The Island Moon Published by Island Moon Publishing, LLC 15201 S. Padre Island Drive Ste. 250 Corpus Christi, TX. 78418 editor@islandmoon.com (361) 949-7700
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Island Moon The Island Newspaper
Island Area News ● Events ● Entertainment
August 26, 2011
Phone (361) 949-7700 ● Email editor@islandmoon.com Where Island Children go to the Seashore and parents go to the beach
Around The Island
Dog Days were popularly believed to be an evil time “when the seas boiled and wine turned sour, and
Newspaper Facebook: The Island Moon
Longtime Owner of Shorty’s and Island Icon Dead at 84
A couple of whoppers The talk of the Island this week has been about sharks. Big sharks. The first was a 12’ 6” Tiger Shark caught August 13 off Bob Hall Pier about 600 yards offshore. The shark was tagged and released. That’s right folks. The boys tagged and released a twelve and a half foot shark. The Texas Parks and Wildlife Department currently has no record of a Tiger Shark ever being reeled in, tagged and released in the Lone Star State. The largest Tiger Shark ever caught before that was 11’9” which was caught and released in Florida. The Bob Hall shark was caught on a 15 pound cownose ray and and tackel of Nick Meyer over at Break Away Tackle & Development. We congradulate the crews for catching and especially for releasing the shark, that’s a whopper.Although now we may think twice about swimming around Bob Hall for a while.
Then a few days later a crew of Islanders were boating near Bob Hall when it got really hot and they jumped Here is a nice shot of Dusky in the 7 ft range. in the water to cool off “Wish I had a bigger boat” comes to mind. only to have the life guard inform them a Photos Courtesy of breakawayusa.com. 12-foot Tiger Shark dogs grew mad.” The Moon Dogs had been caught - and released - in are always mad and Island wine the same water a few days before. doesn’t survive long enough to turn They jumped back in the boat but the
By Mary Craft
Her name was Rose Marie Gates Smithey, but to everyone on The Island she was Miss Rose and since 1977 she has been the owner of Shorty’s, Port A’s Oldest and Friendliest watering hole. Her history and the history of Port Aransas since the 1940s are one and the same. The two major annual events held at Shorty’s Place have become Island traditions. The first is the anniversary party in April and the other is Rose’s Birthday Pig Party in October. Miss Rose collected pig memorabilia over the years which adorns the shelves of the bar along with old photos.
Miss Rose first came to The Island in the 1940s with her family. Her father Mac Fowler was a carpenter from West Texas who retired here but his wife at age 41 was not yet ready to retire. She had managed a restaurant before but did not want anything to do with a kitchen so they decided to open a bar and named it Shorty’s, a nickname which she was not fond of but at 4’ 10” it was a hard one to shake.
Around The Island Continued A 6
In 1962 Hurricane Carla destroyed most of the town including Shorty’s completely. Miss Rose and her husband owned the ABC Motel which was located across from IGA. All the units were blown away by the storm but the office and lobby remained intact. They moved that building to Shorty’s location and the motel building became part of the building which stands today. Miss Rose ran the Rod and Gun with her husband known by Islanders as Mr. Gates while Shorty ran her place next door until 1977 Shorty was tragically beaten to death with a pool cue for a small sum of money
Now is the Time for All Good Islanders to Come to the Aid of Their Bridge
Head for City Hall on Tuesday, September 13 Proposed Roadway elevation
The Corpus Christi City Council is set to vote in their regular meeting on Tuesday, September 13 on whether to fund a boat and pedestrian bridge under SPID (Park Road 22) on The Island. Backers of the plan at City Hall are asking that Islanders who support the plan make the trek downtown to show their support. Plans for the bridge, which would be located near the 11th green of the Padre Isles Country Club, began in 2004 when voters citywide approved $1.4 million for water exchange tunnels under the roadway to bring fresh Gulf water to the Island’s canal system through Lake Padre. However, over the years the project was expanded as development plans on The Island change and current plans call for the project to include a bridge with an 80’ wide channel and 14’ of clearance for boats with paths for pedestrian and golf cart traffic. The bridge would connect canals planned from each side to be paid for with private development money. That would allow boats with a clearance of 14’ or less to travel directly from the canals to Packery Channel and
Inside the Moon
Island Eyesore of the Fortnight POA Rules A7
Island Kids are National Champions Story on A 15
In 1980 Hurricane Allen destroyed the Rod and Gun building. The bar inside it was made of glass blocks and most of these were broken by flying lumber. One block was found with a fish swimming in it and the remaining glass blocks were used to make the current corners of the bar in-
Shorty’s is known for its collection of caps which line the ceiling. It started in 1983 when Boat Captain Woody Molina tried to put his cap on Miss Rose’s head which she did not want to disturb her neatly coiffed hair. But Molina persisted telling her to just wear it for a little while. “I had someone put it up on the ceiling and when he came back for it I told him he gave it to me,” Miss Rose said. That cap said “Pure Oil” on it and started the collection. The most famous one came from Jimmy Buffet when he visited Shorty’s. In recent years Shorty’s has been operated primarily by Miss Rose’s daughter, Joy George and her grandson, J.W. George.
Three Sea Turtle Species Set Nesting Records B1
Miss Rose was preceded in death by her parents, husband, and daughter, Janice Underwood. She is survived by her son, Jimmie W. (Tessa) Gates of Port Aransas; daughter, Joy Gates George of Port Aransas; eight grandchildren and 10 greatgrandchildren. Expressions of sympathy may be made by donations to the ARK (Animal Rehabiliation Keep) in care of The University of Texas, 750 Channel View Drive, Port Aransas, TX 78373.vvv
Real estate Roundup
Schlitterbahn Update, Hotel Rumblings, a Wildlife Rehab Center
-14 ft
Elevation of Current Roadway
Water Level
Miss Rose took over the work of running both clubs but eventually it became too much, and she closed the Rod and Gun Club but Shorty’s flourished during these years as a place to enjoy a cold beer and live music. There were house instruments which included a guitar, piano, Mac’s fiddle and at times Buttercup would bring her washtub bass to play. In the eighties a large patio was added to the front which moved the music from inside to out.
side The Flats.
Hurricane Carla
Year 15, Issue 395
Shorty’s and its caps
Arrived in the 40’s
In the same interview Miss Rose said the Rod and Gun Club became a center for gambling and stayed in business because the state gaming agents had to reach The Island by ferry and the deckhands would notify the Rod and Gun when they were on the way. She said most businesses in town then were owned or run by women.
motor wouldn’t start. It wasn’t that far a swim to the shore but all they could hear was the theme from Jaws so they sat tight and sweltered in the boat until they were about to beach when finally the motor kicked in and off they went.
at the age of 72. The killer was a sixteen year old deckhand who was from South America and had just been in town only a few weeks. His name was Bennie Dupnik Jr. and he drove off in her car but only got about four miles down what is now Highway 361 when he had to stop to fix a flat tire. It was here police caught him after a chase through the dunes by foot. He is still in prison.
Miss Rose tpassed away Friday, August 12, a memorial service will be held Saturday, August 27 at Marshall Funeral Home in Aransas Pass.
In 1954 Mac and Shorty built the Rod and Gun Lounge next door where the Flats Bar is now located. Miss Rose told us in a 2008 interview, “They built it for me because I said I was leaving Port Aransas and they did it to keep me in town.”
sour but it wouldn’t surprise us if somewhere the sea is boiling. The dog days of summer may be over but our cannine friends are still wearing their fur coats so keep them cool and don’t tie them up in the sun or make them run along side you on your bicycle. A cool dog is a happy dog.
Next Publication Date: 09/9/2011
Miss Rose is Gone
By Dale Rankin editor@islandmoon.com The dog days of summer may technically be over but somebody forget to tell Mercury because he’s still telling us it’s hot. The Romans referred to the dog days as dies caniculares and associated the hot weather with the star Sirius and they considered it to be the “Dog Star” because it is the brightest star in the constellation Canis Major (Large Dog).The Dog Days of Summer officially ended August 24th but as far as we can tell the Moon Dogs can’t tell any difference. They are still staying under the porch, coming out only to jump in the pool.
Photo by Miles Merwin
By Dale Rankin 40 ft
Person Reading Island Moon
on to the open Gulf. The current plan would build a decorative structure with a facade and would cost about $7 million. The September 13 vote is to approve the remainder of the money needed for the project which would come from funds leftover after the completion of projects in both the 2004 and 2008 bond packages. The council vote to allocate the money for the bridge would be contingent on the committment of the private money to build the canals to the bridge. Current plans call for the canals to tentatively be finished by early 2013. The exact time day for the September 13 vote will not be known until Friday, Septebmer 9 when the council agenda for the Tuesday meeting is released. If it is available before that time we will included it in the next Moon which will be published that Friday. If not, we will place the exact time of the vote on our Facebook page theislandmoonnewspaper as soon as it is available. Dale Rankin
The real estate world on The Island these days continues to revolve around the possibility of a Schlitterbahn Resort and Waterpark, or to be specific, when/if it is coming to the Island. Here’s what we know as of this writing. A group of city officials including Council Members Chris Adler, and Mark Scott, Convention and Visitors Bureau Director Keith Arnold, Island Developer Paul Schexnailder, an official with the Corpus Christi Economic Development Foundation, and probably others we don’t know about, went to New Braunfels to meet with the owners of Schlitterbahn on Friday, August 12. By all accounts the meeting went very well and several things are moving forward on parallel tracks. The hurry up and wait stage From what we hear the various projects - bridge, Schlitterbahn, riverwalk - are now in the permitting phase and this is expected to take nine months to one year. That doesn’t mean it will be that long before a formal annoucement is made, but it does mean there is no hurry for an announcement. The planners have said all along they would like to have the waterpark ready to open by Spring Break 2013 and that, as far as we know has not changed. But plans/negotiations now are at a delicate stage and patience is in order. Tha’t does’t mean there is a problem, it’s just that projects this big don’t happen overnight. Especially on a barrier Island where envinorn-
mental concerns and regulatory jurisdictions are heightened. SPID bridge The move to build a water exchange bridge to connect Lake Padre to the Island canal sytem is making progress. In his address to the Padre Island Business Association in early August City Manager Ron Olson said the money for the bridge has been identified from money left over from bond packages in 2004 and 2008. He said the money is there and if there is the “political will” to build the bridge it will happen. As of this writing the City Council is set to vote on the money for the bridge in their September 13 meeting but that could change. It is a good assumption that the basic
texas coastal ildlife Wrescue and rehabilitation Real Estate Continued on page A 9