Issue 3432

Page 1

Inside the Moon...

Happy 97th Birthday Margie! A2

Spirit of Summer A8

The Lost King A5

FREE

The Island Moon Published by Island Moon Publishing, LLC 15201 S. Padre Island Drive Ste. 250 Corpus Christi, TX. 78418 editor@islandmoon.com (361) 949-7700

77th Annual Deep-Sea Roundup A10

Free

Live Music A11

The

Island Moon The Island Newspaper since 1996

Island Area News ● Events ● Entertainment

July 19, 2012

Photo by Miles Merwin

The Only Island in Texas with almost as many t-shirt shops as tennis courts Next Publication Date: 7/26/2012

Around The Island

By Dale Rankin editor@islandmoon.com

The big news this week comes from Padre Island National Seashore where Lightning touched off a massive grass fire that ended up burning 12,900 acres. As of this writing firefighters are still putting out small burns around the park but the fire is now under control and out.

City Council Nearing Completion on Bond Package for November Ballot

Facebook: The Island Moon

Year 15, Issue 432

Fire at Padre Island National Seashore

$155 million total, $1.2 million for The Island By Dale Rankin The Corpus Christi Council is approaching final approval of a projected $155 million in bonds to be placed before voters on the November ballot which currently contains only $1.2 million for Island projects.

It all started Saturday morning as an employee at WorldWinds Windsurfing at Bird Island Basin watched as Lightning from a weather cell that blew through hit the ground and the fire was on. He continued watching as the same cell passed across the Laguna and Lightning struck again on the King Ranch but the rain the cell extinguished that fire before it spread. Not so with the lighting hit and fire on PINS. Firefighters from PINS and from Nueces County raced to the smoke, which was visible in the daytime all over The Island, and fought the fire for the better part of three days. They eventually got the fire under control by starting a counter burn at Bird Island just south of WorldWinds and deprived the oncoming fire of fuel as the wind blew it north. Don had to shut down WorldWinds for a time due to smoke but didn’t lose anything. All in all it could have been a lot worse. No one was hurt and given the conditions the firefighters had to work with and the remote location where it started, there were no roads, it’s amazing it was contained the way it was.

Lightning strikes Lightning strikes have become quite a common occurrence of late on The Island and the bolts seem to take a shine to Island palm trees. One tree took a hit over by Snoopy’s Pier a few weeks back, and another on the Main Canal along Three Fathoms as well. A few months back a house on Primavera was hit by a strike that started a small fire on the roof and burned the electronics out of a boat that was plugged into a battery charger in the front yard. Even without a hurricane Mother Nature has a way of periodically reminding us who is in charge.

Housing boom If there is a downturn in the home building market nationwide someone forgot to tell The Island. There are now more than fifty houses under construction on The Island with fifteen being permitted in a single day a few weeks back. You can’t swing a beach umbrella around here without hitting a new house going up. The sound of hammers and nail guns beat out a rhythm to the Island Lullaby.

Step out for diabetes The local chapter of the American Diabetes Association has reserved one hundred seats for Islanders at the Hooks game on Wednesday, August 8. The Hooks will donate $5 from each of the tickets to the local chapter. The event is called Step Out for Diabetes and you can sign up at www.diabetes.org/stepoutcorpuschristi. Tickets are available at the POA office, Isle Mail & More, American Bank, and from John White at 549-6347.

Island Moon Market The next Island Moon Market is set for Saturday, July 28, along the Michael J. Ellis Seawall. It runs from 8-5 and we’re working to find a produce vender to sell there.

Schlitterbahn update We can’t put out an addition of the paper these days without addressing the progress of the Schlitterbahn Resort and Waterpark. There isn’t much new to report this week except that while it’s not official we hear that the financing on the park is essentially complete which means permitting and design are in high gear even as the Island holds its breath waiting for work to start. The projected opening date is still spring of 2013. In the meantime say hello if you see us Around The Island.

The focus of the bonds is on street improvements and the centerpiece is $55 million in street bonds which can be passed by voters without raising taxes due to the retiring of existing bonds. The council has yet to make a final decision on how to structure the ballot language for the bonds but must submit the final ballot by August 14. Based on council discussion it appears there is a consensus to divide the bonds into at least two categories; those that can be passed without a tax increase and those that would require a tax increase. The first is the $55 million for streets. The remainder of the projects, each of which

The fire on PINS scorched 12,900 acres over the weekend. for more details see Around The Island on this page.

Islanders Fill the Hall for Hearing on Windstorm Rates

Battle Continued on A13

Police Blotter

Burglars Target Island Vehicles Pistol Packin’ Mama Sends Flour Bluff Robber Running There has been an alarming increase in vehicle burglaries so far this month (1 July to 13 July), on the Island. We have had 11 vehicle burglaries in this 2 week period. After looking at each incident, these burglaries probably could have been easily prevented. Most of these burglaries are occurring over night. Each have showed either no signs of a forced entry or were just left unlocked, and valuables left in plain sight. Here’s some examples of property taken; .38 pistol, radar detectors, GPS’s, auto stereo’s, surfboards, MP-3 players, Men’s wallets/ Women’s purse’s, with cash, credit cards and ID’s. Our vehicles are not intended to be safety deposit boxes. Help prevent this type of crime.

Hide • Hide your belongings. The old sayings “Out of sight, Out of Mind” and “Better Safe than Sorry” are still good advice. Leaving valuables in plain sight only tempts a would be thief. Don’t leave items, such as phones, CD’s, MP3 players, DVD’s, purses and other valuables, in your vehicle. If you must leave items in your vehicle, like when you’re traveling, make sure things are hidden out of sight. And, hide them before you get to your destination. After all, it doesn’t do much good to hide them, if the thief watches you while you hide your stuff.

By Dale Rankin A hearing in the chambers of the Corpus Christi City Council was standing room only last Friday as Islanders and groups from all over the 14 counties which make up the Texas coast turned out to voice their displeasure with a move that could have seen their rates for windstorm insurance hiked by as much as 300%. Officials from the Texas Department of Insurance were scheduled to hold a hearing on the proposed rates but the hearing turned into a rally when they cancelled it just three days before it was to happen. Instead the crowd heard impassioned pleas from several local mayors and State Representative Todd Hunter who scheduled the rally. The message; this is going to be a fight where the squeaky wheel gets the grease and the more we make our collective voice heard the better our chance of a fair policy. At issue is the rate for windstorm insurance along the coast which has increased 5% in each of the past four years – the maximum currently allowed by state law – but which

Take • Take your keys with you so a potential thief won’t be tempted to take your car. And don’t be tempted to hide a spare in or around the car. Thieves know all the tricks and hiding places. Take the keys.........keep the car.

coast including (north to south in state): 1 Bolivar Peninsula 7 Galveston Island 0 Brazoria County, N. of Surfside 5 Surfside Beach 0 Quintana Beach 0 Bryan Beach 1 Brazoria County, N. of Sargent Beach

CCPD

0 Sargent Beach

Grifters are phoning area residents informing them a federal assistance program will pay them up to $1,000 on their utility or credit card bills. The Better Business Bureau says the scammers have shown up at homes, contacted people by text message or on social media. The BBB reports the scammers use different techniques. Police Continued on A5

A hearing is set in Galveston on August 15 in which a committee will discuss whether to allow for varying windstorm rates within county boundaries which could also cause a rise in rates on The Island.

So far this year, 208 Kemp’s ridley nests have been confirmed on the Texas

William Palumbo

Utility Bill Scam…No Such Program

Hunter has now formed a task force – see the story on page A2 of this issue – to come up with a bill to put before the state legislature in January which could create a statewide pool designed after successful models in Florida and North Carolina where windstorm insurance rates are considerably lower than in Texas.

Kemp’s Ridley Turtle Count for 2012 Season

Lock • Lock your car. Leaving your doors and windows unlocked is just what a thief wants and makes it easy to steal your property or your car. Even if you are leaving your car, or your house, or your bike, or anything else for ‘just a minute…… lock it. A minute is all a thief needs to walk away with your stuff.

could have jumped dramatically if not for opposition from citizens along the coast which waylaid the changes with the goal of putting the issue before state legislators in January rather than have unelected regulators make the changes unilaterally. Currently property owners in the coastal counties are in a separate risk pool for windstorm insurance; the only such regional grouping in the state. Other property insurance is based on statewide actuarial pools.

0 Matagorda Peninsula 0 Matagorda Island 2 San Jose Island 8 Mustang Island 116 North Padre Island, including 106 at Padre Island National Seashore 59 South Padre Island 9 Boca Chica Beach

The 2012 nest total sets a new record for the number of Kemp’s ridley nests documented in Texas in a year. The previous record of 199 nests was set during 2011. Record keeping for nest tallies in Texas began in the early 1980s.


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Issue 3432 by Mary Craft - Issuu