Port Aransas South Jetty (Port Aransas, Tex.), Vol. 38, No. 22, Ed. 1 Thursday, May 29, 2008 Page: 1 of 22
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ellis memorial library
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Thursday, May 29, 2008
Vol. 38 No. 22 USPS 946-020
Businesses fare well over holiday
Hurricane safety
With hurricane season
starting on June 1, it's time
to put together the family
evacuation plan.
Page 1B
Early endeavors
Before becoming a
physical oceanographer,
Island observer columnist
Tony Amos 'mowed' the
beaches of Bermuda.
Page 12A
In the money
By Mary Henkel Judson
South Jetty editor
Reviews of the Memorial Day holiday week-
end from businesses in Port Aransas ranged from
good to great.
The holiday is the official opening of the sum-
mer vacation season, and often is a harbinger of
what the next three months will bring for island
merchants.
Businesses that deal in food, beverages, ice
or all of the above gave the weekend its highest
marks.
"Saturday may be one of the best days we've
ever had," said Mike Hall, co-owner and store
director at the Family Center IGA.
Hall has years of records on everything from
weather conditions, to the day of the week a
holiday falls on, to sales of specific items such
as fishing licenses and beach parking stickers
that he uses to track trends.
He said that business Friday through Sunday
was, "Absolutely outstanding - double digits,"
referring to the increase in sales over last year.
Factoring into that increase were the fact
that last year it rained, and that this year many
students had to return to classes on Monday or
Tuesday.
Hall said the tourists were "definitely a family
crowd. We saw a lot of people we don't always
see - they were new tourists to Port Aransas.
They were well behaved, and they contributed
greatly to our economy. They're the kind of
people you want to have."
Fishing license and beach parking sticker sales
were up, an indication that it was many visitors'
first trip to Port Aransas, or their first trip this
year, Hall said.
'When you don't sell so many of those,
you know you've got repeat business," he ex-
plained.
Javier Garcia, manager at the Stripes con-
venience store at the corner of Avenue G and
Station Street, said the weekend business was
much better than last year.
'It was busy. We were packed all weekend
long," Garcia said.
The crowd of mostly families did not say much
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Staff photos by Dan Parker
Boys and babes
Brandon Weber, 21, of Traverse City,
Mich., above, leaps to catch a Frisbee
thrown by a friend at the beach in Port
Aransas on Sunday, May 25. In the photo
at right, 1-year-old Jaydn Serna, of New
York City, eyeballs a handful of wet sand
while seated at the beach in Port Aransas
the same day. Weber and Jaydn were
among thousands of visitors enjoying the
Memorial Day weekend by playing along
the shore.
about the price of gas, he said.
Visitors were mostly from San Antonio, Aus-
tin and Dallas, he added.
Fred Williams, who manages the Stripes on
the southern edge of town on State Hwy.361,
said they were "extremely busy," especially
Friday through Sunday.
"If the weather stays good, it's going to be a
good summer," he said.
That good weather will parlay into good busi-
ness for Wayne Serpa, owner of Coastal Bend
Ice, which sells ice wholesale to most of the
businesses in town.
"It was plenty hot, and that helped. Five to
10 degrees makes a difference. They'll buy two
bags of ice instead of one," Serpa said.
Saturday and Sunday produced record sales
for the ice company.
"Our demographics have shifted," Serpa said.
"The people who used to barely get down here
with a camper and stayed on the beach, spend-
ing minimal funds - the fuel prices have gotten
to them. On the upper end, people who were
out-of-country travelers are traveling closer to
home."
Serpa also supplies the waterfront charter
fishing agencies with ice, and that business
has been hit by windy weather and fuel prices.
Skyrocketing prices for diesel fuel that powers
offshore fishing boats "even get a rich man's
attention," Serpa said.
Serpa also owns the car wash on Avenue G,
where he did a brisk business as well.
"I'm hoping that it's a sign of things to come,"
he said.
Last year, rain sent shoppers into A Mano, a
shop specializing in imports from the interior
of Mexico. Owner Deb Wilson said she was
"way down from last year," although it was still
a good weekend.
"There were not as many people shopping"
during the holiday weekend, Wilson said.
However, the previous two weekends were
"crazy, nuts and excellent," she said.
Despite the slower holiday weekend, "We're
still ahead of last year," Wilson said.
Judy Hale, owner of The Cypress Tree that
sells women's clothing, jewelry and home ac-
cessories, said, "I am quite elated. We had a very
strong weekend."
Hale said she is feeling a lot more confident
that gas prices won't have the negative effect she
feared going into the summer.
"We were busy from the get-go," she said. "I
am right equal with last year, so I'm very happy."
Groups of four, six and eight women shopping
have become increasingly common over the past
year and a half, Hale said.
The holiday weekend shoppers did not air
See'HOLIDAY,'Page 3A
Port Aransas businesses
and individuals presented
$93,500 in scholarships
to 31 Port Aransas High
School seniors on Friday,
May 23.
Pages 8-9A
Where to live?
... the question I ask is,
'Where do all the workers
come from?' . . . We need
the tourists like they need us,
and we have to have places
to live...
Ashley Stockton
Port Aransas
Snakes alive!
... I thought I was hallucinating
when . . I spotted a 5-foot
rattler straight . . . Parents
should be warned not to let
kids walk in front of them.
Carol O'Brien
San Antonio
Letters to the editor
Page 3A
Code enforcement officers
scour town for violations
i" 'I h—.!■ nip ■■ jijil ii J U H.-'Jl
Taxpayer workshops
slated today, Saturday
By Phil Reynolds
South Jetty reporter
I climbed into the city building
department's truck and drove around
Port Aransas last week with Joe Lamb
and Caitlin Hibbard, and saw a Port
Aransas I hadn't noticed before.
It was an eye-opener.
Some buildings were barely stand-
ing up. Others appeared, from the
street, uninhabitable. Vehicles with
state inspection stickers that had
expired years ago were parked at
the curb. Grass, in places, was waist
high.
Lamb's and Hibbard's job is to
locate those places and either get the
owner to comply with local and state
laws and codes, to get the grass cut, or
to fix the vehicles or get rid of them.
It's a job that sometimes doesn't
make them popular people.
Lamb, speaking to the city council
on Thursday, May 15, estimated that
48 or 49 buildings had been torn
down in his six years as building of-
ficial. Since Hibbard came aboard as
code enforcement officer in January,
"We've had 18 junked vehicles re-
moved and eight substandard houses
torn down," Lamb said. "She's sent
out about 65 'weedy lot' letters and
we've had 42 responses, some of
whom have gotten their lots mowed.
Right now we're concentrating on the
old town area, trying to get pepper
trees cut down."
Pepper trees?
Yes, pepper trees are part of the
problem also. They sometimes pro-
vide impromptu housing in areas not
intended for homes.
Lamb turned off South Station
Street and pointed to a line of Brazil-
ian pepper trees parallel to the street.
"Those used to be so thick you
couldn't see through them," he said.
"We found that people were getting
into the middle of the trees, stomp-
ing out the vegetation, and using the
clearing as a campground. They had
sofas and everything."
The city bulldozed that copse of
Brazilian pepper trees to the point
where it's no longer a hiding place.
In another location off Station Street,
a similar growth of Brazilian pepper
trees was slashed, clearing an alley-
way and revealing two small buildings
in the middle of the brush that Lamb
hadn't known about.
See 'CITY,' Page 4A
City-sponsored workshops aimed
at teaching property owners about
property appraisals and the Nueces
County Appraisal District are sched-
uled for today, Thursday, May 29,
at 6 p.m., and Saturday, May 31,
at 11 a.m. Both will be in the city
council chamber, 710 W. Ave. A. The
workshops are free to Port Aransas
property owners.
City Manager Michael Kovacs
said the workshops will focus on
informing citizens about the appraisal
process, helping them to see if their
property appraisals are out of line,
and giving them pointers on dealing
with the appraisal district.
"We can do another workshop if
the demand is high enough," Kovacs
said.
Real estate agents will be on haftd
to help in determining thetight prop-
erty value range. The city will provide
broadband Internet access to view the
appraisal district's Web site for more
information, Kovacs said. Some com-
puters will also be available for use.
The city has developed a two-page
handout with basic information and
suggestions on how to move through
the process of getting individual
property values lowered.
Property owners in Port Aransas
have reported appraisals this year
that are as much as 200 percent over
last year. Last year, property values
went up so much that the city took
the unprecedented step of protest-
ing to the appraisal district on be-
half of single-family home owners.
Index
Church
Church directory
3B
Obituaries
3B
•John 'Jack' Boyer
•Frances Marion Hartshorn
•Don Huff
Island Life
Columnists
• Tony Amos
12A
• For the birds
9B
Island agenda
2A
Law enforcement
2B
Youth
Education notes
10A
Sports
BMS district tennis
4B
Opinion
Cactus Pryor
3 A
Dave McNeely
3 A
Steve Martaindale
3 A
Mary Henkel Judson
3 A
Letters to the editor....
3A
Outdoors
Fishing report
5B
Tides & Weather
5B
Classified
Classified ads
6-1 OB
south jetty newspaper plu#
mg urn
*1V
.plift
&
37 PAHS seniors to
get diplomas Friday
Valedictorian
Meagan Jones
Staff photo by Karen Collins
09809
Six mortar boards and a surfboard
From left, Port Aransas High School seniors Drake Sawyer, Kathy Ashley, Charley Walker, Sarah Pate,
Cody Collins and Alyssa Crawford are ready to graduate and ride a wave into the next era of their lives.
They will be among 37 students getting diplomas during ceremonies on Friday, May 30.
The strains of
'Pomp and Cir-
cumstance' will
fill the Doyle
Marek Gym at
Port Aransas High
School tomorrow
night, Friday, May
30, as the Class
of 2008 enters for
commencement ceremonies.
The 37 seniors, their families and
friends will gather for the ceremony
at 8 p.m.
Stephanie Meagan Jones will give
the valedictory address and Elaine
Franco will give the salutatory ad-
dress.
Commencement speaker will be
Gary Mott, high school theater arts,
English and criminal justice teacher.
Seniors select their commencement
speaker.
Jones has participated in academic
and athletic competitions throughout
her high school career.
She is a distinguished advanced
placement (AP) scholar, and was
Salutatorian
Elaine Franco
a finalist for the
Corpus Christi
Caller-Times fine
arts award.
As a senior, she
has served as vice
president of the
PAHS National
Honor Society
(NHS), of which
she has been a member for two
years.
As a freshman and sophomore,
Jones competed in University Inter-
scholastic League (UIL) in news writ-
ing and feature writing. She advanced
to the regional level in news writing
as well as Lincoln-Douglas debate her
sophomore year.
As a junior, Jones advanced to state
as a member of the computer science
team, which placed second. She also
competed in spelling and cross-exami-
nation debate.
Her senior year, Jones advanced
to region in social studies and cross-
See 'TOP GRADS,' Page 3B
Online edition: www.portasouthjetty.com
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Judson, Mary Henkel. Port Aransas South Jetty (Port Aransas, Tex.), Vol. 38, No. 22, Ed. 1 Thursday, May 29, 2008, newspaper, May 29, 2008; Port Aransas, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth480664/m1/1/: accessed April 19, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Ellis Memorial Library.