Inside the Moon
La Posada Logo Winner A2
Sports A8
TGSA Surf Competition A9
The
Issue 630
Island Moon
The voice of The Island since 1996
May 12, 2016
The Island where half the fishermen are above average.
On the Rocks A11
Photo By Jeff Dolan
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Whoop It Up this Saturday
Around The Island
Island Weekend
It’s a good time to make the drive down the sand to Big Shell. We drove halfway down last Friday, at low tide, and the driving was good and the beachcombing as well. For some reason there seems to be an inordinate amount of large trees washing up hereabouts.
TGSA surfing competition - Photo by Jeff Dolan
Seashore Schools Celebrate Twenty Years
By Dale Rankin editor@islandmoon.com The currents are ripping, the surf is surfing, the weather is beautiful, the wind has laid down, the mosquito population is behaving itself, and the tourists all came disguised as empty lawn chairs. We have our little sandbar to ourselves for two more weekends before the 100-day Tourist Season comes a-washing in from OTB and if the SandFest weekend is a harbinger of things to come it’s going to be a whopper.
As if we needed more reasons to celebrate, this Thursday is National Limerick Day (a bad time to be from Nantucket!), Friday is National Blame Someone Else Day (a bad day to be in jail), Saturday is National Dance Like a Chicken Day (otherwise known as any afternoon at The Gaff), Sunday is National Sea Monkey Day (every day for Moon Monkeys where it’s monkey sea monkey do), Tuesday is National Pack Rat Day (if your rat needs help packing this is the day), Wednesday is National No Dirty Dishes Day. So, as our old friend Ronnie says, “No whining on the yacht!”
Founders Jimmie Driver, Peggy Shirley, and Katie Howell at Seashore Learning Center By Brent Rourk This Saturday Seashore Schools will hold their largest annual fundraiser as supporters of the Island’s charter schools will gather at Schlitterbahn to Whoop It Up! From 7 p.m. until 11 p.m. Saturday the Veranda will be the place to be. The event features a great party, dancing to the music of Rocket Brothers Band food, and drink specials along with auctions and raffles with proceeds going to Seashore Schools.
Paddling an outrigger - photo by Jon Brandt
Twentieth anniversary This year’s Whoop It Up marks the
Beware of burglar We apparently have a burglar working in the Cabana East area with two break-ins in as many days with our desperado still breathing free air. Close your garage doors everybody.
Island bag ban After a year-long citywide voluntary “ban” on single-use plastic bags The Island Strategic Action Committee has taken the bull by the horns and voted to ask the Corpus Christi City Council to ban these flying wildlifekillers on The Island. If the council demurs maybe we can re-name them Bag Birds as they like to fly around The Island until they find the right tree to nest and decompose in. More than 300,000 of these little buggers are handed out in our city every day and The Island seems to be their favorite nesting place as flocks take to the skies on The Island wind on a daily basis. There is no word as of this writing when/if the council will take a vote on the issue.
In the meantime get ready for the Mother of All Deck Parties and say hello if you see us Around The Island.
SMA Director Barbara Beeler explained, “Charter schools do not receive any property taxes and cannot
Whoop it Up continued on A7
Island’s Highest Payers of Hotel Motel Tax
At top, suffers competed in the Texas Gulf Surfing Association competition at Bob Hall Pier. In the middle photo paddlers made their way from The Boathouse on Lake Padre, out Packery Channel to the beach as part of the Cinco de Mayo Longboard Pro completion. At bottom runners take off in the First Annual Brent Chesney Sandcastle Run near Bob Hall Pier. All proceeds go toward Camp Sandcastle for children wi6th diabetes and over 200 people showed up for a beautiful 5k run by the water. Top honors went to Seashore Middle School Academy student Hunter Perez with a time of just over 19 minutes.
Three Island Scouts Make Eagle Troop 949 held an Eagle Ceremony for three Scouts on May 14th at the Island Presbyterian Church. Eagle Scout is the highest advancement in Boy Scouts.Troop 949 has been active in helping with various activities and service projects to
Paddleboard Race A9 Paddleboarders made their way from The Boathouse on Lake Padre and out Packery Channel to the beach.
Whenever a visitor stays at a hotel or motel, or any overnight stay lodging, in Corpus Christi the city levies a tax which is used, among other things, to fund the Corpus Christi Convention and Visitors
Bureau. It is referred to as the HOT (Hotel Occupancy Tax). The following are the numbers from February 2015 and 2016 with the change in revenue noted in the third column.
Corpus Christi Top Payers
2015
2016
$ Change
% Change
CC Mustang
$247,591
$222,975
$24,616
11.04%
SANDPIPER CONDOMINIUM CC Mustang
$149,501
$138,588
$10,912
7.87%
SEAGULL CONDOMINIUM
CC Mustang
$123,925
$114,035
$9,890
8.67%
MAYAN PRINCESS
CC Mustang
PORT ROYAL BY THE SEA RESORT HOTEL
$64,581
$57,842
$6,738
11.65%
Corpus Christi Mustang Island Top 4
$585,597
$533,440
$52,157
9.78%
HOLIDAY INN GULF BEACH RESORT
Padre Island
$200,740
$160,618
$40,122
24.98%
ISLAND HOUSE COUNCIL OF CO-OWNERS Padre Island
$119,785
$104,228
$15,557
14.93%
GULFSTREAM COUNCIL OF CO-OWNERS
$109,637
$92,502
$17,135
18.52%
DUNES CONDOMINIUM Padre Island
$96,908
$88,010
$8,898
10.11%
EL CONSTANTE CONDOMINIUM
Padre Island
$82,647
$83,375
-$728
-0.87%
LA QUINTA INN AND SUITES PADRE ISLAND Padre Island
$73,516
52623.41
$20,892
39.70%
BAHIA MAR
Padre Island
$70,975
$62,469
$8,506
13.62%
BEST WESTERN ON THE ISLAND
Padre Island
$64,763
$51,346
$13,418
26.13%
COMFORT SUITES
Padre Island
Padre Island
Padre Island Top 9
$34,215
$76,946
-$42,731
-55.53%
$853,186
$772,117
$81,069
10.50%
Port Aransas Top Payers on A5
A little Island history
Isle of Plunder
The Island makes the Saturday Evening Post
Editor’s note. The following story appeared in the Saturday Evening Post on January 3, 1948. We thank Islander Brud Jones for sending it our way. This is part 1. By Lewis Nordyke
Island 4th of July Blast! We got word from Islander Jerry Watkins this week that the money is now in place for the Fourth Annual 4th of July Island Blast! fireworks show. Thanks to Jerry and Sharon who dreamed up and organized this event it has quickly taken its place as one of the highlights of the Island calendar. It is all paid for by donations from Islanders and Jerry is now collecting money for a down payment for next year which is due by January so help out if you can.
twentieth anniversary of the Seashore Schools and raises funds to augment the limited funding that the state provides charter schools. There is a different funding for public school versus charter schools, resulting in $3000 less for each charter school student enrolled – a sizeable and significant difference in funding. Fundraisers like Whoop It Up help supplement funding especially for facility construction and upgrades.
Island by the Numbers
Padre work
Work continues around Lake Padre as an additional crew has been called in and dirt is moving at a rate of almost 10,000 cubic yards per day. The canals to both sides of SPID are in place and bulkheading on the Lake Padre side is scheduled to begin as soon as the excavation work is complete in anticipation of the Water Exchange Bridge.
Live Music A18
Ryan Breen Earned his Arrow of Light in Pack 949 in 2009. He earned 36 merit badges and lead the construction and installation of the entrance sign to Sea Shore Middle Academy. Ryan will graduate from Flour Bluff High School and has earned a Distinguished Degree. Ryan plans to attend Blinn College in Bryan Texas, with a goal of transferring to A&M to earn a Computer Engineering Degree.
Scouts continued on A2
A desolate sandbar off the Texas Gulf coast has lured treasure hunters for 400 years. Despite the rattlesnakes and savage hurricanes they come still, seeking fortunes in flotsam and dreaming about the lost galleon of Cortez. Padre Island, which lies off the Gulf coast of Texas almost within sight of bright lights and traffic jams, is one of the most untamable spots in this country. What the storms don’t blow away, the sifting sands cover up. Man has been bucking the island for some 400 years. But today it is uninhabited, and its chief attractions are things which have been lost at sea, and which have somehow turned up on Padre.
The enterprising beachcomber, Lewis Raywalt, salvages a barrel of tar on Padre Island Beach. He may sell it for as much as thirtyfive dollars. Charlie, his son, is only 3 but already has "sand in his shoes." With possibly a few exceptions, Padre is the world’s richest territory for beachcombers. Because of the crescent arc of the coastal bend and the currents that swish near shore, anything adrift in the Gulf of Mexico or the Caribbean is likely turn up eventually on Padre. World War
Sometimes ancient coins are uncovered by wind, but jewels have been found by digging holes II, with dozens of ship sinkings, made the beach a bonanza. Often, after choppy seas, it is littered with commercial valuable like heavy timbers and drums of gasoline. Offshore, in the Gulf, and under the sands of the island, are storied hulls
History continued on A7