bserver O EAST COUNTY FREE • Thursday, JULY 18, 2013
You. Your neighbors. Your neighborhood.
sports
Campers hit the field for Mustangs Softball Summer Camp. PAGE 15
ODA’s librarian solves mysteries on the authenticity of art. PAGE 19
Cause of Lakewood Ranch house fire is under investigation. PAGE 6
adventure
OUR TOWN
SUPER SLEUTH
NEWS
ONGOING
by Pam Eubanks | Managing Editor
by Pam Eubanks | Managing Editor
District revisits gatehouse options
+ ‘Fire egg’ captured in reader photo As Lakewood Ranch Town Hall’s director of operations, Ryan Heise has seen plenty of birds in their natural habitat. But Heise had to take a second look last week, after seeing a bird roosting upon its nest. Heise used his phone to snap this picture of what he calls a “fire egg.”
Supervisors now are considering two options, both of which eliminate or reduce the presence of gate attendants. Pam Eubanks
Kathy and Jim Keebler took their new RV on a 4,700-mile trip to see friends and family primarily in Minnesota, Wisconsin and Tennessee. They returned July 9. GRILL
TRUETT’S
SUMMER
Courtesy photos
Layna Ryser and Allee Lowry donated to Locks of Love.
+ Children donate to Locks of Love East County residents Layna Ryser and Allee Lowry may only be 4 and 3 years old, respectively, but the girls are eager to help children who are ill. The girls donated their hair to Locks of Love, with Layna donating 10 inches and Allee donating 11 inches. “We came up with the idea so they could start understanding how important it is to help people in any way they can,” their grandmother Karen Ryser says. “Being at such a young age, this was a good way for them to do something. They were so excited to be able to make other little sick children happy.” Karen Ryser’s longtime hairdresser, Amy Arnold, an East County resident who owns The Courtyard, in Sarasota, donated her skills and time to cut the girls’ hair.
GEORGIA
ROAD TRIP EAST COUNTY — Jim and Kathy Keebler’s style of camping typically couldn’t be more different. Jim Keebler has paddled his way down more than 500 miles of river alone on a canoe and thinks few things are better than sleeping in the bed of his truck, beneath an open, starry sky. Kathy Keebler, on the other hand, jokes she needs her necessities to survive. “My idea of camping is coffee, the hair dryer, the air conditioning and the bathroom,” she says, laughing. “I’m a really good camper with all that.” But, after a 25-day, 4,700-mile road trip in their new RV, the couple couldn’t be more in sync about their new way to travel together — in their Class C RV. GRAND MARIAS
MINNESOTA
SEE ROAD TRIP / PAGE 8
IRON RANG E
MINNESOTA
KEEBLERS’ ROAD TRIP 4,700 MILES 9 STATES 25 DAYS SEE MORE SIGHTS FROM THEIR TRIP ON PAGE 8
LAKEWOOD RANCH — Whether roads in the Lakewood Ranch Golf and Country Club should be considered public or private continues to be discussed. But, supervisors on Lakewood Ranch Community Development District 6 may have found an interim solution to their efforts to making the gate at Lakewood Ranch and Balmoral Woods boulevards transponder-access only. During an agenda-review workshop Monday, Supervisor Richard Williams proposed reducing security at the gatehouse to one shift, from 6:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., in September, and to install a motion sensor or pressure plate under pavers so the gate could automatically open when a visitor vehicle approaches and the gate is unattended. The gate would remain transponder-only access from 10:30 p.m. until 6:30 a.m., as it is now. No gate attendant would be used effective Oct. 1 under Williams’ proposal. Instead, gates would automatically open for visitors, through sensor technology. “I’m just suggesting we save the $80,000 (on a gate attendant) and continue the access,” Williams said, noting gate attendants cannot restrict access into the country club. Following discussions with fellow supervisors, Williams said he would also offer an option to include a five-day, four-hour shift, from 6:30 to 10:30 a.m. Monday through Friday starting in October, to accommodate peak traffic for contractors and others. Supervisors will vote on the issue at Thursday’s regular meeting. Supervisor James Hill had offered a similar idea, but with a more
SEE GATE / PAGE 8
INDEX SEE OUR TOWN / PAGE 4
Briefs......................7 Classifieds ...........29
Cops Corner..........10 Crossword.............28
Neighborhood.......19 Real Estate...........24
Sports...................15 Weather................28
Vol. 14, No. 29 | One section YourObserver.com