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bserver Happy Mother’s Day!
LONGBOAT
YOU. YOUR NEIGHBORS. YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD.
NEWS
Commission chooses new town attorney. PAGE 3A
OUR TOWN + Calling all graduates The Longboat Observer is seeking all 2013 high school and college graduates who live on Longboat, Lido, St. Armands and Bird keys for its annual graduation special. If you or someone you know will soon be sporting a cap and gown, contact Robin Hartill at rhartill@yourobserver.com by Wednesday, May 15.
Courtesy photo
Nicole and Jonathan Eskew
+ Early birds catch the turtle nest Sanctuary condominium General Manager Sheila Connell and maintenance supervisor Fred Boessel were out on the beach at 5 a.m. April 30, to ensure the property’s lights weren’t visible from the beach. They check out the property bright and early every year before nesting season starts. But this year, they noticed a large mound fairly close to the water with flipper tracks around it. Connell called Mote by 7 a.m. that morning to report their discovery, and Mote confirmed it had found the first nest in all of Sarasota County one day ahead of nesting season.
SEE OT / PAGE 12A
DIVERSIONS
MAD DASH
A Siesta Key home showcases architect Ralph Twitchell. INSIDE
Athletes participate in second Longboat Key triathlon. PAGE 15A
RUNNING OUT OF TIME by Kurt Schultheis | Managing Editor
Town pressures the Colony The Colony Beach & Tennis Resort Association’s election Tuesday kept seated three out of five board members, paving the way for a developer to continue negotiation settlements. For the second time in 13 months, the Colony Beach & Tennis Resort Association Board stood before the Longboat Key Town Commission with a hand-picked developer, describing how it was making progress and working to transform a resort that was once the Key’s premier destination spot. And, for the second time in 13 months, commissioners told the Association and its developer they won’t be impressed until a groundbreaking ceremony is held at 1620 Gulf of Mexico Drive. An Association Owners’ Advisory Committee picked Stamford, Conn.based JHM Financial Group LLC last week as its top developer choice to teardown and rebuild the shuttered resort at 1620 Gulf of Mexico Drive. On Tuesday, May 7, three out of five Association board member seats that were up for re-election stayed in the hands of incumbents. The election
SEE COLONY / PAGE 2A
+ Bostonians get hooked on Longboat Pamela Hodges and her children, Nicole and Jonathan Eskew, recently visited Longboat Key from Boston for the first time and are already looking forward to a return visit. Hodges snapped this photo of her kids getting hooked on their surroundings during a fishing trip. She reports the community welcomed the family as they enjoyed fishing and natural surroundings.
free • THURSDAY, MAY 9, 2013
Courtesy photo
Current and outgoing Colony Beach & Tennis Resort Association board members posed with longtime Colony owner Dr. Murray “Murf” Klauber Tuesday, May 7, at the Colony’s annual owners’ meeting at Temple Beth Israel. Klauber is wearing a T-shirt with donkeys on it that reads, “I’m surrounded by asses!” From left: Stu Ross, Jay Yablon, Blake Fleetwood, Klauber, Bob Erazmus, Barry Spiegel, Shelly Rabin and Bruce Pinsky.
WOMAN OF THE WAR
Servicewoman by Robin Hartill | City Editor
salute
Shirley Beachum was serving in London with the Women’s Army Corps (WAC) 68 years ago on V-E Day — one of a few good women who helped to win the war. Shirley Beachum used to tell stories about her World War I days. The war ended in 1918, three years before she was born. But her father, a U.S. Army veteran, was such a vivid storyteller that she believed she had been fighting right alongside him when she was a little girl. Her family laughed whenever her father started to tell a story and she took over for him, telling about the places she believed they had been together. Beachum also has stories about serving during World War II — only they, unlike her recollections of the previous war, actually happened. On May 8, 1945 — which would become
known as V-E Day — Beachum was serving as a staff sergeant in the Women’s Army Corps (WAC). She was taking incomRobin Hartill ing messages at the 5th Wing Shirley Beachum holds a portrait of her late husband, Army Airway Communication pilot Grady Hunt, who was killed in action in 1943. System in London, when she eran. In fact, of the approximately 16.1 milreceived the message that Germany had surrendered. She could hear the lion Americans who served in the war, less than 400,000, or around 3%, were women. celebration from the street. Beachum will be 92 in August. She paints She headed straight to Piccadilly Circus. “Everyone was laughing and cheering her nails neon green and purple and can and drinking and just having a high old often be found with friends at Wednesday night happy hour at Cedars Tennis Resort. time,” Beachum said. Today, people are sometimes surprised when she tells them she’s a World War II vetSEE BEACHUM / PAGE 10A
INDEX Briefs....................4A Calendar............ 12A
Classifieds ........ 29A Crossword.......... 28A
Neighborhood.... 15A Opinion.................8A
Real Estate........ 24A Weather............. 28A
Vol. 35, No. 40 | Two sections YourObserver.com