island Moon Newspaper
1
We’ve begun dodging hurricanes a bit early this year. The remnants of Arlene passed over our Island at sunup in the middle of last week showing what was left of the eye on our western horizon and the scatter- ings of her outer bands to our east. We didn’t get any rain from the storm but our neighbors to the south in the Rio Grande Valley got up to five inches in some parts. We did get just enough rain of late to wash the salty deposits off our electrical lines so the rolling black- outs that become part of Island life during dry and windy times are a thing of the past, at least for now. As of this writing another tropical wave is out there struggling to be- come the third storm of the season. Having this many storms so ear- ly in the season gives a whole new meaning to Tropical Depression. As Moon Mike often said, we play chicken with just about every hurri- cane that enters the Gulf, especially if they come in south of Cuba. They come right at us for a while and then most of them turn, but every now and then one forgets about the turn- ing part. Snappin’ snappers The wind has finally let up on us a bit of late and that has been good news for fisherpersons but bad news for red snapper. With the red snap- per season in Federal waters - be- yond nine nautical miles - more than half over - June 1 to July 24 - anglers are reporting that there are snappers aplenty in both state and federal water. For more on that see Captain Art’s column in this issue. Up until the last couple of weeks swells have been mostly of the five to six feet variety and have kept small- er boats - and most bigger boats - in safer waters behind The Island. The inability to get out to fish offshore for smaller boats has meant that the snapper population has flourished and now with better conditions the snappers are a-snappin’. For best re- sults fisherpersons are using heavy weights to get bait to the bottom in a hurry before the “trash fish” can get at it and are reporting good catches of snapper. When it comes to back- deck grilling there isn’t much better than red snapper. You don’t have to call me ray Closer to shore the stingrays aren’t biting but they sure are stinging. Waders and surfers along both sides of Packery Channel are reporting large numbers of small rays moving through the water and in some cases stopping long enough to sink a barb into unwary swimmers. Five stings were reported in a single day last week in knee deep water and several others strung out over the last cou- ple of weeks. If you have never been stung by a stingray take our word for it, it’s not Next Publication Date: 07/29/2011 Year 15, Issue 392 The Island Where a Sandbar serves refreshments Phone (361) 949-7700 ● Email [email protected] The The The Island Moon Published by Island Moon Publishing, LLC 15201 S. Padre Island Drive Ste. 250 Corpus Christi, TX. 78418 [email protected] Island Moon Island Moon FREE FREE The Island Newspaper The Island Newspaper Island Area News ● Events ● Entertainment July 15, 2011 Around The Island By Dale Rankin [email protected] Moon Joins the Merchant Marine Page A 5 Inside the Moon Around Island Continued A 4 something you want to try. While they generally don’t cause any per- manent damage that’s hard to re- member while you are bleeding onto the beach. Water as hot as you can stand is said to be the best short term treatment but a doctor’s visit is usu- ally a good idea. So if you are going to go wading re- member to do the Sting Ray Shuffle to let them know you are coming. Island racoons We were startled last week to see a family of racoons making their way along Whitecap. A mother and a half-dozen babies were heading back into the weeds near Gypsy after working over a trash can. They are cute little fellows but you don’t want to tangle with one. They are mean when provoked especially a moth- er with her pups. These guys were minding their own business while trash diving in the middle of the af- ternoon. We don’t usually see that many of them on The Island. Missing skimmers We miss seeing the community of skimmers we used to see nesting Channel changed since Hurricane Ike $3.1 Million in Packery Channel Dredging Scheduled for Late 2011 By Dale Rankin In the first large scale dredging since the completion of Packery Channel a project is scheduled for later this year that will move 280,000 cubic yards of sand from the bot- tom of Packery Channel and place it on the portion of Ellis Beach in front of the seawall from the Holiday Inn to Whitecap. Diedre Williams, a Coastal Research Scientist from the Conrad Blucher Institute for Surveying and Science told the Island Strategic Action Committee that the dredging is necessary because of large amounts of sand deposited in the channel by Hurricane Ike in 2008. “The channel was able to cleanse itself of sand until Ike,” she said. “Since then sand deposits at the outer end of the channel and on the landward end of the channel have made it impossible for sand to get out. As a result we need to dredge.” She said about 89% of the sand deposited in the chan- nel is windblown sand rather than sand moved by tides. Hurricane Ike deposited “several years of sand into the system.” “Since Ike the channel has reached its capacity of what it can expel during the winter,” she said. A $3.1 million contract for the dredging is expected to be bid in September and the project will begin soon af- terward. A smaller scale project was completed last year when some shoaling was occurring near the boat ramps adjacent to S.H. 361 but this project will be much larger. Williams and the Institute were paid $293,400 in the 2001 budget to monitor the depth and overall condition of the channel. That is a drop from last year when it was $325,517. She said the amount was dropped when sci- entists found they could adequately monitor the channel with three surveys each year rather than four. Williams and the group have been keeping records of the chan- nel and the area around it since 2003 to find how best to maintain it. She said that their findings show that the conditions of the channel can be divided into three distinct sea- sons through the year: The peak summer season when Packery Continued A 4 Good news for local beaches City Beach Maintenance Crew to Double City staffers announced at the last meeting of the Is- land Strategic Action Committee that the funds have been found to double the size of the crews responsible for maintaining our beaches. The number of people will double from three to six and the equipment needed for the increased crew size will be purchased. The move comes after several months of talks between the city and council to reorganize the way beach clean- ing and maintenance is done. The money for the increase was leftover from last year’s hotel/motel occupancy tax and totaled $763,000. Of that $270,000 will go toward improving beach maintenance and $170,000 will go the Art Museum of South Texas. Under state law money from the HOT must be used to market and advertise rec- reational activities. City staff said the additional money will have a big im- pact on their ability to keep beaches clean especially dur- ing months when sargassum weed is arriving in bulk. Ends July 25 Public Comment Period Open for Reduced Speed Limit on PINS By Dale Rankin How fast is fast enough when it comes to driving on Pa- dre Island National Seashore? That is the question being put to the public during a public comment period which ends July 25. According to a beach impact environmen- tal assessment commissioned by Padre Island National Seashore the answer is 15 mph from March 1 through Labor Day. The rest of the year - Labor Day through February 28 it is 25 mph. The slower limit has been in place for the past two years during the nesting season of the Kemp’s ridley turtles which ends in July. The new rules would extend the pe- riod for the slower speeds through July until Labor Day. However, opponents of the slower speed limit objected to the implementation of the new limits without the as- sessment as required by the National Park Service rules. That assessment was completed in June and the 30 day public comment period began June 23. Citing an in- crease in four-wheel drive vehicles registered in Corpus Christi from 11,000 in 1996 to 18,000 in 2010 the study recommends dropping the speed limit to prevent “poten- tial” accidents. More Kemp’s ridley nests have been found at the Sea- shore than at any other single location in the United States but there are no reported incidents in park records of turtles being harmed by a vehicle. The records show that since 2000 there have been 34 accidents involving vehicles. Of those incidents 9% were direct collisions, 29% were rollovers, and 15% were cars which side- swiped each other. Most of the accidents - 56% - hap- pened within the first twenty miles of beach which is the most travelled. Eleven happened from that point south to the Mansfield Jetty. Under the new rules the speed limit would be reduced on the entire beach. The main objection to the new limit is from anglers who drive the 62 miles down the section of the beach that is four-wheel drive only. At 25 mph they say that takes about two and one half hours to drive to the Mansfield jetties, but they say under the new rules it would take about four hours. To read the environmental impact study or to comment on the change in speed limit go to the park website at parkplanning.nps.gov. Paddle for Parkinson’s Planning Meeting Set for Saturday, July 16 Paddle For Parkinson’s is a canal relay and park par- ty on September 3rd. Organizers will meet on Saturday, July 16th at 11:00 am at Billish Park to discuss plans and proposals. Any others that are interested in participating as a sponsor, vendor, or to learn more are welcome to at- tend. This includes non-profits that would like to raise money for their organization during the park party. In ad- dition to the kayak/stand-up paddle board relay, a canal poker run is being hosted by Funmeters the afternoon of September 3rd. Homes located on or near the main ca- nal that parallels Whitecap Blvd., that would like to host a ‘paddle’ party or pass out poker cards are requested to contact the organizers. Additionally, those who wish to practice the relay route, are invited to meet at 9:00 am at the Billish Park/ Mont Pelee boat ramp. Bring your kayak or stand-up paddle board and paddle all or part of the six mile re- lay. For more information, to purchase raffle tickets, reg- ister or volunteer, visit www.catchthecure.org. Or call 361-960-9597. New Sidewalks along Packery Channel Update on Island Projects Editor’s note: This is the latest in a series of updates on Island projects. Packery Channel For more on the upcoming dredging of Packery see the story in this issue. What is impressive are the walk- ways and amenities going up on both sides of the channel. A new 12-foot wide sidewalk is now complete from the parking lot adjacent to the boat ramps on the north side of the chan- nel near the SH 361 bridge. The walkway connect the parking lot to the foot of the north Packery jetty nearly a mile away. It is now complete and workers are putting the finishing touches on the fenc- ing which runs between the sidewalk and the channel. Also included in the $1.4 million project is a parking lot which is also nearing completion. The curbing and drainage is already in but neither the parking lot nor the road leading to it has been paved. The same type of development is also underway along the south jet- ty however the location of a parking lot has become problematic due to a prohibition of locating it near the dunes by the Texas General Land Office. Both projects are part of the six approved by voters when they ap- proved the digging of the Packery Channel in 2000. Water exchange bridge under SPID (Park Road 22) This project would build a bridge on SPID to allow for water from Lake Padre and the Gulf of Mexico to flow into the Island canal system. It was first proposed in 2004 when voters approved $1.4 million to build it. The total cost at that time was put at $2.3 million with the remainder to be paid by private money. How- ever, the city did not move on the project until the last few months at the request of Island United, the Is- land political action committee and the Island Strategic Planning Com- mittee, both of which have endorsed the project. The cost of the bridge is now esti- mated at $7 million and will include a boat canal with at least ten feet of clearance to allow boat traffic from the canals to reach Packery Channel. It would also include walking trails with paths wide enough to allow golf carts to pass. It’s exact location has not been de- termined but it will be somewhere near or on the Padre Isles Country Club. Developer Paul Schexnailder will extend the canal on the west side of SPID that now ends a few yards north of Whitecap near the golf course so it will connect with the bridge. Plans call for the bridge to be part of an 3000 foot riverwalk City Update Continued A 6 PINS Paparazzi July 4th Boat Parade Page A 2 Photo by Ronnie Narmour
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July 15, 2011 page 1
Transcript of island Moon Newspaper
We’ve begun dodging hurricanes a bit early this year. The remnants of Arlene passed over our Island at sunup in the middle of last week showing what was left of the eye on our western horizon and the scatter-ings of her outer bands to our east. We didn’t get any rain from the storm but our neighbors to the south in the Rio Grande Valley got up to five inches in some parts.
We did get just enough rain of late to wash the salty deposits off our electrical lines so the rolling black-outs that become part of Island life during dry and windy times are a thing of the past, at least for now.
As of this writing another tropical wave is out there struggling to be-come the third storm of the season. Having this many storms so ear-ly in the season gives a whole new meaning to Tropical Depression. As Moon Mike often said, we play chicken with just about every hurri-cane that enters the Gulf, especially if they come in south of Cuba. They come right at us for a while and then most of them turn, but every now and then one forgets about the turn-ing part.
Snappin’ snappersThe wind has finally let up on us
a bit of late and that has been good news for fisherpersons but bad news for red snapper. With the red snap-per season in Federal waters - be-yond nine nautical miles - more than half over - June 1 to July 24 - anglers are reporting that there are snappers aplenty in both state and federal water. For more on that see Captain Art’s column in this issue.
Up until the last couple of weeks swells have been mostly of the five to six feet variety and have kept small-er boats - and most bigger boats - in safer waters behind The Island. The inability to get out to fish offshore for smaller boats has meant that the snapper population has flourished and now with better conditions the snappers are a-snappin’. For best re-sults fisherpersons are using heavy weights to get bait to the bottom in a hurry before the “trash fish” can get at it and are reporting good catches of snapper. When it comes to back-deck grilling there isn’t much better than red snapper.
You don’t have to call me rayCloser to shore the stingrays aren’t
biting but they sure are stinging. Waders and surfers along both sides of Packery Channel are reporting large numbers of small rays moving through the water and in some cases stopping long enough to sink a barb into unwary swimmers. Five stings were reported in a single day last week in knee deep water and several others strung out over the last cou-ple of weeks.
If you have never been stung by a stingray take our word for it, it’s not
Next Publication Date: 07/29/2011 Year 15, Issue 392The Island Where a Sandbar serves refreshments
Phone (361) 949-7700 ● Email [email protected]
FreeFreeTheThe
The Island MoonPublished by Island Moon Publishing, LLC
15201 S. Padre Island Drive Ste. 250Corpus Christi, TX. [email protected]
Island MoonIsland Moon
FREEFREE
The Island NewspaperThe Island Newspaper
Island Area News ● Events ● Entertainment
July 15, 2011
Around The IslandBy Dale Rankin [email protected]
Moon Joins the Merchant Marine
Page A 5
Inside the Moon
Around Island Continued A 4
something you want to try. While they generally don’t cause any per-manent damage that’s hard to re-member while you are bleeding onto the beach. Water as hot as you can stand is said to be the best short term treatment but a doctor’s visit is usu-ally a good idea.
So if you are going to go wading re-member to do the Sting Ray Shuffle to let them know you are coming.
Island racoonsWe were startled last week to see
a family of racoons making their way along Whitecap. A mother and a half-dozen babies were heading back into the weeds near Gypsy after working over a trash can. They are cute little fellows but you don’t want to tangle with one. They are mean when provoked especially a moth-er with her pups. These guys were minding their own business while trash diving in the middle of the af-ternoon. We don’t usually see that many of them on The Island.
Missing skimmersWe miss seeing the community of
skimmers we used to see nesting
Channel changed since Hurricane Ike
$3.1 Million in Packery Channel Dredging Scheduled for Late 2011
By Dale Rankin
In the first large scale dredging since the completion of Packery Channel a project is scheduled for later this year that will move 280,000 cubic yards of sand from the bot-tom of Packery Channel and place it on the portion of Ellis Beach in front of the seawall from the Holiday Inn to Whitecap.
Diedre Williams, a Coastal Research Scientist from the Conrad Blucher Institute for Surveying and Science told the Island Strategic Action Committee that the dredging is necessary because of large amounts of sand deposited in the channel by Hurricane Ike in 2008.
“The channel was able to cleanse itself of sand until Ike,” she said. “Since then sand deposits at the outer end of the channel and on the landward end of the channel have made it impossible for sand to get out. As a result we need to dredge.”
She said about 89% of the sand deposited in the chan-nel is windblown sand rather than sand moved by tides. Hurricane Ike deposited “several years of sand into the system.”
“Since Ike the channel has reached its capacity of what it can expel during the winter,” she said.
A $3.1 million contract for the dredging is expected to be bid in September and the project will begin soon af-terward. A smaller scale project was completed last year when some shoaling was occurring near the boat ramps adjacent to S.H. 361 but this project will be much larger.
Williams and the Institute were paid $293,400 in the 2001 budget to monitor the depth and overall condition of the channel. That is a drop from last year when it was $325,517. She said the amount was dropped when sci-entists found they could adequately monitor the channel with three surveys each year rather than four. Williams and the group have been keeping records of the chan-nel and the area around it since 2003 to find how best to maintain it.
She said that their findings show that the conditions of the channel can be divided into three distinct sea-sons through the year: The peak summer season when
Packery Continued A 4
Good news for local beaches
City Beach Maintenance Crew to Double
City staffers announced at the last meeting of the Is-land Strategic Action Committee that the funds have been found to double the size of the crews responsible for maintaining our beaches. The number of people will double from three to six and the equipment needed for the increased crew size will be purchased.
The move comes after several months of talks between the city and council to reorganize the way beach clean-ing and maintenance is done. The money for the increase was leftover from last year’s hotel/motel occupancy tax and totaled $763,000. Of that $270,000 will go toward improving beach maintenance and $170,000 will go the Art Museum of South Texas. Under state law money from the HOT must be used to market and advertise rec-reational activities.
City staff said the additional money will have a big im-pact on their ability to keep beaches clean especially dur-ing months when sargassum weed is arriving in bulk.
Ends July 25
Public Comment Period Open for Reduced Speed Limit on PINS
By Dale Rankin
How fast is fast enough when it comes to driving on Pa-dre Island National Seashore? That is the question being put to the public during a public comment period which ends July 25. According to a beach impact environmen-tal assessment commissioned by Padre Island National Seashore the answer is 15 mph from March 1 through Labor Day. The rest of the year - Labor Day through February 28 it is 25 mph.
The slower limit has been in place for the past two years during the nesting season of the Kemp’s ridley turtles which ends in July. The new rules would extend the pe-riod for the slower speeds through July until Labor Day.
However, opponents of the slower speed limit objected to the implementation of the new limits without the as-sessment as required by the National Park Service rules. That assessment was completed in June and the 30 day public comment period began June 23. Citing an in-crease in four-wheel drive vehicles registered in Corpus Christi from 11,000 in 1996 to 18,000 in 2010 the study recommends dropping the speed limit to prevent “poten-tial” accidents.
More Kemp’s ridley nests have been found at the Sea-shore than at any other single location in the United States but there are no reported incidents in park records of turtles being harmed by a vehicle. The records show that since 2000 there have been 34 accidents involving vehicles. Of those incidents 9% were direct collisions, 29% were rollovers, and 15% were cars which side-swiped each other. Most of the accidents - 56% - hap-pened within the first twenty miles of beach which is the most travelled. Eleven happened from that point south to the Mansfield Jetty. Under the new rules the speed limit would be reduced on the entire beach.
The main objection to the new limit is from anglers who drive the 62 miles down the section of the beach that is four-wheel drive only. At 25 mph they say that takes about two and one half hours to drive to the Mansfield jetties, but they say under the new rules it would take about four hours.
To read the environmental impact study or to comment on the change in speed limit go to the park website at parkplanning.nps.gov.
Paddle for Parkinson’s Planning Meeting Set for Saturday, July 16
Paddle For Parkinson’s is a canal relay and park par-ty on September 3rd. Organizers will meet on Saturday, July 16th at 11:00 am at Billish Park to discuss plans and proposals. Any others that are interested in participating as a sponsor, vendor, or to learn more are welcome to at-tend. This includes non-profits that would like to raise money for their organization during the park party. In ad-dition to the kayak/stand-up paddle board relay, a canal poker run is being hosted by Funmeters the afternoon of September 3rd. Homes located on or near the main ca-nal that parallels Whitecap Blvd., that would like to host a ‘paddle’ party or pass out poker cards are requested to contact the organizers.
Additionally, those who wish to practice the relay route, are invited to meet at 9:00 am at the Billish Park/Mont Pelee boat ramp. Bring your kayak or stand-up paddle board and paddle all or part of the six mile re-lay. For more information, to purchase raffle tickets, reg-ister or volunteer, visit www.catchthecure.org. Or call 361-960-9597.
New Sidewalks along Packery Channel
Update on Island ProjectsEditor’s note: This is the latest in a
series of updates on Island projects.
Packery ChannelFor more on the upcoming dredging
of Packery see the story in this issue. What is impressive are the walk-ways and amenities going up on both sides of the channel. A new 12-foot wide sidewalk is now complete from the parking lot adjacent to the boat ramps on the north side of the chan-nel near the SH 361 bridge.
The walkway connect the parking lot to the foot of the north Packery jetty nearly a mile away. It is now complete and workers are putting the finishing touches on the fenc-ing which runs between the sidewalk and the channel.
Also included in the $1.4 million project is a parking lot which is also nearing completion. The curbing and drainage is already in but neither the parking lot nor the road leading to it has been paved.
The same type of development is also underway along the south jet-ty however the location of a parking lot has become problematic due to a prohibition of locating it near the dunes by the Texas General Land Office.
Both projects are part of the six approved by voters when they ap-proved the digging of the Packery Channel in 2000.
Water exchange bridge under SPID (Park Road 22)
This project would build a bridge on SPID to allow for water from Lake Padre and the Gulf of Mexico to flow into the Island canal system. It was first proposed in 2004 when voters approved $1.4 million to build it. The total cost at that time was put at $2.3 million with the remainder to be paid by private money. How-ever, the city did not move on the project until the last few months at the request of Island United, the Is-land political action committee and the Island Strategic Planning Com-mittee, both of which have endorsed the project.
The cost of the bridge is now esti-mated at $7 million and will include a boat canal with at least ten feet of clearance to allow boat traffic from the canals to reach Packery Channel. It would also include walking trails with paths wide enough to allow golf carts to pass.
It’s exact location has not been de-termined but it will be somewhere near or on the Padre Isles Country Club. Developer Paul Schexnailder will extend the canal on the west side of SPID that now ends a few yards north of Whitecap near the golf course so it will connect with the bridge. Plans call for the bridge to be part of an 3000 foot riverwalk
City Update Continued A 6
PINS Paparazzi
July 4th Boat Parade
Page A 2
Photo by Ronnie Narmour
