February 18, 2016
Letters to the Editor
Moon Monkeys Mike Ellis, Founder
Clyde
Pete Alsop Island Delivery Coldwell Banker Advertising Jan Park Rankin Classifieds Arlene Ritley Production Manager Jeff Craft Contributing Writers Joey Farah Andy Purvis
After work I went to the back door of flats lounge and I sat amongst a beautiful display of hundreds of flowers and candles alit. I talked to God. I talked to Clyde. I prayed. I left heavy hearted but I felt protected and loved. No one can answer the question why. The men were caught and they will be punished. As I stood up to leave I thanked him for being an unfaltering friend. I said see ya again one day and I wiped my tears and went home. Don't go a single day with out telling your loved ones how much you love them because you may not get a second chance. Julie Powell White
Devorah Fox
Wake
Mary Craft Maybeth Christiansen Todd Hunter Dotson Lewis Ronnie Narmour Brent Rourk Dr. Donna Shaver Photographers Miles Merwin Jeff Dolan Mary Craft Ronnie Narmour Office Security/Spillage Control (Emeritus) Riley P. Dog
Here is the image of yet another boater caught in the act of ignoring the no wake laws in front of my house. Our kids swim in the canal and so does our dog. We kayak and fish often. And we do not appreciate these idiots disregarding our safety and damaging our dock. There were no fewer than five boaters speeding through our canal this weekend and we are sick and tired of it. SLOW DOWN. If you dare to break the no wake law in front of our home, be prepared, the next picture in the Moon could be you! Michael Clark
Publisher Dale Rankin About the Island Moon
The Island Moon is published every Thursday, Dale Rankin, Editor / Publisher. Total circulation is 10,000 copies. Distribution includes delivery to 4,000 Island homes, free distribution of 3,000 copies in over 50 Padre Island businesses and condos, as well as 600 copies distributed in Flour Bluff, 1,400 copies on Mustang Island and Port Aransas businesses. News articles, photos, display ads, classified ads, payments, etc. may be left at the Moon Office.
The Island Moon Newspaper 14646 Compass, Suite 3 Corpus Christi, TX 78418 361-949-7700 Facebook: The Island Moon Newspaper
Where to Find The Island Moon
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North Padre
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And all Moon retail advertisers
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On several recent nice beach days the sand road is full of people playing football, throwing Frisbees, bar b queuing; the things people come to the beach to do. The PROBLEM is that the city has created only this narrow sand road for our visitors to do these things in. A Massive safety issue has now been created. ATTENTION NORTH PADRE ISLAND BUSINESS OWNERS: when our summer visitors arrive to enjoy our beaches they will not be able to even get to the water, be able to park anywhere but in the sand road and be in fear of their children being run over. These visitors will then go down to Kleberg county beaches, PINS, or Port Aransas where their tourist dollars will be spent elsewhere. STOP THE MADNESS of THE SANDPILES. It simply makes NO SENSE
Moon, Drugs are so accessible and accepted part of culture in Port A, that this type of tragedy was always moments away. Some of the people screaming the loudest for justice are part of this culture. It is all fun and games, until someone you care about is hurt. Many of my friends and family stopped vacationing in Port A, because of petty theft. Auto being broken into, etc.
Please make some calls if you want to continue enjoying our beach:
As an outsider looking in, it appears the "real" riffraff has arrived. I am truly sorry that you folks lost a good friend.
Management Assistant: Martha Lowhon 361826-3469
Phylajanes, Alamo Heights
editor@islandmoon.com
Anyone who has attempted to enjoy our beaches from South Packery Channel south past the Michael .J Ellis seawall to access road 4 has had a problem the last several months. The city of Corpus Christi has been piling sand up at the water’s edge since last fall creating a 3-6 foot high sand berm that is 50 plus feet wide. They have scraped a road behind this berm which creates lakes when it rains. This "road" now requires constant grading as the south easterly winds blow the soft sand back into it making it impassable for an average vehicle. An average vehicle cannot possibly cross this sand berm to get to the water. It is actually difficult to even walk across it as its so high and soft. If a visitor parks on the sand road the berm is so high that the water is not even visible. Recently there have been installed "No Parking" signs along the sand road on the natural dune side of sand road. If a normal vehicle cannot cross this huge sand barrier and not park on the sand road.... where the heck are the beach visitors supposed to park?? (this after purchasing a beach parking permit) I attended an ISAC meeting in December to inquire as to what the plan was. I was told to "have patience". An ISAC member, Jay Gardner, who is with the beach advisory board contacted me via email and explained that the sand movement was to widen the beach in front of the seawall so that the bollards now in place at south end of seawall can be removed. Well as of 2-15-16 there has been NO sand placed in the pedestrian beach between the bollards nor has the sand been situated as to widen the beach in the seawall area. What’s up with that?? The giant, long, wide, visitor prohibiting sand berm simply continues to grow in height and width.
Anybody recognize this jerk?
Jay Gardner
Did Ya Hear?
What on Earth is the City Doing to Our Beach???
Distribution
Port Aransas
A3
Island Moon
Beach Maintenance & Island Parks Interim Beach Superintendent: Reba George 361-8264168 Beach Parking Permit Coordinator: Sam Armstrong 361-826-4184
Seriously Concerned, Kelly Byrom
Election It’s an election year. Early voting starts tomorrow. As a former high school government teacher I don’t have it in me not remind you to GO VOTE!!! I don’t care WHO you vote for, I don’t care if you are Democrat or Republican, Libertarian or Green Party… JUST. GO. VOTE. Let me explain my passionate for our American right to vote. This is my cousin Nick. Nick and I were very, very close. He was the first baby I ever held. We spent summers on the Texas coast playing in the sand, Christmas and 4thof July holidays together (where he slipped firecrackers in a metal coffee can under my chair). He hated all my boyfriends until Scott, he put together my kids’ toys at Christmas, and had my son rappelling off the roof at age 7…basically he was the little brother I never had. Nick struggled in school. He was dyslexic, ADHD and just plain ornery! At 19 he joined the Army. Where he had struggled in school, he excelled in the military. He was born to be a soldier. One of his first overseas deployments was with a UN peace keeping mission in Sarajevo. He couldn’t stand seeing kids there with no pencils and crayons, so he wrote home and had his mom organize the sending of school supplies for he and the other soldiers to give out to the kids. In 2005, Nick was sent on the first of two deployments to Iraq. Nick was an MP whose unit was sent to aid in the security of the first free election in Iraqi history. They literally guarded the ballots as they made their way across the country. Insurgents were determined to stop the election. Their plan was to create as much chaos
by Mary Craft mkay512@aol.com or @padreeyelander on twitter
New Advertisers Coastal Eco Blasting is a mobile dustless media blasting for surface preparation, auto or boat paint removal and concrete or brick preparation. They come to you just call 944-6080.
Business Briefs The Black Diamond Oyster Bar on NAS Drive in the Bluff is now open with a bar and dining area. They have additional outdoor seating with fruit trees providing the shade. The Back Porch in Port A will re-open on Friday, February 26th. Boathouse Bar & Grill will host the Spring Fling Arts & Craft Fair with live music on Saturday, March 5th. Interested vendors can pick up an application at the Boathouse. The Blue Crab Coastal Interiors & Gifts near Scuttlebutt’s is having their grand opening on Thursday, February 25th noon – 6 pm. There will be wine tasting and hor d’oeuvres with door prizes and grab bags. Brush and bulky items can be put out February 24 – 28. The Annual Kite Day at the Padre Island National Seashore with kite flying club members giving tips and demonstrations will be held Saturday, February 20th 10 am to 3 pm. Island Tire offers vehicle inspections for $7 and they submit them electronically. Check out their coupons in this issue for a $22.70 oil change and $19.99 A/C service and Freon.
Beach There were letters in the latest Moon responding to the POA's letter including the rules for maintaining Island properties. They pointed out that the rule that palm trees should be trimmed of brown branches was misguided, and I agree. Untrimmed trees are healthier, and their untrimmed branches droop down to form excellent habitat for birds, lizards and other creatures. I think they are sometimes more attractive than the trimmed palms that are all bare trunk and a little green at the top. I also think that where we place our garbage cans is a much less significant problem than what we do with our weeds. Certainly the out-of-towners and working people need to get at least a little slack for timing of garbage can placement. I've been aware of most if not all of these rules for the last decade. If you want to boil them down to three words, all the rules say "Don't be trashy". I would also make clear that if you spray Round Up on foot tall weeds, that is not adequate action. It turns living green weeds into even uglier dead brown ones that persist for months if not manually removed. Susan Comer
as possible in hopes of preventing the election from happening. Their hope was that fear would stop the people from voting. Terrorists attacked the convoys carrying the ballots with IED’s. This happened to one of the convoys Nick was in and he was awarded a bronze star for valor for his actions that day. He sustained a TBI, traumatic brain injury, that day, which was the first of several he experienced during his tours in Iraq. The Iraqi elections did take place in December of 2005 thanks to the efforts of the many brave men and women who fought to protect that election. My family and I were so proud that Nick was there doing his part to protect their right to vote…and ours. Many Iraqi citizens stood in line for 13+ hours for the chance to cast that first vote. I remember seeing the pictures of those ink-dyed fingers to show they had voted and the smiles on their faces. Iraqis went to the polls that day knowing they could be attacked and possibly killed. American soldiers went to the polls that day to protect democracy in a nation that was not their own. Can you imagine having to be protected by men with body armor and guns because going to vote is that dangerous?! Voter turnout here in America suffers if it happens to be raining on Election Day! Heaven forbid there be a wait. In that first, historic, dangerous election, 78 percent of Iraqis voted. Voter turnout in the 2014 November election in Texas? 38%. No danger, no guns, no need for body armor, not even bad weather…and only 38 percent of us cared enough bother. We laid Nick to rest this past August. A series of traumatic brain injuries had earned him a medical retirement from the military, but had also caused lesions on his brain. He died at 36 from a grand maul seizure resulting from these lesions. I said I don’t care who you vote for, but I guess I really do. Vote for Nick. Vote for Nick and all the young men and women, past and present, who have served, who have come home changed in unimaginable ways, who have given up so much, including their lives, to protect our right to vote. Rain or shine… I will vote in every election for the rest of my life. In their honor, in his honor. Vote. For Nick. #VoteForSgtNick God bless our family, friends, and countrymen who serve. Leslie Milder Founder Friends of Texas Public Schools lmilder@fotps.org
Beach Signs
No Parking signs - first ones ever installed, in front of the Michael Ellis Seawall. Beach Management says they are supposed to indicate no parking on the Seawall side of the packed portion of, "the beach road." Supposed to mean parking allowed only on the east/water side of the beach road. No parking up near the Seawall, nor along Seawall side of the, "road." No way I could have understood that message, from these new, first ever, No Parking signs. Beach Management is currently reviewing these signs for ambiguity, and withholding enforcement, pending clarification. Now, there are also No Parking signs on the open beach space, between South Packery Channel, and the Seawall. IF these new No Parking zones were to remain in place and be enforceable, there will be very few places to park legally on firm ground, as there is now only very soft sugar-like, dry piles of sand to nearly the water's edge. Beach Management is also talking about enforcing No Driving within 50 feet of the water, and No Parking within 25 feet of the water. That doesn't leave much legal space for vehicles, nor parking. Bob Alego
Joshua Judges Ruth A lot of folks are writing about the friendship between two so-called 'political opposites' in the late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia and his fellow jurist, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. He a 'staunch conservative' and she a 'steadfast liberal.' Labels deserved only for simple minds. This relationship is not a matter of liberal versus conservative. It's about a meeting of great minds - and even greater humor. This truly great friendship should illustrate for us the kind of would-be leaders we, the American people, are electing. Then, we need to look at ourselves as citizens and ask, 'Are we going to elect fellow citizens who care for the good of one another - or partisans who care more about party than they do country?' Judges Scalia and Ginsburg care about country - through the joy of intellect, not the sorrow of stupidity. Michael Pearson