Port Aransas South Jetty (Port Aransas, Tex.), Vol. 16, No. 40, Ed. 1 Thursday, October 2, 1986 Page: 2 of 16
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PACE 2A
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 2, 1986
Editorial
PORT ARANSAS SOUTH JETTY
a®si®\®©QZU
SSbk'!
Spinoff
IF SUCCESS CAN BE ME AS
ured by the shimmering exciterr.er:
in a child's eyes, then Port Aran
Day was an overwhelming hands
down triumph!
The Triple 0*»ebrat:cr. - f T-.
150th anniversary of statehood
Port Aransas' 75th year as a city
and the Tarpon Inn's 100th birth-
day was celebrated with enthusi-
asm by residents young and old an d
visitors from near and far
The day’s events were the culm:
nation of more than a year of plan-
ning by our community's Sesqui-
centennial Committee These six
people coordinated, inspired and
encouraged a host of others to join
Super job!
-By Mary Henkel Judson
with t.vr trr-rs*-: one of the fin-
esc days j :u_r tascory
T1"-? Ccm 7T.ir:ife s ;*rxra inten-
:k was * i *« l family day* with
somethin* 5:c nwycre
a . * as. - id.-ou; a doubt, what
?■; r. A*a.s*> r*ay was
«e ' jtw untold mches of film.
- i pt rt ior. of which can possibly
tr printed, that record the day’s
?-cresses Perhaps one of the big-
gest tributes is a total lack of grum-
bmeiing by anyone about anything
— all reports are glowing. That in
itself is a record.
While it took many hands and
minds many hours to produce Port
Aransas Day, there is a nucleus of
six people to whom we owe a deep
debt of gratitude for creating the
e\ent that so significantly and effect-
i\ety celebrated three historic mnm-
enr« for Port .Aransas.
For more than a year of toil
behind the scenes we extend our
appreciation and admiration to
these people.
The Sesquicentennial Committee
of six includes:
Mayor Dale Bietendorf, chair-
man; Audrey Manning, DeLana Lit-
tleton, Jim Atwill, John Thompson
and last, but certianly not least,
Lanette Nolte.
Port Aransas salutes you!
Cactus Pryor
“Just how bad is the Texas
economy?"
“It’s so bad that this year our
state fair will be caiied the Texas
State Just Fair."
• • •
“Governor Clements, how do you
feel about the White campaign TV
spots that show Ixtoc II oil from
your oil rig contaminating Texas
beaches'7"
“I like ’em. Theyjust demonstrate
that when 1 was governor of Texas
we even had oil to waste. Now look
what’s happened to the supply of
oil since White took over."
* • •
Houston 28, Oklahoma State 12.
Bill Yeoman is like Bill Hobby. After
all the polls , all the complaining
all ib*' yelling theyjust quietly go
about getting the job done.
“Linda Gale, I’m glad you’re in-
volved in the war against drug
abuse. But don’t hold that 'Just Say
No’sign next to my campaign post-
ers."
“Yes, Mark."
0 • •
Bastrop, Texas, is buying a $1 mil-
lion sewage treatment unit from
the city of Austin for $1. Now they’ll
be in the producing business in-
stead of the receiving.
“As President of the Phillippines I
appear before this Congress of the
United States to plead for a sizable
loan to ease the burden of my coun-
try’s debts. Oh, one other thing.
Would you gentlemen ask your
wives if they would be interested in
buying some practically new
shoes?”
A man was arrested at Disney-
land for investigation of sexual bat-
tery after he allegedly grabbed a
woman in a Minnie Mouse costume.
Too much catnip? Incidentally,
when asked about the incident
Goofy said, “Huh?”
From the mailbox-
Letters
Cleanup kudos
• Thanks to everyone who helped
with the Texas Coastal Cleanup in
Port Aransas on Sept. 20. A few
showers did not deter 75 Beach
Buddies from collecting 3,300
pounds of litter from Mustang and
San Jose islands. More importantly,
each piece of trash was identified
and recorded so that the source of
this nationwide embarassment
might be more accurately identified
Thanks also to the local folks who
contributed to this effort — Ed
Sheppard and the Jetty Boat, City
Manager Gordon Beck and the City,
the Family Center, Whataburger,
Clanton’s Texaco and Tortuga Flats.
And a special thank you to Sharon
Tyrrell and friends whose efforts
made the Cleanup the success that
it was.
Russ Miget
Cleanup zone captain,
Port Aransas
Ready for action
LETS DO SOMETHING! — No
reflection on you, Patsy.
At the writing of this letter, I
hope I shall be granted the same
amount of space as Mr. Joe Bogus (I
don’t know you, but I feel like I do
after reading countless columns in
the South Jetty with your name at
the end).
SILENT MAJORITY — I belive
most of the residents of Port Aran-
sas are just that, or either they
come up with these wonderful ideas
about our problems and nothing is
ever done. I have yet to see an invi-
tation to the residents of Port
Aransas to meet at a specific place
to air ail their ideas and solutions to
our problems, and like intelligent
people that we all are, get our heads
together and tackle these problems
It is unreasonable to think that all
our misgivings can be corrected in a
short period of time. It is, however,
very reasonable that little by little
our msyor problem could be reduced
to smaller and smaller ones.
I have read everything from soup
to nuts about what our problem is.
Police, City Council, beach parking
permits, local merchants with high
prices taking advantage of our vis-
itors, drugs, booze, parking space
on the beach and it goes on and on.
We are textured and grained just
like the world we see. What uu we
see here? Some of us give up a high-
paying job or turn dnum o promo
tion because it would eat up too
much of our leisure time. We live in
this beautiful Paradise of Port
Aransas because it seems easier.
Booze, drugs, partying, laid-back
living “ON ISLAND TIME" - what a
Paradise it is. We are escaping real-
ity. Are we really an island of MIS-
FIT PEOPLE as I have so often
heard in my public contact with
people of all walks of life who visit
Port Aransas? Is being half-alive
acceptable to us?
1 am not a long-time resident of
Port Aransas, so perhaps many will
feel that I’m in left field. My left field
was booze — thank God I did not
get so far gone that I could find no
way out. Perhaps it would have
done me well to have a “good of boy"
lock me in jail. I was one of the lucky
ones — I went from point A to point
B in my car not knowing the time
element between. I was lucky, I did
not kill anyone or myself.
When children smell the booze on
a parent's breath, when they become
accustomed to Mommy and Daddy
fighting or being put in jail — if this
remains consistent — they will grow
to think this is part of a normal life.
Then we can sit in judgment of
them when we are at fault.
We are at fault for allowing the
council members to be in their posi-
tions now. If we care so much, why
do we not stop living on island time
and change things?
I have seen a few good changes
come to the island since I’ve been
here. Street repair, the youth pro-
gram which went astray for lack of
participation. Whose idea was it to
pave Avenue C before Alister Street?
I’m only curious. Why were the
children not encouraged by their
parents to participate in Mrs. Bull’s
youth program? I’ve seen Port
Aransas acquire what appears to
be a semblance of a police car.
However, I still cannot see the road-
way leading out of the park to Cotter
Avenue. Really, I do not think a few
visible signs and a few lights would
disturb the sleep of the fish. If we
want our tourist trade to visit Port
Aransas, let’s give them something
to look at. Let’s help them.
This letter is not intended to
throw any slurs to anyone, only to
say what was said last week — LETS
DO SOMETHING.
If I said there would be a $1,000
to everyone who showed up to offer
suggestions, if I said there would be
$1,000 to everyone who voted the
next time, if I said there would be
$1,000 to everyone who had the
courage to tell their kids no and
then explain why, if I said there
would be $1,000 to the people who
would give up their crutches —
again, I'm curious — who would
take me up on these offers? If I ask
the Parks and Recreation Depart-
ment to show off our beautiful jetty
and allow it to be free of trash, if I
ask for some lights in the park area
to insure the safety of both people
and vehicles, who would take me up
on these offers? More importantly,
how sincere would they be? Unfor-
tunately, I do not have the money.
They say money talks and bull -
walks. Let’s not practice either of
these — LETS DO SOMETHING!
I am not a politician, nor do I
intend to be. I know very little about
the subject. I do, however, challenge
the residents of Port Aransas, those
past and present, the people who
care to prove that we are not an
ISLAND OF MISFIT PEOPLE. Can
we see some action, or must every-
thing continue to be only words?
A. Cox
Port Aransas
Scattershooting-
Pie in the sky
|Editor’s note: Jack Moore’s col-
umn again missed the mailbag.
We hope it catches up with us in
time for next week's paper! In the
meantime, here's an excerpt from
his book "From a listening
»
■ trail. |
Friend of mine the other night
was reminiscing about ordering
things from a catalogue when he
was just starting to wear long
britches
We'd gotten off on the subject
because the women in this discus-
sion kept insisting on talking about
shopping and spending money. You
know how they are.
Anyhow, he still vividly remem-
bers sending off for a steam engine.
He spent a lot of time and thought
deciding, and he was almost beside
himself waiting for it to come
Every day, he would get out the
catalogue and go over every little
detail. He still recalls how that
engine works, how it was built, and
all the things he could do with it.
Then the big day. His steam en-
gine came by parcel post.
There’s no way the real thing
could measure up to the dream
The most important difference, as
he remembers it, was the size. It
was less than half as big as he had
been expecting. When he opended
that package and saw his beloved
steam engine, it was some kind of
disappointment.
Man, I know the feeling. Do I ever!
During my senior year in high
school, I joinpd * suit club.
There was a tailor’s shop on my
paper route and whenever I had a
chance I would stop by and look at
the pictures of the elegant suits.
Each with a swatch of material to
Tidemarks-
let you really see what the suit
would look like.
Since I didn't own a suit, I wanted
to get the best one possible. So I
joined the club. 1’aid $2 a month for
ler.g mcr.iha.
Long before I finished paying for
it, I had decided on the suit I
wanted. It had a.single-button coat,
a double-breasted vest, and it was a
pin-stripe 100 percent wool.
I wanted to surprise my parents
and everybody. So the tailor and I
kept it a secret.
At long last, 1 made the final
payment. My friend the tailor
brought it out. Made exactly the
way it looked in the picture. From
the same material that I had so
carefully selected.
Waul iu siiare my feelings when I
tried it on?
Shut your eyes and imagine a
short, fat kid wearing a tight-fitting
pin-stripe suit with a double-
breasted vest and you got the pic-
-By Jack L. Moore
ture!
If steam engines and green suits
were the only things involved. I
wouldn't be getting this worked up.
Believe me.
But you’ve had some experiences
that didn't live up to their advance
billing, haven’t you? Or, like me,
you’ve paid good money to go pla-
ces and see sights that were less
interesting and less entertaining
than the come-on.
Even more distressing, and far
more important, are those times
when people are disappointing.
When they are not as attractive, not
as charming, not as forceful, not as
intelligent, not as charismatic, just
not as something. As I was expect-
ing.
I am rarely disappointed with
people I happen to meet. And my
disappointment with others sel-
dom lasts when I get to know them,
if I’ll let myself have that chance.
What sometimes happens is that
I build you up in my expectations to
such a point that disappointment is
inevitable. You’re just not able to
live up to my romanticized version
of how you ought to be!
Like ordering out of a catalogue,
measuring you by my expeeations,
rather than accepting you the wray
you are, is most likely to be disap-
jiointing.
For both of us.
And vice versa.
PS.
My friend .-.ays that once ne got
used to it he had a lot of fun with
that steam engine.
The green suit?
Let’s leave it with this. I did get a
lot of wear out of it. I didn’t have
any choice.
Nice loser; local terGAG me
—-By C. M. Henkel Jr.
PETER DUPONT, FORMER Gov-
ernor of Delaware and a congress-
man from that state, is the first
man to formally throw his hat in
the ring as a GOP presidential can-
didate.
1 am far from certain that such
early announcements are wise
t hey affect some adversely, like
Christmas promotions in July. On
the other hand, remember Jimmy
Carter. DuPont is articulate, at-
tractive, intelligent. Wow! He has at
least one idea which I like very
much, another which I find ques-
tionable. I listened to him a few
evenings ago, “One on One" with
John McLaughlin, a probing, usu-
ally tough interrogator. DuPont
would test all school children for
drugs and end government welfare.
I don’t know why I mention the
first, drugs. DuPont was firm on the
count but failed to convince me, if
to the editor
Dangerous dogs
Thank you for printing my letter
of 1 Vi years ago, “Leash The Dogs.” I
have been visiting Port Aransas
since 1952 and have seen a very
secluded little ocean village transi-
tion to a popular tourist summer
retreat.
Although less dogs were seen
running loose on the beach during
my cight rriuiilii stay Sept. 1, 1985,
to May 1,1986, there were still a few
dogs running loose. I have been
attacked twice, in January 1984
and January 1985, on the beach
there, almost at the same location
— the area between Avenue G and
the Best Western Motel. Both times
the dog was the same breed of dog,
and both attacks occurred with the
owner nearby.
The first attack resulted in deep
penetration in my lower left leg,
with four deep teeth marks on both
sides of the leg. The second, again a
boxer, but my sudden turn to avoid
his attack resulted in his only dig-
ging his teeth into my jacket. In the
first incident, the owners gave me
aid and took me to a doctor for
treatment. In the second attack, I
was able to grasp the dog’s leg as he
was in mid-air, and in my turning
motion, with his free weight, slung
him at a good distance from me.
During both attacks, the owners
were screaming commands to the
dogs, but the dogs ignored them at
first. During the second attack, the
return action on my part left the
dog rather confused in rolling on
the beach until the owner got to
him, leashed him and ran to his car
and sped away. The owner did not
offer me any aid at all, and minutes
later I had a bad angina attack.
Loose dogs are a lethal weapon.
It is time that dog owners, and the
city, should be reminded that fail
ure to obey the law, or to enforce
the law, does not relieve either one
from a lawsuit that can be not only
See "Letter*,” Page I2A
among other reasons, the accuracy
of such tests appears still to be
much in question. Further, well you
know how I would stop drug traffic.
Bear down hard, get tough, really
tough, on traffickers. Urinalysis
tests still seem to me a suhferfuge
In ending welfare DuPont would let
the unfortunate aged, the lame, the
halt and blind starve or freeze to
death? By no means. However, he
would make it mandatory that able-
bodied recipients earn the govern-
ment largesse they receive. Great,
but sorry Peter, you’ve already stir-
red up a hornets nest. Wait until the
bleeding hearts, the American Civil
Liberties Union, take out after you,
if they haven’t already. Yes, sorry
again. I hate to see nice, intelligent
guys turn up losers.
NEWS REPORTS HAVE TERROR
ists threatening to vent their wrath
upon U.S. cities. Illogical but plau-
sible. Look at what’s happening in
Paris. Here out thoughts turn to
New York and Washington as tar-
gets, but for what sound reason?
Would it not be more subtle, carry a
greater element of surprise, if a
popular restaurant or mall in Cor-
pus Christi were to be bombed?
Think only of how easy it would be.
Illegal persons cross out south-
ern border with ease and in such
great numbers that no one in our
government dares more than guess
at the count. Put yourself in the
boots of a terrorist, remembering
the while that you are bent only on
the success of your mission, care
not a fig for your own life, and that
you have no special preferences as
to the individuals you maim or kill.
More, you know that whether you
strike a border city or New York > ou
will still stir ragtag congressmen to
outrageous blustering, and more
important, make the headlines and
evening news. Come to think of it, a
blow at Corpus Christi, because it
would be less expected than one in
Washington, might gain you bigger
headlines. In addition, on the eve of
winter why leave the sunny south?
Here charge me with sensational
journalism. But who is to realisti-
cally say, “It can’t happen here."
Truth is that it can and might.
Remember, our press, not the ter-
rorists, have threatened and tar-
geted New York and Washington.
I LIKEN THE CIRCUMSTANCE to
the unpreparedness, the naivity of
this nation and it's allies prior to
World War II. None of us wanted
war and so we convinced ourselves
there would be none. Those who
spoke for defense were called alar-
mists; they aroused the ire of much
of the press, the Congress and the
parliaments of the world. The same
attitudes prevail today but with a
difference. Now we face not only
the armed might of potential ene-
mies, but a war against drugs, a
weapon new to this country but not
to the world. Remember the opium
wars Of a century and a half ago, or
again the Japanese successes with
drugs in undermining the Chinese
people half a century ago. Drugs we
combat with flamboyant speeches
and other means which amount to
little more than tokenism Finally,
our borders are a sieve, a sieve so
widely meshed that anyone, includ-
ing terrorists, can and do invade us
at will, threatening to destroy the
customs and traditions left to us by
our forebearers. Their weapons are
not guns and bombs, instead an
urgency to breed like rabbits and to
reject our native language.
OUR BORDERS, OUR LAN-
guage? A few brave souls in our
government recognize the circum-
stances but are scorned and ridic-
uled. Even their efforts to pass
immigration laws, watered down to
all but meaningless, are rejected. In
Texas, legal notices are by law
printed in the native language, but
in Spanish as well, even though
most who speak it are unable to
read it. In California, the circum-
stance is even worse. Notices are
sometimes required to be published
in half a dozen languages. Efforts to
make English the offical language
of the nation meet with little suc-
cess. Ladies and gentlemen, wha-
tever tragedy may befall us, it can
only be said that we asked for it
—even as we did WWII. In all of this
there is nothing new.
ON OLD ENGLAND IT USED TO
be said: “Old Blightly always blund-
ers through,” and so she did for a
thousand years. But now the em-
pire is gone and whn’gthe better for
it? Very few if any. Deny this and I
shall question your knowIpHge
your comprehension of history. Cer-
tainly point not to India. In the
early 1930s, Winston Churchill
fought, almost alone, to preserve
that part of the empire but only
stirred anger and hatred against
himself. Yet today his predictions at
that time for India have all come to
pass.
SAID OFTEN ENOUGH, PRESI-
dent Reagan is almost childishly
naive on the subject of foreign af-
fairs, but as of this Friday morning
he is totally right in vetoing sanc-
tions against South Africa. And his
reason, that the blacks of that coun-
try are those who will suffer most, is
correct as well. There are of course
other reasons. Meanwhile, the gen-
tlemen of the Congress and the
Senate will have probably overrid-
den the veto before you read these
words. Their judgement is neither
moral, humane, nor wise. They suc-
ceed only in hastening a bloodbath
which with each passing day be-
comes more inevitable. Grown men
and women, our politicians act, as
usual, like children in the jelly of
youth.
IN A TIME OF THE YEAR WHEN
my mail jumps from 75 to 97 per-
cent junk, the mailman this morn-
ing made my day. Snorting and
sorting I found an invitation to
attend a small dinner and recep-
tion for national columnist Georgie
Anne Geyer. I have never been
much given to having heros, but if
you follow this column you’ll fairly
charge me with having a heroine,
G.A.G. Of this you shall hear more,
but not for some weeks.
I
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Judson, Mary. Port Aransas South Jetty (Port Aransas, Tex.), Vol. 16, No. 40, Ed. 1 Thursday, October 2, 1986, newspaper, October 2, 1986; Port Aransas, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth662916/m1/2/: accessed July 16, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Ellis Memorial Library.