Shelby Scott

Galveston's Flagship Hotel, coming down slowly

​The musty old Flagship Hotel, the famous building on a Galveston pier, is a lot more airy than it used to be.

Crews are in the process of taking down the edifice in order to build Tilman Fertitta's Kemah Boardwalk-like "Pleasure Pier" in its place.

You just can't implode something that's out over the bay, so workers have been carefully taking down walls a floor at a time, leaving the above look to the place.

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Phil Fitzgerald: Former county judge indicted

​A county judge and a county commissioner used Hurricane Ike as a personal moneymaking scheme, according to federal indictments announced today.

Best part: Liberty County Judge Phil Fitzgerald had FEMA buy the county a large generator which he then used to power Fitzpak, the convenience store he owns. Because most county judges, you know, run convenience stores.

Fitzgerald and former county commissioner Lee Groce were indicted, along with local businessman Mark Miksch, who (naturally) is Fitzgerald's brother-in-law. Both Fitzgerald and Groce are out of office now.

The 25-count indictment says the county officials steered more than $3 million in debris-removal business to companies who agreed to subcontract with Miksch, who then, in perhaps an excess of gratitude, kicked back a portion of the proceeds.

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Photo by Bill Olive

A tip about a son in California jail didn't work out

​After more than two years, Galveston County officials are saying they have no further leads on identifying the last victim of Hurricane Ike.

They know she's a five-foot-tall middle-aged woman who wore a 34C bra, had a surgery scar above the pubic region, and oh, she also had a webbed left foot.

No one's missing a web-footed woman after two years?

Officials thought they had a chance when a resident thought the missing woman might have been a friend, the Galveston County Daily News reports. The friend had mentioned a son incarcerated in California, so officials sent a DNA sample to the prison system there.

It came back negative.

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David Purdie, the man who filmed the demolition of Astroworld, is taking on the Flagship Hotel.

​Earlier this month, we learned that Galveston's Flagship Hotel, an icon of the island for 45 years, will be torn down due to damage from Hurricane Ike.

Landry's Restaurants, which owns the Flagship and originally said the hotel would be restored, announced a new plan to spend $30 million and build an amusement park on the site instead.

This came as sad news to David Purdie, a local filmmaker who spent seven months in 2005 and 2006 filming the demolition of Astroworld. (Video after the jump.)

Purdie, who was filming in Galveston on Monday afternoon, said he's planning a similar treatment for the Flagship.

"I'm so fascinated by the hotel," Purdie tells Hair Balls. "I'm glad I have the footage I have."
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Don't miss the Galveston Police Whack-a-Mole game

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As was announced yesterday, the not-so-beloved Flagship Hotel in Galveston is being torn down so Tilman Fertitta's Landry's Restaurants can build an amusement park on its pier.

What sort of attractions should be offered at the new destination? We have a few suggestions.

5. The Balinese Room Exhibit
NOT a freaking whitewashed, family-friendly recreation of the notorious gambling den, please. Remember those mannequin-type things that used to populate the Railroad Museum in Galveston before Ike washed them away? Get the same guy to replicate a scene of Frank Sinatra getting a blow job in the Balinese dressing room before a show. Put a little extra money into it and make them animatronic. Frank would have wanted no less.

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Flagship Hotel: On its last legs

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For 45 years, the Flagship Hotel has been a part of Galveston's seascape, out there on a pier bravely facing whatever weather the Gulf decided to throw at it.

But not for long. The hotel, which had long fallen on hard times, was heavily damaged by the 2008 storm and now will come down, the Galveston County Daily News reports.

Landry's Restaurants, the current owner of the building, will present to the city council a $30 million plan to build an amusement park and other amenities on the pier. It won't be at all like the Kemah Boardwalk, except it will.

There seems to be little question the city will approve the plan. So our question is -- Did anyone ever actually stay at the Flagship?More >>

Civil War over a Bolivar church

​Ordinarily, the dedication of a new church building is cause for unbridled, unqualified celebration. Such is not the case in Crystal Beach on the Bolivar Peninsula, where the circumstances surrounding the dedication of the new Our Lady By The Sea Chapel and Catholic Center are anything but ordinary

Our Lady effectively consolidates the Peninsula's two churches: Crystal Beach's St Therese of Lisieux, which was destroyed by Hurricane Ike, and Port Bolivar's Our Mother of Mercy, which survived, only to be later demolished on the orders of Daniel Cardinal DiNardo, the Archbishop of Galveston-Houston. At 50 years of age, it had been the oldest surviving church on the storm-wracked sand-spit that is Bolivar, and it was the site of many marriages and funerals for generations of Bolivarians.

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Galveston Mardi Gras Marathon: No guns allowed

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Angry runners shut out of this year's first ever Chevron Houston Marathon lottery still have a chance to go the distance this winter thanks to the revival of a marathon on Galveston Island. The island hasn't had a full marathon since the mid-1990s, according to Jana Landry, who is helping coordinate the upcoming race.

The new race will take place Feb 20, just three weeks after the sold-out Chevron Houston Marathon and Aramco Half-Marathon. The Galveston Mardi Gras Marathon and Half-Marathon will also capitalize on the island's celebration of the pre-Lent holiday.

Landry and her husband Kevin are owners of three running stores in the Houston area -- On the Run, which has stores in Clear Lake and Houston, and Tri On The Run, which is located near Memorial Park. The couple are no strangers to race planning. They also organize the Tri-Girls series of women-only triathlons in May and August. Jana Landry said the idea for the marathon came about as a way to declare Galveston's recovery from Ike, which struck the Gulf Coast two years ago this week.More >>

No, you're not getting your ESPN

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Two years ago, if you were living in Houston, you were beginning your long, long journey of post-Ike living without electricity.

Maybe you were very, very lucky, or maybe you were one of those people who planned ahead and got a generator, but chances instead are that you were without power.

If you were in Houston, you probably escaped major damage from Ike, so the only tangible result was the lack of juice. And for the next -- week? (if you were lucky) two weeks? (if you were me) -- you'd be living back in the Stone Age.

So you woke up on Tuesday, safe and that's the important thing yaddi, yaddi yaddi -- but no electricity? Ah, the glorious, amber-tinged memories:

1. Coming to work and furiously checking for every update from CenterPoint Energy.
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Galveston had a flash mob downtown over the weekend to prove it's still standing after Ike, thereby proving some other things.

One, the island's concept of a "flash mob" is perhaps not the generally accepted one, as there was no spontaneity at all. And two, new Galveston Mayor Joe Jaworski can't dance.

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