EAST COUNTY
Observer
Fashionable fundraiser
Lakewood Ranch’s weekly newspaper since 1998
PAGE 18
YOU. YOUR NEIGHBORS. YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD.
FREE • THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 9, 2023
VOLUME 25, NO. 12
YOUR TOWN
County administrator chooses to resign
Scott Hopes offers his resignation under pressure from commissioners. SEE PAGE 5
Ian Swaby
A classic drive back to the 1980s River Club’s Bob Dydo took a Wednesday drive into the past at the Classic Car Show held on Main Street at Lakewood Ranch on Feb. 1. Dydo purchased the DMC DeLorean, the same model featured in the Back to the Future films, in February of 1981 from a Maryland car dealership while he was living in Washington D.C. When the first film debuted in 1985, he was pleased to see the car, of which only 9,000 units were manufactured, in a starring role. “It was enjoyable. There was an element of ownership to it,” he said. He said although he would sometimes take the car to running events he raced in around the Lincoln Monument and Jefferson Memorial, it increasingly stayed in his garage over the years. “I take it out every now and then and run it, just to keep the juices going,” he said.
WELCOME TO
LAKEWOOD RANCH Retired U.S. Army Sgt. Lucio Gaytan and his family are presented with a Built to Honor home in Sapphire Point. SEE PAGE 2
Jay Heater
Lyanna Gaytan, 1, enjoys the groundbreaking for the new home site in Sapphire Point that was awarded to her dad, disabled Army Sgt. Lucio Gaytan.
Liz Ramos
Honored to meet the author Waterlefe’s Jan Hooten lined up and patiently waited her turn to get her book signed. Hooten was excited to meet author Mamta Chaudhry, who wrote “Haunting Paris” and was the guest author during the Literary Society at Waterlefe’s author luncheon Feb. 4. “It was great,” Hooten said of the luncheon. “(Chaudhry) is funny and very interesting. I loved the book and had fun reading it. It was a wonderful experience meeting her.” Members of the literary society, which includes about 10 book clubs in Waterlefe Golf and River Club, gathered for the luncheon to hear from Chaudhry during a moderated discussion as well as participate in the raffle that benefited G.D. Rogers Garden-Bullock Elementary School.
Community cooperation Liz Ramos
Myakka City’s Lynn Meder, who founded Myakka Co-op, sells jewelry at the event Feb. 4. She created the co-op to bring the community together while giving local artists an opportunity to sell their work and support local nonprofits.
Myakka co-op featuring local artists hopes to support local nonprofits. SEE PAGE 12
A+E
Through the artist’s looking glass. INSIDE