Port Aransas South Jetty (Port Aransas, Tex.), Vol. 38, No. 2, Ed. 1 Thursday, January 10, 2008 Page: 1 of 22
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Thursday, January 10, 2008
Port Aransas
PORT ARANSAS, TEXAS 7R373
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Vol. 38 No.
Port Aransas, Texas on Mustang Island
946-020
Communication to outside world cut off again
Island Focus
Shelling season
The winds and waves of
winter bring some of the best
shelling of the year.
Page 1B
Island Sports
District opens
Now the games are for
all the marbles, as district
opens for the Lady Marlins
and Marlins.
*
Pages 6-7A
Island Outdoors
it of Africa
A part-time Port Aransas
couple took a break after
a year before returning to
Africa.
Page 13A
By Phil Reynolds
South Jetty reporter
City officials are working to ensure
that it doesn't happen again, but City
Manager Michael Kovacs said if
Mustang Island again loses telephone
communications with the "outside
world," the best thing is for residents
to call the local police non-emergency
number.
That number is 749-6241.
"Program it into your cell phone
and into your household phone, so you
can call it with just one button push,"
LUttllUll IU UUIMUC WUI1U <
City's 9-1-1 emergency number was out for an
kovacs advised. (DSL) from Port Aransas. because once they rea
The city's 9-1-1 emergency phones The break was where another line in Port Aransas, they tr;
\*/r\rVinrr fr\r mnrp than Qn nit Ipft IVTiietsina TelnnH icnl^tpH nn cvctpm
hour
Kovacs advised.
The city's 9-1-1 emergency phones
stopped working for more than an
hour Wednesday afternoon, Jan. 2,
and calls could not be made off-island
from mid-afternoon until about 7:30
p.m. The problem occurred when
workmen sliced through a fiber optic
cable at State Hwy. 361 and Zahn
Road on Padre Island. That line carries
all phone communications, includ-
ing computer digital subscriber lines
(DSL) from Port Aransas.
The break was where another line
cut left Mustang Island isolated on
Oct. 23 as a contractor for a billboard
company cut the line. In fact, crews
were trying to make a permanent
repair to that break when they cut the
line on Wednesday. That repair has
now been made, said Dan Feldstein, a
spokesman for AT&T. He said AT&T
apologizes for the inconvenience.
Even cell phones were affected,
because once they reach the tower
in Port Aransas, they travel by wired
system.
"Your wireless call still has to go
over the phone network," Century Tel
phone company spokesman Tracey
Moses said.
The 9-1-1 problem occurred be-
cause calls to the city's emergency
number are handled by a regional
cooperative emergency phone net-
work, Kovacs said. Calls to the Port
Aransas police dispatcher should have
been switched automatically to the
San Patricio County dispatcher but
weren't, he said.
Police Chief Sam Russell is meeting
with Century Tel officials to learn what
went wrong and to ensure it doesn't
happen again, Kovacs said.
Local calls weren't affected by the
line cut.
Kovacs said police maintained
emergency communications with
surrounding agencies by means of
ultra-high-frequency radios.
Volunteers for
work at center
needed Saturday
By Phil Reynolds
South Jetty reporter
Port Aransas' Community Center
will take a big step toward being re-
furbished on Saturday, Jan. 12, and it
needs your help.
Saturday has been declared a work
day. Members of the Port Aransas
Boatmen Inc. will gather to begin
yanking the old siding and roof over-
hangs off the building, and they're
looking for volunteers.
Boatmen will begin the work at 8
a.m. Saturday.
Since the 1930s Boatmen have
played a key role in the Community
Center including choosing the loca-
tion, obtaining the property and doing
See 'WORK DAY,' Page 13A
It's a Lab thing
Staff photo by Dan Parker
Bailey, an 8-month-old female chocolate Labrador retriever, lunges
at a ball (if you look closely, you can see Bailey's name written
faintly on the ball) thrown by her owner, John Garlanger, of Belton,
at Roberts Point Park on Thursday, Jan. 3. Bailey actually is a gentle
dog. But, like most dogs, when she bares her teeth reaching for the
ball, she can look ferocious.
Christie Campbell loses battle with cancer
PAHS, UT grad remembered for poise, grace, strength of character
V ■ " -v.''-
SOUTH JETTY NEWSPAPER PL
By Dan Parker
South Jetty reporter
Students saw something new on the wall
of Port Aransas High School teacher Melanie
Mayer's classroom when they returned to classes
on Monday, Jan. 7, after the holiday break.
It was an essay written by one of Mayer's
former students, Christie Campbell, who gradu-
ated near the top of her PAHS class in 1998.
Campbell had written the essay not for a school
assignment, but for a Web site operated by Live
Strong,"a non-profit foundation created by world
champion cyclist Lance Armstrong to provide
empowerment and inspiration for people with
cancer.
Mayer said she posted the essay because she
wanted students to remember Campbell for her
strong academic and athletic accomplishments
at PAHS and for more.
"She had such poise and grace and depth of
character," Mayer said. "She just always made
a lot of right choices. She was passionate and
compassionate for others."
Campbell, who has stood for years among
Port Aransans as a youthful symbol of strength
and poise in the face of adversity, died on Fri-
day, Jan. 4, surrounded by friends and family
at an Austin hospital, after a long battle with
neuroblastoma, a rare cancer that originates in
the nervous system.
She was 28.
Campbell was born May 27, 1979, in Okla-
homa City, Okla., moved to Mustang Island at
age 5 and attended Port Aransas schools. She is
the daughter of Marna Victoria " Vikki" Nelson,
a former Port Aransas resident who now lives in
Osage City, Kan.
Juanita and Jimmy Slagle of Port Aransas
are Campbell's legal guardians who also have
adopted her niece, Francine. Campbell also is
survived by Juanita's daughters, Sheryl Novak
of Austin and Beth Conley of Rockport; and by
Jimmy's daughters, Hannah and Erin Slagle.
Campbell also is survived by sisters Natasha
Morgan, of Aransas Pass; Monica James, and
Mattie Morales, both of Shawnee, Okla.; broth-
ers Nick Morales of Shawnee, Okla.; Shawn
Morales of Shawnee; and Michael and Mark
Morales, both of Boston, Mass.; and an uncle and
aunt, John and Edna Molloy, of Port Aransas; and
a nephew, Robert Morgan, of Osage City.
At PAHS, Campbell's athletic ability propelled
her to the All-District, Regional and All South
Texas varsity basketball teams during the late
1990s.
In track, she blazed through the 300 hurdles,
making it to regional competition.
Campbell also excelled in academics. She
graduated salutatorian of her class in 1998.
Campbell's effervescent personality helped
— ——•i.-ii-i-iu-M-fi;..;- j
Always a smile
Courtesy photos
Christie Campbell, who lost her fight
against cancer on Friday, Jan. 4, always
wore a smile, even while battling cancer
and struggling to stay in college. She
graduated in May with a Bachelor of
Science degree from The University of
Texas at Austin, where she is pictured at
right, after a Longhorn victory, signified
by the UT Tower awash in orange light.
make her popular.
"It didn't matter if people knew her or didn't
know her. Somehow, they still gravitated toward
her," said one longtime friend, Lydia Matthews,
a former Port Aransas resident who was one of
Campbell's roommates in Austin when she died.
"She lit up a room. Even people who didn't know
her wanted to talk to her."
Campbell began attending the University
of Texas at Austin the fall after she graduated
from PAHS. Academic scholarships paid for
a significant amount of her first two years of
classes. Mayer said Campbell hoped to eventu-
ally become a coach at Port Aransas schools.
The first symptoms of Campbell's cancer be-
gan in spring 2002. After the diagnosis, the Port
Aransas community responded with a benefit
barbecue to help her with medical expenses.
In the years since, she underwent chemo-
therapy, radiation and other treatments.
Despite her painful and debilitating fight
against the cancer, Campbell graduated in May
2007 from The University of Texas at Austin
College of Education with a Bachelor of Science
degree in kinesiology and a minor in applied
learning and development.
- Campbell said her faith was a big part of what
kept her going during her cancer battle. Growing
up in Port Aransas, she was a member of First
Baptist Church.
As awful as cancer was for Campbell, the
hardships brought on by the disease made her a
better person, she said in an interview with the
South Jetty in spring 2006.
"I love who I have become," she said. "I've
discovered my own strength and what's most
important in my life.... Now, it is very important
to see my family in Austin and be with my close
friends whenever I can. ... I've also learned
patience. I've really discovered me - maybe
TWO MEMORIAL SERVICES SET
Two memorial services will be Saturday, Jan. 12, at First Baptist
held for Christie Campbell, a 1998 Church in Port Aransas.
Port Aransas High School gradu- Another service will be at 1 p.m.
ate who died of cancer in Austin Saturday, Jan. 19, at Lake Hills
on Friday, Jan. 4. Church, 11521 Bee Caves Road,
One service will be at 3 p.m. Austin.
sooner than I would have."
Friends and family marveled at Campbell's
ability to cope with the deadly cancer. She kept
up a cheerful demeanor. She did volunteer work
at a boys and girls club in Austin. She ran a
children's Bible study group.
In April 2006, Campbell was the guest speaker
at the first Port Aransas Relay for Life - a com-
munity event to raise money and awareness for
cancer research.
"She was just a fighter," Juanita Slagle said.
"And she always thought of other people first. I
know that sounds trite, but it's absolutely what
she was like.
"I mean, I could call her when I was down,
and even when she was in the middle of chemo,
she could pump me up," Slagle said. "I would
say, 'Man, this isn't right. I'm the one who is
supposed to be boosting you up.'"
Campbell "was too good for this world,"
said Nelson, Campbell's mother. "She was so
beautiful. ... I thank the Lord our heavenly
Father that he gave this child to me and for the
life we had."
Mayer coached Campbell in basketball from
sixth grade through her senior year in high
school.
"I have so many memories of her back in
basketball," Mayer said. "But when I think of
Christie as a young person, I think of the grace
and poise she had as she dealt with the hand that
was dealt to her."
Campbell left home while in grade school and
lived with several island families before settling
with the Slagles when she was in eighth grade. =
Mayer said she remembers a conversation she
had with Campbell three years ago about the
cancer she was fighting.
Please see 'CANCER/ Page 13A
PAISD establishes
scholarship in honor
of Christie Campbell
The Port Aransas Independent School District
has established a new scholarship in memory of
Christie Campbell, a 1998 Port Aransas High
School graduate who died on Friday, Jan. 4.
Campbell's family is asking that folks con-
tribute to the scholarship fund in lieu of sending
flowers to her memorial services.
To donate, make checks payable to PAISD,
with "Christie Campbell scholarship" on the
memo line.
The scholarship will be awarded to a deserving
PAHS senior this spring.
"i
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ONLINE EDITON AT WWW.PORTASOUTHJETTY.COM
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Judson, Mary Henkel. Port Aransas South Jetty (Port Aransas, Tex.), Vol. 38, No. 2, Ed. 1 Thursday, January 10, 2008, newspaper, January 10, 2008; Port Aransas, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth480506/m1/1/: accessed July 17, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Ellis Memorial Library.