The Aransas Pass Progress (Aransas Pass, Tex.), Vol. 87, No. 11, Ed. 1 Wednesday, May 3, 1995 Page: 1 of 39
This newspaper is part of the collection entitled: The Aransas Pass Progress and was provided to The Portal to Texas History by the Ed & Hazel Richmond Public Library.
Extracted Text
The following text was automatically extracted from the image on this page using optical character recognition software:
2627hr^uTrbliShin9' C°"
El Paso, Texas 79903
Gnco dc Mayo celebration at
St Mary's StaY of the Sea Church
BMMly CmImM fktww m Page Thff*
Counly commissioners strongly opfiose planned
Industrial landfill near Choke Canyon
See Page Four
THE ARANSAS PASS
Volume 87 • Number 11
Aransas Pass, TVxas 78336
AWARD WINNER
City-wide elections Saturday
Early voter turnout light; school board races uncontested
By JOHN LOWMAN
Early voter turnout In
Aransas Pass has been light,
but city secretary Tess
Skinner hopes that won t
v hold true at the polls
Saturday.
About 3,200 voters are reg-
istered to vote in the May 8
general election, and 41 had
cast an early ballot as of
Monday afternoon. Although
three positions — city council
seats one
and three
and the
mayor's seat
— are all
contested,
voters are
not express-
ing a strong SKINNER
interest. Ms. Skinner said.
“The number (of voters) is
probably low. I don't know if
everyone’s waiting for elec-
tion day ... r she said. “I
would think that with as
many people as there run-
ning, there would be a bigger
1 turnout.”
Only one of the 11 candi-
dates vying for the two-year
terms — mayor Billy St.Clair
— is incumbent. The other 10
candidates,seemed somewhat
sluggish about tossing their
hats into the ring. Mrs.
Sinner said.
“This race has been weird,”
she said. “Nobody signed up
until the last minute."
A Anal tally of 400 voters
Saturday would be consid-
ered "a good turnout," she
said, adding that she expects
an average number of voters
overall.
“It probably will pick up. A
lot of people — if they're in
town — just wait until
Saturday.” Mrs. Skinner said.
“People are Just planning to
be here on election day and
coming in then.”
Polls open at 7 a.m.
Saturday and close at 7 p.m.
All voting will be held at city
hall.
Candidates for city council,
place 1 are Daniel Jlmtnez.
Charles 'Nippy' Hamrick.
Linda Thompson and
^Schuyler Ford. Vying for
council place 3 are Ernie
Torres. Laura Simank.
Manuel Buentello and Mary
Grumbles. Candidates for'
mayor are St. Clair, Charlie
Johnson and Nancy Allen.
Council
OKs park
upgrade
By BILL NOONAN
Aransas Pass Progress
Youngsters using the facili-
ties at McCampbell Park will
soon have new playground
equipment to occupy their
time.
At a city council meeting
Monday, approval, to allocate
$10,000 . from the general
fund for the refurbishing and
replacement of playground
equipment at the park.
In recommending the pro-
posal be approved. Mayor
Billy St. Clair also suggested
that additional money for the
park may be included in next
year's budget.
While discussing the pro-
posal. City Manager Rick
Ewaniszyk said the city
should prioritize the projects
See COUNCIL. Page Four
Hangin' around
Photo by John Lowman
Joshua Ryan Meeks, 6, plays In a mesquite tree outside his Aransas Pass home. He and a
few friends enjoyed the afternoon sunshine Sunday._
gher value
Pass and
d the large
231.885#
This is the result of several adjusted upward I
things, tax appraiser Kathy when interest was
Vermillion sakt- Those things such houses were moving on
include Matter mineral val- the market.
'*£*?!* I?
lncreased oil prices and a
[productive gas field discov-
ered between Portland and
s. tax appraiser Kathy alien interest was low and
illkm said.- Those things such houses were moving on
de higher mineral val- the market,
the refurbishing of an The fact that the valuation
oil field near Taft, has increased does not nec-
essarily mean that the
amount of taxes to be paid on
the medium range properties
will be higher, she said.
Taxing entitles, county, dty
and school districts, will set
rates In August and
Seotember. The amount of
tax to be paid depends on
whether or not those rates
change. Taxes can be raised
by only three percent without
publishing notices to alert
taxpayers, she said.
If a property owner wants
8600 a month to buy these
houses.
There was no difficulty in
Texas birding trail
may fly over A.P.
By JULIET K. WENGER
Eddie Arnold has received
Indications that Aransas Pass
will be included on the Texas
Birding Trail.
Arnold, a resident of
Aransas Pass
and a birder,
has kept in
touch with the
Texas Park and
Wildlife and the
Texas
Tranportation Department,
working to get Aransas Pass
on the birding map.
Arnold said announce-
ments will be made Sept. 7 to
10 when the birding trail is
officially designated at the
Hummingbird Festival In
Rockport.
A sign picturing binoculars,
symbol of a wildlife viewing
area, has already been
Installed on the road between
Aransas Pass and Port
Aransas. All communities In
the North Bay Area host
shore birds year around and
‘a vast assortment of land
birds In spring and fall migra-
tions.
Birding to being given new
Importance by the state of
Texas as a tourist attraction.
Eco or nature tourism Is a
growing factor In economic
development. Both Port
Aransas and Rockport pro-
mote their cities as a treasure
trove for birders in a new
Information Guide called
“Explore the Texas Coastal
Bend. It Is the official publi-
cation of the Texas Coastal
Bend Regional Tourism
Council.
The Port Aransas descrip-
tion in the Guide says “True
birdwatching fans won't want
to miss the new Port Aransas
Birding Center...The variety
of birds in Port Aransas is so
vast that the Texas Parks and
Wildlife Department is plan-
ning at least six stops in the
vicinity for its Texas Coastal
Birding Trail...According to
the National Audubon
Society. Port Aranasas ranks
as one of the top three loca-
tions along the Texas coast-
line for bird watching!"
For Rockport. which has
taken the lead In attracting
bird watchers since Connie
Hagar made the nation aware
of the bird wealth here In the
40 s. 1995 to a big year. The
•tale of Texas to going to
unveil the sign that will open
the Great Texas Coastal
See BIRDING. Pagr 16
Communities help
Reynolds grow
By JULIET K. WENGER
Aransas Pam Progress
Opening up a fourth unit is
creating more jobs at
Reynolds Metals Co.
In the Sherwln plant, an
increased amount of alumina
is being produced in a water
based refining process. At the
same time. Reynolds, in
cooperation with neighboring
cities. Is successfully experi-
menting with water saving
measures to conserve
resources and hold down
expenses for the Industry,
local governments and
municipal water customers.
Five units are operable in
the Sherwin plant extracting
aluminum oxide from bauxite
shipped in from Jamaica and
other parts of the world. Only
three units have been operat-
ing since Russia moved into a
free market economy, selling
oft large stock piles of boxite
for cash, destabilizing the
market.
Now. the market Is stabiliz-
ing. the fourth unit has gone
on line and Reynolds has
hired employees to fill 40 new
Jobs. If market conditions
continue to improve, the fifth
unit could come back into
service with additional job
opportunities.
At the Reynolds plant site
on La Quinta Channel are
18-foot high dikes called
“local beds." This Is the tail-
ings or red mud residue that
comes out of pipelines in
slurry form after alumina has
been extracted by the Bayer
process.
It contains a low grade iron
ore that some day might be
economical to extract but is
not in today's market.
Oxidation of the iron ore cre-
ates the rust color of the stor-
age beds. On the property
has beeh stored up to 60 mil-
lion tons of bauxite owned by
the United States govern -
ment, stockpiled as a key war
material In cold-war days.
Eighteen rhonths ago. the
storage bed was a desert.
There was no true soil, no
organic material In the beds
to nourish plant cover. Winds
picked up and disbursed red-
dust. Dust could be con-
trolled only by water,, always
scarce in this clime.
Today, grass grows thick
and green, lomato plants
bear blossoms and fruit.
These grew from seed in
Aransas Pass wastewater
sludge. Fruit Is ripening on a
papaya tree. These seed came
from the Portland wastewater
treatment plant. Palm trees
and palmetos grow as do
thick hedges.
The transformation came
about when industry, (he
San Patricio Municipal Water
District, and the cities of
Portland, Aransas Pass and
Ingleside. all cognizant that
the cost of water is going no
way bul up year after year,
took a regional look at the
See REYNOLDS. Page 16
TOM BALLOU CHECKS to see whether the papayas are
ripe on a tree In an area near ingleside.
Upcoming Pages
Here’s what’s next.
Search Inside
This issue can be searched. Note: Results may vary based on the legibility of text within the document.
Matching Search Results
View two places within this issue that match your search.Tools / Downloads
Get a copy of this page or view the extracted text.
Citing and Sharing
Basic information for referencing this web page. We also provide extended guidance on usage rights, references, copying or embedding.
Reference the current page of this Newspaper.
Cole, Mary. The Aransas Pass Progress (Aransas Pass, Tex.), Vol. 87, No. 11, Ed. 1 Wednesday, May 3, 1995, newspaper, May 3, 1995; Aransas Pass, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1146152/m1/1/?q=wichita+falls: accessed June 27, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Ed & Hazel Richmond Public Library.