EAST COUNTY
Observer
Lakewood Ranch’s weekly newspaper since 1998
YOU. YOUR NEIGHBORS. YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD.
Net gains
PAGE 14
FREE • THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 2, 2023
VOLUME 25, NO. 11
YOUR TOWN
Some books bound for rejection In keeping with a new state law, Manatee’s school district intensifies its evaluation on whether books in its classrooms are appropriate. SEE PAGE 3
Liz Ramos
Cassiel Mueler, Olivia Longino and Scarlett Michael
LWRBA INTRODUCES NEW CHAIR
Bound together through reading Scarlett Michael and Cassiel Mueler, who are first graders at Lakewood Ranch Preparatory Academy, listened intently as freshman Olivia Longino read to them. Longino read “Knuffle Bunny Too” as the three students sat on the green space in the back of the school Jan. 24. “This is a book I read when I was their age, so it’s kind of nostalgic,” Longino said. Longino was excited to have the opportunity to read to younger students as part of the school’s Literacy Week celebrations. “It’s something you don’t get in other schools,” she said.
Jay Heater
Outgoing Chair Allison Imre hands over the Lakewood Ranch Business Alliance gavel to new Board Chair Erik Hanson.
Erik Hanson replaces outgoing Allison Imre in key post. SEE PAGE 17 Liz Ramos
Patrick McCarthy
A wholesome offering at UTC After serving healthy and fresh items at his 3Natives location in Lakewood Ranch for more than two years, Patrick McCarthy saw a demand for further locations to enjoy foods that were convenient and nutritious. “It’s something different but still, accessible, healthy and fresh, and I think that’s what people are looking for these days,” he said. McCarthy said he hopes the new location of the Floridabased fast-casual restaurant, which opened Jan. 17 at 309 N. Cattlemen Road, will expose the brand to those outside the original neighborhood area at the corner of Lakewood Ranch Boulevard and State Road 70. McCarthy said fresh ingredients extend “from the lettuce we’re chopping up every day to our pico de gallo that we make in-house, to our hummus that we make in-house.”
A+E
IN THE FACE OF ADVERSITY
Jay Heater
A fire, the cause still unknown, destroyed the Sarasota Polo Club’s clubhouse early Jan. 28.
Sarasota Polo Club owners James and Misdee Miller pick up the pieces after a fire consumes their clubhouse. SEE PAGE 8
Family act. INSIDE