Inside the Moon Deep Sea Round Up A2 Moon on a Spoon A7 Fishing A11 On the Rocks A11 Live Music A18 Issue 796 The 27° 37' 0.5952'' N | 97° 13' 21.4068'' W Photo by Jason Towns Island Free The voiceMoon of The Island since 1996 July 18, 2019 Weekly www.islandmoon.com FREE Around The From Island Tennis Courts to the By the numbers Island Corpus Christi By Dale Rankin International Space Station International Finding a carton of milk or ice cream on Padre Island Sunday was like Astronaut with Island connection lifts off Saturday on the 50th Airport (CRP) looking for the proverbial needle in a Anniversary of the Moon landing Editor’s note: District 4 City haystack. The power was out just long Councilman Greg Smith has been enough Saturday that Island stores had By Dwight Jackson spearheading the city’s effort on to remove their stock of perishables Dr. Andrew Morgan graduated the council to bring more flights and dairy was at the top of the list. For from the United States Military to Corpus Christi International a blow by blow of the events leading Academy where he was a member of Airport. The council was briefed to the longest blackout we have had in the Army parachute team the Black on findings at its Tuesday meeting. a while see the story in this issue. Knights, he became a doctor and These numbers were taken from that presentation. In defense of AEP this is the first volunteered for the Army Special prolonged blackout we have had in Operations team the Desert Eagles 325,000 enplaned passengers in and deployed for combat operations a while and the way it came about Island resident Don 2018 was a fluke. In the past we had short in Iraq, Afghanistan and Africa, and he is a Colonel in the U.S. Army. Behnke (left), Bob 375,000 enplaned passengers in blackout most every time we had a Buchanan, and Dr. 2007 (historical peak) high wind due to salt building up on But to become a NASA astronaut Andrew Morgan on th the lines in our harsh climate. Until and get his seat on the Soyuz MS-13 Expedition 60 crew members Dr. Andrew 8 CRP rank in number of the past few years no Island home was mission that launches in Kazakhstan Island tennis courts Morgan of NASA, Alexander Skvortsov of the passengers in Texas (excluding complete without an oil lamp mounted Saturday bound for the International last year. Photo by Russian space agency and Luca Parmitano of Dallas and Houston) John Cooper in the main room and flashlights in Space cont. on A4 the European Space Agency 156 CRP rank in number of every drawer. When the power goes passengers in U.S. out it doesn’t take long for the Social Contract to start fraying around the Single Falling Alert Lifeguards Save Abilene 90% airport passenger growth edges and you find yourself reading at St. George,UT, 2012-2017 Edmund Burke by lamplight and Line Causes Man from Drowning (highest in U.S.) wondering if you should go find your By Robert Algeo 1.5% airport passenger growth at pistol. 7000 Islanders CRP 2012-2017 (315th in U.S.) Two lifeguards saved the life Ninja Alert! to Lose Power of a 55 year-old man near 3 airlines serving CRP Anyone who has lived on either end Bob Hall Pier on Saturday 83.3% Average of full of The Island for long has probably 1301 customers out evening. capacity on Southwest been startled, even slightly terrorized, The man was visiting from Airline flights system-wide by the pack of Ninja bikers that take for eight hours Abilene with his family and advantage of the long stretch of was swimming near the pier 59.2% Average of full capacity By Dale Rankin highway between Packery Channel when he was caught in a on Southwest Airline flights from and Port Aransas. They seem to come Think of it as the Island nail (see the rip current in the rough surf CRP (lowest of any Southwest out of nowhere in a pack sometimes end of this story). about 7:30 p.m. Airlines market in U.S.) numbering in the twenties and zoom According to American Electric Two Corpus Christi Beach 62% of local passengers who and zip around you on all sides as you book from Corpus Christi but fly drive on SH 361. Before you know it Power (AEP) officials 7000 Island Rescue Lifeguards, Joshua customers were left without power, Salazar and Christopher Veit, out of other airports they are gone. They take advantage Lifeguards Joshua Salazar and some for eight hours, on Saturday were nearby, positioned in $2.4 million in incentives offered of the fact that their seventeen-mile Christopher Veit, pictured here (left to long racetrack is split halfway by the due to the collapse of a single “static the parking lot, when all the by cities of Harlingen and McAllen city limits of Corpus Christi and Port line” at the power station just south of commotion started up on the right) saved the life of a swimmer near to lure airlines to the market Whitecap Boulevard on SPID. Bob Hall Pier Saturday. Aransas since neither city’s police Lifeguards cont. on A4 $16 dollars paid by cities of department patrols all the way to the A static line runs above energized Harlingen and McAllen for each line very often. They send a spotter lines to protect them from lightning unsold seat on departing airline out in front of the pack to make sure strikes, but on Saturday the lightening Observation Deck for Caldwell Pier there is no law enforcement and when came in the form of the overhead $223,000 in incentives paid last he gives the all clear the race is on. static line that broke at 4:19 p.m. and Project could satisfy federal demands year by City of Harlingen First they sound like a mosquito, then plunged into the line below which at Bob Hall Pier a bumble bee and then they are out of carries 69,000 volts of power to sight down the road. Island customers leaving Islanders By Dale Rankin What the Island Last Friday three of the Ninja bikers powerless. The Port of Corpus Christi Board Bridge Will were playing slap tag with cars on the “The falling line tripped the circuit of Directors on Tuesday approved JFK Causeway when the lead biker breakers cutting the power to The the final funding for a $750,000 Look Like clipped a pickup truck sending it into Island,” said Ken Griffin, Manager, observation deck at Horace the side rail. The third biker hit the Community Affairs and Customer Caldwell Pier in Port Aransas. Plans on page A4 truck and went down. In spiteo of the Services for AEP. The $250,000 approved Tuesday accident, it is unlikely we have seen By Dale Rankin The failsafe system tripped four will be combined with $500,000 the last of it. circuit breakers and de-energized the from discretionary funds backed The final design for the Park Road Corpus Christi International power supply to The Island. by Certificates of Obligation from 22 Water Exchange Bridge, which Nueces County, which owns and Horace Caldwell Pier is getting went out to bidders last week, call for Airport Accidents happen but this one manages the facility through the an addition. a center arch covering a 48-foot span couldn’t have come at a worse time Lack of flights from Corpus Christi Nueces County Coastal Parks Board County documents said the with 11 feet of clearance above the as the heat index soared and Island International Airport has been an to fund the project. Nueces County observation deck will used for waterline of the canal. ongoing problem for years. The traffic was at its summertime peak. Judge Barbara Canales and Precinct educational programming and has Two adjacent arches will cover 36 Corpus Christi City Council is Since it was a weekend Islanders were 4 County Commissioner Brent been in the Nueces County Parks feet each with 9 and one half feet of working to address the problem off work and huddled around their Chesney are each contributing Master Plan since 2010. The project clearance each with sidewalks for and we include numbers from their air conditioners. The traffic lights on $250,000 from their discretionary will replicate the addition that was pedestrians and golf carts. findings in this issue. One number SPID went out and within a short time funds to provide the $500,000. jumps right off the page and defines Power cont. on A4 Pier cont. on A4 Bridge cont. on A4 the problem in a nutshell. The city study found that 62% of passengers who book their flights departing A little Island history Marlin Plaque Restoration flights from the Corpus Christi area don’t fly out of the local airport, they By Nick Colosi of the Island, the Leaping Marlin monument and plans to restore it to drive to San Antonio or Houston to fly Trotline Fishing in the Marlin Restoration Coordinator out. It looks like a chicken and egg its original beauty. Everyone who Thirty five years ago the earliest problem since the local airport won’t was involved with the Marlin or homeowners on the Island gathered get more direct flights without more Laguna Madre 1940 anyone interested in the progress to donate monies to create the passengers, and the local airport won’t Editor’s note: Bobbie Kimbrell or eight inches long down into sandy and restoration of this project Leaping Marlin and its monument get more passengers without more began as a commercial fisherman bottom, with the trotline line made is most cordially invited to the at the foot of the JFK Bridge to direct flights.