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Shooters endangering boaters
BY PHIL REYNOLDS SOUTH JETTY REPORTER
 | | STAFF PHOTO BY PHIL REYNOLDS Navigation hazard Island Moorings Marina manager Debbie Dean displays one of the navigation lights that have been shot out recently by vandals. More than two dozen of the lights, which are mounted on pilings to help boaters navigate Piper Channel, have been shot out since the channel was redredged. |
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Boaters and law enforcement officers are looking for the people who are shooting out navigation lights in Piper Channel, putting boaters at risk.
More than two dozen of the lights have been shot out since the channel was re-dredged last year, said Paul Page, president of the Airport and Channel Corporation, the group responsible for the channel.
Page believes the vandalism is being done by people who drive into the Charlie's Pasture area, which bounds the channel to the north.
Nueces County Precinct 4 Constable Bobby Sherwood agrees.
"They're going down there at night, probably," Sherwood said. "That's when the lights make the best targets."
Sherwood said he obviously can't keep a deputy constable at the end of the Charlie's Pasture nature preserve area all night in an attempt to locate the shooters.
However, he said he has also alerted the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD) to the problem. TPWD game wardens, who have statewide law enforcement ability, patrol the area more frequently and are likely to learn more about the damage being done, Sherwood said.
The lights are mounted on pilings at the edges of the channel and guide boats from the Corpus Christi Ship Channel to the Island Moorings Marina. Each light has a solar panel, which gathers and stores electricity from the sun during the day to power the light when it's dark. The lights cost around $140 each to replace, Page said.
"We've spent a great deal of money over a number of years (on the channel)," Page said. "It's now complete, and we've put new pilings with solar-powered lights in place on virtually every piling."
Navigation lights are important because they prevent boats from running aground, possibly endangering lives and certainly endangering the boats, said Debbie Dean, Island Moorings Marina manager.
Dean has one of the more recent lights that was shot out in her office. The bullet made a clean hole through the light, exiting on the other side. The hole was apparently made by a rifle, which - even if it hits the light - has enough velocity to continue on a path to strike a person, depending on where the shot was fired from.
The Airport and Channel Corporation is offering a $500 reward for information leading to the identification of the shooters. Anyone with information is asked to call Sherwood at 749-5212.
However, Dean said the idea isn't to be vindictive.
"We're more interested in stopping the shooting than in catching someone," she said. "We want to keep the lights burning so nobody gets hurt."
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