LONGBOAT
Observer Longboat Key’s weekly newspaper since 1978
40th annual key Garden Club Home Tour PAGE 9B
YOU. YOUR NEIGHBORS. YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD.
FREE • THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 25, 2016
VOLUME 38, NO. 29
BLACK
TIE
Art couture hits the runway at UTC with iConcept. INSIDE
BLAST FROM THE PAST Nearly 100 days after the town’s 60th birthday, Longboaters savor the long-delayed fireworks. SEE PAGE 1B
YOUR TOWN
No on opt-out plan The commission nixed a plan to allow communities to bury wires independently if referendum passes. JACK SHORT STAFF WRITER
Longboat Key commissioners buried the possibility of giving Spanish Main Yacht Club and Club Longboat the option to bury their utility lines independently of a townwide project if voters approve a March 15 referendum. At a special meeting Monday, commissioners voted 5-2 to continue with the referendum as-is, with no opt-out provision for communities. The independent option the commission rejected was of interest to Spanish Main and
Garrett Trumble Nock finds 8 is great
SEE PAGE 3A
Mote: You otter see this exhibit Mote Marine Aquarium’s newest temporary exhibit, “Otters & Their Waters,” opens to the public Feb. 26. The exhibit will educate visitors about North American river otters and will feature three unreleasable orphaned otters, Huck, Pippi and Jane. It will be Mote’s fifth special exhibit and follows last year’s “Oh Baby! Life Cycles of the Seas,” which Mote made permanent due to its popularity. The exhibit will be open during the aquarium’s normal operating hours, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily. For information, call 3884441.
Dex Honea
The fireworks that were originally intended for the town’s 60th anniversary celebration in November light up the sky at the Feb. 20 Savor the Sounds concert at Bayfront Park.
‘Combat was no place for a banjo.’
Max Morrison still uses his 1948 Gibson banjo.
Kristen Herhold
Since World War II, Max Morrison, aka ‘Mr. Banjo,’ hasn’t taken a break from his banjo. SEE PAGE 7A
WATCH
WIRE
Longboat Key resident Garrett Trumble Nock, son of Eugene and Jessica Nock, turned 8 years old Feb. 14. Nock, who has chocolatebrown eyes, frequently asks why his eyes are so brown. His parents always respond, “Because you were born on Valentine’s Day, and they are Hershey’s Kisses.”
Record control dispute lingers KURT SCHULTHEIS SENIOR EDITOR
When the Manasota League of Cities shifted its base of operations from the city of Sarasota to the town of Longboat Key in July, Town Clerk Trish Granger thought it was only logical that league records be handed over to town staff. SEE PAGE 6A