Inside the Moon
Island Farmer's Market A2
Deep Sea Round Up A7
Fishing A11
Island Home Winner A9
The
Issue 639
Island Moon
The voice of The Island since 1996
July 14, 2016
Around The Island
By Dale Rankin editor@islandmoon.com The 100th Anniversary celebration of the National Park Service at Padre Island National Seashore Saturday was a huge success. Dr. Donna Shaver and her helpers held a massive turtle release and more than 5000 people attended. We took the scenic route home along Kleberg beach and were pleasantly surprised to find volunteers from Burners Without Borders and Friends of Padre picking up leftover 4th of July litter. They have a way of turning work into fun and it has made a huge difference around The Bowl and points south in the past few years.
Live Music A18 Photo By Dale Rankin
Free
Weekly
FREE
Wildlife Weekend
Centennial Sea Turtle Celebration a Huge Hit at PINS
Round 'Em Up!
ARK Director Tony Amos releases a sea turtle last Saturday
81st Annual Deep Sea Round-up Held July 7 - 10th
Hike and Bike trail While it is in the early stages there is a move afoot to build a hike and bike trail that would run from Padre Balli Park near Bob Hall Pier southward to the northern end of Padre Island National Seashore. The concrete trail – either ten or twelve feet wide – would run along the Park Road 22 right of way for about a mile and a half south, then angle toward the beach for the remainder of the seven miles to the PINS border. Six miles of the beach is part of the land recently bought by Nueces County and placed in the care of the Nueces County Board of Coastal Parks which is currently doing an extensive renovation at Balli Park. That board, though its Director Scott Cross, will apply for a federal grant to fund the project and officials at PINS are intricately involved in helping to make it a reality. It would include rest stops along the way with markers containing local history. The parks board is expected to discuss the project at its next meeting on Thursday, July 28. It goes without saying that on an Island bereft of sidewalks it would get a lot of traffic, here’s hoping it comes together.
Naked Men of Kleberg The Nueces County purchase of the 3680 acres in Kleberg County which became final a year and a half ago has been a big problem for the Naked Men of Kleberg who used to grace the beach with their flagrante delicto reverse lobster tans. Precinct 4 Constable Bobby Sherwood took over patrol of the Kleberg beaches which had been without law enforcement forever due to the hour’s drive from the Kleberg County Seat in Kingsville and it didn’t take long for the Naked Men of Kleberg to scatter. But they are now back with new tactics. The word on the beach is that while the Nueces County Constables have jurisdiction in the Kleberg area owned by Nueces County if they make an arrest south of the county line the prisoner must be booked into the Kleberg jail – which means an officer will be out of service for half a day. That’s a long drive just to arrest a naked man. So now the Naked Men of Kleberg have adapted. The best we can tell there are two methods. First, they now park their trucks – for some reason the Naked Men of Kleberg seem to favor trucks – right next to the water and open both driver’s side doors. When you drive by you can just sense that something isn’t right but you can’t (thankfully) really see anything. The second method is to park up near the dunes and sit in the back of the truck in a low lawn chair with the raised tailgate allowing their squishy parts to bake in the sun without being seen by civilians. Once again it’s weird but you can’t (thankfully) really see anything. Which is nice because otherwise we would have to whip out our Buck Knife and poke out our one good eye. And nobody needs that. Stay cool everybody, and say hello if you see us Around The Island.
July 9th, 2016 marked one of the biggest events in park history! Over 6,000 visitors came out to celebrate the National Park Service Centennial and 40 years of sea turtle conservation efforts at Padre Island National Seashore. One hundred Kemp's ridley sea turtle hatchlings and five adult and sub-
adult rehabilitated green and Kemp's ridley sea turtles were released during today's event. Children visited different booths and completed activities to earn their special Centennial Sea Turtle Junior Ranger badges created just for this event.
Turtles continued on A3
The 81st Annual Deep Sea Round up Fishing Tournament was held this past weekend in Port Aransas. The Deep Sea Roundup began in 1932 as the Tarpon Roundup and has grown from a handful of Port Aransas fishing and hunting guides pitting their skills against one another to one of the largest family fishing tournaments on
the Texas Gulf Coast. The Roundup attracts fisherpersons of all ages and skill levels. The Got M On won the offshore billfish release division. The Doc Holiday was the runner up in that division. Organizers say attendance for this year’s tournament was down significantly due to a forecast of swells up to five feet.
Update on Island Projects
Work Set to Begin on Aquarius Traffic Light
By Dale Rankin
The City of Corpus Christi has announced that work will begin this week at the intersection of Aquarius and South Padre Island to reconfigure the intersection and add a traffic light. The work is expected to continue through August 26 and will include: Traffic Signal installation: Southbound Park Road 22 will be narrowed to widen the shoulder lane while a new signal is being installed. Removal of the existing intersection median: Park Road 22 left turning lanes at the Aquarius intersection will be closed to traffic. No left turns will be permitted at this intersection. Traffic control devices will guide motorists through the construction site. Motorists should expect delays and if possible, seek alternate routes or avoid the area. Access to local driveways will be maintained throughout the duration of the project. The impetus for the project came from San Antonio developer Walt Busby whose company owns several lots on the east side of the roadway where plans call for retail space, including a Starbucks coffee shop, and a 105 room motel. Busby’s company contributed $416,000 for the project which will include warning devices at the top of the JFK Causeway to alert drivers that there is a light ahead. The light is just under one mile from the top of the JFK Bridge. Verdemar/SPID intersection, City staff told the Island Strategic Action Committee at its Tuesday meeting they are studying traffic patterns at the intersection of Verdemar/SPID/ Jackfish to determine what can be done to improve safety. A group of citizens in the area requested earlier this year that the city consider installing a traffic light at the location. ISAC members also requested that as part of the work the city include the impact of the “paper streets” which were included in the original development plans for The Island. Those planned streets are located
Lake Padre Progress
east of SPID and run parallel to it and, as designed, would run south to State Highway 361 near the Packery Channel Bridge. Much of the infrastructure for the streets, including utility lines, are already in place along the right of way. Striping and signage for access roads at the JFK Causeway. ISAC members also requested that the city consider center striping for the newly constructed roadway leading to Doc’s and Snoopy’s Pier near the JFK Causeway. The $1.2 million road was recently completed but does not contain center striping. ISAC members also cited confusion by motorists on how to properly access the JFK Causeway from the adjacent access roads due to lack of signage. The access roads are also in need of repair since they were not included in the recent work.
Light Cont. on A3
Excavation work around Lake Padre has reshaped the shoreline in recent weeks creating 6500 linear feet of new shoreline. The thin line of sand in the center of the photo is currently being removed and will be the site of a new marina. The two small bodies of water in the lower center will be the canal leading from the lake to the proposed water exchange bridge. The water gate at the bottom of the photo connecting the lake to Packery Channel will be expanded to 75 feet. The white areas in the photo are where newly deposited sand has raised the elevation to eight feet above sea level.
A little Island history
And Then There Were Two - How North and South Padre Island got their names the Rio Grande. The Island was inundated with a twenty-five foot tidal surge and the storm, which lasted for over thirty hours, dumped thirteen inches of rain over a wide part of South Texas. Eighteen people were killed and an estimated five-hundred were injured. Fifteen to twenty foot waves crashed ashore at Redfish Landing. Eleven people rode out the storm in several crudely built fishing shacks – only one person drowned. The road to the fishing camp was washed out and for a short while the camp was once again isolated from the outside world.
By Steve Hathcock In 1930, Port Mansfield, or Redfish Landing, as it was once called was an isolated fishing camp located on the sandy shores of the Laguna Madre. Newspaper reports from the time refer to giant redfish over 4 feet long and trout so numerous that a fisherman could walk from his boat to the shore without getting his feet wet. I don’t know about the size of the fish, but it was possible at that time to wade across the shallow nine-mile-wide Laguna Madre to the mudflats situated along the western shores of Padre Island. A short jaunt over the dunes and one could find some of the best surf fishing in the world. In September of 1933 an unnamed hurricane hit near the mouth of
The Port Mansfield “Cut” is not visible on this map produced and distributed by The State of Texas.
In late 1933, the Civil Works Administration, or C.W.A., was established. In addition to building
History continued on A4