EAST COUNTY
Observer
Lakewood Ranch’s weekly newspaper since 1998
YOU. YOUR NEIGHBORS. YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD.
Back in the saddle
PAGE 18
FREE • THURSDAY, DECEMBER 15, 2022
VOLUME 25, NO.4
YOUR TOWN
Park dealt a $3 million blow Among the hurricane repairs will be $1.5 million to fix the wave attenuator. SEE PAGE 3
Liz Ramos
Scott Biehler, Mayor Gene Brown and Julian LaBranche
Penny (and other change) for your thoughts?
Cattle calling Myakka’s Peter Vole earns Manatee’s Agriculturalist of the Year award by helping kids in 4-H and FFA programs. SEE PAGE 8
Gilbert W. McNeal Elementary School students had a large bag full of the coins they had collected in the media center Dec. 1. Students, like fifth grader Julian LaBranche, presented the $467 the club raised for the Mayor’s Feed the Hungry program to the program’s executive director, Scott Biehler, and Bradenton Mayor Gene Brown. “Keep doing the right thing for the right reason when nobody’s looking,” Brown said to the students. Students were able to ask Brown questions about how and why he became mayor and more. LaBranche and fifth grader Pierce Williams then took Brown and Biehler on a tour of the school.
Jay Heater
Although he grew up in a Chicago suburb, Myakka’s Peter Vole learned to love agriculture after moving to Manatee County in the early 1990s.
Ian Swaby
Rebecca Kimsey
Familiar spin on the holidays Students from the International Ballet of Florida performed scenes from The Nutcracker at the Saks Fifth Avenue court Dec. 10. The performance was part of the Sounds of the Seasons at UTC. University Park’s Rebecca Kimsey, an instructor and performer with the ballet school, said the dancers had been working on their performance since September. “I love coming back to UTC to perform,” Kimsey said. Darya Fedotova, founder of the International Ballet of Florida, said the school enjoys performing at the mall every year. “We love the location, and it’s a local place,” she said.
Flight to the North Pole connects with Santa Claus A jolly finale benefits children with severe illness or disabilities. SEE PAGE 11
Liz Ramos
A+E Sarasota history session. INSIDE