Inside the Moon
Volcom Surf Contest A2
Scout Regatta A4
Fishing A7
The
Issue 598
Island Moon
The voice of The Island since 1996
October 1, 2015
Around The Island By Dale Rankin editor@islandmoon.com
Kiwanis Walk A11
Ronnie Narmour Leaves the Bar! A18
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Agreement Reached to Patrol Kleberg Beaches
Photo by Michelle Solarek
Flour Bluff Homecoming Parade Photos by Kimberly Gadberry
More on A16
The sun sets on Lawless Kleberg Beach
There it was, rising up out of the Gulf like a blood-red ball of Karankawan terror sent to arouse the aborigines population from their sloth and do some hunting and gathering. The modern aborigines lined up at the parking lot on the seawall for their look at the Full Blood Moon that rose right on cue Sunday evening for the first time since 1982 and won’t be seen again until 2033. Over the course of the next five hours the Music of the Spheres rang out all over our Island as each of us was reminded that we are but a tiny cog clinging to a 30,000 year-old sandbar in the great big wheelhouse of the universe.
. Photo by Dwight Jackson By Dale Rankin
This is my father's world And to my listening ears All nature sings, and round me rings The music of the spheres The arrival of the full moon, and its total eclipse, which was closest to the earth in its orbit combined with the disturbance in the Gulf of Mexico, announced its arrival with high tides that pushed the surf line to the dunes on most of our local beaches this week. According to the local Weather Service office tides were already running 1-1.2 feet above normal due to the nearness of the Moon. As we watched the blackening of the Moon we couldn’t help but think back to March 1, 1504 as Christopher Columbus sat inside his ship stranded in Jamaica after his cheating sailors had angered the local Indians who had cut off the food supply to his crews. But wily old Columbus had an astronomer up his sleeve, consulting the almanac of Abraham Zacuto Columbus knew that a lunar eclipse was coming and requested a meeting with the Indian leader and told him that his god was angry because of the treatment of his men by the natives. He told them his god would show his displeasure by making the Moon appear “inflamed with wrath.”
After almost a year of talks an agreement is now complete for Nueces County to take over management of 6280 acres of land along the norther border Padre Island National Seashore in Kleberg County bringing to a close decades of decadent behavior, including a nude beach, fostered by a lack of law enforcement presence.
Land purchased by Nueces County
Clearing Around Paradise Pond Draws Attention People of Port Aransas divided
By Jackie Bales
Nueces County purchased the land in January with a $1 million grant from the Ed Rachal Foundation which also agreed to provide $70,000 to purchase a patrol vehicle and fund a new position to allow Precinct 4 Nueces County Constable Bobby Sherwood to patrol the area, with ticket revenue going to Kleberg County. An interlocal agreement, in the form of a Memorandum of Understanding, was sent to Kleberg County officials several months ago and has now been approved by Kleberg officials, pending formal receipt of the paperwork, according to Precinct 4 Nueces County Commissioner Brent Chesney.
Kleberg continued on A5
A little Island history
When crews from AEP began clearing trees around Paradise Pond last month birders took notice. Not that cutting the Brazilian Pepper trees was a big concern, but the loss of migrating bird habitat was. The area is located behind San Juan’s Restaurant on Cut-Off Road and extends to the birding center at Charlie’s Pasture. The land around Paradise Pond is owned by the City of Port Aransas and AEP has a thirtyfoot wide easement on the northwest side of the pond. The adjacent property is owned by Gary Sweetman of Port Street LLC who is planning to build a 115 unit residential complex. The developer is Nick Lorette who
Citizens concerned over the clearing gathered at Paradise Pond on Tuesday
Pond continued on A14
The Beginning of Island Development
Right on cue the red Moon made its appearance as Columbus went to his cabin to “pray” for the return of the light while timing the eclipse with his hour glass and shorty before the light returned to the lunar surface emerged to announce that all was forgiven since, as his son later wrote: “with great howling and lamentation they came running from every direction to the ships, laden with provisions, praying the Admiral to intercede by all means with God on their behalf; that he might not visit his wrath upon them ...” We can only wonder what went through the minds of the Karankawa who inhabited these balmy shores during that lunar event while they were waiting for Cabeza de Vaca to wash up but we can say that 511 years later the Full Blood Moon has visited nothing but nice weather and cheap gas on our Little Sandbar this week; and for that folks we can all howl and lament to our Island heart’s content. Strange as it may sound it’s time to start thinking about your Halloween costume everybody, for yourself and for you four-legged friends at Dr. Christi’s place. In the meantime say hello if you see us Around The Island.
The PIIC vision for what the Island would become, circa 1972 Over the years we have accumulated a great deal of information in the form of pamphlets, flyers, promotional material and other memorabilia from the early development of The Island. The hope is that at some point
we will have an Island museum to house it, but in the meantime we will begin running some of it in these pages. So here we go in no particular order…
History continued on A5