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361-949-7700 editor@islandmoon.com The Island Newspaper since 1996 Facebook : The Island Moon Newspaper
January 30, 2014
The Island where we practice moderation in all things…including moderation.
Around The Island
By Dale Rankin
Up in chilly New Jersey all bridges are reportedly operating fine as the first cold-weather Superbowl ever kicks off. In Chicago the windchill hit -45. The good news; weather like that is sure to generate a fresh crop of blues songs from that Ice on the roof city’s Southside and we like those. A school was closed this week due to snow, which is not a big deal, except the school was in Florida! In Washington researchers are about to roll out a GPS bullet that police can fire and attach to fleeing cars that could put an end to police chases, leaving gaping holes in evening newscasts from Los Angeles to Miami; along with a sound gun that can stun an entire crowd into submission, bringing a whole new meaning to “Spring Break.” Here on our Island our weather is either feast or famine with cold fronts Lucky and Miley temporarily blowing the trees flat this week but not lasting very long. As the rest of the country shivers through one of the coldest winters in memory, hereabouts we just bring the dogs in and wait, knowing that it won’t be long before things return to normal – temps in the 70s and light wind. All you Winter Texans be sure to mention that to your friends shoveling snow back home. Send a picture.
Somebody call the cops!
Next Publication Date: 2/6/2014
The Year in Real Estate
By Dale Rankin editor@islandmoon.com
If you squinted hard enough late Wednesday morning you could see it; tiny, real tiny, snowflakes that turned to water as soon as they hit the windshield, and a few Islanders awoke that morning to find a bit of ice in their gutters, but if you called it snow then you are truly a South Texan.
Photo by Ronnie Narmour
The cold weather has actually been driving some of the city’s homeless population our way. Last week a lady walked into Whitecap Liquor and demanded that Kathy hand over “money or food” and when Kathy declined the offer the lady decided to take a mighty swing at her but a customer/friend in the store blocked her punch and the cops were called. The woman, her male companion and their little brown terrier dog, name unknown, headed up SPID but were intercepted by the PD and put into the friendly custody of a doctor who happened by. Kathy got a couple of pieces of official looking paper and in the end all is well.
Commercial Properties
5
Multi Family Units From $249,500 to $1,850,000
116
Lots and Land From $5,005 to $550,000
447
Residences
30
Below $100K
152
$100K to $199,900
158
$200K to $299,000
61
$300K to $397,000
23
$400K to $495,000
9
$500K to $585,000
7
$600K to $698,000
3
$700 to$765,000 Real Estate continued on A6
County Commissioner Candidates to Face Island Voters at Public Forum Rising County taxes at center of debate By Brent Rourk
The race between the three Republicans in the race is turning out to be the most hotly contested one of the March 4th primary with the Republican primary winner so far uncontested as no Democrat has filed for the race. The precinct boundary runs from Port Aransas, through North Padre and Flour Bluff, the Southside and into the so-called Tenderloin area just south of downtown. It includes about 88,000 people, 21 voting precincts (including one with no registered voters). In the last election in 2010 current incumbent Joe McComb defeated then incumbent Charlie Cazales by a total of 866 votes out of 6526 votes cast. Of that total 1559 were cast on The Island with 1115 on North Padre and 444 in Port Aransas with McComb beating Cazales by about thirty votes in each precinct. County continued on A6
By Dotson Lewis, Special to the Island Moon dlewis1@stx.rr.com
It’s Bunco Baby! The Island now has three-count ‘em three – Bunco leagues. For those who may only know Bunco from the old Bunco Squad that Joe Friday used to work in, Bunco is a dice game played by over 27 million people, mostly women, in the U.S. One of the leagues plays at Island Italian and another at the Holiday Inn and it looks like Bunco has become the Official Dice Game of The Island. It’s three dice, 100% luck and let’s get rolling. So good luck ladies and say hello if you see us Around The Island.
Water and Power
PADRE ISLAND 0
Inside the Super Bowl
Then came word from Bob Algeo that he had found what appears to be a homeless camp in the dunes on SoPac. We are used to occasionally seeing homeless folks making their way over the JFK, and a few days later seeing them head back OTB after they realize there is not much in the way of support for their life choices hereabouts.
Two New Lines for The Island
By Mary Lou White marylou@baxterbrooks.com
Sports Talk
Low-cost Island housing
Year 17, Issue 511
Update on Island projects
Properties That Closed in 2013 On The Islands
The three-way race for Nueces County Commissioner Precinct 4 will be the focus of a candidate forum on Monday, February 10 at the Holiday Inn. The event is sponsored by the Island United Political Action Committee (IUPAC).
Kathy's PD Paperwork
Facebook: The Island Moon Newspaper
As regular readers know, I have been involved in officiating football for many years and have fond memories of many Super Bowls. I am very proud of the officials who have worked the Super Bowls, many of whom are friends of mine and even some who I have mentored during their officiating years. When the first game now called the Superbowl was played in 1967 the game was not a sell-out, there were 61,946 in attendance. I was not there. I was in the Army, and I along with my wife and daughter were in Wurzburg, Germany. My good friend, the late Ron Gibbs, a retired NFL referee and a member of the NFL Hall of Fame was the NFL Observer of Officials for the game. Ron sent me the game playby-play, the game film and a program. Ron said that he believed the game was the first of a series of what would be great AFL-NFL Championship games. Superbowl continued on A13
Rewiring the Island... See Below By Dale Rankin The Island’s decades long problem with stagnant water due to dead-end water mains should improve with the addition of a new 18inch waterline to The Island approved by the Corpus Christ City Council on Tuesday. The council approved a $7.3 million contract with Bridges Specialties, Inc. of Robstown to install the waterline as well as an 8-inch diameter natural gas line, and a 4-inch diameter Municipal Information System (MIS) conduit from Laguna Shores Road to The Island.
The Island currently gets all of its water through a 24-inch line which has been in service for more than thirty years. The line also provides the majority of the water for the City of Port Aransas. The lack of a redundant water source on Padre Island and the dead-end water mains on fingertips of land over the course of three decades has caused a film to develop inside the lines which requires the lines to be purged of stagnant water through Island fire hydrants. The Projects continued on A7
Jailbreak at the Horse Corral! Onward through the fog!
Story and photos by Bob Algeo
It was very foggy Monday morning when it happened. A bunch of horses (a herd?) got loose from the Horses on the Beach, at about 9:30 Monday as I was heading south toward the National Seashore on Park Road 22. I was just about 100 yards south of the stables, when I saw the first of about 40 to 50 horses, also heading south on the Park Road, into the thick fog. I stopped on the shoulder of the road, and within a couple of minutes, the Horses On The Beach guy pulled up alongside of my vehicle. He asked me which way his horses went. I pointed down the road south, and I might have said, that-a-way, as he went after them in his Mercedes SUV. Within another couple of minutes, I heard a yelling call, like a, Hi-yo, hi-yo, coming back through the fog, from the south. It was Brennan, with all his windows down, calling for his horses to follow him back home to their stables. And they were following him. And they did follow him, all of them, at a gallop, all the way back into their corrals!
Trivia question of the week
A Superbowl by Any Other Name
When was the first Superbowl played that was called the “Superbowl” by the NFL prior to the game? By Dale Rankin This is a tricky one and the answer depends on how you define the “called.” The reason is that the NFL has engaged in some revisionist history with regards to the name and now calls the first three games between the NFL and the upstart AFL Superbowls. But the tickets to those games read AFL-NFL Championship Game with no mention of the word Superbowl. So the NFL’s official name was not the Superbowl. The term "World Championship Game" remained in effect for the next two contests, including the New York Jets' upset of the heavily favored Baltimore Colts in January 1969 (which was formally designated the "Third World Championship Game"). The "Super Bowl" name was not officially recognized until the fourth game the next year, and the now Trivia continued on A13
There were only a very few vehicles coming from the south after the last of the horses were still returning, and I flagged them with my arm to slow them down; which they all did. All ended very well, with no injuries, nor vehicles damaged. The horses were all very polite and it looked like they enjoyed their short road trip. That is - they appeared sort of happy to me, (but I’m a Veteran, not a Veterinarian) as they came back on their return home.
A little Island History.. sort of
Bridge Droppers, Island Changers, and Bagheads We Got ‘Em All
By Dale Rankin For those new to The Island, or just visiting for the Winter Texan Season, we going to bend the rules for “History” this time to fill you in on some of the various types of folks you will encounter here on our little sandbar. We certainly don’t mean to be judgmental lest we also be judged; we Moon Monkeys have our own glass house to live in. We’re just trying to be observant and in this case descriptive. So here goes… Bridge Droppers/Ferry Sinkers – These are not unique to The Island but there is a special type of Bridge Dropper/Ferry Sinker who inhabits The Island. The first Bridge Droppers were the first Pilgrims to walk off the Mayflower. As soon as they set foot on Plymouth Rock they turned around and shouted at the Pilgrims on History continued on A14