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Happy Valentine’s Day!
YOU. YOUR NEIGHBORS. YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD.
free • Thursday, FEBRUARY 14, 2013
SPECIAL
DIVERSIONS
NEIGHBORHOOD
Look inside for the 2013 Longboat Key Chamber Visitors Guide.
Modest home provides look at American art and design. INSIDE.
In honor of Valentine’s Day, Longboaters share what made them say, ‘be mine.’ PAGE 1B
OUR TOWN
2013 election
by Kurt Schultheis | Managing Editor
Debate centers on past vs. future While six candidates vie for three Longboat Key Town Commission seats, debate and frustration about past commission decisions loom.
Courtesy photos
Ruth and David Beliles
+ Sweet (60th) anniversary David and Ruth Beliles celebrate their 60th anniversary on Valentine’s Day. The two met while working for the Champaign-Urbana (Ill.) Courier. He was the assistant circulation manager; she the assistant society editor. Ruth likes to quip that she took David out of circulation. David Beliles is the chairman of the Observer Media Group.
Lauren-Taylor Nock
+ Cupid delivers sweet siblings Cupid had a special delivery for Longboaters Gene and Jessica Nock five years ago: Their son, Garrett Trumble Nock, arrived Feb. 14, 2008. Cupid was a little late the next year but delivered a gift just as lovable: their daughter, Lauren-Taylor Nock was born Feb. 23, 2009. The siblings will celebrate their fifth and fourth birthdays respectively this month. Happy birthday to both brother and sister!
During a Monday Feb. 11 debate, Town Commission candidates answered questions about cellular service, the Colony Beach & Tennis Resort and pension plans. But, what stood out during the debate, which was co-sponsored by the Longboat Observer and the Longboat Key Public Interest
GENERAL ELECTION 2013 Committee, was what PIC CoPresident Ann Roth called the “we versus them” factor among candidates. Candidates took every opportunity to point out differences between the three challengers and
three incumbents. “Incumbents were saying, ‘reelect me,’ and were protective of their work, while the challengers were disputing that work,” Roth said. That statement sums up two hours’ worth of debate in front of about 90 people in attendance Monday night at the Bayfront Park
68 YEARS LATER
Iwo Jima:
INSIDE: • Read candidate sound bites from debate / Page 5A • Candidates share views at Village meeting / Page 18A Recreation Center. “This is an election in which we have choices,” said At-large Com-
SEE DEBATE / PAGE 2A
by Robin Hartill | City Editor
At 98, Marty Samowitz is the oldest-known Iwo Jima survivor. Feb. 19 will mark 68 years since the start of the pivotal World War II battle.
A survivor’s story Marty Samowitz watched the flag rise over Mount Surabachi and thought it ordinary. It was Feb. 23, 1945, four days after the start of the Battle of Iwo Jima. Samowitz was among the American troops who fought their way to the top of the mountain. “We were just fooling around because we were happy to get to the top,” Samowitz said. As they sat smoking, they saw five Marines and a Navy corpsman raise the flag. Associated Press photographer Joe Rosenthal snapped the photo of the flag raising that would win him a Pulitzer Prize. “It became an iconic symbol of the worst war in history,” Samowitz said. “But they would have never dreamed that it would become that way.” At 98, Samowitz is now the oldestknown survivor of the pivotal Battle of Iwo Jima. Feb. 19 will mark 68 years since the beginning of what was the first American attack on Japanese home turf during World War II. In August 2010, Samowitz attended what the Iwo Jima Survivors Association in Branford, Conn. called its 65th Final Reunion — the “final” because the number of survivors was
SEE SAMOWITZ / PAGE 17A
Robin Hartill
Marty Samowitz, 98, holds a photo of himself at age 27, shortly after he joined the Air Force.
You feel like you can survive; you’re young. In war, it was always the guy next to you who got wounded or killed. — Marty Samowitz, Longboat Key resident and the oldest-known survivor of the Battle of Iwo Jima
INDEX Garrett Trumble Nock
Briefs.................4A Calendar......... 19A
Classifieds ........ 13B Crossword.......... 12B
Neighborhood...... 1B Opinion.................8A
Real Estate.......... 8B Weather............. 12B
Vol. 35, No. 30 | Four sections YourObserver.com