Port Aransas South Jetty (Port Aransas, Tex.), Vol. 34, No. 49, Ed. 1 Thursday, December 2, 2004 Page: 1 of 18
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Port Ahansas
lot**r 061
U16P 146S
Thursday, December 2, 2004
Vol. 34 No. 49
Covering Port Aransas and Mustang Island
USPS 946-020
INSIDE City hires manager with coastal experience
■^THIS EDITION ' ° *
Island Focus
Closing for repairs
Horace Caldwell Pier will
close for repairs on Monday,
Dec. 6. The repairs are part
of a plan to improve the I.B.
Magee Beach Park.
Page 1B
Opinion
Why now?
Restricting RV camping
may be a necessity - dur-
ing the peak season. How-
ever, why should we now
start enforcing the existing
ordinance during the off-
season when we have Win-
ter Texans (some who could
afford to buy an RV park)
who just enjoy staying right
on the beach? ...
Jim Anderson
Port Aransas
What part of ‘no’...?
I was glad to see that Ralph
Durden has presented a
“new, scaled-down” version
of his mega-plex to the city.
It really should come as no
surprise, however. This is
the same old ploy used by
wheeler-dealers. ...
Richard L. Tondre
Port Aransas
Letters to the editor
Page 3A
Island Sports
It’s a fever
By Phil Reynolds - their third in an attempt to choose
South Jetty reporter from three finalists for the position
Port Aransas has a new city man- - to announce that Michael Kovacs
a8er; would take over the vacant city
City Council members emerged manager's position effective Monday,
Tuesday from a closed-door session Dec. 6.
He will be paid $75,000 a year and
a car allowance, Mayor Georgia
Neblett said after the executive coun-
cil session. Kovacs will also get $5,000
moving expenses and five days off to
help his family move to Port Aransas.
Sights of the sesison STAFF photo by Murray Judson
Leroy Canning of Oklahoma City, OK, is spending part of his fifth winter in Port Aransas decorating the
recreational vehicle park where he stays.
The city charter ■
requires that the B
city manager live
in the city.
Kovacs, 32, is I
married and has
three sons, ages 8, IlK3|j
5 and 3. His fam- A ; fc'
ily will be moving A / H
to Port Aransas as
soon as possible. HI_Mum'*'**,v
“I’m really Michael Kovacs
happy,” he said Wednesday morning.
“It’s a great community full of hospi-
table people, and I look forward to
providing good service to them.
“It will also be good to be near
home and the rest of my family.”
Kovacs won out over Port Aransan
Chuck Borders and David Harris,
currently city manager of Hill Coun-
try Village, a San Antonio suburb.
The three had met Thursday, Nov.
18, with members of the Chamber
of Commerce and the City Council,
and then in closed session with coun-
cil members for interviews on Friday,
Nov. 19, and Saturday, Nov. 20. The
council decided to meet again this
past Tuesday after gathering even
more information on the candidates,
Mayor Georgia Neblett said after the
Nov. 20 session.
“I’m delighted to be bringing
Michael Kovacs on board,” Neblett
said after announcing his hiring. “He
comes with experience directly re-
lated to our island, both in the envi-
ronmental issues and the tourist is-
sues that face us.
“The council deliberated long and
hard to provide the best leadership
for the city, and we feel that we are
doing that in hiring Michael Kovacs.”
Kovacs was town administrator of
Surfside Beach, N.C., until he re-
signed abruptly on Thursday, Nov.
11. Newspaper stories in the Myrtle
Beach, N.C. Sun News suggested that
Kovacs might have been asked to re-
sign because of disagreements with
the mayor, but Neblett said that
Kovacs wasn’t asked to resign.
“I talked to city council members
there,” Neblett said. “They said
(Kovacs) had been at odds with the
mayor, but if it came down to a vote
calling for his resignation, they didn’t
think the votes were there.”
Kovacs had been city administrator
of Surfside Beach for nearly five years
when he resigned. Before going to
Surfside Beach, he was city manager
in Presidio for two years.
He has a Coastal Bend back-
ground, with family in the area. He
attended Del Mar College in Corpus
Christi and received a double degree
in political science and criminal jus-
tice from Texas A&.M University-
Corpus Christi. He has a masters of
public administration degree, also
from TAMU-CC.
“It just looks like a great place,”
Kovacs said of Port Aransas. “The
people there are great.”
He cited Port Aransas’ “tremen-
dous potential as a small town” as
one of the reasons he applied for the
job here.
“It’s certainly a place to watch,” he
said.
He told the South Jetty after the
Nov. 19 meeting with the City Coun-
cil that he felt one of the city’s big-
gest problems was coastal erosion and
suggested that if he were hired, he
would seek grants from outside
sources to combat erosion.
The city has “taken an important
step” by hiring a lobbyist to help se-
cure $3 million in federal funds to
continue a bulkheading project along
the Corpus Christi Ship Channel,
Kovacs said.
In the South Jetty interview, set
up to let council members see how
the candidates reacted to unexpected
situations, Kovacs said his number
one issue in the event of a city emer-
gency would be to make sure the
personnel are available to handle the
task and to afford citizens protection.
He said if he were hired he would
pursue transportation and traffic
studies to lead Port Aransas into a
pedestrian-friendly design and would
make sure that developers addressed
the impact of their projects on that
type of lifestyle.
The Port Aransas city manager’s
office has been without a permanent
occupant since the council asked
Kelvin Knauf to leave on Aug. 19. City
Finance Director Judy Lyle has acted
as interim city manager since then.
Shop till you drop
The time has come to buy all kinds
of unusual items at the annual church
Christmas bazaars. This Saturday,
Dec. 4, the Community Presbyterian
and Trinity-by-the-Sea Episcopal
churches will open at 8 a.m., with the
Presbyterian closing at noon and the
Episcopal staying open until 2 p.m.
The churches will have a large va-
Two churches holding Christmas bazaars Saturday
riety of unique, individualized hand-
made, homemade and white elephant
gifts available for early shoppers to
buy.
The Presbyterian Women of Com-
munity Presbyterian Church have
been busy making different items that
will suit someone on your shopping
list, said publicity chairman Helen
Jameson. A raffle will be held with
raffle items already on display at the
church office, 113 S. Alister St. They
include a knitted afghan, a stained
glass angel, a hardanger needlework
and a framed cross-stitch of two peli-
cans. Tickets are available at the of-
fice now. They also will have a “Sec-
ond Hand Rose” table. All money
raised will go to the scholarship fund,
which goes to Port Aransas High
School students at graduation.
Once again, frozen entrees will be
for sale by the Presbyterians. Fill up
your freezer with treats. Complimen-
tary coffee will give shoppers a chance
to rest between purchases.
The Presbyterian bazaar will be
open until noon at the Pollock Cen-
ter behind the church.
Parishioners at the Trinity-by-the-
Sea Episcopal Church, 433 Trojan St.,
are ready for hungry holiday shop-
pers, with homemade baked goods,
(cakes, candy, bread, pies, jellies, pick-
les and more) and lunch. For a $5
Please see ‘BAZAARS,’ 4A
'"f
Marlin and Lady Marlin fever
is high as the hoop season
continues at Port Aransas
High School.
Pages 6-7A
INDcX
Basketball..............
6-7A
Church ....................
... 3B
Classifieds..............
4-8 B
Editorial.................
... 3A
Education notes.......
... 8A
Fishing report.........
... 9A
Island agenda..........
... 2A
Island observer.......
. 10A
Island plants...........
... 8A
Law enforcement .....
... 2B
On the town............
... 3B
Pastor’s pen............
... 3B
School menus..........
... 8A
Tides & Weather.....
... 9A
OUTH JETTY NEWSPAPER PLU#
Christmas drives
Toy donations come in slowly
Christmas toys for children of all
ages are being collected for distribu-
tion to less fortunate families in Port
Aransas.
Donations of new, unwrapped toys
are being accepted by Port Aransas
first responders during seventh an-
nual Emergency Services Toy
Roundup.
Police, emergency medical services
and firefighters are leading the drive
to collect toys that will be presented
to children of less fortunate families
in Port Aransas.
“To me, it’s been slow; and you
know me, I’m in a panic,” said Sue
Williams, coordinator of the drive.
“It’s after Thanksgiving, and
Christmas is not that far away,” she
said.
It’s too early in the drive to tell,
Please see ‘TOY,’ Page 4A
Food drive going ‘really well’
Donations of nonperishable foods
and cash to the Care and Share Drive
sponsored by Veterans of Foreign
Wars Post 8967 went “really well”
on opening weekend, according to
chairman David Davidson.
The shortfall is in volunteers. Any-
one, whether a member of the VFW
or not, is invited to give an hour or
two of their time over the next three
weekends. Call Davidson at 749-4680
or the post home at 749-6534 to vol-
unteer.
The drive that started Friday and
continued through Sunday at the
Family Center IGA brought in 14
boxes of nonperishable food items
and a little more than $500, Davidson
said.
Volunteers staff tables at the Fam-
ily Center Friday through Sunday,
Dec. 3-6, 10-12 and 17-19 from 10
a.m. to 6 p.m. Throughout the week,
food may be left in a box at the Fam-
ily Center or taken to the VFW post
home, 311 N. Alister St.
Cash will be used to buy turkeys,
hams and other perishables to be
added to the boxes of food that will
Please see ‘FOOD,’ Page 4A
Surf fishing 3-year-old
Courtesy photo by Linda Smith-Davison
Andres Christian Sens, just turned 3, enjoys his new fishing pole, surffishing at the ‘sunny beach’. Andres
is the son of Chris Sens, of Corpus Christi and grandson of Linda Smith-Davison of Port Aransas and
Mitchell Sens of Alice. Andres caught the only fish that day.
www.portasouthjetty.com
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Judson, Mary Henkel. Port Aransas South Jetty (Port Aransas, Tex.), Vol. 34, No. 49, Ed. 1 Thursday, December 2, 2004, newspaper, December 2, 2004; Port Aransas, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth556301/m1/1/: accessed July 18, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Ellis Memorial Library.