Police cadets get feet wet with water safety, rescues
Patsy Silva tried to remain afloat in 11 feet of water with a group of 19 people surrounding her.
Silva, 24, a Corpus Christi Moody High School graduate, was not the most confident swimmer on the first day of the 76th Corpus Christi Police Academy cadets’ water safety survival training, but by the second and final day, she felt much more confident.
With a life jacket keeping her afloat at the Dr. Hector P. Garcia Park and Swimming Pool, Silva felt the support and encouragement of her fellow cadets while they were treading water for 32 minutes.
Cadets such as Andrew Rouse, who has grown up around the Corpus Christi waters, spent the 32 minutes providing words of encouragement to peers who started to feel tired or began doubting themselves.
The King High graduate applied for the academy to help the community in which he grew up and to help his fellow cadets during the training in late September.
“We’ve all grown as a family. We want to support each other and succeed,” Rouse said. “We let them lean on us ... literally in the pool.”
Senior Officer Eric Garza, the course instructor, constantly reminded the 20 cadets to stay calm during the 16-hour water safety survival course.
During the first day of the course, cadets took to the pool to tread water and practice freestyle, breaststroke and side-stroke swimming to get them comfortable with the water, academy coordinator Brad Pici said.
The second day consisted of intensive water exercises that involved weighted belts, bulletproof vests and simulations of drownings and chasing suspects in the water.
“At some time they will encounter someone in the water,” he said.
Cadets first performed each exercise in 4 feet of water before trying them in deeper waters, Pici said. After diving in the water with weighted belts and pants, cadets were instructed on how to quickly take off the belt and pants, which weigh them down.
Then they would tie the pants at the ankles to create air pockets in them before putting the pants around their necks to use as a flotation device, he said.
“You have to stay calm. It will get tough on the streets,” Garza said to cadets trying to stay afloat in 11 feet of water. “It will get stressful. You need to stay calm.”
In just two days, Garza saw a big improvement in the cadets who might have had reservations about the water when they started the course. Two cadets who started the training wearing life jackets were able to use less air in the vests by the second day, Garza said.
“They won’t let you give up,” Silva said. “It’s a lot of teamwork. It feels like a little family. You have their back, and they have yours.”
While at the academy, cadets have undergone a series of classroom tests, have been through defensive tactics training and have directed traffic at one of the busiest intersections in the city. Cadets also will undergo training in driving and firearms as the academy progresses.
The sun beat down on Sandy Lichtenberger as she sorted through 40 years of collectibles and antiques in Rockport’s Heritage District.
“It’s amazing how some things survive and some don’t,” she said.
Four years ago, Lichtenberger and her husband, Cliff, moved from the Dallas-Fort Worth area and opened Sand & C Emporium on East Concho Street.
After years of doing traveling antique shows, the couple decided to follow their dream of opening a storefront in the coastal town. But though they rented a store near the waterfront, they didn’t buy insurance. It was out of their price range.
A month after Hurricane Harvey, the Lichtenbergers plan to leave Rockport and salvage as much of their inventory as possible. The building will be demolished soon.
“We can’t do this again,” she said.
Rockport’s Heritage District, which includes South Austin Street and East Concho Street, was made up of a number of art galleries, antique and souvenir shops and a bookstore.
Winds higher than 130 mph hit Aransas County on Aug. 25 and decimated parts of the coastal community. In some areas, such as the Heritage District, it looked as if Harvey had chosen which buildings it pummeled.
At Gramma’s Attic on Austin Street, owner Dorothy Hardee will reimagine her 12-year-old antique business after it was damaged by the storm.
A corner of the store was inundated with rain when ceiling tiles fell in and the water rose a few inches on the floor. Fabrics, photo albums, wicker baskets and paper goods had to be thrown out, but much of the inventory is salvageable.
The plans are to clean everything, pack it up and put it in storage before the carpet is removed.
“This is (Hardee’s) baby; she’s a cancer survivor twice over,” said Peggy Growe, an interior designer who works at the shop. “We plan to reopen Nov. 1, but it will really depend on the landlords and how quickly it can be renovated.”
Growe said people plan vacations around trips to Gramma’s Attic.
No matter the damage, there was never a scenario in which the shop would not reopen.
“With the grand reopening, it will be totally changed in its layout. There will be more vignettes and stations ranging from general store, retro, Tiffany’s, nautical and boutique,” Growe said. This area “is becoming more and more antiques — it’s what people want here.”
It’s Growe’s hope that Rockport’s business community supports the rebuilding and recovery of the Heritage District in a facade of “yesteryear.”
“This (area) is what I consider Rockport as,” she said.
The Rockport-Fulton Chamber of Commerce was involved in recovery almost immediately after the storm passed. The chamber’s Facebook page was the only outlet to get information to evacuees for weeks.
Now that utilities and electricity have been restored to the city and cleanup is continuing, a renewed focus has been put on locally owned small businesses, said Sandy Jumper, director of tourism and events.
“We think most will reopen, but a lot of them can’t do anything until insurance comes through,” Jumper said. “There are some merchants that lost their home and their business, but they’re pulling themselves up by their bootstraps with cleanup.”
Jumper compared the area’s small businesses to trees.
“Like palm trees, they get beaten down and weathered. But many of them are able to shift with the winds,” she said. “Attitude is everything. It’s not easy or quick, but perseverance will make a difference.”
Within Rockport’s art community, there’s urgency to get back to some sense of normal.
The Wind Way Gallery, which is owned by nine Aransas County-based artists of varying styles, has partnered with the heavily damaged Rockport Center for the Arts to take up a number of its weekly art classes.
The gallery had water inside, but it was quickly drained, and the floor was dried.
It reopened Sept. 20 and has already hosted some art classes for children.