo Seco/ it to come down your canal call Harold at 937Cuttysark canal on Monday. She could be 2423. Around continued on A6
Fireworks continued on A6
Island Blast 4th of July Viewing Areas
A Ride to the Turtle Corral By Brent Rourk
I had been hearing about a cabin and a sea turtle corral about 40 miles south of where the Park Road 22 pavement ends. Operated and staffed by the Division of Sea Turtle Science and Recovery of the National Park Service, this site was reported to be a southern nucleus of sea turtle rescue operations. I was curious. I contacted Dr. Donna Shaver about the possibility of traveling there with some of the sea turtle staff and she graciously consented. The trip opened my eyes as to how dedicated, professional, and efficient the entire staff is. I already knew that, but this trip really demonstrated how dependent the rescue and revival of sea turtle populations has been on this National Park Service specialized staff. During turtle season staffers use the cabin and the surrounding grounds as a base; sleeping, eating, and working there. Many sleep inside their tent, preferring the sounds of the surf and gentle winds and breezes that cool the shores. Hatchery continued on A5
A Little Island History
Dunn Ranch
Off du limit rin s f g fi or rew boa ork ts s
By Greg Smith
Site of Fireworks Launch
In 1879 Catherine Dunn and son’s Patrick and Tom began ranching on Padre Island which later would sometimes be called the Dunn Ranch. This is the story of Catherine and her husband Thomas journey to South Texas.
2 5
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Off dur limits ing f fire or boa wo rks ts
1 1 4 1. Ski Basin / Main canal - good place to watch by boat 2. Good viewing from boats 3. Good viewing from street. Park on shoulder, do not block traffic. Constable will patrol, no public restrooms 4. Billish Park - public viewing with public restrooms
5. The Bonasse canal will be a front row seat Other places to watch: Marker 37 - Snoopy’s Pier, Doc’s Padre Isles Country Club Any Boat ramp with west facing view
After Matt Dunn came to Corpus in 1845 with Gen. Taylors Army he wrote his brothers in Ireland encouraging them to come to Texas. The first of the four brothers to leave Ireland for Texas was the youngest, Thomas. The Dunn family lived in County Kildare Ireland, twenty miles west of Dublin. Ireland at that time was in the grip of the Great Potato Famine with because of the blight destroying their main food, the potato. One out of every eight souls living in Ireland in those sad times died of hunger and a similar amount of Irish left Ireland in surch of food. In 1849 Tom had saved enough money for his passage and to buy some land in South Texas. Before leaving Ireland he proposed to Catherine Hickey who emigrated to London to escape the grinding poverty of Ireland. Tom
and Catherine reunited in Dublin and were married on October 14 1849. Saying good bye to family and friends, never to see again, they boarded the ship, Great Britain bound for New Orleans. The newlyweds arrived in strange and exotic New Orleans on December 1, after which they boarded a shallow coastal vessel for the two to three day trip to Corpus Christi. What a difference from their native Ireland where family’s lived and died for generations on the same house, villages and farms. The town of Corpus Christi was only ten years old at the time so everyone except some small children came from some where else. Nueces County’s entire population was 651 including soldiers. Corpus had already experienced their first “bust”, dropping from a population of 3,000 when Taylor’s army was encamped in 45’. Unlike Ireland where the village authority revolved around the Parish Priest, Corpus was wild and untamed, on the edge of the frontier, twenty eight years from independence from Spain, thirteen years from independence from Mexico and four years from annexation from the United History continued on A3