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The Island MoonPublished by Island Moon Publishing, LLC

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Island Area News ● Events ● Entertainment

June 7, 2012

The Island where Iguanas Izzy the Iguana Runs Free Next Publication Date: 6/14/2012 Facebook: The Island Moon Newspaper Year 15, Issue 426

Around The IslandBy Dale Rankin

editor@islandmoon.com

We have a new resident on The Island whose name is Izzy. Izzy the Iguana has taken up residence on our sandbar and mainly comes out at night. We know he’s there because we can see his tracks through the sand in the morning. We’ve had some reported sightings but so far no actual photos of Izzy, only his footprints in the sand with the tail bringing up the rear and leaving a tell-tale furrow.

We can’t really say in these pages exactly where Izzy lives because we don’t want an Iguana Bawana going out there and trying to catch him. Izzy has already escaped captivity once and he likes his free roaming lifestyle.

We’re happy to report seaweed is mostly not coming in on our beaches these days. When it does come in it does so in waves so the beach maintenance crews have time to clean it up before the next onslaught. Beach driving has been good and the water has been beautiful. The blue water line has found its way all the way to the beach a few days and the nice water coming in through the Packery has been keeping everything but the canals supplied with great clean water. The canals on the other hand continue their murky nature with little relief in sight.

The fisherpersons hereabout report slow action on the full moon but Joey says he expects things to get better soon. We have had reports of tarpon being caught off the jetties both on the Packery and in Port A.

Cheese it…the fuzz

The State Troopers who occasionally grace our Island have returned to their posts along Park Road 22 between Commodores and Whitecap. These law dogs stalk their wary prey who commit the cardinal sin of failing to clip on their seatbelt and our state government sweetens its coffers by hauling them to justice on the busy roadside.

Between the troopers on the highway and the State Trooper gunboat patrolling our canals, which never seems to be around when the maniacs among us ignore the No Wake signs, it seems our state troopers have a lot of time on their hands. Maybe they have wiped out crime in our lifetime and we should think about some cutbacks…we’re just saying.

Airport dreamingIt may turn out to be A Bridge Too Far but

a move is afoot to put an airport just over the Kleberg County line south of Sea Pines. The people who own planes on the Upper Padre end of The Island now must drive to Port A or go OTB in order to get airborne and an airport for the area may be an idea whose time has come. The fly in the ointment is that the folks who own the land down there have owned it since 1921 and as you can see not a lot of building has gone on there in that time, so when it comes to development it is safe to say their hair is not on fire. We’ll see.

PAC it up!Don’t forget that the annual election for the

Island United Political Action Committee is coming up on Wednesday, June 13. The ballot is included in this issue and can be mailed in. We have the PAC to thank for the progress we have made since its formation and another round of city elections are coming up in November.

In the mean time say hello if you see us Around The Island.

Inside the Moon...

Island Resident In Death Race A2 Aransas Pass Shrimporee A4 An Englishman in Texas A8Whoopers Get New Protected Areas A4

Photo by Miles Merwin

Live Music A11

Dee-Scoveries

The Turning Wheel of FortuneBy Devorah Foxdevorahfox@aol.comdevorahfox.com

The Wheel of Fortune is a turning wheel. When our fortunes are up, we must be careful not to get complacent because the wheel can turn at any time. But then again, when our fortunes are down, we don’t have to despair or become despondent because the wheel can turn again and we will once more find ourselves on top.

There’s been a lot of wheel-turning, both actual and metaphoric, going on at East Cotter Street because that’s where the Potters on Cotter studio has been located for five years. It’s a working pottery studio, which means the items that are on display and for sale there were made there. The studio is one of the few shops in Port Aransas with ware made from scratch (Glass Art Studio is another.) The cute bright pink building was once the office of Dr. Sharp. Although it’s definitely the site of much industry, one of the things owner Brenda Barnett delights in is that people love to come by and just hang out, soaking up the good creative vibes.

Brenda has been working with clay for decades, in California and even Australia. She had a stoneware pottery studio in Illinois for 25 years before coming to Port Aransas and opening Potters on Cotter with her then husband. She focused on finishing, glazing and “hand-building” from slabs of clay while he did the “throwing” — building up roundly-symmetrical

works on the revolving potter’s wheel.

The Potters on Cotter were pottering, err, puttering along very nicely and then the Wheel of Fortune turned. Brenda’s partner left to pursue other interests. Brenda was left with the studio but no one to throw pots, a skill she’s still learning to master.

And the Wheel of Fortune turned again as the art community came to the rescue! The Port Aransas Art Center was very supportive. Even better, clay artists came out of the woodwork to revive a skill that had lain fallow in their lives or to discover a heretofore unknown talent. Before long, Brenda found herself with a team of production potters, artists who would create a dozen or so items that are more or less similar. They’re dried or fired and then Brenda glazes them, often with the soft, pastel “beachy”

Potter Continued on A2

Wednesday, June 13

Island Political Action Committee to

Pick LeadersAll registered voters can

cast ballotsFor all the Island residents who complain about

the lack of attention we Islanders get from the city, Wednesday, June 13, at 6 p.m. is the time to stop talking and take some action.

The Island United Political Action Committee (IU-PAC) is holding its Annual Membership Meeting at the Holiday Inn and all registered voters of Padre and Mustang Islands who live in the city limits of Corpus Christi are eligible to vote and/or run for a board seat.

Before the formation of the PAC three years ago The Island got little attention from the City of Corpus Christi and since the group formed to back a slate of candidates and create a voting block out of The Island’s 6400 registered voters that has changed. We have the PAC to thank for the various projects that have come to fruition since then and for the push for the formation of the Island Strategic Action Committee which keep things moving.

The PAC’s board of directors will be chosen at the June 13 meeting and as the city elections approach in November a public meeting will be held so that Islanders can chose which candidates to endorse in the city races. If you are not a registered voter you can pick up a voter registration card at the meeting.

Since its inception the PAC has endorsed ten candidates in city races and nine have won seats. Having their support has been crucial in recent weeks as important votes have been taken on Island projects and the PAC support has produced results.

There is a full ballot in this issue if you can’t make the meeting and want to vote for board members, or you can pick one up at the Moon office. For more information contact Pam Maupin, Secretary, IU-PAC at pammaupin@sbcglobal.net, 13801 Eaglesnest Bay Dr. The PAC is a great Island institution and we encourage everyone to participate.

See PAC Ballot on Page 6of this issue

Update on Island projects

Schlitterbahn, Seawall Beach Driving, Water Exchange Bridge, Increased Beach Patrol

By Dale Rankin

Schlitterbahn updateDeveloper Paul Schexnailder briefed the

ISAC on the Schlitterbahn project during their June meeting. He said the park’s design group spent three days last week on the site looking at elevations in preparation for the anticipated beginning of construction in August.

An environmental assessment of the area where a new canal would be dug has been made and contains a maximum of three acres of wetlands which must be mitigated. A meeting is set with the Army Corps of Engineers to access what changes in the existing permits are needed for construction on the east side of Park Road 22 (SPID) in the area around Lake Padre.

He said that once the city is finished with the design for the Park Road 22 Water Exchange Bridge the permitting should be ready to begin digging the canals on the west side of SPID to connect it to the existing Island canal system. The area where the new canal would be dug is on the current site of Padre Isles Country Club and is considered uplands – not wetlands – which makes permitting there quicker.

He also told the ISAC that he expects term sheets from lenders on the project to be in hand within two weeks. Construction on the project has been broken into two projects. The first phase will make the park fully operational and should be complete by summer 2013. Phase II will then begin and will add more features to the park. In Phase I a 5000-foot long Lazy River will be built and in Phase II will be extended to 7000 feet.

Before the Lazy River feature can be built AEP must do site work to prepare for the installation of water pumps, including several 2000 gallon per minute pumps, two 35,000 gpm pumps, and several 20,000 gpm pumps.

He said items still to be determined are where exactly to locate a 70,000 square foot section of the park which will have a retractable roof and will remain open year round, where to locate parking lots, and when/if to shut down holes on the golf course during construction, and how the construction process will affect membership packages at the club.

He said the final design of the park could not be completed until the financial incentive package with the city was in place and that package was finalized only two weeks ago. The plan included no property tax incentive and was made up entirely of sales tax breaks primarily though the Hotel Occupancy Tax, which means plans for Phase I of the project will now include hotels, which would not have been the case if property tax incentives had been used.

Gypsy Bridge repair Problems with the Gypsy Bridge were identified

last summer and a metal plate was placed in the roadway. A contract has now been done for repair at a cost of $12,500 for the bridge another $5,000 for the roadway which was repaved by city crews last week. The guardrail which has been down for several weeks will be repaired by the insurance company for the driver who hit it.

Projects Continued on A13

“I Don’t Know How Those People Got in the Back of

My Car”Three arrested on PINS

for smugglingTwo men and a woman were arrested on

Padre Island National Seashore Sunday on charges of attempting to smuggle an Isuzu Trooper and a Suburban full of undocumented aliens into the country.

Marco Rubio, Miguel Angel Betts and Elizabeth Morales have been arraigned in federal court on smuggling charges after being arrested on charges they have been actively smuggling undocumented people into the country since May. According to an affidavit filed in the case a park ranger saw Betts driving an Isuzu Trooper and Morales driving a Chevrolet Suburban at PINS on Saturday. Then on Sunday, a Border Patrol agent saw the Isuzu parked on the beach and as he passed he saw several people in the back of the vehicle trying to hide. When he investigated he found that all of the individuals in the Trooper were from Mexico or Guatemala. They were taken to the Corpus Christi Border Patrol station to be repatriated.

When questioned by officers Betts said he was an innocent prison gang member who just wanted to go to sleep, Morales said she had only recently bought the Suburban and did not know how the undocumented aliens got in the back of it. Rubio, a Mexican citizen, said a man he didn’t know gave him the keys to the Isuzu. The people found in the back of the truck told officers they had made arrangements to be smuggled into the U.S.