E A ST COUNTY
Observer Lakewood Ranch’s weekly newspaper since 1998
Can new pro league run? PAGE 6A
YOU. YOUR NEIGHBORS. YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD.
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FREE THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2016
VOLUME 18, NO. 13
A+E
Capturing life in motion. INSIDE
YOUR TOWN
Amanda Sebastiano
Fred Lopez, a member of Rotary Club of Lakewood Ranch, plans to walk penguin style.
Still bullish on ranch life
Despite development, East County cowboys keep its cattle industry moving forward. PAGE 8A
“My grandpa said, ‘You have your whole life to make money, but make sure you wake up happy in the morning.’ This is where I want to be. If I was offered any other job, I wouldn’t want it.” – Jason McKendree
Cool trip It’s a good thing Lakewood Ranch resident Fred Lopez used to ski. It made his current adventure a little less intimidating. “I’ll be spending Valentine’s Day with penguins,” he said with a grin. Lopez left Feb. 12 for Antarctica. He’s traveling via ship from Argentina. He’ll be visiting his seventh continent.
Wine about it Each week through March 10, be sure to look through the Longboat Observer, Sarasota Observer, East County Observer and Siesta Key Observer for an Observer wine bottle hidden in the pages. If you find the bottle, you can enter to win two tickets to Wine on the Water March 20, at Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall, a $50 value. All correct entries will also be entered into a grand prize sweepstakes to win two tickets to the Grand Tasting, Brunch & Charity Auction March 19, at Van Wezel, a $300 value. Enter in the page number and the name of the Observer paper you found the wine bottle in at yourobserver. com/contests/ wheres-the-winecontest#/ SEE PAGE 15A
Jessica Salmond
Strawberries aren’t supposed to look like this right now. But some do. Farmers sound off on a warm winter that generated a rough strawberry season.
AMANDA SEBASTIANO STAFF WRITER
Walking through rows of strawberries on his 465 acres, Tom O’Brien frowned. Rows of small, still-green strawberries peppered an area that usually bursts with bright red berries at this time. “This has been the season from hell,” said O’Brien, owner of O’Brien Family Farms, located on State Road 64. “The last time it was this bad was when Florida had one of its worst freezes, in the 1980s.” Record-breaking temperaSEE PAGE 4A
ANOTHER
WAVE
Manatee County accepts a second round of water park proposals. PAGE 3A