The
Issue 567
Island Moon
Weekly
The voice of The Island since 1996
February 26, 2015
Around The Island By Dale Rankin
editor@islandmoon.com It was the Greek philosopher Diogenes who said, “Dogs and philosophers do the greatest good and get the fewest rewards.” Well, we can’t speak about Island philosophers, who seem mostly to get their rewards on Island bar stools, but if old Diogenes had a look at Island weather in the middle of this week we think he’d have to agree that Island dogs got a few rewards. After a few days of spitting rain and blowing cold air, midweek the skies cleared, the wind lay down, and Island dogs took to the beach to enjoy the Dog Days of Winter. Spring is still almost three weeks away, Daylight Saving Time is one week away, and Spring Break 2015 will come cruising our way OTB on the weekend of March 7. Which reminds us of another of Diogenes' spurious emissions, “What I like to drink most is wine that belongs to others.” Diogenes would have made a great Spring Breaker.
Elongated Spring Break Speaking of Spring Break 2015, while some schools, mostly in the northeast, begin their Spring Break on the weekend of February 28 (Rice is the only Texas school, go figure), the good/bad news is that the 2015 version of Spring Break will be stretched out over three weekends instead of the usual two, which means the Island Traffic Attack will be spread over a longer period of time but maybe without the peaks in traffic that usually lock up Island roads. Most of the schools through the middle of the county which feed students onto local beaches for Spring Break start the fun on the weekend of March 7 with the others beginning on March 14 and stretching through March 21. So when you stock the pantry and identify alternative Island driving routes for Spring Break 2015 keep in mind that will be a three-week event this year. For we Islanders Spring Break is like a prostate exam – it feels so good when it stops.
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Photo by George Brandalick
Plan for a New Marina in Port Aransas DESIGN FRAMEWORKS Vision
20th Annual Billy Sandifer Big Shell Beach Cleanup This Saturday Volunteers needed If you have ever taken a fourwheeler south down Padre Island National Seashore you know that anything that any flotsam or jetsam that falls into the Gulf of Mexico is picked up by the converging tides and eventually finds its way to Big Shell beach, which begins about twenty miles down PINS adjacent to Cuba Island and runs another ten miles southward.
Proposed new marina development By Dale Rankin
It is arguably the most beautiful part of Padre Island and certainly one of the most unspoiled; except for the debris that washes up. If you ever need a hardhat, driftwood, rope, a life jacket, a bottle from Mexico, or just about anything that can be found on an offshore oil rig Big Shell Beach is the place to go.
DESIGN FRAMEWORKS
The most valuable asset owned by the City of Port Aransas is a 67-acre tract of land near Charlie’s Pasture on the backside of The Island, bordering on the Laguna Madre valued at about $25 million. On Tuesday the people of Port Aransas got their first look at a plan to develop the area which could change the face of Port Aransas over the next decade. The Marina Market and Waterfront Development Study was presented to the Port Aransas City Council by Gignac & Associates calls for, among other amenities, a new Municipal Marina at Charlie’s Pasture and surrounding amenities which would generate $2.7 million new revenue
Program Framework
For the past twenty years longtime Island guide and naturalist Captain Billy Sandifer has been organizing the Billy Sandifer Big Shell Beach Cleanup and this Saturday, February 28, Captain Billy and friends are headed to Big Shell to remove trash that has accumulated since last year.
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Marina continued on A4
New Canal System Being Dug in Port Aransas
Everyone is invited and your help is needed. Volunteers will meet at 8 a.m. at Malaquite Pavilion at PINS and ride four-wheelers to the cleanup site. If you have a four-wheeler bring it. It’s a day out on a beautiful stretch of Texas beach for a good cause, don’t miss it if you can.
Inside the Moon
Outliers One of the annual amusements for Moon Mike, the founder of this newspaper, was to cruise the skinny beach along the west side of the JFK Causeway each Spring Break and talk to the misguided Spring Breakers who couldn’t read a map. They set up their tent right next to the road and by the time Mike showed up they were starting to figure out that maybe something was out of whack; like they were a couple of hundred miles off target.
Spring Break Schedule A5
Dee-Scoveries A6
“Where is everybody?” they would ask, “Isn’t this South Padre? “No this is North Padre Island – or Upper Padre if you prefer.” “But the sign says South Padre Island Drive.” “Yea, I know.” “So how do I get to South Padre Island?” Wait for it…”You go north on South Padre Island Drive.” Silence. “How far is it?” “Two hours at least.”
New development across Highway 361 from Cinnamon Shores
Seashore Middle Academy Scores at Science Fair Five SMA Students Reap Top Awards
“North on South Padre Island Drive to get to South Padre Island!? That doesn’t make any sense.”
By Dale Rankin Anyone driving State Highway 361 between Padre Island and Port Aransas in the past several weeks has probably noticed a massive earthmoving operation going on along the bay side of The Island just south of Port Aransas.
The site work is being done by the Brookdale Corporation based in Atlanta and includes the dredging and widening of Flato’s Cut which runs from the Laguna Madre on the bay side of The Island to within a few hundred yards of the highway. It
Canal continued on A3
A little Island history
A Trip to The Island in 1945
“No it doesn’t. None whatsoever.” Keep an eye out, there’s at least one every year.
By Dale Rankin Editor’s note: Bobbie Kimbrell moved to Flour Bluff in 1944 and was a commercial fisherman for more than fifty years until his retirement. He lives in Flour Bluff.
Shark Week
Winter Texan Roundup A15-16
By Bobbie Kimbrell
A crew from the Discovery Channel has been in Port Aransas for a couple of weeks shooting a series for Shark Week in July. They are going offshore and tagging primarily Mako sharks by placing a camera on their dorsal fin to see what they’re up to down there. The sharks have to be ten feet long or more in order for the fin to be big enough to mount the camera. Don't forget to say hello if you see us Around The Island.
SMA Science students Tatiana Ortiz and Mathew Daugird By Brent Rourk SMA Students scored very well last Saturday at the 27th Annual Valero and Texas A&M University Corpus Christi Regional Science Fair, while students from both SMA and SLC competed at the Scripps Regional
Seashore continued on A4
In 1945, during my senior year at Flour Bluff High School, a couple of buddies and I decided we wanted to go to Padre Island near Packery Pass and do some exploring since we had never been there before. The only way you could get to Padre Island from Flour Bluff was by boat or by car driving to Port Aransas then down the beach across Corpus Christi Pass then to Padre Island. We talked my dad into letting us use his boat. It was a sixteen-foot tunnel stern skiff
Bobby Kimbrell 2005- photo by Yong Suk Lloyd with a three horsepower Onan aircooled engine in it and steered by an oar in an oar lock mounted on the stern. My dad used the skiff for
History continued on A6
Live Music A16