The Islander Newspaper E-Edition Wednesday, April 25, 2018

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Runway gardners. 12 AsTheWorldTerns check their database. 6

Buzz about a rescue. 13

Clean campaign. 28-29 APRIL 25, 2018 FREE

VOLUME 26, NO. 26

Post fire, surf shop owners vow to regroup, re-open. 3

Meetings

On the government calendar. 4 Holmes Beach committee recommends government restructure. 5

Op-Ed

The Islander editorial, reader letters. 6

10-20 YEARS AGO

Looking back. 7

DOT bridge decision expected. 8 Make plans, save a date. 10

Happenings

Community announcements, activities. 11 Officials debate LPR. 14-15 BB to create committee to review charter. 16 Island chamber asks for bigger share of tourist tax funds. 18

Obituaries. 20 Streetlife. 22 WMFR renews contract with chief. 23 The science says. 25 Key Royale Club dishes up titles. 26 Fishing improves with weather forecast. 27 Earth Day at AME. 28

ISL BIZ 130-room hotel on Perico horizon. 30 CLASSIFIEDS. 32

The Best News on Anna Maria Island Since 1992

www.islander.org

DOT decision: Build a new 65-foot Cortez Bridge

By Terry O’Connor Islander Reporter Ignoring public sentiment in its own survey running nearly 3-to-1 in favor of repairing the existing Cortez Bridge, the Florida Department of Transportation is going to build a new high span in its place. The DOT decided to build a fixed, 65-foot-clearance bridge, said L.K. Nandam, District 1 secretary for the DOT, despite vocal public opposition. “We’ve got to replace the bridge,” Nandam said. Anna Maria Mayor Dan Murphy was incredulous in his remarks after the April 23 announcement at the Sarasota/Manatee Metropolitan Planning Organization meeting attended by about 60 people. Murphy is an Island Transportation Planning Organization member with MPO voting privileges. “Only 28 percent of the people want it and you’re going forward with it anyway?” Murphy asked. “It’s totally unpopular. I don’t think anybody would be elected with 28 percent of the vote.” The bridge, put into service in 1957, links Bradenton Beach with the mainland at Cortez. DOT inspections between 2008 and 2012 found it structurally obsolete but repairable.

PLEASE SEE BRIDGE PAGE 4

Anna Maria Mayor Dan Murphy, center, remarks on his shock on learning at the April 23 Sarasota/Manatee MPO meeting, the DOT plans to build a new 65-foot-clearance bridge to replace the Cortez Bridge. Islander Photo: Terry O’Connor Murphy also questioned the DOT ignoring the results of its own public-input process. “Does that not carry any weight at all?” he asked. Even more importantly, Murphy said, the new $72 million span would literally

Parrish man sentenced to life for island hairstylist’s death

By Kathy Prucnell Islander Reporter An 84-year-old Parrish man was sentenced to life in prison for killing a former Anna Maria Island hairstylist. Judge Brian Iten meted out the life sentence for Eugene Matthews April 19, as well as two 30-year prison sentences for two attempted murders, each with a 25-year minimum, to run concurrently. A jury convicted Matthews Feb. 23 of second-degree murder for Rebecca Rawson’s death and attempted second-degree murder counts involving her daughter Kathryn Rawson and brother-in-law Rodney Rawson. Kathryn and Rebecca Rawson were waiting in a vehicle for Rodney Rawson to return from Matthews’ home with a family dog in January 2017 when a bullet pierced the windshield, striking Kathryn. Prefacing the sentence, Iten said: “Every-

one agrees the death of Rebecca Rawson here was nothing short of a tragedy. Matthews was angry the day “he shot into the car, at the car,” the judge added, and adopted the maximum sentencing recommended by the lead prosecutor, Assistant State Attorney Dickey Hough. Friends and family in the court gallery supported Kathryn Rawson, who held a large photograph of her mother on the stand. Kathryn Rawson looked at Matthews and said: “I want you to take a good hard look at this picture.” She called Matthews “a monster,” and said she doubted he’d ever feel remorse. She described her mother as “the most selfless kind of woman you could ever meet.” Her mother, shot in the face, covered her in blood, she said. After her testimony, Kathryn Rawson sobbed in the gallery. PLEASE SEE MURDER PAGE 2

divide the fishing village of Cortez with a relatively high roadway running through the village. “On the other side in Bradenton Beach, it will create a divide there as well,” he said. PLEASE SEE BRIDGE PAGE 4

Holmes Beach could replicate MPB pier

By Terry O’Connor Islander Reporter There is no readily apparent reason the demolished Manatee Public Beach pier cannot be replicated. U.S. Coast Guard regulations don’t prohibit it. Nor do Florida Department of Environmental Protection rules. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers would not confirm whether it would allow such a structure without a submitted plan. Manatee County commissioners unanimously approved a proposal in March 2009 to replace the failing structure with a new 15-foot-tall pier — twice as high. The replacement pier was never built. It’s been widely reported the former 300-foot-long pier on the Gulf of Mexico at the Manatee Public Beach in Holmes Beach would have to be rebuilt twice as high as the PLEASE SEE MPB PIER PAGE 2


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The Islander Newspaper E-Edition Wednesday, April 25, 2018 by The Anna Maria Islander Newspaper - Issuu