Inside the Moon
Travel A5
Moon on a Spoon A5
Fishing A11
Sports A8
The
Issue 620
Island Moon
The voice of The Island since 1996
March 3, 2016
Around The Island By Dale Rankin editor@islandmoon.com We Islanders are holding our breath as the first wave of Spring Breakers will begin to descend on our little sandbar this weekend in a warmup for the two following weekends when traffic will back up onto the JFK Causeway as visitors from Kalamazoo to Swinney Switch celebrate their rites of spring. If the Weather Wonks are correct and the good weather holds it will be the first favorable Spring Break weather in three years and should produce a record number of visitors on area beaches. Unknown is the effect that news of the 6 p.m. alcohol curfew on Port Aransas beaches may have on beachgoers coming OTB and whether it may lead to more crowding on beaches in Corpus Christi City Limits. One thing we know for sure is that we Islanders need to get our grocery shopping done by Thursday night because going OTB for the next three weekends will be a dicey proposition. The other thing we know for sure is when the rooms along the beach fill up the Cruiser Stink Factor along Whitecap will be in full bloom. The lines that run from the beach to the Whitecap Wastewater Treatment Plant fill up along with the hotels and when both are full the sewer pump station lets fly with an odiferous assault that has staying power long after we make the turn onto SPID. So as you make your way down Whitecap in the next three weeks you’ll want to roll up your windows and hold your nose.
Giant jellyfish at PINS
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Site Work Begins Around Lake Padre By Dale Rankin Even as plans for the proposed Water Exchange Bridge along SPID stalled this week work began on the 230-acre site on the northeast side of Lake Padre that will become a marina and include a 300-unit dry stack boat storage building, and new construction that will see the addition of more than five hundred residential units around the lake. Crews on Wednesday began staking out the route for 1000 liner feet of a new canal which will eventually connect the water gate at the intersection of Lake Padre and Packery Channel to the site of the proposed SPID/Park Road 22 Water Exchange Bridge. The staking of the route is anticipation of excavation crews arriving within the next three weeks to begin removing 400,000 cubic yards of sand which will include the removal of a peninsula which currently extends into the center of Lake Padre. That work is expected to take about one hundred
Live Music A18
Update on Island Projects
SPID Water Exchange Bridge Project Stalled Timetable for permitting “Indeterminate”
By Dale Rankin The push to build a $10.5 million water exchange bridge on between Commodores and Whitecap on SPID took a hit Tuesday night when it was announced by officials from the Texas Department of Transportation that it will take a minimum of one hundred and thirty days to complete the permitting process on the project before the project can be put out to bids.
Photo by Steve Coons
Island Election Results Preliminary vote totals for the three precincts on Mustang and Padre islands are in. On Padre Island a total of 2643 voters cast ballots, 451 Democrats with Hillary Clinton beating Bernie Sanders 271-177 and 2192 Republicans with Donald Trump beating Ted Cruz 806 to 716.
In Port Aransas a total of 1130 voters cast ballots, 290 Democrats and 840 Republicans. Port Aransas Democrat voters narrowly favored Clinton over Sanders 153-135. On the Republican side Port Aransas voters favored Trump over Cruz 324-224. Complete precinct results will not be available until votes are officially canvassed next week.
State Record Spottail Pinfish Caught Off Mustang Island When they pulled it from the water near the Gulf Oil platform in fortyfive feet of water halfway between Port Aransas and Packery Channel they last week they weren’t sure what it was.
and weighed it – 1.51 pounds – and measured it – about one foot – and checked the state record; the fish was so rare there wasn’t one so they applied and expect to have their catch certified in the next few weeks.
“I’ve been fishing here for a long time and I had never seen one,” said Jeff Kiser from the University of Texas Marine Science Center. “So we called Jay Gardner and he told us it was a Spot Tail Pinfish, Diplodus Holbrookii.”
In the meantime the fish now resides in a tank for public viewing at the Marine Science Center where it will remain for the rest of its life.
The crew knew they had something special so they kept the fish alive
And Jeff and his crew now have a new fish story, and come to think of it – so does the fish! Dale Rankin
Work has begun on the first new construction along the Michael J. Ellis Seawall since 1986. Crews have begun elevation work on a new townhome/condominium project on property at the end of Whitecap which are part of the Barefoot Dunes development which will also include beachfront property on the south side of Whitecap.
Katherine and David Pierce came across this giant jellyfish on PINS over the weekend about the size of an extra-large pizza. It would take a big old piece of toast to handle that much jelly!
Coyotes in Aquarius Park
Three coyotes, who apparently decided that since Island kids can’t use the Aquarius Park sticker patch they will, took up temporary residence there last weekend. They are barely visible in this photo but they hung around all day Sunday and homeowners report they were not shy about making their way down adjoining streets. Eyewitnesses report that the coyotes, while not aggressive, didn’t seem to be at all afraid of humans. If you are walking your dog around the park be careful.
Fourth of July fireworks Islander Jerry Watkins is already at work putting together the fourth annual Island Blast fireworks show. Jerry reports that most of the funds for the event have been raised but some money is still needed. The event has very quickly become an Island favorite and anyone wishing to contribute can makes checks payable to Island Blast and drop them off at the POA office. That’s all for now everybody. Watch out for the annual Whitecap Speed Trap that springs up each Thursday during Spring Break. Remember when Spring Breaks we fix it! We’ll see you at the Ski Basin and in the meantime say hello if you see us Around The Island.
Wooden stakes show the location of where digging will begin on a new canal on the east side of SPID. days, according to Developer Paul Schexnailder whose company owns the land. “We will dig the canal in the next three months but we will leave it plugged at both ends,” Schexnailder said. “We will not connect the canals to salt water until we are sure there is going to be a water exchange bridge. The movement of this sand will provide the fill dirt for a 200unit apartment complex on the south side of the channel, and for a 300unit dry stack boat storage unit also on the south side of the channel,” Schexnailder said. The work is the beginning of a years-long build out process which is designed to take advantage of the connection of the new construction on the east side of SPID to the existing Island canal system by way of the waterway under the proposed bridge. “We have broken ground on the pathways and in the next two weeks will turn over the drawings to the engineers for platting and permitting for a 250-unit beachfront community on par with Palmilla Resort and Cinnamon Shore in Port Aransas,” Schexnailder said.
A little island history
Chasing Wild Horses On the Nueces River in the 1850s
Editor’s note: The information for this story is taken primarily from the book “The Mustangs” by author and historian J. Frank Dobie published in 1934. In the middle of the nineteenth century wild mustangs and cattle roamed freely in the Nueces Strip between the Nueces River and the Rio Grande. The men who worked to capture them called themselves mesteneros and came from mostly along the Rio Grande, primarily from the Mexican side, but some came from as far east as the settlements at Goliad. They fought with Comanche Indians over livestock and were mostly a wild and illiterate bunch. With the exception of one man who left a record of the struggles of the men who harvested the Wild Horse Prairie; his name was J.W. Moses. The mesteneros were tough men who made a living in a tough environment. Few were well-armed ammunition was hard to come by. They worked
in companies, usually about one hundred men, under captains and due to lack of ammunition fed on wild cattle and javelinas which they roped. Coffee and piloncillos (cones made from brown sugar) were luxuries and their lariats were made by hand of rawhide and wove their tack - girths, bridle reins – from the manes of wild mustangs. They carried Saltillo blankets which would turn water but were scarce comfort against the blue northerns.
No season for horses nor beeves Ownership of the Nueces Strip was supposedly settled in the U.S.-Mexican War but in the 1850s neither U.S. nor Mexican authority showed itself the Wild Horse Prairie was wide open to all comers with no season and no rules for harvesting horses nor beeves. But even among the rough men of the prairie certain rules
History continued on A4