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361-949-7700 editor@islandmoon.com The Island Newspaper since 1996 Facebook : The Island Moon Newspaper
September 26, 2013
The sooner we catch all the fish the sooner we can find out where they hide their money. Next Publication Date: 10/3/2013 Facebook: The Island Moon Newspaper
Around The Island
By Dale Rankin editor@islandmoon.com By Dale Rankin
In Atlanta, front yard trash is attracting an infestation of feral hogs which are so bad parents are afraid to send their children to bus stops. The hogs are bad enough but if the trash is so bad it is bringing wild country hogs into the city that’s a whole different story. Burger King announced this week its new diet “Satisfries” will have only 270 calories instead of the 340 in the current fries. Is this a great country or what? Diet French fries. Dang! In Kentucky a 31 year-old pregnant women escaped from jail twice in one week. The second time she climbed out through the ceiling of the jail wearing only a t-shirt and a towel. Just a suggestion but if the law dogs want to find her just hang out at the stage door of the Jerry Springer Show. Look for the girl wearing a towel.
On The Island… Here on our little Island the feral hogs are under control (as far as we know), we like the French fries at Snoopy’s just the way they are, and as far as we know all our pregnant women who belong in jail are still there. We are all doing the home version of the Skeeter Dance though as the recent rains have brought out the Skeeter Fleet in full bloom. Don’t wear your white pants – not because it’s after Labor Day as we don’t stand on ceremony hereabouts – but because they will be red polka dotted before long as you squash the little boogers as they dig in. When is someone going to invent a Skeeter Swatter that works?
Change of seasons The sun crossed the celestial equator this week bringing in the equinox and kicking off autumn in our hemisphere and spring for the folks down under. Here on The Island it marks the beginning of the change from Texas tourists bearing ice chests to Winter Texans bringing RVs and little yappy dogs. We welcome them all. Beach driving has been excellent of late as the high tides that accompany the machinations of the planets and the recent rains have packed down the beach sand to almost concrete-hard surfaces. A drive down the eight miles of beach from Bob Hall to the sticks at PINS last week showed waterlines that had been to the foot of the dunes and only three naked men cowering in their cars from the influx of civilians. It’s getting harder and harder to be a Naked Man of Kleberg. We also got our first northern of the season on Saturday. We’ll name this one Andre after our friend and fellow Beach Bum Andre who recently moved back here from Daytona Beach where his Florida transplant just didn’t take. Welcome home Andre.
Green grass and high tides The rain greened everything up and the high water rose up over the new boat ramps next to the JFK Causeway which were raised several feet last year to keep that from happening. The high water brought work on the new parking lot at the site to a standstill. But take heart fellow Islanders as this too shall pass.
Manatee sighting We had a report from Diver Dave of a manatee in an Island canal last weekend but the water was too murky to get a photograph. Dave says the only thing he could really see were two nostrils coming up for air but there was no mistaking it was a manatee. We get one every once in a while and they usually stick around for a few days, so keep an eye out for a wandering manatee. We won’t give this one a name until we get his picture for the Moon.
Time to hit the beach!
This Saturday is 27 Adopt-A-Beach
th
Year 16, Issue 493
Corpus Christi Nearshore Reef is In! 10.2 nautical miles off Packery Channel
This Saturday is the day for cleaning up our local beaches after the busiest tourist season every. The 27 Annual Adopt-A-Beach cleanup is on for Saturday, September 28. Volunteers may register at check-in sites between 8:30 a.m. and 9 a.m. on Saturday, September 28 (St. Jo Island volunteers must register in advance.) The cleanup will take place at 29 sites around the state. Now in its 27th year, 446,000 Adopt-A-Beach volunteers have picked up 17 million pounds of litter from the Gulf Coast. To participate, register at www.TexasAdoptABeach.org. Volunteers should wear closed-toe shoes, a hat and sunscreen. They will be provided with data cards, gloves, pencils and trash bags. Then on November 2 another, and first-time, cleanup will take place on Padre Island National Seashore. We will have more on that event as it gets closer. The cleanup does more than simply remove litter from the beach. Data collected from previous Adopt-A-Beach cleanups played an important role in the passage of an international treaty (MARPOL Annex V) restricting the dumping of plastics in the world’s oceans. In 1991, the International Maritime Organization prohibited the dumping of trash, except for finely ground food scraps, into the Gulf of Mexico.
Local cleanup sites in the area are: North Padre Island - Check-in: Padre Balli Park Office, 15820 Park Rd. 22. Contact: Jim Needham—Surfrider Foundation, 361-8252708 or Todd Dwyer, 361-853-9877, Gladys Choyke, 361-816-1243. Cleanup continued on A7
Ode To Archie’s Boat
By Dale Rankin The barge made its way through the pass at Port Aransas Tuesday morning. On board was the material that by day’s end would be below 73 feet of water 10.6 nautical miles from the mouth of Packery Channel. Material, including concrete pyramids, will be in place by the weekend and ready for anglers and divers to enjoy. The work this week is the result of four years of work by several local organizations. “The program began to come together in 2009, as Saltwaterfisheries Enhancement Association (SEA) was organizing our awareness campaign for the loss of Gulf marine habitat due to the removal of oil and gas production platforms,” said Mike Hurst, SEA Director of Offshore Issues. “After discussing the possibility of an artificial reef near Corpus Christi in State waters Reef continued on A7
Legend
_ ^
TPWD ARP Reef Sites County Lines SAN PATRICIO
0
´
1.25 2.5 5 Nautical Miles
ARANSAS
Mustang Island Liberty Ship Reef Water Depth (ft): 110 Distance from Port (nm): 18.15 miles Nearest Port: Port Aransas Latitude: 27.569759 Longitude: -96.858589
7.5
Boatmen’s Reef Water Depth (ft): 60 Distance from Port 4.75 miles Nearest Port: Port Aransas Port Aransas Latitude: 27.773918 Longitude: -96.971100
Corpus Christi Nearshore Reef (new) Water Depth (ft): 73 Distance from Packery Channel 10.6 miles Nearest Port: Packery Channel Latitude: 27.646706 Longitude: -97.007675
Boatmen's
_ ^
Lonestar
_ ^
Corpus Christi
NUECES
KLEBERG
Lonestar Reef Water Depth (ft): 72 Distance from Port (nm): 8.81 Nearest Port: Port Aransas Latitude: 27.691977 Longitude: -96.975266
^ Nearshore Reef _
For a complete list of Texas offshore reefs see www.tpwd.state.tx.us/gis/ris/artificialreefs/
On the Rocks By Jay Gardner
Archie’s boat went down last night It was such an awesome sight There was lighting rain and thunder Then old Archie’s boat went under Neighbors began to gather soon One of them put it in the Moon Archie said he was ready for it to go
The Texas Parks and Wildlife Artificial Reef Program was started in 1990 due to response of the loss of rigs and the wants of the fishing and diving community. Scientists have long known that the artificial oil and gas structures provide a base on to which a variety of invertebrates will attach to and thrive on. This basis of the food chain, which includes barnacles, hard and soft corals, sponges, clams, bryozoans, and hydroids (half plant, half animals) of course, attracts a diversity of tropical and sports fish.
Disappearing rigs Anyone that’s paying attention out of Packery over the past year has realized that we’ve lost four out of the ten nearshore structures that you can see standing from the beach. That’s a lot
One Big Fire By Carole Jenness and Two Faulty Seashore Middle Hydrants Make for a Academy Kids Need Smoldering Mess Your Help The old boat went down real real slow!
of habitat lost that had been standing for 30plus years in some instances. Unlike Florida and the Caribbean, Texas has a paucity of hard structures and corals for the invertebrates to flourish on. Early records from commercial fisheries indicates that Texas red snapper were “not significant” enough to support any effort. This is because Texas nearshore waters are by and largely a sandy desert. With the oil boom in the 50-70’s, many structures were placed within State waters to capture natural resources under these shifting sands. Many of the sessile organisms that build the food chain are broadcast spawners, which means their eggs and larvae float around in the loop current for hundreds of miles until they encounter hard structure upon which they can attach and thrive. Nowadays, Texas has arguably one of the better snapper populations in the Gulf due to the
On the Rocks continued on A7
A little Island history
The Island Begins Changing from Ranching to “Tin Can Tourists and Omissive Bathing Suits” as the 1920s Roar In
Run for the border We Moon Monkeys made a pilgrimage to The Gaff last week to see Kinky Friedman. It was one of those truly enchanting Island events as about one hundred people, all locals, turned up to hear the Kinkster spins tales of Irish revolutionaries and revelries with Eric Clapton. The Kinkster is running for something in the state elections next November - “probably the border.” But alas, if the past is any indicator his limited constituency will likely return him to the private sector. Such is the fate of the tilter at windmills on the Wild Horse Prairie. The next eight weeks are the sweet spot in the Island climate when the weather is cooler, the water is warm and the fish are fighting each other to get to bait. Get out there and enjoy it folks. And say hello if you see us Around The Island.
By Dale Rankin Seashore Middle Academy Superintendent Barbara Beeler wants to send sixty students from Seashore Middle Academy to Outdoor camp in Burton, Texas next April. The cost of the camp is $165 per student and $8000 is needed to help pay for the trip. The camp focuses on team building and is built around various activities such as kayaking, archery, climbing, and games. It lasts for three days the students work at various fundraising activities through the year to help pay the costs. The camp runs from March 31- April 2, 2014. If you can help send donations to: Seashore Middle Academy, 15437 SPID, Corpus Christi, TX, 78418.
zFire crews from Station 15 arrived within two minutes of getting the call. Following protocol they rushed to the nearest fire hydrant at the corner of Palmira and Almeria to hook up and that’s when the trouble started. It was late Saturday morning when two kids ran into office at Island Storage Company in the 15,000 block of SPID and told the manager there was smoke coming from a unit on the north side of the sprawling complex. But when firefighters tried to hook up to the hydrant at Palmira and Almeria it was so rusted Fire continued on A4
P F Dunn’s grandson Pat DunnRobinson on the Island circa 1928 Editor’s note: Greg Smith is an Islander and descendent of the Dunn Ranching family. By Greg Smith As the United States entered the 1920’s it was a time of tremendous change. The Great War had just ended; the Country found itself quite thirsty with prohibition starting and History continued on A6