Inside the Moon
Moon on a Spoon A6
Sports A8
Fishing A7
Winter Surfing A9
The
Issue 610
Island Moon
The voice of The Island since 1996
December 23, 2015
The only Island in Texas where Santa wears shorts and flip flops.
Around The Island
Live Music A16
Free
Weekly
FREE
Christmas Island Style
Fees at Padre Island National Seashore Changing January 1
By Dale Rankin editor@islandmoon.com Ahh, Christmas on The Island. As we sit here a few days before Christmas running our air conditions the weather forecast calls for more balmy and dry. It is starting to feel a little like winter on our little sandbar as area beaches are taking on the look of Winter Beaches with driving getting to be dicey and the Dallas Cowboys taking their late-season swoon early; but temperature-wise it looks to be more Chamber of Commerce Weather. It’s been a rather slow Winter Texan Season so far with out of state plates being about as rare as YETI drink holders in Island stores. Temperatures in the Great Frozen North have been unseasonably temperate thus far and haven’t flushed out the usual crop of early Winter Texan runners.
Windsurfers at Bird Island Basin. Photo by Jan Rankin Visitors to the northern portion of Padre Island National Seashore will get a break starting January 1.
Bird Island changes There are some welcome changes in policy and prices at Bird Island Basin that are good news for Winter Texans and Don Jackson and the windsurfers at Worldwinds. For details see the story on this page but the upshot is that camping for Winter Texans at the basin will be $2.50. That’s a good deal even in Winter Texan dollars. It will also be easier for fisherpersons to launch there. Don will be back open mid-January and the new rates will be in effect.
Barefoot Mardi Gras The seventh annual Barefoot Mardi Gras Parade will go off from Whitecap Beach in a mere six weeks. We will have more information on the parade and first-ever festival in the coming issues but it’s time to start thinking about your costume and float for the Saturday, February 6, event.
Mis Neesy and the Earfood Orchestra will bring the zydeco music again this year and the party will be at Veranda at Schlitterbahn. Everyone have a safe and merry Christmas and say hello if you see us Around The Island.
A Little Island History
The Mazoch home at the end of Whitecap continues to draw crowds of onlookers
Stuff I Heard on the Island
by Dale Rankin
It’s the time when we get reflective here around the old Word Factory as we ease our way from 2015 right into the second half of the decade. As things go on our Island it’s been a rather calm year but we have seen the beginnings of several things that look like they may come to fruition in 2016.
The biggest item on the Island agenda that is hanging fire is the planned Water Exchange Bridge that would connect our current Island canal system to Lake Padre. It is a project that has been a long time coming since it appeared on a ballot in 2004. As we sit here today the $10.5 million project needs $3.5 million more in funding to come to fruition. The additional money likely will come from funds in the Island Tax Increment Reinvestment Zone but there has been some trepidation expressed as to who will build the type of bridge that in the words of city staff last month “has never been built in this area.” The normal bridge design from the Texas Department of Transportation won’t work for this bridge because it doesn’t provide a wide enough passageway. The concrete span design of the bridge allows for a 120foot opening for pedestrian and boat traffic and is clearly the best design for the budget but the question is whether a local contractor can build it, and if so, can it be done within the budget allowed. The answer should
come by mid-2016 as bids, as of this writing are expected to go out no later than April. Developer Paul Schexnailder says the digging on the canals leading to the bridge site will be underway by the time bids go out and will likely be in place by the time work on the bridge begins. So 2016 will tell the tale about this crucial piece of Island infrastructure which is the linchpin for major development on both sides of SPID and is the culmination of years of effort and organization by Islanders to give us the political presence to push our projects to completion.
This just in And speaking of politics word came Monday that City Councilwoman Lillian Riojas is leaving the city to take the head Public Relations job with Valero in San Antonio. I can say from experience that the PR job with Valero in San Antonio is a very highprofile spot because over the years I when I covered city politics there the company would place its staff at the disposal of the Greater San Antonio Chamber of Commerce during the push for the Alamodome, Sea World, Fiesta Texas (now Six Flags) and a number of other major projects. Lillian will be a busy lady and her experience on the Corpus Christi City Council will come in handy. Her departure means that there are now four members of the current
Seawall continued on A5
The changes will mean that Bird Island Basin Campground fees will now be $5.00 per night. Camping fees can be paid at either the entrance station or through a new selfregistration system located at the Bird Island campground. The system includes an upgrade to allow credit card use for paying camping fees. Users possessing an Interagency Senior Pass, or an Interagency Access pass for the permanently disabled, will be able to camp for half price ($2.50 per night). An “iron ranger” fee storage box has been installed in the campground for depositing the self-registration envelope during the camping registration process. This will provide a secure method of fee collection for camper use.
Visitors such as wind surfers, birders, kayakers and people fishing during the day, but not staying overnight in a campsite, will no longer need to purchase a Bird Island Basin Pass. The regular entrance fee for Padre Island National Seashore will now include the previously charged day use fee for the area.
Happy 60th Anniversary! Islanders Ginny and Joe Vitzle celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary at Cancun Restaurant last week. The story of Ginny and Joe’s arrival on The Island is a common one among folks who arrived here mostly by accident and bought a residence on their first visit; in their case they attended an auction where they bought a condo for $50,000. “Even then there was nowhere else in the country where you could get a beachfront condo for $50,000.” Ginny said. “Then halfway home Joe said, ‘You realize we just bought a condo and we don’t even know how to get back to the place’!” But things worked out and the Vitzle’s have been Islanders for
The Christmas Miracle of 2005 Snow on The Island
The fee for the boat ramp will not change. Boat ramp users will continue to pay the park entrance fee and purchase the boat launch pass at the entrance station. After paying the entrance fee of their choice (i.e. weekly or annually), ramp users may purchase either a $5.00 per day launch pass or an annual pass for $10.00. Users possessing an Interagency Senior Pass or an Interagency Access pass for the permanently disabled will be able to launch for half price. ($2.50 per night or $5.00 per year)
20 years now and celebrated their anniversary with a table full of Island friends Saturday night.