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361-949-7700 editor@islandmoon.com The Island Newspaper since 1996 Facebook : The Island Moon Newspaper
February 27, 2014
The only Island in Texas with more cell phone towers than pay phones
Around The Island
By Dale Rankin editor@islandmoon.com
The Island Moon Complaint and Venting of Steam Department has been working overtime this week as work has begun on the Island’s Lifeline to the World. Crews showed up en mass Monday morning and tore into the roadway along the SPID/JFK Causeway, dropping traffic to one lane in each direction. Those who had read either of the last two issue of the Island Moon know that it is a road repair and widening job aimed at – eventually – easing the traffic flow from the JFK to the SH 361/SPID/Commodores intersection. Those who didn’t read the Island Moon – and we feel true sadness in our Moon Monkey Hearts for you – weighed in with many useful suggestions some of which, like catering the lane closures to the traffic flow by time of day, have already been done; others – why are there so many guys standing around watching other guys work – which should be self evident. Keep in mind this is a government job. We have included the entire press release from TxDot in this issue which covers things pretty well. This was originally to be a simple “mill and fill” job aimed at reworking the overused roadbed, work that was well needed. But in the past month two items were added to the job which in the long run will have the most benefit/ impact for The Island. The left turn lane from SPID to SH 361 is to be lengthened by 1000 feet along the southbound lane. This is provide two full-blown left turn lanes to cut down on traffic jams that in the summer routinely stack back to the JFK in a single lane. The other improvement, equally important, is that the right-turn shoulder on SPID/PR 22 at Commodores Drive will be widened by four feet and lengthened by 800-1,000 feet. This is a crucial improvement. It’s importance will become clear this summer when the rightturn traffic for the Schlitterbahn park will begin using that lane and will be able to line up for 1000 feet without clogging the southbound lane. The evening southbound lane closure on the JFK beginning in The Bluff and continuing onto The Island adds about fifteen minutes to the drive to The Island so plan ahead.
Next Publication Date: 3/5/2014
Seawall Driving to go Before ISAC at March 4th Meeting
The seawall and seawall beach has gone downhill the past 5-10 years. We have to do something to keep it up for the residents and keep it up for the tourist attraction it used to be. The five residents on the seawall have formed a team to work with the city to achieve these objectives. The team includes Island House, Holiday Inn, Portofino, Gulf Stream, and El Constante.
Seawall continued on A6
Barefoot Mardi Gras This Saturday Five years ago the Mardi Gras celebration on The Island consisted of a single party on Saturday night before Fat Tuesday. Now, five years after Islanders Denise and Duane Ebert took charge of the event it has taken on a new identity, added a beach parade, expanded the Saturday night party and three kickoff parties and has raised thousands of dollars for Big Brothers and Big Sisters. The Fifth Annual Barefoot Mardi Gras began the festivities with three kickoff parties in the past two weeks and kicks into high gear with the beach parade on Saturday which kicks off at noon at Beach Access Road #4 and winds down the beach to the Briscoe King Pavilion parking lot. This year’s parade looks to be the biggest ever so get there early for a good spot. Then the festivities wind up at Briscoe King from 6-10 p.m. with the adult party Saturday night with music from Miss Neesie and Earfood from San Antonio, for more on the band see Ronnie Narmour’s music column in this issue.
For now it’s just one more reason not to go OTB – as if…
Early voting continues, Election Day is Tuesday
Time to Decide By Dale Rankin
To paraphrase Asleep at the Wheel – don’t panic when you see the blue light lit… As we reported last week we’ve had many calls about loud explosions accompanied by blue flashes of light on the south end of The Island of late. We had another early Sunday morning this week and the lines lit up with explanations from dynamite fishing to Jimmy Hoffa’s body reentering the earth’s atmosphere. But it wasn’t a Flying Mobster, nor a mythic Kaffob monster rising up from the Laguna, nothing quite so exotic; it was a high-riding barge on a northbound trailer on SPID near Sea Pines coming into contact with a low-hanging power line. The physics are pretty basic. The result was a large blue flame that lit up the south side of The Island for an instant and plunged it into darkness for a few hours. It’s a reminder that we Islanders need to keep a good supply of candles handy, or a dependable generator because the fact is we live on the delicate tail end of the United States Power Grid, just take a look southward from Sea Pines on a dark night, and there is a lot that can go wrong and often does. This incident took place just beyond the No Gas Beyond This Point sign. Enough said. It’s time for some Barefoot Mardi Gras everybody! Say hello if you see us Around The Island!
Year 17, Issue 515
What’s Holding Up Traffic!? Project to take four months to complete
By Bob Currie
It’s time for Barefootin’ Island style! If the weather is good, look for a visitor from the sky
Island of Blue Lights
Facebook: The Island Moon Newspaper
Editor’s note: This is a letter from Islander Bob Currie who is organizing an effort by property owners along the Michael J. Ellis Seawall to change the way the beach there is maintained and to remove vehicles from the beach in front of the seawall. They plan to appear before the Island Strategic Action Committee at their next meeting at 5:30 p.m., March 4, at the Comfort Suites on Windward Drive. The meeting, like all ISAC meetings, is open to the public.
Look on the bright side folks, the short term pain will quickly be forgotten after the long-term gain has kicked in. We need these improvements and they will be done by summer.
Island mailbox surfer
Photo by Jan Rankin
As of Tuesday a total of 6570 voters have cast ballots in Early Voting for both parties. On North Padre a total of 392 have voted – 353 Republicans and 39 lonely Democrats. In Port Aransas 170 ballots have been cast – 153 Republicans and 17 Democrats. Friday is the last day for Early Voting with Election Day next Tuesday, March 4.
Vote continued on A3
Island Veterans Remember the Forrestal Ceremony is Saturday in Brownsville By Dale Rankin When the aircraft carrier USS Forrestal pulled into port for the last time in Brownsville last week it marked the bittersweet end of an era for three Island veterans. “We were proud to be part of the Forrestal’s long history,” said Islander Ray Morais, who served as an AVH 3 on the ship’s Mediterranean Cruise in 1961. “We will be there in Brownsville to see her at the end of her service.” The 1,063-foot-long aircraft carrier entered the jetties at the Port of Brownsville ship channel last week headed for its final destination at All Star Metals’ ship-recycling facility, where it will be dismantled and sold for scrap; an ignominious end for such a proud lady. A ceremony honoring the ship and those who served on her, the first of the Navy’s
Forrestal continued on A3
Editors note: Here is the official version of the work going on along the SPID/JFK Causeway corridor from the Texas Department of Transportation.
Resurfacing, Operational Improvements For Park Road 22, Sh 361 Expect single lane closures beginning Monday (Feb. 24); work will stop for Spring Break.
A project is scheduled to begin Monday (February 24) to resurface a major portion of Park Road 22 and to make operational improvements at the road’s intersection with SH 361 on Padre Island. Weather permitting, crews will repair pavement and resurface the main lanes and shoulders of PR 22 from just east of Waldron
Traffic continued on A4
Port Aransas Actress on Screen Actors Guild Awards Nominating Committee Reminisces About Past Acting and New Movies By Brent Rourk It is common knowledge that the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) Awards and the Golden Globe Awards are considered a precursor to the Oscars. What is not so well known is that one Islander this year, long-time Port Aransas resident Bonnie Isaac, was on the nominating committee for the SAG Awards. She was chosen by the Screen Actors Guild to be a member of the Nominating Committee that selects the five best movie actors from several categories and forwards those choices to the Selection Committee.
“It was a fun honor to be a part of the nominating committee. I carefully reviewed Bonnie Isaac in The Seven Year Itch play with 37 films over the course of a few weeks. I Joey Bishop and Cybil Shephard also read the production company printed but Bonnie took it seriously. She will not material, which was vast and creative as be eligible, according to SAG rules, to be a well as informative,” she said. “It was a cool and very interesting thing to be a part of, she Nominating Committee member again for 8 added, “I am pretty sure that I am the only years. Screen Actors Guild Nominating Committee There are 2100 randomly selected members Member in Port Aransas.” each year (from over 165,000 tactive SAG As part of the job Bonnie poured over the members) who have the opportunity to serve on library of printed material that SAG sent to her the Nominating Committee for film (an equal and then she sat down and watched movie after number of randomly selected members serve on movie, taking notes, comparing and evaluating. a Nominating Committee for television). Those It was a lot of work in a short amount of time, SAG continued on A7
A little Island history
Island was Once Home to Thriving Salt Mining Industry
By Dale Rankin When it comes to salt The Island has plenty. But not just the kind that sticks to your skin in the surf. There was a time when the south end of The Island was the source for thousands of pounds of salt production each year. Sixty miles down bay in the Laguna Madre, from the early 1850s to 1874 salt was a major industry. The Laguna Madre was extremely salty in those days and as the action of the wind and tide washed up the hyper saline water on the shore and the sun evaporated the water the residual were solid sheets of salt, like lake ice, which was cut away in blocks and loaded onto small boats and taken to mills where windmills would grind it into everything from table salt to ice cream salt, to salt licks for cattle. At its height the industry employed 150 men in the salt harvest and the mined product was taken to Captain Anderson’s salt mill in downtown Corpus Christi and then exported. The village of Laguna Vista, at a site now on State Highway 100 and Farm Road 510
twenty miles east of San Benito and five miles northwest of Port Isabel overlooking Laguna Madre in eastern Cameron County, was settled in the early 1800s by Mexican salt traders who transported salt through the region to northern Mexico. Ranchers followed the traders, and eventually a community was formed The industry met its end at the hands of a hurricane in September, 1874 when the location now known as Pensacal Point where
History continued on A3