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361-949-7700 editor@islandmoon.com The Island Newspaper since 1996 Facebook : The Island Moon Newspaper
January 9, 2014
Next Publication Date: 1/16/2014
The Island where our cold fronts come in bunches
Around The Island
By Dale Rankin editor@islandmoon.com
The new year came roaring in like a lion with enough cool weather to make the most thick-blooded Winter Texan shiver. As for we Islanders we just hoard up on that five dollar Stripes firewood and wait it out.
Winter Texans Our Winter Texans have arrived on The Island. You can tell by the RVs towing cars and the packed parking lot outside Island Italian on Sunday nights. We did have our second Winter Texan Turnaround this week when a call came into the Word Factory asking about a business that we had never heard of. “Is that on North Padre or South Padre,” we asked. “What’s North Padre?” “That’s where you are.” “But it says South Padre Island Drive…” Then we went through the ritual of explaining that to get to South Padre Island from North Padre Island you have to go north on South Padre Island Drive. “Well, that’s just dumb,” she said. “Yes, ma’am. We get that a lot” So Winter Texans, welcome to North Padre Island. We have included some things for you to do in this issue and if you find some things you think other Winter Texans might enjoy let us know and we’ll get the word out. Frostbite Betty has elected to ride the winter out in Minnesota this year so we’ll need your help.
New website We are in the process of finishing our Island Moon website. Look for it to launch in the next few weeks. It will include a visitors section for information on things to do. In the meantime check theislandmoonnewspaper Facebook page.
Christmas trees This Saturday, January 11, between 9-3, you can drop off your Christmas tree at the POA office. You might want to get there early because there will likely be a treemendous line. We apologize for that. Say hello if you see us Around The Island.
Cold Weather Brings Stunning Results for Sea Turtles By Donna J. Shaver, Ph.D.
Facebook: The Island Moon Newspaper
Update on Island Projects
50 Million in New Island Projects
$
By Dale Rankin
Apartments, condos, hotels
Agreements are pending on new Island projects that will add more than $50 million to the Island tax base, according to information presented to the Island Strategic Action Committee this week. Developer Paul Schexnailder told the group Monday night that a contract is pending on a 200-unit, $25 million apartment complex on the east side of SPID on Lake Padre, as well as a 120 unit, $25 million condo development behind the Island House condominiums on the south end of the seawall. He also said a 150-room hotel is in development for the south end of the Schlitterbahn site, as well as a 150-room hotel adjacent to the building at the entrance to the waterpark (the former Padre Isles Country Club headquarters). He said another hotel is “being looked at” for the area adjacent to Lake Padre and Whitecap where a marina is planned.
Schlitterbahn update Schexnailder also told the group that plans for the former Country Club building now includes ten overnight-stay “treehouse” suites, a 270-foot by 28-foot outdoor patio, a second-flour exterior deck, two event rooms, a membership area on the fourth floor, and a large pool which can be drained and used as an amphitheater for special events with the water stored in on-site tanks and reused. When finished, the building will be more than 309,000 square-feet of contiguous space. He said work on the building is expected to be completed by March. Concrete work for the rides at the site is expected to take about one hundred days to complete and the park is on schedule to open by June 1, 2014. He also said the “Stonehenge” group of rocks now located in the lot at the corner of Compass and Commodores will be used as part of the landscaping for the parking lot that will be located there.
ATVs Also in it’s Monday meeting ISAC Chairwoman Gabi Hilpold appointed a five-member committee to make a recommendation to the group about what to recommend to the city council for the regulation and/or operation of All Terrain Projects continued on A6
From Boys to Men
Island Leadership Engages Young Cub Scouts
By Brent Rourk
Welcome Winter Texans!
This is Why You're Here
Chief, Division of Sea Turtle Science and Recovery, National Park Service, Padre Island National Seashore. Yesterday, the coldest air temperatures of the winter were recorded on the Texas coast, and more cold stunned turtles were found than during any other day this winter. We are still reconciling records, but currently estimate that 101 cold stunned turtles were found yesterday. Nearly all were located alive, in the Upper Laguna Madre. To date, an estimated 511 cold stunned turtles have been documented in Texas since this event began on November 25. All were green turtles except for one hawksbill and one loggerhead. Fortunately, 414 of the 511 were found alive and transported to rehabilitation. Many of Turtles continued on A3
Pack 949 Cub Scouts recently visited the local fire station on North Padre Island They go from boys to men so quickly. One moment rocking in your arms, to crawling to walking to the terrible twos. Then before you know it, they begin school, socialize with neighbors and find more people to influence and mold them besides you, their parents. Then the boys enter middle school (and find girls) and after a few awkward years they become even more independent as they enter high school, a platform for jumping into the real world. Who influences the young boys? Who besides parents mold young boys, train them, teach them, and prepare them for successful adulthood? Lots of people potentially hold that honor. Teachers, neighbors, extended family, coaches, and more all take a turn at interacting with young boys, molding them, offering them skills, truths, and tools for like. One of the those influences Scouts continued on A8
Winter Texan Round-up
Island Event Calendar Sex Please, We’re Sixty
A typical day in Frostbite Falls, Minnesota By Frostbite Betty frostbitebetty@gmail.com Welcome to another winter season on the sunny Gulf Coast and welcome to the 2014 edition of Frostbite Betty! In this column we will attempt to inform you on all things Winter Texan. Unfortunately, Frostbite Betty decided to stay up north this season… Bert, being a native Texan, had never had the experience of living in the far North during the winter and talked Betty into staying this year. And Betty, being the always accommodating sort that she is, went for it. Betty will be sending us updates from the frozen North all winter and the Island Moon staff will do their best to keep all you Winter Texans informed of all the great activities available around here (and there are many!). We want your feedback. Email Frostbite Betty continued on A11
The JELM night at the PACT theatre is January 11th at 7pm and we are having a wine and cheese reception at the theatre for our ticket holders to the play “Sex Please, We’re Sixty”. This reception is included with the $15 ticket price. You must purchase your tickets at the JELM and you can select your seats as well. In February, the JELM has the same deal for the play “Steel Magnolias” on Saturday, February 8th.
Bus Trip to Goliad Our first JELM trip of the year is the bus trip to Goliad on Saturday, January 11th leaving the JELM office at 8am. This trip costs $25 and your admission to the Shrines is included. Goliad has a wonderful market days in its picturesque town square. Vendors circle the gorgeous courthouse complete with a hangin’ tree in front. Several small restaurants and cafes line the square for a real Texas lunch. Roundup continued on A4
A little Island history
When the Iron Horse Came to the Wild Horse Desert
By Dale Rankin
A cold stunned turtle at the ARK with Amanda.
Year 17, Issue 507
At the turn of the twentieth century the area between Corpus Christi and the Rio Grande Valley was still a wide open place. Little had changed in the half century since General Zachary Taylor marched his army through the area during the U.S.-Mexico War with the major exception being the founding of the King Ranch in 1853. By the end of the Civil War the ranch had grown to 146,000 acres and was home to thousands of head of cattle which were one thousand miles from the nearest railhead that would connect them to eastern markets. Soldiers retuning from the war found thousands of wild Texas Longhorn cattle
grazing for the taking on the South Texas plains and the cowboys rounded them up and pushed them up the trails to market.
The Great Die Up By the onset of the 1900s barbed wire had ended the days of free ranging and cattle drives. Getting cattle to market was still hard but Robert Kleberg, then the manager of the King Ranch, had a bold plan. Kleberg had come to the attention of the ranch’s founder Richard King as opposing council at a trial in Corpus Christi and became King’s attorney and eventually his son-in-law when he married King’s youngest daughter Alice Gertrudis King in 1886, the year after King’s death. He proved an able leader and hit liquid gold when he drilled in a successful artesian well on the ranch in 1899 at the end of a decade- long drought so bad it was known as “The Great Die Up.” Now with ample water and stock what the ranch needed was a way to move cattle to market. What the History continued on A7
A 2
Island Moon
Send Travelling Moon Photos to editor@islandmoon.com
January
9,
2014
The Travelling Moon Gets Around
Island Creations Remodeling
Total Renovation & Remodels, Outdoor Kitchens & Spas, Additions, Kitchen & Bathroom Upgrades, Sunporches, Replacement of Windows and Doors, Roofing, Painting & Stucco
Landscaping
Design work, Yard Maintenance, Decks, Pergolas, Installation of Rock, Grass, Plants, Trees, Walkways, Paths, Tree Trimming, Container Planting, Vacant Lot Mowing & Shade Covers. All Kinds of Fencing, Pressure Washing & Deck Staining & Sealing
Insured Member, Padre Island Business Association Member, Builders Association, Corpus Christi
Concrete
Driveways, Patios, Sidewalks, Patio Overlays, Decorative Stamping & Staining, Decks, Bulkheads, Grouted Stone Walls & Patios, Decorative Stone Paver Driveways & Patios
960-0327
Owned & Operated by Island Residents David & Katherine Pierce References Available Upon Request Commercial & Residential
1900 STL
Moon Monkey flashes The Island Moon Newspaper along with a revolutionary socialist newspaper during a protest in Buenos Aires, Argentina in front of the pinkcolored Presidential Palace.
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Michelle Scott took the Moon traveling to Costa Rica.
Dolphin Rescue
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Hours of Operation 8 - 5:30 • Sat 10 - 4 10121 South Padre Island Drive
OK, here's what happened. My wife looked out of the back door, which faces the canal to the East. She said "look at those fireworks coming this way. How come they don't burst?" I told her that there were 5 of them and that they looked like helicopters. The more I looked, the more they looked like fireballs, kinda like what comes out of a roman candle, but larger and much higher in the sky, headed WSW. Luckily, I had my camera handy and I got this pic. I also got my large telephoto and got the 2nd pic. Somebody made some mini hot air balloons and set them a drift. I'll bet that's how UFO rumors get started. Ha ha. Enjoy, Carlos Hinojosa
Dolphin rescue on San Jose Photo by Rick Reichenbach
Bag hero of the month
Shelia Rogers Turns Trash into Art
RAY HERRERA DIRECTOR Public Relations Operations Marketing
PadreVet.com
361-949-8200
CHRISTI KRESSER VETERINARIAN
14802 Compass Dr. Corpus Christi, TX 78418
Thank You Islanders! For Voting Dr. Christi Kresser The Best Veterinarian In South Texas & The Coastal Bend Area
Voted The Best Of The Best Veterinarian 2006 - 2013 DIRECTOR’S JANUARY SPECIAL Day Board (7am-6pm) Includes Bath/Nail Trim $20
BRING THIS AD IN & RECEIVE 20% OFF On Any Service
BRING THIS AD IN & RECEIVE $25 Rebate + $20 OFF per Dr. Christi on 1 year supply of Trifexis
The Bag Hero Program is a campaign to educate and encourage the use of reusable shopping bags in the Coastal Bend. We recognize community members who set a positive example by bringing reusable bags when shopping for groceries or other goods. This month we’re proud to recognize one of our team members as our Bag Hero. Shelia Rogers has reached thousands of people through her thought provoking art made from plastic trash. Her exhibit was recently displayed at the Texas State Aquarium and will come to the Art Museum of South Texas this summer. Shelia hopes “to educate viewers about the dangers of plastic in our marine environment. I want to motivate them to advocate for a reduction of single-use plastic and make small lifestyle changes that reduce the amount of waste we are putting into our environment. Plastic pollution is a huge problem, but by changing our habits, we can create a cleaner and more sustainable world. Each one of us can make a difference.” You can bet that when Shelia goes to the store, she brings her own reusable bags. Partners in the Bag Hero Program include: Coastal Bend Surfrider Foundation, Skip the Plastic and the Coastal Bend Green Team. For more information visit http://skiptheplastic.org or call 361765-4445.
January 9, 2014
Moon Monkeys Mike Ellis, Founder
Island Moon
Turtles continued from A1
First Friday Prayer Breakfast The members of FIRST FRIDAY cordially invite you to attend an inter-faith Prayer Service to honor, remember and pray for friends and family members who have been touched by Breast Cancer. This service will take place on Friday, February 7, 2014, in the sanctuary of Corpus Christi’s First United Methodist Church, 900 South Shoreline Blvd. at 7:30 a.m. Local dignitaries and clergy will speak at the event. This year’s event theme is “Quilting” and breastcancer survivors will share their inspirational stories about “Piecing Our Lives Together After Breast Cancer.” A complimentary breakfast will immediately follow the service in the church Fellowship Hall.
Distribution Pete Alsop Island Delivery Coldwell Banker
Thank you to the National Park Service, ARK, Sea Turtle, Inc., NOAA-Fisheries, Texas Sea Life Center, Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, Sea World San Antonio, Texas Master Naturalists, Gladys Porter Zoo, University of Texas, other organizations, and private citizens for their help to find, document, and/or rehabilitate cold stunned turtles on the Texas coast this year.
Classifieds Design/Layout Jeff Craft Contributing Writers Joey Farah Devorah Fox Mary Craft
Clarence is a (3) three year old neutered male. He was found on the Texas A&M grounds mixed in with the feral cat population. Clarence was dumped there; or made his way there via the student housing. Clarence is not a feral cat and has suffered some injuries due to his time left with the feral cat population. All of his injuries have been treated and shots are pending.
Maybeth Christiansen Jay Gardner Todd Hunter Dotson Lewis Ronnie Narmour Brent Rourk Dr. Donna Shaver Photographers Miles Merwin Jeff Dolan Mary Craft Office Security/Spillage Control
Business Briefs
Clarence is a very easy going and a sweet cat with bluey/green eyes. He prefers to be inside, likes to be close to people, litter box trained, likes slower moving dogs, and anybody who will give him attention. He has a high pitched voice he uses to greet you and let you know when he is hungry. He loves television, music, and fine art. He has a small frame, and beautiful tricolored coat complete with an orange mustache and a thick raccoon style tail. He really is a low maintenance type of guy; what a dream!
Christmas Tree Drop Off will be at the Padre Island Homeowners Association office on Fortuna Bay on Saturday, January 11th 9 am – 3 pm. Meet the candidates running for the two POA Board positions at the Seashore Learning Center Gym on Encantada Tuesday, January 14th 7 pm – 8 pm.
Free Lecture Series Kicks Off January 10 Riley P. Dog Editor/Publisher/Spillage Control Supervisor Dale Rankin About the Island Moon
The Island Moon is published every Thursday, Dale Rankin, Editor / Publisher. 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. News articles, photos, display ads, classified ads, payments, etc. may be left at the Moon Office.
The Island Moon Newspaper 15201 S. Padre Island Drive, Suite 250 Corpus Christi, TX 78418 361-949-7700 editor@islandmoon.com Facebook: The Island Moon Newspaper
Where to Find The Island Moon
Doc’s Restaurant
Spanky’sLiquor IGA Grocery Store Port A Business Center Carter Pharmacy
Snoopy’s Pier Island Italian Ace Hardware Holiday Inn Texas Star (Shell) Jesse’s Liquor Padre Isles Country Club
Wash Board Laundry Mat
Subway
Chamber of Commerce Duckworth Antiques Back Porch Woody’s Sports Center Shorty’s Place The Flat’s Lounge Giggity’s Stripes @ Cotter & Station
Get out on a week night for two hours of fun – a great way to break the monotony of week nights at home. Try your luck at guessing one of the jokes and riddles. Meet new people. Kiwanis organizers invite folks from Port Aransas, Flour Bluff and North Padre Island.
Isle Mail N More
San Juan’s Taqueria
Public Library
BINGO revelers can expect to see cash prizes, door prizes, and loads of fun during the evening. Games begin at 7:00 PM and food and drink will be available for purchase both before and during BINGO. Kiwanis officials recommend that BINGO fans bring their family, neighbors and friends to BINGO.
CVS
Scuttlebutt’s Restaurant
Port A Parks and Rec
Back by popular demand and organized by the Padre Island Kiwanis Club and cosponsored by a host of island businesses, BINGO is returning to North Padre Island. The Kiwanis Club is planning six consecutive Thursday evenings of BINGO beginning on January 23rd at the Holiday Inn.
Get Out On Thursday Evenings For Fun
North Padre
Felder Gallery
Moby Dicks
By Brent Rourk
They will be presented every Friday at noon, from January 10th through March 7th. At the Bay Education Center located at 121 Seabreeze Dr. Rockport, TX 78382
B-I-N-G-O Returning to the Island
Tarpon Ice House
Whataburger
Coffee Waves
The new year brings a new opportunity to learn about estuary and marine environments, from the scientists who study them. The 2014 Bay Talks series begins next week at the Bay Education Center in Rockport. Bay Talks allow visitors to interact with and learn from scientists and educators, as they share their knowledge of estuarine, coastal, and marine environments.
The Gaff
Amano
We now have Gluten Free Pizza!
Island Tire And all Moon retail advertisers WB Liquor
LIVE MUSIC
Flour Bluff H.E.B.
South Texas Grassroots Bluegrass Band Starting Nov. 24th 6-9pm
♥ Reservations Recommended ♥
Lunch Specials
Liquid Town Whataburger on Waldron
Monday
Unlimited Spaghetti Salad
6.50
9 inch Sub for 6 inch Price Pasta Menu Full Order for 1/2 order price Salad with a 6-inch Sandwich & Drink
6.50
Ethyl Everly Senior Center
Tuesday Wednesday Thursday
Fire Station
Friday
Unlimited Dinner Salad
5.99
Gratitude Gift Shop
Police Station
Keepers Pier House
Stripes on Flour Bluff & SPID
Meet the Republican Candidates for County Commissioner on Monday, January 20th 6 pm – 9 pm at Mikel May’s at Bob Hall Pier. The event was organized by PIBA board member John White and is open to the public. There will be wine and hors d’oeuvres. The Padre Island Animal Hospital has a January day board special 7 am – 6 pm that includes bath and nail trim for $20. Check out their ad this issue for 20% off any service. Call 949-8200 for an appointment.
Wild Horse Saloon
All Stripes Stores
Coast Club
From oil slicks to Mississippi River nitrogen
Port A Glass Studio
Miss K’s Catering & Bistro
Island Woman Boutique
Bay Area Fellowship has a New Year – New You series Sundays January 12th – February 2nd. You will learn that now is the time to start reaching your full potential. Join Pastor Bil Cornelius at 8:30 am, 10.00 am or 11:30 am.
Snoopy’s has kicked off their traditional oysters on the half shell season. They will be served every Friday and Satuday 5 pm until they are gone for $6.50/dozen. Check out their daily lunch specials 11 am – 2 pm.
If you can give Clarence a forever home please contact John or Karen at 361-877-8521.
Pioneer RV Park
New Advertisers
Updated Waterfront House For Sale with three bedroom, two baths and a large sun room. There is a new roof and both a boat ramp and lift. It has granite counter tops and stainless steel appliances. Call 816-0663 for a private showing.
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Stripes @ Beach Access Rd. 1A
mkay512@aol.com
6th Annual Surf-n-Turf Race presented by Padre Island Baptist Church will start at the Briscoe Pavilion Saturday, January 25th. There will be a half marathon race, 10 K race, 5 K race and 5 K walk. Register online at rrptiming.com.
Arlene Ritley
Lisabella’s Restaurant
by Mary Craft
Ace Hardware on the Island is looking for a full time sales associate. A background in construction, home repair and/or boat maintenance is required. It is a 40 hour/ week position and includes health insurance benefits.
Patrick Kelliher
Port Aransas
A3
Did Ya Hear?
those rescued during November and December have already been released into warmer Gulf of Mexico waters. Most of the turtles that are currently undergoing rehabilitation are at the ARK and Sea Turtle, Inc. However, a few are at NOAA-Fisheries Galveston Laboratory, Texas Sea Life Center, and Gladys Porter Zoo.
Clarence
Advertising Jan Park Rankin
Hours: Mon- Thurs 11 AM - 9:30 PM Fri - Sat 11 AM - 10 PM Sun 5-9:30 PM 15370 SPID (Just south of Whitecap) 949-7737
6.50
A 4
Island Moon
January 9, 2014
Winter Texan Roundup continued from A1 Gaff Cribbage Tournament The Gaff Winter Cribbage Tournaments are starting up again on Monday nights. Play starts at 6 PM so get there a little early to sign up. $5 entry fee is all it takes to get you in to a fun night of cards. 100% payout each night plus a chance to win a Gaff pizza for the highest hand. The Gaff is located at 323 Beach Street in Port A.
& creative! Paint the Lighthouse- one step at a time. Trace patterns & paint in simple steps guided by an artist. The Art Center provides all materials. 16X20 canvas, brushes, paint & wine glasses. So Sign Up & Pay in advance!
If We Had No Moon (50 min)
Public Lecture Series
What would life be like without the moon? Chances are there would be no life at all. Life, if it had started, would still be in the earliest stages of evolution. Imagine a moonless weather report with blizzards over the Sahara, floodwaters swallowing the Pyramids and 90-degree temperatures in Antarctica. As the Earth wobbles on its axis, unsecured by the moon’s gravitational pull, the polar caps would grow and recede at breathtaking rates. Without the moon, our planet would spin much faster causing four hour days and searing temperatures.
Thursday, January 9, 2014, 7:00 p.m. Dr. Craig Tweedie, The University of Texas at El Paso, The Carbon Bomb is Ticking: Why Climate Change in the Arctic is so Important
FIRST TUESDAY-PORTRAIT DRAWING-PAT DONOHUE - 9:30am12:30pmCost:$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.
Climate change is impacting the Arctic more so than anywhere else on Earth – especially coastal landscapes. This small land area contains a disproportionately large amount of soil carbon, which exists in a frozen state within permafrost. At present, this carbon is greenhouse-inert but if permafrost thaws, this carbon has the potential to be emitted to the atmosphere as a greenhouse gas, which is likely to cause further warming of the Arctic and the rest of the globe. This presentation will highlight findings from recent research conducted in remote areas of northern Alaska, Russia, and the Canadian high Arctic, which investigated both the controls of landatmosphere carbon uptake and loss, and how landscape change over the past half century is likely to have altered the carbon balance of these landscapes. For more information call: 361-749-6805.
THURSDAYS~ STARTING JAN,9th THROUGH FEB. 27th ~SOFT PASTELSDONNA GARVEN ~ 9:30 am -12:30 pmCost: $15.00 non-members $13.50 Members. Get your set of Soft Pastels & you can buy the paper from the instructor so you are ready to participate in this fun class! You may also work in Oil Painting if you wish. THURSDAYS~ RESUME IN MARCH~ SOFT PASTELS-NANCY THYRE ~ 9:30 am -12:30 pm-Cost: $15.00 non-members $13.50 Member .bring your soft pastels, if you don’t have any you can use the Art Center’s or consult Nancy about what kind to purchase and also about paper. FRIDAYS -STARTING JANUARY 17th BEGINNING / INTERMEDIATE WATERCOLOR -KAY BARNEBEY, 10am1pm Cost: $25 for one or 4 for $80 Come, learn to paint or advance your painting skills with this great instructor Supply List available, Art Center also has paints. Port Aransas Art Center Workshops PAINTING CLOSE –FOCUS FLORALSDEBBIE CANNATELLA 2 Day WorkshopJanuary 10&11 Fri.& Sat. Time:10am-4pm (with lunch break) Cost: $150 includes both days Pre-pay by January 6th minimum 4 She will furnish drawing compositions class will paint together as well as demonstrations & individual attention. All Painting Levels welcome but you must be familiar with Watercolors. Supply List available. NORMA GAFFORD-MIXED METAL JEWELRY MAKING WORKSHOPS Wednesday January 29th Time: 10-5 Cost:$45 Instruction +$25 Supply Fee- pre-pay by Jan.22 Also held on Saturday Feb. 15th Pre-pay by 2/10 The word jewelry is derived from the Latin word ‘jocale’ meaning plaything. Come learn to work/play with copper, brass, bronze, aluminum, & silver, & to create your own unique jewelry. Learn basic skills in wire and sheet metal: wire findings, bead wrap, links, closures, plus basic texturing and stamping. EASY COIL BASKETS JUDITH DESHONG HALL WORKSHOP Dates: January 13 & 15 Time:2-4 pm COST:$50 includes both Pre-pay by January10 Create wonderful baskets using the coil method. Various twine & yarns allow for great variety of looks. This method easily converts to non-traditional shapes Session 1 – Basket-how-to: Beginnings and Endings Session 2 – Review of Basics plus Variations & Embellishments min.3 students. Supply List available JANE GILLETTE- “Find Your Voice”Watercolor & all other Painting Mediums Two Day Workshop January 20 & 27 Time:9:30am4pm w/lunch break) Cost: $130 includes both days Pre-pay by Jan. 14 Workshop includes instruction about composition, planning a painting & executing it using color & value. Bring your supplies for your favorite medium or the A/C can help out if you did not bring any. WINE WHINE & DESIGN-January 19th 5-8pm Instructor-Arlene Hughes /Paint the Lighthouse! Cost: $40 Donation to the Art Center’s Land/ Building Fund BYOB & Snacks We provide the rest. Stress free, fun
Thursday - 3 p.m.
U.T. Marine Science Institute
Port Aransas Art Center Alister @ Roberts Street Weekly Classes & Workshops
TUESDAYS~ DROP IN AND DRAW CLASS~PAT DONOHUE ~ 9:30am— 12:30pm –Cost:$15.00 non-members $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. No Class FEB. 11th Due to Guy Morrow Workshop
newborn calf traveling thousands of miles in search of food, Shallow Seas explores the rarely seen sights of the world’s mighty oceans.
Thursday, January 16, 2014, 7:00 p.m. Tony Amos, “Fifty Years of Measuring the Ocean: A Career in Plumbing the Depths” In 1963, Tony Amos made a career change from electronics to oceanography, ultimately being able to combine the two. In the ensuing years he’s sailed on thirty research vessels, some several times over, in all the world’s oceans and several of it’s seas. Although his seagoing adventures are now limited to short trips on small boats in local waters, he still measures the ocean looking at long-term trends and climate change. The talk uses Tony’s films, videos, and photos, recounting scientific discoveries from several of these cruises and adventures working in the roughest seas to glassy calm conditions in icy cold to unbearably hot waters, using classically simple to complex electronic instruments.
Thursday, January 23, 2014, 7:00 p.m. Dr. Nathan McTigue, “Perspectives on the Arctic Ocean: From Microscopic Food Sources to Polar Bears” The Arctic Ocean has experienced substantial changes in sea ice extent that directly impact the diverse ecosystem, including all organisms from microscopic plankton to the many invertebrates that inhabit the seafloor as well as marine animals like walrus and polar bears. In September 2012, arctic sea ice reached record low levels after early and rapid retreat toward the North Pole. One major concern regarding the earlier onset of seasonal sea ice retreat involves the premature growth and sinking of microscopic algae (phytoplankton and ice algae) that form along the ice edge. We will consider how these microscopic food sources support the entire food web in the Alaskan Chukchi Sea and how alterations in sea ice can affect the entire ecosystem.
Thursday, January 30, 2014, 7:00 p.m. John Metz, National Weather Service, “Winter Weather 101” Meteorologist John Metz, a native from Wisconsin, will discuss how snow, sleet, and freezing rains forms, the weather patterns which trigger cold outbreaks and winter precipitation across south Texas and the history of these outbreaks dating back to 1887. John Metz is the Warning Coordination Meterologist at the National Weather Service (NWS) in Corpus Christi, Texas. John organizes weather preparedness activities, and leads a team of meteorologists who help train severe storm spotters throughout the offices 15 county area of responsibility. He works closely with the media, emergency managers, and other state, county, and local government officials, to ensure that South Texas communities are ready when Hurricanes, Floods, and other hazardous weather threatens.
U.T. Marine Science Institute Free Movie Schedule January 6 - 15, 2014, Monday- 3 p.m. Shark Week: American Shark (45 min) If you want to find some of the world’s biggest, fastest, scariest and weirdest sharks, you can find them in American waters. Take a journey to the country’s best shark hot-spot from Maine to Alaska and spend time with the people who have barely escaped fatal shark encounters.
Tuesday - 3 p.m. Volcanoes of the Deep Sea (45 min) Venture with a team of scientists 12000 feet below the surface to an incredible word teeming with life.
Wednesday - 3 p.m. Planet Earth: Shallow Seas (60 min) Dive into the planet’s shallow waters where sunlight reaches the seabed and find an explosion of life. From the rarely seen cooperation between snakes and fish hunting for food to the journey of a humpback whale and her
NO MOVIES ON FRIDAY Movies may be cancelled/substituted without notice Movie listing also available by calling: (361) 749-6729 – Option #1 Port A Parks and Recreation Department Community Program Coordinator Pam Greene pamg@ cityofportaransas.org, 361-749-4158
Family Dance Nights The public will get a two-fer in January and February – that is twice the fun these months. The City of Port Aransas Parks and Recreation Department will have two dance nights instead of the usual one. Pull on your boots or get out your dancing shoes tonight, Thursday, Jan. 9, and again on Thursday, Jan. 30. We are heading inside to the Community Center, 408 N. Alister St., for the two months. Free fun for everyone includes dance instruction and then just plain dancing. Lessons begin at 6:30 pm. From 7:15 to 8:30 pm, the dance floor will be open for all dancers. Local DJ Ken Yarbrough will work the music and we sometimes have artists who will play live. Parks and Recreation will offer cookies and lemonade, but the public is welcome to bring their own refreshments.
Catamaran Cruises A few spaces are available on Cat Cruises sponsored by the Port Aransas Parks and Recreation Department. The department is offering two tours each day on Mondays, Jan. 13: 10am-noon, 12-2pm, or Feb. 17: 10amnoon, 12-2pm. Fee is $15 per person. Enjoy sailing aboard the S/V Isla with Captain Tom Doran of Handsome Yacht Charters. Preregistration is required due to limited space aboard the boat. The trips will depart from Woody’s Sport Center at 136 W. Cotter St.
We’re Having Fun Activities Held each Tuesday at 2 pm at the Girl Scout hut inside the Parks and Recreation building, 739 W. Ave. A, on corner of Cut Off Road. All activities are FREE with supplies provided unless otherwise stated. This program is where participants learn how to or not to, make or do something. A happy time whether it works or not; we always have fun. The WHF series is open to all with fairly simple events. Jan. 14 – Mustache Bottle Markers. Jan. 21 – Fish Prints. Jan. 28 – Art Deco Earrings.
Winter Walking Tours Mission-Aransas Reserve continues to partner with Port Aransas Parks and Recreation Department for one-hour, 2-mile nature walks in the Nature Preserve at Charlie’s Pasture this winter. Winter Evening Walks are Wednesdays at 5pm on Jan. 15, 22, 29. Meet at the covered picnic table in Phase II of Preserve, south of Sharkey’s on Hwy. 361. Winter Walks are held Saturdays, Jan. 11, 18, 25, at 10am. Meet at the pavilion in Phase I of Preserve at end of Port Street. Bring binoculars, camera and water. Wear walking shoes, sunscreen, mosquito spray and dress in layers. Walks are free.
Brown Bag Lecture Series The series will be held on Thursdays at 12 Noon this year, at the Community Center, 408 N. Alister St. Doors open at 11:30 with Marion Fersing entertaining on the piano. Bring a lunch and learn about different topics from people in the know. Today, Jan. 9, hear Devorah Fox: “Under Cover Work” -- Writing and Publishing Myths and Realities. This author will make a presentation from her experiences writing books. Jan. 16: Dr. Steve Canion: Using iphone for treating back and necks. Jan. 30: Chip Cooper: The True and Embellished Story of Ebenezer Scrooge – acted out in costume. Free, open to all!
Island Fishing Workshop Learn how to cast a net at the next two Island Fishing Workshops. They are scheduled for 1pm, on Fridays, Jan. 10 and Jan. 24, at the Port Aransas Community Park Pool. It is located at 700 Clark Pkwy, off Ross Avenue. Parks and Recreation Grounds Supervisor Mike McClure will give instruction. Cost is FREE, and participants must use nets provided.
Yoga on the Beach Grab a mat, blanket or towel and head for the beach to exercise. Nancy Myers will conduct a session Saturday, Jan. 11, starting at 8 am, next to Horace Caldwell Pier at end of Beach St. This event is held the second Saturday of each month, courtesy of the City of Port Aransas Parks and Recreation Department. FREE, open to all! Be on time, as Nancy will take attendees to an inside location if the weather is bad.
Winter Sounds On Monday, Jan. 13, at 7 pm, David Reichenbacher will perform for the first concert in this year’s series. The concert is free. Refreshments, beer and wine will be available for purchase from PACT. This Parks and Recreation Department collaboration with the Port Aransas Community Theatre will be held at the theater, 2327 Hwy. 361. Seating is limited, so come on time to get a chair. David Reichenbacher fell in love with the Coastal Bend in 2004 when his band, August Sky, had a performance in the Sunset Sounds Concert Series in Port Aransas. Last year he and his wife, Patricia White, who was the lead singer in August Sky, moved to Corpus Christi from
Philadelphia and David has been settling in to the music world here, singing as a solo performer with guitar and harmonica. His sound is similar to James Taylor, Cat Stevens, Donovan, with a little Beatles, Neil Young and Bruce Springsteen garnish. David has performed monthly for the Art Walk in Corpus Christi since moving to South Texas, as well as at area restaurants, art galleries and museums. His two CD’s with August Sky have received air time on public radio in Philadelphia, where he also played in two rock bands for several years. His heart, however, lies as a solo performer with his folk and blues roots, and he will play several original songs at this Winter Sounds concert on January 13th.
Pastime Matinee Fill your afternoon with mystery at the next Pastime Matinee on Wednesday, Jan. 15, at 2 pm. The Pastime Matinee will be at the Port Aransas Community Theatre, 2327 Hwy 361. Admittance is free. Popcorn, snacks and drinks will be available from PACT. ‘Nancy Drew, Reporter’, a mystery (1939) starring Bonita Granville, Frankie Thomas and John Litel, will be shown. “Nancy Drew is the daughter of prominent attorney Carsen Drew, and she has a few things she can teach him about the justice system. When a local paper sponsors a contest asking for story submissions from school children, Nancy takes it very seriously. She decides to report on the inquest of the death a woman who was poisoned. Believing the young woman accused of the murder to be innocent, Nancy enlists the help of her neighbor Ted and together they expose the identity of the real killer.”
Health Fair The 4th Annual Health Fair, now solely sponsored by the City of Port Aransas Parks and Recreation Department, will be held Saturday, Jan. 18. Formerly co-sponsored by Keep Port Aransas Beautiful, it is now another Parks and Recreation H.E.L.P. (Health/Ecology/Lifestyle/ Preparation) Activity. Health professionals will be on hand with information on traditional and nontraditional health services available in the Coastal Bend at the Community Center, 408 N. Alister St. From 9 to 11 a.m., vendors from various health related fields will be handing out information and talking to people. While the professionals only will be there for two hours, the Coastal Bend Bloodmobile will be onsite 8 a.m. - noon for donors to donate and help others. Medical devices such as usable walkers, wheelchairs, crutches, canes, etc., will be accepted for the City of Port Aransas to donate to those who can’t afford to purchase these items. Plastic pill bottles also will be recycled and old medications disposed of properly.
The JELM Joint Effort Leisure Ministries Community Presbyterian Church 129 South Alister, Port Aransas, TX 361-749-5319
Lecture Series We have a lecture series on Tuesdays at noon in the Pollock Center. All are invited to bring in their sack lunch and listen to an informative lecture. On Tuesday, January 14th, Dr. Steve Canion, our local chiropractor and acupuncturist will talk on “Using Your Smart Phone as a Medical Device”. If you bring in your Smart Phone, Dr. Steve will give you a free download to relieve lower back pain. We have a different speaker every week in January, February and the beginning of March.
Zentangle Class A free class teaching ZENTANGLE will be held on Tuesday, January 14th at 10am in the JELM hospitality room. Andrea Oestman and Diana Vondra will be the instructors and they will supply the materials. The finished product will be a snappy card of your making. The Two Sisters have returned this year, from Minnesota, with a full schedule of arts ‘n crafts for Thursday afternoons at 1pm in the JELM hospitality room. We have a list of their offerings at the JELM greeter’s station at 129 S. Alister in the Community Presbyterian Church complex. We are the second door facing the Jerry McDonald Baseball Field. We have ample parking for everyone.
Golden Oldies Golden Oldies is our open mike jam sessions held on Tuesday and Friday evenings starting at 6pm. Carl Erwin is in charge. If you want to do a number come a little early and sign up. There is seating for 150 persons and we invite the public to attend. Carl has a group of back-up musicians who can play almost any tune. There are refreshments at the break and we ask for free will donations. Carl also has arranged for the Goldwing Express to do two concerts here in February and tickets are on sale now for those for $8 each. The Goldwing boys are a family group from Branson who have appeared in the Pollock Center for the last two years. They do an array of bluegrass, country and old favorites.
Ethel Eyerly Senior Center After being closed for about eight months for renovation, the Ethel Community Center (must have been renamed) in Flour Bluff is open and will resume daily activities soon. The meal service resumed Wednesday, December 18th. Please call by noon the day before to make your lunch reservations. As soon as the new daily activities schedule is available, it will be published in The Island Moon. The center’s phone number and address are shown below.
ETHEL EYERLY COMMUNITY CENTER NUTRITIOUS MEALS SERVED For Persons Age 60 and Over AT 11:30 A.M. ($1.50 SUGGESTED MEAL DONATION)
January 9, 2014
Island Moon
A5
Backwater Adventures Drum Runner
On the Rocks By Jay Gardner The weather has been brutal but that hasn’t stopped the drones from flying. My buddy Topdog over in the ‘Bluff reports that there was drone cruising around his section of the world for a few hours the other night. Seems it was flying transects likely taking recon photos, although I’m sure it got some interesting pictures. Topdog helped make the sorting of all those photos more interesting with a variety of “salutes” as the drone would go by. It’s a matter of time before someone gets the bright idea to take a pot-shot at one.
Got Droned I got “droned” on the seashore last spring. I was coming off the beach after dark by myself, and somewhere in the 30’s I found myself in a Close Encounter of the Nerd Kind. I suddenly saw a faint light surrounding my truck, flashing very dimly but in a distinct pattern. It kept up with me for a few seconds then it was gone. The light was broken up into grids all around, exactly like the grids on an LED light (don’t look at it when it’s on! But look at an LED light closely when it’s turned off, and you’ll see what I mean). It was fairly obvious, and I would have figured they would have infrared cameras on those things. But then again, maybe they wanted to buzz my tower and see how I reacted. I just kept going. Have fun with your toys, boys.
Trout limit
By Joey Farah One scoping session that you will be able to make is the Recreational Angler Participation (RAP) session that will be held at the UTMSI- Port Aransas Conference Center on Monday, January 13th. Gulf Council will have representatives there to listen to concerns regarding federal fisheries management, and if anyone has any potential solutions. This won’t be your typical scoping meeting; it will be very informal with an open-ended discussion. If you have any issues with the way the Feds are managing our Federal fisheries (i.e. red snapper) then this is your chances to make your voice heard. If you can’t make it email our
Trout released chum Emily at Emily.muehlstein@gulfcouncil. org Meeting starts at 6pm and I’ll be there as well.
Beach access There are several other issues concerning beach access and usage coming to the forefront. ATV enthusiasts got a boost from the State when legislators allowed ATV usage on the beach, where it had been previously banned. Some local groups are lobbying to get an ATV section of the beach somewhere that they can ride legally. There are of course issues regarding potential dune vegetation destruction, excessive speeds, and user conflicts to be sorted out. I wish them luck in their efforts, although I feel it will be a long uphill battle.
By the time this comes out there will have been a scoping meeting regarding the lowering of the trout limit either regionally or statewide from a 10-bag limit to a 5-bag limit, as well Thursday, 2014 as extending January the flounder 9, gigging moratorium ON likely from mid-October until mid-December. Dish Thursday, January 9, 2014 I don’t think the TPWD data is going to show that there is need for a trout reduction, however 694-9220 ISD I’m sure the room will be divided and the issue sna hotly694-9220 contested. The flounder issue may carry Well loyal readers, hopefully by the time this though,need which would put even more pressure would this ad placed in a box. Thanks! comes out Old Manblm Winter will give us a slight on commercial flounder giggers, but may help reprieve from these brutal conditions. Last time increase futureneed generations our placed favorite flatso, would thisofad in athebox. blm weatherThanks! broke the fish were biting really fish by allowing them to escape to the Gulf to well on the King Ranch Shoreline, and even spawn. I’ll give you loyal readers an update next I managed to get out and luck into a few fish. edition how it all fell out. We’ll see you out there on the water.
Farah’s Fishing Adventures In both nature and our lives there is a need for the brutal chill of winter to bring us to the points of survival. In our lives it may be stress due to finances, family, and most often relationships. In these times the waters of the ocean link us directly to our faith and our own soul. In nature, winters wrath comes to zero out her rotation of life. The winter cold kills algae and bacteria that can pillage our waters. It pushes fish to move to their winter safety grounds and keeps them corralled by their need to monitor their body temperature. The grasses on the bottom of the Lagoon will die in many areas opening new room for young grass to sprout in the spring. The gift of winter can be a blessing when we cannot see what is to come in the months of sun ahead.
afternoon warmth from the sun. During the first hours of a cold front, while fish are still warm look for a strong feeding. Then as colder temperatures settle in trout have been laying dormant for a few days waiting for a warming trend so that they can feed again. With some of the very cold spells we have had they will not feed for at times days. As of now there are large amounts of trout holding in the side channels along the intracoastal canal south to Bird Island and the channels along Flour Bluff. Drifting them with soft plastics will produce great boxes to anglers that give their baits a very slow retrieve, extremely slow. Trout usually Bill and Lori Anne Lewis with one monster redfish from the don’t want to chase bait when they are cold. Winter colors land cut this week. Capt. Farah are pumpkinseed/chartreuse, glow, and purple/white. I like a heavier jig head to keep my bait in the strike zone for longer. Look Drum Run for these schools of trout to gang up together The amounts of black drum in the Lagoon and in the deepest parts of the open flats, moving Baffin are more than five times the amount of out as water temperatures rise through the speckled trout. This brings herds of them to afternoon. They will start off slow and pinned congregate in the deep holes, channels, and to the bottom, then become more aggressive deep flats in our area. For local anglers this is as you move towards lunar feeding times in the best time to catch these fish in the channels the afternoon hours. Vary your presentation to behind the house. Live shrimp or good quality match their moods. The classic winter wade dead shrimp and crab are the best first choices. fishing scene has started earlier and earlier These fish are dependent on their nose for most every year with gangs of waders like marching all of their feeding. Use this to your advantage and add any type of scent additive to your bait. Pro Cure, Smelly Jelly, aerosol sprays, and Fish Bites all added to your shrimp will raise your chances and many times attract a school of fish to your area. Some chumming in small amounts can help to but too much will bring in trash fish quickly. When I’m looking for good spots to fish for drum I pinpoint gravely sand along the edge of channels. This gravel is the small clam that the drum feed on. When you pull up your lines and have matted dead grass on your line, move. Clean bottom and current are usually the best places. The intracoastal canal is a great place to start. As tide pulls water off of the shallow flats look for fish to be along the edge of the break, soaking up the sun. The channels in Packery, the Boat Hole, and along Laguna Shores will be holding several schools of drum for the next few months. Check each spot for at least 20min. Make small moves and look for changes in current along channel intersections. Jim Wallace with a big winter trout from
down south. Farah.
Winter Trout
FLOUR BLUFF INDEPENDENT SCHOOL DISTRICT FLOUR BLUFF INDEPENDENT SCHOOL DISTRICT PUBLIC HEARING PUBLIC HEARING Parents, Community Members, and Taxpayers are invited to attend a PUBLIC HEARING on the Parents, Community Members, and Taxpayers are invited to attend a PUBLIC HEARING on the TEXAS ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE REPORT
Big boxes every trip right now with limits of drum and reds with some trout to boot! Capt Farah
With the thin skin of the speckled trout winter is a game of survival. Recent cold temperatures have pushed cold water down into the deepest of holes. This means that trout will have to regulate their temperatures by moving to and from the shallows where they can take advantage of late
TEXAS ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE REPORT Discussion and public input is encouraged regarding the District’s educational performance. Discussion and public input is encouraged regarding the Tuesday, January 21, 2014 District’s educational performance. 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, January 21, 2014 Flour Bluff ISD 5:30 p.m. Central Office Board Room Flour Bluff ISD 2505 Waldron Road Central Office Board Room 2505 Waldron Road For more information please call 694-9220
army’s across Baffin and the Lagoon. This year with the colder temperatures things have been good. Don’t go out looking for heavy stringers and a hit every cast, this is still the season for the all-day marathon wades looking for that one big fish. The larger trout will slip up into the shallows before the baitfish move to catch the sun. Look for areas with schools of small minnows around the matts of sea grass along the shoreline. These are what the big trout will be slurping up along with shad and mullet looking to warm themselves in the sun.
For more information please call 694-9220
This barge broke loose from its tug in 40mph winds and ended up on the king ranch shoreline, in two feet of water.
As many of us are feeling the cold winter air run through our hearts and the fish are stunned with the ice cold water flowing down the ditch, look ahead to warmer times. When you see that sun you can bet that everything and everyone is ready to get moving. Get out and enjoy God’s blessings and catch some fish. I read a plaque today that said “life is god’s gift to you, what you do with it is your gift to him.” Get out on the water by boat or foot and save the soul, the fishing is good.
Tides of the Week
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Tides for Corpus Christi (Bob Hall Pier) January 9-15, 2014
Day
High /Low
Tide Time
Height in Feet
Th F Sa Su M Tu W
9 9 9 9 10 10 11 11 12 12 13 13 14 14 15 15
Low High Low High Low High Low High Low High Low High Low High Low High
4:05 AM -0.2 1:15 PM 1.0 5:37 PM 0.9 7:54 PM 1.0 4:55 AM -0.4 2:23 PM 1.2 5:43 AM -0.5 3:10 PM 1.3 6:27 AM 0.6 3:49 PM 1.3 7:08 AM -0.6 4:22 PM 1.3 7:45 AM -0.6 4:48 PM 1.3 8:19 AM -0.6 5:06 PM 1.2
Sunrise Moon Time Sunset
% Moon Visible
7:21 AM Set 1:42 AM 5:52 PM Rise 1:08 PM
57
7:21 AM Set 2:38 AM 5:52 PM Rise 1:51 PM 7:21 AM Set 3:31 AM 5:53 PM Rise 2:35 PM 7:21 AM Set 4:23 AM 5:54 PM Rise 3:21 PM 7:21 AM Set 5:12 AM 5:55 PM Rise 4:09 PM 7:21 AM Set 5:58 AM 5:56 PM Rise 4:59 PM 7:21 AM Set 6:42 AM 5:56 PM Rise 5:50 PM
67 76 83 90 95 98
A 6
Island Moon
Letters to Riley
The sky exploded last week. I don’t know what happened but I hid in the closet until it was over. The sky explodes twice a year. Once when it’s hot and once when it’s cold. I don’t know why. I’m a dog. I don’t know how planes fly or why babies cry. And I don’t know why the sky explodes once in the hot and once in the cold. We got a new friend now. He had a bad time. His name is Charlie and he lived out on Dorsal Street for a long time when it was real cold. Some nice humans tried to catch him for a week but he’s a slippery one. He was kind of cold but he was doing okay because the people on the block kept feeding him but they couldn’t catch him either. They finally got him though and he’s living at the office with my humans until he finds a home.
Anyway, if you know anybody that can help out my new friend Charlie let me know. He could use a friend about now.
I think he used to belong to a homeless guy with a big sign that said “I need a boat.” I saw him downtown and in Port Aransas once. Maybe that guy traded his bicycle for a boat that wasn’t big enough for him and Charlie both. I’m not sure. I’m a dog.
The day was November 20, 1981. The day that the Annexation Service Plan for Area D of The Island was signed making the majority of The Island part of the City of Corpus Christi.
The Memorandum of Understanding which was finalized between the Padre Island Investment Corporation, the Padre Isles Property Owners Association, and the City of Corpus Christi is the Social Compact between the City of Corpus Christi and Islanders spelling out what each will and will not do once The Island became part of the city. It makes many promises, some kept, and others more like the promise made by the Great White Father to the Native Americans that would remain inviolate as long as the Mosquitoes shall grow and the Gulf waters shall flow.
He brought his blanket and his hat with him; he carried them with him every time he moved around because they reminded him of something. We don’t know what but now he has his blanket and his hat with him.
Life in the Big City
Charlie with his blanket. He is the only dog I know who has luggage.
Projects continued from A1 Vehicles, and other similar vehicles, on city beaches. ATVs became legal on Texas beaches on September 1 but a group representing the industry told the ISAC they believe that some restrictions on ATVs may be needed, but other similar vehicles should be allowed to operate on area beaches.
There are two things that can be said for certain after thirty- two years of Life in the Big City. First, property taxes in Port Aransas are 60 cents for every dollar paid by Islanders who live inside the Corpus Christi limits. Being able to keep your sales and hotel/motel taxes and lion’s share of beach parking permits has its advantages. Second, when it comes to promises made to The Island by the City of Corpus Christi on November 20, 1981 the city’s performance is a mixed bag at best.
The City of Port Aransas has begun steps to restrict use of the vehicles within their city limits. GLO Land. ISAC member Greg Smith told the group that plans for the 3680-acre tract of land Island street signs prior to annexation. owned by the Texas General Nueces County are currently in discussions to Land Office to be placed under the management raise the cost of the annual permits from $12 to of Nueces County are in the hands of state $15. If eventually approved the increase could officials Smith said the current plan calls for the not take effect until January, 2015. land, located in Kleberg County, to be operated Speed Limit. A representative from the Padre as a public use area rather than a county park, because state law prohibits any county from Island Business Association told the ISAC that the business association is considering a push to owning a park in another county. lower the speed limit on SPID from the base of Smith said that once the transaction is the JFK Causeway to Sea Pines from the current complete a new law enforcement entity under 55 mph to 45 mph. the direction of the county will be created to Dasmarinas Speed humps. A city staff member police and maintain the land and beach there. told the ISAC that the asphalt speed humps will Beach Parking Permits. A total of 155,000 be installed on that street between Whitecap Beach Parking Permits were sold on Corpus and Aquarius to slow traffic “as soon as weather Christi Beaches in 2013, up from 138,000 in permits” since the asphalt cannot be installed 2012. The ISAC, City of Port Aransas, and when temperatures are under 53 degrees.
Restaurant
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The four-page MOU covers much ground and is a supplement to and expansion of the Service Plan for The Island required by state law for annexation to became a reality. Islanders already living on The Island were wary from the beginning. They asked for and got specific assurances from the city that certain services would be guaranteed; something like the antiFederalists requiring that the Bill of Rights be attached to the original Constitution just to make sure everyone understood what the agreement said and didn’t say. As our Spanish speaking friends like to say, a little Pelon to make sure the deal is right. Here are a few entries from the “Island Bill of Rights.”
Parks Section IV. Parks and Recreation; Subsection B. Park Maintenance “Upon conveyance by Padre Isles Investment Corporation and acceptance by City, City will assume responsibility for maintaining existing park areas and improvements thereon. Such level of maintenance will be equal to that provided to other parks in the City” Based on that item we may then assume that all parks throughout the City of Corpus Christi are infested wall to wall with grass burs, pocked with gopher holes, without public restroosm, not kept watered, and mostly devoid of grass (excluding weeds). In another agreement between developers and the city an agreement was reached to not allow for the assessment of special fees for parks as is done in OTB part of the city. This fiat came from developers to protect them from having to pay the fee when the Island was first developed. However, it did not release the city from maintaining Island parks at a promised level “equal to that provided to other parks in the City” If other parks in the city lack enough gophers to be “equal” to ours we got plenty. We can export them OTB. After all, a promise is a promise and if our parks are different we are not worthy of being part of the city and the annexation agreement is off. If you have ever wondered why Island streets are almost entirely devoid of sidewalks your answer lies in Section V of the MOU under Streets. Specifically, Subsection C. Sidewalks:
Including: Mimosas, Champagne Cocktails and House Specialty Champagne Martinis
“City will not require sidewalks to be installed in previously platted areas.” In layman’s terms that means, if they ain’t there already we ain’t building them. That one is a promise kept.
-SUNDAY BRUNCH11:00 - 3:00 PM
Storm insurance Even in 1981 the cost of Windstorm insurance was a concern. In Section VI. Under Other: “B. Windstorm Insurance Premiums.
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FEMA regulations which limited insurance were also a concern:
flood
“C. Barrier Island Legislation City will consider support of the Association’s efforts to mitigate the impact of legislation by the U.S. Congress to restrict the use of land on barrier islands and deny the benefits of certain federal programs to Island property owners.” This has been a mixed bag as the harshest restrictions have been limited to the area south of the city limits, but also cover the area just north of Zahn Road which has stalled development in the Tortuga Dunes project.
Beach driving Even in 1981 allowing cars on the beach in front of the seawall was already an issue. The tortured language in Section D of the MOU providing an example of saying nothing in a lot of words: “D. Vehicles Traffic in Front of Seawall. 1. The Association and CITY recognize that, in Texas, beaches are open to the public. Neither the Association nor City seek to deny access of any portion of any beach to any one (sic). The Association and CITY do, however recognize that certain hazards to public health and safety do exist on the beach in front of the seawall in Section A of the subdivision. The hazard is due to the presence and movement of motor vehicles along the narrow stretch of beach front which also has a very heavy density of pedestrians thereon. The hazard is aggravated and compounded by the behaviors of vehicle drivers. To the end of rendering this small stretch of beach-front safe for human use and inhibiting unlawful conduct thereon, while at the same time, allowing the full use of the beach by people, the Association and City agree to cooperate in seeking solutions to avoid stated hazards and public safety problems. “ So while the City in 1981 was “aggravated” by the hazard of having cars on the beach in front of the seawall which is “compounded” by the knuckleheads who abuse it, thirty-two years later the cars are still there. Not exactly a promise broken, but a can kicked down the beach for thirty-two years is neither a promise kept.
Island ambulance Keeping a fully staffed ambulance on The Island was a concern from the beginning. “Section VII. EMERGENCY SERVICES.
Section II. Parks.
Sidewalks
-SUNDAY BUBBLY BUBBLY ALL HALF PRICE!
January 9, 2014
by Dale Rankin
Area D included most of the area south of Commodores, east of SPID and north of Whitecap, and southward along SPID to the City Limits at Sea Pines.
Charlie gets to know Kevin Simms, one of the humans who helped rescue him.
Stuff I Heard on the Island
Biannual Aerial Attack By Riley P. Dog
City will consider support of the Associations efforts to obtain lower premiums for Windstorm Insurance for structures located on the Island and subject the Architectural Controls of the Association.”
B. Medical 1. City will station an ambulance on the Island appropriately staffed within six (6) months following the date of annexation.” Notice it doesn’t mention anything about moving the ambulance into town when calls are heavier there, or cutting the number of personnel on it to move them into town. I think it is reasonable to take from that inviolate language that it would be unacceptable to roll a firetruck for a medical call because the ambulance is in town or not sufficiently staffed to make the call. By the time an ambulance makes it to The Island from a fire station in town a good many medical emergencies will have resolved themselves – and not in a good way. That doesn’t sound very reasonable to me and so this one has to go down as a promise reluctantly and only partially kept, at best. .
Canal safety Subsection C. Regulation of Traffic on Canals “The City agrees to police as necessary the canals and associated areas to protect public safety and private property.” As we sit here thirty-two years after this promise was made we are being told by our Police Department that even though Islanders have raised $25,000 to pay for our share of a boat to enforce No Wake zones and other infractions of city ordinances in our canals, the police department doesn’t have the officers to staff it. This comes less than six months after we were promised, in an open city meeting, that if we would raise our share of the money the city would fund the remainder of the cost of the boat and provide the officers to put it into service. That’s the second time then that we have been made this promise, the first was thirty-two years and six months ago. And nowhere in there does it say Islanders will raise half the money to pay for safe canals. We agreed to do that ourselves and made good on the promise. But whether it’s a boat, cameras, ride-alongs of CCPD officers with law enforcement boats already in the canals, or some other means, the City needs to start living up to their promise made by to thirty-two years and six months ago. That was the deal.
Also a promise kept.
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No Appointments Necessary Mon-Thurs, Appointments available Fri-Sat Mon. - Sat. 8am - 6pm 14433 SPID “On the Island” Corpus Christi, TX 78418 www.tmcpadre.com
Water Access Laguna Madre
361-949-1900
January 9, 2014
Senior Moments
Island Moon ranch needed was a railroad. Kleberg pitched his idea to Henrietta King, Richard King’s widow and soon the St. Louis, Brownsville, and Mexico Railroad was born.
By Dotson Lewis, dlewis1@stx.rr.com Photos courtesy of Arkansas State University Dotson’s Note: After I received the following from Jean, she and I talked. I then did some research and found George Takei’s story very interesting. Hopefully you as a Moon reader will enjoy the article and find it informative and enlightening.
her fifty dollars and each bill of sale included a clause forbidding the sale of alcohol – there would be no saloons in Mrs. King’s town. Next she donated land for the construction of the Presbyterian Church; her father had been a Presbyterian missionary in Missouri and Tennessee. The Baptists, Methodists, Episcopalians, and Catholics came next.
“Thank goodness it’s here!”
Islander Jean Garland writes: “I was 7 years old when World War II started. Much of my childhood was spent during wartime. We lived in Chicot County, Arkansas during those years, and the two Japanese Internment Camps in Arkansas, at Rohrer and Jerome, were very close to us. One of my aunts recalls that they lived between the two camps. In 2004 The University of Arkansas at Little Rock sponsored ‘A Life Interrupted.’ A symposium about the experience of the Internees at the camps in Arkansas. I was living in Hot Springs at the time, and I met with one of the planners of the exhibit, which was sponsored by the Winthrop Rockefeller Foundation. The person in charge (whose name I don’t remember) was planning to focus the exhibit around the idea that the locals welcomed the Japanese to Arkansas, and co-existed on good terms with them. She was obviously looking at wartime events from a modern perspective. Today we know that a great injustice was done to the Japanese motivated by fear. We did not know that then. In rural Arkansas in 1943 we had a radio, but few sources of news. We did not need the radio to know about the camps. We saw the Internees as enemies. We were at war, a war which they started. Our attitude toward them was fear and resentment, even envy. ‘The Japs will get you’ was a standard deterrent that parents often used to frighten their children to ensure obedience. The Director of ‘A Life Interrupted’ was planning a Symposium which reflected a sort of international cooperation about the relationship between Americans and Japanese, not the reality I knew. I was not invited to participate in the ‘A Life Interrupted’ project. My memories are based on my conversations with my mother and my aunt, and my own fleeting memories. A lot of the residents of Dermott and McGhehee worked at the camps, and their gossip to locals confirmed their impression that the Internees had it better than the rest of us. I don’t remember any humanitarian concern for the prisoners. It didn’t enter our minds to be concerned that they were living in crowded barracks on mosquito-laden marsh land, land no one else wanted. We were
Artesian well on the King Ranch From Sinton to Brownsville
sent to Rohwer, all because we happened to look like the people who bombed Pearl Harbor. I was just five years old, and would spend much of my childhood behind barbed wire in that camp and, later; another in California called Tule Lake. One hundred twenty thousand other Japanese Americans from the West Coast suffered a similar fate. I was the keynote speaker at the dedication ceremony of the museum. A number of internees attended with their families, as well as about 500 people, primarily from Arkansas, along with historians from throughout the United States. After the dedication ceremony, we moved on to the actual Rohwer camp site about 20 minutes away. Almost nothing remains where the camp once stood. We went to dedicate a historic marker, along with half a dozen audio kiosks. It was admittedly poignant to hear my own voice narrating from those kiosks about the importance of each specific site, marking ground where we had been held against our will, without charge or trial, so long ago. One of the audio kiosks is placed just about at the site of the crude barrack that housed my family and me -- block 6, barrack 2, unit F. We were little more than numbers to our jailers, each of us given a tag to wear to camp like a piece of luggage. My tag was 12832-C.
George Takei their neighbors, and shared their environment. We had no guards watching us, but most of us lived a hard scrabble life in sub-standard housing without electricity and running water. We thought they were a lot better off than we were. There were schools for the children; they had plenty of food, better than the food we ate. They had steak, we ate potatoes. They had free medical care. We had none. Most locals depended on the price of cotton, and when the price fell to five cents a pound, farmers could not make a living. The New Deal programs to help farmers were funneled funded through the landowners, and not to local farmers, so as usual, the rich got richer and the poor got poorer. The armed guards posted in towers at the camps to keep order were our guys, and seemed benevolent to us, although no doubt they were objects of fear to the Internees. The teen-aged girls living near the camps found themselves very popular as dates for the young prison guards. My young aunt dated one of the guards and got pregnant. The guard was later killed in action, and his son never knew his father. The wartime restrictions made matters worse for some families. There was strict rationing of strategic materials, but my family was too poor to buy the rationed products, so we did not suffer a lot because of rationing. According to the reports of the camp workers, rationing did not apply to them. The only product that made an impact on us was sugar. Sugar was valuable and when our mothers made a cake, it was a very big deal. I was in high school before we had electricity or running water, and we had to grow most of our food. My father couldn’t make a living as a farmer, and turned to bootlegging, and then got addicted to his product. That made our lives almost intolerable. So the war years were awful for everyone, locals and Japanese, worst of course for the Japanese. It was indeed a dark period in our history. Many years later reparations were paid to the living Internees.”
want to live.
I have memories of the nearby drainage ditch where I used to catch pollywogs that sprouted legs and eventually and magically turned into frogs. I remember the barbed wire fence nearby, beyond which lay pools of water with trees reaching out from them. We were in the swamps, you see: fetid, hot, mosquito-laden. We were isolated, far enough away from anywhere anyone would
Today, I recognize nothing. The swamp has been drained; the trees have all been chopped down. It is now just mile after mile of cotton fields. Everything I remember is gone. The most moving of the sites is the cemetery. As a child, I never went there, yet that is the only thing that still stands from Rohwer Camp, except for a lone smokestack where the infirmary once operated. The memorial marker is a tall, crumbling concrete obelisk, in tribute to the young men who went from their barbed wire confinement to fight for America, perishing on bloody European battlefields. That day, I stood solemnly with surviving veterans who had served in the segregated all-Japanese American 442nd Regimental Combat Team, the most decorated unit in all the war. We ended the ceremony with a release of butterflies. They symbolized beauty confined, first in cocoons, then in a box, but now released, free to go and be wherever they chose. As I write this, once again the national dialogue turns to defining our enemies, the impulse to smear whole communities or people with the actions of others still too familiar and raw. Places like the museum and Rohwer camp exist to remind us of the dangers and fallibility of our democracy, which is only as strong as the adherence to our constitutional principles renders it. People like myself and those veterans lived through that failure, and we understand how quickly cherished liberties and freedom may slip away or disappear utterly. Places like Rohwer matter, more than seventy years later. And so, we remember.” Dotson’s Note: Thank you for reading this article. Your comments and/or suggestions will be greatly appreciated. dlewis1@stx.rr.com
The idea was to connect the ranch to the existing rail lines which then only came as far south as Sinton in San Patricio County. Known as the “Brownie” the line would run 200 miles of track across the Wild Horse Desert from Sinton, through Nueces, Hidalgo, and Cameron counties to Brownsville. It was the first time Corpus Christi and Brownsville would be connected by any route other than by water. It was a gamechanging move that would connect South Texas and its products to the rest of the U.S. and Mexico through a rail bridge at Laredo.
there in her wagon.
The railroad opened South Texas to commerce with America’s heartland and the world. By December, 1907 the line from Brownsville to Houston, by way of Corpus Christi was complete. When the first train rolled into the new town of Kingsville the 71 yearold Henrietta King was
“Thanks goodness, it is here! she said. She was issued Complimentary Pass No. 1 and Complementary Pass No. 2 went to Mrs. R.J. Kleberg & Children. After school in Corpus Christi each Friday the Kleberg children went to the station and boarded a caboose hooked to the engine for the ride to their home on the King
It was intended that the railroad form one of the sections of a continuous line from Chicago, St. Louis, and Memphis to Baton Rouge, Houston, Brownsville, Tampico, and Mexico City. Initial Building a canal for the St. Louis, Mexico, capital for the company Brownsville line. was set at $1,000,000. The principal place of business was Kingsville, which didn’t exist Ranch. when the railroad was formed so the company The run to Brownsville took nine hours, down had temporary offices in Corpus Christi at the from the forty hours required to make the time of the charter. Members of the first board journey by stagecoach. The train ran six days of directors were Robert J. Kleberg and Arthur per week - Henrietta forbade trains to run on the E. Spohn, both of Corpus Christi; Robert Sabbath. Freight trains ran three days per week. Driscoll, Jr., Uriah Lott, and Richard King, all Loading pens along the route took King Ranch of Nueces County; John G. Kenedy, James B. cattle to market. Wells, Francisco Yturria, and Thomas Carson, Soon enough the Kingsville Publishing all of Cameron County. Uriah Lott was named Company brought in the town’s first newspaper, still in business today, followed by Kingsville Power and Light Company, and ice and milling companies. Then when Sea Island Long Staple cotton came along the Gulf Coast Gin Company was founded to mill it. All under the ownership of King and Kleberg.
Singing rails Gulf Coast Lines first president of the St. Louis, Brownsville and Mexico. Nearly one hundred miles of the line would run across King Ranch property. The railroad was built by a syndicate, the principal members being Benjamin F. Yoakum and his associates, managed by the St. Louis Trust Company. The syndicate had cooperation all along the line in land donations and cash bonuses, receiving in all 90,000 acres and $190,000.
The birth of Kingsville Henrietta King put 75,000 acres into the project in Cameron and Kleberg counties plus a section of land – 640 acres – to found the town of Kingsville three miles due east of the ranch house in the heart of the El Rincon de Santa Gertrudis section of the ranch. Streets were named King and Santa Gertrudis Avenue, Nettie, Ella, Richard, Alice and Lee streets were named after her five children in the order of the their birth. Henrietta’s name came next, then Kenedy Avenue, Kleberg, Ragland, Caesar, Armstrong, and Wells. All part of the King extended family. Henrietta owned the Kingsville Lumber Company, the town’s first business. The sale of each lot paid
When President William Howard Taft came to town to kick off the Corps of Engineers work on the deepwater port he lunched at Henrietta’s house on Broadway. The St. Louis, Brownsville and Mexico became part of the Missouri Pacific Lines on January 1, 1925, but continued to operate as a separate company until it was merged into the Missouri Pacific Railroad Company on March 1, 1956. At the end of 1955 the company owned or leased ninety-eight diesel units and 4,377 cars. In that year it had passenger revenues of $461,554 and freight earnings of $15,759,273. South Texas as we know it was off and running, riding the singing rails of the St. Louis, Brownsville and Mexico Railway.
Saint Louis, Brownsville, Mexico Gulf Coast Line depot at Brazoria.
On April 22, 2013, Actor George Takei, most famous for his role as Hikaru Sulu in the original Star Trek series, said “A couple of weeks ago I took a pilgrimage.” “I traveled to Arkansas to dedicate the Japanese American Internment Museum in McGehee. The town lies between two places of great sadness: Jerome internment camp to the southwest, and Rohwer camp to the northeast. Over seventy years ago, my family and I were forced from our home in Los Angeles at gunpoint by U.S. soldiers and
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History continued from A1
Internment Camps
George Takei Remembers Rohwer
Engine of the line
A 8
Island Moon
Scouts continued from A1 on the island has to be the group known as Cub Scout Pack 949 leaders; volunteers who diligently work to teach and train young boys to enjoy nature, solve problems, and eventually become outstanding young men.
By Todd Hunter, District 32
Bryan Haney is one such volunteer on North Padre Island who presently works as both a Cub Scout Master and Webelo Leader for Pack 949, mentoring island boys and leading a skilled and dedicated group of Cub Scout leaders. Bryan’s roots are deep in Texas and in the Scouting organization.
Haney’s Own Scouting Experiences Years before graduating from college, Haney found the Scouting organization interesting and joined the Cub Scouts as a young boy. It would change his life. He became hooked, remembering, “I was a scout as a child going from Cub Scout through my Eagle Scout. My Eagle Scout project was actually a food drive in the town of Portland before the Scouts even developed a Scouting for Food program. I did that service project, developed and led it, with the boys in my troop”. Bryan recalled with fondness one of his Scouting ‘nature’ experiences, “Some of the badges required outdoor activities and learning. Part of Boy Scouts is outdoor camping. One of the more intense things I did was the Philmont Scout Ranch in New Mexico. I was there three times. It was basically a trek with three other guys. It is very remote and I carried what I lived with for ten days” Learning to survive in the wild gave Bryan confidence and fostered leadership skills. Bryan shared, “It was the real deal with specialized backpacking equipment. It went from trekking foothills to hiking tall mountain peaks.” Haney had countless positive, challenging, and engaging Scouting experiences, led by dedicated Cub Scout and eventually Boy Scout leaders who worked tirelessly to help mold Bryan and his fellow Scouts into young men. He has come full circle now as a Cub Scout leader. His Scouting experiences and dedication, coupled with his friendly and positive personality, make him an ideal candidate to lead Cub Scouts and Cub Scout leaders. “I think that scouting helps develop a person in terms of character and life experiences. Young boys in the Cub Scouts get to do things that other kids staying home don’t get to do. We would travel a lot to the Hill Country and other areas of Texas. We used to camp out or kayak on weekends. We learned how to live in the outdoors, to create things. When we went back to school on Mondays we would ask our friends what they did. Non Scouts would frequently say ‘Oh nothing, I stayed home’. Those kids would ask us what we did and we would tell them about our adventures. What a difference”.
Be Prepared “It has helped me to become a well-rounded person, better organized and prepared. That is the Scout Motto – be prepared. It has helped me learn how to be a leader. Part of my rank advancement included training on how to be a leader. It has taught me to want to give back, to teach and to give the scouting experiences that I was able to have to young, local kids.” On becoming a Cub Scout Master and Webelo Leader Bryan added, “Scouts gave me so much in terms of life experiences and little things like how to enjoy camping. I want to give that back to kids. That is one way to help today’s youth become better people - to lead and mentor young scouts and help them become better prepared and able. Bryan worked at the Camp Karankawa Boy Scout Summer Camp for five years (two as director of aquatics program and three as staff), giving him more rich Scouting experiences and leadership opportunities. He also attended a National Scout Jamboree in 1989 in Virginia.
A Crew of Local, Caring Cub Scout Leaders Applying his Scouting experiences to his current positions as Cub Scout Master as well as Webelo Troop Leader unquestionably increases his effectiveness as a leader; however, Bryan is surrounded by a fabulous group of islanders who enthusiastically share the local Cub Scout leadership reigns. Haney elaborated about shared leadership, “Right now I am the Cub Scout Master of Pack 949 and I bring my entire life of scouting experiences with me. We have immense help from Heather Reynolds as a Bear Leader and Committee Chairperson, Karen Childers as a Webelo Leader, Stephanie Van Gorder as a Wolf Leader, Shawn and Shannon Morgan and Tiffany Fuller as Tiger Leaders, Karen Mann as a Treasurer, Tara Haney and Cindy Lokey as Special Events Coordinators. “This leadership group helps teach and engage boys from the different levels on the island”, Bryan continued. “They are all really fantastic leaders and this year each leader is even more engaged, and they have collectively created and followed the mantra or motto of “go, see and do’. Our leaders get their young boys out into the community to learn”. Haney and his crew fully understand that keeping young boys in a classroom limits their learning, participation, engagement, and attitude. They can only be successful Cub Scouts by getting out into the world. Cub Scouts learn more when they interact with the outside world, whether in the city or country, whether on a beach or in a business, or whether learning about the outdoors or creating something with their hands. Regardless of what activity is presented to the Cub Scouts they learn best by observing and doing. The group of Pack 949 leaders commits countless hours into developing wholesome and engaging activities that align with Cub Scout level goals, purposes, and values. Keeping the
STATE
January 9, 2014
New Year Brings New Laws – Part II
Bryan Haney – Pack 949 Cub Scout Master
“I grew up and went to school in Portland, Texas”, beamed Bryan. “After high school I went to college at Texas Lutheran and then Texas A&M Corpus Christi and performed my geology field camp at the University of Nevada in Reno.”
Bryan Haney in uniform attention of young boys is not always easy, but with hands-on activities and adventure, Pack 949 excels at providing Cub Scouts with opportunities to grow, learn, and demonstrate their learning.
Cub Scout Goals and Experiences In terms of learning goals, purposes, and values for boys entering the Cub Scouts Bryan clarified, “There is a Scouting handbook for each level of Cub Scouts (Bobcat, Tiger, Wolf, Bear, and Webelo) and the ultimate goal in Cub Scouting is to earn the Arrow of Light award. Basically you have earned all of the ranks and then you have attained the pinnacle of Cub Scouting and that links a Cub Scout to the next level - Boy Scouting”. Haney quickly shared a list of recent Cub Scout experiences and activities, “We have done Scouting for Food, Popcorn Sales (a fund raising event for the packs – buys badges, Pinewood Derby cars, racing sailboats), a sailboat race (scouts carve their own boats out of balsa), trips to the fire station, a fishing derby, a trip to Frost Bank, and a family camp out at Camp Karankawa”. The Scouting year essentially follows the school year so there are many activities still planned for the Cub Scout Pack 949 this year and there will be lots of time for curious Cub Scouts to work on their merit badges. Bryan claimed, “We will start 2014 with the Pinewood Derby in the Seashore Learning Center gym, a Pack-wide campout in February at Goliad State Park, a Pack-wide beach day in March, a Pack campout in April in Garner State Park, and the culminating Blue and Gold Banquet in April”.
Giving to the Community and Citizenship
With the start of the new year, it is important to know about the laws that went into effect. Certain laws that were passed during the 83rd Regular Legislative Session came into effect on January 1, 2014. These new laws range from bills addressing ad valorem taxes to the disconnection of electric or gas utility services. Each of the bills that took effect on January 1 went through a 140 day legislative session. During that 140 day period, these bills went before House and Senate Committees before going before the Texas House and Senate as a whole and then going to the Governor’s office. The laws mentioned below represent some more of those pieces of legislation that passed and went into effect on January 1: • House Bill (HB) 800 is relating to a sales and use tax exemption and a franchise tax credit related to certain research and development activities. Under the HB 800's legislative findings and purposes, it states that the legislature finds that while the Texas economy accounts for over eight percent of the United States economy, the State of Texas only accounts for five percent of the research and development spending in the United States. Research and development spending is important because it enhances and pushes the state economy forward. Research and development tends to create high-paying jobs that are extremely beneficial to our state's economy. It is also shown that research and development creates unique opportunities for private-sector and public institutes of higher education partnerships, which expand opportunities for the development of innovation and learning. Some of the areas of research and development that HB 800 will include are oil and gas, biosciences and semiconductors, along with numerous other areas. By providing tax exemptions as established under HB 800, Texas can and help to promote research and development in the State of Texas and there by continue to push our economy into the future. • HB 1349 is related to information that may be requested by the Department of Public Safety from a person applying for or renewing
Bryan is a dedicated husband and father. His own boys have joined the Cub Scouts and his wife Tara Haney (a teacher at Seashore Middle Academy) also plays a large part in coordinating Cub Scout activities. With the support of his family and the other fabulous island Cub Scout leaders, Bryan is clearly poised to continue to produce top quality experiences for local Cub Scouts. Elaborating, Bryan revealed, “We want to make sure that young boys realize what the scouts can do, the activities available to them, the skills they can learn and the fun they can have. We continue to develop the Scouting Program to recruit, foster, teach, and retain Cub Scouts in an engaging environment”.
Boys to Men Distinctly, Bryan and the Cub Scout Pack 949 staff positively impact young island boys. Bryan submitted, “We cannot save the world, but scouting is one phenomenal way to combat the negatives and reinforce the positives. At the end of the day, it helps turn boys into men and helps make them more productive and better citizens with enhanced skill sets and leadership ability”. Hats off to the Cub Scouts in Pack 949, their parents, Bryan Haney, and his amazing staff. If you or your sons would like to join the engaging adventure of Scouting, then please contact Bryan Haney at 361-533-2776.
• HB 1772 relates to the disconnection of electric or gas utility service. Recently, there have been concerns over the disconnection of electric and gas services to multi-family residences which are not submetered. If a landlord fails to pay for the service which is master metered, the service is ultimately shutoff for all the residents on the property. In order to help address this issue, HB 1772 requires the customer or person responsible for paying the utility service to send written notification to each tenant not later than the fifth date that the customer receives notice from the provider that the service is to be disconnected. In addition, the retail service provided is required to send notification of a pending disconnect to the municipality in which the multi-family residence is located. It is important to learn and know about the new laws that were passed by the 83rd Texas Legislature. If you would like to view any of the other legislation that was passed during the 83rd Regular Session, these websites are great resources: • The Texas Legislature at www.capitol.state.tx.us . • The Texas House of Representatives at www.house.state.tx.us . • The Texas Senate at www.senate.state.tx.us . If you have questions regarding any of the information mentioned in this article, please do not hesitate to call my Capitol or District Office. As always, my offices are available at any time to assist with questions, concerns or comments (Capitol Office, 512-463-0672; District Office, 361-949-4603). Rep. Hunter represents Nueces County (Part). He can be contacted at todd.hunter@house. state.tx.us or at 512-463-0672.
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Young Cub Scouts begin giving to the community in several ways; one of them being Scouting for Food where Cub Scouts collect nonperishable food items and donate them to the Island Baptist Church. Also as part of some of the scouting advancement requirements local Cub Scouts perform trash pick-ups and other community service activities. When asked how the Cub Scout Organization helps mold young boys into productive citizens, Bryan was quick to add, “Citizenship is a major component of the Scouting program. There are citizenship badges, belt loops, and requirements for advancement. Cub Scouts learn the pledge of allegiance, folding the flag, conducting flag ceremonies, interacting with community leaders, and visiting local businesses and learning interactions and job responsibilities. We teach courtesy, fire safety, and other things that make them a better person. On the den level we just completed the citizenship activities for the Webelo Activity Badge. The Cub Scout Motto is ‘Do Your Best’ and the Boy Scout Motto is ‘Be Prepared’ and the Boy Scout Slogan is ‘Do a good turn daily’. The Scout Oaths also concretely promise that Scouts will promote good citizenship and will help others.”
a concealed handgun license. Under HB 1349 the Texas Department of Public Safety may not request or require an applicant for a concealed handgun license (CHL) to provide a social security number for either an initial application or a renewal.
To order by phone, call 361-949-7700. To order by mail please send your checks made payable to: J. Park The Island Moon, 14493 S.P.I.D., PMB 220, Corpus Christi, Tx 78418.
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6th Annual Surf-‐N-‐Turf Race Half-‐Marathon, 10K/5K Run & 5K Walk
Presented by Padre Island Baptist Church to benefit PIBC Missions Programs
DATE: Saturday, January 25, 2014
START TIME: 7:00 AM Half Marathon Start 8:00 AM 10K and 5K Start
PLACE: Briscoe King Pavilion at Padre Balli Park on Padre Island. Take S Padre Island Drive to Padre nd Island. Continue past 2 stop lights, @ 2 flashing yellow light, turn left into Padre Balli Park entrance. DISTANCE: Half Marathon run, 10K and 5K run, 5K walk. COURSE: Both road and beach, mostly beach. Course maps will be available online at www.theislandchurch.com follow the Surf N Turf link, also at packet pickup and on race day. PACKET PICKUP: ¥ Friday, Jan. 24, Padre Island Baptist Church, 14253 S. Padre Island Dr., noon to 7 pm (preferred) ¥ Race day at Briscoe Pavilion 6:30 am Ð 7:30 am. RACE DAY CHECK IN and SIGN UPS: 6:30 am Ð 7:30 am at Briscoe Pavilion POST RACE FUN!!!! Free pancake breakfast and post race refreshments for racers (bib required), door prizes, music and awards for top winners in each age category. T-SHIRTS guaranteed only to racers registered prior to January 11th REGISTRATION FEES; ❒ $20 under 18 if postmarked by January 10 ❒ $25 per person if postmarked by January 10 ❒ $30 for 10K/5K after January 10 or race day ❒ add $15 for half-marathon **Discounts for groups of 10+, contact race director at pibcrunners@gmail.com Register online at: www.rrptiming.com (additional fees apply)
January 9, 2014
Island Moon
Put A Cork In It
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It’s the last obstacle between you and the grape. There is an entire industry aimed at providing tools to help you remove it. You can twist it out by hand or you can blast it out with a special air gun, or you can use the automatic screw that does the twisting for you. When you remove it chances are stash it somewhere to give to someone who uses it to make something out of, from wall hangings to purses.
Traditionally it has been the harbinger of the quality of what is inside. Showing up at an Island deck party with a bottle of wine with a metal screw-off cap is right up there with doubling dipping a once-bitten chip in the guacamole; if you’re gonna do it you better be real good friends with everybody at the party. The “National Tree” of Portugal.
Cork trees
Spain or Portugal, mostly Portugal were the Quercus suber (the Cork Oak) is the national tree.
Cork Harvest It’s safe to say the wine cork is a faithful friend to we Islanders. Some people even take a whiff after it is removed, pretending they can learn something about the contents of the bottle that way, but really, they just like the feel of wine cork and want to thank it for a job well done, bringing that bottle of wine safety to their table. But where to all those wine corks come from? A tree right? Everybody knows that. But where are the trees and how do they get the cork out.
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Well, here’s more than you might ever need to know about a wine cork but it might come in handy the next time somebody shows up at a party carrying a bottle of screw-top wine and double dipping in the bean dip. We want to thank Moon reader Joann Smith for filling us in Over half the world’s wine corks come from
The harvest of cork is different than other forms of forestry in that is does not involve the death of the tree. Instead the cork (bark) is stripped and is re-grown. Cork trees can live over 200 years and their cork can’t be harvested until the trees are at least twenty-five years old. Cork trees, like many humans, don’t start to produce their best product until they are at least forty years old. Once they reach maturity the trees are harvested every nine years, in their lifetimes cork trees will be harvested about fifteen times. So the cork farmers in Portugal now are harvesting cork from trees planted by their great-great grandfathers. Cork is also used as the center of baseballs to the heat shields on spacecraft. So the next time you pop a cork out of your favorite bottle of wine think about the fellow in Portugal whose ancestor planted the tree that he is harvesting way back before General Andrew Jackson fought off the British in the swamps of New Orleans. And if a guy shows up at your party with a bottle of screw-top wine cut him off before he reaches the bean dip and tell him, “hey buddy, put a cork in it!”
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Island Moon
January 9, 2014