Community

Aransas Pass Progress
Danny Roberts, 61, owns DMR Services at 1457 FM 2725 in Ingleside, a custom fabricator for the local marine business. Usually, his staff is busy creating canopies to produce shade for pleasure or sportfishing boats. In a first since he opened his shop, he’s been hired by the City of Aransas Pass to build a huge metal crucifix that will be raised to the top of the Seamen’s Memorial Tower at Conn Brown Harbor, perhaps later this week, replacing the one blown away by Hurricane Harvey in 2017. It’s made from six-inch aluminum pipe, weighing close to 300-pounds. When completed, the city will hire a crane to lift it to the top of the tower where it will be bolted to a heavy metal plate. Roberts said an engineer had to approve the design to ensure it could withstand another blast of high winds – even from a hurricane. “We’re not doing it for the profit,” Roberts said, appreciating the religious significance of the cross, part of a memorial that was erected years earlier to commemorate shrimpers who ventured out to sea to make a living, some who never returned. The cost of the construction is covered by a FEMA grant.