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Inside the Moon
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Annual LA POSADA
Lighted Boat Parade
GIrl Scouts A2
La Posada 2015 A5
High School Football A8
Moon on a Spoon A6
The
Issue 604
Island Moon
The voice of The Island since 1996
November 12, 2015
Around The Island By Dale Rankin editor@islandmoon.com It’s been a week of high tides and green grass, music, shrimp, sneak thieves, and transients following the B Bus routes so let’s jump right in. The high water has returned to our shores and canals and as it has moved through the passes there has been a shrimp migration that has brought out shrimp netters who have been plying the waters of the Packery of late which has brought out the Game Wardens who net the netters. For the past couple of weeks the wardens have been working the late shift to catch people using nets to catch shrimp along the Packery Channel. There have been some big shrimp in the canals and in the passes, and we mean big ones – so if you out to net them beware.
Following the B Bus You may have noticed an increase in guys wearing backpacks around The Island of late; guys who are too old to be students. As the cold weather up north has pushed the people who live outdoors to our balmy clime they have found their way OTB and more than a few have been observed around Island bus stops. The latest attraction for them has been this new bus stop on Whitecap near SPID.
And it may or may not be related, we don’t want to slander the outdoor living community, but there is a rash of car burglaries all over The Island of late. We are in the season when burglaries ratchet up but usually it is home burglaries and not vehicles. In the past couple of years CCPD has stepped up patrols this time of year and that has cut down on the homebased thieves but the car burglars have taken up their slack. We heard one case this week of the same vehicle being hit twice. Lock your cars and keep your garage doors down everybody. The sneak thieves will only get bolder as the Holiday Season rolls on.
Big ole bollards
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Photo by Dwight Jackson
Around continued on A3
Photo by Miles Merwin
Two Islands, Two Decisions, One Future Port Aransas City at a Crossroads
Decision on marina study could echo for decades By Dale Rankin DESIGN FRAMEWORKS
It may be a stretch to say that the future of the City of Port Aransas hangs in the balance over $50,000; but it is fair to say the fight over whether to spend it will outstrip the amount of money involved. On Thursday, November 19, the Port Aransas City Council will take a vote which may go down as a watershed day in the history of the town of 3480 citizens. At stake is whether to approve $50,000 for an environmental impact study that, if rejected, could push the reset button on a permit for a new city marina with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and likely mean that the potential marina on a 67-acre tract of land along the Corpus Christi Ship Channel would not happen in the next decade, and maybe never.
The Corpus Christi City Council met in Executive Session Tuesday to begin discussions on an agreement between the city and developer Paul Schexnailder for the funding and construction of the proposed Water Exchange Bridge on SPID/ Park Road 22. At issue is whether to fund the $10 million project with Certificates of Obligation or through the combined city/county Tax Increment Reinvestment Zone #2 which includes the business district on Padre Island and the stretch on SPID where the bridge would be located. The Corpus Christi City Council last year voted to make the bridge a priority for any funds left over from a 2012 bond package but Assistant City Manager Wes Pierson told the Island Strategic Action Committee he would not discuss how much money is left from the 2012 bonds. Sources since then say the bond money is about $3.5 million short of the needed $10 million; at question is where to find the money to fill the gap.
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DESIGN FRAMEWORKS Vision
The town is experiencing growing pains in every sector and the decision on whether to keep plans for a bigger (or new) marina alive has become the focal point of disagreement between citizens who say planning for future growth that is sure to come is the best way forward, and a group which hopes to keep the quaintness and traditional feel of the town in place by checking or at least controlling new growth including the marina.
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Hornet Angel Network Helps Families During Christmas Season By Kimberly Gadberry Christmas and the holidays are usually good times when families gather and exchange gifts and build memories. But what happens when the memories are of struggling to provide the gifts for family members? Such was the case many years ago when a teacher/ grandmother had no idea how she would be able to provide gifts for her two young grandchildren; when she mentioned the problem to a fellow teacher the Hornet Angel Network was born. The grandmother was asked to meet a couple at the varsity gym a few days later and when she arrived she found what seemed like an endless line of female basketball players who brought gifts for the grandmother to give her grandchildren. She was overwhelmed at the generosity and promised in return to “pay forward.”
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Are Phone Applications a Cure or Curse? Child Bullying, Sexting, Abuse On the Rise – How to Stop It? Writer’s Note: It should not come as a surprise to many Islanders that I have seen ample evidence of bullying, sexting, hateful language, and more on children’s cell phones. I have seen transcripts of conversations (calling them conversations is too nice) that might curl parent’s hair. Our little angels are not always little angels and sadly a few of
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Consensus Forming for Funding Water Exchange Bridge
By Dale Rankin
Program Framework
At issue is whether Port Aransas wants or needs an addition to the Dennis Dryer Municipal Marina at Roberts Point, with proponents wishing to spend money for the study to keep the existing Corps permit alive, or whether to reject the spending measure with the likelihood that the marina permit would lapse forcing the permitting process to begin anew and giving opponents more time to fight and kill it.
By Brent Rourk
There are some new and bigger wooden bollards on the beach at the entrance to the Padre Island National
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The decision comes at a crucial time for the city with a mayoral election pending next year when long-time Mayor Keith McMullin is termed out of office, summertime traffic is becoming a pressing issue, Mustang Island Airport is experiencing growing pains, there is unprecedented growth inside the City Limits along State Highway 361, lack of affordable housing for the town’s service industry workers has become an issue, and the proliferation of golf carts on city streets prompted the council this year to impose higher fees on commercial carts. As you may notice there is neither a bus bench nor shade, nor for that matter anywhere to stand and wait for the bus except in the adjacent sticker patch. The lack of facilities hasn’t been all that popular with the bus riding crowd who have used the patio at Whitecap Liquor across the street as their rallying point. Cathy called the transit authority who says they are bringing out a bench. But even with a bench that stop is going to be one Steaming Hombre come summertime.
Live Music A18
According to sources with knowledge of the discussions in Tuesday’s Executive Session at City Hall the consensus among council members is to fill the funding gap with money from the TIRZ which currently has more than $7 million, however, some of that money is earmarked for specific functions and cannot be redirected meaning that bonds may have to be used for the bridge funding. The TERZ was organized in 2003 in the wake of the Packery Channel project to capture property tax on new construction after that date and earmark it for improvements inside the TIRZ zone which is currently scheduled to expire in 2022. The bridge is the lynchpin in plans to connect development on both sides of the SPID roadway and to connect the existing Island canal system to Lake Padre and on to the open Gulf of Mexico through the Packery Channel. Aside from the funding the next step in the process is an Environmental Assessment of the project though the Texas Department of Transportation which requires a public hearing and period for public comment. TxDot spokesman Rickey Dailey said this week that notice of the public hearing and the beginning of the public comment period can start at the same time 30 days prior to the public hearing date and run concurrently, with the public comment period closing 15 days after the public hearing. After the public comments are received, the city must address any issues that arise and respond to those comments which could take more, or less, than 30 days depending on the extent of the comments and if any changes have to be made. Once the public hearing summary report and the Environmental
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Teacher Donna Gadberry with donated bicycles in 2012. The bicycles were donated to students in Flour Bluff as Christmas presents through the Hornet Angel Network. She is always collecting donated items to give to people in need. Photo by Kimberly Gadberry
La Posada Kick-Off in 3 Weeks! Registration Form & Map Inside Page A5
A little Island history
A World War II Story
Editor’s note. This Veterans’Day Islander Sheryl Palmer Wegmann is submitting excerpts from her book: A SENTIMENTAL JOURNEY—THE WAR YEARS. It is the story about her parents who belonged to The Greatest Generation. It is a tribute to all men and women in uniform and commemorates the 70th Anniversary of VE Day (8 May 1945). By Sheryl Palmer Wegmann My father, Leslie B. Palmer, entered the Army Air Corps after Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor December 7, 1941. He was 22 years old and an everyday young man from Mason, Michigan. Upon completion of his B-17 pilot training in May 1943, he was assigned to the 95th Bombardment Group (Heavy), 336th Bombardment Squadron, at the US base in Framlingham, England.
A B-17 named Cuddle Cat History continued on A4