Editor –
(Regarding Short-term rentals) Those who live here have an Island perspective of what is in the best interest of our community. Living here is the key ingredient.
Even though 80% of our property owners live elsewhere, they lack an understanding of our unique community.
The current law has looked at this issue and favors "local residence," not non-resident owners. We've seen how "outsiders" adversely influence elections.
Vic Sprecher
Editor –
About two weeks ago, traveling north on Padre Blvd., near the Birding Center, we saw two ducklings and their momma trying to cross the road to the Gulf side.
TWO DUCKLINGS GOT RUN OVER. Their momma had already crossed the road and was trying to backtrack to her ducklings. We pulled over and reported the incident to personnel at the Birding Center.
One of their workers drove out, picked up the dead ducklings, and tried to grab their mother and take her back to her habitat. The maintenance guy thanked us for reporting the incident and went his way. People need to have consideration for all creatures. These ducklings should have never been run over.
I avoided them; if the cars behind me had paid more attention to the road and slowed down, they would still be alive. This incident would have been prevented, and we would enjoy watching ducklings in their natural habitat.
Guadalupe S. Martinez Jr.
Editor –
I research deaf and hearing literacy in developing countries. By training, I am a mechanical engineer.
The miracle from the Starship launch last Thursday is that the several thousand tons of crumbling concrete being blasted from the launchpad base did not shut down more than 8 of the 33 Raptor rocket engines or break a hole up into the fuel tanks.
As a result, South Padre Island's residents, tourists, and homeowners were spared from a launchpad explosion.
A small hole punched in the exhaust cone of a Rocket engine will shut down the engine as its fuel is passed through the cone walls to cool the cone. Had more cones been damaged by the chaotic flying chunks, the Starship would have gracefully sunk back on the launchpad, crushing its fuel tanks, and exploded, releasing all the energy it would have expended in 3 minutes of flight in just a few seconds. Imagine 1/16 of Nagasaki’s blast, 5 miles from South Padre Island.
Moving forward, we should consider what harm might happen to the public in the case of a launchpad blast of a Starship with a Super Heavy Booster. I fear that such a blast at the five-mile "safe perimeter" would render people deaf, with possible organ and brain damage from the ensuing 170-decibel shock wave.
https://amp.france24.com/en/live-news/20230424-giant-spacex-rocket-leaves-crater-serious-damage-at-texas-base
Maybe this pause will allow for full consideration of moving the Starship with Super Heavy Booster launches to Cape Canaveral. There the public is safely far away.
Bob Achgill
