June 6, 2008

Year 13. Issue 312

Deadline for all Moon matter is Monday of the week

of the paper not Wednesday

or Thursday or Friday.

by Mary Craft mkay512@aol.com In 1973 the four lane “high bridge” with a 72 foot clearance replaced the two lane causeway and swing bridge that had been in place since 1950 when the intracoastal was dredged. It was the first segmental concrete bridge built in the U.S. The swing bridge had openings on either side for small boats to pass. When there was a ship to shore call from a barge, shrimp boat or sailboat to the sole bridge operator the two halves of the bridge swung open. The shrimpers had a field day when it was closed for a few hours because the current would run north pitching huge numbers of shrimp against the bridge. The shrimpers would swing their nets across the side of the bridge and peel off six to eight hundred pounds. They would sell the shrimp to Gene at Billings Bait & Tackle and he would haul them in a truck out to Gulf King Shrimp Company in Aransas Pass where they were processed and packaged then sent around the world. The town was known as the “Shrimp Capital of the World” until the company moved 34 of its vessels to Nicaragua in 1994. The new four-mile bridge was built by Heldenfels Brothers, Inc., a family owned business established in 1907. Heldenfels has a pre-cast concrete plant in Corpus Christi. They also built the bulkheads in Galleon Bay which was the first subdivision built by Padre Island Investment Corporation. Some believe these bulkheads to be the most sound on the Island. The company has more recently provided structural pre-cast concrete for the Dallas Cowboy stadium, Reliant, Minute Maid, Whataburger and most other stadiums in the state. Their pieces were also used for the American Bank Center. The original high bridge design did not have a median nor did it have streetlights, but after a couple of years of numerous accidents, both were added. The head-on collisions that caused at least ten fatalities occurred at the curve where the causeway ends and the bridge begins. Vehicles leaving the Island possibly were enjoying the view and kept going straight instead of veering right. The median did not totally eliminate head-ons. There have been some tragic accidents that occurred when drivers leaving west side SPID establishments to go into town turned left before going past the median thus going the wrong way. There were businesses under the bridge that had been there for many years before it. The State of Texas has claim to all the submerged land and leases the property to these owners. Hurricane Allen blew the Black’s Bait Stand building off of its pilings into the water in 1980. Steve Chisholm bought it and changed the name to Clem’s (which was his wife’s grandfather’s name) because it sounded more like an old sea name. He put the building back up on pilings he found on Ennis Joslin Road that had been blown there by Allen. The pilings were from the old bridge that went from the Naval Base to where the present A&M Corpus University is located. Clem’s Marina had 25 big boat slips that held shrimp boats and crew boats that took workers to the many oilrigs.    Intracoastal Café next to Clem’s at that time was a popular place for breakfast and dinner. The building no longer exists. Adjacent to the Cafe was the Coastway Bait & Tackle Shop owned by “Chick” and Louis Rawalt, also known at the time as “Mr. & Mrs. Padre Island.”

When the swingbridge was open, the school bus driver taking kids from Port A to the Bluff would let them go in to buy penny candy. The building was later rebuilt on stilts. Red Dot Bait Shop in that same area since 1950 had to leave because it was too close to the bridge and a potential fire could cause damage. It was just the other side of the bridge from Clem’s. Owner Freddy Edgeman then bought Trainer’s Bait shop and changed the name to Red Dot and is still doing business on the causeway. Trainer’s second bait shop on the east side had to close when the bridge was elevated a few years ago. Rainbow Bait Stand built by Dick Frenzel was located where Doc’s is now and was accessible by a gravel road. Snoopy’s Bar & Grill next door changed to Snoopy’s Seafood Restaurant when Ernie Buttler bought it in 1979. It had a fishing pier, but it was destroyed by Allen. The gravel road was later paved by Ernie. He used wet concrete left over from various island projects. On the causeway side of the intracoastal was Grahm’s Bait Stand, which was owned by Harvey Wild. He sold it to Greg and Aida Goodman who changed the name to Waterworks Bait, but it later burned down and was replaced with a two story

A-frame building. They sold to Charlie Boyd who made it into a restaurant called Charlie’s Shrimp Bucket. In the late 80s it was sold to Californian William Beall who gave it its last name, JFK Seafood Restaurant. Beall was a flamboyant character. His place had a petting zoo with animals such as goats and lambs that made it quite odiferous. The restaurant was on the second floor with great views and entertainment in the bar provided by an Elvis impersonator. No business was successful here after the high bridge was completed, probably because you were past the turn off before you saw it. Beall left in the mid-nineties and the building was boarded up. For a time it housed many homeless folk until it was destroyed by fire in 2004. On the other side of bridge, also on the

north side, there was a popular restaurant and the building still stands. Neither of these locations is available for leasing as restaurants since there is no sewer system on that side, only septic. The high bridge has been the site for some thrill seekers who would jump off of it into the usually 20 foot deep water. Tragically and sadly there have been several suicide attempts without survivors. In 2001 a tugboat pushing four barges filled with steel and phosphates ran into the Queen Isabella Causeway in South Padre. Eight people died and thirteen were rescued when their vehicles plunged 85 feet from the longest bridge in Texas. This is less likely to happen here because it is pretty much a straightaway approach as opposed to South Padre which in one direction has a curve not too far from the bridge. Since then I check to make sure there are streetlights ahead of me when I get to the bridge because “no lights” could mean “no bridge” ahead. This habit put me in panic mode a couple of years ago when the city decided to replace the lights with more high wind resistant ones, unbeknownst to me. I slowed down to 40mph to see if the cars passing me disappeared. I opened the car window, which is what island icon Doc (an expert in these matters) told me to do if I am headed for a dive. When I made it cautiously over the bridge I asked my Island friends what happened to the lights. It was still daylight and no one else had noticed they were gone. I guess most think of them as sources of light and not predictors of doom. Til’ the next Island history lesson - take care of each other and our Island. Mary “Scoop” Craft

The “High Bridge” Story

Seniors Stephen Shores, Justin Brandt, Chris Schalk and Bill Robinson show their enthusiasm after receiving their cords at the Honors Banquet held at the Omini Bayfront on May 21.

Teachers of the Year Six teachers have been selected as Campus Teachers of the Year making them nominees for the FBISD District Teacher of the Year. One elementary and one secondary teacher were named as District Teachers of the Year at the Employee Service Awards Breakfast held Thursday, May 29 at the high school cafetorium. In addition to District Teachers of the Year, awards and recognitions will be given to campus paraprofessionals of the year, employees of the year, perfect attendance, tenure service awards and retirements. The winners were Beth Huckaby for Secondary District and Barbara Espetitia for Elementary.

Island Foundation Schools—Seashore Learning Center and Seashore Middle Academy—won First Place District in the AIMS-Invitational Math Tournament held May 7-9. AIMS (Alliance for the Improvement of Mathematics Skills) is a coalition of schools in the Coastal Bend with a goal of closing achievement gaps in math and preparing students for success in college-level math courses. Four-hundred-twenty-five students from five districts were represented at the tournament. SMA won 1st place in both General Math and Number Sense in the 5th/6th grade division. SLC won 1st place in Third Grade General Math and 2nd place in Third Grade Number Sense. The following students placed in individual events:

Sixth grade Number Sense: Joey Tate, 1st place and Sloane Taylor, 5th place. Sixth grade General Math: Joey Tate, 1st place with a perfect score; Sloane Taylor, 3rd place; Nick May, 6thplace; Kim Vaughn, 9thplace, and Sophie Paulison, 10th place. Fifth grade Number Sense: Thomas Evaristo, 1st place; Kelsey McIntyre, 2ndplace; Sam Smith, 6thplace; and J.J. Morris, 7th place. Fifth grade General Math: Thomas Evaristo, 1st place; Kelsey McIntyre, 2nd place; and Alyx Henderson, 4th place. Third grade Number Sense: Maggie Libby, 3rd place and Celeste Branstrom, 9th place. Third grade General Math: Celeste Branstrom, 1st place; Aubrey Banda, 4th place; Jack Grassedonio, 4th place; Zane Ortega, 6th place; and Maggie Libby, 7th place.

Island Foundation Schools WinAIMS Math Tournament

Lori KeittEarly Childhood Ctr

Barbara EspitiaIntermediate Winner

Beth HuckabeeHigh School Winner

Nina AgnichElementary School

Brenda KillenJr. High School

Nancy TylerPrimary School

Plans for a 240-unit apartment complex off Laguna Shores Road near Lola Johnson Road in Flour Bluff were scuttled by the city council. The developer of the 17-acre project needed a zoning change from single to multi-family zoning for the project to go forward. The area is currently predominately single- family homes and several residents told the council during more than two hours of discussion at city hall that they feared the high-rise building would invade their privacy and that building more residential density in the flood-prone area was not a good idea. Mayor Henry Garrett along with council members Larry Elizondo and Mike Hummell voted against the zoning change and Councilwoman Priscilla Leal was not present. The zoning change needed seven council votes to succeed. The city’s planning commission had recommended approving the change but the city planning department recommended denial. The development was being done by Corpus Christi Construction Inc. Company officials did not give any indication at the council meeting what the land at the proposed site may be used for now that the apartment plan is not moving forward.

Proposed apartment development in Flour Bluff shut down by City Council

Dewitt Greer from the Texas Highway Commission at the JFK Bridge dedication in 1973.