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Mote baits hook for marine center at Anna Maria pier
Hb extends mask mandate. 4
Meetings. 4 COVID-19 vacs ramp up. 5 Distinguished citizens named in Anna Maria. 5
Opinions. 6 10-20 YeArs Ago
Looking back. 7
DOT gives reasons to ramp up bridge plan. 8 Phase 2 work begins at Coquina beach. 9
RoadWatch. 9
The Anna Maria City Commission is exploring options for the vacant building on the south side of the T-end that was built to house a restaurant. Commissioners and the mayor are collecting opinions from the public. Islander Photo: Jack elka by Amy V.T. Moriarty Islander Reporter
Did you hear the cheers? A proposal for a marine discovery center on the Anna Maria City Pier caught a wave Happenings of enthusiasm Feb. 10 from city officials and Announcements. 11 also interested citizens planning to make their own pitches. AM sets 2021 vacation rental fees. 12 Mote Marine Laboratory floated the idea of opening an outreach-marine life educa‘friends’ rescue pelicans tion center in the vacant building on the at Skyway pier. 13 south side of the T-end of the new pier. Anna Maria commissioners held a Gathering 14 public meeting Feb. 10 on the pier to discuss options for the 1,800-square foot building, Obituaries. 14 one of two buildings on the pier at 100 N. GoodDeeds. 15 Bay Blvd., Anna Maria. The pier was built after the historic pier Where’s Tuna Street? was damaged by Hurricane Irma in 2017 and 16-17 demolished. Prior to that, the larger of the Save a date. 10
festive days in Hb. 18 K-kids quarantined. 19
Streetlife. 20 Complaints aired about causeway horses. 22
New whale species. 23 KRC men’s champ. 24 fishing bounty. 25 Isl biz bustles. 26
PropertyWatch. 27 CLASSIFIEDS. 28
NYT puzzle.
space. The Mote center would include exhibits showcasing local marine life, said Barniskis. Based in Sarasota, Mote also operates exhibits and discovery centers in other areas of Florida, including Key West and Islamorada. A Mote center on the pier would serve as a lab to study marine life and the surrounding ecosystem. The lab “will help scientists learn and predict red tide activity while engaging the community directly to be active volunteer citizen scientists,” Crosby said. The buildout would cost about $500,000 and take five months, Crosby said. And, he said, the funding for the center would fall to the city. And commissioners appeared to support TuRN TO pier, PAge 2
Pedestrian killed, hit-and-run suspect surrenders by Ryan Paice Islander Reporter
A pedestrian died on Gulf Drive Feb. 10 and a Holmes Beach resident accused of striking her with a Chevy Trailblazer surrendered to police the next day. Cierra Shannon, 27, turned herself into the Bradenton Police Department Feb. 11 around 4:45 p.m. after leaving the scene of a Gulf Drive hit-and-run crash the night before that resulted in the death of 83-yearold Madelyn Dakin. Shannon was placed in custody and charged with a first-degree felony for failing to remain at the scene of a crash that resulted in death. The charge carries a fouryear minimum mandatory prison sentence if she is found guilty. The incident occurred around 7 p.m.
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two buildings at the T-end of the pier housed a full-service restaurant and another housed a bar and bait shop and restrooms. The new smaller building now houses the City Pier Grill & Bait Shop, co-owned by Brian Seymour, Nick Graham and Vic Mattay, who also have businesses on Pine Avenue in Anna Maria. The second building remains vacant after several attempts by the city to contract a restaurant operator. At the Feb. 10 meeting, staged in the vacant building, as piergoers dined outside at picnic tables and anglers cast their lines from the deck, commissioners and others sat on folding chairs to mull ideas. Mote representatives — Michael Crosby, president and CEO; Evan Barniskis, vice president of the aquarium; and Aly Busse, vice president of education — presented their plan to partner with the city on the
in the 2700 block of Gulf Drive in Holmes Beach, according to Holmes Beach Police Chief Bill Tokajer. Dakin, a Michigan resident who was vacationing in Holmes Beach with Shannon her husband of 67 years, Gerald, was pronounced dead by emergency medical services soon after they arrived at the scene. “Multiple witnesses stopped and advised that a thin-built, blonde female, approximately in her 20s, was observed beside the victim and frantically shaking her, asking other witnesses for help,” a probable cause affidavit for the incident states. “One witness advised that the defendant made multiple statements that she needed
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to leave because she was in a hurry or she needed to pick up her mother before eventually getting back in her vehicle and leaving the scene.” Tokajer said the witnesses, as well as the city’s license plate recognition system, helped them identify Shannon, the daughter of the vehicle’s registered owner, as the driver. “There were witnesses at the scene that were able to tell us the type of vehicle, the color of the vehicle and describe the driver to us,” Tokajer said. “We then went to our license plate recognition system for the time period and found a vehicle that matched the description given and got a tag from that match.” The Holmes Beach Police Department TuRN TO Hit-and-rUn, PAge 2