Sarasota/Siesta Key Observer 7.27.23

Happily ever after

Amid the devastation of Hurricane Ian in 2022, one dog still found good fortune.

When he was relocated from Fort Myers to the Humane Society of Sarasota County following the storm, Rocky met his loving owner, humane society volunteer Anne Gold, and became the star of a children’s book.

Written by Gold and illustrated by Gold’s friend, Bobbie Gilbert Kogok, “Rocky the Hurricane Dog: A True Story,” serves as a lesson in compassion for animals, as well as a fundraiser for the Humane Society.

Self-published in June 2023 and available on Amazon.com, the book recounts the story of the 11-year-old Dachsund — his fear and confusion at being surrendered, the storm that leaves him afraid and wet and finally his attempts to show his friendly spirit to visitors, who dismiss him as too old.

Until Gold comes along.

Then his life turns to belly rubs, runs on the grass, rides in the stroller and trips to the mall, before he falls asleep each night and dreams of all dogs and cats finding homes.

Quite a squeeze

The Church of the Redeemer on July 16 hosted a Lemonade Stand Challenge at its campus at 222 S. Palm Ave. to benefit Isaiah 117 House.

Isaiah 117 House is a nonprofit that provides a home for children who are awaiting placement in foster care. The nonprofit is raising money to open a home in Sarasota.

Several groups at Church of the Redeemer hosted stands at the event, with each serving their own lemonade recipe.

After visiting each stand and sampling each lemonade, parishioners voted for their favorite by donating money to Isaiah 117 House ($1 equaled one vote).

The event raised $3,565.90, with the Redeemer Young Professionals raising the most.

Swaby

Mural organizer Walter Gilbert, Colson family member Sonja McCoy Harvey and Mayor Kyle Battie

WHAT’S HAPPENING

WEEK OF JULY 27, 2023

BY THE NUMBERS

3.0000

The city of Sarasota’s maximum millage rate for the fiscal year 2024 set by the city commission during this week’s budget workshops.

PAGE 5

39

Parallel parking spaces proposed by Benderson Development on Glencoe Avenue on the west side of Siesta Promenade.

PAGE 6

1884

The year Lewis Colson, one of the area’s first Black settlers, came to Sarasota. He and his wife, Irene, were recently honored with a mural downtown. PAGE 18

CALENDAR

n Sarasota County Commission budget workshop — 1 p.m., Tuesday Aug. 8, Commission Chamber, County Administration Center, 1660 Ringling Blvd.

n Sarasota County School Board regular meeting — 6 p.m., Tuesday, Aug. 1, Board Chambers, Landings Administration Complex, 1980 Landings Blvd. (black awning entrance).

Suncoast Waterkeeper buys a patrol boat

stand-up

dipnetting, casting, sun printing and food trucks.

“A consistent presence on the water is a vital tool adopted by waterkeepers across the globe,” said Florida Suncoast Waterkeeper Executive Director Abbey Tyrna in a news release. “A patrol boat is the hallmark of the waterkeeper, providing access and opportunity to expand our efforts and engage the community on clean water issues.”

Patrolling waters allows Suncoast Waterkeeper to spot pollution and act quickly to mobilize

Haitian botanist named Selby associate

Marie Selby Botanical Gardens has appointed William Cinéa, founder and director of Jardin Botanique des Cayes (Botanical Garden of Les Cayes) in Haiti, as a research associate.

A botanist, conservationist and environmental entrepreneur, Cinéa created and developed Haiti’s first botanical garden with no public funding. In addition to welcoming visitors, the institution carries out research, guides conservation and restoration in Haiti, provides education, and promotes horticulture.

Selby Gardens research associates work to collaborate with the Gardens on a common research interest or collections-based effort. They help Selby Gardens expand its publication base, advance its botanical research and expand its collections.

Appointments last for three years, at which point they may be renewed.

“This appointment holds great significance for me and for botanical science in Haiti,” said Cinéa in a news release. “The collaboration and support of Selby Gardens will strengthen research, preservation and enhancement of the unique flora in the Caribbean.”

Man sentenced in 2022 shooting death

A Sarasota man has been sentenced to 35 years in prison for a 2022 murder after 23-year-old Johnny Evans pleaded guilty in 12th Judicial Circuit Court.

solutions leading to water quality protection. It also allows for an expansion of the group’s water quality monitoring and youth education programs.

Suncoast Waterkeeper plans to patrol and monitor the waters it oversees regularly while also encouraging participation to protect local waters through the Eyes on the Suncoast program. For more information about Florida Suncoast Waterkeeper visit SuncoastWaterkeeper.org.

The guilty plea came after a July 14 Stand Your Ground hearing before Judge Dana Moss, when Evans was ordered to stand trial beginning July 24.

Shortly after midnight on Jan. 6, 2022, Evans fatally shot a man outside of Moore’s Grocery at 1993 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Way. Later that day, he fled to Mississippi in a rental car, where he evaded law enforcement for approximately two months.

Evans was apprehended on Feb. 5, 2022, with the assistance of the U.S. Marshals Service.

“I want to have the conversation to share with you alternatives on what we can do inside roundabouts, if not the public art.”

Sarasota City Manager Marlon Brown

Read more on Page 5

Courtesy photo

The patrol boat purchased by Florida Suncoast Waterkeeper with a grant from the Selby Foundation.

St. Armands makeover options

ANDREW WARFIELD STAFF WRITER

At eye level, St. Armands Circle attracts local residents and tourists alike as a quaint, upscale seaside shopping, dining and entertainment village. At ground level and below, though, nearly every aspect of the infrastructure is showing its age with no significant updates and improvements made in half-a-century.

With city budget season in full swing, St. Armands Business Improvement District Board of Directors Chairman Tom Leonard appeared before the Sarasota City Commission on July 17, asking that the city embark on a $15 million streetscape project to address a number of surface issues and enhancements, not the least of which are noncompliant sidewalk and handicapped parking conditions.

A streetscape plan was one of three options presented by city staff during an April 18 St. Armands Complete Streets workshop. The other two options are a $45 millionplus project that would include infrastructure and surface upgrades, or to do nothing at all. Neither the complete streets nor streetscape projects are funded, nor is a time frame envisioned for funding.

“We’re supposed to be the premier shopping district,” Leonard said, adding that a trip to St. Armands is the first or second thing visitors do when they arrive. “Yet we have no curbs and sidewalks that aren't uneven and unsafe. So we’re just saying let’s get something done. St. Armands has had minimal improvements over the past 50 years and is in need of immediate improvements to compete with the region’s other premier shopping areas.”

The complete streets option covers the primary corridors over the entire key and includes multimodal and transit accommodations; landscaping, hardscaping and lighting; fiber connectivity; enhanced pedestrian crossings; parking reconfiguration; drainage and stormwater resiliency.

The streetscape plan would be limited to the business district and includes multimodal and transit accommodations; landscaping, hardscaping and lighting; enhanced pedestrian crossings; curb replacement; and drainage improvements.

“This whole kicking the can down the road right now for us on St. Armands is not working any longer. It’s been over 50 years since substantial improvement or investment in infrastructure, so that’s what we’re asking for. We just need something that’s doable,” said Leonard.

Commissioners offered little input in response to Leonard’s request for immediate relief. Vice Mayor Liz Alpert did seek clarity that commissioners were only being asked to receive the BID’s report at this time.

“This is just the board report and just accepting, OK? Because I don’t agree with any of the suggestions,” Alpert said. “I think it’s shortsighted for what I think is needed.”

COMPLETE STREET VS. MODEST IMPROVEMENTS

COMPLETE STREET

■ Project development and environmental study and design 100% funded by city

■ Project will follow federal and FDOT requirements and seek federal grant for construction

■ Project cost $45 million-plus

■ 10-15 years to complete

■ Project lifecycle 30-plus years

STREETSCAPE

■ Project development and environmental study and design 100% funded by city

■ Seek metropolitan planning organization funds for construction

■ Project costs $15 millon-plus

■ 2-3 years to complete

■ Project lifecycle 10-plus years

PROJECT CATALYST

The St. Armands complete streets exploration was prompted by the Florida Department of Transportation’s plans to rebuild or rehab Little Ringling Bridge between Bird Key Drive and Sarasota Harbour West. Funding for both the project development and environmental study and design phases are included in the FDOT’s Tentative Five-Year Work Program. The project is also included in the FDOT State Transportation Improvement Program through fiscal year 2026. Right-of-way and construction phases, though, are not currently funded.

“The complete-streets plan is to connect that portion, which would include a multiuse trail, and connect it from there to all the way into St. Armands, and also look at the drainage, the resiliency factors and traffic operations around the circle and the parking situation,” said City Engineer Nik Patel.

While the streetscape option will address cosmetic and some surface infrastructure issues, Patel said there may be some hesitancy at potentially throwing good money after bad because, eventually, the underground work will become necessary. That would mean tearing up cosmetic improvements that disrupt the circle for two to three years to do it all over again.

“That’s the challenge. You do this project, you spend all this money, and then the infrastructure, electrical systems and drainage cause more issues,” Patel said. “The longterm fix will have to happen, so the question is spend the money now and spend some more money later, or just spend the money now to do it completely? That’s a commission decision to make.”

Following the April workshop, staff conducted a citywide survey to solicit feedback on the options

for St. Armands. The results: 41% in favor of complete streets, 32% for streetscape and 27% for no build.  Leonard told commissioners the survey was too broad in scope to be seriously considered.

“Anyone was able to take the survey and there were no criteria parameters like being an owner, a merchant or resident of the circle,” Leonard said. “You didn’t even need to be a city resident to take part in the survey.” The St. Armands Circle Association, which comprises the merchants and other businesses operating there, has not taken an official position. Marketing and Events Director Rachel Burns urged the city to consider input from all stakeholders on St. Armands.

“Although there are many aesthetic and safety issues that need to be addressed on the circle to ensure a positive guest experience, there are many infrastructure needs that contribute to these problems,” Burns said. “We hope the commissioners will direct staff to consult with the land owners, merchants and residents to ensure all prospective needs are considered prior to finalizing a plan for improving St. Armands Circle.”

As a representative of the commercial property owners on St. Armands Circle, Leonard told commissioners that improvements to benefit the business district, for which the BID has set aside a contribution of $600,000, are his primary concern.

“We really are concerned with just St. Armands Circle, and that’s what our focus should be,” Leonard said. “That’s why we’re trying to do this downsized version.

“At $45 million we might be waiting another 10 to 15 years for this.”

LITTLE BRIDGE, BIG PROBLEMS?

The Florida Department of Transportation has identified the Little Ringling Bridge as a project in no small part because it is the only connection between the mainland and St. Armands and Lido keys and on to Longboat Key. Also known as State Road 789, it is classified as an Urban Minor Arterial. Built in 1958 and most recently repaired in 2016, the existing bridge has no shoulders or designated bicycle facilities.

The goal of the project development and environment study is to evaluate and document potential engineering and environmental effects of any proposed replacement alternatives for the bridge. Improvements considered may include a single bridge or twin bridges, as well as bicycle and pedestrian accommodations for both alternatives.

The purpose of the project is to address bridge deficiencies due to deteriorating conditions, improve multimodal transportation options between downtown and St. Armands Key, and to improve emergency evacuation and response times.

State Road 789 is a critical part of the emergency evacuation route network, designated by the Florida Division of Emergency Management and the City of Sarasota. The project is included in the Sarasota/Manatee Metropolitan Planning Organization's Transportation Improvement Program for fiscal years 2019/20-2023/24 as an MPO priority. It is also included in the Sarasota County Comprehensive Plan. The study area, including the bridge, was also identified in the Sarasota/Manatee Barrier Islands Study — Phase 2 Operations and Identifications conducted in October 2018.

St. Armands BID Board Chair Tom Leonard asked the Sarasota City Commission to consider a streetscape improvements option in the business district.

Courtesy photos

Handicap accessibility ramps at St. Armands Key are not in compliance with contemporary Americans With Disabilities Act standards.

Trip hazards and narrow sidewalks are among the mobility issues at St. Armands Circle.

File photo

St. Armands Circle has had no significant upgrades for more than 50 years.

Budget season begins

Members of the public can weigh in on the budget during the Aug. 1 hearing.

Members of the public hoping to offer their input on the budget and millage for Sarasota County Schools will have the opportunity to do so during a public hearing on Aug. 1.

On July 24, the board voted 5-0 to approve advertising for the new millage, which totals 6.18 mills, down from 6.272 the previous year. It also voted 4-1 to approve advertising for a budget of $1.55 billion, an increase from the current fiscal year’s $1.4 billion.

Bonnie Penner, chief financial officer for the district, said property values have increased this year, therefore, the district will levy a lower percentage with the millage, despite generating more revenue.

“This is part of the trim ad, or the part of the trim law, that gets to be a little bit confusing: that we are required to advertise this notice of tax increase, despite in reality lowering the millage,” she said.

A typical taxpayer could expect to see $618 in school taxes for every $100,000 of taxable value, she said, a decrease of $9.20 per $100,000 of taxable value. The school will generate $666 million to $667 million from the 6.18 mills, she said.

Last year, the school district’s total required local effort for its millage was 3.024 mills, while this year that amount has decreased to 2.932 mills, a reduction of 0.092. The district also levies three additional millages, the voted operating millage of 1.0 mills, the discretionary operating millage of 0.748 mills, and the capital outlay millage of 1.5 mills, all of which remain unchanged.

While the board unanimously approved the new millage for advertising, Chair Bridget Ziegler was the only member to vote against advertising for the new budget.

UPCOMING PUBLIC HEARINGS ON BUDGET

■ Public Hearing to Adopt Tentative Millage and Budget, Aug. 1, 5:15-6 p.m.

■ Public Hearing to Adopt Final Millage and Budget, Sept. 18, 5:15-6:15 p.m.

■ Both meetings will take place at the board chambers in the black awning building at 1980 Landings Blvd. ■ For information, visit SarasotaCountySchools.net.

She cited the fact that Terrence Connor had only recently joined the district as superintendent on July 17, stating she had concerns about the budget she needed to work through with him.

She said she is concerned about elements of the budget geared toward social-emotional learning, including the allocation of over $56 million toward that field, and said she did not believe it to be in compliance with state law.

An educational method intended to foster social and emotional skills through school curricula, socialemotional learning has been the subject of debate in recent years.

IAN SWABY STAFF WRITER

Ian Swaby

Superintendent Terry Connor and board member Robyn Marinelli

Art near the roundabouts?

Concrete pad prices prompt reconsideration of public art placement.

ANDREW WARFIELD STAFF WRITER

At the end of a two-day budget workshop, the Sarasota City Commission unanimously approved setting the city’s maximum general fund property tax millage rate at 3.0 for fiscal year 2024, unchanged from this year.

Ordinarily, no change, or even a reduction, in the property tax rate would headline the marathon budget workshop.

During Monday’s session, though, Senior Planner Mary Davis Wallace, the city’s public art coordinator, discussed funding for the city’s public art ambitions and the forthcoming Public Art Plan 2030. That’s when Commissioner Jen Ahearn-Koch asked for an update on the installation of sculptures selected for the roundabouts on U.S. 41 at 10th and

14th streets as part of the city’s Art in the Roundabouts program. Years of work went into selecting and procuring “Poly” for 10th Street and “Seagrass” for 14th Street, and the city awaits delivery of both now. But the sculptures may not go into the roundabouts at all. That’s because the bid to build the foundations for the sculptures is more expensive — almost four times the cost of the art itself — than anticipated.

“We’re in discussions about how we’re going to compensate for really just an expensive challenge with pouring those pads for 10th and 14th,” Wallace said. “We’ve received a couple of proposals that are just unfeasible at this time.”

The cost to commission Seagrass was $150,000 and Poly was $148,500, coming in at just under the $300,000 budgeted for the first two of four planned installations in U.S.

41 roundabouts. The city had budgeted $514,000 for construction of both roundabout pads. Only one bid was received for the work, submitted by Jon F. Swift Construction. It came in at $743,651.70 for 10th Street and $389,737.70 for 14th Street — that’s a total of $1,133,380. And 40 cents.

The City Commission has yet to take up the Public Art Committee’s recommendation of Sun Always Shines for the Fruitville Road roundabout, and the PAC’s selection process of a sculpture for the newest circle at Gulfstream Avenue has yet to begin. Unless a cost solution is devised for the foundations, “Poly” and “Seagrass” could be the last. “We want those pieces to come to our collection, but we may need to relocate them somewhere until we can find a more affordable solution for pouring those pads,” Wallace said.

Prior to the budget workshop commissioners had not yet been briefed on the pad costs.

“This is something that I want to bring back to the commission so you understand what’s involved in not only 10th and 14th, but Fruitville and Gulfstream because the cost of materials is really causing us to not have the budget to do any of these,” said City Manager Marlon Brown. “I want to have the conversation to share with you alternatives on what we can do inside the roundabouts, if not the public art. If the commission says, ‘Mr. Brown, find the money,’ we will have to see what we can do to get the public art in there.”

Ahearn-Koch asked about alternatives to locating the two sculptures already acquired, particularly since they were selected for scale and design specifications that made them suitable for installation inside roundabouts.

“The intent is to, if not in the middle of the roundabout, to put them as close to those intersections as possible,” Brown said. “We have already purchased those pieces, so they’re ours. And then the Fruitville one has to come before you and whatever discussions we have about Gulfstream still has come before you, but the intent is to keep them in that vicinity because they will see your point selected for those areas.”

BACK TO THE BUDGET

The max millage approved by commissioners will support the proposed $285.68 million budget, an increase of $33.75 million — or 13.39%, over the current fiscal year.

In addition to the 3.000 mils, taxpayers are assessed an additional 0.158 mill for 2015 general obligation bonds used to finance construction of the Sarasota Police Department headquarters. Special taxing districts include Golden Gate Streetscape Special District at 1.3596 mils and 2.000 mils each for the St. Armands Business Improvement District and the Downtown Improvement District. The value of one mill is $15.41 million. Once the max millage rate is set it cannot be raised, but it may be lowered. The next step in the budget process is the first public hearing on Sept. 5 with a second public hearing and budget adoption on Sept. 19.

Andrew Warfield

The bid to build a pad for the sculpture commissioned for the roundabout at U.S. 41 and 10th Street was $743,651.70.

Parallel parking plan produces friction for Siesta Promenade

Neighbors of the project persuaded the county’s Planning Commission to recommend against approval of the trafficcalming measure.

ANDREW WARFIELD STAFF WRITER

Since Benderson Development first proposed Siesta Promenade in 2014, there has been plenty of friction between the developer and residents of the adjacent Pine Shores neighborhood.

The 28-acre, mixed-use development at U.S. 41 and Stickney Point Road was approved by the Sarasota County Commission in 2018 and has prevailed in several legal challenges since. On July 20, Benderson was back before the Planning Commission, seeking a three-part recommendation for approval with nearby residents opposing just one aspect.

They objected to a proposal to replace a planned landscaped buffer along Glencoe Avenue with 39 parallel parking spaces, which Benderson representatives said were essential to a number of traffic-calming measures between the development and the neighborhood.

The friction also rubbed up against the eventual vote — a 3-3 tie to approve applications for three small area amendments to the comprehensive plan, which included adding the parallel parking. Otherwise, the petitions addressed details related to adding two “hold out” parcels to the plan that added just more than three-fourths of an acre to the site.

A second motion that excluded the parallel parking measure was approved 5-1. The recommendation now goes to the County Commission, which has final approval.

The on-street parking plan was one of several traffic-calming measures suggested along Glencoe — another included a roundabout at

the three-way intersection at Birchwood and Hazelton streets — but Benderson representatives called it an important one.

“I asked our consultants to look at the road and look at the requests and demands and the concerns and to do it the right way,” said Todd Mathes, Benderson’s director of development. “I understand you may not like parallel parking …  It has proven effective in slowing traffic down by creating friction.”

That plan created a different kind of friction with Pine Shores residents, who said they felt betrayed when promised a landscaped buffer between the neighborhood and the project that includes 414 apartments, 130 hotel rooms and 140,000 square feet of retail and office space.

“On-street parking will create a new hazard that’s not there today as moving cars pass parked cars and the doors of the parked cars are opened,” said Walter Rodak, who lives on Glencoe Avenue. “There’s already too much traffic on Glencoe Avenue. People drive on Glencoe for a variety of reasons. One of them is to take a shortcut from Tamiami Trail to Siesta Key, bypassing the

traffic light. Now there’s going to be another reason for people to drive on Glencoe to search for parking. It just multiplies my safety concerns.”

In exchange for the parallel parking, Benderson eliminated a driveway into Siesta Promenade from Glencoe Avenue, which it claimed would reduce traffic on the street.

PARALLEL PARKING NOT NEEDED

The traffic-calming initiatives are part of the 2018 approval of Siesta Promenade. It required Benderson to engage with the neighborhood for input to measure the level of interest in and methods of traffic-calming measures and to reduce impacts of either pre-existing cut-through traffic or that which could be exacerbated as a result of the development.

Philip DiMaria, a planner with development consultant KimleyHorn, said the thresholds of participation associated with garnering approval of traffic-calming methods prescribed in the county’s United Development code fell short, but they were devised regardless.

“It was our intent to still come through on the spirit of that stipulation in the 2018 approval and include

traffic-calming methods,” he said.

Engineer Christopher Hatton of Kimley-Horn cited the Institute of Transportation Engineers, which reports parallel parking serves to slow traffic.

“What it does, generally, is it produces friction,” he said. “People when they’re going down a road and they realize that there is parallel parking there, they realize that there might be a door open, so the purpose is to slow vehicles down and make people more conscious. You’re going to pay attention, you’re going to slow down and you’re probably not going to want to use that road.”

In addition to losing the landscaped buffer to on-street parking, residents who spoke before the Planning Commission cited a variety of safety concerns, including fears of inviting more traffic into the neighborhood, spillover parking should parallel spaces be filled, multiple vehicle movements as drivers attempt to park, car doors opening into oncoming traffic and more.

Mathes told commissioners the additional parking was neither needed by the project nor required by code to meet minimum parking thresholds.

“We don’t need the parking for the project. We’re not proposing the parking for the project. But we are improving Glencoe Avenue with the mini-roundabout requested by the neighborhood at our expense. There are no impact fee credits. There’s no compensation for it, even though it wasn’t required as a result of the traffic-calming process.”

“I appreciate that,” replied Planning Commissioner T. Andrew Stultz. “I think the spirit of what you proposed is fine, but with regards to friction, I think the parallel parking is creating more than just traffic friction in this process.”

NO SAFETY IMPROVEMENT

Don DeBerry, transportation director for the county’s Public Works Department, told commissioners that federal transportation data suggests there is no safety benefit

to adding parallel parking where no parking currently exists.

“I do believe it’s a traffic-calming measure. I do not believe it’s safer than no parking,” he said. “I just looked up the crash modification factors from the federal crash clearing house. They only have two studies on adding parallel parking where there is none. Both of those studies propose a method that would indicate that it’s less safe than no parallel parking.

“With respect to angle parking versus parallel parking, parallel parking does study to be safer than angle parking. So with respect to that, is it traffic-calming? Yes. Is it safer than what’s there now? No.”

Planning Commissioner Emmalee Legler, who was the most outspoken against the parallel parking, made the substitute motion following the deadlock of the original motion to approve Benderson’s applications in total.

“Parking has all of a sudden become the forefront of this particular petition, and I don’t think that that was nearly the intent of what you guys we’re doing here today,” Legler said. “The neighborhood is saying we don’t want parallel parking here, and Benderson says (they) would like to do that in order for it to be a safer place for the neighbors. Proceeding with what we’re here for tonight without the parallel parking accommodates what the neighborhood is looking for and also accommodates what you guys are looking for.”

Added Stultz, “I’m not sure if parallel parking is a hill we all want to die on.”

The measure still must go before the County Commission for final consideration.

Legler urged Pine Shores residents and other concerned citizens to attend that meeting, which has yet to be scheduled.

“I do encourage the community to go to the Board of County Commissioners meeting when this is slated because they are the second half of this process,” Legler said.

Courtesy rendering

A rendering of an entrance into Siesta Promenade.

THURSDAY, JULY 13

PAID THE PRICE

8:02 a.m., 4000 block of North Tamiami Trail

Property damage: An apparent datingapp rendezvous resulted in a smashed windshield by a jealous boyfriend.

The complainant told an officer he had picked up another man for a date after meeting on a dating app. When they later left a hotel, the complainant’s date was receiving constant phone calls from his boyfriend, so the complainant dropped him off at his residence, which is when a third man

A third man, who is described as the only person who did not appear to be intoxicated, provided a description of the subject who hit the brothers in the head with a bottle, and that he and a companion ran into a nearby apartment.

Several officers went to the apartment, where both subjects appeared to be evading law enforcement by sitting in the far corner of the living room. Both agreed to step out of the apartment, identified themselves and said they were not involved in the incident. The intoxicated brothers were also unable to positively identify them as the assailants.

There are no other witnesses to the incident and the suspects’ identities are unknown.

SUNDAY, JULY 16

CALLING HIS BLUFF

4:12 a.m., 2300 block of Maple Avenue

Domestic disturbance: A man told police he had been involved in an argument with his girlfriend over “relationship issues” and refused to leave her residence when she demanded he do so. He advised they had been together for approximately two months and had been staying at her residence for that amount of time. He stated the conflict was verbal in nature and that he would leave for a few hours to cool down.

Officers then met with the woman, who said the man was lingering on the property after she informed him she did not want him there. Refusing, he told her that he was not going to leave even if the police were contacted. Calling his bluff, she contacted law enforcement, and the man exited the property with no issues.

MONDAY, JULY 17

FILMING ON LOCATION

10:36 p.m., 3300 block of North Tamiami Trail

of alcohol.

The officer first met with a victim receiving medical treatment by EMS for a lip laceration and loose upper teeth. He said he was hit with a glass bottle while trying to defend his niece. His brother also said he was hit by a bottle by one of the subjects who was being inappropriate toward the same female, his daughter, when she returned home from walking the family dog.

Suspicious incident: A man called police in reference to a large crowd in the area, which he found to be suspicious. Contact was made with those involved, who advised that they were filming a movie. Recording equipment was present and there was no damage. No crime was suspected.

What we do matters

While some say artificial intelligence poses threats to the media, Florida newspapers remain strong with local journalism reporting human experiences and connections — something AI will never do as we do.

the content that matters to you, our readers. Just take some of the award-winning content produced by our staff recently honored as the best in the state of Florida (see box).

“If we are to build a better world, we must remember that the guiding principle is this — a policy of freedom for the individual is the only truly progressive policy.”

Friedrich Hayek “Road to Serfdom,” 1944

President and Publisher / Emily Walsh, EWalsh@YourObserver.com

Executive Editor and COO / Kat Wingert, KWingert@YourObserver.com

Managing Editor / James Peter, JPeter@YourObserver.com

Last week, more than 350 Florida media executives gathered at the Westin for the Florida Media Conference to share ideas, learn new innovative solutions, network and celebrate great journalism.

From the looks of it, you would not have guessed the print media industry is struggling. The conference consisted of members from five organizations — Florida Press Association, Florida Advertising and Marketing Executives, Florida Magazine Association, Florida Society of News Editors and Florida Press Educational Services.

The scene was a stark difference from what is happening elsewhere. Press associations across the U.S. are struggling to survive with dwindling memberships as news deserts increase across the country.

Recently, the Florida Press Association was alerted that the Arizona Press Association was shutting down altogether, with its remaining few members merging into the Arizona Broadcast Association, whose membership is composed of TV and radio stations.

The conference in Sarasota marked the culmination of my tenure as chair of the Florida Press Association board of directors. I was proud to be ending my term amid a thriving and still growing print media industry here in Florida. With 188 members, 159 of which are active print and online media sources, our membership is growing with independent and family owned operations, much like our Observer Media Group Inc.

Leadership of the organization

The Florida Press Association categorizes the state’s weekly newspapers on the basis of circulation. Division A is for newspapers with circulation of 15,000 or more. Division B is for circulation of 4,000-15,000. Division C is for circulation less than 4,000.

The following are the Observer Media Group’s winners at the Longboat Observer, SarasotaSiesta Key Observer, East County Observer and Business Observer.

Altogether, the Observer Media Group’s papers won 71 awards, including 21 first-place awards.

The company’s SarasotaManatee papers won 32 awards. The company also publishes the West Orange Times & Observer, Southwest Orange Observer, Ormond Beach Observer, Palm Coast Observer and the Jacksonville Daily Record.

Website Excellence

n First Place - YourObserver. com.

n Second Place – BusinessObserverFL.com

Overall Graphic Design

n Division A: Third Place - East County Observer, Melissa Leduc

Page Design

n Division B: First Place - Longboat Observer, José Valle

n Division A: First Place - Sarasota - Siesta Key Observer, Melissa Leduc

n Second Place - Sarasota - Siesta Key Observer, José Valle

n Third Place - East County Observer, Melissa Leduc

is now in the hands of Emerald Greene, publisher of Greene Publishing Inc. in Madison.

Greene’s father, Tommy Greene, chaired the FPA board of directors in 1976. Passing on the leadership of FPA from one multigenerational family to another marks the association’s storied history and continued legacy into the future. Matt Walsh, my father and Observer Media Group’s founder, served as FPA board chair from 2012-13, exactly 10 years before me. The legacy of the 144-year-old association is important to many families in Florida. Not just the families that own and operate newspapers, but the families of our employees, customers and communities we serve. Because what we do matters.

Much like the dawn of the internet in the late 1990s, the media industry has a new challenge — AI. Artificial intelligence has dominated the news the past few weeks and was a key theme in sessions at the Florida Media Conference — from how to use AI and ChatGPT to drive ad sales, to its use in recruitment and journalism.

Sarasota native Alex Mahadevan, director of MediaWise at the Poynter Institute, served as a panelist on one of the AI sessions.

At MediaWise, Mahadevan trains Gen Z, college students and seniors in digital media literacy and fact-

checking skills. He began the session sharing how he prompted AI to put together his professional bio, which said that he had worked for the Sarasota HeraldTribune for 15 years as the retail editor. Close, but not accurate. In fact, Mahadevan worked for the Observer Media Group for six years in various roles in digital media, last serving as the News Innovation Editor.

Before the conference day began, Mahadevan went for a morning run and ended up at Pastry Art on Main Street where he knew he would find a group of Sarasota stalwarts discussing current events. He asked them what they would think if the newspaper started printing stories and content generated by AI and ChatGPT. They were all horrified at the notion.

So are we. Horrified, indeed. He did share that AI and ChatGPT could make a reporter’s job more efficient. Reporters today don’t just write stories; they also take pictures, write multiple headlines for search engine optimization (SEO), post stories on social media and more. ChatGPT could help save time generating different headlines for SEO and help craft emails for public records searches, but the drawbacks for generating content still outweigh the benefits.

Surely, AI could not generate

Best Obituary

n Division B: First Place - Business Observer, Mark Gordon.

n Second Place - Business Observer, Mark Gordon

Outdoor & Recreation

n Division A: Second PlaceSarasota - Siesta Key Observer, Eric Garwood

n Third Place - East County Observer, Jay Heater

Best Headline

n Division A: First Place - East County Observer, Jay Heater

Sports Column

n Division A: First Place - East County Observer, Ryan Kohn

n Second Place - Sarasota - Siesta Key Observer, Ryan Kohn

Sports Page or Section

n Division A: First Place - Sarasota - Siesta Key Observer, Ryan Kohn, José Valle

Sports Spot News Story n Division A: First Place - East County Observer, Ryan Kohn

n Second Place - Sarasota - Siesta Key Observer, Ryan Kohn

Sports Photo n Division A: Second PlaceEast County Observer, Ryan Kohn

Portfolio Photography (Robert J. Ellison Memorial Award)

n Division A: Third Place - East County Observer, Jay Heater

Photo

Division

Third Place - Sarasota - Siesta Key Observer, Harry Sayer

Third Place - East County Observer, Ian Swaby

No computer or code would know the meaningfulness of roses presented by the players of the Lakewood Ranch High School baseball team to a Lakewood Ranch woman recovering from breast cancer. Only a human could uncover and write in an obituary about a $60 million corporation’s CEO personally cooking lunch from lasagna to sushi to celebrate his 600 employees’ birthdays.

Or how $75 helped take two Bradenton sisters from making chicken sandwiches on their mother’s patio to generating $1 million in revenue. ChatGPT would not know that the canceling of a $30 million theater project for The Players Centre of Performing Arts in Lakewood Ranch was breaking news.

Surely, a computer would not know how nine new cellphone towers would solve the woes of residents on the north end of Longboat Key who have had spotty cell service for more than two decades.

And most certainly, AI would not produce the best hurricane breaking news coverage in the state like the staff of the East County Observer ChatGPT would not have known how to keep our readers informed up to the minute from when we thought we were in the direct path of Hurricane Ian through its aftermath.

Only we do. And we know what matters to you.

While we may lean into technology to help make us more efficient or create tools to make our information more useful to you, we promise always to stay true to our mission to inspire our communities with extraordinary local content and to help our partners prosper.

It’s the connections we make together, telling human stories of hope and inspiration that fuel our local communities and will fill the pages of local media in Florida for another 144 years to come.

Hurricane Feature Story

n Division A: Second PlaceEast County Observer, Liz Ramos

Feature Story: Non-profile

n Division A: Third Place - East County Observer, Ian Swaby

Feature Story: Profile

n Division B: First Place - Business Observer, Louis Llovio

Agricultural & Environmental Reporting

n Division B: Third Place - Longboat Observer, Lauren Tronstad

n Division A: Second PlaceEast County Observer, Jay Heater

State & Local Tax Reporting (The TaxWatch Award)

n Third Place - Longboat Observer, Eric Garwood

Business Reporting

n Division B: First Place - Business Observer, Amanda Postma

n Third Place - Business Observer, Staff

n Division A: Second PlaceEast County Observer, Jay Heater

n Third Place - Sarasota - Siesta Key Observer, Andrew Warfield

Roads & Transportation

n Division B: Third Place - Longboat Observer, Eric Garwood

Education Feature

n Division A: Third Place - East County Observer, Liz Ramos

Education News

n Division A: Third Place - East County Observer, Liz Ramos

Sports Editor / Ryan Kohn, RKohn@YourObserver.com

Staff Writers / Ian Swaby, ISwaby@ YourObserver.com; Andrew Warfield, AWarfield@YourObserver.com

Digital & Engagement Editor / Kaelyn Adix, KAdix@YourObserver.com

Copy Editor / Gina Reynolds Haskins, GRHaskins@YourObserver.com

Senior Editorial Designer / Melissa Leduc, MLeduc@YourObserver.com

Editorial Designer / Luke Reasoner, LReasoner@YourObserver.com

A+E Editor / Monica Roman Gagnier, MGagnier@YourObserver.com

Director of Advertising / Jill Raleigh, JRaleigh@YourObserver.com

Sales Manager / Penny Nowicki, PNowicki@YourObserver.com

Regional Digital Director / Kathleen O’Hara, KOHara@YourObserver.com

Senior Advertising Executive / Laura Ritter, LRitter@YourObserver.com

Advertising Executives / Richeal Bair, RBair@YourObserver.com; Beth Jacobson, BJacobson@YourObserver.com; Jennifer Kane, JKane@YourObserver.com; Honesty Mantkowski, HMantkowski@YourObserver. com; Toni Perren, TPerren@YourObserver. com; Brenda White, BWhite@ YourObserver.com

Classified Advertising Sales Executive / Lexi Huelsman, LHuelsman@ YourObserver.com

Sales Operations Manager / Susan Leedom, SLeedom@YourObserver.com

Sales Coordinator / Account Manager Lori Downey, LDowney@ YourObserver.com

Digital Fulfillment Specialist / Emma B. Jolly, EJolly@YourObserver.com

Director of Marketing / Robin Lankton, RLankton@YourObserver.com

Marketing Specialist / Melanie Melone, MMelone@YourObserver.com

Director of Creative Services / Caleb Stanton, CStanton@YourObserver.com

Creative Services Administrator / Marjorie Holloway, MHolloway@ YourObserver.com

Advertising Graphic Designers / Luis Trujillo, Taylor Poe, Louise Martin, Shawna Polana Digital Developer / Jason Camillo, JCamillo@YourObserver.com

Information Technology Manager / Homer Gallego, HGallego@YourObserver. com

Chief Financial Officer / Laura Strickland, LStrickland@YourObserver.com

Controller / Rafael Labrin, RLabrin@ YourObserver.com

Office and Accounting Coordinator / Donna Condon, DCondon @YourObserver.com

n In-Depth Reporting (NonInvestigative)

n Division B: First Place - Business Observer, Mark Gordon

Investigative Reporting (Claudia Ross Memorial Award)

n Division B: Third Place - Business Observer, Louis Llovio and staff

Breaking News Story

n Division A: First Place - East County Observer, Jay Heater

Hurricane Breaking News Coverage

n First Place - East County Observer, Staff General News Story (Gwen Stevenson Memorial Award)

n Division B: First Place - Longboat Observer, Eric Garwood

Hurricane Coverage- General News Story

n Division BC: Second Place - Business Observer, Louis Llovio

n Division A: Second PlaceEast County Observer, Staff

Humorous Column

n Division A: Third Place - East County Observer, Jay Heater

Observer Media Group Inc. is locally owned.

Publisher of the Longboat Observer, East County Observer, Sarasota/Siesta Key Observer, Palm Coast Observer, Ormond Beach Observer, West Orange Times & Observer, Southwest Orange Observer, Business Observer, Jacksonville Daily Record, Key Life Magazine, LWR Life Magazine, Baldwin Park Living Magazine and Season Magazine

CEO / Matt Walsh

President / Emily Walsh

Vice President / Lisa Walsh

Chairman Emeritus / David Beliles

1970 Main St. Sarasota, FL 34236 941-366-3468

EMILY WALSH

Courtesy photo

Sarasota native Alex Mahadevan, director of MediaWise at Poynter Institute, and Julian Placino, chief recruitment and marketing officer of Pathways to Success, discuss how AI and ChatGPT can be used in journalism and recruitment at the Florida Media Conference last week at the Westin.

Solar on the water

ANDREW WARFIELD STAFF WRITER

Responding to a state mandate that local governments must allow floating solar facilities to be permitted in an appropriate land use classification, the city of Sarasota must prepare an amendment to its comprehensive plan by the end of the year.

A step in that direction was taken at a July 12 public workshop in which Sarasota Manager of Long Range Planning David Smith introduced the proposed text amendment resulting from House Bill 1411, which was codified into law in 2022.

A floating solar facility is an energy production facility consisting of solar panels that float over a body of water and convert sunlight into electricity using photovoltaic cells, ostensibly for off-site use.

Unlike solar farms covering dozens or hundreds of acres, the ordinance will permit smaller arrays designed to produce electricity to be fed into the power grid. Call them solar gardens.

With few real opportunities for floating facilities in the city’s production intensive commercial land use classification, Smith said staff is recommending simply “solar utilities” be used to describe solar energy production facility.

The amendment would apply to intensive industrial-zoned land primarily just north of downtown and east of U.S. 41.

“What we’re proposing to do with this amendment is revise the text of

the production intensive commercial land use classification, that’s our industrial land use classification, by adding solar utilities as a primary use in our production intensive commercial,” Smith said.

Absent any significant bodies of water for floating solar panels in the zoning district, Smith said the proposed text amendment broadens the description. For effective electricity generation, a space of at least two acres plus a service building is needed, according to Smith. Around the city, most retention ponds of that size are in residential communities and are not suited to be covered by an array of solar panels.

“For this comprehensive plan amendment, we’re recommending the term solar utilities be used rather than just the floating solar facilities,” Smith said. “This would include both ground-mounted solar utilities and floating solar utilities that generate power that’s provided to a power grid, which is distributed and used away from the production site.”

As a power production facility, Smith said the city’s production intensive commercial land use classification is best suited for such use.

Sarasota Bay is not a consideration because of danger to wildlife, seagrass and recreational boaters.

“We feel that as an industrial type of land use, this classification allows for industrial types of uses, such as manufacturing, assembly, warehousing, storage, processing and distribution of goods and services,” Smith said.

The city is required to send the amendment to the state by December. To meet that deadline, hearings before the Planning Board and the City Commission will be scheduled, during and after which modifications may be made. Both of those will be public hearings with the opportunity for citizens’ input. Once transmitted to the Tallahassee, the state’s various agencies will have 60 days to review and send comments back to the city.

Adoption is anticipated in spring 2024, which will require an additional public hearing before the City Commission. A supermajority of four of five votes is required to amend the comprehensive plan.

CO-OP HELPS RESIDENTS AND BIZ OWNERS GO SOLAR

Apart from a text amendment for commercial solar electricity generation, nonprofit Solar United Neighbors has launched the Sarasota Charlotte 2023 Solar Coop to help residents in Sarasota and Charlotte counties go solar. The co-op is free to join and open to home owners and business owners. Together, coop members can learn about solar energy and leverage their numbers to purchase individual solar systems at a competitive group price.

After a bidding process facilitated by Solar United Neighbors, which remains vendor neutral, co-op members will select a single solar company to complete the installations. Joining the co-op does not obligate members to purchase solar. Rather, members will have the option to individually purchase panels and battery storage based on the installer’s group rate.

The co-op is funded by Gulf Coast Community Foundation in partnership with Sarasota County government and Florida Veterans for Common Sense.

“We are thrilled for the launch of the Sarasota Charlotte 2023 Solar Co-op to help our neighbors go solar, especially after Hurricane Ian,” said Jon Thaxton, GCCF’s senior vice president of community leadership. “Our friends at Solar United Neighbors of Florida have organized this co-op, making the process of going solar more affordable, comprehensible and accessible.”

SUN has hosted 82 solar co-ops in Florida since 2015. It estimates the 2,400 homes and businesses that now have solar panels thanks to co-ops generate 23 megawatts of solar power and $56 million in local solar spending.

SUN will host free information sessions to educate potential members. Those interested can sign up for the co-op or one of the upcoming information sessions at SolarUnitedNeighbors.org.

City staff presents plan change to permit ‘floating’ solar power panels.

Courtesy photo Floating solar panels can represent an alternative to groundmounted solar panel systems.

Fab collab puts robots to work

A partnership between Faulhaber Fab Lab and RND Automation grows students’ robotics knowledge.

Alex Lieberman put a robot to work on July 20 at the Suncoast Science Center Faulhaber Fab Lab. Lieberman, who is entering ninth grade, 3D-printed a squeegee and attached it to the mechanical arm on loan from RND Automation, assigning the robot a glass cleaning ability.

“We just kind of made it up,” Lieberman said of the idea.

The robot is only the beginning of a partnership — and the creative potential — between Fab Lab and RND Automation. Fab Lab is a local nonprofit that promotes science, technology, engineering, art and mathematics education. RND Automation is Florida’s largest custom robotics, packaging and assembly machinery manufacturer.

The collaboration is designed to increase the range of careers students can be exposed to and the depth of knowledge they can gain at the lab. Students at Fab Lab’s Machine Madness summer camp have learned to program the arm, but it also helps high school volunteers learn how to realize and supervise high-tech projects through the lab’s BUILD

LEARN MORE Suncoast Science Center Faulhaber Fab Lab. 4452 S. Beneva Road. Visit SuncoastScience.org.

(Building Unique and Innovative Lab Designs) program.

There is a rich potential for these types of robots, known as collaborative robots, which share a workspace with humans, said Aaron Laine, sales engineer and former vice president of operations for RND Automation.

IAN SWABY STAFF WRITER

Photos by Ian Swaby

Ninth grade students Alex Lieberman and Evan Heck program the robot.

Adam Willea, district manager for FANUC, explains robotics to 11th grade volunteer Daniel Desear and ninth grade students Evan Heck and Alex Lieberman.

< Q+A: Broadway flop became fodder for Annie Morrison’s one-woman show. 15

PAINTING MARATHON: Sarasota artist Beck Lane shows love for Frida Kahlo. 13 >

ARTS + ENTERTAINMENT

Building a better ballerina

e are artists. We have to give illusions. We have to give the illusion that we’re floating across the stage,” Jennifer Welch Cudnik tells the young women in leotards and pink tights elevated by toe shoes as they rehearse in a studio near the SarasotaBradenton International Airport.

It’s 3 p.m. on a Friday summer day. The Sarasota Ballet School’s Summer Intensive recital is still two weeks away, so it’s forgivable if the buzz in the building on Tallevast Road surrounds a student trip the next day to entertainment wonderland Orlando.

While Welch Cudnik plays classical music on her iPhone, her young students appear mature and sophisticated as they bourrée, taking tiny steps across the room with gracefully outstretched arms. The next minute, they look like children as they drop their ballerina masks, lean casually against the barre and await Welch Cudnik’s next instructions.

The new principal of the Sarasota Ballet School knows what it’s like to have one foot in the world of adolescent hijinks and the other clad in a toe shoe, ready to pirouette on stage in front of adoring audiences.

A native of St. Louis, Welch Cudnik was just 15 when she moved to New York City to study at the School of American Ballet, the education arm of the New York City Ballet. There she learned the repertory of iconic choreographer George Balanchine, or “Mr. B” for short, at the school that has produced ballet luminaries such as Suzanne Farrell, Jacques d’Amboise, Gelsey Kirkland and Darci Kistler.

At 46, Welch Cudnik is remarkably youthful. In her workout gear, she looks as slim and toned as her young students. Unlike the stereotype of the intimidating ballet mistress of yore, keeping time by rapping a cane and barking directions, Welch Cudnik comes across more like an older sorority sister.

She and her family, including a daughter studying at the Sarasota School of Ballet’s five-week summer session, have only been in town a few weeks. Welch Cudnik took over from the school’s previous principal, Sarah Krazit, who wanted to focus more on her family as they relocated from the Gulf Coast.

When Welch Cudnik was studying ballet in New York as a teen, she says she was in a “safe bubble” because she was living in a dorm with other dancers and had chaperones. The real test of her maturity came later,

A new principal takes the barre at the Sarasota Ballet School.

MONICA ROMAN GAGNIER

ARTS + ENTERTAINMENT EDITOR

Photos by Mikenna Bowers

Jennifer Welch Cudnik demonstrates a pose to students in the Summer Intensive session of the Sarasota Ballet School.

Jennifer Welch Cudnik is the new principal of the Sarasota Ballet School.

IF YOU GO

‘IN MOTION,’ SHOWCASE OF SARASOTA BALLET SCHOOL SUMMER INTENSIVE

When: 7:30 p.m. on July 27-28, 2 p.m. on July

28-29

Where: FSU Center for the Performing Arts, 5555 N. Tamiami Trail

Tickets: $30-$40

Info: Visit SarasotaBallet.org.

Ballerina

FROM PAGE 11

when she was 19 and moved to Philadelphia on her own to dance with what was then called the Pennsylvania Ballet. (The company rebranded in 2021 as the Philadelphia Ballet.)

“I wasn’t ready,” she confesses. Nevertheless, she made it through, dancing with both the Pennsylvania Ballet and St. Louis Ballet for a

decade.

Given the level of professionalism that she embraced at such a young age, it’s not surprising to hear that Welch Cudnik took a break from dance for five years. Originally, Welch Cudnik believed she had quit but ballet called her back. She earned a master’s of fine arts in dance at Hollins University in Roanoke, Virginia. She has been involved in arts education for more than two decades, teaching in universities, dance schools, charter and public schools and community arts

centers. Along the way, she had two daughters, now 13 and 8, and also cofounded and directed the nonprofit Ballet Initiative.

Welch Cudnik came to the attention of the Sarasota Ballet and its education director, Christopher Hird, and Deirdre Miles Burger, assistant education director, through her work at the Center for Creative Arts in St. Louis. COCA holds large auditions where students from the area can try out in front of representatives of dance companies and schools from all over the country.

“It was really through Dede that Jennifer came to Sarasota,” said Jason Ettore, Sarasota Ballet general manager, in an interview along with Welch Cudnik, in a computer lab where Sarasota Ballet School students do their homework during the academic year.

Timing and chemistry aside, one of the reasons Welch Cudnik landed her new job is that she is a certified teacher in the American Ballet Theatre national training curriculum. The program has been used by the Sarasota Ballet School since the 2020-21 season, pandemic notwithstanding.

Designed for all ages and skill levels, the ABT curriculum has been considered the gold standard for ballet training since 2006, when an act of Congress made the American Ballet Theatre the country’s national ballet company.

For students with their sights on a dance career, the Sarasota Ballet runs the Margaret Barbieri Conservatory. It is overseen by Barbieri, a former prima ballerina with The Royal Ballet and assistant director of the Sarasota Ballet. During the 2023-24 academic year, 160 students in total are expected at the Sarasota Ballet School and the Conservatory. While the nearly 200 students between 11 and 18 in the Sarasota Ballet School’s summer intensive get a rigorous training in nationally accepted ballet basics, they are also exposed to other dance styles like jazz funk and hip hop.

A partnership with Ringling College of Art and Design allows them to live in dorm rooms with fellow stu-

dents, gaining some independence and allowing them to build social skills sometimes lacking in today’s tech-obsessed youth.

The daughter of two teachers — her mom taught English and her dad taught history — Welch Cudnik has strong ideas about who can study dance. Asked to define her philosophy, she declares, “Anyone can learn ballet, from 2 to 82.” To be sure, she’s not saying it’s easy; she’s saying it can be done.

In addition to teaching the ABT curriculum, Welch Cudnik has served as a consultant to families whose children want to pursue dance training and careers. She keeps in touch with dozens of students and their parents via text, phone and email.

Her view of the ballet community is expansive and inclusive. In their interview, both she and Ettore bemoaned the fact that many young men won’t pursue the discipline because of stereotypes about masculinity, despite the strength, grace and coordination it fosters.

Between the rigors of the ABT curriculum and the breakneck pace of the summer intensive, there’s still room for fun. Welch Cudnik encourages her students to have a playful streak. To teach one young dancer how the proper way to bend sideways, she tells them, “Just think, ‘I’m a little teapot,’” quoting the childhood nursery rhyme as she demonstrates the correct motion.

Welch Cudnik’s talents as a choreographer will be on display during “In Motion,” the recital for the Summer Intensive program on July 27-29, where one of her new works will be performed.

The show will include new choreography by Sarasota Ballet principal dancer Maximiliano Iglesias and Assistant Ballet Master Octavio Martin.

Also on the bill is “Concerto in D” by Ricardo Graziano, the ballet’s resident choreographer, and “An American Hymn” by Miles Burger. Principal dancer Macarena Gimenez will perform excerpts from “Coppélia.”

Mikenna Bowers

Jennifer Welch Cudnik prepares students at the Sarasota Ballet School for the recital performance of the Summer Intensive session.

For the love of Frida

Beck Lane is painting 55 oil portraits of the famous Mexican artist.

MONICA ROMAN GAGNIER ARTS + ENTERTAINMENT EDITOR

Fifty-five.

That’s the number of oil portraits that Beck Lane plans to paint of Mexican artist Frida Kahlo.

Why 55? That’s the number of selfportraits that Kahlo created during her 47-year lifetime.

With prominent eyebrows and facial hair above her lip, her face framed by braids pinned to the top of her head and attired in her signature peasant grab, Kahlo would become one of the world’s most recognizable female artists. (Photographer Georgia O’Keeffe is also a contender.)

Along with Our Lady of Guadalupe, Kahlo is an icon of Mexico. Her likeness adorns everything from tote bags to T-shirts to a new line of shoes from Tom’s, the do-good footwear company.

“I’m not painting her because she’s famous,” volunteers Sarasota artist Lane in an interview at Starbuck’s on Fruitville Road.

Lane made time for coffee after holding a painting demonstration in the art gallery at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Sarasota, where some of the Frida paintings are on display until Aug. 18.

Lane said she chose Kahlo as a subject for her latest portrait series because she uses photographs to paint and likes those taken from 1850 to 1950.

According to Lane, there are about 5,000 photographs of Kahlo in the public domain, providing no shortage of inspiration.

Lane is a native of Cape Cod who came to Sarasota seven years ago; Kahlo died in the Mexico City house (“Casa Azul”) where she was born. But the two artists have something in common.

After being impaled by a pole in a bus accident in 1925, Kahlo was confined to her bed as she underwent many surgeries. To pass the time, she began painting with the aid of a lap easel and an overhead mirror in the canopy of her bed.

Like Kahlo, Lane committed herself to art while bed-ridden.

After graduating high school, Lane studied art at the now defunct Vesper George School of Art in Boston. She dropped out to work as a florist and in retail, which required heavy lifting. After her tendons tore away from her elbows, Lane had multiple surgeries to regain use of her limbs.

For both Kahlo and Lane, painting wasn’t merely a means of self-

IF YOU GO BECK LANE’S ‘55 FRIDA PROJECT’

When: 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Sundays. By appointment Tuesday through Friday. Through Aug. 18

Where: Unitarian Universalist Church of Sarasota

Tickets: Free

Info: Call 941-371-4974. Visit UUCSarasota.com.

expression during convalescence; the act represented the determination to survive.

“I used to paint like this,” Lane says, holding a straw in the crook of her elbow to mimic how she inserted her brush into her braces because she couldn’t move her fingers. “I couldn’t do it for very long, maybe 15 seconds at a time. I had to plan how I was going to do it,” she says.

Like many female artists, Kahlo and Lane weren’t taken seriously. During her lifetime, Kahlo painted primarily for her own satisfaction and for the enjoyment of her family and friends. In the public eye, her personal, self-referential art was eclipsed by the giant murals with political themes painted by her husband Diego Rivera, who was 20 years older.

Kahlo didn’t become a global sensation until decades after her death in 1954. Her fame gained momentum following the release of Hayden Herrera’s 1983 biography about Kahlo.

A 2002 Hollywood movie starring Salma Hayek brought Fridamania into full bloom. In 2021, Kahlo’s painting, “Diego and I,” set a record for a Latin American artist when it sold for $34.9 million at Sotheby’s.

For her part, Lane knew she wanted to be an artist when she was a child. “One of my earliest memories is of drawing a seagull and telling my mother I was going to be an artist,” she recalls.

While she was clear on her career path, Lane didn’t take herself or other women artists seriously for a long time. She bought into the misogynistic stereotypes that dominated the art world. “I didn’t think much of

women artists,” she says. “I thought they were second-class.”

Still, the art scene of New York City beckoned. Artists like Keith Haring, Kenny Scharf and JeanMichel Basquiat had taken their art to the streets and factory lofts, following in the footsteps of pop art pioneer Andy Warhol. Lane moved to the “City” when she was 48.

Lane exhibited her work in two solo shows in New York City and sold her paintings to far-flung collectors, thanks to a an international gallery. But it wasn’t until she was injured that she made a vow to herself to become a full-time artist.

She’s had some help on her journey. Lane’s sister, Melissa Voigt, senior development officer for the Sarasota Opera, helps write press releases and get the word out about Lane’s art on social media platforms.

In a town filled with professional artists, Lane understands the importance of connecting with potential buyers in person. A self-described hermit who likes to walk at night when everyone else is home, Lane does emerge from seclusion to attend events at Art Ovation hotel and popup shows.

She lives simply, riding a newly acquired scooter she has dubbed “Speed Racer” from her live/work space near Stickney Point to and from downtown.

Mostly, she paints. “My purpose is painting,” Lane declares.

Right now, Lane’s working on No. 19 of her Frida project, which she began last year. The canvases are mosaic-like, with bold brush strokes of color forming images of Kahlo in various poses.

Lane’s excited because one of her Fridas may have found a buyer in Mexico. “Wouldn’t it be great if Frida got to go home?” Lane says.

In Florida, Lane’s work is on display at Chasen Galleries in Sarasota and blu Egg Interiors in Fort Lauderdale. You can also find videos of Lane painting on YouTube and other social media outlets.

While Frida is her passion right now, Lane is also fascinated with another female artist, 94-year-old Yayoi Kusama. A native of Japan, Kusama dyes her hair (or wears a

wig) of red-orange and creates multimedia works, including sculpture, painting and performance.

Having packed up the Fridas she was working on for the painting demonstration in the back of a friend’s car, Lane pulls out her cellphone to reveal photos of her paintings of Kusama, including one of the artist as a child.

“She’s the jewel of Japan,” Lane exults, noting her goal is to have one of her Kusama portraits hanging in the Kusama Museum in Tokyo. After years of tempering her expectations, Lane is thinking big. What about a Frida exhibit in Mexico or Santa Fe, ground zero in the U.S. for Fridamania? Told that Santa Fe has more than 200 art galleries, many of them on Canyon Road, Beck pulls out a notebook and pen from her backpack. “Is that spelled C-AN-Y-O-N Road?” Lane asks before jumping on her scooter. Then she heads down Fruitville Road toward her studio, where more Fridas are moving from the realm of Lane’s imagination to the canvas.

Courtesy photos

Sarasota artist Beck Lane’s paintings of Mexican artist Frida Kahlo are on display at the Unitarian Universalist Church’s art gallery through Aug. 18.

Some of Beck Lane’s portraits of Mexican artist Frida Kahlo on display at the Unitarian Universalist Church in Sarasota.

“I’m not painting her because she’s famous.”

Beck Lane

Sarasota’s Best

THIS WEEK

THURSDAY THE SURFER BOYS

7:30 p.m. at FST’s Goldstein Cabaret, 1265 First St. $18 Visit FloridaStudioTheatre.org.

From the group that brought you “The Jersey Tenors” comes a tribute to the band that took America on a “Surfin’ Safari” in the early 1960s.

DIVAS THREE 7:30 p.m. at FST’s Court Cabaret, 1265 First St. $18 and up Visit FloridaStudioTheatre.org.

Three female vocalists present four decades of songs made famous by Aretha Franklin, Celine Dion, Whitney Houston and others who have been dubbed “diva.” Runs through Sept. 3.

PATRICK GARRITY

7 p.m. at McCurdy’s Comedy Theatre, 1923 Ringling Blvd. $25 Visit McCurdysComedy.com.

A veteran of CBS “Comedy Night School,” McGarrity riffs on what it’s like to serve in the armed forces, growing up with a big brother and why the Irish don’t “trash talk.” Runs through July 30.

FRIDAY ‘FOLKTALE AND MOVEMENT’

6:30 p.m. at Hermitage Palm HouseStudio, 6660 Manasota Key Road,Englewood

DON’T MISS

‘BLACK PEARL SINGS!’

“Black Pearl Sings” tells the story of an unlikely friendship between a Library of Congress musicologist who wants to record slave-era music and an African American prisoner who has the knowledge needed for her project.

IF YOU GO

When: Through Aug. 6 Where: FST’s Keating Theatre, 1265 First St. Tickets: $25 Info: FloridaStudioTheatre.org.

OUR PICK SUMMER CIRCUS SPECTACULAR

Circus fans of all ages can experience the best of the circus arts, including hand balancers, clowns and aerial rope artists at affordable prices, thanks to a partnership between The Circus Arts Academy and The Ringling.

IF YOU GO

When: Through Aug. 12

Where: Historic Asolo Theater, 5401 Bay Shore Road

Tickets: $15-$20

Info: CircusArts.org.

Free with $5 registration fee

Visit HermitageArtistRetreat.org.

Choreographer Christopher Williams and dance collaborator Caitlin Scranton hold an open rehearsal and a conversation about Williams’ current work, a twist on a classic folktale.

LARRY & JEANNIE

7 p.m. at Centennial Park, Venice

Free Visit VisitVeniceFl.org/Friday-NightConcert-Series.

Larry & Jeannie bill themselves as Tampa Bay’s “premier classic acoustic folk/rock duo.” Find out why at this free concert.

TUESDAY DIEGO FIGUEIREDO

7:30 p.m. at Fogartyville, 525 Kumquat Court $28

Visit WSLR.org/fogartyville.

Grammy award-winning Diego Figueiredo draws from his homeland of Brazil’s musical heritage and the eclectic history of jazz with his vocals and acoustic guitar.

WEDNESDAY

‘A COMEDY OF TENORS’

8 p.m. at FST’s Gompertz Theatre, 1265 First St. $25 and up Visit FloridaStudioTheatre.org.

Set in 1930s Paris, “A Comedy of Tenors” is a romp that follows a producer and an Italian superstar. Runs through Aug. 20.

photo

Courtesy

Annie Morrison still rolling along

Look up“multitalented” in the dictionary and there’s probably a picture of Ann Morrison. The Sarasota powerhouse has entertained locally, nationally and globally in a host of performances. “Merrily We Roll Along” was one of them.

Morrison was part of the cast at the 1981 Broadway premiere. Stephen Sondheim and George Furth’s time-bending musical seemed like the perfect equation. But it added up to a colossal flop.

Flop or not, Morrison had a blast. She tells her tale and sings some of the musical’s songs in “Merrily from Center Stage,” her original, oneperson cabaret show, for which she’s seeking venues to continue performing. In the following conversation, which has been edited, she talks about it.

Where’d you get the idea for “Merrily from Center Stage”?

(The documentary) “The Best Worst Thing That Ever Happened” is a treasure. But (it) ignored the six weeks of rehearsals. Blake Walton, my creative consultant, suggested that I create my own show.

Please set the Wayback Machine for 1981, New York City and “Merrily We Roll Along.” When did you come on board?

I was the last actor to be cast. The final part of my audition was for Stephen Sondheim on April 9 — which happens to be my birthday.

At that point, the musical was still in flux, right?

Absolutely. When a show’s going straight to Broadway, the workshop process takes place during rehearsals. That’s the focus of my show.

What was that like?

See my show! For now, let’s say it was just a joy working with two musical theater gods: Stephen Sondheim, the composer and lyricist, and Hal Prince, the director.

I’m picturing Stephen Sondheim walking around fizzing over with ideas. He was shaping the musical in real time.

Exactly! You get that from the documentary; he talks about how he goes into many shows with all the songs already written. In “Merrily,” they weren’t, and he needed more time. That’s why we kept postponing our rehearsals, previews and the opening date.

Why did “Merrily We Roll Along” flop?

I’d say script problems, which the musical inherited from the original 1933 play.

Where have you performed “Merrily from Center Stage”?

I did it at 54 Below in New York City and freeFall Theatre St. Petersburg, when it was 75 minutes. I took it to The Players in Sarasota and fleshed it out. I performed the longer version at Crazy Coqs in London and reprised it at freeFall.

What’s next for “Merrily from Center Stage”?

Right now, the goal is to take it to colleges and other theaters. There’s also talk of filming it. I originally thought my show at 54 Below was going to be one night only. I had no idea it was going to take off.

Antonio

Board Certified, Electrophysiology

Dr. Antonio Moretta brings to Intercoastal Medical Group at the Cattleridge Medical Building II office a wealth of knowledge and experience in Electrophysiology medicine.

Undergraduate: Villanova University, Villanova, PA

Medical School: Saint George’s University, Grenada, WI

Graduate: Immunology, Long Island University, Brookville, NY

Residency: Internal Medicine, Lenox Hill Hospital, New York, NY

Fellowship: Cardiac Electrophysiology, Stony Brook University, New York, NY; Cardiology, Lenox Hill Hospital, New York, NY

Board Certified, American Board of Internal Medicine with Subspecialty Certification in Cardiovascular Disease and Clinical Cardiac Electrophsiology Hospital Affiliations: Lakewood Ranch Medical Center; Doctors Hospital; Sarasota Memorial Hospital

Certification:

Courtesy photo

Annie Morrison

YOUR NEIGHBORS

LEGACY AT A CROSSROADS

LEARN MY HISTORY FOUNDATION

For information, visit LearnMyHistory.org. To view videos visit YouTube.com/@ LookTowardstheFuture.

Hawkins said.

IAN SWABY STAFF WRITER

The scene is not the same as it once was years ago along a street near Washington Boulevard in Newtown.

At night, people no longer walk through the area to sell drugs. The late hours are quiet rather than interrupted by gunshots.

And since 2020, the street sign there no longer reads “Washington Court” but instead says “Veronica H. Allen Pl.”

Allen lived on the street before her death from cancer in 2010. After Allen’s death, her daughter, Ronnique Hawkins, thought about a way she could combine the memory and accomplishments of Allen, a volunteer with the Sarasota Police Department, along with her own community initiatives.

When she settled on the idea of renaming the street Veronica H. Allen Place, others in Newtown were “all for it,” Hawkins said.

A LASTING LEGACY

Allen left behind a different community than the one she entered as a graduate of the first class of the Sarasota Police Department’s Citizen Volunteer Training Academy,

Allen worked with those who were bereft of society’s compassion, Hawkins said. Allen helped and counseled those fighting drug and alcohol addiction, selling narcotics and those who were jobless and suicidal. Allen even cooked meals for them. She worked extensively with organizations such as Moms Against Drunk Driving and Dads Against Drunk Driving.

“She would share so many different things with people,” said her former colleague, Victor Johnson. “The passion that she had for the community — it was just wonderful.”

Allen worked tirelessly for her community until her death. Although she survived breast cancer, the disease returned as liver cancer.

After Allen’s death, many people came to Hawkins with posthumous messages of thanks, she said.

One person said Allen had saved his life. Another said they never ended up in jail again. Another said he decided never to sell drugs again.

“She pretty much stopped at nothing to try to prevent others from going down a path of destruction or a path that would lead them to unhappiness or an unsuccessful life, and that’s exactly why I do what I do,” she said.

When she faced the same obstacle

as her mother, it did not stop her either.

After she was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2022, Hawkins initially found herself reliving her mother’s passing, recalling the five long days during which she did not sleep. Yet with three surgeries behind her and years of chemotherapy remaining, she has stayed focused on her latest nonprofit initiative, Learn My History Foundation.

A PARALLEL STRUGGLE Hawkins’ nonprofit work started while she was living in New York City, with her founding of the AntiLynching Movement Foundation.

Through that organization, she co-produced the film “The Untold Story of Emmett Louis Till,” released in 2005. Till, who posthumously became a major figure in the Civil Rights movement, was accused of whistling at a white woman and was brutally murdered by two white men in Mississippi in 1955.

On July 25, the date of Till’s birth, President Biden signed a proclamation establishing a national monument to Till and his mother, Mamie Till-Mobley.

During her journey, Hawkins said

she encountered many families who did not receive any justice for the murders of their loved ones, and created a film, “Truth to Power,” about this issue.

The original branch of Learn My History Foundation was established in New York in 2004, but Hawkins founded a new branch after moving to Florida in 2015. The organization’s goal is to build a platform to provide opportunities, guidance and selfesteem for younger generations.

However, she said she faces the challenge that many will not see the nonprofit as legitimate due to being led by a Black individual. She runs the organization based on about three grants and with no startup capital, she said.

“I have to jump through and I have jumped through a million hoops. It’s maddening, and it’s very difficult to deal with,” she said.

Since 2020, Learn My History Foundation has included the Create with Ro program. The multicultural initiative involves children creating a project such as a food or object historically tied to them and then being interviewed on the success of the project, an experience intended to build confidence.

Hawkins creates “seasons” from each year of the program, which she edits and styles as TV shows, sharing them on YouTube.

After her cancer diagnosis, she launched her second program, the Learn My History Children’s Network in 2022. It gives children the chance to interview prospective mentors in the community, such as Chief Judge Charles E. Williams of the 12th Judicial Circuit Court, police officer Andre Jenkins, fireman Dan Hedgeman, mother Minnie Dupree, and chaplain Tom Pfaff.

The organization is also set to introduce a Youth & Kids Zone that features film production mentoring programs.

“That bothered her greatly, to not have what you need to make good decisions,” she said. “And then the years catch up to you.”

Veronica Allen cared for the Newtown community as an SPD volunteer, while daughter Ronnique Hawkins took up the torch with a documentary and the Learn My History Foundation.

“She pretty much stopped at nothing to try to prevent others from going down a path of destruction or a path that would lead them to unhappiness or an unsuccessful life, and that’s exactly why I do what I do.”

Ronnique Hawkins

says of

her mother, Veronica H. Allen

Ronnique Hawkins stands at the road named in her mother’s honor while holding an award received by Veronica Allen.

Courtesy photo

Veronica Allen (third from right) gathers with other members of the Sarasota Police Department.

Ian Swaby

A picture of history

IAN SWABY STAFF WRITER

Visitors gazed with admiration at a mural featuring Lewis and Irene Colson, two of Sarasota’s first Black residents, during a ribbon-cutting ceremony that celebrated the new artwork on July 20.

The mural, now elevated above Central Avenue on the side of the Planned Parenthood — Sarasota Health Center, is a sight familiar to those well versed in the area’s history.

It depicts Rev. Lewis Colson and Irene Colson, two highly influential founding members of Sarasota’s original Black community, Overtown, which was developed into the Rosemary District, where the mural is located.

“It was by no mistake that we chose this building to put these people on — by no mistake,” said Walter Gilbert, mural organizer for the Gilbert Mural Initiative.

The location was a perfect fit, he said.

At the time Lewis Colson founded Bethlehem Bible Church, Sarasota’s first Black church, it was located next door to where the health center now is. The health services offered at the center mirror those offered by his wife, Irene Colson, a midwife for the Black community. The Colsons are buried in the Rosemary Cemetery across the street.

Sarasota Mayor Kyle Battie attended the event along with Commissioner Debbie Trice, school board member Tom Edwards, and Jon Thaxton of Gulf Coast Community Foundation, which funded the mural.

“This mural matters more now than ever, and I’d like to challenge all of us. It’s time for us to be more bold, more disruptive and create more Black history products,” said

MURAL LOCATION

Planned Parenthood — Sarasota Health Center, 736 Central Ave. in the Rosemary Art and Design District. Visit RosemaryDistrict.org.

Vickie Oldham, president and CEO of the African American Cultural Coalition.

A HISTORY TO CELEBRATE

As a fourth-generation resident of Sarasota, Gilbert grew up hearing stories about Overtown after he would beg his grandmother, Essie Baron, to recount them.

The area was a “thriving Black community” at the time Sarasota was being developed said Planned Parenthood former board Chair Mary Braxton Joseph.

“We are proud to serve all our communities. But we are especially proud to be headquartered in this community because of the history of the area,” she said. Colson, a former slave, came from a small town just southeast of Tallahassee in 1884, becoming the area’s first documented Black settler.

His wife, Irene Colson, also was highly regarded in the community. She served as a midwife to Black residents, who were denied access to mainstream health care.

The contributions of the Colsons were multifaceted. Lewis Colson became the first Black person to register to vote in Manatee County. He is largely remembered for leading the group that founded Bethlehem Bible Church in Sarasota in 1896.

“Back in those days, there was no place for people of color to meet that was bigger than a house, and most of those people were laborers

and their houses weren’t that large,” said Henry Richardson of Bethlehem Bible Church. “But when they built this church next door, it became the center of black life in this area.”

Colson served the community as a minister for 16 to 18 years. Originally located at Seventh Street and Central Avenue near the mural, the church relocated to 1680 18th St. after the original location, which opened in 1897, closed in 1973.

After Lewis Colson’s death in 1922, the Colsons became the only Black residents to be buried at the Rosemary Cemetery. The cemetery, which was reserved for whites only, was owned by Lewis Colson’s former employer, Florida Mortgage and Investment Co. Allegedly, the Colsons were buried at night to avoid the discontent of other residents in the area.

In 1926, E.O. Burns opened the first hotel in Sarasota for Black residents and tourists, the Colson Hotel.

As Sarasota grew, Overtown developed into the Rosemary District, and many residents had to relocate to the north to Newtown.

Sonja McCoy Harvey, a great-grandchild of Irene and Lewis Colson, thanked Planned Parenthood, Walter Gilbert and the Gulf Coast Community Foundation for their efforts.

“I think the Colsons demonstrated the greatest thing about America,” she said. “You don’t have to have much. You can start with little and you can go, and go, and go and grow and affect others,” she said.

She said the Colsons had enough money left over to help her go to Hampton University and for her brother to become a veterinarian, asking attendees to think about the knowledge of history they can pass on.

“We’re incredibly honored to have this mural on our building,” said Planned Parenthood of Southwest and Central Florida President and CEO Stephanie Fraim.

“It’s because of initiatives like this that children can come to this area and see the legacy that they themselves are a part of, and it’s important that they see the legacy that they are part of,” said Battie.

Bringing the mural to the building was no simple task, said Gilbert, as many residents were initially not aware of the image’s significance.

“It’s been a labor of love with a whole lot of blood, sweat and tears, so I’m very happy every time we get one up,” said Gilbert. He began working on the mural, one of four in the area, in 2020.

“They know this area as the Rosemary District, so I have to go in, share all the history, and let them know how important it is to have something like this where they now live and understand it only enhances the area, not hurts it,” he said.

The other challenging part was obtaining funds, he said. Fortunately, organizations such as Gulf Coast Community Foundation, Sarasota Community Foundation and private donors have assisted the initiative.

“He did a fantastic job,” said Pamela Jones, a cousin of Harvey and member of the Colson family. “I’m really impressed. I learned a lot today.”

This meticulously maintained home is perfect for year round island living or the vacation home of your dreams, with over 100 feet of beach frontage.

The elevated home boasts a pool on the main deck to cool off while taking in the extraordinary beach views and stunning sunsets. The home has two master suites with breathtaking views of the Gulf of Mexico for maximum comfort while entertaining guests. Equipped with a hard wired full house generator as well as security system and two car garage with private driveway.

This home is in excellent condition and move in ready!

The mural on the Planned Parenthood health center features Lewis and Irene Colson.

Photos by Ian Swaby

Planned Parenthood of Southwest and Central Florida President and CEO Stephanie Fraim, Vickie Oldham, Walter Gilbert, Colson family member Sonja McCoy Harvey, Mary Braxton Joseph, Renee James Gilmore, Mayor Kyle Battie and Jon Thaxton

A mural dedicated to Rev. Louis Colson and Irene Colson at Planned Parenthood — Sarasota Health Center

FRIDAY, JULY 28

WELLNESS IN MOTION, A FREE

SENIOR HEALTH & SERVICES

FAIR

9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at Senior Friendship Centers, 1888 Brother Geenen Way. Free. This event aims to combat the national epidemic of loneliness and isolation, through various resources for seniors including balance movement classes, high-energy Zumba dance fitness and salsa dance demonstrations, and complimentary blood pressure checks. Visit FriendshipCenters.org.

FAMILY MOVIE NIGHT ‘SHREK’

7:30-9:30 p.m. at The Oval at The Bay Park, 1055 Boulevard of the Arts. Free. Bring along the family and enjoy a screening of “Shrek” (PG) under the stars. Visit TheBaySarasota.org.

SATURDAY, JULY 29

LA LA LA HAVDALAH

7 p.m. at Temple Emanu-El, 151 McIntosh Road. Free. At this Havdalah service, enjoy a sing-a-long of familiar Jewish songs and other songs and enjoy a series of desserts. Visit SarasotaTemple.org.

WORLD MANGROVE DAY

CELEBRATION

9 a.m. to noon (Boat christening at 11:30 a.m.) at Sarasota Sailing Squadron, 1717 Ken Thompson Parkway. Free. Suncoast Waterkeeper launches its improved citizen pollution monitoring program and christens its new patrol boat during a festival for the entire family. Visit SuncoastWaterkeeper.org.

GAME OF LIFE SUMMER EVENT

11 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Potter Building (beside Robarts Arena), 2896

Ringling Blvd. Free. At this event hosted by Jewish Family & Children’s Service of the Suncoast, enjoy activities based on the game of life while learning useful skills. The event includes food trucks, prizes and more. Visit EventBrite.com.

TUESDAY, AUG. 1

INFANT CPR CLASS

6:30 p.m. at Rehab Pavilion, third Floor Conference Room, 1700 S. Tamiami Trail. $55 per couple

BEST BET

SATURDAY, JULY 29

MAGIC & MYSTERY NIGHT FAIRE

7-10 p.m. at Creative Liberties, 927 N. Lime Ave. $15. A “magical” experience and atmosphere at an indoor market featuring illusions, performances, arts, crafts, entertainment, and refreshments. Visit CreativeLiberties.net.

(plus processing fee). Intended for anyone caring for an infant, including parents, grandparents and babysitters, this class teaches infant CPR using the American Heart Association’s practice-whilewatching technique. This is not a certification course. Visit EventBrite. com.

THURSDAY, AUG. 3

CINEMA AT THE BAY: ‘INCEPTION’

8-10 p.m. at The Oval, The Bay Park, 1055 Boulevard of the Arts. Free. Join The Bay Park for a screening of “Inception” (PG-13). Visit TheBaySarasota.org.

When investing and saving money for the future and/or retirement we think about time to play golf, learn pickleball, trips and spending time with our kids and grandkids etc...

What most of us do not want to think about is the possibility that most of our money can be absorbed by the expenses involved with illness and the need for extended care.

The question is, what are my options and how do I move forward?

James Ball, a Certified Financial Planner and owner of Medallion Financial Resources, tells the story of a couple who came to see him and the husband refused to invest in long-term care planning. Shortly afterward, the man developed dementia, eventually passing away. Eight years later, his widow called James for help. The couple’s $1 million nest egg had dwindled to $70,000, and she was only 72.

James stated, “I’m on a mission. As a financial planner, you only have to see this once to know that you never want to see people experience such devastating financial loss.”

He says he was inspired to focus on solutions for the cost of extended care when he realized that some of his clients weren’t financially prepared and protected if there is a tragic diagnosis or lifestyle altering situation.

The good news is that there are solutions to prevent this from happening.

James is one of the first Financial Planners in Florida offering a solution for people currently under care.

This solution has never been available before.

James encourages people to contact him to determine potential options fitting to their scenario.

Start with asking yourself the following questions:

1. If I need care, where do I want to receive it? Home is normally the first option.

2. If I need care, what asset would I use to pay for the cost of care?

3. If I knew there was a solution, including using my IRA, is it something I would look at?

Depending on your answers, James can tailor a solution for your future wants and needs. He also has options if you have a parent or loved one currently under extended care. Again, this has never been available before.

Whether you need assistance immediately or you want to plan ahead, it is a conversation that all of us need to have. Knowledge and action are the most powerful tools when laying out a successful future plan.

due to the costs of my

Courtesy photo

The Magic & Mystery Night Faire will be held at Creative Liberties at 927 N. Lime Ave. on July 29.

Hot diggity (vegan) dogs

The vegan version of Doggystyle’s Chicago Hot was ranked by PETA among the top 10 in the U.S. for this summer.

IAN SWABY STAFF WRITER

Steve DiBo knew his goal was to broaden the appeal of hot dogs when he founded Doggystyle in downtown Sarasota a little more than two years ago, so the menu soon expanded beyond meat.

IF YOU GO

Where: 1544 Main St.

When: Open 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday to Thursday and 11 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday. Closed on Sunday. Info: HotDogsWithStyle.com

aims to stoke interest in hot dogs for a new generation.

RE-CREATING THE CHICAGO DOG

DiBo’s passion for premium hot dogs took off in 1989 when he was drafted by the Chicago Cubs and pitched for the team’s minor league affiliates. As he traveled south, he often had trouble finding hot dogs of the same quality he remembered from back home in Connecticut.

the public through what he describes as gourmet offerings, or “hot dogs elevated.”

Among the most popular items on the menu has been the Chicago Hot, which is also offered as a vegan option.

Many vegans, he said, have struggled with limited options, the high cost of meat substitutes and foods that are low in flavor.

DiBo said the Chicago Hot’s balance of flavors that makes it wellsuited for vegans looking to replace foods they have chosen to give up.

“With the hot pepper relish, you get a little spicy, a little sweet, a little salt, a little sour,” he said. “It’s probably the most balanced hot dog you could have.”

However, DiBo’s version has some modifications.

Chicago hot dogs normally feature whole tomato and pickle slices, a format he said originated due to ease of preparation at vendor stands.

dog pull the pickle off and eat it later, and they end up deconstructing the dog,” said DiBo, stating that true toppings blend into the hot dog. He decided to combine his relish recipe with diced tomato and pickles, along with the standard diced onion and pepper.

DIVERSE DIETS

As DiBo realized the demand that existed, he also created entire vegan and vegetarian menus that shares many items with the regular menu.

Expanding the menu was easy because 70% to 80% of toppings were already vegan, he said, but it has led to what was likely the largest-growing sector of the business last year.

“Having vegan quick-service food that’s healthy for you, that’s delicious and gives you flavor and makes you feel like you’re not sacrificing or missing out, was a big deal. And so it’s been growing,” he said.

Vegans began dining, sometimes in groups of eight to 10 people, sharing what they had eaten online.

For the vegan dogs, he selected the Field Roast brand, which he said consistently ranks highest on taste tests.

“It had a very natural kind of flavor to it,” he said. “I said this is very good. It tastes like a hot dog.”

The result is that people with different tastes and diets can enjoy a meal together.

“We have been investing in that,” he said. “And it’s something that will continue to grow with us.”

KNOWLEDGE. SERVICE.

FROM THE PLUMBING PLACE

Nonetheless, it surprised him when People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals ranked his Chicago Hot among the top 10 vegan hot dogs of summer 2023 on July 14.

“I’m happy because it brings some recognition to what we wanted to create,” he said, stating that the restaurant, which he owns alongside his partner of 40 years, Melissa Penry,

PETA spokesperson Amy Stewart said the top 10 list is based on the votes of PETA staff and supporters across the country and is designed to inspire the public to try vegan products, which she said prevent animal suffering.

Beautiful AND Durable Exterior Door Hardware

“We decided to do this top 10 list to inspire people to give these vegan hotdogs a try, and also to help people realize that even places that might very heavily promote their animal products are starting to offer vegan items as well to get more people in the door,” she said.

It’s a frustrating reality for many Gulf Coast homeowners – discolored, pitted and tarnished exterior door hardware caused by our harsh salt-rich air.

We eventually learn that the tease of “lifetime brass” really means a lifetime of maintenance and repair. There is a practical solution to this common problem – Bronze or Stainless

Both materials offer excellent salt tolerance and oxidation/corrosion resistance with a minimum of maintenance. A variety of styles and finishes provide a perfect match to existing color schemes including rich patinas of classic bronze, contemporary polished or matte nickel, and black.

After he moved to Florida and saw the range of regions from which its residents came, he opened the restaurant, which brings together different regional styles, in 2020.

“When I was young, I used to say, you know where somebody’s from by what they eat on their hot dog,” he said.

In areas like New York, Pittsburgh, Cleveland, and Chicago, waves of German immigrants settled and passed down different hot dog traditions across generations, DiBo said.

He said in those cities, one finds plywood stands with screen doors and a line of people hoping to taste the all-American staple. DiBo hopes to share those culinary offerings with

“Most people that get a Chicago

PETA’S TOP VEGAN DOGS THIS SUMMER

The Frankenstand (Los Angeles, California): Scarecrow

Sporty Dog Creations (Baltimore, Maryland): Vegan

Buffalo Blu

Pingala Cafe (Burlington, Vermont): Bahn Me Dawg

Kale My Name (Chicago, Illinois): Big Daddy Special

Totally Awesome Vegan Food

Truck (Portland, Maine): Rad Dawg

The Wienery (Minneapolis, Minnesota): Vegan Italian Warsaw VEG-N. (Lansing, Michigan): Coney Dog Doggystyle (Sarasota, Florida): Chicago Hot Chilly Dawgz (Thomasville/ Harrisburg/York, Pennsylvania): Vegan Chilly Cheez Dawg Wiener Kitchen (Overland Park/ Kansas City, Kansas): Vegan

OWNER SARASOTA, FL  34232

It’s a frustrating reality for many Gulf Coast homeowners – discolored, pitted and tarnished exterior door hardware caused by our harsh salt-rich air.

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We eventually learn that the tease of “lifetime brass” really means a lifetime of maintenance and repair. There is a practical solution to this common problem – Bronze or Stainless

SERVICE.

Both materials offer excellent salt tolerance and oxidation/corrosion resistance with a minimum of maintenance. A variety of styles and finishes provide a perfect match to existing color schemes including rich patinas of classic bronze, contemporary polished or matte nickel, and black.

Photos by Ian Swaby

The vegan version of the Chicago Hot was ranked among the country’s top 10 vegan hot dogs for summer 2023.

Steve DiBo

Cocoanut Bayou home tops sales at $6 million

ADAM HUGHES RESEARCH EDITOR

Ahome in Cocoanut Bayou tops all transactions in this week’s real estate.

Michael Bernstein and Sarah Skebba, of Fairview, North Carolina, sold their home at 4129 Higel Ave. to Russel Landis, trustee, of Sarasota, for $6 million. Built in 2001, it has four bedrooms, four-andtwo-half baths, a pool and 4,865 square feet of living area. It sold for $3,583,000 in 2012.

SARASOTA GRANADA

John and Rita Conway, trustees, of Aiken, South Carolina, sold the home at 1715 Bonita Court to Terry Taillard and Anne Reed Taillard, of Sarasota, for $2.15 million. Built in 2010, it has three bedrooms, three baths, a pool and 2,576 square feet of living area.

LAWRENCE POINTE

Nancy Mina, trustee, sold the Unit PH-II condominium at 97 Sunset Drive to Steven Epstein, trustee, of Kittery, Maine, for $2,075,000. Built in 1978, it has two bedrooms, three baths and 2,184 square feet of living area. It sold for $858,000 in 2019.

BAY PLAZA

Barbara Katz, trustee, sold the Unit 905 condominium at 1255 N. Gulfstream Ave. to Todd Maugans, trustee, of Sarasota, for $1.35 million. Built in 1982, it has two bedrooms, two baths and 1,656 square feet of living area. It sold for $850,000 in 2018.

ENCLAVE AT LAUREL PARK

Karen Stamos, trustee, of Coconut Grove, sold the home at 520 Lafayette Court to Brian Mariash, of Sarasota, for $1.2 million. Built in 2019, it has three bedrooms, three-and-a-half baths and 2,263 square feet of living area. It sold for $675,000 in 2020.

THE LANDINGS

Judy Falkenthal, of Sarasota, sold her home at 4615 Pine Harrier Drive to Louis Salvatori and Kim Salvatori, trustees, of Sarasota, for $895,000. Built in 1984, it has three

Other top sales by area

SARASOTA: $4.07 MILLION

Matheny Colleen Maguire sold the home at 1705 Floyd St. to Matthew Ulliman, trustee, of Kettering, Ohio, for $4.07 million. Built in 2021, it has four bedrooms, three-and-ahalf baths, a pool and 4,769 square feet of living area. It sold for $2,275,000 in 2021.

PALMER RANCH: $2,075,000

Legacy Estates on Palmer Ranch

bedrooms, two baths and 1,860 square feet of living area. It sold for $225,000 in 1997.

THE STRAND OF SARASOTA

Jeffrey John Olszewski and Javier Araya, of Fort Lauderdale, sold their Unit A427 condominium at 1709 N. Tamiami Trail to Gary Jodat and Lisa Jodat, trustees, of Sarasota, for $880,000. Built in 2022, it has two bedrooms, two baths and 1,212 square feet of living area. It sold for $595,700 in 2022.

SAPPHIRE HEIGHTS

James and Debra Griffin, of Johnson City, Tennessee, sold two properties at 4845 Winchester Drive to Leslie O’Connor, trustee, of Sarasota, for $700,000. The first property was built in 1949 and has three bedrooms, one bath and 1,741 square feet of living area. The second property was built in 1950 and has one bedroom, one bath and 520 square feet of living area. They sold for $195,000 in 2013.

FOREST LAKES COUNTRY CLUB ESTATES

Mark and Lynn Evensen, trustees, of Sarasota, sold the home at 2348 Riviera Drive to Vincent R. Ionata and Vincent J. Ionata, of Sarasota, for $650,000. Built in 1972, it has three bedrooms, two baths and 1,888 square feet of living area. It sold for $207,500 in 2002.

RIVERWOOD PINES

Sean McFadden and Gina Burke, of Little River, South Carolina, sold their home at 2360 Riverwood Pines Drive to Wade Tobin Anderson, of Sarasota, for $618,000. Built in 1973, it has three bedrooms, two baths, a pool and 1,759 square feet of living area. It sold for $330,000 in 2017.

TOP BUILDING PERMITS

GULF GATE WOODS

Maureen Cuevas, trustee, of Northville, Michigan, sold the home at 2404 Cardwell Way to Sarah and Christian Olson, of Durham, Maine, for $595,000. Built in 1971, it has two bedrooms, two baths, a pool and 1,470 square feet of living area. It sold for $130,000 in 1996.

Suzanne Marie Zelnik-Geldys, trustee, of Dearborn Heights, Minnesota, sold the home at 7460 Dickens Drive to Stuart and Darlene Gamble, of Osprey, for $566,000. Built in 1973, it has three bedrooms, three baths, a pool and 1,802 square feet of living area. It sold for $104,000 in 1983.

ONLINE

See more transactions at YourObserver.com

Jerry and Janice Riddle, of Sarasota, sold their home at 12044 Legacy Estates Blvd. to R+DX2 Enterprises LLC for $2,075,000. Built in 2019, it has four bedrooms, four-and-two-half baths, a pool and 4,493 square feet of living area. It sold for $1,009,200 in 2019.

OSPREY: $755,000

The Woodlands at Rivendell

Geraldo Maroclo and Rosa Alicia Maroclo, trustees, of Sarasota, sold the home at 1095 Scherer Way to Ilya Reyzin and Ariana Probinsky, of Osprey, for $755,000. Built in 2003, it has three bedrooms, three baths, a pool and 2,495 square feet of living area. It sold for $520,000 in 2017.

NOKOMIS: $1,155,000

Montana Avenue

Michael Nelson, of Nokomis, sold two properties at 315 Montana Ave. to 315 Montana Ave LLC for $1,155,000. The first property was built in 1974 and has two bedrooms, two baths, a pool and 1,249 square feet of living area. The second property was built in 2003 and has one bath and 480 square feet of living area.

Courtesy of Chad Spencer, CMS photography

This

Cocoanut Bayou home was built in 2001. It has four bedrooms, four-and-

two-half baths, a pool and 4,865 square feet of living area.

SPORTS

Fast Break

Former Sarasota High baseball star Satchell Norman is hitting .324 with three home runs and 18 RBIs through 68 at-bats with the rookie-level Arizona Complex League Brewers (Milwaukee Brewers) as of July 25.

The Sarasota Paradise pre-professional soccer team is hosting a two-day youth camp Aug. 5-6 at Fruitville Park for players ages 6-12. The camp will hold 90-minute sessions at 9 a.m. and 11:30 a.m. each day. Registration for one day of camp is $125, while two days is $200. For more information or to register, visit SarasotaParadise.us.

… Professional BMX racers

Joey Leto and Jeremy Smith who have roots in the Sarasota area, were selected by USA Cycling to represent the U.S. National Team in the Elite Men’s division of the 2023 BMX Racing World Championships, held Aug. 12-13 in Glasgow, Scotland. The pair, alongside fellow Team USA athlete PJ O’Brien, were given a sendoff after a special training session at Sarasota BMX on July 20.

The Sarasota Babe Ruth 14 All-Stars youth baseball team, coached by former Sarasota High and MLB star Scooter Gennett, reached the organization’s southeast regional tournament, held July 21-22 in Lawrenceburg, Tennessee. The team went 1-3 at the tournament and was eliminated.

Volunteers are needed for the 2023 U.S. Masters Swimming Summer National Championships, which will be held Aug. 2-6 at Selby Aquatic Center. Volunteers will be asked to be backup timers, working in shifts of four hours. Volunteers must be 12 or older. Hours can go toward a Florida Bright Futures Scholarship. More information, including a link to a sign-up sheet, can be found at the Sarasota Sharks Masters Facebook page.

In the club

RYAN KOHN SPORTS EDITOR

Christina Unkel has been involved in professional soccer for 15 years, but she’s never taken on a job like this.

Unkel, 36, has been a FIFA referee and worked as a television analyst for the Women’s World Cup, among other duties — while also working as an attorney and entrepreneur in Sarasota. Through her work, she’s become an ambassador for the sport, and her experience and expertise have led to her biggest role yet.

On July 15, Unkel was named the club president of Super League Tampa Bay, an organization in the United Soccer League’s new Super League, a professional women’s soccer league aiming to begin play in August 2024.

The league will have 10-12 teams for its inaugural season, including the Tampa Bay team, and plans to add at least five more teams in subsequent seasons pending the completion of various stadium projects.

Alongside Unkel’s announcement, the club announced Denise SchilteBrown as its head coach. SchilteBrown was previously the coach at the University of South Florida for 17 years and represented the Canadian National Team in 1997.

Unkel said she’s thrilled to be taking on a new challenge in the sport.

“It’s a chance to use my nonsoccer skills, from the business world and the legal world, and being able to marry that with what is truly my passion and what I believe is my calling on the soccer side,” Unkel said. “I want to increase and expand exposure to soccer, to increase and expand access (within soccer) to women. Knowing this market well and knowing the soccer-verse, I feel like all things finally aligned.”

The USL Super League will be fully professional and will apply to U.S. Soccer for Division I sanctioning, the highest level awarded — a change from when the league was first announced in 2021, when the USL said the Super League would be Division II. Currently, the only

Division I-sanctioned women’s league in the United States is the National Women’s Soccer League, established in 2012. The two leagues will battle for fan interest, but the Super League will have features that distinguish it from the NWSL, like a “fall-to-summer” schedule running from August to June that will allow players to play for both their club team and their country on a national level; the NWSL’s schedule conflicts with events like the Women’s World Cup, currently taking place in Australia and New Zealand. The schedule will also allow the league’s clubs to actively participate in the sport’s global transfer market, an emerging way for teams to secure talented players.

Unkel is not worried about the competition, to the extent she even sees it as such. In Unkel’s eyes, creating more opportunities for women to become professional soccer players is automatically a win.

“Right now there are 12 NWSL teams with a roster limit of 26 players, so there’s only 312 women who can play professional soccer in the United States,” Unkel said. “Everybody else doesn’t get paid. And in this country, of all countries; we’re No. 1 when it comes to the global stage. There are 312 who can play here and the rest have to leave (to be pros). It’s mind-boggling to me. People are being lost, understandably so, because there are no opportunities to pursue a dream.”  With the creation of the Super League, Unkel said more women will see soccer as a dream with a viable pipeline. The Super League will be the apex of the USL’s women’s soccer pyramid, with a pre-professional league called the W League — equivalent to the Sarasota Paradise’s USL League 2 — and a talentdevelopment program called the USL Academy in the middle, and a youth league called the Super Y League on the bottom.

Unkel said the Tampa Bay area is the perfect spot to start a team in the Super League, as both the professional sports scene and the area’s female athletes are among the “most

impactful groups” she has ever met.

Unkel said the Tampa Bay Sports Commission has provided great support and human resources as the club tries to get off the ground, and other Tampa professional sports teams have been supportive as well, something that doesn’t always happen other places. Unkel is also aware of how much the community itself embraces its teams, and she believes that is due to how much those teams give back off-the-field, a lead Super League Tampa Bay will follow.

The first thing on Unkel’s to-do list is to decide on a name and branding for the team. That process has already begun, Unkel said, and those things should be announced by the fall, if not earlier. The next order of business is securing a stadium, and that process will likely take more time, Unkel said. The club would like to build a soccer-specific stadium. The club wants a spot that will be central for a majority of its fans to reach, including fans from Sarasota County, Unkel said.

In an era where women’s soccer is regularly getting a chance to be seen on TV — and putting up rising numbers — Unkel wants the trend to continue with the Super League. Unkel is asking fans who say they support women’s soccer to put action behind their words.

“It’s buying a security deposit ticket,” Unkel said. “It’s investing in a season ticket. It’s investing in corporate sales and partnerships. We know everyone ‘supports’ it. Now it’s time to act on it, because the return on investment is there.”

USL SUPER LEAGUE AT A GLANCE

n The Super League is a professional women’s soccer league set to kick off in August 2024.

n The Super League is applying to be sanctioned as a Division I league by U.S. Soccer; currently, the only league with that status in the United States is the NWSL.

n The league will feature 10-12 teams in its inaugural season, with hopes to have 20 teams by 2026.

n The league is in ongoing discussions with potential broadcast partners.

n For more information, fans can follow the league’s social media accounts or sign up for a bi-weekly newsletter at USLSuperLeague. com.

Courtesy photo

Satchell Norman

Christina Unkel, a former FIFA referee, has spent 15 years working at the highest levels of the sport.

“I love the team aspects of the game and taking the field with everybody, and I love getting to hit and tackle people.”

—George Leibold, linebacker, Cardinal Mooney High SEE PAGE 26

Courtesy photos

Christina Unkel was named club president of Super League Tampa Bay on July 15.

Sarasota’s Christina Unkel (center) previously worked as a FIFA referee.

Paddlers share dragon boat passion

She speaks softer, in short bursts.

She’ll tell you about the 2022 Club Crew World Championships, during which she and her Nathan Benderson Park Senior B paddling teammates took first place in the 2,000-meter category (10:20.34), among other strong performances.

hard for it. And she (Long) is amazing. That was definitely the highlight.”

share and celebrate the sport that has come to mean so much to so many of them.

Silverthorn, for instance, only started in the sport three years ago on the recommendation of friends. She considered herself to be a fairly athletic person before, having competed in sports in school growing up and following a workout routine as an adult. She also considered herself a “competitive spirit,” not just in athletics, but in all aspects. Still, nothing in her life properly prepared her for the intensity of dragon boat.

“You have to learn the proper form,” Silverthorn said. “Our bodies are not equipped to start doing this right off the bat. It takes a lot of time on the water, a lot of practice with a lot of great coaches. It was more intimidating than I thought it would be.”

But Silverthorn is someone who likes to work toward a goal, so she did not quit. Small steps lead to big rewards, she said. For her, that reward she was chasing was a spot at Worlds. Three years after she started her journey, she got there. That’s why this sport stirs emotions like it does in Silverthorn: All goals within it are achievable with practice and patience. It might not be easy, but that makes the rewards that much sweeter.

Claire Keenan has been in the sport for longer than Silverthorn, starting in 2013. Back then, there was only the Survivors in Sync breast cancer survivor team based out of Benderson Park, so Keenan joined the Anna Maria Island team, and she switched to Benderson Park once it added its NBP Dragons team.

adrenaline rush that I like. You know, we’re not young chicks anymore. It’s great to be in your 60s and still be able to feel the power of your body. It’s a great buzz.”

Keenan said she tries to fit in practice on one of the park’s solo outrigger canoes three times a week, at least, to keep up her strength and cardio. For Keenan, a medal around her neck is a fine prize, but it’s not why she’s in the sport. She prefers to see her team’s time drop, and even when that does not happen, she can get satisfaction out of knowing she put in a good day of work.

Both Keenan and Silverthorn were part of the NBP Dragon Women’s Senior B team at the 2023 Club Crew Nationals. Among other results, the squad took first place in the 200-meter sprint race on July 21 (53.638). With coaches like Long and facilities like the ones offered at Benderson Park, it seems easy to take the success of the park’s teams for granted. But it’s paddlers will never do that. To them, this sport is more than the final results. It’s a journey to doing things they hardly thought possible.

“When you’re older, it can seem like your life is predictable,” Keenan said. “This sport gives you a new aspect.

“Take it slow. Take it easy. You can’t start and expect to be doing this (at a national level) on the first day. But take your time and persist, and you’ll make it.”

For full results from the 2023 Club Crew Nationals, visit IDBFChamps.org/2023Sar. For more information on dragon boat, visit NathanBendersonPark.org/Paddling.

Ask Evelyn Silverthorn about the best moment from her dragon boat paddling career, and her expression changes.  She smiles, but also tries to stop the tears welling in her eyes.

It was not the race itself that stirred emotions in Silverthorn, but the ceremony afterward, when head coach Angela Long placed a gold medal around her neck.

“It brings a lot of pride,” said Silverthorn, who is 55. “We worked

The 2023 Club Crew National Championships, held July 21-23 at Benderson Park and hosted by the United States Dragon Boat Federation, does not have the global flavor of Club Crew Worlds, which are held every two years, but it is meaningful all the same. For lovers of the sport, the Club Crew Nationals is not only a chance to prove your boat’s strength against other top clubs, but it is also a chance to

Keenan was a runner in her youth but never expected to fall head over heels for a new sport at this point in her life. Keenan has been focused on her family, she said, and watching her children grow. Now that they have, she has time to spend on herself — but even she is surprised that this is how she’s spending it.

“I never expected to travel (for events) or for it to be so central to my life,” Keenan said. “It’s the

Ryan Kohn

The NBP Dragon Women’s Senior B team took first place in the 2,000-meter sprint race on July 21 with a time of 53.638.

Evelyn Silverthorn and Claire Keenan are among the local paddlers who competed at the 2023 Club Crew National Championships.

George Leibold

George Leibold is a linebacker on the Cardinal Mooney High football team. According to MaxPreps statistics, Leibold had 117 total tackles in 2022, with eight tackles for loss, five interceptions and two sacks. Leibold received an offer from Stetson University this offseason.

When did you start playing football?

I started playing tackle football with pads when I was in kindergarten, but I had been playing flag football since I was 3 years old. My brother, Jack Leibold, played football, so I watched him play and wanted to play myself.

What is the appeal to you?

I love the team aspects of the game and taking the field with everybody, and I love getting to hit and tackle people.

What is your best skill?

I am good at studying the game. I can read the field and figure out what the other team is going to do.

What have you been working to improve?

My speed. I’m not the fastest guy on the field. In a straightaway, I can cover some ground, but I’m trying to get faster otherwise.

What is your favorite football memory?

Last year, I had a pick six to win the game for us against Riverview High (14-7). That one meant a lot because Josh Smithers, the Riverview coach, he coached my brother at Mooney, and he actually coached my sister (Margaret Leibold) in girls basketball at Mooney, too. So we’re close to him as a family. Getting to beat his team like that was cool.

How did it feel to get an offer from Stetson?

It was relieving. Once you get that first one, it takes all the pressure off. It’s motivation to keep working hard

If you would like to make a recommendation for the Sarasota Observer’s Athlete of the Week feature, send it to Ryan Kohn at RKohn@ YourObserver.com.

and see what happens.

What are your goals for the 2023 season?

As a team our goal is to win a state championship. For me personally, I’d like to get 150 total tackles.

What are your hobbies?

I like to work out, and I like to go fishing.

What is your favorite school subject?

Math. Numbers just come easily to me.

What is your favorite movie?

It has to be “Friday Night Lights.”

Which superpower would you pick?

I’d want to fly so I can get to places faster.

What is the best advice you have received?

My brother told me to always be the best person you can be. Don’t be a follower; be you and keep working

Silvia M. Ferretti, D.O.

Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine

Senior Vice President, Provost and Dean, College of Medicine

Congratulations Dr. Silvia M. Ferretti

On being awarded the Robert A. Kistner Award from the American Association of Colleges of Osteopathic Medicine (AACOM)

AACOM represents 40 accredited osteopathic colleges and 60 campuses which includes 35,000 students across the United States, and the Kistner Award is presented annually to one individual in recognition of their significant contributions to osteopathic medical education throughout their careers.

About Dr. Silvia M. Ferretti

One of the founders of the Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine.

The first woman to hold the position of dean of an osteopathic medical college. Longest serving dean in the history of the osteopathic profession.

Recipient of two Ebony Excellence awards from Edinboro University of Pennsylvania for outstanding community service and for academic/educational excellence.

Recipient of the Distinguished Pennsylvania Award from Gannon University in Erie, Pennsylvania.

Honored by the Pennsylvania House of Representatives with an award for professional excellence and humanitarianism.

Named a Distinguished Daughter of Pennsylvania, an honor given to extraordinary women for their outstanding service and contributions to the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.

Dr. Ferretti’s work in service extends to the boards of multiple charitable organizations and chapters in Pennsylvania and nationally; and she supports a bevy of private and faith-based initiatives.

EFFECT

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PAUSE FOR

by Chandi Deitmer, edited by Jeff Chen

Celebrity Cipher cryptograms are created from quotations by famous people, past and present. Each letter in the cipher stands for another.

Michael Graham captured this photo of a cormorant spreading its wings near the Circus Museum at the Ringling.

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