The wait for the annual Longboat Key Disaster Preparedness Seminar will soon be over.
The town and the Longboat Key Chamber of Commerce will host this event at 4 p.m. on March 26 at the Longboat Key Club Harbourside Ballroom.
The seminar invites residents to come “Stay informed and be prepared” through the event’s presentations and guest speakers, including Town Manager Howard Tipton and county emergency personnel such as Manatee County Emergency Management Chief Matt Myers. Doors open for the free event at 3:15 p.m. at the Harbourside Ballroom (3000 Harbourside Drive). There also will be a Zoom option for anyone who cannot attend. For more information, contact the Longboat Key Chamber of Commerce at 941-383-2466.
SYC readies for 100 Years
Get ready to help the Sarasota Yacht Club celebrate 100 years of being part of the community.
The club is hosting a Roaring Twenties-themed party from 5 to 7 p.m. on April 1, where club members will recount SYC’s most notable moments in history and unveil a new exhibit. The event is members-only, but organizers say they have plenty of centennial celebratory activities planned for the upcoming year. Call 941-3654191 for reservations.
Ian Swaby
Cahan Raymond and Nils Wheeler of Sarasota Yacht Club sail a Club 420.
Carter Weinhofer Lt. Daniel Heath uses a Halligan bar
WEEK OF MARCH 20, 2025
BY THE NUMBERS
5
3,000
“I’m
looking forward to joining the commission officially and starting to help deal with challenging issues that we face as an island.”
Commissioner-elect Steve Branham Read more on page 10A
SRQ airport opens observation area
Aviation enthusiasts and plane spotters now have a new, safe place to enjoy watching air traffic take off and land at Sarasota-Bradenton International Airport.
As private aircraft taxied just 50 yards away and commercial airliners boomed down the runway, airport officials made brief remarks before cutting the ribbon on the new observation area at 8330 15th St. E., formerly a small gravel parking area next to Atlantic Aviation. The spot has for years been
a favored location for watching the comings and goings of aircraft at SRQ. What began as a plan to pave and secure the spot grew into a project that opened with a wing-shaped shade structure, an aviationthemed playground, striped parking spaces and an audio system that broadcasts control tower communications with aircraft.
“We started talking with Manatee County and the Brandon Area Convention and Visitors Bureau because this is in Manatee
County, and decided we can make this much better project,” said SRQ President and CEO Rick Piccolo. “It grew from about a half-million-dollar project to a two-and-a-half-million-dollar project.”
The airport and Manatee County equally funded the total cost, which came in at $2.36 million.
The observation area opening is the latest in a series of completed projects at SRQ as Piccolo approaches the end of his 30year tenure this summer with his impending retirement.
Ted Sperling Park reopens
Sarasota County Parks, Recreation and Natural Resources announced on March 17 that Ted Sperling Park at South Lido Beach has reopened.
“The park sustained significant storm impacts and was used to help manage storm debris from the Lido Key community, yet, thanks to dedicated restoration work by Sarasota County Parks, Recreation and Natural Resources staff, volunteers and hurricane recovery contractors, it’s once again ready to welcome visitors,” the county said in a press release.
Many of the county’s parks sustained damage from Hurricanes Helene and Milton, including Ted Sperling Park.
For a full list of the county’s parks and status, visit SarasotaCountyParks.com.
Sister Keys clean-up event on April 12
Sarasota Bay Watch will hold a clean-up event for Sister Keys off of Longboat Key on April 12.
“Whether you’re passionate about marine life, conservation or simply love spending time on the water, your help ensures that Sister Keys remains a thriving sanctuary for generations to come,” the event promotion states.
Sarasota Bay Watch and its event partners are looking for volunteers to help clean the islands and surrounding area.
Volunteers are required to wear closed-toed shoes and encouraged to bring a reusable water, sunscreen and wear clothing with sun protection.
On the day, volunteers will park at 6960 Gulf of Mexico Drive and be shuttled to the cleanup location. Local restaurant Mar Vista will provide a free boxed lunch to volunteers. The event will take place from 8 a.m. to noon on Saturday, March 12. For more information or questions, call Ronda Ryan at 941-232-2363. Information can also be found at SarasotaBayWatch.org.
Andrew Warfield
Longboat
Key Fire Rescue Department practices forcible entry tactics for training.
Repurposed BEFORE renovations
STAFF WRITER
The Longboat Key Fire Rescue Department
found a way to make a positive out of a bad situation by repurposing soonto-be demolished homes for skills training.
Department crews spent three afternoons in March practicing essential forcible entry skills like forcing doors open and breaking windows.
The department used houses on the island scheduled to be demolished and remodeled due to flooding sustained in Hurricane Helene.
Training Capt. David Eggleston, who recently joined the department in January, fostered the collaborative effort alongside other department personnel.
Assistant Chief and Fire Marshal Jane Herrin worked with the Planning, Zoning and Building Department to identify houses that were permitted for demolition.
Then, Eggleston reached out to the contractors in charge of the demolition to reach the homeowners, through which he gained approval to conduct the training.
LONGBOAT’S NEW TRAINING CAPTAIN
Training Capt. David Eggleston joined the Longboat Key Fire Rescue crew in January and brings 20 years of experience to the crew.
Growing up in the Sarasota area, Eggleston has been involved in other agencies like North Port and, after retiring from his last department, found the job at Longboat Key to be the perfect next step in his career.
“From a community standpoint, we’re thankful for the opportunity to turn a positive from a negative,”
Assistant Chief Mike Regnier said.
The fire crews trained across three days, each crew spending an afternoon at a different house.
On March 13, one of the department’s shifts rendezvoused at a home on Russel Street that flooded during Hurricane Helene. The owners previously gave the department permission to use the home’s windows and doors for the training.
The crew came prepared with hand tools such as a large circular saw, Sawzall, axe, sledgehammer and a firefighter’s Halligan tool, similar to a crowbar.
The unique opportunity allowed fire crews to practice critical skills essential to forced entry in fires or flooding events like hurricanes to rescue trapped individuals.
“This gives the guys the opportunity to practice skills,” Eggleston said.
“They get to work through problems and talk through the process.”
Practicing these skills in a nonemergency scenario builds repetition and familiarity with the tools and standard procedures, so, in the event of an emergency, the firefighter paramedics are more prepared.
The houses Eggleston found were also good practice because some had hurricane-rated windows, like the one used on March 13. This means the windows have stronger glass that makes it more difficult to break.
One of the focus points of the training, then, was to break through these windows and pull victims safely.
A firefighter would begin by making a “purchase point,” a hole or fracture in the window made by one of the tools, like the Halligan.
Then, the crew members took turns trying different cutting tools to cut open the windows. They tried tools like a rescue chainsaw and a Sawszall, a circular rescue saw.
They learned on the spot about which tools were better for cutting through different materials, whether it was hurricane-proof glass or ripping apart the windowsill.
Once there was a cutout in the window, the crew could push the glass out. From there, they could find a blanket or similar object to lie across the bottom windowsill to make victim extraction safer or break apart the windowsill entirely.
Regular hands-on training is a part of the Longboat Key Fire Rescue Department’s annual routine, with all three crews required to attend similar training exercises, including vehicle extraction and live fire training at places like Manatee Technical College.
“From a community standpoint, we’re thankful for the opportunity to turn a positive from a negative.”
Longboat Key firefighter paramedics review forcible entry tactics at a house on Russell Street on March 13.
Firefighter paramedic Trey Bowlin uses a Sawszall machine to cut a window.
Photos by Carter Weinhofer
Longboat Key Fire Rescue Lt. Daniel Heath breaks open a window to practice creating an entry point for crews. This tactic could be used in fire response or storm rescue scenarios.
— Mike Regnier, assistant chief
A Longboat Key Fire Rescue crew forces a front door open at the demo house on Russell Street on March 13.
A bill known as ‘Lucy’s Law’ would increase penalties for reckless driving and implement new education requirements.
IAN SWABY STAFF WRITER
According to Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, Florida leads the nation in boating fatalities, averaging 65 per year.
A new bill currently in the Senate Judiciary Committee would impose stricter regulations on boating activities.
House Bill 289 or “Lucy’s Law,” would bring changes that include increasing penalties for crashes because of reckless boating and for driving a boat under the influence, requiring violators to take a boating education course, and requiring fines for noncriminal infractions.
The legislation is named after 17-year-old Luciana Fernandez, who died during a 2022 crash in Miami, which also left other passengers injured, including now permanently disabled 18-year-old Katerina Puig.
Sarasota boaters were supportive of the push for more safety.
Cmdr. Barbara Warshaw of the Sarasota Power & Sail Squadron, a boating safety organization that teaches safety courses, said boating should have the same safety requirements as driving a car.
“We see too many unnecessary accidents and deaths and people being hurt because they don’t know what they’re doing on the water, and it really is our fault because ... we don’t mandate them to be educated on how to operate a boat safely ... ” she said. “We’re dedicated to educating our community so that people will be safe on the water.”
“Unfortunately, states do this after learning a terrible but large lesson,” said John O’Keefe, a registered captain with the U.S. Coast Guard who
boats in Sarasota and created the app YachtWave.
He also criticized current laws, which require a safety course only if drivers of a vessel of 10 horsepower or more are born during or after 1988.
“That’s the ridiculous part of it ... ” he said. “The people that have a million to two million to buy a boat are probably over the age of 38,” he said.
O’Keefe said he did not think the legislation was strong enough and that current laws were “really not taking the education process seriously enough.”
“If you’re in New Jersey, New York or Connecticut, you have to sit in a proctored room and take a test,” he said. “Here, you can go online and take it.”
Jan Solomon of local sailing charter Key Sailing appreciates the bill.
“We applaud their courage, and this bill,” Solomon wrote. “Those of us who run professional sailing, fishing and dinner charters from Marina Jack have noticed a rapid increase in boating on Sarasota Bay, especially during spring break. We are pleased to note that in our area, at least basic instruction is given to those who are given keys to a rental. We know which companies are going over and above current requirements. But lack of experience mixed with a lack of safety instruction is dangerous enough without adding alcohol to the mix. Lucy’s Law is a necessary first step.”
Photos taken by Manatee County Sheriff’s Office deputies on scene on June 4, 2019.
Image courtesy of MCSO
Increased curb appeal
Changes to the medians in the Country Club Shores turn lane project are coming in response to concerns raised by residents.
The turn lane project will add turn lanes to some of the Country Club Shores neighborhood and, included within the project, are five curbed medians. The idea of medians caused strife among some Country Club Shores residents who claimed the medians were doing more harm than good.
There are five medians throughout the project, the longest of which is closest to the main entrance to Country Club Shores IV.
The proposed change would pull this median south by about 75 feet, thus decreasing the length of the median by that length.
“That would still leave plenty of median remaining and leave at least two or three extra car lengths beyond what was there before to allow time and space for a person to pull out and stage in the center,” said Assistant Town Manager Isaac Brownman.
The other four medians will also be shorter, but by about 50 feet. Shortening those medians by any more would leave almost no median, Brownman said.
Residents agreed the project overall would help safety turning into the neighborhoods, but were concerned that having long medians in the center of the road would inhibit the ability to turn left out of the neighborhoods.
The main safety concern was the decreased ability to “stage” in the center lane when turning left and waiting for a break in traffic.
After hearing the safety concerns from residents, Brownman said the
town reached out to the project management team in mid-February to determine the best way to approach a design amendment.
The project team told Brownman the town needed to talk to design staff with the Florida Department of Transportation about the proposed amendments. Gulf of Mexico Drive is a state-owned road, and the initial addition of medians was an FDOT request.
“They responded back fairly quickly that, while shortening the median ends is not ideal, they would be willing to authorize the town to try it out based on the concerns heard by the neighborhoods,” Brownman said.
This was significant progress toward a compromise, but Brownman added, because GMD is owned by the FDOT, the department can change in the future or lengthen the medians back to the original design.
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Residents, town compromise on Country Club Shores project.
“If, in the future, there’s an operational issue or safety issue that arises as a direct result of pulling those curbs further south, FDOT reserves the right to make modifications or restore those curbs,” Brownman said.
While shortening the medians is not ideal from the FDOT’s perspective, the project team and Brownman agree the changes are acceptable and will help put some residents’ minds at ease.
“We actually expect it will work very well,” Brownman said.
Lynn Larson, who lives in Country Club Shores IV, was involved in the compromise and said the residents’ focus was always safety.
“We worked with the town and the town was able to work out a compromise,” Larson said. “The FDOT was
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While shortening the medians is not ideal from the FDOT’s perspective, the project team and Brownman agree the changes are acceptable and will help put some residents’ minds at ease.
very receptive to helping keep the residents happy and safe.”
Larson feels many Country Club Shores IV residents were happy with the proposed changes.
“I think it was a good compromise,” she said.
The town will need to work through the FDOT Local Agency Program and revise the engineering design, ensure everything looks good to the project team, and send it off for approval from the FDOT.
Changes in the engineering design also change the quantity of materials required because lessening the medians would require less concrete and landscaping.
While this happens in the background, the project construction can proceed. Construction crews are laying out traffic barriers and starting excavation work, meaning they are not yet starting concrete work.
Aside from the medians, the turn lane project includes widening about one mile of Gulf of Mexico Drive by 12 feet to become a 44-foot-wide road that will include two 11-foot travel lanes, a 10-foot turn lane and two six-foot paved shoulders.
It’s taken the town about eight years to reach this point in the project.
One of the main delays was funding. When the FDOT required the addition of medians and changed the scope of the project, the cost estimate rose from $1.4 million to about $2.6 million. The town then negotiated with the FDOT to increase its original reimbursement agreement, which it agreed to do for the full amount.
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Ketch Lane would be one of the Country Club Shores roads to gain a turn lane with the project.
Pipe project pushes forward
Town will start the application process for a State Revolving Fund loan.
CARTER WEINHOFER STAFF WRITER
The town of Longboat Key is ready to move forward with the next steps in the subaqueous force main replacement project, which includes finalizing the design and, now with voter approval, pursuing a loan.
This project will replace about two miles of underwater wastewater pipe that transports Longboat Key’s wastewater to a processing facility in Manatee County.
When cost estimates rose in early 2024, the town commission hoped to pursue a State Revolving Fund loan of up to $33 million to finance the project. The loan option, though, required the town to go through the referendum process and put the decision in the voters’ hands.
The referendum in the March election passed with overwhelming support. Out of 1,632 votes cast, 94.79% of voters approved of the loan option and 5.21% said “no.”
Assistant Town Manager Isaac
Brownman said the vote was essential to moving forward with the loan application process, but did not alter the town’s design timeline.
“The immediate next steps are really unchanged from what they were before the referendum vote,” Brownman said. “(The vote) did not slow or stop the design process.”
Brownman added the town and its consultants are working through questions with the Florida Department of Environmental Protection regarding minor modifications to the existing construction permit.
According to Brownman’s estimate, the project team is at about 70% design.
The town’s project team includes Carollo Engineers for the design and engineering phase and Garney Construction to manage construction. Water and wastewater projects are hallmarks of both companies.
Permits are already in hand after a long, tedious process that spanned from 2021 to 2023. Agencies like the FDEP and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers need to issue permits on projects like this that relate to the bay.
Brownman said once the town gets through the questions and potential modifications with FDEP, the design process will advance.
The next steps in the project also
now include the SRF loan application, which grants loans for waterrelated projects.
“We’re comfortable and confident that our project will not have any issues being granted with this,” Brownman said about the loan. “But there is a process behind it. Now that the loan has passed, the project team is marching down the path of preparing the application documents.”
Other steps include negotiations for easements with Long Bar Pointe, the area where the subaqueous pipe ties into the mainland site, and updated geotechnical data to better understand the soils under the construction site.
“We’re comfortable and confident that our project will not have any issues being granted with this.”
— Isaac Brownman, assistant town manager
JANUARY 2020: The town begins the design process for wastewater pipe replacement, called the subaqueous force main replacement project.
JUNE 2020: A leak is discovered in the mainland portion of the pipe, caused by a buried log that rubbed along the old pipeline for decades, according to a report by the Berkeley Research Group. 2021: The town begins the permitting process for the replacement of the underwater portion of the pipe replacement.
NOVEMBER 2022: Construction starts on the mainland portion of the pipe replacement. MAY 2023: Construction is completed for the mainland portion of the pipe. This included 1.3 miles of old pipe that was relined with upgraded material and cost about $2.6 million.
APRIL 2024: Cost estimates for the underwater replacement start to rise and, at a town commission planning retreat, staff said estimates rose from about $21.9 million to $30 million. These higher estimates prompted a review of how to fund the project.
There will also be environmental and seagrass mitigation work required because of the project’s invasiveness to the bay. This will take place after construction is complete.
Excluding the mitigation work, Brownman estimated the project construction will last 14 to 15 months. Brownman said there was not yet an estimated start for the project, but the project team hopes to finish the design in 2026.
MARCH 2025: Town voters approve the town’s pursuit of a State Revolving Fund loan for the project, which would allow a loan of up to $33 million to finance the project at a lower interest rate compared to revenue bonds.
The black line running from the Key to the orange dot represents the townowned wastewater pipeline.
Courtesy image
Photograph of the pipe lying on its side at the town of Longboat Key’s Public Works Department. The breach was in the bottom invert of the pipe.
Serious questions for Fauci
Dr. Anthony Fauci was deceitful and dishonest throughout the pandemic. During his Ringling Town Hall Q&A, he should be asked for the truth.
MATT WALSH
To their credit, the organizers of the Ringling College Town Hall Lecture Series over the decades have attracted as speakers some of the most powerful and influential world leaders in modern times.
That is quite extraordinary for a small arts college and its library association in the minor market of Sarasota.
As many long-time Town Hall attendees know, however, more often than not, these world and national leaders seldom reveal, or have revealed, inner-circle details and never-been-told newsworthy information. For obvious reasons, to an extent.
What’s more, attendees also have witnessed speakers such as John Brennan and James Comey avoid addressing what the audiences really wanted to hear — the truth.
On April 14, the Town Hall audience should expect more of the same — more obfuscation and evasion — when Dr. Anthony Fauci takes the stage. He has been the master of dishonest discourse over the past five years.
Indeed, among the most accomplished doctors and scientists from around the world agree unequivocally that the following is true:
Dr. Anthony Fauci is the, or one of the, most deceptive and dishonest American public servants in modern history. The evidence is irrefutable.
HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and a team of lawyers present documented evidence in their book, “The Real Anthony Fauci,” which we urge you to read. Likewise, similar evidence is documented in “The Pfizer Papers,” by Naomi Wolf and Amy Kelly, another book worth reading.
Dr. Peter McCullough, the nation’s most published physician in the field of kidney-cardiac disease and a pioneer in creating effective nonvaccine, life-saving treatments for COVID-19, told us:
“Of the 1.2 million Americans who died with COVID-19, it’s my estimate 85% could’ve been saved by early treatment protocols that Dr. Anthony Fauci strongly suppressed.
“To make matters worse, Fauci was a relentless promoter of the disastrous COVID-19 vaccines … Sadly, we have between 550,000 to 600,000 Americans who have died as a result of COVID-19 vaccination. Fauci, in my view, is guilty of two crimes: fraud and mass negligent homicide.”
So, after Dr. Fauci delivers his lecture to the Town Hall audience April 14, rather than lob him the usual, nonconfrontational questions during the Q&A session, we have composed 33 detailed questions to which Fauci owes answers to the world and American people. We’re publishing 17 of the questions on this page. To read all 33, go to YourObserver.com/Opinion.
WUHAN & LOCKDOWNS
■ 1) Why did you deny your/ NIH’s role in the gain of function research associated with SARSCoV-2?
■ 2) Why did you so vehemently deny the Wuhan lab leak “theory” (now considered to be a fact) when all evidence showed it was most likely that COVID-19 got introduced into the human population?
■ 3) Why did you recommend social distancing when it had no scientific basis and was only based on a high school science experiment by a New Mexican teenager?
■ 4) Why did you support closing schools, as well, downplaying the mental and educational fallout to children, knowing the minuscule risk of COVID-19 to that age group, as well as the extremely small risk of them transmitting it to other age groups?
FAILURE OF HEALTH AGENCIES
■ 5) Robert F. Kennedy Jr., in “The Real Anthony Fauci,” wrote that not once in your press briefings from March to May 2020 did you ever instruct Americans how to bolster their immune response to COVID. Not once did you mention avoiding tobacco, to get plenty of sunlight, maintain adequate Vitamin D levels, lose weight or avoid sugar, soft drinks, processed foods and chemical residues, all of which amplify inflammation and compromise your immune responses.
Nor did you advise the use of zinc, which has been a widely peerreviewed antidote to viral replication. Said Dr. Pierre Kory, a widely acclaimed critical care specialist: “It is absolutely shocking that he recommended no outpatient care, not even Vitamin D, despite the fact he takes it himself and much of the country is Vitamin D deficient.”
Why did you not advise Americans of these steps?
■ 6) By Sept. 30, 2021, the U.S., with 4% of the world’s population, suffered 14.5% of total COVID deaths worldwide — 2,107 per 1,000,000, the highest death rate.
Now consider the following comment:
Dr. McCullough told RFK: “Using repurposed drugs (e.g. ivermectin, hydroxychloroquine), we could have ended this pandemic by May 2020 and saved 500,000 American lives.”
How do you respond to that statement?
■ 7) Dr. Kory: “The outcome we should have been trying to prevent is hospitalizations. You don’t just sit around and wait for an infected patient to become ill. Dr. Fauci’s treatment strategies all began once all these under-medicated patients were hospitalized. By that time, it was too late for many of them. It was insane. It was perverse. It was unethical.”
Please comment.
DISCREDITING HYDROXYCHLOROQUINE
■ 8) The Philippines, Poland, Israel, Turkey, Spain, Italy, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Nigeria, Ethiopia, Mozambique, Niger, Congo, Ivory Coast, Bangladesh, Senegal, Pakistan, Serbia, Nigeria and Ukraine, among other nations, all allowed access to hydroxychloroquine.
published in the world’s premier, scientific journal, the Lancet. In contrast, RFK reported your remdesivir study was not peer reviewed. What’s more, he reported that as you were sitting in the Oval Office one day, in spite of having knowledge of the Chinese abandonment of remdesivir, you claimed your study had proven remdesivir so remarkably beneficial to COVID-19 patients that you decided it would be unethical to deny Americans benefits of this wonder drug.
Will you admit that during that Oval Office pronouncement you were deceiving the American people? Or, explain otherwise.
KILLER VACCINES
■ 12) Why didn’t you and NIH disclose all of the many known adverse events, including death, of the COVID-19 mRNA vaccines, including those reported by clinicians in the clinical trial post-marketing documentation?
■ 13) From “The Pfizer Papers:”
and Andrew Hill presented data to the National Institutes of Health COVID-19 Treatment Guideline Panel, with Kory testifying that: “IVM could reduce hospitalizations by almost 90% and deaths by almost 75%. If hydroxychloroquine and IVM had been widely used instead of systematically suppressed, we could have prevented at least 500,000 deaths and 4.8 million hospitalizations.”
And yet, in the face of persistent evidence of the effectiveness of IVM, your organization (NIAID), the FDA, CDC, the European Medical Association and the WHO all issued statements advising against the use of ivermectin for COVID-19.
Why did all of you sabotage the use of ivermectin? The evidence is overwhelming that you did.
■ 10) Consider these statistics:
According to court filings by attorney Andrew Schlafly, who represented the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons, “The mortality rate from COVID-19 in these countries that allowed access to hydroxychloroquine is only onetenth the mortality rate in countries where there has been interference with this medication.”
And yet you, public health agencies and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation persisted in denying Americans access to this drug. Will you admit and acknowledge that with all of the worldwide data that existed in 2020, you knew the drug was effective?
Furthermore, will you admit you, the HHS, FDA, the WHO, the Gates Foundation and major pharmaceutical companies all participated in an intentional campaign to discredit hydroxychloroquine, even though all of you knew that it was effective in treating the early onset of COVID-19 in 2020?
If your answer is you will not admit that, how can you convince us that you are not lying?
DISCREDITING IVERMECTIN
■ 9) Throughout 2020, there were multiple legitimate studies confirming the effectiveness of ivermectin. In addition, countries all over the world were reporting how ivermectin was hugely successful in reducing the outbreak and deaths from COVID-19.
In January 2021, well into the pandemic, three leading COVID-19 physicians, Drs. Kory, Paul Marik
In more than 30 years, ivermectin has been associated with only 379 reported deaths — a death per dose reporting ratio of one to 10,584,408.
In contrast, over the 18 months after remdesivir received emergency use authorization, about one-and-a-half million patients received the drug, with a death per dose reporting ratio of one per 1,000.
Among recipients of COVID-19 vaccines in the U.S. during the 10 months after their rollout, 17,000 deaths occurred following vaccination — a reported death per dose ratio of one per 13,250.
Ivermectin, therefore, is thousands of times safer than Remdesivir and the vaccines.
But even as late as Aug. 29, 2021, during a CNN interview you said: “There is no evidence whatsoever that ivermectin works.”
When will you acknowledge to the American people that you lied to them, and that instead of promoting two effective drugs, you promoted drugs and vaccines that were thousand times less safe and less effective than hydroxychloroquine and ivermectin?
DEADLY REMDESIVIR
■ 11) A Chinese study showed remdesivir ineffective at keeping hospitalized patients alive or reducing the duration of hospitalizations. The Chinese study also confirmed severe deadly toxicity. The Chinese shuttered its remdesivir trial because of its potentially lethal side effects.
This study was a randomized, double blind, placebo controlled, multicenter, peer reviewed study
“If we are to build a better world, we must remember that the guiding principle is this — a policy of freedom for the individual is the only truly progressive policy.” Friedrich Hayek “Road to Serfdom,” 1944
President and Publisher / Emily Walsh, EWalsh@YourObserver.com
Executive Editor and COO / Kat Wingert, KWingert@YourObserver.com
Managing Editor / Michael Harris, MHarris@YourObserver.com
Staff Writers / Dana Kampa, DKampa@ YourObserver.com; Carter Weinhofer, CWeinhofer@YourObserver.com
Digital & Engagement Editor / Kaelyn Adix, KAdix@YourObserver.com
A+E Editor / Monica Roman Gagnier, MGagnier@YourObserver.com
“By the time Pfizer’s vaccine rolled out to the public, the pharmaceutical giant knew that it would be killing babies and significantly harming women and men’s reproduction. The material in the documents makes it clear that damaging human’s ability to reproduce and causing spontaneous abortions of babies is ‘not a bug; it is a feature.’”
Why were Americans not informed of this?
■ 14) Why did you or public health officials not report to the American people that Pfizer knew within three months that its vaccines did not work to stop COVID, that, in fact, its vaccines were linked to a myriad of adverse events?
■ 15) Why weren’t the American people informed that by April 2021 Pfizer knew that its injections damaged the hearts of young people?
■ 16) We could go on and on with questions about horrific stories of people who are suffering, have suffered and died from the mRNA vaccines.
Here is the key question: You and other federal officials, along with the pharmaceutical companies, knew about the risks and likely adverse effects of these vaccines. And yet you did not inform the public. Rather, you spent millions and millions of taxpayers’ dollars to shame every American into getting jabbed with these faulty drugs.
Why did you not tell the American people the truth?
■ 17) Final question: In the March 4 edition of the Wall Street Journal, Scott W. Atlas, a COVID-19 adviser to President Trump during the pandemic and a senior fellow at Stanford University’s Hoover Institution, wrote:
“Failure to demand and issue official statements of truth about the pandemic management after the devastation endured by millions would eliminate all accountability. And accountability is just what we need to restore trust in institutions and among fellow citizens.
“What about setting the record straight, officially recognizing the truth, demanding accountability?”
Are you, Dr. Fauci, willing to apologize tonight to the American people that you purposefully misled them and were wrong about hydroxychloroquine, ivermectin, remdesivir and the mRNA vaccines?
Postscript: Sadly, there has been no accountability and no one held accountable for what Naomi Wolf’s book, “The Pfizer Papers,” calls “Crimes against humanity.”
Dr. Pierre Kory is one of the courageous warriors and heroes who fought for the use of hydroxychloroquine and ivermectin and helped create life-saving protocols as a founding member of the FLCCC. He was severely ostracized from the medical establishment — and still is, as are Drs. McCullough, Paul Marik and many others. Being on the front line of this worldwide tragedy and travesty, Kory told RFK Jr. that he has seen first-hand “some of the worst people in human history. They are responsible for the deaths of millions.”
And with no accountability.
Amy Kelly, one of the authors of “The Pfizer Papers,” contributed to this report.
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Dr. Anthony Fauci, former director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease, is expected to speak April 14 at the Ringling College Tow Hall Lecture Series at the Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall.
Christ Church begins expansion plan
“We were able to support Dr. Reed in creating a full practice on Longboat Key,” Piermont said.
Christ Church of Longboat Key is advancing plans for the organization’s long-term vision for increased parking and spiritual connectivity.
Demolition of the plaza next to Christ Church, which housed offices such as Reed Medical Group, occurred in the last two weeks, leaving the lot empty for the church’s plan.
Christ Church purchased the 1.3-acre lot and plaza in 2015 for $1.1 million under a limited liability company, 6350 GMD LLC, organized by church representatives, but not under the name of Christ Church since the church is a nonprofit organization.
The Rev. Julia Piermont of Christ Church said the church spent some money to renovate the plaza when it purchased the property, and one goal was to help support Dr. James Reed.
Reed operated into 2024, but within a 13-month span, Piermont said the plaza flooded three times. The last time was in Hurricane Helene, which Piermont said caused significant flooding to the building. Discussions between church representatives and the tenants ensued and Piermont said both sides realized continuing the same path with the risk of future flooding was not ideal.
“We all agreed this was not viable anymore,” Piermont said.
Reed received an opportunity to move his practice into The Paradise Center on the south end of Longboat Key, and the two sides came to an agreement.
“For us, it was the natural time to go forward with our long-term plan,” Piermont said.
Reed moved into the Paradise Medical Suite in the week after Hurricane Milton. His practice took over
The church hopes to increase parking and add outdoor space.
the space from Dr. Daren Spinelle, who was uncertain about continuing his practice in the Paradise Medical Suite.
Piermont added she and other church representatives felt satisfied with how they could catalyze Reed’s goal of having a full-service practice on Longboat Key, but it was time to move forward with what had been the church’s long-term plan.
The lot at 6350 Gulf of Mexico Drive, next to Christ Church, now stands dormant with the plaza demolished and the land leveled.
For Christ Church, one focus of this new project is to increase parking for its active congregation.
During the peak tourist and snowbird season, Piermont said it’s often a full congregation in the church, with continued support throughout the rest of the year, too.
While the focus is increasing parking, Piermont described it as putting the “park” back in “parking lot.” This includes a beautification aspect that
makes the area visually appealing and connected to the church.
“Our goal is to be spiritually inviting from the curb,” Piermont said.
The church is in conversations with landscape architects to plan and develop the lot, but because of a list of preliminary and detailed steps needing to take place, there is no set timeline for the project or end date in mind, according to Piermont.
This long-term vision was in mind when the church voted to purchase the property in 2015.
The church’s congregation at the time unanimously approved the purchase during a Sunday service in April 2015.
According to a previous article published by the Observer, the church agreed to honor the leases for the existing tenants before moving forward with its plans.
Christ Church formed in 2005 and started its meetings at Bayfront Park before moving to Mediterranean Plaza a year later.
Then, members of the church began discussions to build a worship center and started the Just Imagine fundraising campaign, which raised $4.5 million by 2009 to build the church. Construction began in 2010 on what is now Christ Church.
Members then began the Just Imagine II campaign to raise addi tional funds for the additional park ing and property purchase. The plan was to raise funds for the purchase and also pay off some of the church’s remaining construction debt to free up additional funding for mission and outreach purposes.
RENOVATIONS AROUND THE CHURCH
Aside from the lot at 6350 Gulf of Mexico Drive, Christ Church is working on other improvements to its buildings due to storm damage. This includes an updated, fresh look to the corner office, which includes the church office, library, classrooms and meeting space. The building was flooded during Hurricane Helene.
Piermont
including with financial
#1 COLDWELL BANKER SINGLE AGENT IN SOUTHWEST FLORIDA
Photos by Carter Weinhofer
Christ Church of Longboat Key plans to repurpose the lot at 6350 Gulf of Mexico Drive to increase parking and part of a beautification project.
The plaza at 6350 Gulf of Mexico Drive sustained substantial flooding during a 13-month period that included Hurricanes Debby and Helene.
tion by garnering 68.3% of residents’ votes for the at-large commission seat left vacant as Vice Mayor Mike Haycock reaches his term limit.
With a week to reflect on his victory, Branham said he’s been able to absorb the reality and is ready for what’s ahead.
“I’m looking forward to joining the commission officially and starting to help deal with challenging issues that we face as an island,” Branham said.
Branham will officially become a commissioner during a swearing in at a statutory meeting on Monday, March 24, at 9 a.m.
Branham has been familiar with many town issues during his 13 years of living on Longboat Key.
A large part of that familiarity came from being married to Assistant to the Town Manager Susan Phillips, who has worked for the town for about 27 years. He said he’s also had several friends on the commission in the past, which has helped him stay up to date with town issues.
Branham has also served on the town’s Consolidated Retirement System Board of Trustees, of which he has been the chair since 2014.
This is a position he will have to resign because of his town commission victory.
“I’ll unfortunately have to give that up. That’s been great work,” Branham said.
He added the Consolidated Retirement System Board of Trustees has been a great spot for him, and it was rewarding to help take care of the town’s retirees.
Having these background experiences will allow him to not be blind going into the commission.
“All of that is something to reflect on and prepare me for the new challenges of being a commissioner,” Branham said.
Immediately following the statutory meeting, the town commission will hold a regular workshop.
Branham had not yet received an
Branham readies to take his seat
Steve Branham will take an oath and his at-large commission seat during a statutory meeting on March 24.
information packet for the workshop as of Monday, March 17, but he said he would be ready to do his homework when he receives it.
His professional background will also be helpful when entering this new endeavor.
Branham spent much of his life serving in the U.S. Coast Guard, rising to the rank of rear admiral and later served as the chief financial officer for the organization. As CFO, he managed the organization’s budget of about $10 billion. He also served as a senior executive
of a profit center in disaster response management, where he worked with organizations like the Federal Emergency Management Agency and state and local governments.
For six years, Branham was on the Suncoast Blood Centers board of directors, serving four as president.
Within the Longboat Key community, Branham has served on the board of the Longboat Key Foundation and the Longboat Key Garden Club, the latter of which he has been involved in for 10 years.
WHAT’S NEXT
Commissioner-elect Steve Branham will become the new atlarge commissioner on March 24.
The swearing in of Branham to the at-large commission seat is taking place on Monday, March 24, during a statutory meeting at 9 a.m.
Also, the town commission will choose its mayor and vice mayor for the year. Mike Haycock, the current vice mayor, will no longer be a commissioner after Branham takes his at-large seat. Haycock reached his two-term commission limit.
The Town Commission is required by statute to have an annual meeting where it appoints a mayor and vice mayor.
Each animal will also receive a gift and a certificate. All animals must be on a leash or in a cage.
Walkable Luxury is Coming Soon to the Quiet Side of Downtown
A symphony of Sarasota living has everyone buzzing for the future of S. Palm Avenue. The soon-to-beunveiled Adagio Sarasota is planned to infuse fresh energy into this arts-focused district near Bayfront Park. Its name, inspired by the musical term for a flow, slowing tempo, reflects its plan to balance vibrant city life with the calming rhythm of waterfront tranquility.
Steps from Sarasota’s Best Walkability is inspiring the design for these spacious residences. Residents of Aadagio will be steps away from dining, shopping, and cultural experiences galore. They’ll enjoy easy access to iconic destinations like the Marie Selby Botanical Gardens’ downtown campus, as well as an array of art galleries along S. Palm Avenue. The Sarasota Opera House, Florida Studio Theatre, and Jazz Club of Sarasota will also be just a short walk away. Yet, after enjoying Sarasota’s buzzing cultural scene,
residents will return to what is planned as an urban coastal retreat, complete with sweeping views of Sarasota Bay.
Industry-Leading Partnerships
The team behind Adagio Sarasota brings decades of global experience in luxury development. R&P Holdings, a firm with over 30 years of success, was the first to recognize the potential of this prime S. Palm Avenue location. With a track record of creating high-end communities in Florida, Michigan, Arizona, and Pennsylvania, they saw an opportunity to deliver something truly special. R&P Holdings partnered with Southwest Florida innovators Barron Collier Companies and The Lutgert Companies to bring Adagio Sarasota to life.
Barron Collier Companies has shaped the region for over a
century, dating back to 1911 when its founder introduced the area’s first telephone service, railroad, and bus company. Today, the firm is known for developing luxury condominiums like Genova, the Fronterra community, and the expansive 5,000-acre town of Ave Maria.
The Lutgert Companies, with a six-decade legacy in residential and commercial development, have also left their mark across the Southeast. In Southwest Florida, they’ve worked alongside Barron Collier Companies to create mixeduse destinations like Mercato and The Village on Venetian Bay.
An Architectural Icon in the Making
To bring their vision to life, the development trio has enlisted award-winning Kobi Karp architecture. Based in Miami, this renowned firm has nearly 30 years of experience in high-rise
residential, hospitality, and retail designs. Their $36 billion portfolio spans the Caribbean, Far East, Black Sea, Gulf, and Middle East, with a strong presence on Florida’s East Coast. The development team saw the firm’s innovative design and expertise as the perfect fit for this dynamic and evolving location. Adagio Sarasota will be Karp’s first venture in the Downtown Sarasota region.
Backed by a world-class development team, Adagio Sarasota has been designed to become a defining landmark in downtown living. Details on floorplans, residential features, and resortstyle amenities will be unveiled soon. To be among the first to receive updates, register your interest at AdagioSarasota.com.
ARTS APR L IN
What is the cost of Gulf of America?
On Feb. 24, Gov. Ron DeSantis, in an effort to cut back Florida’s spending, announced he signed an executive order to establish a statelevel version of DOGE to eliminate wasteful government spending. Days later, Sen. Joe Gruters, R-Sarasota, introduced Senate Bill 1058 that proposes to rename Tamiami Trail/U.S. 41 between State Road 60 and U.S. 1 in MiamiDade, Collier, Lee, Charlotte, Sarasota, Manatee and Hillsborough counties as “Gulf of America Trail.”
What is the financial cost of the name change to government and business?
How many street signs will need to be changed and at what cost to taxpayers in making the signs, removing the old signs, installing the new signs, disposing of the old signs, changing state maps and changing state brochures distributed through the state and in other states to attract visitors?
How many businesses are along Tamiami Trail? What is the cost for the businesses to change their signage, menus, contracts/purchase orders, business cards, business displays, websites, etc.?
Tamiami Trail is a key 284-mile roadway in Southwest Florida. It has been in existence since 1928 and built through the Everglades as a way to remove the economic development barrier between Tampa and Miami.
If we are looking at cutting back waste, why would our elected officials be in favor of the name change? Is not the current name descriptive of the great connector of the state?
BETH GOTTHELF LONGBOAT KEY
Keep The Ringling under FSU stewardship
I have just read your March 6, 2025, Opinion from the Longboat Observer regarding the possible transfer of the Ringling Museum to New College of Florida. As a past chair and board mem-
ber of the John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art Foundation, I am deeply disturbed by the prospect of this transfer. I cannot think of a worse thing that could happen to The Ringling.
I visited the museum when it was under the stewardship of the secretary of state’s office, and there were 50-gallon trash cans collecting rainwater in the Rubens Gallery!
FSU President Sandy D’Alemberte appointed me to the board in 2003. When he agreed to take control of the museum, D’Alemberte requested the Legislature provide funds to cover the deferred maintenance at the museum and for several projects that were in the planning stages. When these funds were approved, the FSU Board of Trustees released one-half of the funds and challenged the Ringling Foundation trustees to confirm they could raise the funds that would help with the projects and cover the increased operating costs of the expanded Ringling campus.
I worked with the foundation chair, Vern Buchanan, and the other board members to raise the required funds in fewer than 12 months. These funds were used for the McKay Visitors Center, the Searing Wing, the Tibbals Learning Center and the restoration of Ca d’Zan. Thank goodness for the hard work and foresight of Bob Johnson, Bob Blalock, John McKay and Sandy D’Alemberte.
I do not believe that New College has the capacity to manage the Ringling Museum, maintain its facilities and continue the high level of programming that has been and should be provided in the future to the citizens of and visitors to Florida.
As the State Museum of Florida, the Ringling Museum needs to remain part of FSU.
FRANK “SANDY” RIEF III TAMPA
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TRIBUTES
Gloria Ann Long, age 80, of Longboat Key, FL passed away on March 1, 2025, peacefully in her sleep. She is finally at rest after a long, courageous battle with Bladder Cancer.
Born and raised in Chicago, IL, she moved to Avon Park, Florida in 1979, where she met the love of her life, Charles “Chuck” Long. Together they enjoyed life on the lake in the sunshine, traveling and spending time with friends and family. From childhood she dreamed of becoming a nurse, and that dream became a reality. Everyone that knew her can agree; with her tender heart and warm touch, she was an amazing nurse. Her passion was saving lives, helping the sick, and loving and caring for hurting families.
Gloria’s life was full of zest, she loved to sing, dance, cook, entertain, and care for others. After moving to LBK in 2010, her greatest blessings were her church family, and the many friendships made. She loved being part of her condo social committee, and volunteering through the years at Mote Marine Aquarium, The Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall, and her church just to name a few. We know that our sweet angel Gloria is now rejoicing in the presence of God.
Gloria is preceded in death by her father and mother, Bernard and Theresa Mansavage; brother,
Gloria Ann Long 1945-2025 443139-1
and
Long
She is survived by her three children; sons, Eric (Sandra) Larsen of Lutz, FL; Daniel Larsen (Ali Leite) of Boca Raton, FL; and daughter Kimberly (Jonathan) Spies of Kannapolis, NC; grandchildren- Hannah, Christian, Ethan, Gabe, Allison, Joshua and Tessa; three nephews and two nieces.
SERVICE:
A memorial service will be held Saturday, April 12, 2025, at 11:00 am. in the Longboat Island Chapel, located at 6200 Gulf of Mexico Drive, Longboat Key, FL. 34428 with Rev. Brock Patterson and Rev. Jeffrey Nunes officiating.
Officers sworn in under Sarasota County
The cross-deputization will help Longboat Key PD patrol Sarasota Bay.
As part of a new cross-deputization agreement, Sarasota County Sheriff Kurt Hoffman came to Longboat Key to swear in a group of officers from the Longboat Key Police Department.
Eight officers of the Longboat Key Police Department’s recent marine patrol unit expansion took the county’s oath to enforce Florida law across jurisdictional boundaries on the water.
Interim Chief of Police Frank Rubino said the process is a longstanding practice with both counties.
When Hoffman took over as the Sarasota County Sheriff, he noted one of his priorities was to build partnerships with local municipal police departments.
“His priority was to form strong
partnerships among all law enforcement agencies in Sarasota County so they’re all working together to make the area safer,” Rubino said.
The Longboat Key Police Department enhanced its marine patrol methodology from having one fulltime marine patrol officer in 2023 to now having multiple officers trained to patrol or respond to emergencies regularly.
“We expanded our unit so we have marine officers on every shift,” Rubino said.
Because of this increased manpower on the water, Hoffman arranged to have the marine patrol officers cross-deputized to respond to incidents on the water without the hassle of jurisdictional boundaries.
Without the cross-deputization, Rubino said Longboat Key marine patrol officers would have to call for a county deputy to respond to an incident.
“Longboat Key has a specified area. If it was a rescue, it wouldn’t matter. But if it was a crime to happen out there, we would have to signal for Sarasota County Sheriff’s officers to come out,” Rubino said.
The officers sworn in under Sarasota County can respond to incidents across Longboat Key’s boundary and assist the county’s sheriff’s office with calls when necessary.
Officers on the water or on land are permitted to cross jurisdictional boundaries when in active pursuit of a suspect, but this agreement expands those permissions to enforcement on the water when not in pursuit.
“It helps when they’re on the water for all the agencies to work together,” Rubino said.
Manatee County has also utilized a similar practice with Longboat Key, typically for a detective and marine patrol officer, according to Rubino.
Arthur J. Mansavage;
husband, Charles H.
III.
CARTER WEINHOFER STAFF WRITER
Courtesy image
Longboat Key Police Department officers were sworn in by the Sarasota County Sheriff’s Office to allow them to cross jurisdictions, specifically with marine patrol.
SARASOTA’S MOST Extraordinary NEW ADDRESS
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Sarasota Memorial Presents
SATURDAY, MARCH 8 PARKING SIGN CONFUSION
10:58 a.m., 3100 block of Gulf of Mexico Drive Citizen Assist: A beachgoer called emergency services to report “no parking” signs at a public beach access point. Dispatch sent an officer to the scene and said the caller claimed to have parked at this location for years and never noticed this sign before. At the scene, the responding officer met with the caller and said the temporary “no parking” signs were there to prevent people from parking on the right-of-way, not the beach access lot.
FISHERMAN CAN’T VERIFY PERMISSION
2:39 p.m., 500 block of Harbor Cove Circle Suspicious Person: Dispatch sent a Longboat Key officer to a report of trespassing individuals. The responding officer located a man fishing on a dock behind a property that was under construction. The fisherman claimed he spoke with the owner the previous day and received permission to fish there, but he did not know the owner’s name or contact information. The officer said since he could not verify the story, he should get permission again before coming back to fish. The man understood and left the area without further issue.
MONDAY, MARCH 10
TWICE IN ONE DAY
11:34 a.m., 500 block of Ketch Lane
MYSTERIOUSLY APPEARING KEYS
1:17 p.m., 5400 block of Gulf of Mexico Drive
Lost/Found Property: A woman and her husband entered the Longboat Key Police Station to report found property. According to the wife, the couple left their condo on March 7 for several hours and when they returned home, they noticed a key chain with a single key and fob in the key bowl near the front door. She said the keys did not belong to them and they had no clue how the keys got into their condo unit. There were no signs of forced entry, nothing appeared to be missing or out of place and the door was still locked when they returned home that day. The couple spoke to condominium staff members, who said the keys did not belong to any employees or other residents, and the couple said no workers had been inside the unit recently. The officer took the keys for safekeeping and contacted the key fob company with the hope that any numbers on the keys or fob could identify the owner. Neither company had replied at the time this report, and it is still unknown how the keys got inside the couple’s condo.
Vehicle Stop: A license plate reader alerted officers to a driver operating a vehicle with a suspended driver’s license. An officer on patrol located the vehicle and confirmed through a database query the driver’s license had been suspended since December 2024. The driver said she was pulled over less than an hour earlier for driving with a suspended license without knowledge of the suspension and showed the Longboat officer the warning issued earlier. According to her, the Sarasota Police Department officer who pulled her over said she could proceed to her destination. Despite her story, the Longboat officer concluded she continued to operate the vehicle while knowing her license was suspended, so the driver was issued a criminal citation for that reason.
TUESDAY, MARCH 11
NOT A PROPER NAPPING SPOT
10:30 a.m., 600 block of Spanish Drive North
Suspicious Incident: A resident walked into the Longboat Key Police Station to report she found an unknown man sleeping in her lanai. She said when she asked the man what he was doing, he said he worked for a landscaping company doing work in the area and took a nap. According to her report, the sleepy man apologized and left on his lawn mower. The resident said she did not want to press charges and simply wanted to make a report.
FREE LECTURE SERIES
Maintaining Vascular Health The Signs, The Screening & The Solutions
From the aorta to the smallest capillaries, the human body contains approximately 60,000 miles of blood vessels. Carrying oxygen and nutrients while removing waste, the circulatory system is a wonder of biological logistics — and a lot of ground to cover for the vascular surgeons and specialists at Sarasota Memorial. Join our vascular experts this month as they discuss the importance of screening, modern management of vascular disease, and the latest in surgical innovation. A brief Q&A will follow each presentation.
Tuesday, April 1, 4:30-5:30pm
} Ryan S. Suplee, MD, RPVI - Lower Extremity Swelling – Causes and Treatments
Thursday, April 3, 4:30-5:30pm
} Jason K., Wagner, MD, FACS, FSVS, RPVI - Carotid Disease
Tuesday, April 15, 4:30-5:30pm
} Richard C., Hershberger, MD, FACS, RVT, RPVI - Vascular Disease and You – To Screen or Not to Screen
} Jeffrey Edwards, MD, FACS, RPVI - Minimally Invasive Aortic Surgery: Advancing Care with New Technology
Ryan S. Suplee, MD
Jason K., Wagner, MD
Richard C., Hershberger, MD
Inkyong K., Parrack, MD
Jeffrey Edwards, MD
Make A Plan.
It Makes a Difference.
Taking a few moments now can make a significant difference for your loved ones down the road. From removing the stress and financial burdens to fulfilling your exact wishes for your celebration of life, pre-planning is the best gift you can give your family.
We’re here to help. Give us a call today to start the conversation.
hether proudly celebrating their Irish heritage or looking for a bit o’ fun among friends as the peak season begins to wind down on Longboat Key, celebrants found many ways to enjoy Saint Patrick’s Day.
Monday afternoon, St. Armands Circle was particularly busy at Lynches Pub & Grub, the classic Irish ale house, doled out the iconic green beer. The business was proud to offer more than 120 Irish whiskeys, Guinness, corned beef and other traditional Irish fare.
Paul and Jean Whelan were happy to celebrate with Eugene Cotter and Bridget Moran, visiting from Ireland. Paul drew many cheerful smiles from passersby with his hair and mustache, dyed bright green.
Later in the day, All Angels by the Sea Episcopal Church held a celebration of its own, featuring a performance by vocalists Johanna Davis, Tasha Robinson and Linda Mento-Rei.
Parishioners then enjoyed an Irish-themed feast with a hearty stew and berry crumble that cook Jinx Kochan said took several days to prepare. But she said the task becomes easier every year with experience and is a labor of love.
Partiers at Longboat Harbour Condominiums were some of the earliest to kick off the fun this week, hosting a more than four-hour extravaganza on March 14.
KAMPA
Jean Whelan, Bridget Moran, Eugene Cotter and Paul Whelan celebrate St. Patrick’s Day on St. Armands Circle.
Irishwoman Ellen Roderick enjoys a potato at the dinner and concert held March 17 at All Angels by the Sea Episcopal Church.
The Drake School of Irish Dancers performs at Longboat Harbour Condominiums for Saint Patrick’s Day.
Photos by Dana Kampa
Keep the checks flowing
The Kiwanis Club of Longboat Key has long supported the Children’s Guardian Fund, a Sarasota nonprofit helping children in the foster system.
IAN SWABY STAFF WRITER
For the past several years, the Longboat Key Lawn Party held by the Kiwanis Club of Longboat Key has benefited the Children’s Guardian Fund in Sarasota, said club
President Michael Garey.
Last year, the event wasn’t able to happen because of the three successive hurricanes, two of which severely affected the island.
Yet, that didn’t stop the efforts of the club, which decided to draw from its account to fund the organization, which responds to the needs of children in state or foster care.
“Our club felt that although we couldn’t have the event, couldn’t raise the money, the need is still there, so we decided to take $50,000 out of our Kiwanis operating account,” Garey said.
While the highlight of the Kiwanis club’s monthly meeting, held March 13 at Lazy Lobster of Longboat Key, was the check presentation to the Children’s Guardian Fund, announcements also emphasized another charity effort.
The club’s Pancake Breakfast, a long-standing tradition which had been discontinued, returns April 5 at Lazy Lobster.
PROMOTING CHILD WELFARE
Staff at the Children’s Guardian Fund said the check will help provide the services of the Sarasota-based organization, which is privately funded.
“This check is really important, because we typically get about ($80,000) to $90,000 from Kiwanis in December through the Lawn Party effort,” said Executive Director Svetlana Ivashchenko.
The organization responds to the needs of children when abusive or neglectful homes forces the removal of them and state and local agencies cannot meet their needs.
Its emergency essentials and support include provisions not limited to clothes, tutoring, summer camp,
IF YOU GO
KIWANIS CLUB OF LONGBOAT KEY PANCAKE BREAKFAST
When: 8-11 a.m., Saturday, April 5
Where: Lazy Lobster, 5350 Gulf of Mexico Drive, Longboat Key Tickets: $15; children 12 and younger, $10.
driving lessons and other observed needs, which can even be an item, such as a musical instrument. The organization tries to provide one guardian for each child.
President Andrew Chiang said currently there are about 800 children in its care.
Past President Cynthia Craig said she thinks the major need of the children is tutoring and recounted a story in which a child formed a parental bond with his tutor.
“In the last session, he started to cry because he said, ‘I’ll never see him again,’” she said. “The tutor said, ‘You can see me as many times as you want, for as long as you want.’”
She said the tutor agreed to continue regardless of being paid.
“There are a lot of very good people in this organization,” she said.
Garey said despite the Lawn Party
not taking place, the club made the decision to continue its support for the organization.
“After discussion amongst the board, we decided that it was time to do what was right and to come up with something for the kids, the Children’s Guardian Fund, that we so proudly support,” he said during the meeting.
Ivashchenko said the support the organization receives from the club goes beyond a financial level.
“Not only is it important from the financial standpoint, but we also get a lot of exposure on Longboat Key, and we’ve been able to network with a lot of different individuals and spread the message about what’s
WORSHIP directory
going on in foster care and the different needs that our kids have,” she said.
Declining attendance forced the cancellation of the Pancake Breakfast, which supports local children’s charities, Garey said.
Previously held at St. Mary, Star of the Sea, the revival of the breakfast is moving to Lazy Lobster, which Garey co-owns.
“The fact that I can promote it here will generate interest and make it be a happening thing again, which it was for 20 years,” Garey said.
In the future, the club also won’t have to look as far for available funds, with the Lawn Party making its return in December.
Photos by Ian Swaby Svetlana Ivashchenko, executive director of the Children’s Guardian Fund, talks with Nick Gladding of the Kiwanis Club.
Club members and individuals from the Children’s Guardian Fund gather with a big check. From left: Svetlana Ivashchenko, Andrew Chiang, Chris Sachs, Marlis Carter, Jim Larson, Lynn Larson, Bob Gault, Cynthia Craig and Michael Garey
YOUR NEIGHBORS
DIAMOND in the
RUFF
DANA KAMPA STAFF WRITER
Since last fall, members of a fledgling top-tier society have been subtly, yet diligently, working away to ensure the beloved animals of the community get the care they need.
The Longboat Key-based Diamond Collar Society is a new fundraising arm of the Humane Society of Sarasota County that aims to establish long-term funding for animal welfare.
Most recently, organizers, including Longboater Melinda Foster, hosted a membership drive at The Mark, where they highlighted some
Longboat Key’s premier ‘secret society’ holds animal welfare at its core.
of their milestones with the Humane Society.
HSSC Board President Janet Boyden lauded Foster’s “phenomenal” efforts to engage more than 60 members, securing more than $300,000 in donations.
With that support, the Humane Society made 3,000 rescues in 2024 and hopes to raise that number to 5,000 this year. Boyden said that goal is a challenge, but she believes it is possible, especially in light of the Diamond Collar Society’s support. Foster explained members must contribute at least $1,000 for a minimum of two years to join, which helps ensure the Humane Society receives stable funding to support its mission.
“If it’s a multiyear commitment, the Humane Society can count on that money,” she explained. She was especially proud, considering their major fundraising efforts only got underway in earnest in November.
“We’re completely grassroots,” Foster said. “We’re almost like a secret society.”
Thus far, society leaders have raised their membership almost entirely through word of mouth. New members enjoy the benefits of exclusive networking and social opportunities, underwritten by Diamon Collar Society members to ensure 100% of funds raised go to HSSC.
“It’s not really about the benefits though,” Foster told the Observer. “It’s about the good feeling in your heart. Some people ask, ‘Why would I give $10,000 or $100,000 rather than $1,000?’ It’s because you can. You have the capacity. You’ve worked hard and been blessed, and now you want to give back.”
Foster said while she is proud of the work the Diamond Collar Society has done, she does not want to set any specific fundraising goals for this first year to ensure there is no ceiling and it keeps reaching for new heights. But if she had to offer a number, she would hope to one day reach 1,000 members.
DEBUNKING MISCONCEPTIONS
While they had an audience, HSSC members took an opportunity to do some debunking.
Attendees placed marks on poster boards with questions and answers about the Humane Society. For example, most people knew the society waives adoption fees for homes with active military members and seniors adopting senior pets. But they wondered whether the local Humane Society is part of a nationwide network of shelters — the answer was no.
Foster noted the Humane Society
is not primarily government-funded, only accessing occasional grants.
“Your support of the organization is what really helps us do what we do,” Boyden said.
She also noted the HSSC facilities are no-kill, and members are campaigning for the entire state to follow suit.
HSSC CEO Anna Gonce offered her gratitude for the Diamond Collar Society’s dedication.
Gonce said the Humane Society has experienced a world of difference with the benefits of its new shelter built in 2021, and because the staff doesn’t worry about fixing broken facilities, it can focus on greater outreach in the Sarasota community and beyond.
Foster said the Diamond Collar Society is still in its infancy, but she is thrilled to think of the possibilities for how it could change the face of pet rescue services in the area.
She dreams of the days when society members will recognize one another from their diamondencrusted paw print pins, connecting over their shared passion to help area animals thrive.
LEARN MORE
Details about membership and donation opportunities are available at HSSC.org/ Give/DiamondCollar.
HSSC’s next major annual fundraiser, a “Mission Pawssible” luncheon, is April 11 at the Ritz-Carlton, Sarasota.
Melinda Foster, Kris Ravenscroft, Hank Foster and Danielle Gladding
Humane Society of Sarasota County CEO Anna Gonce tells stories of their recent rescues.
Diamond Collar Society pin
Photos by Dana Kampa
HSSC Board President Janet Boyden goes through people’s perceptions of the Humane Society of Sarasota County’s work during a Diamond Collar Society membership drive.
RARE BEAUTIES
The appeal of unique vehicles for hobbyists is their surprising locations; for example, this year’s YachtRodders car show.
Thirty-some exhibitors showcased their stunning vehicles Saturday afternoon on the Sarasota Yacht Club lawn, where particularly sunny skies brought out the radiant shimmer of rare original paint coats and allowed convertible car owners to pop the tops.
It is one of only three cars produced in the color “verde medio nijinsky,” an extraordinarily bright green with olive undertones. Even among the trio, this car is unique for being the only one built for the United States in the color — the other two being in Europe.
Beyond its physical attributes, the vehicle holds a distinct place in history because its ownership. The first buyer was Beverly Hills socialite Sandra West, who notably is buried in one of her other Ferraris, a 1964 Ferrari 300 America.
The Dino escaped entombment and has accumulated fewer than 10,000 miles since the 1970s, con-
Of particular historical interest was the 1974 Ferrari 246 GTS Dino showcased by Oaks Automotive Enthusiasts Club member Nathan Clary on behalf of a private collector, who is an SYC member and has owned the car for three years.
tinuing its journey to a collector in Texas — who painted the car red. California-based Legendary Motorcars rediscovered and restored the car to its original color in 2017, completing its journey in Osprey.
Chairs Bill Hadley and Vic Lippa said the show, held annually in the spring and fall, allows YachtRodders to share such one-of-a-kind rides with fellow members.
Ron Manganiello took pride in getting to exhibit his Austin-Healey, a British sports car, considering it was a lifelong dream of his to own one, which was made extra challenging by the fact founder Donald Healey left the company in 1968, and the last production
model was in 1972.
“It doesn’t even have a radio,” he said. “Car people will tell you, you want to hear the sound of the engine.”
Other favored car brands included Porsche, BMW and Ferrari.
Jonathan Moore took the opportunity to share his 2019 Porsche 911 Targa 4 GTS, which has a top speed of 195 mph. He said he looked for this particular model for more than three years, with the highly sought-after vehicle repeatedly disappearing from markets nearly as quickly as listed.
By a Christmas miracle, he saw the listing for on the eve of the holiday, and he drove 1,100 miles to Pennsylvania to lock down a deal.
“There was a snowstorm, it was Christmas and it was the end of the year,” he said.
But the harrowing journey to get the “red devil” proved successful, and the car with only 7,000 miles on it shipped to its new home in Sarasota.
— DANA KAMPA
Johnathan Moore pops the top on his 2019 Porsche 911 Targa 4 GTS, which has a top speed of 195 mph.
Nathan Clary parks a one-of-a-kind 1974 Ferrari 246 GTS Dino at the YachtRodders spring car show.
Photos by Dana Kampa
Jan Anderson, who has been a member of the Sarasota Yacht Club for 31 years, brings her 2018 Jaguar, pointing out the elegant lines of the car’s design.
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Providing care for a loved one can come with both immeasurable rewards and weighty difficulties, and an expert from Empath Tidewell Hospice recently offered advice to community members on how to protect their own well-being when caring for another.
Community partnership specialist Kelly Garrett provided many tips on self-care at a seminar at The Paradise Center, and topping the list was the importance of asking for help from friends, family, neighbors, spiritual leaders, experts and others when taking care of a loved one seems overwhelming.
After all, caregivers can’t meet all the needs of a dependent without first taking care of themselves.
“It can be a very challenging job sometimes, and often a thankless one,” she said.
Caregiver well-being grows more pressing by the day, as Garrett cited the Centers for Disease Control that more than 11 million adults in the United States provide unpaid care for someone with dementia. Their work equates to about 18.4 billion hours of care.
The list of roles many caregivers fulfill is extensive, including legal advocate, activity scheduler, transporter, budgeter and general decision-maker.
These roles are on top of the fulltime or part-time job responsibilities that 60% of caregivers have.
“That is a heavy burden,” she summed up.
Garrett, who shared her experience of caring for her parents, reminded attendees they don’t have to always take on all the roles.
“Someone had to remind me to ask my brother for help,” she said. “That was a big step for me, to ask for help. It really does make a difference if you speak up for yourselves.”
Caregivers need to make time for
their physical, mental, emotional and spiritual needs to avoid “compassion fatigue,” the extreme tension that comes with being too preoccupied with the suffering of the person in their care.
When caregivers neglect their own needs, they end up with insufficient time for themselves, negative impacts on their social lives, overwhelming stress about their responsibilities and strain on their relationships.
Garrett said it is normal for caregivers to experience fear, anger, confusion, disappointment, frustration, guilt and grief when navigating the challenges of helping their loved ones. But the accumulation of such emotions makes it even more vital for them to take time for themselves and avoid burnout.
“You want to regain who you are,” she said. “You want to know your limits, your boundaries. If you feel like you’re losing it, if you feel like you’re getting stressed out, if you feel like you’re going through that caregiver burnout, rein yourself in, know who you are and set your intentions to be good ones.”
Tidewell Hospice offers a variety of free services that may be useful to caregivers, including support groups listed at EmpathHealth.org/ Calendar.
Dana Kampa
Kelly Garrett, community partnership specialist with Empath Health Tidewell Hospice, talks through some of the challenges and benefits of caring for a loved one.
PLAN FOR A BETTER TOMORROW
Renderings of the
Members of the Bird Key Yacht Club prepare for the rebuild of their 65-yearold clubhouse.
DANA KAMPA STAFF WRITER
The countdown has officially begun on the last days of the Bird Key Yacht Club clubhouse, which has stood at the water’s edge, looking out toward the downtown Sarasota skyline, for 65 years.
Yet, club members’ excitement for what is to come overshadowed any sadness on a social evening on March 12.
One could almost hear the whispers of the iconic tune from the show “Cheers,” “Where everybody knows your name ... ” emanating from the
storied halls, just as Commodore Michael Landis likes.
Vice Commodore Tony Britt recently walked the grounds and halls of the current clubhouse, painting an image of the planned $20 million facility will undergo a modernization to better suit members’ needs and offer a more cohesive, elegant aesthetic.
He said members certainly appreciate the building’s historic presence in the Bird Key community, providing a meeting place for residents maintaining lifelong friendships through the club. However, building updates throughout the years have left the facility segmented and without a clear flow for catered events and other club activities. The central circular wooden bar, while impressive, offers limited seating and is in need of a redo, Britt said. What was most important to club
leaders was that 99.5% of members favored the rebuild.
Britt said leaders believed it to be important to work with Bird Key neighbors, keeping them in the loop on the construction plans, which he looks forward to seeing executed.
He said even though they will temporarily be a “club without a club,” everyone is ready for the change.
Visitors will benefit from the practical, long-term safety measure of raising the clubhouse’s elevation by three feet. But they should also enjoy better views over the water, allowing them to peer over the marina boats.
The new floor-to-ceiling windows will allow for more stunning views.
Britt estimates the new building construction will take about 16 months. Members needn’t despair their club-based friendships will fade in that time, he said. The club already has plans in the works to host events in the Sarasota area and beyond, meeting at neighboring yacht clubs and even traveling to Tampa.
Club member Diane Fairey, who brought several friends from the Bird Key Women’s Association, said she has always appreciated the way the yacht club brings people together.
“My husband is an ambassador, so we get to meet new people every month who are interested in the club and share our love for it,” she said.
She continued, “When they say this club is anchored in friendship, it is so true.”
Once construction is complete, members can look forward to enjoying four new tennis courts, a pool, updated bar space in the restaurant and much more. The flexible floor plan will also allow for smaller, more intimate dinners or open up for larger events.
“I’ll leave you all with one last thought,” Landis told attendees this week. “We do not intend to raise the quantity of our membership. We will remain a 375-member boutique club, where everybody knows everybody’s names. We really thrive on friendship here.”
Britt said the club is planning a last hurrah on April 26, where members plan to open a buried time capsule at a goodbye party. He said no one knows exactly what may come out of it, but the mystery will undoubtedly add excitement and intrigue on the day.
Dana Kampa
Bird Key Yacht Club Commodore Michael Landis welcomes attendees to a celebration of the clubhouse’s final month before demolition and reconstruction.
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Maintenance notice
After more than 30 years, Beachplace’s ‘Mr. Fix-it’ retires.
DANA KAMPA STAFF WRITER
For more than 30 years, Bob Kolesa has been answering calls from whoever needed his assistance at Beachplace Association, whether it was saving someone’s life or fixing a landscaping issue. This weekend, he celebrated those years of keeping operations running smoothly at the condominium complex as he heads into retirement with his wife, Keena. Jack Keelin, prior board president at the association, shared his appreciation for Kolesa’s dedication to the job, saying few could match his commitment to assisting residents day and night. He continued to grow from when he was first hired as a landscaping expert.
“He was an extremely hard worker, dedicated to Beachplace,” Keelin said. “He really showed his stuff recently, after Hurricane Milton.”
Keelin described how Bob led the massive effort to remove all the debris from the property and help bring some normalcy to complex residents dealing with the devastating aftermath. He headed a team of 20 temporary employees, joining the regular team he manages.
“We got the place cleaned up in record time because of his efforts,” Keelin beamed.
He said Bob established himself as an exemplary, hardworking selfstarter who would answer calls at any hour, and they will sorely miss him, adding the couple is welcome back anytime.
Asked what he appreciated most about his tenure as maintenance manager, Bob said he liked the camaraderie among his team and having the know-how to answer the unpredictable challenges of the day.
“It’s a sweet end to working here,” he said of the “Bon voyage” celebration on Sunday, where dozens of
attendees enjoyed cake and swapped stories. “But it will never really end.” His most memorable challenge was responding to a call for a man who had collapsed on a tennis court in the early 2010s. Bob quickly hopped in his cart, sped to the scene and administered resuscitative aid. Successfully bringing someone back from a cardiac arrest is difficult, even in the best conditions, but Bob said he was lucky that day to save a life.
Bob and Keena said at the retirement party they look forward to enjoying some extended travel plans, though they plan to remain based in Florida.
Keena has her own impressive record with the association, working for 26 years in event planning and whatever needs arose in a day.
While the excitement builds for their travel plans, Bob said he is eager to spend plenty of time with family, including their son, Brian, a firefighter on Longboat Key, and their 7-year-old granddaughter.
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Dana Kampa
Bob Kolesa celebrates his retirement as maintenance manager at Beachplace Association of 32 years with his wife, Keena, and friends from the complex.
IT’S READ EVERYWHERE
Headed on a
at
ONCE IN A MILLENNIUM: Valeri DeCastris reads her Longboat Observer at an art display in Millennium Park in Chicago.
History series offers enlightenment to Longboat Key Club members
which had vastly different outcomes, despite being based on similar principles.
istory has a way of coming alive through passionate speakers, and the most recent lecturer to engage Longboat Key audiences led a talk on American and French revolutions at the Longboat Key Club on March 11.
Frank and Mary Jo Spinola have attended all three talks presented as a history series by the Longboat Key Club, and they found them all enlightening.
“They were very informative,” Frank said, explaining that the talk on the contentious presidential race between Harry Truman and Thomas Dewey was his favorite.
“The similarities between that and last November’s election were interesting,” he said. “We’ve had a great time and really enjoyed them.”
The Spinolas said they appreciate artistic representations from the French Revolution, like the Broadway smash “Les Misérables,” but they looked forward to learning more from an expert.
Stephanie Kaelin-Bare, the club’s member events manager, announced all three events had sold out. She said based on feedback, members appreciated the series.
In the recent lecture, David Harvey, professor of history at the New College of Florida and dean of the Center for the Study of Western Civilization, focused on the similarities between two of history’s most notable uprisings and how our knowledge of them can inform current debates.
“It’s looking at both of these revolutions as part of a broader process, which historians have called The Age of Democratic Revolutions, that helped usher in the modern age,” he said. Harvey’s lecture also delved into the results of these two revolts,
“The American Revolution led to a stable, new democratic order,” he said. “The French Revolution spiraled into radicalization and chaos.”
One overarching result was the end of the age of dominance by elites and aristocrats, replaced by more egalitarian politics, he said.
Harvey said this lecture came about when he worked previously with members of the International Churchill Society, which facilitated another series on the college campus.
Attendees focused many of their questions on how these insights translate to modern times.
“It was interesting, because in the Q&A, a lot of the questions people asked were seeking some sort of reassurance about where we are headed as a country,” he added. “I can offer my opinions, but as I explained, historians’ job is to study the past. But I did make the point that we’ve been through a number of crises before in our history, and we’ve muddled through.”
Harvey said providing opportunities for community members to engage with history outside the classroom is valuable, especially when it sparks interest. “Occasions like this show me there is a real, broader interest out there among the public for serious talks about important issues,” he said. “It’s a chance for us as faculty to reach a wider audience outside our classrooms.”
He encourages history buffs to keep up with the college’s online events calendar for more free history lectures available to the public.
Those looking to keep up with Harvey’s work can also check out his newly published book, “Tropical Despotisms: Enlightened Reform in the French Caribbean.”
Dana Kampa
David Rayner, Wendy O’Neill and Frank and Mary Jo Spinola attend the Longboat Key Club’s history lecture on American and French revolutions.
STEPSTOBEACH
You’ve dreamed of building your own custom island home for years, but the idea of dedicating three years to making that dream a reality can feel overwhelming. Seaward Homes has the solution: 1212 Center Place in Lido Shores.
This custom-designed home, just steps from your private beach access, is now available. Built by Sarasota’s premier home builder, Seaward Homes, this property is part of our exclusive Seaward Curated Collection. We take pride in delivering a very limited number of custom homes each year, ranging from 5,000 to 20,000 square feet, West of the Trail and on the Sarasota islands.. Our business model focuses on delivering fewer homes while maintaining the highest quality. A reputation we’ve built over the past 30 years.
• Exciting 1,100 sq ft rooftop terrace with views of Sarasota Bay the Gulf of Mexico, and the Ringling Bridge
• Concrete and block masonry
• High quality hurricane safety glass throughout
• First floor master suite
• Large second floor family room and dry bar, perfect for guests
• Yoga room or art studio
• Dramatic 2-story great room
• Custom steel floating staircase
• 10’ tall glass sliding doors
• 8’ solid interior doors with Emtek hardware
We use only the finest materials, collaborate with top consultants and trades, and leverage the latest technologies to ensure every detail of each project is a success. Our Seaward Curated homes feature elevated first-floor designs, superior concrete structural elements, and glass systems that often exceed code requirements-ensuring beauty, strength, and durability. Additionally, we offer clients construction schedules, open-book pricing, and a dedicated full-time project manager for added peace of mind. May we assist you with your new build? Seaward Homes would love to talk to you about building your Dream Home. 941.323.0033
• Large designer format 24x48 porcelain tile
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• Summer kitchen with stainless steel appliances
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• Gorgeous pool, with waterfall feature and built-in spa
YOUR CALENDAR
SUNDAY, MARCH 23 GROOVE TO
7:30-8:30 p.m. at The Education Center, 567 Bay Isles Road. Carl Kurtyka, the Education Center’s technical director, presents a musical evening of soul, funk, blues, R&B, and rock ’n’ roll. Cost is $30 for members; $35 for nonmembers. Call 941-383-8222, email Admin@ TBIEducationCenter.org or visit TBIEducationCenter.org.
MONDAY, MARCH 24
AGING WITH GRACE
1:30-2:30 p.m. at The Paradise Center, 546 Bay Isles Road. Join a free seminar on graceful aging and excellence in care, presented by the home health care service LifeWorx. Call 941-383-6493.
TUESDAY, MARCH 25
GAIN PERSPECTIVE ON THE ARTS
3-4:30 p.m. at The Education Center, 567 Bay Isles Road. Sorcha Augustine offers insights into the unique art of dance and theater photography, which captures the likeness of iconic figures like Martha Graham through specific photography techniques. Augustine is a Sarasota-based photographer and was the first woman to hold an official photographer’s badge with England’s most prestigious ballroom competitions. Registration is required. Call 941-383-8222, email Admin@TBIEducationCenter.org or visit TBIEducationCenter.org.
RECURRING EVENTS
MONDAYS MARKET ON THE KEY
10 a.m. to 2 p.m. the first and third Mondays at the Town Center Green, 600 Bay Isles Road. The outdoor market features local artists, vendors of all types and food. Continues through April. Call 941-289-4141.
STRETCH AND STRENGTHEN
10-11 a.m. at The Paradise Center, 546 Bay Isles Road. This class is mostly seated and great for all fitness levels. The focus is on strength training and flexibility for balance. Suzy Brenner leads the class. Fee is $20. Walk-ins welcome. Call 3836493.
BEST BET WEDNESDAY, MARCH 26
BE PREPARED 4-6 p.m. at the Longboat Key Club Harbourside Ballroom, 3000 Harbourside Drive. Get ready ahead of the 2025 Atlantic hurricane season at the annual Longboat Key Disaster Preparedness Seminar. Hear from keynote speaker Howard Tipton and experts from the National Weather Service, Longboat Key Police Department, News Channel 8 and Manatee and Sarasota counties. Doors open at 3:15 p.m. and seating is limited. Call 941-3832466.
TUESDAYS AND THURSDAYS
PILATES SCULPT
9-9:50 a.m. at The Paradise Center, 546 Bay Isles Road. Pilates Sculpt is a combination class mixing traditional Pilates exercises into a fun, challenging workout to upbeat music. It will make you sweat, encourage your body to burn calories and make you stronger and more flexible. This class is for all levels. Cost is $20. Walk-ins welcome. Call 941-383-6493.
YOGA
11:15 a.m. to 12:15 p.m. at The Paradise Center, 546 Bay Isles Road. Debby Debile of Feel Good Yoga & Massage leads a gentle yoga class that can be done on a mat or in a chair. Cost is $20. Call 941-3836493.
FRIDAYS UP YOUR TAI CHI SKILLS
10-11 a.m. at The Paradise Center, 546 Bay Isles Road. Certified instructor Reuben Fernandez leads a weekly intermediate tai chi class, held outdoors when weather permits. Fernandez also leads a beginner class at 10 a.m. on Wednesdays, but builds off those skills with a focus on Chen Style, Lao Ca Dija. It’s recommended to wear close-toed shoes with low heels rather than running shoes. Cost is $20. Call 941383-6493.
Jules Mackie | Tracey Stetler | Nicholle DiPinto McKiernan | Patrick DiPinto | Rene DiPinto | Steven Moore | Janet Coughlin
Residences at Longboat Key condo tops week’s
ADAM HUGHES RESEARCH EDITOR
Thomas Grusecki, Christina Grusecki and John Spina, trustees, of Park Ridge, Illinois, sold the Unit 510 condominium at 1591 Gulf of Mexico Drive to Paul Duhaime, trustee, of Grosse Pointe Farms, Michigan, for $7,475,000. Built in 2024, it has two bedrooms, two-and-a-half baths and 3,143 square feet of living area. It sold for $5,277,100 in 2024.
BIRD KEY
Michael Faber, trustee, sold the home at 619 Mourning Dove Drive to Limin Nancy Liu, trustee, of Sarasota, for $7.15 million. Built in 1999, it has four bedrooms, fiveand-a-half baths, a pool and 5,352 square feet of living area. It sold for $4 million in 2013.
Randall and Erica Kent, trustees, of Lakewood Ranch, sold the home at 382 Bob White Drive to Jeffrey and Kimberly LaLima, of Sarasota, for $4.25 million. Built in 1971, it has four bedrooms, three baths, a pool and 2,875 square feet of living area. It sold for $1,625,000 in 2018.
Adrianna Paradiso, of Sarasota, sold her home at 577 S. Spoonbill Drive to SPE No. 109 LLC for $2.1 million. Built in 1964, it has three bedrooms, three baths, a pool and 2,106 square feet of living area. It sold for $1.05 million in 2017.
LIDO AMBASSADOR
Richard and Lisa Ade sold their Unit 708 condominium at 800 Benjamin Franklin Drive to Stephen Rand, of Sarasota, for $1,675,000. Built in 1978, it has two bedrooms, two baths and 1,350 square feet of living area. It sold for $950,000 in 2019.
COREY’S LANDING
John and Kristin Fette, of Longboat Key, sold their home at 3455 Byron Lane to Arthur and Gail McDowell, of Old Saybrook, Connecticut, for $1.3 million. Built in 1989, it has three bedrooms, two-and-a-half baths and 2,507 square feet of living area. It sold for $625,500 in 2017.
sales at $7,475,000
BEACHPLACE
Diane Lambie, trustee, and James Lambie, of Lakewood Ranch, sold the Unit 105 condominium at 1065 Gulf of Mexico Drive to Michael Racanelli, of Brightwaters, New York, for $1.04 million. Built in 1981, it has three bedrooms, two baths and 1,819 square feet of living area. It sold for $625,000 in 2019.
SEAPLACE
Robert and Paula Stein, of New York City, sold their Unit M2-313-A condominium at 1945 Gulf of Mexico Drive to Randall and Deborah Tobias, of Carmel, Indiana, for $795,000. Built in 1978, it has two bedrooms, two baths and 1,265 square feet of living area. It sold for $165,000 in 1987.
Justin and Magally Ramsaier, of Parrish, sold their Unit M2-206C condominium at 1945 Gulf of Mexico Drive to David Moelker and Pamela Moelker, trustees, of Fruitport, Michigan, for $475,000. Built in 1978, it has two bedrooms, one bath and 928 square feet of living area. It sold for $370,000 in 2019.
TURTLE CRAWL
David and Maureen Winigrad sold their Unit T-402 condominium at 4235 Gulf of Mexico Drive to Longboat Key Vacation LLC for $667,400. Built in 1973, it has one bedroom, one bath and 780 square feet of living area. It sold for $270,000 in 2012.
LONGBOAT HARBOUR
Alan and Kathleen Malone, of Camas, Washington, sold their Unit 308 condominium at 4330 Falmouth
TOP BUILDING PERMITS
largest building permits issued by the Longboat Key Planning and Zoning Department for the week of March 7-13 in order of dollar amounts.
Drive to Brian Michael Connolly and Amanda Connolly, of Hollywood, Maryland, for $580,000. Built in 1969, it has two bedrooms, two baths and 1,316 square feet of living area. It sold for $275,000 in 2014.
BUTTONWOOD COVE
Jill Teramana, of Toronto, Ohio, sold her Unit 302 condominium at 3630 Gulf of Mexico Drive to Marni Teramana, of Dayton, Ohio, for $515,000. Built in 1980, it has two bedrooms, two baths and 1,284 square feet of living area. It sold for $285,000 in 2013.
SPANISH MAIN YACHT CLUB
James Jackson Slocum and Kathleen Anne Tremel, of Brookfield, Wisconsin, sold their Unit 69 condominium at 852 Spanish Drive N. to
Philip and Ann Bondi, of Longboat Key, for $400,000. Built in 1968, it has two bedrooms, two baths and 1,399 square feet of living area. It sold for $570,000 in 2019.
SUTTON PLACE LBK143 LLC sold the Unit V-10 condominium at 569 Sutton Place to James and Ann Hollenbach, of Madison, New Jersey, for $305,000. Built in 1972, it has two bedrooms, two baths and 1,198 square feet of living area. It sold for $297,000 in 2020.
ONLINE
See more transactions at YourObserver.com
The Titans of Wealth: From 19th Century Moguls to Today’s Tech Billionaires
Though many of us don’t want to acknowledge it, the pursuit of wealth is an important part of what defines the American experience. The last 150 years have generated the greatest production of wealth in the United States, unparalleled anywhere else in the world.
On Thursday, April 10th University of Texas History Professor Jeremi Suri will present Wealth in America, as he examines the lives and careers of some of the most important men who launched the American economy. A small group of individuals drove this wealth-creation, who went on to benefit in remarkable ways that are hard for the rest of us to even imagine.
The presentation will trace the careers of some of the most celebrated (and sometimes despised) men who expanded the American economy and became super-rich. In fact, the individuals Professor Suri will discuss created sums of money that even the phrase superrich do not do justice! The focus will be primarily on Cornelius Vanderbilt, Andrew Carnegie, and John Rockefeller, comparing their remarkable drive and ingenuity as well as their often-questionable behavior. Participants come to understand their actions, their risk-taking, and even their values. Professor Suri will assess both their contributions and their crimes. Cornelius Vanderbilt was a self-made multi-millionaire who became one of the wealthiest Americans of the 19th century. After working on various steamships, Vanderbilt went into business for himself in the late 1820s, and eventually became one of the country’s largest steamship operators. In the 1860s, he shifted his focus to the railroad industry, where he built a far larger intercontinental empire and helped make railroad transportation more efficient, often to the detriment of other operators. He was the richest man in America when he died, but his wealth was soon eclipsed by someone else.
Andrew Carnegie made his fortune in the steel industry and controlled the most extensive integrated iron and steel operations ever owned by a single individual in the United States. He perfected the cheap and efficient mass production of steel by adopting and adapting the Bessemer process, which allowed the high carbon content of iron to be burnt away in a controlled and rapid way during steel production. Steel prices dropped as a result, and his steel was rapidly adopted for railways. In addition, Carnegie vertically integrated the entire industry. He came to own nearly a dozen different large steel companies, and then combined his assets and those of his associates in 1892 with the launching of the Carnegie Steel Company.
Carnegie spent his last years as a philanthropist and is often credited with developing the very concept of philanthropy to levels never even considered previously. He had written about his views on social subjects and the responsibilities of great wealth in an 1889 book titled The Gospel of Wealth, devoted the rest of his life to providing capital for purposes of public interest and social and educational advancement. He is best known for building Carnegie Hall in New York as well as the establishment of nearly 3,000 public libraries throughout the United States, Britain, Canada, and New Zealand, Professor Suri will then turn to the life of John D. Rockefeller, one of the wealthiest Americans of all time in fact one of the richest people in modern history. Beginning at age 20, he concentrates his business on oil refining. and eventually founded the Standard Oil Company in 1870. He ran it until 1897 and in retirement focused his energy and wealth on philanthropy as Carnegie had, but focusing instead on higher education and medicine.
The final section on of the presentation will focus on three modern ultra wealthy individuals: Bill Gates, Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk. We will also see how earlier generations influenced these recent moguls. The presentation will conclude with some reflections on the historical role of wealth in our democracy.
This is your last chance to experience insights from one of the nation’s leading historians. Dive deep into American history as our expert speaker brings the past to life with captivating stories and fresh perspectives. Don’t miss out!
THURSDAY | APR. 10
JEREMI SURI
University of Texas Wealth in America: From Rockefeller, Vanderbilt, and Carnegie to Gates, Bezos, and Musk
a journey through America’s wealthiest figures—past and present—exploring how they shaped the nation’s economy and continue to impact society today.
NATURE’S BEAUTY WITH
FORECAST
SATURDAY, MARCH 22
MOON PHASES
TIDES
HUMOROUS TONES by Jeffrey Martinovic, edited by Jared Goudsmit
By Luis Campos
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