Port Aransas South Jetty (Port Aransas, Tex.), Vol. 33, No. 31, Ed. 1 Thursday, July 31, 2003 Page: 1 of 58
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Thursday, July 31, 2003
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Vol. 33 No. 31
On Mustang Island, Texas
Learning
the ROPES
! R.J. Roper, new principal at
H.G. Olsen Elementary
School is getting ready for
SCHOOL TO START ON AUG. 20.
Find out more about the
START OF SCHOOL INSIDE THIS
EDITION.
Page 8A
TV
Listings
Page 9A
First Friday
Winners of the Art
Center for the Islands’
All-Member Show will, be
FEATURED AT THE FlRST
Friday reception.
Page 3A
Generous gift
St. Joseph Catholic Church
DONATED $50,000 TO A
SHELTER FOR THE HOMELESS IN
Corpus Christi.
Page 4A
Church listing..........4A
Classified ads.......5-8B
Editorial..................2 A
Fishing report..........3B
Island agenda...........3A
Island observer........6A
Law enforcement......2B
On the town.............4A
Pastor’s pen.............4A
Tides.........................3B
Weather...................3B
south jetty newspaper plu*
Kids fish to
win bicycles
By Beki Desopo
South Jetty reporter
Kids have several reasons to fish the Hope
Devlin Kid’s Fishing Tournament this week-
end, the biggest of which is the chance to win
a bicycle.
Three bikes will he given away, one for each
age group.
Other prizes will be awarded, plus meals
will be served both days.
Proceeds from the tournament, sponsored
by the Kiwanis Club of Port Aransas, will help
provide scholarships lor Port Aransas High
School graduates.
This tournament is held in honor of Capt.
Hope Devlin, a woman who loved kids and
loved to fish before losing her battle with can-
cer. It opens with registration and a hot dog
dinner on Friday from 5 to 6 p.m. at Roberts
Point Park. Fishing begins at sunrise and ends
at noon on Saturday with lood and awards to
follow.
Kids may anywhere in tills competition, i.e.
dock, boat, jetty, Charlie’s Pasture or surf.
Weigh in deadline is 12:30 p.m. at Roberts
Point Park. Awards will he presented at 1:30
p.m. at the park. As was done for the past two
years, bicycles will take the place of trophies
and are presented in three age categories for
the largest fish by weight. Age categories are
0-5 years, 6 to 10 years, and 11 to 15 years.
Awards for participation are also presented.
The $10 registration fee includes the din-
ners and a souvenir t-shirt for each child.
For more information, call Elvia Tamayo at
749-40% or Faith Devlin at 749-3497.
Cross
country
Kiewit builds footings
for California bridge
By Mary Judson
South Jetty editor
A little bit - really a lot - of Texas is being
shipped to California, 900 tons at a time.
Kiewit Offshore Services yard at Ingleside
has been building pier footings for tht*j£>an
Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge for the past year.
Jaime Adame, business development director
for Kievvit’s Houston office, said the footings
weigh 900 tons each and measure 60’ by 40’
by 20’. A total of 28 will be built. Until today
(Thursday, July 31), they have been sent out
by barge two at a time. Today’s shipment will
include four footings that will traverse the Gulf
of Mexico to the Panama Canal en route to
their destination. The trip will take 35 to 45
days.
The footings are “dense steel boxes because
they are supposed to be part of earthquake
proofing the bridge,” Adame said. They will
be used to support the east span of the bridge,
he said.
The bridge collapsed during the earthquake
that struck during the World Series being
played at Candlestick Park in San Francisco
on Oct. 17, 1989.
Kiewit is building the footings as part of
contract with the California Transportation
Authority, which “has the toughest specs in
the world,” Adame said.
Thursday’s shipment will leave at an unspeci-
fied hour “early in the morning,” Adame said.
Making a splash
.........i»............... i
The final countdown of summer is under way and ‘water babies’ are taking
advantage of the cool waters of the Port Aransas Community Park swimming pool
as temperatures hover in the 90s. In the top photo, swimmers enjoy being splashed
by the ‘buckets’ in the children’s area. Below, Port Aransas Youth Council counselor
Dani Buskey plays with some of the program participants.
*7*T"
<*. -• ' . -wf4-*
Line 'em up, weigh 'em in
OTArr PHOTO BY JUDY FXHANli
Participants in the sixth annual Blue Wave Boat Owners Fishing and Fun Tournament line up to weigh in their catches at the city
marina on Saturday. The tournament headquartered at Roberts Point Park for registration, weigh in, dinner and awards.
Changing lanes
JFK traffic to move
to eastbound lanes
By Mary Judson
South Jetty editor
Work on the JFK Causeway is “on sched-
ule," according to Frances Garza, public infor-
mation officer for the Corpus Christi office of
the Texas Department of Transportation
(TxDOT).
In about six weeks, all traffic will be moved
to the eastbound side while work resumes on
the westbound side, Garza said.
The project, scheduled to be complete by
the summer of 2004. involve'-, elevation of Park
Road 22 from O’Connell Street in Flour Bluff
to 1,740 feet east of Aquarius Drive on North
Padre Island. The existing roadway will be
raised to a minimum of nine feet above the
mean sea level and will include a new 2,850-
foot bridge west of the Humble Channel.
In the event of an evacuation, the lanes will
function as they do now, except that they will
be on the elevated side.
Once the causeway is completed, a!! the lanes
will he at the higher elevation. There will be
one lane of traffic going in each direction with
a “contra flow” lane in the middle. In the case
of evacuation, the contra flow lane will be
opened up to have two lanes of traffic moving
off the island and one lane going to the is-
land,” Garza said.
Speed limit in the construction area is 55
mph, except from Humble Channel to Jackfish
Avenue where it is 45 mph.
rhe project hid of $37,749,620.98, which
was 16 percent below the estimated cost of
$45 million, was awarded by TxDOT to Zachry
Construction of San Antonio. The contractor
has two years and five months to complete
construction, and a $5,000 per day incentive
is included for early completion. A $5,000 per
day penalty for late completion is also a provi-
sion of the contract. Work started on Feb. 4,
2002. The contract is for 757 working days.
The project is made possible by tunding
from the State of Texas, the Metropolitan Plan-
ning Organization (MPO), Supplemental Sur-
face Transportation program Metropolitan
Mobility/Rehabilitation program, Hurricane
Evacuation Route program, the City of Cor-
pus Christi and Nueces County.
Island native,
Florine Ousley,
is laid to rest
Florine V. Ousley, 84, member of a pio-
neer Port Aransas family, died Wednesday,
July 23, 2003, at her home on Church Street.
She was born March 15, 1919, in Port
Aransas. Her parents, S.C. and Vera
Mathews, were among the early settlers in
the community.
During World War II,
Ousley served the country
as a member of the
Women’s Army Auxiliary
Corps (WAAC). She was
stationed in the South Pa-
cific.
After the war, she re-
turned to Port Aransas
where she married ^
Woodrow W. Ousley FLOfttNE 0uSLEY
They owned and operated Woody’s Boat
Basin (now Woody’s Sports Center) on the
waterfront for many years.
Woody's back porch was well-known as a
gathering spot for fishermen.
She was a member of Community Presby-
terian Church, past president of the Mother’s
Club and past member of the Port Aransas
Lioness Club.
Ousley was preceded in death by two sons,
Simmy Ousley and Bobby Ousley, and one
brother, Beanie Mathews.
In addition to her husband, she is sur-
vived by two sons, Butch Ousley of Port
Aransas and Scott (Sherry) Ousley of Aus-
tin; three daughters, Marie (the late Foy)
Stiewig of Port Aransas and Vivi (Tosser)
See and Sylvia (Randell) Buttler, both of
Flour Bluff; one brother, “Cricker" Mathews
of Llano; two daughters-in-law, Vickie Cox
of Grandview and Teressa Ousley of Port
Aransas; 22 grandchildren and 17 great-
grandchildren.
Funeral services were held Saturday in
Community Presbyterian Church with the
Rev. Richard Safford officiating.
Military graveside services followed in
Royal Palms Cemetery, Port Aransas.
Pallbearers were Clint Buttler, Chris
Buttler, Brandon Stiewig, WAV. Ousley III,
Calvin Stiewig, Bill Turnbull, Jeff Hicks and
Frederick “Manny” Mathews.
In lieu of flowers, expressions of sympa-
thy may be made in Ousley’s name to the
Jerry McDonald Foundation, P.O. Box 261,
Port Aransas, TX 78373.
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Judson, Mary. Port Aransas South Jetty (Port Aransas, Tex.), Vol. 33, No. 31, Ed. 1 Thursday, July 31, 2003, newspaper, July 31, 2003; Port Aransas, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth662941/m1/1/: accessed April 19, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Ellis Memorial Library.