Section a for the web

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Inside the Moon

Peace in Port A A2

Travelling the Erie Canal

Moon on a Spoon A6

The

Issue 628

Island Moon

The voice of The Island since 1996

April 28, 2016

Around The Island

Adopt A Beach A7

Free

Weekly

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Port A for Peace

By Dale Rankin editor@islandmoon.com By Dale Rankin We have now entered the Wear a Shirt Once Before Laundry Season. Sometimes in April you can get two wearings before a shirt gets a little too gamey for public appearances, but with the humidity of late you’re going to need a bucket of patchouli to pull that off. Meanwhile the unusually high tides have stayed with us late in the year leaving many a lower Island deck submerged. Water temperature along our beaches has been in the mid-70s and the lakes that covered our beaches last week have dried up, fishing is up and surfing holding steady.

Turtle count The turtle nesting season is upon and the number of nests found on Texas beaches so far has been low with 18 Kemp’s ridley nests but no Loggerhead or Green Sea Turtle nests found. Dr. Donna Shaver, Chief of the Division of Sea Turtle Science and Recovery at Padre Island National Seashore says that while nest numbers are down some in comparison to last year's, the nesting season has just started to pick up so it is too early to say how the year will end up. Shaver says nest numbers were increasing rapidly through 2009, and then in 2010 (the year of the BP oil spill) numbers of nests found declined significantly. Although they rebounded to near 2009 levels in 2011 and 2012, they were comparatively reduced during 2013-2015. She says the BP spill killed some Kemp's, a fact confirmed by the Trustees that studied the impacts of the spill, but there may also be other factors at play such as reduced food resources, and tcold winters. So if any of you turtles out there are reading this get busy and start nesting!

City Council District 4 by the numbers With the announcement this week by two-term City Councilwoman Colleen McIntyre that she will not run for re-election this November the seat is now up for grabs. Here is how the voter numbers break down in that

Over 350 people turned out to form a human peace sign on the beach in Port Aransas on April 22nd. The Earth Day event was held at Horace Caldwell Pier, between mile markers E & F. 5pm. The event was staged to send a message to Spring Breakers & The World that Port A is a place of Peace!

Lake Padre Work Continues

In 2012, probably a more comparable year to 2016 since both are Presidential years – at total of

Around continued on A3

SandFest 2016 this weekend!

Premier Sandcastle Building Event Draws Sculptors from All over the Globe

Every year about this time adults from all over the globe arrive in Port Aransas to become kids again and build castles in the sand. Starting Friday, April 29, and running through Sunday the 2016 version of SandFest will draw upwards of 100,000 people to view the larger-than-life sand sculptures by the professionals, amateurs, and kids.

and ride is available as traffic to and from the beach is heavy. Buses are .25 cents and riders may park free at Robert Point Park, and in the La Joya neighborhood in Island Moorings. Golf carts are a good way to arrive but must wait in line with other vehicular traffic so be prepared to spend some time in traffic during afternoon hours on Saturday and Sunday. Winners are announced Sunday afternoon from the music tent. SandFest began in 1997 as a single-day event with kids making sandcastles and has grown into the three-day event which changes dates a bit each year to take advantage of low tides and provides funds to several non-profit organizations. It will be a great weekend on the beach so get out there and start working on your Lobster Tan. We’ll see you there!

SMA Science Olympiad Team Places 12th In State Competitive With State Giants

Crews are excavating about 8000 cubic yards of earth per day at the work site around Lake Padre. The

Tuesday, May 3, 5:30 p.m.

Island Bag Ban on ISAC Agenda

A group of citizens has been pushing for the ban on Padre Island, similar to the one now in effect in Port Aransas, since a citywide ban failed two years ago. The plan as currently discussed calls for an outright ban on the use of the bags at Island stores. Previous plans had included a provision to charge a fee for the bags in all areas of the city, however, that plan was opposed by large retailers who said handling the fee which would eventually be remitted to the city would be onerous and expensive for them to activate.

In 2014 when the Gubernatorial race was at the top of the ballot a total of 11,322 votes were cast in the District 4 race. Of that number 2412 were cast on The Island – 1866 for McIntyre and 546 for her challenger.

Photo by Nikki Ikonopolous

Events kick off at noon on Friday and at 9 a.m. on Saturday and Sunday. Categories include Guppy, Youth Solo, Teen Solo, Teen Teams, Adult Solo, and Adult Teams. There is live music in the entertainment tent each day, food and craft booths, and activities which run all day. The site is on the beach between Sandcastle Drive and Beach Access 1A. Traffic on the beach will be oneway from Avenue G to Beach Access 1A. Admission is $5 for a three-day pass and kids under 12 are free. Park

Discussion of a possible ban on single-use plastic bags will be on the agenda for the Island Strategic Action Committee at their next regular monthly meeting at 5:30 p.m. on Tuesday, May 3, at the Holiday Inn on The Island.

race for the last two elections.

Fishing A11

If ISAC approved an Island ban it would then go the Corpus Christi City Council for a final vote. Several council members have expressed support for the move if recommend by the committee if it applies on to The Island. The ISAC was formed in 2010 as an advisory committee for the City Council and is the first stop for Island issues before they reach the council. ISAC members are appointed to three-year terms by the council.

water near SPID on the right is the canal that will connect the lake with the planned Park Road 22/SPID Water Exchange Bridge. Excavation work is expected to be complete in

Lake Padre continued on A3

The SMA Science Olympiad team in College Station Photo by Tara Haney By Brent Rourk Traveling to College Station to face the state’s best schools in science competition is not always easy, but it

is fun. Just ask the Seashore Middle Academy science student team that finished 12th in the state last weekend at the State Science Olympiad.

SMA continued on A

A little Island history

Texas Presidential Politics Born on St. Joseph Island

In May, 1937 after President Franklin Delano Roosevelt had visited first St. Joseph’s Island and then lunched with its owner Sid Richardson and his friend and fellow oil tycoon Clint Murchison at Murchison’s house on Matagorda Island FDR returned the favor with a dinner aboard his yacht the Potomac which was at anchor in the Lydian Ann Channel near the lighthouse. FER had come to South Texas to tap into the growing wealth of oil money and Richardson and Murchison were two of the wealthiest. But right behind the rise of oil money in national politics was a young ambitious congressman from Central Texas Lyndon Johnson. At the advice of others Johnson had run successfully while backing FDR’s ill-fated plan to stack the U.S. Supreme Court with new judges in an effort to get his New Deal policy around the court’s block. Johnson knew the plan

FDR and LBJ in Galveston with Governor James Allred in the middle. would never work, but he also know that backing it would bring him the support of FDR’s friends – and there were many. So as Murchison and Richardson

said goodbye to their new Presidential friend and watched him steam away for Galveston Johnson was on the agenda. The meetings between the two oilmen and the

History continued on A7


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