HACKED BY CYBER-ATTACK - ALPERENBTN

[Johnny French]

I see the beach closure proponents are up to some of their usual attempts at misdirection in today's LTTEs. It's a common forensic trick to accuse the other side in a debate of taking a position that it hasn't taken. Another is to try to get agreement on related common ground, then claim a victory over something that isn't even being debated, much less conceded. The debate here, for the hundredth time, is over closing the beaches to vehicles, not to pedestrians. The Open Beaches Act permits such closures, but does not mandate them. The Open Beaches Act does not state that providing off-beach parking and pedestrian access to the beach is the desired, much less the functional, equivalent of the historical right to drive and park on the beach. You know damned well why not.

I'm all for seeing the fruits of investigative reporting, which is why I have repeatedly, because so far fruitlessly, asked to see the C-T print the story of how the seawall and much of the development directly behind it came to be built on public land. I guess the C-T is well aware that those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it, so what does that say about its silence on this bit of history? May that silence at last be broken in Nick Nelson's upcoming series.
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URL: http://www.caller.com/ccct/letters_to_the_editor/article/0,1641,CCCT_841_4405626,00.html
Letters to the Editor: 01.21.06
January 21, 2006

For growth

There has been so much negative talk regarding the so-called proposed "closing of the beach." The fact is the beach is not being closed; it will only be a pedestrian beach, with no vehicle traffic. I would think that families with children would welcome this for the safety of our children (little ones and teen-agers).

I am also aware that concern for the safety of the turtles is an issue, but come on, folks, aren't our children more important? I am for the proposed development of Padre Island and would hope that people will think more seriously about our future.

Denise Ebert

Sold out

In reply to Mr. David A. Roach's comments of Jan. 15: How much longer are the average residents of our coastal community going to stand idly by while the rich plunder our island?

It seems that if it is called "progress," we continue to get sold out by the powers that be. Enough, already. Let's stand up and be counted. Money may talk, but we don't have to listen.

M.C. Henry

Keep beach access

My wife and I grew up in Corpus Christi, and we still call it home even though we live in Florida now. Corpus Christi cannot allow its beaches to be closed to vehicle traffic.

Here in Panama City, you can hardly even see the Gulf because there are so many condos lining the beach. You have to park blocks away and walk with all of your things to the beach. The beaches around Corpus Christi are still open and give you a sense of being outdoors.

It would be such a shame to see our hometown beaches start to look like the overcrowded beaches of Florida and elsewhere.

If you allow one development to close the beach to traffic, more will follow, and the beaches will lose their uniqueness.

I cringe when I drive down the main drag here, a block away from the beach, because the beach is not visible due to the high rise condos.

I cringe when I think this could happen to the beaches of the Coastal Bend. Please keep our beaches the way they are and the way they have been. Keep them unique.

Kelly Harlan

(Panama City Beach, Fla.)

Claims overstated

The issue is not and never has been beach access. All parties involved have stated numerous times that the development on Padre Island will conform to the Texas Open Beaches Act.

It would be very beneficial if the Caller-Times would take a little time out from parroting national news and do a little local investigative reporting. Is it too much to ask that a reporter call Galveston and South Padre to check the veracity of claims that there is no beach access in either location?

Come on, Caller-Times, isn't your primary mission public service? How about a little effort to keep this important debate honest and the people of Corpus Christi fully informed?

Stephen Riley

-(A four-part series on beaches in Texas and Florida will begin in Sunday's Caller-Times. - The Editor)

[rabbit]

How are they going to do a good job of investigative reporting when the Caller Times Vice President is in favor of stopping you from driving on the beach
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Fishing and Kayaking its a rough life but somebody has to do it.

[snagged]

Watch for a casino to show up as soon as Perry is gone along the beach.
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Jerry

Prepare the child for the path, not the path for the child.

[Bluffer]

This all started with the re-opening of Packery Channel. Was part of the master plan but was'nt discribed on the ballot when the public voted for it.
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Fish hard, fish the Bluff. Surrounded by water!
-A quaint little drinking village with a fishing problem-