PASTOR'S PEN
We can learn from seaweed
      Seaweed. Seaweed on the beach. Seaweed in the dunes. Seaweed on the beach roadway. Seaweed in the ocean. Seaweed in the bay. Yes, it is natural. Yes, it helps build our beaches. Yes, it helps provide a natural barrier for storms. Yes, it even helps my organic garden.
More ...

Meeting of the minds
      With hurricane season starting June 1, Port Aransas leaders met on Wednesday, May 23, with other area leaders to talk about planning for evacuations just in case any of the big storms threaten the Coastal Bend this summer. The officials met over lunch at Trout Street Bar & Grill.
More ...

Presbyterian VBS to begin June 17
      Children age 3 to fifth graders are invited to "Soar with God in a Hot Air Balloon", metaphorically speaking, at this year's vacation Bible school at the Community Presbyterian Church. The VBS will be held Sunday through Friday, June 17-22.
More ...

Vows planned
      Richard and Vernett Safford of Port Aransas announce the engagement and forthcoming marriage of their daughter, Amanda Kyla, to Nicholas James Magee, both of San Antonio. The prospective groom's parents are Jim and Janie Magee of Port Aransas. A June 7, 2008, wedding in Port Aransas is planned.
More ...

Community Presbyterian women will meet Tuesday
      The Presbyterian Women of Community Presbyterian Church will hold its monthly meeting Tuesday, June 12. It will be held at 7 p.m. in the JELM library, 129 S. Alister St. Joan Snyder will lead the lesson, and Jane Thompson and Trudy Beimers will be the hostesses.
More ...

Campbell earns degree despite fighting cancer
      Christie Campbell graduated from The University of Texas at Austin College of Education with a Bachelor of Science degree in kinesiology and a minor in applied learning and development. Ceremonies were held in Austin on Friday, May 18.
More ...

Rare opportunity
South Texan students may apply to become a Congressional Page
      Congressman Solomon P. Ortiz will nominate a young South Texan to participate in the United States Congressional Page program. "This is a rare and prestigious opportunity for a young person to join other 16-year-olds going to school and working in the U.S. House of Representatives," according to ...
More ...

Bujan urges citizens to join tax appraisal protest
      City Councilman Charles Bujan is asking for help in the city's protest of tax appraisal hikes. Bujan sent a series of e-mails on Monday, noting that the action of the city council in meeting with the appraisal district board won't be enough by itself to affect appraisal values.
More ...

Tough turtles taken home
TONY AMOS
      A green jay, cerulean warbler, two baby black-chinned hummingbirds, a hedgehog, a screech owl baby, a great kiskadee trapped in a warehouse, a 200-lb loggerhead sea turtle entangled in rope, the bed of my truck doubling as an operating room,
More ...

Free yoga on beach offered
      Yoga on the beach will be offered at 8 a.m. on the second Saturday of the month beginning Saturday, June 9. Under the direction of Nancy Myers, the hatha yoga class will meet for one hour.
More ...

Surf dogs
      Isaac Rodriguez of Corpus Christi rides a skimboard while his blue heeler, Sweedie, follows in hot pursuit. The two were having fun on the beach in Port Aransas on Sunday, June 3.
More ...

Tourney graphic selected
Teen's design picked for Deep Sea Roundup artwork
BY DAN PARKER SOUTH JETTY REPORTER
      Eighteen-year-old Gina Burgess created the official artwork that will go on hundreds of T-shirts and posters associated with the 72nd Port Aransas Deep Sea Roundup this summer. Never mind the fact that fishing isn't one of Burgess's pastimes.
More ...

ENJOY DINING OUT WITH JOY MORROW
The Pier House: 'Drift' on over
      When I caught a glimpse of the National Spelli ngBee on television the other evening it sent me back to my spelling championship days at Winnetka Elementary School. I fear that in today's computer society, the youth of America has lost the ability to spell, pen the written word and make change (as...
More ...

Commercial yard
      The Port Aransas Garden Club has chosen Venetian Hot Plate for June's commercial yard of the month located at Beach and Station Streets. Owner Linda Halioua, left, Josh Smith, Patti Spaethe and Joel Jackson sit in the newly added-on patio garden in front of the restaurant where an array of potted ...
More ...

TINA COMES HOME
FARLEY BOAT, PERHAPS 70 YEARS OLD, RETURNS TO PORT ARANSAS AFTER YEARS AND MILES
BY PHIL REYNOLDS SOUTH JETTY REPORTER
      Tina is home again - this time, to stay. The wandering Farley boat, one of a very few remaining vessels built by the legendary Port Aransas boatbuilding family, returned here on Saturday, May 26 after a journey to Buda, Bastrop and Rockport and a stay of at least 30 years shut up in a boat barn.
More ...

City council meets to share common goals
BY PHIL REYNOLDS SOUTH JETTY REPORTER
      Walking into the conference room at Casa Del Cortes Wednesday morning for their annual goals workshop, city council members were expected to have thoughts on their minds as varying as their backgrounds. Each, however, thinks his goals are important to Port Aransas.
More ...

POLICE BLOTTER
CITY OF PORT ARANSAS POLICE DEPARTMENT
      FRIDAY, JUNE 1 1:04 P .M . Emergency Medical Service (EMS) workers took a sick person from the 700 block of South 11th Street to an Aransas Pass hospital. 9:06 p.m.
More ...

Lots of smoke ...
      Firefighters work to control an electrical transformer that exploded Tuesday morning in the 1900 block of State Hwy. 361. Smoke obscures some homes near the transformer, but despite the amount of smoke, there was very little flame. Nobody was hurt in the incident.
More ...

Council adopts beach cleaning policy
BY PHIL REYNOLDS SOUTH JETTY REPORTER
      They fussed, they debated and they grumbled, but in the end - after more than three hours - city council members on Wednesday, May 30, agreed to a city policy on beach maintenance.
More ...

Help sought for work on historic building
      Mayor Claude Brown has offered to set the pilings for the Mercer house to be moved to the property by the Community Center for the Port Aransas Preservation and Historical Association. Brown is not charging the organization for his labor.
More ...

CONSTABLE'S BEAT
NUECES COUNTY, PRECINCT 4
      MONDAY, MAY 28 + 3 P .M . A deputy constable cited a motorist on the beach for speeding and no liability insurance. + 3:25 p.m. A driver was cited on the beach for speeding. + 5:30 p.m.
More ...

KPAB members to hear about recycling program
      A representative of Allied Waste- BFIwill speak on the city's recycling system at 7 p.m. Monday, June 11. He will speak at the Keep Port Aransas Beautiful (KPAB) meeting, at the Community Center, 408 N. Alister St. It is free and open to the public.
More ...

Something right about Wright
RACHEL PEARSON
      Chicago is a good city so far. It is a rusted old city, solid brick, lurky with tetanus, with iron bridges and flyovers, with coffee shops inside the hulks of abandoned slaughterhouses. The old iron-making, meatpacking city seems to be rotting gently away among the chrome and glass of new construc...
More ...

Traffic harmony
      June 1 was just another day of waterway traffic in the Corpus Christi Ship Channel as the ferry makes its way around a large tanker heading to the Port of Corpus Christi.
More ...

Summer pool hours announced
      After the refurbishing of the Community Park Pool, the City of Port Aransas Parks and Recreation Department has announced its summertime schedule. The pool has been replastered, the deck has been resurfaced, and it is open for swimming and water exercise.
More ...