8 minute read
NEWS
4THE SUN ISLAND NEWS
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IN BRIEF
Privateers hosting annual Snooks Adams Day
The Anna Maria Island Privateers will host their annual Snooks Adams Kids Day event on Saturday, May 29. The event will take place from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at City Pier Park in Anna Maria, across the street from the City Pier. The event will feature a treasure hunt, games and other fun-filled activities for kids of all ages. Admission is free and kids will receive a free hot dog and drink. The annual event honors the memory of former Holmes Beach Police Chief Willis Howard “Snooks” Adams. Adams served as the Holmes Beach Police Chief from 1962 to 1978 and started this event in 1954 while a member of the Manatee County Sheriff’s Office. Adams passed away in 2010. He was 92.
Business card exchange at Slicker’s
The Anna Maria Island Chamber of Commerce will hold a business card exchange at Slicker’s Eatery, 12012 Cortez Rd. W. in Bradenton, on Thursday, May 27. The Chamber holds these events so local business owners can network, exchange business cards and information, as well as generally get to know each other. Tickets are $5 for Chamber members and $10 for future members. Contact the Chamber at www.annamariaislandchamber.org or call 941-778-1541.
Anna Maria hosting COVID-19 vaccine clinic
The city of Anna Maria will host a COVID-19 mobile vaccination clinic on Tuesday, May 25, and Wednesday, May 26, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. The clinic will be at City Pier Park, 101 North Bay Blvd., across the street from the City Pier. The Johnson & Johnson single-dose vaccines will be available for anyone 18 years and older. No appointment is necessary and consent forms will be available. As an incentive to increase the number of vaccinations, the city of Anna Maria is offering a free Anna Maria souvenir with each vaccination. For more information please call 941-708-6130, extension 121.
Tumbling program offered by Center
If you have kids who love to jump, dance and flip around the house, then The Center of Anna Maria Island’s new children’s program may be just right for your family. Tumble Tots is a six-week gymnastics and dance program where children ages three to five will learn balance, strength and gymnastics skills in each 35-minute per week class. At the end of the six-week program, kids will get to showcase their new skills in a Tumble Tots dance program for parents and friends. Classes take place on Mondays from 4:30-5:05 p.m. and begin on June 7. The cost for the six-week session is $140 for Center members and $160 for non-members. For more information, or to register your child, visit www. centerami.org or call 941-778-1908. The Center is at 407 Magnolia Ave. in Anna Maria.
BY JOE HENDRICKS
SUN CORRESPONDENT | jhendricks@amisun.com
ANNA MARIA – The city of Anna Maria will host its annual Memorial Day Patriotic Symphony Salute at City Pier Park on Monday, May 31.
City Pier Park is located across the street from the Anna Maria City Pier.
Last year’s Memorial Day salute was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Memorial Day salute will take place from 10 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. and conclude with the performance of patriotic music by the Anna Maria Island Concert Chorus & Orchestra – with the chorus members not participating in this particular event. The symphonic performance is expected to begin at 10:30 a.m.
The ceremony will begin with a Marine Corps color guard and drummer marching from Roser Memorial Community Church to the City Pier Park flagpole for the presentation of the colors and the placement of a memorial wreath.
Mayor Dan Murphy will then recognize the attending members according to the military branch in which they served. Murphy will also recognize the spouses and significant others of the veterans who served their country.
Murphy is an Army veteran and Public Works Manager Dean Jones is a Marine Corps veteran. During recent city commission meetings, both men have expressed how much this event means to them personally and the many veterans who are part of the local community.
Volunteer members of the For the Love of Anna Maria Island community task force will hand out small American flags to attendees. Commission Chair Carol Carter is a member of that group.
JOE HENDRICKS | SUN The Memorial Day Patriotic Symphony Salute will take place at City Pier Park in Anna Maria.
Cortez Cultural Center to honor veterans
BY CINDY LANE
SUN STAFF WRITER
CORTEZ - A program honoring Cortez veterans and their families will be held Saturday, May 29, from 9-10 a.m. at the Cortez Cultural Center, 11655 Cortez Road, followed by the opening of exhibits from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
The morning program will feature Cortez cousins Bradenton Mayor Gene Brown and his predecessor, former Bradenton Mayor Bill Evers, with a remembrance by native son Darrell Taylor of his father Dan Taylor, who served in the U.S. Navy.
The final tribute after the names are read will be Taps, performed on trumpet by Del Couch, who served as a U.S. Air Force bugler from 1968-72.
Tours of the center will include a new exhibit about Dan Taylor and his family. Ongoing exhibits of other veterans highlight the patriotism and role of the men and women from Cortez, who number 78 in World Wars I and II, with three fatalities. Most served in the U.S. Navy (39), followed by the U.S. Army (16), U.S. Air Force/Corps (2), U.S. Merchant Marine (2), U.S. Coast Guard (1) and U.S. Marine Corps (1). Four women served, two in the WACS and two in the WAVES.
A new feature at the Center is a diorama displaying the different stages of net fishing, made by author John McDonald.
There is no charge for the program or entrance to the exhibits, but donations are accepted and volunteers are welcome.
Limited parking is onsite, accessible traveling east on Cortez Road; additional parking is in the Florida Maritime Museum lot at 4415 119th St. W. with a short walk over the Bonefish Bridge.
FILE PHOTO The Cortez Cultural Center will present a Memorial Day program Saturday, May 29, as part of its grand reopening.
City voters will determine whether the existing term limits are eliminated.
BY JOE HENDRICKS
SUN CORRESPONDENT | jhendricks@amisun.com
BRADENTON BEACH – In the upcoming fall elections, Bradenton Beach voters will again be asked if they want to eliminate the term limits currently imposed on the city’s elected mayor and city commissioners.
The City Commission last Thursday unanimously supported on first reading an ordinance that provides ballot language for the possible elimination of term limits. The ordinance will be provided to the Supervisor of Elections Office after being adopted on second and final reading on Thursday, June 3.
The ballot language, drafted by City Attorney Ricinda Perry, says: “The current city charter provides that no person may hold the same elected office for more than three consecutive terms, or portions thereof, with each term lasting two years. Should the city amend its charter removing term limits, while maintaining the requirement that each term shall last for two years?”
Voters will be asked to vote yes or no on that question.
Bradenton Beach is the only city on Anna Maria Island that imposes term limits on its elected officials.
Due to a previously adopted charter amendment regarding commission candidate residency requirements, there was some confusion in 2016 as to whether the city’s term limits had inadvertently been eliminated by the voter-adopted residency amendment. Clarification was then sought from city voters during the 2016 elections and Bradenton Beach voters determined they wanted the existing term limits to remain in effect.
Those election results resulted in commissioners Ed Straight and Jan Vosburgh term-limiting out of office. In 2019, Vosburgh was elected to serve another two-year term and she plans to seek reelection in the fall. Mayor John Chappie’s term also expires in November and he’s expected to seek another term.
During Thursday’s meeting, Chappie said he’s remained silent on term limits, but he now fully supports eliminating them – in part because there are now fewer fulltime residents and fewer potentially interested commission candidates in the city.
Vosburgh said she favors eliminating term limits, too. She cited the knowledge that experienced commissioners bring to the commission and the learning curve new commissioners must navigate.
Commissioner Jake Spooner is serving his third term in office, a term that expires in November. Spooner has run unopposed in all three of his commission races and has not announced whether he will seek reelection, although he has informally expressed interest in serving another term.
Perry also has informally expressed her opinion that Spooner can seek another term because some of his time in office has been served as an at-large commissioner and some has been served as the Ward 1 commissioner. This is due to city voters eliminating and later restoring the city’s four geographically determined commission wards. Perry has not yet provided a formal legal opinion on this matter, nor has the commission directed her to do so.
JOE HENDRICKS | SUN Commissioner Jan Vosburgh term-limited out of office and was later elected to serve again. Mayor John Chappie supports the elimination of term limits.
Take a Moment This Memorial Day to Remember Those Who Made the Ultimate Sacri ce for Our Freedoms
