Port Aransas South Jetty (Port Aransas, Tex.), Vol. 39, No. 22, Ed. 1 Thursday, May 28, 2009 Page: 1 of 20
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PORT ARANSAS, Tg
Thursday, May 28, 2009
Vol. 39 No. 22
© 2009 Port Aransas South Jetty - All Rights Reserved
USPS 946-020
750
Inside
I THIS EDITION I
Fenced off
Vehicular access to the
Nature Preserve at Charlie’s
Pasture is restricted due to
construction.
Page 10A
All-District
Port Aransas High School
baseball team members have
been named to the All-District
team.
Page 8B
Good sports
The recipients of the Millie
Wise SDortsmanshiD Award
and the Athletes of the Year
were named at the Marlin
Athletic Booster Club’s
annual banquet on May 20.
Page 8B
Fish are biting
With winds subsiding, fishing
has been good. Check it out.
Page 3B
Index
Church
Pastor’s pen..
Island Life
Columnists
• Tony Amos..........
• For the birds.....
• Rachel Pearson
Island agenda.......
Law enforcement .
Youth
Class of 2009 graduates Friday
Regional track .
Opinion
Port Aransas High School will award diplomas to
38 seniors during commencement exercises tomor-
row, Friday, May 29.
The ceremony will be at 8 p.m. in the Doyle Marek
Gym at Port Aransas High School.
At the top of the class are valedictorian David
Thrasher and salutatorian David Gregory Ander-
son.
Thrasher, the son of Don and Barbara Thrasher,
will give the valedictory address.
With a 97.768 average, Thrasher will attend
Moody Bible Institute in Chicago where he will
pursue a degree in youth ministry. He would like to
incorporate his passions for mission work, music and
drama in his career.
Dave McNeely...........
Rep. Todd Hunter......
Mary Henkel Judson..
Letters to the editor.
Throughout his four years
at Port Aransas High School,
Thrasher has participated in UIL
One Act Play, varsity tennis, Fel-
lowship of Christian Athletes (he
was co-leader his senior year),
National Honor Society (presi-
dent his senior year), participant
in the Corpus Christi Big Game
Club, and is youth worship leader
as well as drummer for his church
worship band.
He was named best actor in One Act play as a
junior, and was honorable mention all-star cast as a
freshman and senior. He was a Corpus Christi Caller-
David Thrasher
Valedictorian
Times Distinguished Scholar
Finalist in 2008, male athlete of
the year in tennis in 2008, an AP
Scholar, winner in the Laughing
Gull writing contest in 2008, and
has been in the top 10 percent of
his class all four years of high
school.
Thrasher has been active
in his church and community,
going to Juarez, Mexico and
Tokyo, Japan on mission trips,
handing out Easter baskets and Christmas stockings
to the elderly, serving as youth worship leader and
helping at Mission 911 for a day as well as fundrais-
Greg Anderson
Salutatorian
ing activities with FCA leaders. He also assisted with
post-Hurricane Ike clean up in Galveston, has been a
participant in the American Cancer Society’s Relay
for Life and was a Country Fair volunteer to raise
funds for Project Graduation.
In addition, he works part-time detailing boats
and as a deckhand on the family boat, the Thrasher,
during the summer.
Second in his class with an average of 96.827,
Anderson lives with his parents, David Atamantyk
and Lori Anderson in Portland and has commuted to
school in Port Aransas since his sophomore year.
Anderson plans a career in computer science do-
See ‘GRADUATION,’ Page 11A
Class of 2009..............6A-7A
Scholarship winners.....8A-9A
Education notes..............12A
Sports
8B
Outdoors
Fishing report....
Tides & Weather.
Classified_
Classified ads.
SOUTH JETTY NEWSPAPER PLU#
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They’re No. 1!
PAHS computer science team takes first
at UIL spring academic meet in Austin
The champs
Staff photo by Murray Judson
Members of the number one computer science team in Class 1A in the State of Texas pose with a sign made
by supporters upon their return to Port Aransas Tuesday night, May 26. Team members from Port Aransas
High School are, from left, Clark Wilson, John Eggleston and Kasey Reed. Not pictured is Greg Anderson. The
team returned from state competition in Austin to a crowd of fans led by police cars and a fire truck with lights
flashing and sirens blaring.
By Dan Parker
South Jetty reporter
This most definitely computes.
A computer science team from Port
Aransas High School has scored first
place in state UIL competition for Class
1A schools. One team member, Kasey
Reed, took first place, individually, in
the competition.
The competition was held Monday
and Tuesday, May 25-26, at the Uni-
versity of Texas at Austin.
Besides Reed, a junior, PAHS team
members were sophomore Clark
Wilson who took fourth, individually;
senior Greg Anderson, who came in
fifth; and junior John Eggleston, who
tied for seventh.
“The boys said they pulled it out
because they worked as a team, de-
bugging each others’ programs in the
last few minutes of the contest. They
didn’t know it at the time, but those
points made the difference,” said
Laurie Barello, the team’s coach and
academic coordinator.
“These are four very bright and very
different boys that work together better
than any team I’ve ever had,” Barello
said. “I’m very proud of all of them.”
PAHS compiled a score of 760 in the
competition. The next-highest score
belonged to Perrin-Whitt High School
of the town of Perrin, with 670.
The rest of the schools, in order of
their placement, were Lindsay High
See‘PAHS,’ Page 4A
Noise ordinance meets silence
By Dan Parker
South Jetty
The noise issue suddenly has become
very quiet.
The Port Aransas City Council was
scheduled on Thursday, May 21, to con-
sider a second reading of a revised noise
ordinance that would have imposed new
restrictions to keep loud music from both-
ering residents living near nightclubs.
But, when Councilman Charles Bujan
made a motion that the council hold a
vote for a second reading of the ordinance
(it takes three readings to become law),
the motion died for lack of a second to
the motion.
For all practical purposes, the revised
* "j
Staff photos by Dan Parker
Point, counterpoint
Tarpon Ice House owner Paul
Fain, left, makes his point in
opposition to a proposed noise
ordinance, while resident Nora
Roberts who lives nearby, ex-
press support for it.
noise ordinance is dead, said Port Aransas
City Manager Michael Kovacs.
A group of neighhors annoyed by
music coming from the nearby Tarpon
Ice House supported the reworked ordi-
nance, and they spoke at the meeting to
let council members know their feelings.
But they were countered by at least three
Port Aransas night club owners and their
supporters who said the revised ordinance
threatened to do harm to their businesses
and to Port Aransas tourism in general.
The current ordinance says music
should not be louder than 85 decibels
from midnight to 7 a.m. in areas zoned for
business - generally along Alister Street,
Cotter Avenue, Cut-off Road and the flats,
said David Parsons, the city’s planning
and projects manager. The ordinance also
says decibel levels can’t be higher than
85 from 10 p.m. to 7 a.m. throughout the
rest of town, he said.
The revised ordinance, which passed
unanimously on first reading April 16,
says decibel levels should not climb
higher than 85 from 8 a.m. to midnight;
that levels not exceed 65 from midnight to
2 a.m.; and that police may use discretion
on what is too loud from 2 a.m. to 8 a.m.
The rules would be the same for all parts
of town, Parsons said.
See ‘NOISE,’ Page4A
Mayor, principal engage
in verbal sparring match
.1
Comments on
teen drinking
trigger exchange
By Dan Parker
South Jetty reporter
Controversy over the new head shop
on Cut-off Road has led to still more
heated commentary on the issue of
substance abuse among minors in Port
Aransas.
The latest: A newly completed peti-
tion; a verbal sparring match between
Port Aransas High School Principal
Travis Longanecker and Mayor Claude
Brown at a city council meeting; and a
declaration by Longanecker that PAHS
soon will fundamentally change how it
handles matters involving student alcohol
use allegations.
After the head shop, Happy Days,
opened on March 15, the Port Aransas
City Council passed a resolution to sup-
port enforcement of state laws prohibit-
ing the sale or advertisement of drug
paraphernalia and illegal drugs, and to
discourage those kinds of transactions in
town. (For the record, neither the shop
nor its owner or employees have been
formally charged with any wrongdoing.
Police have said bongs are not illegal to
sell because they arguably have legal uses
such as tobacco consumption.)
After the council passed the resolution,
a group of citizens got together and circu-
lated a petition around town supporting
the council’s resolution and encouraging
enforcement of not just drug laws, but
also laws against under-age drinking.
Ron Russell presented the city council
with the petition at the council’s meeting
on Thursday, May 21. City Manager Mi-
chael Kovacs said the petition contained
more than 300 signatures.
At the same meeting, Longanecker
stood before the council and spoke about
a town hall-style meeting he attended
April 21 at Port Aransas High School,
See ‘LONGANECKER,’ Page 4A
Holiday busy for merchants
.5B-8B
By Mary Henkel Judson
South Jetty editor
By most accounts, the Memorial Day
holiday weekend was a blockbuster.
Memorial Day is typically seen as
a forecast for the summer to come, so
based on the holiday weekend, the busi-
ness community is looking forward to a
profitable season.
A veteran of more than three decades
of Memorial Day holidays, Mike Hall
was all smiles. The co-owner and store
director of the Family Center IGA said,
“At first we were very nervous. We didn’t
know what to expect, but we were soon
relieved to see they were coming.”
Hall said it reminds him of previous
times of soft economy when driving vaca-
tions become more popular.
“If this Memorial Day is any indica-
tion, we may see that again,” Hall said,
adding that last Memorial Day was good,
and this year's number’s exceeded last
year’s.
He also noticed other business people
at the bank who appeared to be “pretty
happy” with the weekend.
“What’s noteworthy of this crowd is
there seemed to be more people from
Houston,” Hall added.
The first full day of the holiday week-
end saw one of the biggest on record for
Lisabella’s Bistro. Chris Amundsen, chef
and co-owner with his wife, Lisa, said that
Saturday night. May 23, was their biggest
night ever - except for New Year’s Eve.
Gina Stimson, co-owner of Absolutely
Everything, a clothing and accessory
shop, said it was a busy weekend, and that
weekends in general have been busy.
See ‘HOLIDAY,’ Page 4A
Cooling off
Staff photo by Dan Parker
Jordi Lizcano, 6, of Austin, pours a bucket of seawater over his head while
playing at the beach in Port Aransas on Saturday, May 23.
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Judson, Mary Henkel. Port Aransas South Jetty (Port Aransas, Tex.), Vol. 39, No. 22, Ed. 1 Thursday, May 28, 2009, newspaper, May 28, 2009; Port Aransas, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth506045/m1/1/?q=%22Places%20-%20United%20States%20-%20Texas%20-%20Nueces%20County%22: accessed May 21, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Ellis Memorial Library.