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
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Island Moon The Island Newspaper
Island Area News ● Events ● Entertainment
November 16, 2011
Photo by By Miles Merwin
Fighting Red Tide Since 1996
Around The Island
By Dale Rankin
editor@islandmoon.com
Next Publication Date: 11/30/2011
Inside the Moon...
Trivia Question of the Fortnight
ABK Boardsports Windsurfing Camps
This year marks the 37th year for the La Posada Lighted Boat Parade
Our dogs are sneezing. They have become lethargic and won’t bark at coyotes. Heck they might not even run if the coyotes are chasing them. It’s the Red Tide friends and it’s back. The runny eyes, the dry throats, the feeling that if you have to get off the couch it will require more effort than you possess. It’s the red tide what done it. The Red Tide bloom continues. When the wind shifted out of the north late last week the offshore boatpersons and the Port Aransas skydivers who were flying over the water reported that while the Red Swarm moved offshore for a while it was out there lurking. As soon as the wind shifted around to the southeast it came right back as strong as ever. Some of the people working outdoors near the water have resorted to wearing masks. Small fish kills were reported up and down The Island but so far none in the canals. It looks like nothing short of a prolonged north wind, rain, or a big cold front will get rid of it. Dr. Tom said in the last issue he’s getting patients coming in with symptoms. As for treatment, the only Moon remedy we’ve come up with is allergy medicine combined with lots of vitamin C and lots of water. Keep in mind we’re not doctors, just Red Tide victims. It seems to help if we stay indoors breathing Bought Air.
La Posada The La Posada Boat Lighted Boat Parade is almost upon us. Make sure to get to the kickoff party over at Scuttlebutts on Monday, November 28 and bring along a toy. If you plan on being in the parade you can fill out the entry form in this issue and bring it to the kickoff party. This year the parade will be held under a full moon so if the weather cooperates it should be a Parade to Remember.
Island Power We’ve been battling power outages again on our Island. Two swept across The Island early Sunday, thankfully after the football games were over, and on the west side of SPID lasted only a few minutes, but on the east side several hours. This is particularly frustrating to us because our annexation agreement with the city signed way back called for Island power lines to be buried. That fact is hard to forget when we’re stumbling around in the dark looking for a cigarette lighter.
Way to go Charlie Islander Charlie Zahn has been appointed to the Corpus Christi Port Commission marking the first time an Islander has ever been part of that board. The seven-member commission runs the fifth largest port in the country and having an Islander on it is a big deal as the push comes for the cruise industry to weight anchor here. Mr. Zahn has done good work as part of the Nueces County Coastal Parks Board and we congratulate him on his appointment by the Nueces County Commissioners to the port authority.
They did it!
There are few Islanders among us who have never thought about just getting rid of everything we own and sailing off into the sunset. A few over the years have done it. The latest are Islanders – now former Islanders - Meredith and Justin who sailed down the main canal just over a week ago for points east. They took an old 26-foot sailboat and scoured it down to Around Continued on A6
page A 2 Tracking Turtles Online
Page B 1 National Novel Writing Month
Page B 4 Local Music Scene
Can anyone tell us how the parade was started way back in 1974? We’ve talked to several people who were involved with the parade in the early years, but so far no one who was there right at the beginning. What we have been able to piece together is that it began when the Padre Island Yacht Club was located at the Club House of Anchor Resort. In the beginning the Yacht Club was not called that but instead was the Padre Island Sailing Society, as you might imagine that posed a problem when it came time to put the club’s name on flags for the parade. Since the entire Padre Island Sailing Society Name wouldn’t fit on the tiny flags the initials would have to be used. For obvious reasons the name had to be changed and the Padre Island Yacht Club was born.
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Year 15, Issue 401
La Posada
Parade Route
La Posada Parade Maps on Page A3 Maps on A3 2011 La Posada Ornaments are available at Seashore Charter School offices (SLC, SMA and Seashore Early Childhood Academy) as well as Isle Mail and More and Gold Falcon Jewelers. Thank you for supporting the Community Programs efforts to provide cost free events for La Posada!” We are only a few weeks away from the 37th Annual La Posada Lighted Boat Parade. This year’s event will be held under a full moon on both Friday and Saturday nights and the kickoff party is set for Monday, November 28, at Scuttlebutts Restaurant. This marks the first year the event has had a kickoff event and it is a chance to have some fun, get questions answered, register your boat for the parade and…did we mention have some fun. Part of the proceeds of the party will be donated to the event and to Toys for Tots. The boat parade is traditionally one of the biggest events in the state
for the Toys for Tots organization so please bring a toy to the event.
The party will run all afternoon and evening, from 3 – 10 p.m. with the Marines arriving about 5:00 o’clock.
The Parade will be held on Friday, December 9, and Saturday, December 10. For a complete map and the registration forms see the stories in this issue.
For more information contact Jim Weatherill at 361 774-0177.
38 years in the making
Aquarius Extension Project is Back on Track! Council approves funding Completion due in May 2012 By Dale Rankin
At least that’s the story we hear. If you can fill us in on details please e-mail or call us. Or is you just have a good story about an experience in the early parades we’d like to hear about those too; as the man said, when the legend become fact print the legend.
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Page B 8
Moon Rumor Control Aquarius is a Boondoggle, The SPID Bridge Can Kill Schlitterbahn, and The Island is About to be Overrun With Sewage Editor’s note: This is a new feature we decided to add this time. If there is one thing that can be said with certainty it is that word travels fast on our little Island. The Coconut Telegraph is a very efficient system on which good news travels fast, bad news travels faster. The problem is one of accuracy. According to the Moon Rumor Verification Department the CT’s accuracy rate is somewhere between three and four percent. It’s like a giant game of post office where a hangnail has turned into an ax murder by the time it gets through the watering holes, workout rooms, bridge clubs, boat clubs, beauty shops, civic organizations, freelance prevaricators and malicious fabricators. Relying on this as a means of gathering information is like asking a taxi driver how to coach a football team. He has all kinds of opinions on how to call the plays but doesn’t know the names of any of the players. Many of the rumors that make the rounds have been addressed at meetings of the Island Strategic Action Committee. They meet the first Tuesday of each month at 5:30 p.m. at the Padre Isles Country Club. Go there and ask questions and you will get answers. So here’s the deal: You hear a rumor you think might be true, you let us know and we’ll check it out; sort of like an Island Snopes. Here are the latest we’ve heard and what we know about them. The current Aquarius project is an attempt by the developer to get the city to pay for a street he promised to pay for. We had to call the Moon Department of Redundancy Department for this one as we have addressed it many times. Aquarius was placed on the 2004
bond package at the request of then Mayor Henry Garrett as a safety measure so that fire trucks and other emergency vehicles could get across The Island quickly. It was approved by voters citywide to spend $1.4 million to build it with the idea that its route would likely be changed and the bond funds were set aside.
Thirty eight years after first being placed on a platting map Aquarius Street between Commodores and Dasmarinas looks like it is about to become a reality. After nearly two hours in executive session The Corpus Christi City Council in less than thirty seconds on Tuesday voted unanimously to approved $1.3 million in general fund money to pay for completion of a 50-feet wide Aquarius
extension complete with sidewalks, bike trails, and a median of nearly 20 feet through what is now a vacant lot behind the Padre Isles Country Club. The extension will connect the existing Aquarius Street from the point where it intersects with Dasmarinas on the south, to a point on the north that is directly across Commodores from the existing fire stations. (For more on the history of this project see the item
Aquarius Continued on A3
Is it Time to Ban the Bag? By Dale Rankin
The city kept putting off the project and the developer who owns the adjacent land, Paul Schexnailder, did not want the project done until the area was developed. City policy says that new streets will be paid for by the developer at the time the area is built out and reimbursed though tax incentives. But in this case, at the behest of Islanders and the specific direction of the Mayor the Aquarius project was pushed forward with taxpayer dollars for public safety reasons. Over the ensuing seven years the project went through several changes as city staff, spurred by Islanders, pushed to have the road finished. Schexnailder as much as he was able encouraged them to hold off. Payment was not the issue, it was design. Finally, within the last year the Island Strategic Action Committee pushed the city staff and a plan was forged. A more direct route was designed that instead of connecting the two ends of existing Aquarius, cuts across Schexnailder’s land in a much more direct route and connects on the north side to Commodores across the street from the fire station. The new route was shorter, cheaper by about $300,000 and would include a median, sidewalks, and bike path. The problem was that city owned the easement for the old route but Schexnailder owned the easement for the new, more common sense route. At the city’s request he traded Rumor Continued on A6
When it comes to pollution on our Island it’s easy to round up the usual suspects. First, comes Bubba’s beer cans. Why anyone would think it is acceptable to drive off and leave their beer cans on the beach – forget bottles – defies logic. Over the years there have been various attempts to police this problem and it has always come down to this; throwing the can/ bottles on the sand is not in itself against the law. It only becomes illegal when the person drives off and leaves them behind. So if an enforcement person sees a guy sitting on the beach drinking an Acme Beer and there is an empty six pack ring holder lying on the ground next to five empty Acme Beer cans there is no violation until the guy gets in his car and heads off down the beach. At that point
when he is pulled over littering is the least of his problems. One suggested solution is to have life guards or those checking for beach parking stickers to write tickets for littering; however, it would require training and training costs money. So there isn’t much we can do about Bubba’s beer cans right now. CCPD Captain Tim Wilson, who patrols The Island, suggests we ask Stripes to not sell beer in bottles during Spring Break. That sounds like an idea worth pursuing. So for now beach beer bottle and can littering isn’t going to get much better. But for the second great Island polluter this is something that can be done.
Ban the Bag How many of us have gone to an Island Stripes store and
walked out with our purchase in a plastic bag and headed for the beach? When you get there you empty out the bag and leave it on the seat with the intention of using it for trash and walking off. Then a few minutes later a gust of wind whips that thing out the open window and you find yourself chasing it down the beach and every time you get close it swirls up in the air and the chase begins anew. After a few minutes of looking like an idiot you stop and look around to see if anyone is watching. If not, then you are faced with a moral dilemma; should I continue chasing this thing or just go back to my lawn chair?
The folks down in Brownsville had the same problem and did something about it. They Banned the Bag. More
Ban the Bag Cont. on A6
Island Moon
A 2
GulfBreeze
November 16, 2011
NEW
ABK Boardsports Windsurfing Camps By Mike Murphy http://www.glidesociety.com/gulfbreeze2 The ABK Boardsports has been well recognized throughout the windsurfing industry for many years and recently returned to Texas for another windsurfing clinic at Bird Island Basin (BIB). Since 2009, Texas has been the first and last stop on the annual ABK camp schedule, with spring and fall clinics at South Padre Island and BIB.
A… still going strong Andy Brandt has been windsurfing in the United States and Caribbean for over three decades. His technical knowledge, racing experience and professional staff are incorporated into the ABK teaching method and program. In 2002, Andy became owner of the ABK and began travelling within the United States conducting a series of ABK Camps at various locations on the East and West coasts in addition to Texas. The ABK is the longest running windsurfing school in the United States with a history of more than 29 years and 896 multi-day camps at locations across the United States and Caribbean. This year was about average with a total of 275 people completing the ABK camps. B... benefits for any skill level The ABK camp begins participants being split groups based on skill and specific interests.
with into level Each
NEW Brendon Quinn takes a break in Rio Vista, California expertise, teaching ability and effectiveness in identifying mistakes and opportunities for improvement among the campers regardless of experience level. Most of the coastal locations have a host windsurfing shop that offers rental gear. Locally, instructors Olivier Jallis, Angela and Randy Rhodes provide professional and quality instruction throughout the year at Worldwinds at BIB. From January through March the truck is parked for awhile and the ABK goes to Bonaire and Aruba for a series of five day camps during the winter.
Camps… first and multiple times Generally about 20% of the
to BIB as his busy schedule as a Southwest Airlines pilot permits. Bruce Moore, a lifetime Dallas resident was Commodore of the North Texas Windriders from 2007-2010. Bruce began windsurfing in 2004 and since then has been to an ABK camp annually. Bruce is working on more freestyle sailing and still meeting his goal of learning a new trick at each clinic. David Adam made the trip from Chicago where he windsurfs on week-ends. He has been to ABK camps on the west coast and Caribbean on an annual basis for the past ten years. David is now focusing more on freestyle sailing and enjoyed his first trip to BIB. Dan Hoffman teaches computer
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Andy Brandt starting an aerial maneuver at BIB group is assigned an instructor for specific lectures, land demonstrations and on the water coaching. Lecture topics are often tailored to the specific conditions of the day while each group continues to specialize and refine techniques that fit individual needs. After practice on the water, video analysis is used so participants can watch themselves in action and learn from feedback on their progress. ABK camps provide expertise for beginner to advanced windsurfing levels including recreational, racing and freestyle techniques. For those with limited experience, the clinics focus on windsurfing basics while more advanced participants benefit from expert analysis of technique and tips to resolve problem areas. Regardless of the experience level, all participants are given plenty of personal guidance throughout the process.
ABK camp participants are repeat campers. The recent ABK camp included seven windsurfers at various skill levels. Jeanette and Alex Gleyzer and his cousin Gene have windsurfed a few years at Centerville Lake on Cape Cod in Massachusetts. The guys have been to several ABK Camps and made this trip to practice while Jeanette completed her second ABK camp making progress sailing in the harness. All were impressed with how great BIB is for learning to windsurf. This was the first ABK camp for Keith Scoskie from Van in the Tyler area. He windsurfed a few years in the late 1980’s and started again in 2003. Keith looks forward to returning
science at the University of Victoria in British Columbia, Canada. He first windsurfed for five years in the late 1980’s while in college in North Carolina. Dan then sailed keel boats for several years and started windsurfing again in 2002. His first three ABK camps were at Hood River, Oregon, he was working on jibes while here for his fourth clinic. Most of the campers rented equipment at Worldwinds and were impressed to find that all the gear is the latest design and in top condition. The local area has such great windsurfing conditions and equipment available for any sailing level that it’s no surprise that Andy Brandt continues make BIB a regular stop on the ABK tour.
K… making it happen The ABK instructors are Meredith Robert from Berkley, California, Brendon Quinn from Santa Cruz, California and Andy Brandt from Pennsylvania. Staff members are selected for their windsurfing
Andy Brandt explains how to do a loop to advanced campers
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November 16, 2011
Friday Parade Route
Island Moon
Public Viewing area Jackfish Boatramp
37th Annual La Posada Lighted Boat Parade Schedule and Information
A3
When: Friday, December 9, in the northside of The Island. Staging area at Jackfish boat ramp. Marshalling is at 5:30 p.m. Parade kicks off at 7:00 p.m. Then: Saturday, December 10, southside of The Island. Staging area is northside of Whitecap at Caravel Drive Canal. Staging is at 5:30 p.m., the parade starts at 6:00 p.m. What’s new: Since this year’s parade will be held under a full moon good visibility an area for watching from your boat is being set up. See the map for the exact location. To register: Use the forms in this issue to cut out and take to the parade kickoff party at Scuttlebutts on Monday, November 28. The party starts early at 3:00 p.m. and runs through 10 p.m. The Marines as part of the Toys for Tots program will arrive at 5 p.m. A portion of the proceeds from the party will go to the parade and toy fund.
Friday Marshalling Area
For more information call Jim Weatherill at the Padre Island Yacht Club, 361 774-0177, or see their website at piyc.org.
Saturday Parade Route
Aquarius Continued from A1 in Moon Rumor Control in this issue). The project looked to be on schedule for a 2012 completion until a few weeks ago when former City Councilman Mike Hummell and Island resident David Barabino, who lives on the existing section of Aquarius, filed a lawsuit claiming that construction should be stopped because the plan on the 2004 bond issue to fund the project was substantially different than the plan finally approved for construction. While the ballot language itself did not specify a plan for the street, Hummell contended that material provided by to the council when they voted to put the item on the bond ballot said Aquarius extension would connect the two ends of the existing Aquarius as called for the in the original platting for The Island which had the street designed as a thoroughfare that would run from the base of the JFK Bridge south all the way to Whitecap. That plan was scrapped by the original developers of The Island when they decided to cut costs by eliminating the bridge over a canal and selling the lots that would have provided it a right of way.
Viewing Area at Gypsy Boat Ramp
A few weeks ago Hummell and Barabino won a jury verdict that threw the Aquarius project into chaos. On Monday District Judge Bobby Galvan denied a motion from city attorneys to throw out the jury verdict but Galvan refused to issue an order stopping the Aquarius project from moving forward as long as it was not paid for with bond money. Hence the Tuesday City Council vote.
Viewing Area at Copa de Bara
Saturday Marshalling Area
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Galvan’s refusal of a restraining order cleared the way for the council to fund the project with ad valorem tax money even as the court ruling is being appealed. That cleared the way for the project to move forward and representatives from the contractor for the project, Hass Anderson Construction, said the new section of road will be finished by May 2012. In a separate action also on Tuesday the council voted to lower the speed limit from the current 35 mph to 30. The city has also said it will do studies to determine is speed humps or stop signs need to be added to Aquarius for traffic control.
LACY IS MISSING The 15 year old Cocker Spaniel disappeared Sunday night. Please
Viewing Area at Marrianna’s Way
call Lorraine Dorsey at 949-0440 with any information
Yacht Club- Bring a Toy to get in
Kitchen Features @ Scuttlebutt’s Wed. 16th Wahoo Wednesday! Thurs. 17th The Cadillac French Dip; shaved prime rib with golden sautéed onions & Swiss cheese served with French fries and Au Jus $11.99 Friday 18th Char-grilled Grouper filet served with herb rice and grilled zucchini $16.99 Saturday 19th Jambalaya Pasta, a kickin’ mix of shrimp, andouille sausage and veggies over penne pasta served with garlic bread $15.99 Sunday 20th Crazy Burger Day $9.99 Come see what we come up with, you’ll love it! Monday 21st Chicken Parmesan, lightly breaded chicken breast served over spaghetti with our homemade marinara sauce topped with mozzarellas & served with garlic bread $15.99 Tuesday 22nd Prime Rib Dinner Night, served with choice of two sides $19.99 Wednesday 23rd Wahoo Wednesday! Thurs. 24th HAPPY THANKSGIVING - We are with our families! Friday 25th Bourbon Glazed Shrimp served with herb rice and grilled zucchini $18.99 Saturday 26th Pan Seared Groupers with avocado remoulade, served with herb rice and grilled zucchini $17.99 Sunday 27th Crazy Burger Day $9.99 Come see what we come up with, you’ll love it! Monday 28th Chicken Fried Chicken, comfort food at it’s best! Fried boneless chicken breast served with mashed potatoes, corn cobbette & homemade cream gravy $13.99 Tuesday 29th Prime Rib Dinner Night, served with choice of two sides $19.99 Wednesday 30th Wahoo Wednesday! Check Out All our Features, Musicians and Upcoming Events on our website: Scuttlebuttsbarandgrill.com
Bar Features @ Scuttlebutt’s Mondays: $2 Pint Night Tuesdays: ½ Off All bottles of wine Wednesdays: Happy Hour Drinks All Night Long Thursdays: You Call it $5 Martinis Fridays: House Margaritas on the rocks $3.50 Saturdays: 10% Appreciation Day
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A 4
Letters & Opinion
Island Moon Dale,
Thanks for your article outlining Representative Todd Hunter’s view on Casino Gaming in the October 21 issue of the Island Moon.
Aquarius
Mr. Mayor and City Council members;
I am a property owner and full time resident of Padre Island. I have been made aware of your meeting tomorrow in which a decision will be made regarding the awarding of a contract for the newly designed Aquarius Street route. I am against that redesign. We do not need another Park Rd. 22 going through a quiet neighborhood. Please stick with the original design, keeping the speed limit within reasonable means and giving access to emergency vehicles.
I would also like to address Schlitterbaun. The Island PAC does not speak for all residents. I have been to the meetings and, for the most part, I think their interests best serve the Island business community as opposed to the residential community. We, as residents, have long been aware of our role as a “Cash Cow” for the city. We pay more than our fair share of taxes yet wait for years for the improvements that are needed on our Island. Aquarius St. is one very clear example. How long have we been waiting for that to be accomplished? Has it been 7 years? Our infrastructure is in desperate need.
I drive Whitecap every day and see the cone sitting over a big pothole in the road. We have no sidewalks on the streets. We have problems with power and water. Need I go on? You are all well aware of our needs. Or, you should be. What kind of stresses will you be putting on our emergency services with the influx of visitors to a Schlitterbaun park? We have a very small Fire and Police Dept. Will there be an increase in crime? We are already seen as a prime target. What about the increase in trash? We experience that every single holiday. The Schlitterbaun park may police it’s own trash but what about the trash thrown out of cars on the way to and from their property? This is always a major problem for us. The other big issue is traffic. Every holiday we have to “hunker down” till it’s over because the traffic on the Causeway is unbearable. There are people who live on the Island and work various shifts in the city. They go to the hospitals, NAS, CCAD, etc, etc With the water park in operation, it will be a major problem for them every day that it is open. Estimates quoted 300,000 visitors to the city. Over the one access bridge to and from the Island? That 300,000 doesn’t count the employees of the park who would also add to the traffic. Think about that. How long will the Causeway be able to handle the load structurally? How many of you live here and would have to deal with all of this on a daily basis? Yes, great for tourism and the local economy, but again, asking the Island to bite the bullet for everyone.
The Island is a treasure, a very special place. It is a small piece of Paradise in an increasingly commercial world. I doubt that we residents have the power to fight City Hall and Schlitterbaun but you need to think about what you are destroying for the almighty dollar. Once you do that, it is gone. It is gone for our children and grandchildren. Do you want to be a part of destroying their legacy? Respectfully, Capt. Rosanne Milroy, NC, USN (RET)
To the Island PAC Board, Thank you for providing the facts concerning the upcoming vote on November 15th and the e-mail addresses for our Council and Mayor. We are sending a copy of the following e-mail to each individual council member and the mayor, in hopes that our thoughts be heard and considered. Dear Honorable Mayor Adame, We have resided on the island for more than fourteen years and have plans to continue to enjoy our home here for many years to come. During our time here on our island, we have witnessed continued growth and cooperation between the needs of the island residents and the city government. It is our hope that this relationship will continue. We, therefore, urge that you work closely with the members of the Corpus Christi City Council to move forward with the newly designed Aquarius extension. We strongly feel that this new design will provide the safety and efficiency required by all residents as they use this new and vital connection between Aquarius and Commodores. We followed the previous legal arguments and jury decision closely. We do not feel the decision should impede the progress of the construction of this much needed project. We urge that you, together with the council, work to authorize legal funding to provide an efficient and prudent time-line to complete this newly designed Aquarius extension. To delay further puts our residents in further danger. Once the extension is complete, we have every confidence that appropriate traffic surveys will be conducted to determine any need for more Stop Signs, speed reduction or speed deterrents on the new road or for that matter on any of our streets. Thank you for your attention and prudent actions in this vital project. Sincerely, Nancy & Paul Tressa
Editor,
We are new on the island and enjoy reading the Island Moon and look forward to the paper becoming a weekly one. One thing I have noticed is a lot of acronyms without defining them. For example, there is a column titled “News From Your POA.” Your what? The same author starts right out writing about PODs. I don’t have a clue... What is JELM? Where is the JELM library? Do we assume that the address you give for the JELM Office is in Port Aransas; since you don’t say whether it is North Padre Island or Port Aransas. This is in Section B, page 1 of the 11/16/2011, issue. We are Winter Texans and we are interested in the organization.
Whenever I move to or visit a new area, I am always interested in learning the history. For that reason, I enjoyed the article “The Rangers Stop A Feud” and I look forward to the next series in the story. And the Red Tide is a new phenomenon to us; thanks for the background.
Hey Ginny, First of all thanks for reading. We try to keep folks abreast of what’s going on and sometimes we get wrapped around the old axle and use too much alphabet soup. And of course sometimes we get bored and just make up acronyms to amuse ourselves and see if anyone is paying attention so thanks for keeping us honest. There are probably some we’ll miss but here’s a list of the acronyms we can think of that we use from time to time – some of which we made up.
About the Island Moon The Island Moon is published every other Friday, Dale Rankin, Editor. Total circulation is 10,000 copies. Distribution includes delivery to 4,000 Island homes, free distribution of 3,000 copies in over 50 Padre Island businesses and condos, as well as 600 copies distributed in Flour Bluff, 1,400 copies on Mustang Island and Port Aransas businesses. Mailed subscriptions are available in the US and are $100 per year. Next day home delivered subscriptions are $100 per year on Padre Island and in Flour Bluff. News articles, photos, display ads, classified ads, payments, etc. may be left in the Moon tray at Isle Mail & More, 14493 S P I D. For more information call 361-949-7700 or contact the Moon at 15201 S Padre Island Dr., Suite 250, Corpus Christi, TX 78418 or by e-mail to editor@islandmoon.com.
1. Venetian Macao at 546,000 sq ft - opened in 2007 2. City of Dreams in Macao at 420,000 sq ft - opened in 2009 3. Foxwoods at 340,000 sq ft - opened in 1986 4. Casino Ponte 16 in Macao at 270,000 sq ft -opened in 2009
Therefore, I just wanted to make your readers aware of the growing trend of much larger casinos being built overseas. Wayne Mastalski Editor’s note; Thanks Wayne. We stand corrected.
Make Ronnie Narmour Dance
I love all the ‘Stuff ‘ I read about in the Moon about our neighborhoods, the Art scene, political agenda, crazy pictures of folks having a grand time but my favorite is the back page with Ronnie Lamour. He has such a knowledge of the music scene and where to go to hear the best musicians to dance. And who doesn’t like to dance? From Austin to St.Louis this guy knows music. The coastal bend needs to know our abundant music scene so please keep it up Ronnie!
Island Acronyms
Ginny Valleau
Office Lisa Towns Classifieds Arlene Ritley Design/Layout Jeff Craft Contributing Writers (In no particular order) Devorah Fox Sunny Reed Mary Craft Chris Adler Maybeth Christiansen Dr. Tom Dorrell Kendal Ezell Jay Gardner Diane Halfety Todd Hunter Mike (Murph) Murphy Ronnie Narmour Dr. Donna Shaver Photographers Andre LaVoy Patrick Lewis Miles Merwin Office Security/Spillage Control Riley P. Dog Editor/Publisher/Spillage Control Supervisor Dale Rankin
Manuel Baigorri of Bloomberg Busines Week has written articles on the largest casinos in the world and he states the following are the top 4 casinos in the world today:
Brenda Barnett, Port A
Also, thanks for the info on businesses and business events on the Island. We look forward to future issues of the Island Moon.
Mike Ellis, Founder Distribution Pete Alsop Island Delivery Coldwell Banker Advertising Jan Park Rankin
However, in that article, you stated that the WinStar casino in Oklahoma is the third largest casino in the world. Your source was probably Wikipedia, which states “renamed Winstar World Casino in 2009 and the 519,000 square foot of casino made it Oklahoma’s largest casino and the third largest in the world.” The Wikipedia article should have stated that it may have been the third largest casino at that time. Since the WinStar was completed there have been considerable casino expansion and now Macao is the home of the largest casinos in the world.
Now if we could ever get him on the dance floor that ‘d be even better.
Perhaps you could make your writers aware that not everyone who reads the Island Moon grew up in this area.
Who Are the Moon Monkeys
Casino
November 16, 2011
JELM is a volunteer organization that is based in the Community Presbyterian Church located at 1135 Alister in Port Aransas. The letters stand for Joint Effort Leisure Ministry and that pretty describes what they do. They organize activities for Senior Citizens and are the busiest during the months when Winter Texans are in town. They put together trips and lectures and all kinds of things that are either free or very inexpensive. The church also does a food pantry. You can find them on the church’s website or call them at 361 749-5319. They are a great organization for Winter Texans. POA is the Padre Isles Property Owners Association. It’s been around since the 1960’s when The Island was developed as a master-planned community. There are 3080 single-family homes and 2000 residential/commercial sites in the POA boundaries. POA also maintains the seven boat ramps on The Island and the 30-plus miles of concrete bulkheads that keep our houses from sliding into the canals. Maybeth Christensen writes the POA column for the Moon and fields the calls over at the POA office. Most of these are complaints from people about barking dogs, the neighbor’s new deck (too big, too small, painted purple, etc.), cars in the street, cats in the trees, coyotes in the yards (for the record the POA does not control them), sandburs, fish guts in the canals, No Wake violators, trashy vacant lots, calls from people who are unhappy and don’t know why, and occasionally about the rules that say what can and can’t be built out here. As you have probably figured out Maybeth’s job requires the Patience of Job and the Wisdom of Solomon. It’s the job of the POA to enforce the deed covenants and collective rules that keep your neighbor from building the Tower of Babel in his backyard then sitting on top of it all night playing his ukulele and sinking the second verse of Oh How I Want To Go Home over and over. They are the Thin Blue Line (TBL) that separates us from anarchy. POD – Well, this one often means Payable On Death but since it was used in the context of UPS (United Parcel Service) it is either Proof Of Delivery (a UPS term) or the description of a box where parcels bound for Island mailboxes can be stored for later delivery. Think of it as a spider web system and the PODS are the nodes. During Back to School Season (BS) it could also mean Parents On Demerol, or Produce On Demand. But for now let’s go with the dropbox POD. OTB – Over The Bridge. This is a term invented by the now departed Mr. Dick who was the pro over at Padre Isles Country Club who still holds the record for avoiding going OTB at around 435 days. He finally broke down and went OTB to visit his friend in the hospital. This also passes for a Four-Letter word on The Island. It is to be avoided when at all possible. When used in a sentence it is usually followed by a rolling of the eyes, a sigh, or a real four-letter word. As in, “I had to go OTB today dang it. Had to get groceries,” which often prompts another OTB – “Oh, Too Bad.” Some years ago there was a nascent movement to Drop The Bridge (DTB) in an effort to sever the Island’s umbilical cord and stop people in town from coming OTB. It was discarded as impractical because the Laguna Madre is too shallow for ferries. CRS – Can’t Remember… Stuff. This is often seen in our older citizens however, we do see it more and more in younger Islanders when accompanied by bloodshot eyes. Symptoms involve walking into a room and forgetting why you are there, driving away from your house with the strange feeling you forgot something and then discovering it was your pants, or serving cold pasta to your guests because you forgot to turn the oven on. CRS…try to remember it. (Hint: It doesn’t work with the IRS). ISAC – Island Strategic Action Committee. This is the 14 member committee that the Corpus Christi City Council (CCCC) has established to vett issues and projects from The Island before they go to the CCCC. They meet the first Tuesday of each month at 5:30 p.m. (we always have to put the p.m. because we have some early risers) at Padre Isles Country Club. The meetings are open to the public and if you have a question you would like answered go to a meeting with your question and they will put it on the agenda for the next meeting and the City Staff will come back next time with an answer. It’s the best way to keep up with what is happening on The Island.
After years of having our Island projects stuck in purgatory the ISAC has been a great vehicle for us to get things moving. None of the major projects, from the Park Road Bridge to improvements around Packery Channel, would have ever happened without the monthly updates on their progress that goes before the ISAC. We encourage Islanders to attend and speak up.
IUPAC – This is the Island United Political Action Committee. It was formed about three years ago to provide a vehicle for Islanders to endorse candidates for city offices. All registered voters on The Island are eligible to join. In the two city election cycles after its formation nine of ten candidates endorsed by the IUPAC have won. They will become even more crucial as the city elections move from the traditional spring dates to the November ballots beginning next fall. You can contact them on their website.
ICW – IntraCoastal Waterway canal – also known as The Ditch. This is the canal that goes under the high portion of the JFK Bridge over by Doc’s Restaurant. It was originally dug during World War II to allow ships to move around the country without going into open water where German U-Boats lurked. It goes from Brownsville to Carrabelle, Florida, then up the east coast to Norfolk for a total of about 3000 miles. It also connects to the mouth of the Mississippi River where you can head north all the way to the country’s most inland port at Catoosa, Oklahoma, almost all the way to Tulsa. See what kind of reaction you get when you tell your friends you are going to sail to Tulsa.
Along our Island it is dredged to around twelve feet and is wide enough for barge traffic. It is popular with sailors traveling both near and far.
Notice it is InTRAcoastal rather than InTERcoastal. Intercoastal is used when you are talking about two different coasts, Intracoastal is used when you are referring something within that coast itself. So there you go. See, we all learned something today now if we can just avoid our CRS kicking in we will be able to impress our friends and scare our enemies.
BSR – Belt Sander Races. These are a local phenomenon which recently made the History Channel. They are held on sporadic Saturdays at The Gaff on Beach Street in Port Aransas. The Gaff is the closest thing we have to a pirate bar and the belt sander track is out back. As the name implies racers bring their belt sander over and race it down the track. This is wildly popular with Winter Texans since the beer is cheap, BYOB is allowed, and the graffiti on the walls is way above average. Our personal favorite: To those who wish us ill – may God turn their hearts If not – may He at least turn their ankles so that we may know them by their limp A pirate bar indeed.
OBB – Odessa By the Bay. This is a term often used in disgust to describe The Sparkling City By The Sea after an Islander has been forced to go OTB. As in, “I see why they call this town OBB after I had to go OTB today and when I got there my CRS kicked in and I just turned around and came back OTB.” Anyone who has ever been to Odessa understands this.
NMS – Naked Man Syndrome. This is the term used after someone has driven down Kleberg Beach and had to witness the naked men who run around down there in the altogether. As in, “I had NMS today and had to go looking for my Buck Knife to poke out my one good eye.” Avoid NMS if you can.
BIB – Bird Island Basin. This is a world class windsurfing spot where our friend Don Jackson operates Worldwinds for windsurfing and Stand Up Paddleboarding (SUP). It’s a short drive down toward PINS and if you’ve never been it’s a great way to spend an afternoon either out on the water or just sitting and watching. They have all the gear you need and the water is shallow so if you fall off you can get right back on.
During certain times of the year, like the Fall, visitors come from literally all over the world to windsurf there due to the great conditions. But be aware that if you go you may fall victim to TMF, (Too Much Fun). PINS – Padre Island National Seashore. We all know what that is. PICC – Padre Isles Country Club. The Island’s golf course.
PIBA – Padre Island Business Association. The organization that represents Island businesses. It’s like our version of the Chamber of Commerce. They sponsor the PIBA luncheon at the PICC and the PIBA mixer each month at VL (various locations).
BHP – Bob Hall Pier. Go check out the new addition. It’s a great place for people watching.
TIF or TIRZ – The Island’s Tax Increment Financing Zone. This is the area which stretches roughly from Packery Channel, to Whitecap and to the base of the JFK Bridge. Part of the tax revenue raised from it is set aside to pay for Island improvements. It raised between $3 million and $7 million per year depending on how the economy is doing. The money is controlled by the City Council with substantial input from the ISAC.
IOD – Island Overlay District. This zone covers all the commercial zoning areas of The Island. It was established in 2004 after the giant shark was built at the souvenir shop at the corner of South Padre Island Drive (SPID) and Commodores to prevent, well, the building of any more Giant Sharks.
It covers everything from what color a business’ building can be to what kind of sign they can have, to how many parking places they need. To prevent another giant shark it says that a sign must be “at least one foot smaller than the object it depicts.” So if you painted a Giant Shark black and white and called it a killer what it would be fine; come to think of it that ordinance might need some work. What is someone decides to build the Titanic Raspa Factory?
November 16, 2011
Island Moon
A little South Texas History
Two Men Out of Time Two Rangers on the King Ranch become the models for Lonesome Dove
Editor’s note: For several months we have been running a series of stories about the troop of Texas Rangers formed in 1875 to rid the area from Corpus Christi to the Rio Grande of bandits. Due to the ubiquitous bandits and the persistent violence it was only sparsely settled with the King Ranch being the only business able to survive for long. The stories have been based on the book Taming the Nueces Strip by Ranger George Durham who was part of the troop headed by Ranger Captain L.H. McNelly. The group was formed after a group of bandits rode up out of Mexico and raided the store of Sol Lichtenstein in downtown Corpus Christi and looted the general store in the Nuecestown Raid at a location now on North Leopard Street. During the raid they took 18 Dick Heye saddles, the Cadillac of saddles, which the Rangers were told to retrieve by “emptying them of their riders” which they did. After several pitched battles with bandits on both sides of the border the Rangers regrouped in Corpus Christi then headed north to put down the largest feud in Texas history. In the last story they had ridden into the Cuero area to put a stop to the Taylor/Sutton Feud which had led to more than one hundred killings.
demanded. “Speak up and get up!”
Talley was sitting crossed-legged playing pitch on the ground with Durham and “came to his knees fast a rattler uncoiling” and fired one shot into Jess Peters’ ribs. In Durham’s word, “Killing Jess Peters was a h--- of a mistake, even if it was one of those fast actions where some man was bound to die quick.” The Peters were large stockmen in Nueces County and there would be trouble. Tally hit the door running and was on his horse headed west. He called back “I’ll see you pretty soon.” Durham next saw him forty years later almost to the day when he showed up at the King
through the ranch and was an adobe ranch house made of scorched earthen bricks whitewashed with lime paints. When built the houses shone in the sun like those dreamed of by Spaniards when they first brought the longhorns to the region.” But by 1918 when Goodwyn came along it represented “no man’s dreams, only memories.” Its whitewash was cracking and the main ranch house was a long square-topped edifice called The Store even though no one ever came there to buy and there was nothing to sell. Just two things connected this ranch house with the outside world; a delivery wagon that drove between it and Raymondville twenty-one miles to the west, and a new telephone. In one of the smaller woodframe houses nestled among the mesquite trees lived a “stove-up exRanger, Old Man Durham. He was tall and scarred as the adobe houses and except for his mustache he kept his face shaved so smooth of gray whiskers that it looked like a parched bacon rind. If he had not used tobacco he would never have used the phone. Distrustful of the mechanism’s efficiency,
By Dale Rankin
The next time you drive south toward the Rio Grande Valley take a look at the rugged and vast country down there and imagine a group of twentynine Texas Rangers on horseback riding into it and taking on hundred of roving horse thieves and cattle rustlers. It was not a job for the faint of heart.
Durham rides south For his part George Durham was now a twenty year old with no job whose only skill was hunting bandits who no longer were a threat thanks to the Rangers. He rode south out of Corpus with another McNelly Ranger named George Talley who was from The Nations (Oklahoma) and was half Choctaw. They had badges and guns but no orders. They still considered themselves McNelly Rangers as they crossed the Nueces heading toward Santa Gertrudis on the King Ranch looking for work and in Durham’s case hoping to find Caroline, the niece of King Ranch Captain Richard King with matrimony in mind. They picked up the trail of four bandits who had recently robbed the Brownsville stage at the same river crossing a week back. They had heard the men worked as maverickers who branded stock at two dollars a head for ranchers – whether the stock belonged to someone else or not – and in slow times simply plundered and robbed. The Rangers headed for Banquette because sooner or later all bandits in the Nueces Strip ended up in Banquette and there and there they ran into the man known as W6 for his cattle brand. Since they had last seen him two years ago he had acquired a limp and his left armed dangled uselessly at his side as a result of some bullet wounds. “But I’m sure the other fellow was no better off,” Durham said. “For Old W6 was no bargain.”
A poor way to make a living “From what I’ve heard I’d say following McNelly was a poor way to make a living. That sort of work ain’t got no future,” W6 said. “The only fellow to make any money off you boys was old Tom Noakes over at Nuecestown. Them bandits only took eighteen of them Dick Heye saddles but he has already got back twenty-six. He can’t even give them away. Nobody wants to be straddling one after you boys killed everybody that had one.” Durham and Talley waited around Banquette to see if any of the bandits they were trailing would show up. In the meantime Talley got hold of some tequila and decided it would be a lark to tie a tin can to the tail of a sorrel gelding. The horse got spooked and ended up hurting himself. The next day the horse’s owner, one Jess Peters, showed up in Banquette in a bad mood. “What %$#*&^! Tin-canned my horse?” he
In the words of Frank Goodwyn through the eyes of a child. “Old man Talley did not chew tobacco but he smoke and cussed constantly. He called himself a wicked old cuss and he loved his pistol as himself. He cleaned it daily and lavished on it all the devotion that most men lavish on their wives and babies. Both Durham and Talley wore highheeled boots that came almost to their knees. Their pants and jackets were of khaki that had once been brown but now were faded to a pale, washed out cream. Their hats were blackened in the seams by dust and use and their brims were crumpled, limber and floppy. “Neither worked anymore but still drew a salary because they were too proud to take a pension. Talley’s self-assigned task was to limp down the road every morning to a gate to make sure it was still intact and properly latched. He went armed with cartridge belt and pistol in hopes a buzzard or hawk might appear and give him a reason to shoot.“
“Been down to the gate today.” “H---, yes, Saw a d--- skunk. Didn’t shoot him. Too d--- close.” “I was over at the pens today. Shot a snake. Fourteen.” And with that Durham pulled from his pocket a rattle with fourteen points he had cut from the snakes tail and handed it over. “Hmmm. D--- good. How far?” George Durham, Becoming a “mcNelly Ranger” while still a teen age youth newly arrived from Georgia, he carried that designation, proudly as a young man (left) and as an old man (right) Photo courtesy Robert C Wells, The King Ranch Ranch. He had been working as a guard in silver mines in Mexico and had been pursued by General Black Jack Pershing for reasons lost to history. Durham got him cleared of the murder charge and got him a job as a roustabout on the King Ranch was he lived until his death in Falfurrias in the 1930s. More on him later.
Hired by Captain King Durham left Banquette and headed for the King Ranch. On the way he stopped and put on the new suit of clothes he had bought in San Antonio and a clean shirt. As he rode onto the King Ranch one of the wranglers took him for a cattle buyer and took charge of his horse and Durham led him to the big house on the King Ranch “duded up like a sore wrist.” Captain King was in the front office and came out and looked him up and down. “You’re one of McNelly’s men, aren’t you?” he said.“Are you alone?” “Yes, sir.” “What brings you down this way? What are you looking for?” “A job,” Durham said. “That’s right. McNelly got fired. And you don’t want to work for that man Hall?” “I think he’s fired too,” Durham said. “The new governor has cut the whole outfit off.” “Did you ever work stock?” Durham shook his head and tapped his gun. “The only trade I got is chopping cotton and this.” King hired him at sixty dollars a month. “I don’t have any cotton that needs chopping right now but I can use you. Give the bookkeeper your right name.” For the next sixty years Durham worked and lived on the King Ranch as King’s driver on trips to Corpus, San Antonio, and Brownsville. Between trips he worked at a cow camp on the Laureles division of the ranch and married Captain King’s niece in 1882. They had nine kids. They eventually moved to the Suaz division where Durham was general foreman and King built them a house where he lived until his death. Carolyn died in 1915. During the ensuing years there survives only one written account of his daily life there. In his book Life on the King Ranch published in 1951 author Frank Goodwyn whose father was a foreman on the ranch wrote of his encounters with Durham and another retired Ranger when he was a young boy living on the Norias division of the ranch. Adobe house on black loam Goodwyn writes that in 1918 Durham was living on the Sauz Ranch which was “located in the black loam south of the underground river that flowed
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He and Durham had earned the eternal gratitude of Captain King, long since passed away, and his descendants by ridding the land of bandits. Durham bossed his own sons who now took care of the ranch and the two men took turns visiting each other in their respective houses, the last of the men who shared the memories of the land when it was wild and in need of their services. When in Talley’s room Durham spit his tobacco juice on the toes of his boots out of respect of the lumbered floors. They wasted no words. Goodwyn listened through windows and half-opened doors.
This is the story of what happened to Durham in his Lion in Winter years. The quelling of the Taylor/Sutton Feud was the last hurrah for legendary Ranger Captain L.H. McNelly. He returned to his farm near Burton where he died less than a year later on September 4, 1877 at the age of thirty-three after a long bout with tuberculosis. His career as a fighter began in the Civil War and stretched long enough to see the taming of the Nueces Strip between the Nueces and Rio Grande Rivers. Well known in Texas at the time his fame outside of Texas was limited to stories in newspapers across the country to the half dozen or so major battles he had led his Rangers into; his most famous fight being his raid into Mexico which almost started a war between the two countries. Had it not been for the book by Durham his story would have been reduced to a few random contemporary newspaper accounts and would have died with the last of his Rangers.
A5
repeating. It is the story of men who have outlived their time and have little calling in their here and now but the shared remembrance of times past in taming the land they can’t leave.
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he bellowed into it at the top of his voice and sent me away gloating over the coincidence that his name and the brand of tobacco he used were the same. “Hello! Raymondville? This is Mister Durham. When the wagon leaves, send me some Durham tobacco.”
Gus and Call In another wing of the house lived another exRanger Old Man Talley, the same George Talley that Durham had ridden with in their McNelly days. One can’t help but see the parallel between their existence on the King Ranch prairie and that of the fictitious Ranger Captains Augustus “Gus” McCrae and Captain Woodrow F. Call in Larry McMurtry’s iconic novel Lonesome Dove and subsequent series almost exactly one hundred years after Durham’s Ranger band broke up. It seems scant coincidence that when author McMurtry built the set for the fictional Rangers’ hometown of Lonesome Dove he placed it on the banks of the Rio Grande a scant one hundred miles from the house where Durham and Talley spent their last years. But instead of one great last cattle drive to Montana like Captains Gus and Call, Durham and Talley rode herd on a single gate they kept in working order on a fence in the Sauz. Goodwyn’s description of the two aging Rangers bears
“Twenty feet.” “Gonna send it to Noris?” where they paid five cents for every rattle to encourage the ridding the ranch of snakes. “H--- no. Gonna keep it.”Durham killed rattlesnakes because it was his duty; it was a shame to take rewards for that. “Gonna rain?” “H--- no. Rained last month.” Such was the life of the anachronistic Texas Ranger in the age of the singing wire. Two old warriors with no more battles to fight but with a great story to tell. This is the last cowboy song the end of a hundred year waltz Voices sound sad as they’re singing along another piece of America’s lost Ed Bruce Next time: George Durham’s story of the Taming of the Nueces Strip would have been lost to history but for the work of a single writer from the San Antonio Express-News who sought him out near the end of his life. The reporter’s name was Clyde Wantland and he was portrayed as the reporter at the end of Lonesome Dove who said to Captain Call, “They say you are a man of vision.”
A 6 From the Corpus Christi Police Department
Island Moon
Ban the Bag Cont. from A1
Home Burglary Prevention Editor’s note: The Island burglary season is upon is. Here are some tips from the CCPD to keep from being a victim.
Holiday Tips • Avoid displaying gifts were they can be seen from a window or doorway. • Arrange to have packages delivered to a neighbor if you’re not home to receive them. • Packages left on front porches or doorsteps are “easy picking” for thieves. It also draws unwanted attention to your home. • Consider simple outside decorations. Large lawn pieces are sometimes stolen from your front yard. • Be sure not to obscure the view from your windows or front door peep hole. You need a clear view of your property. • When leaving town, have a trusted friend or neighbor take care of your home. • Notify the Police Department immediately if you see anything suspicious. Be a good witness by providing accurate and timely information on suspicious persons and vehicles. When safe to do so copy the vehicle license plate number, vehicle make and color, and suspect description. - Lock doors and windows, especially garage doors. 25% of all residential burglaries are through unlocked or open doors. - Keep garage doors shut, even when doing yard work - Lock storage sheds. - Do not leave valuables in boats overnight. - Shut window shades and blinds when not at home. -
Get to know you neighbors.
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specifically they placed a $1 surcharge for anyone who wanted a plastic bag. The money raised was then used to pay people to go around and pick up the plastic bags that found their way to beaches and roadsides. They exempted certain bags like specialty bags for cosmetics and medications, etc, and they phased the ban in with voluntary compliance started in January, 2010 and full implementation in January of 2011.
Street lighting is not always adequate.
- Leave a front light on and encourage your neighbors also. - Close your windows & lock your doors (the simplest & easiest prevention technique). • Remove valuables or place them in the trunk of your automobile. If you are unable to remove the valuables, or do not have a trunk. • Hide your valuables. The burglar will look before he breaks into your car. • Remove ‘pull-out’ style radio face plates (if equipped). • Park in well lit areas when possible. • Park where your car will be easily & frequently viewed (natural surveillance). • Park in your garage if you have one. • Use a car alarm, it will alert anyone nearby. • Leaving device holders (GPS, Satellite radio,IPOD docks, etc.) mounted inside your cars windshield. Will indicate to burglars, that the device is in your car. Most car burglaries that occur in the residential areas on Island, happened during the late evening or early morning hours. Majority of car burglaries on Island are unlocked cars with valuables in plain sight. Majority of car burglars caught on Island have been male juveniles. Corpus Christi city ordinance prohibits juveniles 16 years and younger, from being in public places from 11:00 PM to 5:00 AM, unless accompanied parent or guardian. Report suspicious activity to the Police.
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November 16, 2011
Winners of the 2011 La Posada Art Work contest held at Seashore Middle Academy pose with their drawings. From left are second place winner Natalie Garcia, fourth place winner Lila Barton, third place winner Hallie Trial and first place winner Izabella Hockmuller. All four of these winners will have their art displayed on a boxed set of Christmas Cards this year, and the first place winner’s art work will be on the 2011 La Posada Christmas Ornament. Cards and ornaments can be purchased at school offices, Isle Mail and More, Gold Falcon Jewelers or check the website at islandfoundation.com
Swim Coach Needed The Flour Bluff FAST Frogs need you! The Frogs are a swim team that serves Island, Base and Bluff kids and practices in the indoor FB high school pool. The team has a range of kids from age 5 to high school. They need someone to work specifically with the junior high and high school kids. Practice times are from 6 to 7:30. If you have a background in competitive swimming and would like to “make a difference” then come check out the FAST Frogs, where swimming begins in the Bluff. Call Lisa for more information at 793-2261.
According to the people we talked to down there it has turned out to not be a big deal for shoppers. Paper bags are fine the result has been a lot less bag pollution in their trees and vacant lots. We have the problem as you can see from the pictures here. The Brownsvillians also set up a seven –member Environmental Advisory Committee to iron out any kinks in the application of the ban. The committee pretty much directed its own demise after a few months and wasn’t needed anymore. Once everyone understood the rules and got used to them it was fine. Our corrosive environment means that plastic bags break down relatively quickly but the chemicals in the bag don’t just evaporate. They sink into the sand where they leave a footprint. In a landfill plastic bags can take up to 1000 years to bio-degrade. A ban on plastic bags in not a new idea. Plastic bags are either restricted or completely banned in over a quarter of the world’s countries. The first in the U.S. was in San Francisco in 2007. The idea has now spread to about a dozen cities including Los Angeles. What is different about the Brownsville ban is the amount of the charge. In most cities it costs less than 10 cents per bag, the $1 per bag in Brownsville is a big departure. But the good news is that we don’t have to start from scratch in writing a Ban the Bag ordinance. There are plenty of models to choose from. It is just an idea but clearly something needs to be done. When people drive onto The Island now it looks like a giant flock of geese have descended. But a closer look reveals it to be plastic bags stuck to trees and grass. We can do better. It’s time to Ban The Bag!
Holiday Marketplace Dec. 3
Around Cont. from A1
Love Your Community The Island Foundation is rolling out our annual Love Your Community campaign with a Holiday Marketplace to kick off the Holiday Season! The gymnasium at Seashore Middle Academy is the place to go on December 3 right after Breakfast with Santa. From 11 AM until 4 PM there will be booths offering products and services to delight the special people on your holiday list, along with a food court, games and fun for all ages.
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the bare metal and fiberglass, then built it back to a nice home for themselves, their dog Café, and Nina the cat who rebelled to her relocation on the boat by refusing to use the on-board cat box. They are experienced sailors and after fighting some weather early on reported they saw the largest group of dolphins they have ever seen following them across Matagorda Bay. They are headed for Key West where they plan to get a bigger boat and set sail for Ecuador. We could only watch in envy as they turned past the Yacht Club and headed off to their adventure. As Boathouse Del says, when you go sailing the journey ends when you leave the dock. Fair weather you guys. Say hello if you see us Around The Island.
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November 16, 2011
Island Moon
Did Ya Hear?
Zahn Appointed to Port Board
By Mary Craft email your business news to Mary Craft at mkay512@aol.com
New Advertisers Fish on the Line Boutique in Port A is a new shop with designer clothing and jewelry, coastal home décor, hand poured candles, Ballagio chocolates and much more. They will have a 25% off clothing sale on Black Friday. They are located at 315 S. Allister across from IGA. Art in the Garden will be held at both Gill Landscape Nurseries on Airline Road and on Alameda. There will be works by local artists on display and many unique holiday gifts on Saturday, November 26th. Island Woman Boutique in Port A is moving in December to the Tower Center on Hwy 361. Their new location will provide more space for their unique island style fashions including sandals and jewelry. They are open daily except Mondays with island style hours 10:30 am until 5ish The Coast Club in Port A invites you to book your holiday party or special event now before the rush. On NFL Sundays enjoy watching ten networks on ten big screen TVs. Happy hour weekdays 3-7 pm. The lounge is located at the Ace Hardware strip center. The Kiwanis Club Breakfast with Santa will be held Saturday, December 3rd 9-11 am at St. Andrew by the Sea Family Life Center on Encantada. Photos will be taken with each child. There is no charge for this event but each child is encourage to bring an unwrapped toy for a less fortunate child. For more info call 816-1243. Texas Home Watch provides safety, security and peace of mind. Inspections start as low as $45 to reduce unforeseen risk to your vacation or residential property. Call 1-888-275-6079 or go online texashomewatch.com to purchase your inspection. Custom Home Remodeling can beautify your home with kitchen or bath remodel, room additions, patios, windows, roofing and more. Call Islander Tom Sheehan to “make your home the home of your dreams.” Call 949-2100. Roosevelt’s at the Tarpon Inn in Port A will be serving a tradition holiday dinner on Thanksgiving Day. There will carving stations serving roasted boneless turkey, baked ham and prime rib. The self serve buffet will include corn bread stuffing, candied yams, green bean casserole, fresh cranberry sauce and more. The cost for adults is $25.95 and children under ten $7.95. Call 749-1540 for your reservation because there will be limited walk-in availability. V-Fit Island Gym at the Pelican Lounge strip mall is accepting new members. There are no contracts and there is card key access. Membership includes classes in zzumba, pilates, yoga, body sculpting and transformation. Call 452-0762 or better yet stop by. Island Image Salon in Port A would like to welcome Melissa Parks. Her talents are many including cuts, perms, color, waxing and airbrush tanning. Melissa has several years of experience across three states. Call for your appointment at 749-4494. Keener & Associates Commercial and Residential Plumbing can take care of your leaks and clogs. John Keener is a
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Master Plumber with more than 20 years of experience. No job is too large or too small and he has very reasonable rates. John says “I don’t cut corners. I do things only one way. The right way!” He has numerous references upon request. Call 445-1411 and let him know you heard about him here. Bay Area Fellowship wishes everyone a “Wonderfully blessed Thanksgiving.” Their Sunday services are held at 8:30 am, 10 am and 11 am. The church is located on the Island behind Prosperity Bank.
Business Briefs
Home Video Studio in Port A is having a Holiday Open House Thursday, November 17th 4 pm - 8 pm. There will be wine, appetizers and Christmas cookies. Local artist will be there showing hand crafted jewelry and original art. For more info call 749-3200. Aunt Sissy’s Kitchen, first place winner of the People’s Choice Award at the Taste of the Island, is offering two choices for Thanksgiving. A complete turkey breast dinner for two for $26.95 and a complete turkey dinner for 6-8 for $79.95. Both include dessert. Call Joan by November 18th at 949-4848 to place your order. Scuttlebutt’s Bar & Grill will be hosting a kick-off party for the La Posada Boat Parade. There will be a Marines Toys for tots drive on Monday, November 28th starting at 3pm with the Marines arriving about 5pm. Bring an unwrapped toy for a needy child and get a raffle ticket. The restaurant will be donating a portion of the day’s proceeds to La Posada and the Marine Toys for Tots Foundation. La Palma Restaurant next to Ace Hardware on the Island will be opening soon. According to one of the hosts at their restaurant in the Bluff “It will be opening next week and if not, the week after.” The Taste of the Island People’s Choice Award winners were Aunt Sissy’s Kitchen first place, Doc’s Restaurant was the top full service restaurant, Scuttlebutts Bar & Grill came in third. Next were two Port A establishments Winton’s Island Candy and Kody’s Restaurant with their delicious wahoo dish. A record twenty-six restaurants participated and a record crowd of about 850 attended despite the weather. The Flats in Port A will be hosting the 6th Annual Big Jim Toy Run on Saturday, December 3rd. There will be a fish fry and you can order a plate for $6 or an unwrapped toy. Whataburger is opening a new location in Port A near the intersection of G Street and Hwy 361. It is scheduled to open February 4th at which time the present Whataburger there will close. It takes 45 days to build one of their restaurants. Dr. Mary Craft, Optometrist, that’s me, is experiencing her usual slower time of year. So if you were thinking about seeing me to help your seeing now is a good time to see me. Hope to see you soon! The office is at Sunrise Mall off Airline Road. Call 985-0985 for appointment or come in as a walk-in but call first to be sure I am OTB. The Tower Center shops in Port A on Hwy 361will be having a Black Friday sale including Beach Bum Antiques, A Mano, Felder Gallery and Coastal Closet.. Doc’s Seafood & Steak Restaurant won the 2nd Place People’s Choice Award at the Taste for its blackened tuna, calamari and shrimp dish which is a cold Asian style dish featured some days on their chalkboard. The restaurant is enjoying an upswing in popularity for one because of their seafood prepared with fresh local fish. General Manager Chris Veltri, former GM at Waterstreet Restaurant for 17 years, is part of the reason business increased 30% this past summer as is Chef Charles Jones. Come visit and see for yourself!
Port Aransas resident Charlie Zahn Jr. has been appointed to the Corpus Christi Port Commission. The Nueces County Commissioners’ Court voted today, Wednesday, Nov. 9, to make the appointment, according to Port Aransas City Manager Robert Bradshaw. Zahn is the first Port Aransas resident in memory to receive an appointment to the commission, observers said. Bradshaw said Zahn will be a good person to have in place to look after Port Aransas interests. Zahn was one of 10 people, including Port Aransas resident Betty Turner, seeking two seats that were coming open on the Port Commission. County commissioners re-appointed Richard Borchard to one of the seats. The board has seven members. The City of Corpus Christi fills three seats, the Nueces County Commissioners Court fills three and the San Patricio County Commissioners Court fills one. Turner is a real estate broker and a former mayor of Corpus Christi. Zahn is an attorney, former Port Aransas Independent School District Board of Trustees member and longtime chairman of the Port Aransas Parks and Recreation Board. Port commissioners set policy on how the Port of Corpus Christi is run. It’s the fifth-largest port in the nation, and all ships that go in and out of the port must pass through the Aransas Pass, between the north and south jetties in Port Aransas.
South Texas Grassroots Band Sundays 6:30-9:30
Padre Isles Country Club 14353 Commodores Drive Corpus Christi, Texas 78418 5:00 PM
November 30, 2011
Annual Enrollment Period Ends
Located in the Loma Alta Plaza 14254 SPID, Suite 109 949-4848
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By Dale Rankin
Island Moon
Stuff I heard on the Island Fujiyama Mama from Maud
We rolled out south through the foothills to the hamlet of Maud where the main drag is Wanda Jackson Way, named after the Queen of Rockabilly herself. Elvis Presley’s girlfriend who sang like she fell face down in the campfire and came up spitting flames. I drink a quart of sakey I guess it was The Earthquake what done it.
There I was sleeping soundly in the Oklahoma Hills when it come a-rumbling down from Tulsa way. Oklahoma Earthquake! Too much drilling in the ground had left chasms and the chasms had revolted.
Smoke some dynamite I chase it with tobaccy juice and then shoot out the light Cause I’m a Fujiyama Mama And I’m about to explode
It shook the pictures on the walls and the dinner in the dog’s belly. The pictures remained silent but Riley P. Dog came alive. It was his first earthquake in Oklahoma or anywhere else and he is not a fan. He barked to alert the sleeping and to ward off any more shaking of the ground where he had no control. It made for a restless dog night and the next morning he was up and waiting by the door with his bag of treats and his worn bandanna ready for travel.
No More - he’s decided that there’s also a fine line between being a poet and just being a drunk with a pen. His latest attempt was inspired by a visit to Mansfield. It’s called Come in Mama the Red Tide Got Me. I’m pretty sure that one will be selfpublished.
I never quite know if Robert Bob is being serious or not but I had to agree there was just something weird about earthquakes in Oklahoma. It was my second earthquake after a shaky few months in Japan some years ago but still somehow earthquakes and Oklahoma just don’t seem to go together so we hit the road.
“Then it goes on to say you must at least bury your garbage if you’re not going to burn it,” Robert Bob said. “So we just kept dumping ours out back in the “hole” that is St. Louis. When the city fined us we said hey, your ordinance says we can bury it or burn it. So we just tossed it in St. Louis which according to your press release is a hole.” This didn’t set well with the St. Louis meritocracy and since the town doesn’t have any garbage trucks burning was best solution so now on Saturday it looks like Downtown Baghdad as pillars of black smoke mark the arrival of Garbage Burning Day. It kind of looks like Dante’s Inferno only with more guns and a state lottery.
Any woman who can pull off those lyrics in the 1950s deserves to have a street named after her - if not the entire Maud Metropolis. My grandparents followed the oil boom here after the boll weevils roared through Arkansas like an Oklahoma Earthquake and lived on the wild and woolly street that was the the no-man’s land between the Seminole and Pottawatomie nations. The town is nearly dead now but the spirit of the Fujiyama Mama still lingers as you pass the combination Pool Hall and Day Care Center. I never kissed a chicken and I never kissed a goon But I can shake a chicken in the middle of the room The hole town’s a dump I was still wondering why Wanda would want to shake a chicken in the middle of the room - or even in the corner for that matter - as we stopped by to see Robert Bob’s brother-in-law in St. Louis. He has a big sign in his yard and a big motorcycle to go with it - or at least that’s what I think it is. It looks like some kind of motorized dinosaur and is really kind of scary. St. Louis has grown to more than 100 people if you believe the sign there. “Everyone knows who the busybody is,” Robert Bob said. “But we’re pretty sure we got more than one pyromaniac.” Robert Bob’s sister produced a press release on St. Louis letterhead that was a few years old that announced a new “free dumping” policy. For those not from Kentucky Free Dumping is a euphemism for taking your garbage out back and dumping it down the hill and leaving it there while
Heart of Darkness
It was dark by the time we got to Austin but the streets were packed. The students were out on Sixth Street and the locals were out on South Congress. There’s a lot of vertical living going on in our state capitol’s downtown. They’ve got highrise apartments and condos on just about every corner there now.
We headed south and drove past the WinStar Indian Casino; one of the largest in the U.S. with its parking lot packed full of Texas plates. The place is a quarter mile north of the Red and the sound of Texas gambling dollars being sucked into the Territories is palpable. Robert Bob says he doesn’t understand why the Indians get casinos and no one else does.
Then in San Antonio it is mostly revelers downtown with little in the way of locals until you get to the King William District just off of downtown. It is a bit discouraging to see what might have been when you drive down there. A hundred year-old, run-down neighborhood has been turned into a beautiful, hundred year old neighborhood in only a few years by two companies that started in Corpus Christi and moved to San Antonio. The entire area has been completely redone by the arrival of Whataburger and HEB.
“They’re not from here either,” he says. “They just got here first and we kicked ‘em out fair and square.”
It’s a shame we couldn’t keep them here to help reshape our downtown. But what’s done is done and it just wasn’t to be.
Bigger N Dallas
“Let’s get outta here,” he said. “Oklahoma is unstable.” So we left.
My friend Robert Bob over in St.Louis said the whole state has been out of whack ever since the Nutcracker Suite opened at the Boomer Theater up in Norman and all the men came out limping. Robert Bob has decided he’s giving up fishing for songwriting. His reasoning is that, “There’s a fine line between fishing and just sitting there looking stupid.” Can’t argue with that. But after several months of trying - I’d Rather Lone Her Out Than Let Her Go, My Upside Can’t Stand My Downside
it biodegrades or is hauled off by the coyotes or the neighbors. When Free Dumping was banned in St. Louis the press release from the city read: “We are banning Free Dumping for the betterment of St. Louis as a hole”.
November 16, 2011
had a regular Sunday gig down at the Sheltering Arms Church of the Nazarene. A non-paying gig he was quick to point out but they “took it out in trade.” They got a big sign out front where they write inspirational stuff and since it was just after Halloween the sign said “Got Jesus? It’s hell without Him” on one side and “The devil’s Trick is No Treat” on the other but as far as I could see it didn’t say anything about the Taildraggers. But I guess it was there sometime as Don Trodden seemed to set great store by the fact that he had his Name Up in Chalk. I guess it’s just a matter of lowering expectations.
In the words of the Meathead to Archie Bunker, I can’t argue with logic like that.
Maybe someday.
We crossed the Red which has surprisingly much water in it and stopped at the Texas Visitors Center to pick up a pamphlet telling us all about the annual Syrup Festival over in Henderson and all the other places we’ll never go. Makes you wonder if anyone really stops and picks up those pamphlets. I did though. I got a whole glove box full of them. I read a couple but I really got them because if you throw them on a beach fire with that slick paper and all that colored ink they make such pretty colors.
Real Estate Roundup
We hit Denton and headed down I-35 for Dallas. It’s impossible to tell where one starts and the other leaves off anymore. Dallas is so big these days it’s, well...Bigger’n Dallas. We stopped in Deep Elm which is the bohemian part of town right off the freeway. It’s a great place for lunch and shopping if you are just passing through. They let dogs in the stores there so Riley P. Dog got to go shopping. We made our way over to Ft. Worth and the stockyards. I couldn’t help but notice the difference between Big Ole Dallas Hair and Ft. Worth Hair. In Dallas the women look like Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders with their haired poofed out like a motorcycle helmet. In Fort Worth it’s big but it mostly hangs down to the side and doesn’t have as much hair spray. So I guess the ozone is better in Ft. Worth and the Ft. Worth hair is easier to prop a cowboy hat on top of. We stopped in at Booger Reds in the Stockman Hotel, where Bonnie and Clyde favored the corner room so they could keep an eye out, and ran into a singer who said he knew he’d made it to the top when he saw his Name Up in Chalk. Said his name was Don Trodden and the Taildraggers and they
By Mary Lou White As we start down the path to another Presidential Election, we are going to be hearing a lot about the “American Dream”. What is that exactly? One of the key components is home ownership. Most Americans probably do not realize how unique that is to our country and our culture. Our own home on our own piece of land with few use restrictions. At the moment, I am trying to help a young couple make that experience happen. Every day that I work on their file, I remember vividly the first home buying experience, in my own life. I had just turned 22 and had graduated from SMU seven months before. My husband was 25 and a Vietnam veteran. We both were working in Dallas and it was a beautiful Sunday in January 1971. We had been renting our apartment for a year and we decided to stop at an Open House. We arrived just as the agent was about to leave. He no doubt was grinding his teeth, at that point. It was an adorable two bedroom/one bath house above White Rock Lake and directly behind the old Bob-O-Links golf course. We asked the agent to write an offer for us and literally that was what he did. He even told us what price to offer ($19,000) and filled in every blank for us. We wanted a VA loan and I am sure that poor agent was thinking it was all a hopeless waste of his time. But, guess what…. we passed with flying colors, even though in those days, most lenders did not yet want to use the wife’s income as a means for qualifying, because women were assumed to be at home with the children. I know for a fact, our payment was $168/month and the loan paid off in 2001! It was mind boggling and almost impossible to comprehend that far into the future. We were transferred out of state within a year, but we kept that house as a rental for another seven years. We sold it in 1979 for $65,000. As of last week, it is assessed on the county tax records for $373,220. That IS the American Dream. Had we kept it, it would be free and clear and we would have a tidy retirement nest egg and it is still an adorable little house in a solid neighborhood. The Dream Remains In Tact For young couples today, it is still possible to achieve those goals, but the hurdles can seem just as daunting. We signed a one page contract and the contract in effect now is nine pages with four addendums attached to it. When the title company escrows a new contract, after all the negotiations are finished, it can easily be a half inch thick and we are just starting the file. We just finished reviewing our closed files, in my office, and many files are over three inches thick. So much for saving paper. Seven years is the legal requirement to hold these documents and memories are not reliable enough. Each page represents a responsibility to be performed by the buyer or seller. Deadlines are numerous and critical. Any variance must be addressed in an amendment signed by all the parties before a deadline is reached. I have spent three nights this week tracking down signatures until 9PM. With a huge smile, my lovely client said..”Do you work this hard for everyone, or do you just really like us?” The true answer was Yes and Yes. If I don’t do my job, they won’t be in their home and settled before he leaves on his fourth deployment overseas. In fact, this couple was referred to me, because their previous agent was never available to work on their behalf. The Reality of Legality
Patty brings a bright new smile to Michelle’s Salon. Patty, formerly of Sport Clips next to Lowes. Mention this ad and receive 25% off any chemical service and guys, you will receive a complimentary scalp massage on your first visit. If you are looking for a military cut or a super fade, Patty is your girl. As always, Walk-ins welcome
This is actually a common problem because for young couples, with limited resources, they need to look at lower priced properties. Lower prices generally translate into marginal properties. Marginal properties result in huge inspection reports and a long list of repairs that the seller and buyer are often not able to afford. In addition to the “property” obstacles, the buyers have a much harder time qualifying for their loan. VA loans are a perk for vets, but they come with many restrictions and guidelines. In our case, the longer processing time has thrown our whole contract into disarray and every day I get out my “cattle prod” to try and keep this “deal” from falling apart. How will the final chapter end? It is a mystery to me. I only know the fact remains that home ownership is a wonderful thing and needs to be protected by those of us who work in real estate, by those who write the laws, and also by those who leave on deployment to protect our homes. Being informed is a good thing.
Real Estate Ticker of the Fortnight 263 Island Residences for sale 139 attached homes for sale From $38,000 to $495,900 124 detached homes for sale From $122,500 to $1,429,000 49 detached homes not on water From $122,500 to $399,000 75 detached homes on a canal/water From $219,900 to $1,429,000 228 Island Lots and Land for sale From $13,000 to $1,200,000 64 parcels on a canal/water From $79,000 to $1,200,000.
November 16, 2011
American Sewing Guild, Corpus Christi Chapter
Port Aransas Style Neighborhood Group of the American Sewing Guild will meet on November 17 at Donna’s Sewing and Alterations. This group meets the third Thursday of each month. Please bring items for “Show and Tell” and share you technique. The program will be ribbon braiding. Bring one yard of 1/2” ribbon to learn this great way to embellish. Port Aransas Style Neighborhood Group has Community Service projects after each monthly meeting. Projects are bears for Afghanistan children distributed by our military troops, neck coolers for the troops, pillowcases for Ronald McDonald House, blankets for the Linus Project distributed to Driscoll Children’s Hospital and local police departments. Please save your sewing scraps for stuffing mats for an animal rescue, old rotary blades for a prosthetic school, and wine bottle corks go to the Linus Project for funds used for their program. ASG is a membership organization that welcomes sewing enthusiasts of all skill levels and from many different occupations. Chapters are located in cities all across the country and members meet monthly to learn new sewing skills, network with others who share an interest in sewing and participate in community service sewing projects. Membership in the Guild gives you an opportunity to experience your love of any type of home sewing with others who share your interest. If you have any questions, please contact Sue Bell at suesstuff5703@aol.com. Please join us at our meetings.
Island Moon
Art Center for the Islands Weekly Classes
First Tuesday-Portrait Drawing-Pat Donohue - 9:30Am-12:30 pm Cost:$15.00 non-members $13.50 Members Come, learn to draw portraits or improve your skills and have a great time! Bring your drawing supplies. Tuesdays~ Drop In And Draw Class~Pat Donohue ~ 9:30am—12:30pm –Cost:$15.00 nonmembers $13.50 Members Come, learn to draw or improve your skills. Join us any Tuesday and have a great time! Supply list is available at front desk. Thursdays~ Soft Pastels ~ Donna Garven ~ 9:30 am -12:30 pm-Cost: $15.00 non-members $13.50 Members.Get your set of Soft Pastels,(Michaels or Hobby Lobby has them at 14.95 ,you can buy the right paper from the instructor so you are ready to participate in this fun class! Thursdays~ Oil Painting ~ Donna Garven ~ 9:30 am -12:30 pm Cost: $15.00 Supply List available. She will teach the basics of Oil Painting and the use of Color. Subjects will be varied each week. Come join her and she will introduce you to the fun of Oil Painting and how to use soft pastels. The Basics in Oil, brush techniques, color washes, blending /mixing paint and use of a palette knife Starting Dec. 2nd-Fridays ~ Beginner/ Intermediate Watercolor Judith DeShong Hall 10 am-1 pm $ 25 if you just drop in or $80 for 4.Supply List will be available at front desk.Come learn to paint or improve your skills with this very talented instructor.
The Great Toilet Paper Roundup is Underway! Usually when we talk about a TP Drive in these parts it’s about Tony Parker driving to the basket for the San Antonio Spurs. But there’s a different kind of TP drive going on in Port A these days. It’s TP as in Toilet Paper drive. Len Griggs over at the Tarpon Ice House is heading up the Second Annual Toilet Paper Roundup after last year’s smashing success. The miles of TP end up at the Port A Food Pantry. It kicked off on November 16 and runs all the way through December 14. To contribute drop off your bag-o-TP at the Tarpon Ice House or the IGA. If you have TP related questions give Len a call at 230-3583 but just be aware, Len doesn’t suffer through bad TP jokes gladly. If you’re gonna call her with a TP joke it better be a good one.
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A9
News From Your By Maybeth Christensen
We had a terrific turnout of both artists and shoppers at the 2nd Annual Art Walk at Billish Park. It was a cloudy day, but everyone seemed to have a great time. Special thanks to the organizers Harold (Butch) and JoAnn Smith. They are wonderful volunteers who contribute to making the Island a better place.
Andrew By the Sea. This is always a fun event to see the excitement of the children as they tell Santa what they want for Christmas. Wednesday the 7th is Ice Cream with Santa and is also a book fair at Seashore Learning Center. Cookies with Santa at the Seashore Early Learning Academy is Thursday morning the 8th.
LaPosada ornaments
We are heading into the Judging for house decorating holidays and have received are available at various - both the canal side as well several calls about when as the street side is Monday, Island locations the LaPosada parades are December 5 and Tuesday, scheduled. LaPosada activities including the POA office. December 6. Let’s all get in kickoff with an event at the spirit and decorate for the Scuttlebutts on November 28. A portion of the Holidays. I’ve heard the Paradise limo service is sales go towards supporting all of the activities for planning some special tours on the Island to see the week. the lights and there may even be a charter boat for touring the canals. The lighted boat parade in the north channel is Friday, December 9. Boats start the parade at LaPosada ornaments are available at various about 6 PM. The parade for the south channel is Island locations including the POA office. Saturday, December 10. The artwork was picked from submissions by Remember to take along a Toy For Tots if you our talented Seashore Middle Academy students. plan to attend a party along the parade route. The They would be a great addition to your tree or send Marines will be collecting the toys from the houses them to friends who live elsewhere. along the routes. The Community Garden is starting to take shape. Breakfast with Santa hosted by the Padre Island We have a few plots left. Give me a call to get on Kiwanis Club is Saturday, December 3 at St the list - 949-7025.
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The Travelling Moon Gets Around
Island Moon
Happy 50th Wedding Anniversary!
Rumor Continued from A1 easements and the project moved out for bids.
Those are the facts: Schexnailder wanted to wait to build the road, the city wanted it done now. So against his wishes Schexnailder traded rights of way and the city is building the road. If it had been built later, when the area was developed, the typical way the city would do it is either for the city to build the road outright as part of a negotiated deal with the developer, or more likely, Schexnailder would have paid for the road and recouped his costs through tax breaks. That’s the way it’s usually done. Either way, the city would have paid for the road, either directly or indirectly. Schlitterbahn won’t come to The Island unless the city builds the water exchange bridge under SPID.
Cindy Montanio of Port Aransas and Ronnie Ward take The Moon along to Pikes Market in Seattle, Washington My name is Charles Loth and my wife and I own a sports Bar in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin but we’re Winter Texans at The Mayan Princess. I was given two play off tickets for the Brewer v/s St. Louis at Miller Park which I gave to my brother Dan who wanted to take his grandson to a game. I gave him The Moon to take with them. The topper was he caught Rosie Oliver “Accordion Rose” and Russell a foul ball which he gave to his grandson Cameron. Avrett off the ship in Progresso, Mexico.
This was addressed directly by Jeff Henry, whose family owns Schlitterbahn, at the recent PIBA luncheon. His answer was direct; they prefer the bridge be built but the park will be built either way. If people chose not to believe him that is their prerogative but that’s what the man said. It looks like a moot point anyway as the plans and funds for the bridge, also approved by voters citywide, is already in place. It’s time to put this one to bed folks. The lawsuit over Aquarius may be used to stop the building of the SPID Bridge.
November 16, 2011
This came up during Jeff Henry’s talk. This one is made up of whole cloth. In speaking to city engineers over the year, the one thing The Island has plenty of is sewer capacity. (Insert punch line here). The treatment plant, paid for by developers from private money, at the end of Whitecap was built to handle The Island when it is fully developed. It is evident in driving around The Island we still have a lot of undeveloped property so there is unused capacity at the plant.
A little perspective here folks: This is the sixth or seventh resort the Schlitterbahn people have built, doesn’t it make sense that sewer capacity is something they would think of? And even it if were lacking the city would require it to be expanded accordingly and the developer would be required by city rules to pay for it. This rumor is a second cousin to “there isn’t enough water to fill up the park.” These are engineering questions that will be addressed in due process. Even if The Island lacked the sewer capacity it still wouldn’t be an issue as it would have to be addressed before the park is built.
This one is a Red Herring. If you are against building a resort on The Island that is absolutely your right; but using bad information to base it on doesn’t do anyone any good. So that’s Rumor Control for this time. Send us along the one’s you hear and we’ll get to the bottom of them.
We won’t get into the legal twists and turns here but we can say this; the court ruling on Aquarius was very specific and limited in scope. It was applied only to unfinished projects in the 2004 bond issue. Whether it could expand in scope is strictly conjecture. The answer won’t be known until the Aquarius case is fully adjudicated. What can be said now is that, according to lawyers involved in the case, it won’t unless its scope is expanded, and if that happens every bond issue in every city in the state could be in play. The chances of that happening are miniscule.
Dale Rankin
The Island lacks the sewer capacity to handle the increased demands from a Schlitterbahn park.
The 2nd annual Padre Island Artwalk at Billish Park was a huge success.
PARADISE P LIMOUSINES Welcome to Luxury in Paradise! Now Providing Dinner runs and Club runs to Port A from The Island Call for additional information
$25
(361) 949-1161 (361) 877-LIMO (5466) www.ccparadiselimos.com
15201 S. Padre Island Dr. Ste 250 Corpus Christi, TX 78418
Wishing Your Family a Wonderfully Blessed Thanksgiving ! 15201 SPID Ste 200 (Behind Prosperity Bank) Join Us For Services: Sundays 8:30, 10:00 & 11:30a.m. www.bayareafellowship.com
November 16, 2011
Island Moon
Veterans Day Celebration in Port Aransas
Photos by Miles Merwin
Poor Man’s Shrimp Wild Caught in the Gulf of Mexico 5 lb Box 21/25 Count per lb. $40.00 1 lb. Bag 21/25 Count $9.00
Contact Christi Snodgrass 361-288-5538 Free Delivery on The Island
Upper left: A Flamingo preening at The Texas State Aqaurium. Upper Right: John Stevens and long time girlfriend Mitsy tie the knot on 11-11-11 at 11:11 a.m. at Mile marker 11 on the Port Aransas Beach. Lower Right: Longtime Islander and Beach Bum for Life Andre LaVoy tied the knot at 11:11 a.m. on 11/11/2011 at the Pelican Lounge. Congratulations to Andre and his lovely bride Glenda Photos by Ronnie Narmour
Member
On The Island
Padre Island Business Assoc.
Home Remodeling and More...
Duane Ebert Cell: (361) 658-2459 Bus: (361) 949-0661 28 Years Experience l Commercial & Residential
Available at both locations: 2810 Airline Road or 4441 South Alameda
E
MA
Australian Teas, Christmas Gifts, Design your own Gourmet Sandwiches Fresh Croissants Scones Cookies (Can be made to order) Fresh Farm Eggs COFFEE BAR Located inside Mail N More Matilda Blue Cafe Open M-F 8-4, Sat 9-12 Open from 8am Mon-Friday (Inside Isle Mail & More) Come in and enjoy a tea or breakfast 703-786-7255 lunch or coffee break. Dine-in or take14493 S.P.I.D, Ste A away, and you can always call ahead.
DA BLU TIL
Corpus Christi TX 78418
A 11
Island Moon
A 12
November 16, 2011
COLDWELL BANKER ISLAND, REALTORS 14945 S. Padre Island Dr., Corpus Christi, TX 78418
(361) 949‐7077 or (800) 580‐7077 www.cbir.com
ISLAND, REALTORS
13617 Port Royal Ct 2522 sq.ft, 3 bedrooms, 2.5 baths, 2 car garage plus an office. Great waterfront location $399,900. Call Charlie Knoll 443-2499.
14217 Cabo Blanco Dr. Gorgeous Mediterranean on 4 lots 3/2.5/3, 2078 sf. Courtyard, covered terrace & pool. Tile roof & more. $385,000. Ana 443-7771.
Rare find-canal-pool-dock-lift-tile roof-master down-2 large b/r + media rm & bath up. Two story l/r & f/p. $459,900. Mary Lou White 960-9460. 13522 Bullion.
3 BR—2 .5 bath townhome. Walk to beach & deeded boat slip. 2 car garage & pool. Everything you could want in one home. $274,900. 960-9460. Mary Lou White.
New one story by RT Bryant. This four bedroom home offers an open floor plan. Granite counters with a covered patio. Call Terry 549-7703.
Just Listed on 3 Fathoms Bank waterfront. 3-2.5-2 w/ multi purpose room. Pool. Wet bar. Screen patio. Freshly painted. Granite countertops. Cheryl 563-0444.
Situated on the Gulf of Mexico. 1/1 condo @ El Constante. Fully furnished. Pool, spa, coined laundry, picnic area by the beach. Beth 779-4943.
Nicely updated 3-2.5-2 waterfront 2 story. Wood floors down/carpet up. This home has a shaded backyard w/play area for kids. Boat lift. Cheryl. 13541 Camino De Plata.
14521 Cabana East 2 bedroom, 2 bath Carribean style bungalow w/on-site pool, no shared walls, yard and many builders upgrades. $134,900. Cindy 549-5557.
Customized house, superb canal location, up scaled kitchen w/ granite counters + bamboo flooring, plantation shutters, abundant amenities. Dorothy 563-8486.
Sale Pending!
East facing stucco. Completely remodeled. Spacious landscaped yard. Call Beth at 779-4943 for a list of amenities. $275,000.
222 Clarice 3 bedroom with study or 4th bedroom, large corner lot with rv/boat storage, covered porch, fireplace, FBISD. $109,900. Call Cindy Molnar 549-5557.
Sale Pending!
#619 Gulfstream-fully furnished –unobstructed view of Beach/ dunes-6th floor side unit closest to beach-short term rentals. Dorothy 563-8486. $229,900.
13802 Doubloon fingertip lot home with 165’ of bulkhead on a lake-like canal. 3 bedrooms, 2 baths with 985 sq.ft. 3 car garage. $550,000. Cindy 549-5557.
13710 Three Fathoms Bank 4 bedrooms, 3.5 bath home on main canal w/inground pool, large deck, basement, media room and more. $649,900 Cindy 549-5557
15601 Finistere 3/2/2 $179,900. Corner lot, great landscaping, covered patio, pergola, split floor plan, concrete floors, too many extras to list. Charlie Knoll 443-2499.
15517 Palmira builders personal home features split bedrooms, office, covered patio and a 1008 sq.ft. garage large enough for 3-4 vehicles. $149,900. Cindy.
13553 Ducat 3 bedroom, 2 baths, 2 living areas, 75’ of dock area, 2 car garage plus a 15’ x 43’ 2nd garage for RV/boat/cars $375,000. Call Cindy 549-5557.
14278 Bay Bean $174,900. 3 bedrooms, 2 baths, 2 car garage, 1663 sq.ft. open floor plan with nice covered patio. Really clean. Call Charlie Knoll 443-2499.
Awesome waterfront 3 bedrooms with 3 full baths. Stucco with tile roof. Two living areas. Large deck with pool and boat dock. $400,000. Terry Cox.
1st floor unit at Gulfstream condos! All tile flooring/granite countertops. Lrg heated pool/hot tub under construction. Close to Packery. 2/2 $220,000. Shonna.
15509 Cruiser 3 BR, 3.5 BA, waterfront townhome with covered boat lift, oversized 2 car garage. Room for RV. Priced to sell quick $189,900. Cindy Molnar 549-
Park View Condo. Nice 2/2 open plan w/oversized 2-car garage. Walk to boat launch. $105,000. 15438 Seamount Cay #106. Pam Morgan 361-215-8116.
New construction on Schooner by Seaquist Homes. Still time to choose colors. 3-2-2+ multi purpose room w/French doors. Near the park. Call Cheryl 563-0444.
14157 Coquina Bay over 2380 sq.ft. of perfection 4 bedrooms, 2 baths, rear entry to backyard for boat/RV storage, huge open living area. $259,900. Cindy
Sale Pending!
Well cared for one owner custom waterfront home located on large water. Master down. 33.5-2 + loft area. Formal dining. Morning sun. Call Cheryl 361563-0444.
13845 Jolly Roger attractive 4 sided brick home with elec. storm shutters, boat lift, 4 bedrooms, 2 dining areas, loft & more. $295,000. Cindy Molnar.
14945 S. Padre Island Dr. Corpus Christi, TX 78418 (361) 949‐2131 (877) 269‐2131
www.rentpadreisland.com Superior Service, Outstanding Reputation since 1999 Looking for Professional Long Term Property Management Services? Our services include: Tenant Qualifying Collections of Rents Coordinating Repairs & Maintenance Professional Itemized Monthly Statements Marketing/Advertising
Looking for Long Term Rental Property? Below are some of our available rentals:
14234 Natal Plum 3/2/2 $1400
1806 Hosea 3/2/2 $1600
15509 Cruiser #A 3/3/2 $1800
Leeward Cove B5 1/1.5 furnished $800
15002 Leeward #5204 2/2/1 $1050
15942 Punta Espada 3/2.5/2 $1700
13961 Ports O Call #B 3/2/1 $1300
Mystic Harbor one bedroom corner unit on water. Canal access. Tropical pool. Hot tub. Security entrance. Sold furnished. Call Cheryl 563-0444.
644 Pelican $239,900. 3/2/2 located in Port Aransas. 1312 sq.ft of living area, 1115 sq.ft. of garage space. Great location on quiet cul-de-sac. Call Charlie at
www.coldwellbanker.com