bserver O EAST COUNTY FREE • Thursday, JUNE 27, 2013
You. Your neighbors. Your neighborhood.
sports
NEWS
A local lacrosse team is making headlines statewide. PAGE 15
OUR TOWN + Ranch CDD supervisor resigns The Lakewood Ranch community is getting ready to bid farewell to longtime Summerfield resident and Lakewood Ranch Community Development District 1 Supervisor Jean Stewart, who will be moving back to Maryland with her husband, John. Stewart tendered her resignation as a CDD supervisor June 24. “I have enjoyed being part of the growth that has made Lakewood Ranch the superior community that it is,” Stewart wrote in her resignation letter. “My many thanks to fellow board members, the (InterDistrict Authority) staff and the many other friends, residents and board members for their cooperation and support in this continuing effort. I will miss you.”
kingdom rock It’s day and ‘knight’ for youths at Harvest’s Vacation Bible School. PAGE 19
Construction on a new transmission line in East County has begun. PAGE 6
gaining independence
Home sweet Home
by Josh Siegel | Staff Writer
Bridge plan moves closer to approval The roughly 4,000-square-foot home includes five bedrooms for clients and one bedroom for a house parent.
+ Vitale earns Hall of Fame induction Lakewood Ranch resident and legendary basketball commentator Dick Vitale celebrated yet another induction into sports history. On June 10, Vitale was inducted into the National Sportscaster and Sportswriters Association Hall of Fame, in Salisbury, N.C. He was joined by author and Detroit Free Press columnist Mitch Albom, who is the Hall’s sports writer inductee. “I am in awe,” Vitale says. “I can’t believe this. It’s a major, major event, and I am very proud of it. It’s the highest honor you could possibly get in broadcasting, and, to go in with Mitch Albom is fantastic. I can’t tell you how blessed I’ve been in my life and career.” Vitale says he could not have earned the accomplishment without the support of his family, ESPN and the individuals with whom he has worked during his career.
Photos by Pam Eubanks
The Niesen family gathers in front of the home named in honor of the family matriarch, the late Jacquelyn Niesen. Pictured are Michael, Jim, Cher, Charles, Fallon and Sandra.
Community Haven for Adults and Children with Disabilities celebrated the June 19 opening of its fourth group home for disabled adults. EAST COUNTY — The groundskeeper for Community Haven for Adults and Children with Disabilities no longer will venture far when he heads to work each morning. Instead, Michael Niesen, 57, simply will get ready and step outside. Niesen officially moved in to Community Haven’s newest group home Wednesday, June 19, following a ribboncutting ceremony for the facility. The new home will house nine disabled adults, including Niesen, and one house parent. Niesen’s parents, Jim and Jacquelyn, funded the new group home on Community Haven’s property off DeSoto Road, in the East County. “We didn’t know where
TRANSPORTATION
by Pam Eubanks | Managing Editor
(Michael) would end up (after we no longer could care for him),” said Jim Niesen, 83. “We were looking for a place for a long time. My wife said, ‘God gave him to us; God will take care of him. We found this (place, Community Haven). This is it.” Jacquelyn Niesen, who died of cancer in August, met a woman who worked at Community Haven while shopping at a department store about six years ago. After the meeting, the Niesens enrolled their son in Community Haven’s Haven Industries program, which matches people with mental, sensory and other disabilities with the opportunity to learn a hands-on skill.
SEE HOME / PAGE 8
Jacquelyn’s Poem Yesterday there came to live, A special child God chose to give. I pity one so very small, Should have a burden after all. With loving heart and trusting hand, To grow up in an unknown land. His step is slow, his progress too, He’s one alone, a chosen few. What will he learn, how will he know, Why birds sing songs, or rivers flow? But watch his face where love doth dwell, He knows not war or pains of hell. — Jacquelyn Niesen
Manatee County will hold a meeting on the Fort Hamer Bridge project Aug. 7. EAST COUNTY — The fate of the proposed Fort Hamer Bridge may soon be determined. After months of delay, the U.S. Coast Guard released a draft of the URS Corp.’s environmental impact statement June 25. The document indicates the need for a bridge, connecting Fort Hamer Park to Upper Manatee River Road, near the Waterlefe community, remains. Manatee County will hold a public meeting on the project Aug. 7, at the Bradenton Area Convention Center, 1 Haben Blvd., Palmetto. The U.S. Coast Guard will chair the meeting, which is one of the last steps for securing final site-plan approval for the bridge. Manatee County hired URS, a Tampa-based provider of engineering, construction and technical services for public-sector and privatesector companies, to complete the EIS. The Coast Guard required Manatee County to expand its environmental impact statement to include the Rye Road Bridge and determine whether it could meet the county’s need for a north-south route, after residents from Waterlefe, in July 2010, rallied against the two-lane bridge project. They said the proposed Fort Hamer Bridge, which would connect Upper Manatee River Road to Fort Hamer Road, would create increased traffic along Upper Manatee River Road. The Rye Road Bridge, farther east, would satisfy transportation needs just as well, they said. As part of the EIS, URS confirmed a written disclosure of the proposed Fort Hamer Bridge was made — and continues to be made — to all Waterlefe homeowners in their purchase documents. Ron Schulhofer, Manatee County director of public works, said expanding the EIS has cost the county more than $25,000. The EIS takes into account feedback, which the Coast Guard solicits, from Manatee County residents.
SEE BRIDGE / PAGE 8
INDEX SEE OUR TOWN / PAGE 4
Briefs......................7 Classifieds ...........29
Cops Corner..........11 Crossword.............28
Neighborhood.......19 Real Estate...........24
Sports...................15 Weather................28
Vol. 14, No. 26 | One section YourObserver.com