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361-949-7700 editor@islandmoon.com The Island Newspaper since 1996 Facebook : The Island Moon Newspaper
February 28, 2013
Soon to be The only Island in Texas where a Kittywake can draw a crowd
Photo by Miles Merwin
Next Publication Date: 3/7/2013 Facebook: The Island Moon Newspaper
Around The Island
Year 16, Issue 463
Where’s My House?
By Dale Rankin editor@islandmoon.com Our Island blackouts were back in the news this week as our power lines went swaying in the breeze disrupting flow and leaving portions of The Island in the dark for a few hours Monday night. Historically during dry periods salt builds up on our overhead lines and when the big wind hits the heavy lines start moving and cause problems. The fire department sometimes waters them in dry spells but that didn’t help when the winds peaked at 60 mph this week. So far it doesn’t look like we’ll have the 30 for 30 – thirty days with thirty mph winds – that we’ve had a couple of times in recent years – but we never know whether March will roar in like a lion or sneak in like a lamb.
Winter Texans The Beltsander Racing Season is winding down as our Winter Texans begin their return journeys north to avoid the Spring Break onslaught that is mere weeks away. The height of the Spring Break season this year will be the weekend of March 16 when the Spring Breaks of the largest schools in the state will loose their charges on our beaches. So stock up on groceries and we’ll see you at the Ski Basin.
Kiwanis Bingo The first of three Thursday night Bingo at the Beach events was a success over at the Holiday Inn SunSpree last week. One lady was the big winner taking home one Bingo! win and a sack full of wine. The second go-round is at 7 p.m. Thursday, February 28 and again on March 7. So grab your lucky rabbit’s foot and we’ll see you there.
Island Home Tour The second Island Home Tour is almost upon us on the weekend of April 6. The first year’s event was a success this year looks to be even better. We expect about twenty five homes in the two day event but are currently in need of a feature home as a centerpiece. If you own, or know anyone who owns, a home that you think would be a good showcase for The Island lifestyle please let us know by contacting Mary Lou over at Coldwell Banker.
Since we published the new plans for Schlitterbahn last week we had a lot of calls all asking more or less the same question; where is the park from my house? So here you go. With this graphic you should be able to figure out your perspective once the park is complete. Ignore the gap between the canal on the south side of the site and the existing canal. The drawing doesn’t show it, but the two canals will connect.
Rare Bird Draws Crowds to Horace Caldwell Pier Sixth Kittywake ever sighted in Nueces
Dog park There is a group of Islanders working to bring a dog park to The Island. We’ll have more details as they become available but it looks like things are moving forward and we wish them well. A park of their own is about all that Island dogs don’t have; they got their own decks and a beach and lots of pickups to ride around in the back of – if they get a park we can officially call ourselves The Doggiest Island in Texas? Here’s wishing them success.
Speaking of dogs… And speaking of dogs, Riley P. Dog is going to be the poster child for some new weight loss products. Our friends Dr. Christi Kresser and Ray Herrera over at the Animal Hospital of Padre Island somehow believe Riley P. is overweight ever since Ray threw his back out trying to lift him onto a table during Riley’s last visit. So wish Riley luck – now if we can just keep him away from the cat food.
Saturday Luau/Sunday Whoop It Up! Michelle over at Aloha Wa at the Holiday Inn is throwing a Luau this Saturday. We Moon Monkeys are fascinated by twirling fire so we’ll be out there. Then on Sunday the Island Foundation is having its annual Whoop It Up fundraiser at Whiskey River on South Staples. We’ll see you at both and in the meantime say hello if you see us Around The Island.
Whoop It Up!
Seashore Fundraisers on for March 3 It’s almost time to Whoop It Up! again. The annual fundraiser for Island Foundation schools is Sunday March 3, from 6-10 p.m. at Whisky River (Staples at Holly). This event marks the greatest single migration of Islanders going OTB of the year and is always great fun. Tickets are $25 advance $35 at the door table and tickets for a table are $600. If you are 21 or older – it’s a bar - tickets can be purchased at any Seashore School, SLC, SMA, SECA or call 949-0076. The proceeds benefit Foundation’s Seashore Schools. Whoop it Up Ya’ll!
By Ronnie Narmour For Winter Texans, David and Karen Trudeau, it was just a normal everyday walk on Horace Caldwell Pier in Port A a couple of weeks ago, when they spotted what turned out to be a rare bird, indeed. It was the Black-legged Kittywake and it was a long ways from home. The Kittywake generally lives in the Atlantic around northern Canada and is an ocean dwelling species. The Trudeau’s were stunned after consulting their Sibley’s Bird Book. They have wintered in Port A for the past nine years and, in that time, have become avid birders. Seldom are they without their binoculars and bird identification books. This little guy appeared to be a juvenile (one year old) and had no fear of being approached since he usually lives on the water and has no natural predators-two legged or otherwise. He allowed David and Karen to get within a couple of feet to take his portrait which they immediately posted on a popular birding website, e-bird.com. This set off a flurry of local activity and the Texas Bird Records Committee was soon notified. They came back with a positive identification, and as it turns out, our little Kittywake is only the sixth one to ever be identified in Nueces County. Word spread like wild fire in the large birding community of Port Aransas, which was actually peaking due to the Winter Texan season combined with the Whooping Crane Festival. In the past two weeks that the Kittywake has taken up residency on the pier, Keeper’s Pier House proprietor, Jeff Miller, tells us that business has been booming. He has seen a dramatic number of birders on the pier because of our feathered friend. Miller had plans to frame a nice picture of the bird and display it in a prominent place. We spoke to ARK director, Tony Amos about our new visitor and he said that though the bird is definitely rare in these parts, it’s not completely unusual to see one. In fact, the ARK recently rehabilitated an injured Kittywake Rare Bird continued on A2
Update on Island projects
Aquarius Street Lights, JFK Parking Lot, Street Maintenance Fee On the Way New water line. The city council on Tuesday approved a design contract to add a fiber optic line and gas line to the new water line to The Island which is expected to be completed next year. The new line will compliment the existing line which currently is the sole source of water for North Padre and the primary source for Port Aransas which has been in use since the 1970s. New parking lot at JFK. The new parking lot for the area on the east side of the JFK Causeway – between the bridge and Packery Channel – is inching through the system. On Tuesday the council formally accepted a federal grant of $674,210 which, along with other available funds, is enough to fund the $1.3 million project. The project is now thirteen years in the making and the last round of bids were all too high and the project is being rebid. On completion the area will include more than 100 parking spaces each large enough to accommodate a vehicle with a trailer. Street maintenance fee. The council on
Tuesday voted to table this fee for further study but some sort of fee tied to water meters is coming. The money will be used strictly for streets but how it will be accessed is still being studied. An original plan to tie it closely to the square footage of homes would have tilted the burden acutely against Island homeowners. It is due to come back to the council for a final vote in three weeks.
Aquarius Extension lighting. The council also approved a construction agreement with AEP to install street lights on the portion of Aquarius completed last year. According to plans the light poles will either be on the west side of the street or in medians, none will be on the east side. Installation is scheduled to begin in April. Boat ramp lights. Street lights have also been installed at the parking lot, boat ramps, and picnic areas between Zahn Road the Packery Channel. Dale Rankin
A little Island history
Jim Bowie, The Man, The Knife, The Texan By Dale Rankin It was 177 years ago this week that our Texas forefathers forted themselves in the Alamo in what is now downtown San Antonio and secured their place in our history. The final battle was March 6 which happens to be our next publication date, so more on that in the next issue. But over the sweep of history, as the legend becomes fact and writers print the legend, there has been a shift in the roles of the iconic figures who died there and the role of the man who in some ways was the quintessential Texan – James Bowie is no exception. Of the non-Hispanics in the Alamo – and there were many Hispanic Texians who died fighting for the Texas cause – Bowie was the one who had been in the state the longest and risen the highest prior to the fight in the Alamo.
Snake Island In the summer of 1819 Bowie’s string had just about run out in Louisiana. A hurricane
had gutted the southern part of the state for the past two years and Bowie was dodging court summons for payment on a mulatto slave woman. His solution was to take his brother Rezin Bowie and head for Snake Island near Galvestown where the pirate Jean Laffite had set up an operation where he preyed on Spanish shipping, often taking slaves which he had to dispose of since the Mexican Revolutionary government had taken a strong stance against slavery. Bowie and Laffite became instant friends. Laffite sold slaves like merchandize at one dollar per pound. Texas was a wild place then and Bowie settled quickly into Laffite’s township of Galvestown where Lafitte had an over supply of slaves taken from passing ships. Bowie and Rezin soon hit on a plan to buy slaves from Lafitte and sell them at the slave auction in New Orleans where they would fetch $1500 each. The problem was how to get them there; the presence of cutters off the coast made transporting them by ship untenable. Bowie would smuggle the slaves through the swamps and bayous and the first group of forty slaves was purchased, with Bowie’s share costing $1850 and in 1819 and 1820 he made four trips from Galvestown to History continued on A3