E A ST COUNTY
BATTLE OF THE
Observer
BUG SPRAYS
Lakewood Ranch’s weekly newspaper since 1998
HEALTH MATTERS SPECIAL SECTION INSIDE
YOU. YOUR NEIGHBORS. YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD.
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FREE THURSDAY, AUGUST 11, 2016
VOLUME 18, NO. 37
Penny for promotion A political action committee has formed to promote Manatee County’s two half-cent sales taxes. SEE PAGE 3
YOUR TOWN
Photos by Pam Eubanks
Koi encounter Golfers at The Fish Hole Miniature Golf at Lakewood Ranch Main Street have four new spectators to cheer them toward a hole-in-one. Course owners Mike and Debbie Driscoll on July 31 welcomed four new butterfly koi to the course’s main pond. Each is about twoand-half feet long, nearly double the size of the other koi at the facility. “They’re fantastic,” Mike Driscoll says. “We thought these other koi were big — until we got them. People already have commented about them.” The new koi, of which three are more than 30 years old, came from a private collector on Longboat Key.
Ilana Armida is determined to make it big — but the work to get there starts in her tiny closet. SEE PAGE 18
SONG AND DANCE
Jay Heater
Ilana Armida gets with the flow inside her closet-sized recording studio.
Summer of learning Jim and Fran Zientara
ODA students trade vacation for educational opportunity. SEE PAGE 4
Golden years
“Some of the time, I would like to just be a kid. But most of the time, I feel there is not enough of a push for (teens) to be adults. There is not enough thought of politics and human rights issues. I wouldn’t change the way I am.”
On July 30, East County’s Jim Zientara, a financial planner for Raymond James, was speaking on behalf of the Parrish Railroad Museum, for which he serves as a train engineer. At the exact time 50 years earlier, he married his sweetheart, Fran. The couple celebrated their golden anniversary with dinner and a movie. “If you make it the first 50, the second 50 are easy,” Jim Zientara says. For a secret to a longlasting marriage, Fran adds: “You have to smile a lot.” Courtesy
– Sophia Delgado, sophomore, Out-of-Door Academy
5K fundraiser shows youth have an impact. SEE PAGE 6
A+E Beer and cheese: The perfect pair. INSIDE