E A ST COUNTY
Observer Lakewood Ranch’s weekly newspaper since 1998
YOU. YOUR NEIGHBORS. YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD.
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FREE THURSDAY, APRIL 28, 2016
VOLUME 18, NO. 23
Meet your new
neighbor Longboat Key’s peafowl move to East County. SEE PAGE 3A
YOUR TOWN
44th Avenue extension project comes to life
Courtesy photos
Float your boat Could you build a boat made of old dresser drawers, plastic water jugs and paper? William H. Bashaw Elementary students did. The school’s Technology Student Association and fourth-grade Engineering Bridge Builders built a boat they paddled to a fourthplace finish during the annual DeSoto Bottle Boat Regatta, held April 16 at the Palma Sola Causeway.
Route from Lorraine Road to U.S. 41 could be complete as early as 2023 with county speeding up the project. PAGE 6A
Amanda Sebastiano
Alana Quinones, 9, asks a question of Amber Walker, one of 174 teachers who were mistakenly overpaid by the Manatee County School District.
BECAUSE OF DISTRICT OVERSIGHT A+E Guitar musician passes on classic legacy. INSIDE
174 TEACHERS
FACE A PAY CUT SEE PAGE 3A
Better than cookies Girl Scout Daisy Troops 547 and 690 and Brownie Troop 441 celebrated Earth Day by helping clean up the Gene Witt Elementary School grounds. More than a dozen girls picked up litter, pulled weeds, re-mulched flower beds and planted new plants. Almost all the girls were students at Gene Witt.