December 25, 2008 RSS feed / Island Life

Sitters ready for New Year's Eve

If you don't have a babysitter lined up yet for New Year's Eve, you're in luck. A group of eighth graders from Brundrett Middle School is offering babysitting services at the Pollock Center, 129 S. Alister St., from 7 p.m. to 2 a.m. More...

New PACT production opening

Warm up in January by seeing a play about the Fourth of July. The Port Aransas Community Theatre winter musical production is entitled "Fourth Of July." Performances will be Thursday through Saturday evenings at 7:30 p.m., Jan. More...

Museum benefit projects planned

The Mercer logs, a boat that Barney Farley built and the bell from the train that delivered the jetty boulders are among the latest offerings to the collection of the newly opened Port Aransas Museum. More...

Book club to read 'Dreams from My Father'

The Ellis Memorial Library Book Club discussion group will meet on Tuesday, Jan. 13. The club, open to the public, meets the second Tuesday of each month at 6:30 p.m. in the library. More...

Faux snow

Four-year-old Elish Brennan frolicks in what at first might look like a highly localized snowfall but actually was simply about 10 tons of crushed ice lying in the parking lot of Coastal Bend Ice on Alister Street on Friday, Dec. 12. More...

ISLAND OBSERVER: TONY AMOS

Rare rescue of rare bald eagle

There's something about those eyes: Regal, stern, unafraid. There's something about that beak, too: Powerful, hooked and dangerous. Then there's the head: Far from being bald, the feathers are white, dense and defined. More...

Port Aransas escapes cleanup requirement

Port Aransas will not be targeted in state mandates that would require pollution reduction measures in Corpus Christi Bay. More...

DINING SCOUT

A friendly place to grab a gourmet burger to go

SOUTH SWELL SIDEWALK CAFE 314 E. AVE. G 749-1590 OPEN 11 A.M. TO 7 P.M. WEDNESDAY THROUGH SUNDAY CASH ONLY If you want food fast but not fast-food, I know just the place. On Wednesday, Dec. More...

Holiday rituals

Christmas preparations for this year have already been marred by what Dad calls "the bon-bon incident." He explained it to me over barbecue in Luling. "Your mother," he said, "spent all day one day making hundreds of bon-bons. More...

Don't get popped!

Police to patrol area for fireworks violators

Folks can ring in the New Year with parties, drinks and song, but Port Aransas police and firefighters want everyone to remember that setting off fireworks inside the Port Aransas city limits is illegal. More...

Lucky dogs

Two dogs enjoy the scenery and the breeze as their driver cruises down the beach near Horace Caldwell Pier on Sunday, Dec. 14. More...

JP audit pending in week

Nueces County Auditor Margaret Hayes said the results of a short audit by her office in the financial accounts of the Precinct 4 Justice of the Peace office in Port Aransas will not be ready until next week. More...

Art center to celebrate First Friday

The Art Center for the Islands will hold its First Friday reception on Jan. 2, from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. at the art center, 323 N. Alister. The January exhibit will feature the works of adult students in art center classes and workshops. More...

Brown Bag resumes Jan. 7

The next lecture in the Brown Bag Lecture Series will be on Wednesday, Jan. 7. Beginning at noon in the Pollock Center, 129 S. Alister St., Kiesha Hall of the Corpus Christi Food Bank will speak. More...

PASTOR'S PEN

Doing the beautiful

Galatians 6:9 - "And let us not grow weary in well-doing, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart." "Kalos" (the Greek word for "well") really suggests "the beautiful." Let us not grow weary in beautiful action or acting beautifull More...

Dance is Jan. 14

Shine up those dancing shoes. The JELM Center has scheduled its first winter dance for Wednesday, Jan. 14. Tickets, $5 each, will go on sale at the JELM office or at the Golden Oldies sessions beginning Friday, Jan. 2. More...

JELM offers new classes, four trips

The Joint Effort Leisure Ministry Center has a lot going on for the New Year. Four new classes will be offered and four trips are scheduled. Two trips to hear big-name country singers at the San Antonio Rodeo are planned. More...

Craft sessions are rescheduled

The We're Having fun craft activities at the Pollock Center are being moved to Mondays at 1 p.m. through the rest of the season, beginning Jan. 5. The Jan. More...

Council lets taxi free trade stand

A set of new rules for taxi companies operating in Port Aransas had some city council members raising the spectre of creating a monopoly for one taxi company. More...

Celebrate 2009 early in the park

Get a head start on 2009. Join the City of Port Aransas Parks and Recreation Department at the Fred Rhodes Memorial Pavilion in Roberts Point Park for an early celebration of the coming year. Wednesday, Dec. More...

Foul weather fails to dampen birders' spirits

Cold, wind and waves did little to dampen the enthusiasm of participants in the 32nd annual Port Aransas Christmas Bird Count on Monday, Dec. 15. More...

Beach walk set for Friday

A beach walk may appeal to the hale and hearty souls who have energy to burn after Christmas. Port Aransas resident Shirley Fischer will guide beach walkers on Friday, Dec. 26, in browsing tidal offerings. Walkers should meet at 9 a.m. More...

Changing light

Standing in a raised bulldozer bucket, Cody Claypool of the City of Port Aransas Public Works Department changes the bulb in a traffic light at the intersection of Alister and Cotter streets on Friday, Dec. 19. More...

Amos to give talk

The public is invited to hear Tony Amos discuss Hurricane Ike and beach marine debris on Tuesday, Jan. 6, at 7 p.m. More...

Laughing Gull writers to convene workshop

Writers and aspiring writers will have an opportunity to hone their craft at a writer's workshop on Saturday, Jan. 24. A Day with Laughing Gull Writers Workshop will be at Brundrett Middle School from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. More...

BUSINESS BRIEFS

Business briefs features top level management additions, changes or promotions, professional continuing education or other business news that is not classified as marketing. Deadline for submissions is 10 a.m. More...

City offers EMT training

Applications are being taken now for the Emergency Medical Technician (EMT) basic training course to be offered by the City of Port Aransas. More...

FOR THE BIRDS

Adventures in bird counting

We have been busy. I don't know if we are coming, going, or have just been. It is Christmas Bird Count time, they are counting down everywhere and the results are near. We just finished our second CBC this year and we still have one more to go. More...

City to hold run and walk

Usher in the New Year with a two-mile fun run or a 2009-meter walk. Meet at the Port Aransas Community Park, 700 Clark Blvd., off Ross Avenue on Thursday, Jan. 1, at 2:09 p.m. More...

Up and down

In a sequence of photos, 9-year-old Aaron Peterson of Port Aransas flings himself down the side of a sand dune facing the beach near Horace Caldwell Pier on Sunday, Dec. 14. More...

The big winner

In voting, children at the selected a Christmas tree decorating job titled "Fairy Christmas" as the winner of the 2008 Children's Choice Award at the Holiday Forest at the Port Aransas Civic Center on Tuesday, Dec. 16. More...

POLICE BLOTTER

CITY OF PORT ARANSAS POLICE DEPARTMENT

MONDAY, DEC. 15 1:20 p.m. • A barrel was removed from Pole No. 21 On the Beach. 1:28 p.m. • The Port Aransas Volunteer Fire Department extinguished a fire at the south jetty. TUESDAY, DEC. 16 9:10 a.m. More...

Curcuru loses new trial attempt; Friesenhahn takes guilty plea

Benjamin Curcuru, a man who was sentenced to 45 years in prison and fined $10,000 in October for aggravated sexual assault of a two-year-old girl, was denied a new trial on Friday, Dec. 19, in the 319th District Court. More...

Holiday closings slated

Public offices and banks in Port Aransas will take time off for Christmas and New Year's days. Some offices will keep abbreviated hours on Christmas Eve, and some city services will be interrupted for the holiday. More...

CONSTABLE'S BEAT

NUECES COUNTY, PRECINCT 4

SUNDAY, DEC. 14 6:50 a.m. • A deputy responded to a false alarm in the 6800 block of State Hwy. 361. MONDAY, DEC. 15 10:30 a.m. • Threats were reported in the 200 block of Alister Street. WEDNESDAY, DEC. More...

Port Aransas churches offer holiday services

Several island churches will offer Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and NewYear's Eve services. The Community Presbyterian Church, 113 S. Alister St., will hold a candlelight Christmas Eve service at 6 p.m. More...

La Posada

Students at Trinity-by-the-Sea Day School get ready for their Holy Family Parade to chapel, or La Posada, on Wednesday, Dec. 17. They knocked on many doors before being admitted to the chapel, as is the tradition of La Posada. More...

JELM Center December Calendar

Monday 8 a.m. Aerobics Pollock Center 9:15 a.m. Beginner's Line Dancing Pollock Center 10 a.m. Writer's Workshop JELM Library 10:45 a.m. Advanced Line Dancing Pollock Center 10 a.m. Writer's Workshop JELM Library 1 p.m. More...

Care and share

Dick Valentine loads Christmas turkeys into boxes as he and other volunteers with the Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 8967 joined city employees to deliver hams, turkeys and trimmings to 135 area households. More...

Hockey time

Assisted by adult volunteers, children take part in a street hockey clinic at Port Aransas Community Park on Saturday, Dec. 13. The clinic was the brainchild of Port Aransas City Manager Michael Kovacs, a longtime hockey enthusiast. More...













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