Sarasota Observer - Thursday, January 20, 2011

Observer SARASOTA

NEWS ECONOMIC IMPACT

A 72,000-squarefoot economic development center to open. PAGE 3A.

DIVERSIONS: LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE

NEWS 8A

Cutlery Contest

INSIDE | PAGE 1B

Church of the Redeemer kids go nose-to-nose.

Teenage singing sensation Maria Wirries steals the spotlight.

You. Your neighbors. Your neighborhood.

SLICE OF THE CITY PEOPLE, PICS & PLACES

Thursday, JANUARY 20, 2011

nude dudes

Naked Ambition A group of nudists with 80 members is asking Sarasota County if it would separate a public beach and make part of it clothing-optional.

By Robin Roy | City Editor

Loren Mayo

SKCC Secretary Helen Clifford awards one of the winners, Veronika Bajtalova.

+ Siesta Key condos light up at ceremony The Siesta Key Condominium Council presented plaques to the winners of the 2010 Siesta Key Holiday Spirit Condominium Lighting Contest Jan. 18.

“It was hard to make choices, because I thought the Key was beautiful,” said Helen Clifford, SKCC secretary. “We had to make a decision, so we got out and walked several of the areas so that we could see them all.”

Courtesy photo

+ Historic cottage sees major move

A 1920s Sarasota cottage-style home located on Floyd Street was recently saved from demolition.

Rock Solid Construction Group Inc. recently coordinated the cottage’s move to a new site near Ringling College of Art and Design. The owners of the home, David Hill and Irene Fleschner, wanted to build a new house and decided to donate their house to preserve it. The home will be used as rental housing for students.

INDEX Black Tie.................................8B Classifieds..............................16A Cops Corner..........................14A Crossword.............................15A Opinion....................................6A Real Estate...........................12A Weather................................15A Vol. 7, No. 11 Two sections www.YourObserver.com

Ken Thomas is fed up with lewd behavior on the county’s beaches, and he wants to do something about it.

Thomas is a nudist and founder of The Suncoast Naturists, an incorporated company with about 80 members from Tampa to Fort Myers. “(Lewd behavior) reflects poorly on us,” said Thomas, who believes that sunning in the nude on a public beach is not lewd.

Recent area arrests have focused media attention on improper sexual activity on county beaches.

In September, a man was charged for exposing himself to women at Siesta Key beach-access points.

Two months later, six men were arrested for illegal sexual activity near Venice’s Casperson Beach.

Thomas said he’s tired of nudists being lumped in with those arrested for sex crimes. He doesn’t believe what he’s doing is illegal, but the Sheriff ’s Office disagrees (see box Page 2A).

“The most common misconception is that we’re exhibitionists,” he said. “We’re

Natural inclination Asked his reasons for becoming a nudist, Ken Thomas, founder of The Suncoast Naturists, said it’s so he can see the real person with whom he’s interacting.

“When I interact with people without clothes, I don’t have to deal with anything other than the real person,” he said. “I don’t have to deal with the type of car they drive or expensive clothes they wear. It’s just them.” not flashy, loud or boisterous. Nobody should feel threatened.”

He doesn’t consider nudists part of the problem, saying they have a strict code of conduct that prohibits sexual activity at

NUDE BEACH / PAGE 2A

Robin Roy

Ken Thomas, founder of The Suncoast Naturists, says nudists are just like everyone else. “We do everything ‘normal’ people do,” he said. “We just do it with our clothes off.”

FULL CIRCLE

Next roundabout: Stickney and U.S. 41?

Depending on how a new roundabout at a busy Venice intersection turns out, one county commissioner may request a roundabout be constructed for the busiest gateway to Siesta.

By Robin Roy | City Editor

County Commissioner Nora Patterson has been mulling the idea for years.

Her idea: Transform the busy intersection at Stickney Point Road and U.S. 41 into a beautiful gateway to Siesta Key. That transformation would take place in the form of a roundabout.

“Visually, it would be a nice entry to the Key,” Patterson said.

Before she would propose a roundabout at that intersection, Patterson wants to see how well the Venice roundabout at

Jacaranda Boulevard and Venice Avenue operates. It is expected to be complete in May. “It hinges on how well that works,” she said.

Patterson wants to see how traffic moves through that roundabout and how drivers react to it before officially proposing a roundabout at Stickney Point Road, because Jacaranda is a busy intersection, although it does not see nearly as much

ROUNDABOUT / PAGE 2A

Robin Roy

In 2009, the intersection at U.S. 41 and Stickney Point Road was named the third-busiest intersection in the county. Then, it saw 70,000 cars each day.

NUDE BEACH / FROM PAGE 1A their functions.

“We tell people to treat others like you’d treat your parents,” Thomas said.

Casperson Beach is known for nudists on its less populated south side, but it and parts of Lido Beach are infamous for illegal sexual activity.

The Suncoast Naturists say they want to help the Sheriff ’s Office rid beaches of that problem.

To do so, Thomas has asked Sarasota County if it would set aside a portion of a county beach as clothing-optional.

First, nudists would have an official place to gather on a county beach. And, second, they would create a type of court-watch program.

Residents fed up with drug dealers taking over their neighborhoods originally created the court-watch system.

Homeowners call police about the criminals, then follow them through the justice system, showing up in the courtroom when they are charged and sentenced.

The Suncoast Naturists propose doing the same thing for sex crimes.

“If a tourist sees someone in a thong and says it’s inappropriate, an officer has to respond,” said Thomas. “But the complainant usually does not want to take the time to be a witness in court, and the case gets dropped.”

Thomas said his group wants to maintain dignity on the beach, so its members would not only report incidents to the Sheriff ’s Office, they would also serve as witnesses in court.

“We could patrol the beach on a daily basis,” Thomas said. “You might laugh at this, but we would provide a healthier, more wholesome atmosphere.”

Thomas approached Commissioner Jon Thaxton about his proposal. Thaxton’s response was not what he had hoped.

“I’m all for the (court-watch) program,” the commissioner said. “I would

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NUDISTS AND THE LAW The Suncoast Naturists maintain that lying on a beach nude is not a violation of the law. Group founder Ken Thomas believes that an officer cannot arrest, ticket or ask a nude sunbather to put his clothes on, unless there’s been a complaint from the public.

Sarasota County does not have an ordinance against public nudity. It relies on state statute 800.03, which states: “It is unlawful to expose or exhibit one’s sexual organs in public or on the private premises of another, or so near thereto as to be seen from such private premises, in a vulgar or indecent manner, or to be naked in public except in any place provided or set apart for that purpose.”

The Sarasota County Sheriff’s Office believes that wording is clear.

Spokeswoman Wendy Rose said anyone who is exposing their sexual organs can be issued a citation, without a complaint from the public.

In most cases, though, a deputy will exercise his judgment, Rose said, and could just ask that person to cover up himself.

However, a Florida circuit court ruling on the 1996 arrest of a topless woman in the Osceola National Forest said that juries hearing such cases have to consider whether the exposure “was in a vulgar, indecent, lewd or lascivious manner. Proof of mere nudity or exposure is not sufficient to sustain a conviction.”

ROUNDABOUT / FROM PAGE 1A traffic as the Siesta Key gateway.

In 2009, the Stickney Point Road and U.S. 41 intersection was the third mostcongested intersection in the county, with more than 70,000 cars traveling through it each day.

Jacaranda Boulevard and Venice Avenue is the 72nd busiest intersection, with about 36,500 cars per day.

One question Patterson has is whether U.S. 41’s six lanes of traffic would run smoothly through a roundabout. Such a roundabout would have three lanes, as opposed to the two lanes at Jacaranda or the one lane at Five Points in downtown Sarasota.

A Federal Highway Administration study on three-lane roundabouts found that drivers are more likely to change lanes in a three-lane roundabout than

those with two or one lanes. Changing lanes in a roundabout leads to more accidents.

But the study cited three-lane roundabouts in Michigan that had overhead signs, instead of ground signs, were able to keep drivers in their lanes better and reduced collisions.

“There’s also a big roundabout in Clearwater that leads to the beach that functions quite well,” she said.

That Clearwater roundabout has two lanes and carries about 58,000 cars per day.

The commissioner believes a roundabout would also alleviate congestion leaving the Key, because traffic would no longer have to stop at a light at U.S. 41.

“I know some people will think I’ve gone off my rocker,” Patterson joked.

“Some people will be leery, but I don’t think we should throw away the idea.”

Jacaranda Boulevard roundabout Construction began in August on the roundabout at Jacaranda Boulevard and Venice Avenue, in Venice. It’s expected to be complete in May. It will feature two lanes of traffic through the circle, landscaping in the middle, decorative lighting and sidewalks circumnavigating the roundabout.

encourage them to do that … with their clothes on.”

Pursuing such a plan is not what Thaxton wants to do right now.

“I’ve got to worry about people getting into jobs, instead of out of their clothes,” he said.

Robin Roy

Protecting our natural environment for future generations

LISA

LANNON soil & water science

“For three generations my family has worked in Florida Phosphate—my father, his father and now me. And, I hope my kids will too. I study the natural balance between the water and land. I’m proud that we recycle 95 percent of the water we use and plant nearly a million trees each year. It’s a good way of life, with respect for the land. You might just say it’s a family tradition.”

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The sarasota Observer THURSDAY, JANUARY 20, 2011

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economic development

THE BIG DEAL Organizers hope their new 72,000-square-foot facility will make it easier for businesses that want to relocate to or expand in the Manatee-Sarasota area.

By Pam Eubanks | Staff Writer

After just eight weeks of planning, an economic development center will be built in Lakewood Ranch.

The State College of Florida, SarasotaManatee, Lakewood Ranch developer Schroeder-Manatee Ranch and the Gulf Coast Community Foundation of Venice announced Jan. 18 they have joined forces to create a one-of-a-kind economic initiative meant to bolster the local economy and make it easier to do business in the area.

Called the Design & Economic Acceleration Lab, or DEAL, the 72,000-squarefoot facility will be part of SCF. Construction costs are estimated at $14.2 million for the building, and SCF will fund the project through bonds and other sources, SCF President Lars Hafner said.

“The DEAL is a major advancement for SCF as we continue to create a new model of education expansive enough to include a charter middle and high school to associate and baccalaureate workforce degrees,” Hafner said. “Through this collaboration center, SCF will have even more community impact with added focus on regional prosperity and needed workforce education and training.”

Although both Sarasota and Manatee counties have resources available to businesses through their economic development groups and chambers of commerce, there currently is no facility at which all those agencies can serve a prospective business under one roof, SMR President

Pam Eubanks

Representatives from State College of Florida, Sarasota-Manatee, Lakewood Ranch developer Schroeder-Manatee Ranch and the Gulf Coast Community Foundation of Venice revealed plans Jan. 18. and CEO Rex Jensen said. Instead, inquiring businesses often must shuffle between agencies to find what incentives or other options are available in the area.

Once completed, DEAL will offer a variety of resources to the business community, including meeting space and guidance to conduct strategic planning sessions, as well as a GIS database of all land for rent or lease in the area.

“Its purpose is to be a resource for economic-development organizations and for companies coming to the area or seeking to expand in the area,” Jensen said. “It will be a much more interactive source of information. This place is intended to be

all about economic development.

“We intend to go after this in a very aggressive fashion,” he said. “I’m tired of seeing people unemployed.”

Plans also include a University Partnership Center modeled after the center at St. Petersburg College, which provides partnerships with colleges and universities through educational programs and an interactive “hub” for delivering instruction, among other tools.

“We thought, ‘Why not apply that to economic development, not just academia?’” Jensen said.

Building features include space for economic development offices from the

3A

Principal Partners • Developer: Schroeder-Manatee Ranch, developer of Lakewood Ranch • Broker/operator: State College of Florida, Manatee-Sarasota • Workforce sponsor: Gulf Coast Community Foundation of Venice • Additional partners: CareerEdge/ Manatee-Sarasota Workforce Funders Collaborative, Economic Development Corporation of Sarasota County, Lakewood Ranch Business Alliance, Manatee County Economic Development Council, Manatee County Government, Sarasota County Government and Small Business Development Center

two-county area, CareerEdge, the Lakewood Ranch Business Alliance, University Partnership Center and SCF administrative staff, including DEAL facilitators.

The DEAL campus will be located on a 150-acre parcel six miles east of Interstate 75, where organizers had planned to construct the $110 million Springbok Sports Club and Academy.

“It’s my goal to, and I think (SCF, Manatee-Sarasota President) Lars (Hafners’ goal), to take SCF to a full four-year institution,” Jensen said. “To do that, you need available property.

“The Springbok plan had many of the attributes a college campus has,” he said.

“That one was already blessed by (Manatee County commissioners).”

Jensen said he would make a total of about 300 acres available to SCF for purchase. The property also could be home to a charter high school, Jensen said.

“To me, it just fits Lakewood Ranch, and Lakewood Ranch fits it,” Jensen said of DEAL. “This is exactly the type of lift we want.”

Jensen could not say when SMR would break ground on the project but noted it would be “soon.” Organizers hope to have the facility completed within 18 months.

DESIGNER LOOK

Jewel tones

By Rachel S. O’Hara Staff Photographer

Karen Sievers and Jeff Zepp, from Zepp Art Faux & Design, designed the “Captain’s Delight” bedroom.

Photos by Rachel S. O’Hara

Above: Design associates Jill E. Sieber and Ashley Raynor, of Tidmore-Henry & Associates, created this outdoor cabana.

Left: In 1920, Powell Crosely founded the company that many believe to be the pioneer of radio broadcasting. This Crosley radio is featured in the kitchen of the Crosley Carriage House.

The 2011 Jewels on the Bay Designer Showhouse will be opening its doors Sunday, Jan. 23, at the restored Crosley Carriage House.

This is the 16th year for the event, and it continues to not only show off the talents of area designers and interior decorators, but also helps to raise funds, awareness and support for the Boys and Girls Clubs of Sarasota and Manatee counties.

The newly restored carriage house was originally built in 1929 and is believed to have provided housing for Powell Crosley’s boat captain, pilot, chauffeur and maids.

The Crosley Carriage House will be open to the public from Jan. 23 to Feb. 20. To learn more about Jewels on the Bay, visit www.DesignerShowhouseSarasota.com.

Terrance Leaser, of Terrance M. Leaser Interior Decorating, with help from Artistry, adorned the courtyard space in front of the Crosley Carriage House with colorful accents.

Kimberly Doucette IIDA, ASID, along with Environmental Interiors Design Studio LLC, created the writing room.

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INBRIEF + $5.9 million Siesta sale highest for 2011

A Siesta Key home sold Friday, Jan. 14 for $5.9 million — the highest sale of the year. Built in 2009, the 7,931-square-foot, West Indies-inspired home at 625 Norsota Way includes deep-water harborage, a separate guest house

Courtesy photo

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Mayor Kelly Kirschner remarked that it was the most people speaking about a single issue since the debate over the Unconditional Surrender sculpture.

and a skyline view of downtown Sarasota and the Ringing Bridge.

The home was listed by Kim and Michael Ogilvie and co-listed with Michael Hays, all of Michael Saunders & Co. The Ogilvies also represented the buyer.

+ Johns arrested + Commission OKs in prostitution sting urban chicken keeping Indian Beach/Sapphire Shores City commissioners paved the way for residents to legally keep chickens in their yards.

They unanimously approved ubran chicken keeping with some restrictions, inlcuding: • A maximum of four chickens can be kept in a yard.

• The animals have to be kept in an enclosed or fenced area at all times.

• Those enclosures cannot be kept in a front yard, and they can’t be closer than 10 feet to an adjacent property line.

Nearly 40 supporters and opponents of the measure signed up to speak before the commission.

residents fed up with prostitution in their neighborhoods urged the Sarasota Police Department to not only crackdown on the prostitutes, but also on the johns who solicit them.

Officers conducted an undercover sting Jan. 15 aimed specifically at the men trying to pick up prostitutes in that neighborhood and in Gillespie Park.

Eleven arrests were made. A twelfth suspect took off in his car and got away, but that man was identified and a warrant has been issued for his arrest. LBK 2010 During the weekend undercover operation, officers from

the department’s Street Crimes Unit, Narcotics Unit, Criminal Investigations Division and Uniform Services Division conducted stings at 42nd Street and North Tamiami Trail and Sixth Street and U.S. 301.

The 11 men were charged with 16 total crimes, including solicitation of prostitution, possession of drug paraphernalia and driving without a license. Ten vehicles the men were driving were seized. The owners of those vehicles face a $500 fine, plus towing and storage fees.

Arrested at 42nd Street were: Steven Chorba, 53 Steven Hooper, 57 Thomas Jacques, 69 Francisco Ramirez, 42 Vincent Redding, 56 Arrested at Sixth Street were: Pete Cristiani, 48 David Mendoza, 27 Donald Powell, 48 J Eliseo Ortiz, 48 Harold Wilen, 65 Alfonzo Zozaya-Ramirez, 60

Meetings & agendas Parks, Recreation and Environmental Protection — 3:30 p.m.

Thursday, Jan. 20, City Hall, 1565 First St.  Planning Commission — 6:30 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 20, County Administration Center, 1660 Ringling Blvd.  County Commission — 9 a.m. Tuesday, Jan. 25, County Administration Center, 1660 Ringling Blvd.  Charter Review Committee — 6 p.m.

Tuesday, Jan. 25, City Hall, 1565 First St.  County Commission — 1:30 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 26, Robert L. Anderson Administration Center, 4000 S. Tamiami Trail, Venice 

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5A

under wraps

Casey Key explores underground utilities A decade-old project to place underground electrical and telecommunication lines is being resurrected on the key — as is opposition to the proposal.

By Robin Roy | City Editor

Robin Roy

If proponents get their way, Casey Key’s electrical and telephone wires, which some residents consider unsightly, would be placed underground to create better aesthetics, as well as fewer interruptions during storms.

A three-year-old, project-cost estimate for the 440 homes on Casey Key came in at $10 million.

With some possible financial incentives from Florida Power and Light, that worked out to about $1,000 per home, per year, for 20 years.

But Mike Turillo, who has researched the project for the CKA, said with the downturn in the economy, he suspects that price could drop.

Brannon’s firm, Brannon and Gillespie, completed a similar

Mixed results Three property-owner surveys have been conducted within the past seven years to gauge interest in an underground utility project.

Although hard numbers came out of those surveys, those in support of and opposition to the plan interpret the results differently.

The Casey Key Association conducted an opinion survey in 2005, in which 74% of respondents were in favor of putting utilities underground. But opponents told commissioners that 74% could be deceiving, because only about 140 of the Key’s approximately 400 property owners responded to the survey.

Of those 140 responses, about 100 supported the project — about onequarter of all property owners.

Supporters say the voter turnout on that survey is no different than that of most government elections.

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the proposed project and let them decide whether to go forward.

To prove that, he’s opening up the meeting to all Casey Key residents — not just CKA members.

Consultant Danny Brannon will make a presentation at the meeting, letting residents know about the process for such a project and its cost.

Metzger said Brannon could be asked to conduct a feasibility study on the Key, if residents donate $25,000 for the consultant’s fee.

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A project that has been off and on for more than a decade is seeing a resurgence on Casey Key. At the annual Casey Key Association meeting Jan. 27, leaders will discuss with residents the possibility of placing utility lines underground. “(The project) was put on the back burner, because incorporation muddied the water,” said CKA President Bob Metzger.

The reasons cited for placing electrical and telecommunication lines underground include better aesthetics, more reliability and fewer power interruptions, particularly during hurricanes or tropical storms.

An effort in 2009 to incorporate Casey Key became highly contentious and deeply divided supporters and opponents. Incorporation ultimately failed.

Although the utility-line project is not as controversial, it does have its detractors — some of whom oppose the project because they feel the CKA is advocating it improperly.

“It is a neighborhood association,” said resident Les Inglis. “It doesn’t have any special status, but it tries to influence (residents).”

Metzger disputes that, saying the CKA simply wants to inform all residents about the scope of

project in 2009 on Jupiter Island, and the total cost was $8.5 million.

Four months ago, Brannon was asked to estimate the cost for an underground utility project in the east Florida town of Gulf Stream, which has 310 singlefamily homes. He said it cost up to $1,100 per home, per year, for 20 years.

If enough money is raised for the Casey Key study, specific steps must be taken to proceed with the project.

Metzger said a lot of rumors and misinformation has been spread among residents about how such a project could be approved. To clear up the confusion, a county representative will address residents at the annual meeting.

To pay for an undergroundutility project, a special taxing district would have to be created on Casey Key. County commissioners would have to first approve the creation of that district. The commission would only take a vote if one of two steps were taken: At least 67% of property owners would sign a petition supporting a taxing district; or at least 15% of property owners would ask for a special election to set up a district.

Only property owners who are registered voters in Sarasota County would be able to vote in the election. A simple majority is all that is required in the election to approve the taxing district.

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OPINION

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It’s a great DEAL

interests and focus instead on the needs of Say this about Rex Jensen, chief executive Unless directions change, the speed at officer of Schroeder-Manatee Ranch: He is a the customers. Kudos to Jensen, Hafner and which your dollars lose value will increase. the Gulf Coast Community Foundation for man of action and vision.

• Structural deficits. Look at the graphic taking risks and steps to be innovative.

And his latest action and vision are long below. It provides perspective on how overdue for the Greater Sarasota-Manatee far out of whack our annual government region. + The U.S. debt, deficit bombs spending is vis-a-vis other spendthrift Now we shall see. We shall see whether Jensen, along with the Gulf Coast countries. Structural deficits are how the new U.S. House of Representatives, Community Foundation and Lars Hafner, much government spending exceeds led by the Republican majority, has the president of the State College of Florida, income even in a healthy economy. We are courage of its alleged convictions. announced Tuesday their intention to the Godzilla — out spending our income We say “alleged” construct a 72,000-squareby $1.2 trillion a year! What family do you convictions because foot facility on the eastern know who can sustain that spending so far we have no definitive beyond its means? edge of University Parkway actions as of yet to in Lakewood Ranch to • National debt. Our gross federal determine whether serve as a one-stop, alldebt will reach $14.3 trillion in March. the Republicans encompassing resource Borrowing is an addiction. The United will deliver on center for economic States borrows 40 cents for every $1 it their campaign development as well as the spends. And in two months, the federal promises and nucleus for what Jensen government’s borrowing will take us to the actually cut, reduce, hopes to become the new federal debt ceiling limit once again. slash and eliminate central campus for the Digest this: In 1917, Congress set our the national State College of Florida. government’s first debt ceiling at $8 government’s The three groups dubbed billion. Just before World War II, it rose immoral annual the center “DEAL” — the to $65 billion. With Richard Nixon, it deficit spending and Design and Economic reached $431 billion. After 9/11, the debt immoral debt.

Acceleration Lab. ceiling was $5.9 trillion. Less than 10 years As of Tuesday, with later, we are soon to top $14 trillion. Our It makes a lot of sense. the start of the new For far too long, debt has risen 14,000-fold in a century.

Congress, the test the recruiting of new William Buckler, a brilliant Australian of will began. Are companies, the servicing analyst of global financial issues, writes they really willing of companies interested in his most recent edition of his monthly Rex Jensen: He has a vision for to sacrifice their in moving here and the newsletter, the Privateer: “The progression economic growth. political power for assistance provided to has become exponential. The end result — the financial wellexisting companies that the complete collapse of the 20th-century being of future generations? want to expand have been a disjointed, ‘model’ of a financial and monetary system If they are, severe pain cannot be inefficient and parochial process. To wit: based on governments issuing IOUs — is avoided. It’s as if an economic mushroom Manatee and Sarasota counties each has its obviously inevitable. The only remaining cloud is moving our way. Consider: own economic development council. And question is when will it happen?”

• Inflation. Rising prices for food, gas that makes sense. The two jurisdictions have We have reached our economic Rubicon. different government rules and policies. And and other commodities are spreading The new Republican House must decide rapidly, thanks largely to our Federal like most political jurisdictions, each county whether to raise the ceiling and allow the Reserve Bank flooding the market with has its politics. government to increase the national debt dollars, i.e. creating and printing money But for prospective customers, it’s a even more or take demonstrative steps out of thin air. That in itself — printing hassle. Imagine the out-of-state company that cut spending. money — is inflation. considering moving to this region. Its We will find out about the Republicans’ But now, as predicted and to little executives travel back and forth between convictions. Meantime, we — all of us — surprise, we are seeing the effects. In 2010, also bear a burden. Just as the Greatest counties, lining up meetings with economic the Economist magazine’s commodity development, chamber of commerce and Generation sacrificed in blood and lives price index rose 33.5%; industrial government officials to gather pieces of to preserve liberty from tyranny in the materials rose 37.4%. information to be able to determine the best 1940s, its descendants now face a similar This price inflation has spread to India place to locate. Talk about an inefficient, challenge. It’s not war, but the looming and Asia. History (1971, 1980) says it exasperating process. economic collapse requires similar courage will not be long before it spreads here.

Jensen’s vision is to bring everyone — the courage to support congressmen We’ve already seen it in gas prices and at involved in this process under one roof and senators to do what must be done: the grocery counter. Your dollar does not to serve as a Walmart of economic truly reverse the size and spending of development information — a one-stop shop buy as much as it did a year ago. Printing government. Save our children and with representatives from every organization dollars has made the money in your pocket grandchildren from a certain destiny of a worth less today than it was a year ago. and agency involved in a corporate declining standard of living. expansion or relocation. He sees the DEAL center housing databases of information for prospective companies on such things as HOW NATIONAL STRUCTURAL DEFICITS COMPARE inventories of available commercial space and housing; spreadsheets of comparative The circles show a proportionate representation of the size of each nation’s annual tax data; or access to resumes of prospective deficits in dollars. The smaller figure is what percent the deficits represent of employees. And he sees State College of national gross domestic product. Of the nations represented, only Ireland’s deficit Florida serving as a primary institution represents a higher percentage of GDP than the U.S. deficit. focused on training and educating students to meet new and existing companies’ workforce needs.

Indeed, it would provide a great boost to the area to see State College of Florida blossom in a new central campus and become to this region what Gulf Coast University of Florida is to Lee and Collier counties and what the Ringling College of Art and Design is to the animation industry.

Let’s be honest: As much as we want to believe the University of South Florida Sarasota-Manatee is an educational anchor here, it always will be a branch of the Big Campus in Tampa. And New College of Florida operates in a specialized niche. SCF has the potential to serve the widest market here and become a steady fuel for workforce and economic development.

As he often does, Jensen is bucking tradition and challenging the status quo with this new DEAL. No doubt he will make the tradition-bound economic development interests here uncomfortable and feel threatened. But they need not react that way. It’s time to break out of comfort zones and embrace new thinking and new ways of operating. Competition to new companies is always intense. It makes a lot of sense then to shift away from the traditional parochial

The sarasota Observer THURSDAY, JANUARY 20, 2011

SCHOOLS

www.YourObserver.com

7A

yummy stuff

Club founder cooks up healthy eating program

By Loren Mayo | Community Editor

e samy a D ry ve Deli

Healthy helping

Loren Mayo

Booker Middle School students in Carolyn Logan’s art class painted baskets for The Children’s Healthy Pantry Foundation that allow food to be transported easily around town. From left: Jennifer Cisterne, Gray Gordon, The Children’s Healthy Pantry Foundation founder Susan Morin, Jovana Christiani, Sarah Robinson, Brittany Targaszewski, Michael Sanders, Jonathan Humeny and Carolyn Logan. she moved to Sarasota, and she took her Yummy Stuff Club: Eat Smart to be Smart program to the Boys and Girls Club of Sarasota County. Once a week she worked with the same group of kids to promote healthier eating choices. Soon, children who weren’t even involved in the program were trading in Coca-Cola for fruit smoothies.

“My whole thing is that I want it to be a fun experience to learn about preparing food and eating healthy,” Morin said. “When mentioning healthy food, their initial reaction is not positive.

One of the goals I have is to help

them overcome that mentality.”

Most recently, Morin has started the Yummy Stuff Club at Booker Middle School. She noticed that some of the children were overweight, and many didn’t eat any fruit. She wrote a proposal to have fresh food delivered once a week. The Detweiler family, who owns a retail produce market on Cattlemen Road, volunteered to donate 400 pieces of fruit each week to the school.

With the help of the Community Foundation of Sarasota County, Morin also created The Children’s Healthy Pantry Foundation at Booker Middle School.

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The pantry is regularly stocked with healthy foods that are accessible to students for free. Its purpose is to ensure that students begin their school day by eating something healthy.

On Wednesday, Morin met with Emma E. Booker Elementary School staff to discuss establishing a second pantry there.

The pantry was approved and will be stocked Feb. 1.

“I know what the kids feel like when they don’t eat because I can’t focus when I’m hungry,” said Bao Nguyen, an eighthgrade student at Booker Middle.

“It’s good that we have this.”

The Children’s Healthy Pantry Foundation is hosting a “foodraiser” through Saturday, Jan. 22.

Donations of non-perishable items are welcome and are tax-deductible. The pantry needs items such as individual applesauce cups, raisin boxes, breakfast bars, milk boxes, cereal boxes and juice boxes (sugar-free, if possible) whole-wheat bread, yogurt, low-fat peanut butter and sugar-free jelly.

Drop-off sites include Emma E. Booker Elementary School, Booker Middle School, the Community Foundation, Temple Beth Israel, Southside Deli and Dreamweaver. Visit www. yummystuffclub.com for information.

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Susan Morin knows exactly what she wants for breakfast. At the Serving Spoon, on Osprey Avenue, she orders an omelet with two eggs instead of three and then adds tomatoes before launching into what sounds like a regularly practiced speech on why breakfast is the most important meal of the day. She’s the embodiment of her two ongoing efforts: the Children’s Healthy Pantry Foundation and the Yummy Stuff Club.

The concept originally started in 1997 with a radio program called “Bedtime Story” that Morin headed up in Rhode Island.

But when the station was sold, she moved the program to a library in her hometown of Woonsocket, R.I. “I loved working with kids and got certified to be an assistant to substitute teachers,” Morin said.

“It was enough fulfillment, but during the time, I was watching the children’s eating and behavior. I thought that they were feeding these kids more carbs than they needed to eat in a week and then telling them to be quiet without letting them burn off the energy they had ingested.”

It was serendipitous when the town asked Morin to create an after-school program to inspire children to eat healthier foods.

She compiled a booklet that included information on grooming, hygiene and diet. In 2002,

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The sarasota Observer THURSDAY, JANUARY 20, 2011

NeIGHBORHOOD

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SPOONFULS OF FUN

Church of the Redeemer kids go nose-to-nose in contest

By Loren Mayo | Community Editor

Margaret Buck, Christina Brush, Amelia Menke and Avery Morse congratulate spoon contest winner Morgan Christiansen.

The silver serving spoons sure took preference over dinner. The kids at the Church of the Redeemer were supposed to be filling their bellies with chicken and mashed potatoes but were too excited about the upcoming who-can-hang-aspoon-from-their-nose-the-longest contest Wednesday, Jan. 12, to focus on eating.

Dinner supervisor Andy Morse called out several moves to the kids — including everything from squatting and making a 360-degree turn, to hopping and sitting on the floor — to try and break their concentration.

Finally, all but one spoon balancer remained. Morgan Christiansen was named the spoon contest champion.

This move wasn’t allowed during the contest, but Mark Shaffer had fun perfecting his balancing act.

Photos by Loren Mayo

Avery Morse works on pulling off a sitting position.

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Sarasota Power Squadron welcomes its new officers

By Maria Amodio | Staff Writer

The Sarasota Power Squadron held its 59th annual Change of Watch ceremony Sunday, Jan. 16, at Sarasota Yacht Club.

Officers for 2011 include Commander Leon Warshaw, Executive Officer Susan

Lomastro, Educational Officer Joseph Barnette, Treasurer Jerry Kuskin and Secretary Sandy Kuskin.

The Sarasota Military Academy Color Guard opened the ceremony with the posting of the colors, which was followed by dinner and the new officers installation.

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The sarasota Observer THURSDAY, JANUARY 20, 2011

ATHLETE OF THE WEEK Carol Furlong is the team captain for the Longwood Run Senior 4.0 Women’s Doubles team and was recently named the USTA’s December 2010 Tennis Captain of the Month. Furlong has been playing tennis for more than 25 years and

loves the game not only because of the camaraderie but also because she can play mixed-doubles with her husband, Louis.

When Furlong is not coaching, she plays at The Landings where she has lived with her husband for almost 20 years.

How did you get your team together and become a team captain?

I took a group of girls from different clubs that didn’t have a team to play on; we played out of Payne Park the first year.

The second year we moved to Longwood Athletic Club in Longwood Run because they allowed us to play earlier in the day.

catch the ball, and as the ball touches your strings, you squeeze the handle the same way you would close your glove.

What would you like to improve?

The focus, I guess. Sometime I’m distracted when I see people walking along the side of the court or talking, especially if I hear my husband’s voice, even if I can’t see where he is. So I don’t let him come and watch me.

What is the best memory you have had with your team?

Getting to the finals of the competition of some of the best teams in Florida in Daytona Beach last year. We just missed going to nationals by one single tiebreaker. So, we were the finalists and we didn’t win the whole thing, but we had a great time.

What is one of the best tips you’ve ever been given?

One of the best tips I’ve ever received is to think of volleying as catching a ball in a glove. That means you put your hand up in front of you just as if you would

Who are you dream mixed-doubles partners?

Rafael Nadal and Martina Navratilova.

Visit our website to see a video of Furlong’s interview

Carol Furlong watches her shot sail over the net.

Rachel S. O’Hara

Do you know someone who would make a great Athlete of the Week?

Let us know! Send your suggestions to: rohara@yourobserver.com.

www.YourObserver.com

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The sarasota Observer THURSDAY, JANUARY 20, 2011

NEWS

team mindset

Sarasota Chamber gives play-by-play for new year

By Maria Amodio | Staff Writer

The Greater Sarasota Chamber of Commerce scored a touchdown with its 2011 annual kick-off breakfast, held Friday, Jan. 14, at the Hyatt Regency Sarasota. Chamber members donned football jerseys for the sports-themed event, where chamber President Steve Queior and Board of Directors Chairman Rick Piccolo gave attendees a play-by-play of the chamber’s upcoming season. Event sponsors included Shumaker, Loop & Kendrick LLP; SunTrust; Adams and Reese LLP; and Mercedes-Benz of Sarasota.

www.YourObserver.com

BUSINESS OBSERVER + Molly’s Boutique earns gold retailer award

seven-county region.

“We’re proud of this achievement and grateful for our staff’s hard work over the past year,” said company founder and President Angela Massaro-Fain in a prepared statement. “This is the latest accolade in a year of achievements, including earning 10 awards at the AAFSuncoast’s 2010 ADDY Awards competition; being honored with the 2010 Frank G. Berlin Sr. Small Business Award by the Greater Sarasota Chamber of Commerce; reaching the milestone of more than $1 million in services donated to 56 area non-profit organizations; and our inclusion for the third year in a row as one of Gulf Coast Business Review’s top 500 largest companies. It’s been a great year, and we look forward to continued success in 2011.”

Vera Bradly presented Molly’s! A Chic and Unique Boutique with gold status in the Vera Bradley Rewards Program for excellent service, selection and a memorable shopping experience.

The program evaluates retail stores based on store design, relationships, product assortment and general business practices and recognizes outstanding performance.

“We are pleased to have been designated a gold-level store,” said Molly Jackson, owner. “Achieving this status represents an exceptional level of performance that consistently exceeds all expectations and requirements.”

+ Robert Ricchini joins Studio Salon and Spa The Studio Salon and Spa recently welcomed new salon manager and Artistic Director Robert Ricchini to its team.

Ricchini, who hails from New York, has 35 years of experience as a hair designer and makeup artist and has owned and operated successful salons in New York and New Jersey. In his early years, Ricchini spent time in London studying with Vidal Sassoon.

The salon is located at 508 Central Ave., in Sarasota’s historic Rosemary District.

Greater Sarasota Chamber of Commerce President Steve Queior and Laurel Corriveau, of the Economic Development Corporation of Sarasota County

+ Grapevine named top advertising agency Photos by Maria Amodio

Nick Gladding, of Adams and Reese LLP, and Hugh Peeples, of Mercedes-Benz of Sarasota

Bob Leibold, of Liebold Enterprises, and Morgan Gerhart, with the Greater Sarasota Chamber of Commerce

11A

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+ Fitness franchise opens downtown studio location Twenty Minutes to Fitness, a national health-and-fitness franchise company, has announced the opening of its newest Sarasota studio, located at 1753 Ringling Blvd. Hugh Elsam is the franchise owner.

“On one of my trips to Sarasota, I learned about the time-efficient, slowmovement program at 20 Minutes to Fitness and have been a client ever since,” Elsam said. “When the downtown Sarasota franchise became available, I jumped at the opportunity to invest in a franchise.”

Michele Rose, a personal trainer and tri-athlete, will manage the day-to-day operations of the studio.

Visit our website to read more Business Observer news www.YourObserver.com

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The sarasota Observer THURSDAY, JANUARY 20, 2011

NeWS

www.YourObserver.com

KEY REAL ESTATE

Bay Point Park home sells for $1.3 million

By Adam Hughes | Research Editor

The following residential real-estate transactions took place between Dec. 16 and Dec. 22. A home in Bay Point Park tops all the real-estate transactions from Dec. 16 to Dec. 22.

Douglas and Sharon Kanter, of Sarasota, sold their home at 1535 Bay Point Drive to William and Donna Townsend, of Sarasota, for $1.28 million. Built in 1965, it has three bedrooms, two baths, a pool and 4,539 square feet of living area. It previously sold for $1.85 million in 2003.

SARASOTA Lewis Combs

Robert and Patricia Bradbury, of Sarasota, sold their home at 1664 Waldemere St. to Linda Barrett and Carl Gugino, trustees, for $690,000. Built in 1998, it has three bedrooms, two-anda-half baths, a pool and 2,642 square feet of living area. It previously sold for $1.26 million in 2005.

Oyster Bay Estates

Homesales Inc. sold the home at 1809 S. Lake Shore Drive to JP Morgan Chase Bank NA for $280,000. JP Morgan Chase Bank NA then sold the home to Leo Smith for $280,000. Built in 1963, it has three bedrooms,

Sarasota Beach

two baths and 1,744 square feet of living area. It previously sold for $591,000 in 2005.

Sandra and Jason DeLaurier, of Sarasota, sold their home at 99 Island Circle to Sharon Cosimano, of East Aurora, N.Y., for $346,000. Built in 1956, it has three bedrooms, two baths and 1,120 square feet of living area.

It previously sold for $168,000 in 1999.

Gulf Gate

Elizabeth Plonka sold her home at 3048 Goodwater St. to Priscilla Quist, of Sarasota, for $200,000. Built in 1963, it has three bedrooms, two baths, a pool and 2,082 square feet of living area. It previously sold for $158,000 in 2001.

SIESTA KEY The Sea Breeze

Kurt and Elke Hack, of Osprey, sold their Unit 4 condominium at 9008 Midnight Pass Road to Deborah Bianco, of Toronto, for $850,000. Built in 2004, it has three bedrooms, three baths and 3,700 square feet of living area.

Palm Bay Club of Sarasota

Frank and Lois Strauss, of Lady Lake, sold their Unit G-27 condominium at 5966 Midnight Pass Road to Frank and Judith LoGerfo, of Cambridge, Mass., for $600,000. Built in 1970, it has two bedrooms, two baths and 990 square feet of living area. It previously sold for $155,000 in 1988.

Gerhard Pech, of Osprey, sold the Unit 313 condominium at 5961 Midnight Pass Road to Pe-

Rachel S. O’Hara

This home at 1535 Bay Point Drive has three bedrooms, two baths, a pool and 4,539 square feet of living area. It sold for $1.28 million. ter and Jeanette Goldsbrough, of West Lafayette, Ind., for $287,500. Built in 1974, it has two bedrooms, two baths and 1,012 square feet of living area.

Harmony

Priscilla Quist sold the home at 4901 Peaceable Way to Harold and Maria Brotherton, of Sarasota, for $430,000. Built in 1978, it has three bedrooms, three baths, a pool and 2,248 square feet of living area. It previously sold for $220,000 in 1994.

Siesta Revised

Michael Neville, of Bellmore, N.Y., sold his home at 319 Ogden St. to Stephen Scalione, of Sarasota, for $415,000. Built in 1963, it has four bedrooms, three baths, a pool and 2,432

square feet of living area. It previously sold for $315,000 in 2003.

El Presidente Apartments

James and Lynn Taylor, trustees, sold the Unit 203 condominium at 6326 Midnight Pass Road to LZZL LLC for $355,000. Built in 1975, it has two bedrooms, two baths and 1,054 square feet of living area.

Peppertree Bay

Paul, Chari and Marguerite Polley, Sarasota, sold their Unit 405 condominium at 1125 Peppertree Drive to Timothy and Beverly Shelton, of Mason, Ohio, for $350,000. Built in 1974, it has two bedrooms, two baths and 1,200 square feet of living area. It previously sold for $141,500 in 1992.

Sarasota Surf and Racquet Club

Marie Rigan, trustee, sold the Unit 391 condominium at 5912 Midnight Pass Road to Gregory and Cynthia Gugger, of Cincinnati, for $312,500. Built in 1971, it has two bedrooms, two baths and 985 square feet of living area. It previously sold for $38,000 in 1976.

PALMER RANCH Prestancia

Alexander and Janine DeJesus, of Sarasota, sold their home at 4287 Escondito Circle to David Brennan Jr. and Sheila Lois Lightcap, of Sarasota, for $650,000. Built in 1989, it has three bedrooms, three-and-ahalf baths, a pool and 3,706 square feet of living area. It previously sold for $562,500 in 2001.

Visit our website to read more transactions www.YourObserver.com

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14A

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Sweet little girl 9 p.m. — 8200 block of South Tamiami Trail. Battery. A 13-year-old girl began yelling at a 14-year-old girl, because she didn’t like the way that the older girl looked at her. The 14-year-old turned and walked away. The 13-yearold grabbed the girl’s hair and began slapping her in the face. The younger girl was arrested.

WHOLESALE PRICES!

Y X T Y M S Y X M STY

Jan. 8 2740Stickney Stickney Point 2740 Point Rd Rd Shoulder to lean on Sarasota, 34231 5:26 a.m. — 2900 block of Oak Sarasota, FLFL 34231 Street. Criminal Mischief. An officer 9 4 1 9 2 9 7 7 4 0 941-929-7740 responding to a report of a broken car 50017

window found an extremely cooperative suspect upon arrival. The suspect walked toward the officer and yelled, “Go ahead and take me. Arrest me. I broke out her window.” The man then put his hands behind his back. After being handcuffed, the man said he broke the car window with a shovel, because he didn’t like his wife hanging out with the car’s owner. The wife was upset with her husband, she said, because he didn’t seem to care that she had a life-threatening disease. She told the officer that she went to visit the owner of the damaged car, because she needed to talk to a friend.

50501

Mother’s intuition

Complimentary Seminar

2:09 p.m. — 1300 block of South Tamiami Trail. Petit Theft Shoplifting.

A supermarket employee jotted down the license plate of a car that sped away from the store. Inside the car was a 27-year-old man who stole some groceries — four bags of Brach’s candy, a case of Bud Light and a tub of cream cheese.

The car belonged to the man’s mother.

She told police that her son was driving the car and then called her son and instructed him to return the food and beer or go to jail. He listened to his mother.

Jan. 10 Stone-cold busted

Are we in a

10:51 a.m. — 1200 block of South Tamiami Trail. Petit Theft Shoplifting. A woman was arrested for stealing three

BOND BUBBLE?

3:01 p.m. — 1 block of Bayfront Drive. Suspicious Person. Complainant reported a young man was vomiting in a marina’s parking lot. The 18-year-old told an officer that he had been drinking and got sick. His mom was called to pick him up and take him home.

Entry-level position 11:23 p.m. — 1400 block of Main Street. Battery. A man tried to bribe a bouncer into allowing the man’s girlfriend in a bar, even though she didn’t have identification. The bouncer refused, and the man got angry. He told the bartender if he didn’t let his girlfriend into the bar, he was going to come back with 15 friends and “cause some trouble.” The bouncer again said no. The man punched him in the face, jumped into a car and drove away.

Jan. 11 Auntie Dearest 2:19 p.m. — 3900 block of Freedom Avenue. Aggravated Assault and Criminal Mischief. A teenager said his maternal aunt came to his home, slashed his mother’s car with a large hunting knife and then threatened him with that knife. He told deputies that he was inside his home, when he heard a couple of popping sounds. He and his brother opened the door and saw their aunt standing next to the car, which had rapidly deflating tires. The boy’s aunt then pointed the knife at him and made stabbing motions. He and his brother ran back into the house. The aunt then broke out two of the home’s front windows with her fist. She ran away with a bloody hand.

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• Performance of bonds during times of rising/declining interest rates • Things to consider when choosing between: - Individual bonds or bond funds?

- Tax free or Taxable bonds?

- Long term or short term bonds?

- High yield bonds or preferred stock?

• Ways to hedge against rising interest rates

Cardinal Mooney Catholic High School Open House

*Bond prices fluctuate inversely to changes in interest rates. Therefore, a general rise in interest rates can result in a decline in the value of your investment. *Mutual funds will be discussed at this seminar. Investing in mutual funds involves risk. The principal value and investment return will fluctuate so that shares, when redeemed, may be worth more or less than their original cost.

Tuesday, Jan. 25 2:30pm Thursday, Jan. 27 10:30am Wells Fargo Advisors Education Center, 7100 Beneva Rd., Sarasota

Seating is limited.

Kindly R.S.V.P. to 941-388-6635 or email Andrew.Lowther@wfadvisors.com 47784

Investment and Insurance Products: NOT FDIC Insured NO Bank Guarantee MAY Lose Value Wells Fargo Advisors, LLC, Member SIPC, is a registered broker-dealer and a separate non-bank affiliate of Wells Fargo & Company. © 2010 Wells Fargo Advisors, LLC. All rights reserved. 1010-2128.

What a sicko

CPC 1456671

Please join us for an enlightening discussion of the following:

Andrew Lowther Financial Advisor

healing stones from a specialty store.

She was with a friend, and both actually made some purchases. But when the two women walked to the exit door, the alarm sounded. The three rocks, worth $12.50, were found in the thief ’s purse.

She told an officer she didn’t know why she had stolen the stones. Police say she had enough cash on her to purchase the items.

Sunday, January 23, 2011 Noon - 2 p.m.

4171 Fruitville Rd., Sarasota Meet the Faculty, Students and Staff Tour the Campus Learn about Program Offerings, Academics and Co-Curriculars NEXT PLACEMENT EXAM Saturday, February 12, 2011, 8 a.m.

For more information, please call Bob Lees

(941) 371-4917 Ext. 111 or blees@cmhs-sarasota.org

www.cmhs-sarasota.org

49980

SMOKIN’GIFTS GIFTS SMOKIN’ SMOKIN’ GIFTS BODY JEWELRY JEWELRY BODY JEWELRY NFL DYE NFLTIE TIEDYE DYE NFL TIE CANDLES CANDLES CANDLES INCENSE INCENSE INCENSE TIE DYE T’S TIE DYE T’S GIFTROCK BASKETS T’S ROCK T’S ROCK T’S &&MUCH MORE MUCH MORE

CORNER

Jan. 7

LOOK AND FEEL LIKE A ROCK STAR!

The sarasota Observer THURSDAY, JANUARY 20, 2011

www.YourObserver.com

The sarasota Observer THURSDAY, JANUARY 20, 2011

RAINFALL

MOON PHASES

Sarasota

Wed., Jan. 12 Thurs., Jan. 13 Fri., Jan. 14 Sat., Jan. 15 Sun., Jan. 16 Mon., Jan. 17 Tues., Jan. 18 Year-to-date:

WEATHER 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.06 0.01 0.00

2011 0.56 in

2010 2.65 in.

Month to date: 2011

0.56 in

2010 2.65 in.

Jan. 26 Last

www.YourObserver.com

15A

WEEKLY WINNEr: Stream of Consciousness

Feb. 3 New

Feb. 11 First

Feb. 18 Full

TemperatureS

Temps.

Record Temps.

Low High Low High Wed., Jan. 12 55 43 86 (1993) 24 (1927) Thurs., Jan. 13 54 32 85 (1993) 23 (1981) Fri., Jan. 14 67 37 84 (1937) 25 (1981) Sat., Jan. 15 70 47 83 (1947) 27 (1964) Sun., Jan. 16 70 46 82 (1947) 26 (1927) Mon., Jan. 17 70 56 84 (1999) 30 (1992) Tues., Jan. 18 71 59 84 (1990) 29 (1977) Average Gulf water temperature: 57

Sunrise/sunset

TIDE CHART

Highs 1:55p — 12:20a 2:15p 1:12a 2:38p 2:09a 3:04p 3:13a 3:36p 4:13a 4:14p 6:28a 4:59p

Thurs., Jan. 20 Fri., Jan. 21 Sat., Jan. 22 Sun., Jan. 23 Mon., Jan. 24 Tues., Jan. 25 Wed., Jan. 26

HVAC # CACO55539 • Plumbing # CFC1428238 • Electrical # EC13004000

Lows 7:52a 6:43p 8:27a 7:42p 9:01a 8:43p 9:32a 9:51p 10:02a 11:07p 10:29a — 12:32a 10:49a

Thurs., Jan. 20 Fri., Jan. 21 Sat., Jan. 22 Sun., Jan. 23 Mon., Jan. 24 Tues., Jan. 25 Wed., Jan. 26

Sunrise 7:21 7:21 7:21 7:20 7:20 7:20 7:19

RED TIDE

Sunset 6:02 6:03 6:04 6:05 6:05 6:06 6:07

Karenia brevis, the Florida red tide organism, was not detected alongshore or offshore Sarasota Friday, Jan. 14, according to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Research Institute.

Get your daily weather conditions at Yourobserver.com

HVAC # CACO55539  Plumbing # CFC1428238  Electrical # EC13004000

cooltoday.com

cooltoday.com (800) 940-9297

Air Conditioning • Heating facebook.com & More/ GetTheBestFromTODAY facebook.com / GetTheBestFromTODAY

T H E O B S E R V E R C R O S S WO R D Edited by Timothy E. Parker

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1. L K R

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M U AT C A AU I Z

LQS

56 58 59

CVTRFUIZ

FSWD. RIS LRDM LQS RLQSE, “DCITQ UA RI FS!” 2. H B P

XUZ,

KCH

EHCJ

CVH

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WQSPBXJ

JKHHX EUFRFZ SB FSBP WHQ RSFTSBD. HBP IHTPX CSKV KVP HKVPQ— SJB’K KVSJ XPIU RHH?

a division of Cool Today Electrical, Solar and Energy Solutions

dAnCE OFF by Matthew Marey

1 5 10 16 19 20 21 22 23

C R Y P T O G R A M S by Myles Mellor

a division of Cool Today

50020

Edward D’Agostino submitted this sunset photo, overlooking Sarasota Bay. Enter your local sunset, sunrise or weather-related photos for The Observer’s weather photo contest, sponsored by Cool Today. Each week’s winner will receive a $50 restaurant gift card. Please send your photos to the Sarasota Observer, 1970 Main St., fourth floor, Sarasota, Fla., 34236, or e-mail them to nschwartz@yourobserver.com.

60 62 63 66

ACROSS Still in the sack Ball beauty Places for shots Part of a cheer Spelling of TV “___ a Grecian Urn” (Keats) More relaxed Nantes-to-Paris dir.

It’s visible in the east Loyalty to the cause Catchers bend them Emulate Earth Baloney peddler Twiggy willows Some WWII submarines Border patrol concerns Some berths Wool producer Messy one It’s 90 feet from home They’re divided into species Scare and then some Taking care of the situation Kind of hoop or skirt Food processor setting Accelerator particle One of a state’s two, briefly “Were you ____?” (“Don’t be rude”) One way to make tracks Fuss and fret Revered images “Big Brother” host Julie Total disaster Inevitable activity Charm with flattery Bring home the bacon

67 Threefold 68 Glossy cloth 69 Absolute last day for Christmas shopping 70 Soliciting donations, in a way 74 Mop & ___ (floor cleaner brand) 77 Vegetarian’s ammo?

78 Just perfect 79 Word with “fine” and “performing” 80 Light from a lightning bug, e.g.

81 Utensil used to remove cream 83 White ___ of Dover 86 Pizzeria order 87 “You ___ a mouthful!”

88 Launch, as a campaign 89 Attacks from the side 90 Meal 93 Bothers for life 94 Reasons for recusal 95 Carpet layer’s calculation 96 Poll answer choice 97 Doesn’t react well to getting benched 98 Wimbledon climax 102 People of good breeding 107 Trident-shaped Greek letter 108 Rumor unit, perhaps 109 Make a big scene?

110 Where’s iris?

111 “Quiet on the ___!”

112 Like a hunk 113 Country bumpkins 114 Lord’s mate dOwn 1 Source of many bills 2 Shout of disapproval

3 Miss an easy fly 4 Most small and insignificant 5 Gaffes 6 Finishes the lawn 7 Not so much 8 Costello of comedy 9 Lend dignity or honor to 10 Heart of Dixie 11 Nabokov novel 12 Frankenstein’s monster’s features 13 “___ no hooks” 14 Eldest of the March girls 15 Hindu title 16 Skater Sonja 17 Machu Picchu native 18 Jury makeup 24 Powerless to act 26 Suspect’s story 29 Die laughing, so to speak 31 Express one’s views 32 When collegians descend on Florida 33 Skeleton parts 34 Change, as a hemline 35 Italian film star Sophia 36 Abduction vehicles, supposedly 38 Will be, in a Day song 40 Pretense 41 “Can I get you anything ___?”

42 Bars of Avon 43 It’s cast in the water 44 Cletus on “The Simpsons,” for one 46 Schlep 47 Hunger sign 49 Billiard ball with a yellow stripe 51 Elephant-carrying mythical bird 52 “Mangia!”

53 Cupcake topper

54 57 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 67 68 70 71 72 73 75 76 80 82 83 84 85 86 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 97 99 100 101 103 104 105 106

Nine-piece combo Served as CEO of Prompt Like the divingboard end Downspout sites Relative of a husk Thai monetary units Airline predictions (Abbr.)

Acquire Alexander, for one Feudal laborer Arizona tribe members Allow in Sunflower ____ (snack item) Dagger handles Canal features Runs up an account Generous drink serving Oscar-winning songwriter Hayes Refined in manner Clair de ___ (porcelain) Number that is not a fraction Quench, as thirst Selleck TV role Nice girls?

Freeway exits Make blank ___ four (small cake) Israeli seaport Montana city Elitist “... Bojangles and ___ dance for you ...”

Golf goal Mined matter Bird of the Outback Fertility lab stock Was in the forefront Thompson who wrote about Eloise

Last weeks Cryptograms 1. Live a good life, shoot for the moon, and even if you miss it you’re sure to land

among the stars!

2. I thought this could be a good essay topic for my robotics class: artificial intelligence is no match for natural stupidity.

20A

The sarasota Observer THURSDAY, JANUARY 20, 2011

www.YourObserver.com

Outperforming The Market To wit, in one of the most challenging years ever for our market, the sales turned in by the agents of Michael Saunders & Company resulted in $1.432 billion in closed company sales, a 21% increase in dollar volume over 2009.

Likewise, the 4,346 units sold company-wide during the year represent a 29% increase in year-over-year unit sales. In real numbers, that means our agents ignored the nay sayers, rolled up their sleeves and sold nearly 1,000 more than in 2009. Put another way, they sold at an annual rate exceeding one unit every two hours.

The absolute number of properties sold in any given year is always one of the most gratifying year-end results, considering that each sale involved a buyer and seller who have just had their real estate and lifestyle goals achieved. Plus, each new sale puts us one step closer to restoring the necessary ingredient for a stable real estate market—a healthy balance between supply and demand that indicates a healthy

recovery has taken place along our part of Florida’s West Coast.

Increased productivity during such challenging times is no mere accident of luck or timing. It has everything to do with the quality and experience of our agents, the skills they bring to every type of transaction, the support of non-selling managers and in-office administrative assistants; and the tools we continuously introduce to supplement their knowledge of our fast-changing market.

In the past year alone, some of these tools have included a brand new web site, our company’s fifth since the Internet became the sine qua non of buying and selling real estate in today’s global market. That’s also why our agents can continuously draw from the experience and resources of our seven-member in-house technology team; not to mention our eight-member in-house marketing team.

Plus, we opened two new offices during the year from which to more extensively cross-promote our sellers’ properties to buyers scouring every corner of our market before deciding on a property. Moreover, as so many of today’s buyers originate from such far flung places as Europe, the U.K. and Canada, we continued to selectively enhance our international brokerage partnerships to effectively exploit the growing interest in our market and the number of worldwide referrals that such interest generates.

Further, to both honor their customers’ desire for “one-stop shopping” as it pertains to real estate, they used our MSC Mortgage and MSC Title divisions to not only expedite these vital services but also to more effectively monitor and manage the daily progress of each transaction on the road to ensuring a satisfying and smooth closing.

Throughout the year, we regularly brought in nationally known real estate experts to coach our team on the new complexities of our market. Still, our agents also took it upon themselves to spend countless hours of their own time availing themselves of all the pertinent new programs that are offered daily at the MS&C Career Development Center, on South Tamiami Trail.

More than anything else, our agents and staff kept each other’s spirits high and worked shoulder-to-shoulder at a time when it was much easier to become dispirited and seriously consider other lines of work.

Instead they remained positive throughout the bleakest of economic times, resolute in their core professionalism; and proved daily that teamwork can make any organization dedicated to exceptional service much greater than the sum of its parts.

Performance matters as much in real estate as it does in all other serious transactions. Therefore, we hope you’ll choose an agent from Michael Saunders & Company for their proven ability to significantly outperform the market.

1280 Hidden Harbor Way $4,950,000 #A3928412 Kim & Michael Ogilvie

Siesta Key 941-951-6660 941-376-1717

3550 Sarasota Golf Club Blvd $2,245,000 #A3934674 Drew Russell

Sarasota 941-966-8000 941-993-3739

929 Casey Cove Dr $2,050,000 #A378366 Mary Evelyn Guyton

Casey Key 941-966-8000 941-416-1406

404 Bayshore Dr $1,295,000 #N5763365 Greg Oberlander & Wally Turner

Venice 941-485-5421 941-468-1460

3716 Sandspur Ln Nokomis/North Venice $1,195,000 #A3937654 941-966-8000 Nancy Moore 941-374-2200

2286 Chilcote Ter $1,090,000 #D5781527 Missie Jo Turner

Port Charlotte 941-473-7750 941-587-2754

1012 Point Of Rocks Rd # East $899,000 #A3936305 Marlene & George Marshall

Siesta Key 941-349-3444 941-539-8850

252 Osprey Point Dr $875,000 #A3937635 Betty Mullinnix & Steve Abbe

Osprey 941-349-3444 941-928-3441

450 E Macewen Dr $710,000 #A3936942 Patrick Doherty

Osprey 941-951-6660 941-993-3160

379 Pine Ranch Trl $699,000 #A3917743 Annette & Albert Ayers

Osprey 941-966-8000 941-223-2343

935 Blue Heron Overlook $649,000 #A3899523 Nicole Hammons-Dovgopolyi, PA

Osprey 941-966-8000 941-356-5849

11 Coral Creek Pl $549,900 #D5776604 William Larson

Placida 941-473-7750 941-276-5444

6287 Midnight Pass Rd # 301 $499,000 #A3913389 Michael Hays

Siesta Key 941-349-3444 941-376-1826

950 Linkside Way # 18 $450,000 #C7014553 Jennifer Calenda

Punta Gorda 941-505-5555 941-916-0798

780 Sarabay Rd # 16 $449,900 #A3935470 Barbara E Gahry

Osprey 941-966-8000 941-586-3936

5942 Roseto Pl $449,000 #A3937719 Dana Westmark

Sarasota 941-951-6660 941-356-5091

411 Wellington Ct $448,500 #N5771594 Susan Brooker

Venice 941-493-2500 941-223-6055

1713 Starling Dr # 1713 $425,000 #A3937686 Lenore Treiman

Sarasota 941-966-8000 941-356-9642

24621 Dolphin Cove Dr $399,900 #C7015727 Jennifer Calenda

Punta Gorda 941-505-5555 941-916-0798

8549 Park Shore Ln $395,000 #A3937445 Stephanie Bugatti

Sarasota 941-966-8000 941-504-0978

24199 San Lucas Ln $389,000 #C7018475 Lisa Laflamme

Punta Gorda 941-639-0000 941-916-0538

1001 Beach Rd # A-403 $350,000 #A3937422 Jenna Carver

Siesta Key 941-349-3444 941-343-7953

4847 Kestral Park N Way # 23 $285,000 #A3934780 Tara Lamb & Judy Greene

Sarasota 941-349-3444 941-266-4873

331 Meadow Beauty Ct $265,000 #N5768772 Beverly Weltzien

Venice 941-485-5421 941-223-0612

11 Sunset Dr # 207 $265,000 #A3930521 Sara Ann Leicht

Sarasota 941-966-8000 941-586-4790

155 S Oxford Dr $249,000 #D5774434 Susan Reske

Englewood 941-473-7750 941-276-4219

1133 Cielo Ct $244,000 Pamela Charron

Nokomis/North Venice #A3937226 941-951-6660 941-993-3388

830 Tartan Dr # 830 $239,900 #N5771631 Darleen Hammond

Venice 941-493-2500 941-493-2500

5233 Winding Way $235,000 #A3920572 Linda Driggs

Siesta Key 941-951-6660 941-374-2920

3020 Matecumbe Key Rd # 106 Punta Gorda $229,900 #C7019432 941-505-5555 Jennifer Calenda 941-916-0798

12387 Cole Ave $215,000 #D5780886 Elizabeth Burr

Port Charlotte 941-473-7750 941-855-1142

7609 Fairway Woods Dr # 505 $205,000 #A3936855 Judy Arreola & Kristina Talkie

Sarasota 941-349-3444 941-266-8658

5630 Creekwood Dr $200,000 #A3931212 Donna Baranowski

Sarasota 941-951-6660 941-504-3951

289 Padova Way Nokomis/North Venice $185,000 #N5771357 941-485-5421 Jo-Anne Sckowska & Nell Taylor 941-321-8975

3314 Wood Thrush Dr # 124 $184,900 #C7020680 Jennifer Calenda

Punta Gorda 941-505-5555 941-916-0798

837 Wexford Blvd # 837 $139,900 #N5771710 Scott Johnston

Venice 941-493-2500 941-232-5482

3298 Dover Dr $104,900 Lisa Laflamme

Punta Gorda 941-639-0000 941-916-0538

749 Vivienda North Ct # 20 $104,900 #N5771666 Martha Pike

Venice 941-485-5421 941-716-4392

5681 Bidwell Pkwy # 103 $97,000 #A3935739 Joan Parkinson P A

3987 Maceachen Blvd # 114 $89,000 #A3935648 Sandra Voss

Sarasota 941-966-8000 941-961-5069

240 West End Dr # 922 $34,000 #C7020590 Lisa Laflamme

Punta Gorda 941-639-0000 941-916-0538

803 Old Albee Farm N Rd Nokomis/North Venice $134,900 #N5771353 941-485-5421 Kim Kruysman 941-441-6628

#C7013791

Sarasota 941-966-8000 941-321-3696

Mid Longboat 941.383.5502 • South Longboat 383.7591 • St. Armands 388.4447 • Main Street 951.6660 • Palmer Ranch 966.8000 • Siesta Key 349.3444 • Venice 485.5421

51027

With the books officially closed on 2010, the bottom line for the real estate market in Sarasota, Manatee and Charlotte Counties is that it performed better—though only marginally so—than in 2009. Unit sales in the tri-county region were up by 3% and dollar volume was up by .5%. That’s why nothing makes us prouder of this company’s exceptional year-end results than to report that our agents significantly outperformed the market.

Diversions

AR T S | E N T E R T A I N M E N T | S O C I E T Y | F O O D | F A S H I O N | D é C O R

VOICE ACTIVATED

The Observer www.YourObserver.com

thursday january 20, 2011

by Heidi Kurpiela | A&E Editor

Heidi Kurpiela

Maria Wirries’ aunt gave her a xylophone when she was still a baby. At 18 months, she started singing nursery rhymes in tune.

Little miss sunshine

East County singer Maria Wirries goes from guest artist to the main attraction.

The little girl with the big voice turns 13 and prepares for her first solo concert.

C

lasses have just let out for the day at Manatee School for the Arts, sending students scampering through hallways and out into the rain-drenched parking lot.

In a matter of minutes, most of the building will empty out, leaving only the kids who have dance practice and other such theatrical afterschool activities.

Inside the front lobby, Maria Wir-

ries and a female classmate tiptoe through a set of double doors, where Maria’s mother, Jeaneen, is sitting near the reception desk, discussing her daughter’s math progress with another mother.

WIRRIES CONTINUED ON PAGE 3B

INSIDE

HIGHLIGHTS:

Dancers sizzle at Sarasota Star Ball / 4B

BLACK TIE THE SOCIAL OBSERVER

GENERATIONS GALA HONORING GLORIA MOSS PAGE 8B

Gloria Moss and Jim Helmich

Camera Ready Starry Night / 11B

2B

■

>>

Diversions

www.YourObserver.com

■

THURSDAY, JANUARY 20, 2011

COLUMN

art scene HEARD

HOT TICKETS ‘La Bête’: Too busy to hit up Broadway this season?

David Hirson’s Molièreinspired comedy about 17thcentury street performer Valere runs Jan. 7 to Feb. 20, at the Asolo Repertory Theatre.

The play, which is currently enjoying a successful run on Broadway with an A-list

by Heidi Kurpiela | A&E Editor

cast that includes “Frasier” star David Hyde Pierce, stars Danny Scheie as the charmingly madcap Valere.

For tickets, call 351-8000 or visit www.asolorep.org.

‘Marvin Gaye: The Man and His Music’: The

+ ‘Twelve Angry Men’ equals one happy director

Photos by Heidi Kurpiela

The cast of “Ain’t Misbehavin’”: Ariel Blue, Donald Frison, Whitney Johnson, Jnana Cherie and Leon Pitts II

+ Nobody does ‘Misbehavin’’ like WBTT No local watering hole was as sexy as the 1920s Harlem nightclub The Westcoast Black Theatre created this month for its production of “Ain’t Misbehavin’.”

The Tony Award-winning Fats Waller revue was that escapist.

Cast members Ariel Blue, Jnana Cherie, Donald Frison, Whitney Johnson and Leon Pitts II brought all the right elements to the swinging musical: rowdiness, humor, relentless energy and intoxicating feistiness.

The production, which opened Dec. 15, closed last weekend after having sold out of every one of its dates.

Longboat Key resident Marianne Hart showed up for the troupe’s Jan. 14 performance with a gaggle of girlfriends.

A WBTT season subscriber for two years, Hart had yet to visit the troupe’s new Orange Avenue theater, so she and her theater companions arrived 30 minutes early just to be safe.

They weren’t the only ones.

The WBTT parking lot was so full, patrons had to park on the grass and along the street.

“The show is just absolutely delightful,” Hart gushed during intermission.

Further proving that Sarasotans just want to have fun, when the voluptuous Blue (cast as Armelia) shimmied up to an older gentleman sitting in the front row during the first act, the man audaciously reached his arms out and pretended to squeeze the singer’s behind.

Hey, it ain’t misbehavin’ if the crowd keeps cheering.

Westcoast Black Theatre troupe is on fire. “Ain’t Misbehavin’,” which kicked off the troupe’s 2011 season, sold out of its 10-day run in a matter of days. WBTT fans would be wise to purchase tickets now for the troupe’s next show: “Marvin Gaye: The Man and His Music,” which runs Jan. 26 to Feb. 20. Call 366-1505 or visit www.wbttroupe.org.

+ Art under the boardwalk, down by the sea

Director Frank Galati was all smiles Friday night as people spilled into the lobby of the Asolo Rep Theatre after watching the opening night of his “Twelve Angry Men.” The director, who won two Tony Awards in 1990 for his adaptation of “The Grapes of Wrath,” was mobbed by fans after the show let out.

In the middle of posing for pictures, the alwaysaffable Galati paused to give his contact info to theatergoer Ellen Berman, who confessed to the director that his version of the Reginald Rose drama was better than the production she saw on Broadway two years ago. (Berman is currently producing a play for a non-profit the-

Finally. Siesta Key has caught onto Downtown Sarasota’s art-walk trend.

Beginning Feb. 1, The Boardwalk at Boat Yard Village, located just south of the Stickney Point Bridge, will begin hosting an art walk every Tuesday featuring fine art, jewelry, photography and wares by 30 local and regional artists.

The walk is free and open to the public from noon until dusk. For more information, call 539-7972.

Director Frank Galati ater in New York City.)

“I’m sort of surprised by the reaction,” Galati said. “Obviously the play struck a chord with the public, which pleases me.

As a rule, I don’t typically hang around the lobby on opening night.”

Exciting news for Sarasota’s theater district: The director and his partner of 40 years — Peter Amster, who will direct the Asolo Rep’s “Deathtrap” this spring — recently sold their place in Miami and moved into a condo in downtown Sarasota.

+ ‘Being Human’ opens at Selby Gallery

An exhibit featuring the work of photographers Emmet Gowin and Tina Barney, as well as painter Harvey Dinnerstein, opened last week at Ringling College of Art and Design’s Selby Gallery.

Not only do the pieces offer a study in heredity, environment and class, Barney and Gowin will discuss the work first hand at an “Artist Talk” luncheon from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 20, in Roskamp Hall on the Ringling campus.

Michael’s On East will cater the event.

Tickets are $40. To make a reservation, call 359-7563.

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THURSDAY, JANUARY 20, 2011

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3B

COVER STORY

WIRRIES from 1B

IDOL WORSHIP

“Math has never been Maria’s thing,” Jeaneen Wirries says, “But she’s learned to like it since she started here.”

Approaching her mother, Maria, 13, takes off her backpack and turns to face her friend.

“As much as you can like math,” she says softly to the girl, adjusting the spandex on her black leotard.

The girl giggles and bounces away.

Maria has just come from a ballet rehearsal, which explains the leotard, hushed mannerisms and ruler-like posture.

An East County resident, Maria is only in her first year at the Palmetto performing-arts school and already she’s performed in three shows — “Footloose,” “Alice in Wonderland” and “The Secret Life of Girls,” which she and a group of classmates will take on tour to area middle schools this spring.

“I decided to take ballet because I’m a tad bit not graceful,” Maria says. “I was doing a really high lift the other day and I didn’t get my butt up in the air quick enough and I slipped onto the shoulders of one of the male dancers. Poor guy.”

The hobby is new for the eighth-grader, who has a habit of engaging in more extracurricular activities than she has time.

“I try to stick my hands in everything,” she says.

An articulate dynamo in a tiny package, Maria is no stranger to the spotlight.

A competitive ice skater since she was 3 years old, she spent her childhood performing on the ice and singing at county fairs, boxing matches, rodeos and swap meets around the state.

“I sang a lot of country music in cowboy boots and straw hats,” says the singer.

“We’ve had some silly experiences on the road that teach you stuff. It humbles you in a way.”

Meryl Streep “She is such an amazing actress. Every time I see her in something I hope I can one day be that accomplished. She never seems to do anything wrong.”

Julie Andrews “She’s done so much in her life and she has such a lovely voice.

She just seems like a lovely person. She’s got this happy, elegant look to her.”

Bernadette Peters “She’s sassy with her big red hair. She’s very confident in what she does. If you’re that confident, you can do anything.”

Celtic Thunder “I just fell in love with this group from Ireland and Scotland. They’re just really cool guys. They were my first concert. I was 11 years old. I’ve got all their CDs, DVDs and T-shirts. I’ve even got a (Celtic Thunder) teddy bear.”

Heidi Kurpiela

Maria burst onto the downtown Sarasota arts scene three years ago when she belted out “New York, New York” at The Players Theatre’s 2008 “Talent Explosion.”

At the urging of her Juilliard-trained piano teacher, Maria, then 10 years old, auditioned for the competition, slipping onto the program as a late entry at the last minute.

The experience changed her life.

More than 30 acts performed that day and though the singer didn’t place first, she received a standing ovation that lasted nearly two minutes.

“It never really sank in until then,” Maria says. “The applause was so big. It was like, ‘Oh, they’re clapping for me!’ After the show, people began mobbing me and asking for my autograph. It was overwhelming.”

In the throes of the chaos, Jeaneen

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Wirries says her daughter turned to her and asked if they might need a security guard to escort them to their car.

It was clear. The unheard of Haitianborn singer from Myakka City was a crowd favorite.

In the weeks that followed the show, Maria was offered solo gigs performing with dozens of local arts organizations, including the Artist Series of Sarasota, Sarasota Senior Theater, the Sarasota and Manatee Players and the Jacobites Pipe and Drum Band, for which she learned to sing in Gaelic and play the tenor drums.

“In my life, I’ve never met anybody — child or adult — who is as enthusiastic, motivated, talented and poised as Maria,” says Jacobites drum major and Executive Director Greg Gregory. “I think there’s

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no doubt we’re going to see her name in lights.”

If Maria’ talent show debut put her on the map, her numerous guest appearances singing the national anthem with the Jacobites helped secure her spot among Sarasota’s up-and-coming child performers.

“She does indeed have a following,” Gregory says. “People come to see the Jacobites, but Maria is certainly a presence unto herself.”

This explains why Maria, who was recently named the Critic’s Choice at the 2010-2011 Florida State Thespians District Competition, is headlining her first solo concert next month at Faith Lutheran Church, in Sarasota.

The singer is no longer regarded as an opening act, which at Maria’s age is a pretty promising trajectory.

“I feel more famous I guess,” Maria says with nary an ounce of conceit. “People are coming just to see me. It’s a whole different feeling. It feels like I’m achieving a new goal in my ladder.”

She pauses to envision the things in store for her at the top of that ladder — Broadway shows, award-winning films, glossy magazine covers, evening gowns and red carpet interviews.

“I’ve always wanted to be the center of attention,” Maria says. “When I realized I could get attention by doing good stuff, I realized how lucky I am. Not a lot of kids get these opportunities.”

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THURSDAY, JANUARY 20, 2011

HIGHLIGHTS by Heidi Kurpiela | A&E Editor

Simply ballroom

Dress courtesy of CoCo’s Couture

Professional dance champions sizzled last weekend at the Sarasota Star Ball competition, at the Hyatt Regency.

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Photos by Heidi Kurpiela

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dancer, who happens to be friends with a few “Dancing With the Stars” professionals.

“When I’m ready to talk about it, you’ll know.”

50059

Ballroom dancing has never been hotter. Sid Pocius knows this.

Three years ago, Pocius, a champion ballroom dancer from Lithuania, organized a five-star ballroom dance competition called the “Sarasota Star Ball.”

At the time Pocius, 34, was working as a freelance dance instructor in Sarasota. He knew planning the two-day event would be an undertaking, but, like any visionary, he knew it would grow.

Now in its third year, the competition, which was held Jan. 15 and Jan. 16, at the Hyatt Regency Sarasota, proved it’s a worthy stop on the five-star ballroom circuit thanks to jaw-dropping performances by Latin dance champions Misha Valsov and Danielle Wilson and World Smooth champions Slavik Sochacki and Marzena Stachura.

Pocius says he plans to shake up the competition next year by adding a few spicy changes to the program. As to what exactly those changes are, Pocius is playing coy —for now.

“It’ll be big stuff,” says the

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BACKSTAGE PASS by Heidi Kurpiela | A&E Editor

Mysterious ways Surapsari and Indra Sampranata explain the significance of the strange masks, movements and mystic motifs of Balinese dancing. life that we all have,” Sampranata says. “And often times we get caught up in the hardware.

Balinese dance stirs the inner mystery so that we can begin to marvel at the unknown. Some people call it the universe. Other people call it God. For me, it’s so important to communicate with that world.”

To illustrate his point, Sampranata, a native of Puerto Rico, raps his knuckles on the coffee table in front of him.

“Balinese dance helps us break identification with the form,” he says. “It’s the embodiment of mysticism.”

Balinese dance originated as a way to communicate between the real world (“Sekala”) and the spiritual world (“Niskala”), which means the dance was never intended to be entertainment.

Like any ceremonial dance, it was intended for the deities.

Before each performance, Surapsari and Sampranata mist their costumes and the stage with holy water.

Throughout the performance Sampranata dons different

Purnama Sari Balinese Dance Company will perform dances from “The Island of the Gods” at Rising Tide International Spiritual Center, 5102 Swift Road, Sarasota. Tickets are $15 for adults and $8 for children.

For more information, call 320-9666 or visit www.purnamasaribali.com.

Indra Sampranata and Surapsari are planning to tour the Southwest this summer with their Balinese dance company.

masks that represent the faces of gods, heroes, kings, warriors, Balinese elders and street people.

Surapsari performs ritualistic gestures, sporadic facial expressions and intense eye movements.

Often, their 12-year-old son, a student at Island Village Montessori School, joins the couple on stage. Like his parents, he also has a stage name: Dewa Bumi.

If the program includes an elaborate dance drama, the cast can be padded with additional dancers, although Surapsari and Sampranata have had a hard time finding skilled Balinese dancers in Sarasota.

“Here in the West we dance for the audience,” says Surapsari, who’s originally from Japan. “In Bali, they dance for the ancestors.”

When she began studying the

art 12 years ago, she had a hard time mastering the intense eye movements that accompany many of the gestures.

“It’s not an easy dance to run,” Surapsari says. “I’ve taught workshops where people come with such excitement and leave with disappointment because the body gets into such an unnatural form. The music alone takes several years to learn.”

She once taught the techniques to a friend who had studied modern dance.

The friend quit after one lesson. According to Surapsari, she found the dance to be too stifling.

“We need to empty our ego and let the spirit and the character of the dance come to the body,” Surapsari says. “We’re dancing for the gods, whether somebody shows up or not.”

Heidi Kurpiela

Heidi Kurpiela

Not all Balinese masks are pretty.

WHAT’S UP WITH THE MASKS? Regarded as sacred purveyors of ancient spirits, Balinese dance masks are hand-carved

by Balinese dance priests from a soft wood called “pule” and then covered in endless coats of acrylic paint.

The men select the materials on specific dates and perform a prayer ritual before carving.

Although ancient kings and gods inspired most of the masks in Indra Sampranata’s collection, some of the faces have been modeled after clowns and villagers with physical deformities.

Sampranata realizes some of these faces might scare small children.

In fact, that’s the point.

“The idea is to scare the nasty energy away,” Sampranata says.

50221

Sarasota loves its dance.

Ballet. Modern dance. Ballroom dance. Butoh dance. Burlesque dance. The list goes on.

Now we can add Balinese dance to the mix.

Meet Surapsari and Indra Sampranata, founders of the Purnama Sari Balinese Dance Company.

The husband-and-wife duo relocated this fall from Bali to a quiet subdivision in Nokomis.

They brought with them an impressive collection of traditional masks, a closet full of colorful costumes and 12 years of professional Balinese dance experience that’s so deeply rooted in a spiritual-belief system that dancing is as much who they are as what they do.

Within minutes of sitting down with the couple in their quiet canal-front living room, you sense that Balinese dancing is the fabric of their being.

The pair, who met in 1997 as graduate students in Cambridge, Mass., wouldn’t have it any other way.

“I think there’s this ordinary

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THURSDAY, JANUARY 20, 2011

EDIBLES: Recipe & Reservation by Molly Schechter | Food Editor

Soups star at Star Keeper Café In a winter that seems intent on setting records for cool temperatures, nothing is more heartening than a bowl of soup billowing steam. And a lovingly created new spot in downtown Sarasota has just the thing.

It is Cindy and John Snyder’s Star Keeper Café, located in a historic house formerly occupied by C’Arina on Bamboo Lane, a one-block, one-way street between Ringling Avenue and Main Street, east of the Post Office and right behind the Ranola Hotel. The Snyders leased the space in August, spent three months renovating and opened their tiny treasure Nov. 1.

The three soups on the menu

this time of year are mushroom barley; coconut, ginger, chicken and veggies; and basil tomato with Parmesan ice cream.

“It sounds weird,” says Cindy Snyder, “but it’s really good.”

It is also simple to prepare at home, and the Parmesan ice cream requires no special equipment — you simply melt the cheese in heavy cream and freeze it.

Star Keeper is as funky as it is charming. Interior features include an old sewing machine topped with vintage Simplicity sewing patterns, a Victorian breakfront and assorted silver, glass and china treasures that once belonged to Cindy Snyder’s late mother — not to mention an oversized apothecary jar filled with homemade marshmallows. The Snyders bill their food as “fresh, healthy (but still a little Southern) ‘comfort food’ made from the memories of our grandmothers’ kitchens and church potlucks.” An example is the Kentucky Hot Brown sandwich (from the Brown Hotel, in Louisville, Ky.,): turkey, bacon, Parmesan cheese sauce and tomatoes. At $9.75, it is the most expensive sandwich on the menu. The least is PB&J at $3.75.

The ambience at Star Keeper is enhanced by an abundance of fresh flowers — a fringe benefit of the Snyders’ other business, which is wholesale flowers. The entire restaurant (which seats

RECIPE

Cindy’s basil tomato soup with Parmesan ice cream

Star Keeper’s owner and chef, Cindy Snyder

STAR KEEPER CAFÉ

Address: 1734 Bamboo Lane Hours: 8:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.

Tuesday through Saturday and 6 to 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday Phone: 955-9434 Website: www.starkeepercafe. com Owners: Cindy and John Snyder 30 inside and another 15 in a charming back garden, weather permitting) can be rented for private evening events.

Cindy’s Basil Tomato Soup with Parmesan Ice Cream Yield: 12 servings

Parmesan ice cream

1/4 pound unsalted butter 1 quart heavy cream 2 cups fresh basil, chopped 8 tomatoes, chopped 2 quarts tomato juice

1 quart heavy cream 3 cups parmesan, shredded Combine cream and cheese in a saucepan and heat until cheese is completely melted. Let cool to room temperature, then freeze to use as needed.

Melt butter, then add rest of ingredients.

Cover and simmer over low heat for 45 minutes.

Editor’s note: It would make sense to freeze this much cream in small batches. Use a couple of tablespoons per serving of soup.

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7B

REVIEWS

Film

Music

>> ‘Rabbit

>> Sarasota

Hole’

It’s a given that Academy Awardwinner Nicole Kidman is one of the best actors out there.

But in the new film, “Rabbit Hole,” she gives a career-defining performance as a mother whose soul has been shattered by the loss of her only son.

In a surprising yet brilliant casting move, director John Cameron Mitchell (“Hedwig and the Courtesy photo Angry Inch”) chose Nicole Kidman and Aaron Eckhart star in “Rabbit Hole.”

Aaron Eckhart even manages to inject some pretty hilari(“The Dark Knight”) to play Kidman’s ous moments into the story. One involves husband. Their chemistry is sheer perfection. As the film opens, we learn that Becca Howie sharing a joint with a fellow griever (Kidman) and Howie (Eckhart) have tragi- (Sandra Oh) before attending group therapy. cally lost their child in an accident eight Oscar winner Dianne Wiest (“Bullets months ago. Never visually depicted, the Over Broadway”) is phenomenal in her 4-year old boy ran after his dog and was role as Becca’s mother. The two share a hit by a car. As Becca puts it to Howie, common bond of both having lost a son.

“Things aren’t nice anymore.”

Becca resents her mother’s constant refThe couple is drifting apart, unable to erence to her brother’s death being as find common ground in their grieving. He devastating as her loss but eventually she forgives the dog. She gives it away. She comes to understand. In a wonderful scene forgives the teenaged driver, Jason (Miles Teller), and forges a secret bond with him. together Kidman and Wiest discuss how grief will wane but never disappear.

The overwhelming obstacle for Howie and The film’s title is a reference to Alice’s Becca is that they can’t forgive themselves. access into Wonderland. It’s also the title Mitchell never stoops to playing the of a cathartic comic book that Jason blame game in this beautifully constructed writes and gives to Becca to read. “Rabbit film. The horror of losing a child easily could have come off as morose or maudlin, Hole” is about where we turn for comfort and how it lies in the least likely of places. but Mitchell expertly dances around the touchy subject matter with soft shoes. He — Pam Nadon

Orchestra: Masterworks

It’s rare that we attend a performance that’s so overwhelming and so well executed we swear we’ll remember it for the rest of our lives. But that’s what happened at the Sarasota Orchestra’s recent Masterworks Concert.

The concept was simple: Weave several works with a central theme — music from or about Spain — segueing seamlessly, without breaks and without applause, so the audience could be transported into a world of mesmeric musical textures and sensations.

Artistic director and conductor Leif Bjaland opened the program with a short introduction, describing what we were about to hear as a “sonic kaleidoscope” without breaks. Then the lights dimmed, and on a fully blackened stage, one spotlight picked up flutist Betsy HudsonTraba as she hypnotized us with her solo performance of Debussy’s compelling “Syrinx.” Before we could recover from its beauty, the lights came up on the entire orchestra for the rhythmic, pulsating “Conga” by Miguel del Aguila, a sort of classical Spike Jones piece with a Spanish twist and lots of bells and whistles.

Lights out and, poof! Guitarist Robert Belinic magically appeared with Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco’s heart-stoppingly beautiful Guitar Concerto in D. From the sublime to the hilarious: Peter Schickele’s waggish “Last Tango in Bayreuth” for four solo bassoons, followed

by Britten’s “Playful Pizzicato” from his “Simple Symphony” and Chabrier’s joyous “Espana” (think “Hot Diggity, Dog Ziggity” and Perry Como … ).

Sarasate’s passionate “Carmen Fantasy,” performed by virtuoso violin-

2011 Boys & Girls Clubs Showhouse

Courtesy photo

Violinist Caroline Goulding performed with the Sarasota Orchestra.

ist Caroline Goulding, kept us hurtling ahead. Soprano Jeanine De Bique’s sensuous singing of the Villa-Lobos “Bachianas Brasileiras” No. 5 with eight cellos reduced us, again, to tears.

Christopher Rouse’s “Ku-Ka-Ilimoku,” for what seemed like a zillion percussionists, palpated into the solo snare drum that opened Ravel’s “Bolero” and swept us to a breathless climax with every listener up and cheering.

This is great programming, beautifully performed and executed with musical integrity, giving us an opportunity to hear rare and well-known music in a fresh, energetic, vigorous setting that was stimulating and exciting.

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THE SOCIAL OBSERVER

Black Tie

The Observer www.yourobserver.com

thursday JANUARY 20, 2011

By Molly Schechter | Social Editor The Jewish Housing Council’s 17th annual Generations Gala honored philanthropist Gloria Moss and her family Sunday, Jan. 16, for their support of so many Sarasota arts and human-services organizations. Their support reaches to Community AIDS Network, Circus Sarasota, Goodwill Industries, Sarasota Opera, The Pines, Center for Great Apes, Westcoast Black Theatre Troupe, Sarasota Memorial Healthcare Foundation and many more.

Friends and family turned out more than 250 strong for the occasion, which was chaired

by Christine Jennings, Michael Shelton and Carolyn Michel. Celebrating Gloria’s stint as a nightclub dancer, the Michael’s On East ballroom was decked out as the Copa Cabana (kudos to the husband-wife team of Marco and April Moscoti), complete with stunning chorines wearing costumes from Sarasota Ballet’s production of “Cà d’Zan” and a nightclub photographer on impossibly high heels. The honoree herself provided part of the entertainment, performing two ballroom numbers with her dance partner, Jim Helmich.

Dolly Jacobs

Photos by Molly Schechter

Co-Chairs Christine Jennings, Michael Shelton and Carolyn Michel

Above: Jerry Levinson and Darlene Arbeit Left: The Moss Family — Grandson Jeffrey Album, daughter Peggy Moss, honoree Gloria Moss, daughter Marian Moss and her husband, Robert Batey

Sanford Milter, Judy Cahn, Lois Shulman and Brian Lipton

Nate Benderson, Anne Virag, Gina Benderson and Shaun Benderson

Nicolette Fornasari and Madison Fenner

Margaret Ross, Ed Kalin and Paula Weisman

Stephen Sieg and Mary Ann Robinson

Nikki and the Rev. Jim Nilon

Marilyn Naiditch and granddaughter Jessica Torf

THURSDAY, JANUARY 20, 2011

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COLUMN

black tie tales

+ And the winner is …

Now begins the run-up to the 2011 Greenfield Prize of the Hermitage Artist Retreat. This year, the $30,000 award will go to a nationally significant playwright, and the winner will be announced at a patron party Jan. 22. The guest speaker at the March 27 dinner will be Oskar Eustis, artistic director of New York’s Public Theatre. According to Chairwoman Flora Major, attendance will be limited to maintain the intimacy and special character of the event.

Tickets are being offered first to past attendees and patrons. For more information, contact The Hermitage at 475-2098 or go online at www.

HermitageArtistRetreat.org.

by Molly Schechter | Social Editor

+ Scene stealer The big names were out in force for Sarasota-Manatee Jewish Federation’s “A Night to Celebrate Israel” Jan. 12, at Van Wezel. Co-Chairs Len and Helen Glaser and Jack and Susie Steenberger organized a major gifts and sponsor dinner that attracted 250 guests and recognized a long list of supporters.

Then, a capacity crowd of 1,700 filled Van Wezel to see former federation President Dr. Lewis Hanan interview Natan Sharansky, a deputy prime minister of Israel, followed by a performance

by Israeli pop star Noa. With all that, the highlight for many guests was a dinnertime piano interlude by 9-year-old piano prodigy Maya Tamir.

+ Something new under the sun … And in the most unexpected place — the silent-auction table.

A new system called BidPal will make its first Sarasota appearance at Planned Parenthood of Southwest and Central Florida’s annual dinner celebration. BidPal preprograms an iPod Touch for each guest who can then use it to bid, to keep tabs on who else

+ Tidbits

Maya Tamir

Molly Schechter

See more photos online at www.

YourObserver.com

is bidding — and even make donations. It even sends notifications when you are outbid.

BidPal sounds as fun as it is high tech. Try it out at the Planned Parenthood event Tuesday, March 1, at the Sarasota Municipal Auditorium. Sally Yanowitz is back for her second year as co-chairwoman, joined by Judy Cahn and Betty Schoenbaum.

Tickets are $150; call 365-3913, Ext. 1124.

A big night for white … Two different florists served up two similar centerpieces for the Perlman & Pearls and Sunshine from Darkness galas, both Jan. 8. White hydrangeas and white dendrobium orchids starred at both parties … No such thing as a free lunch … but 375 people showed up last week for Sarasota Ballet’s On Pointe luncheon. “It was insanity at Michael’s,” according to one observer ...

Stephanie Hannum

Sunshine from Darkness

Molly Schechter

Perlman and Pearls

Courtesy photo

The Greenfield Prize Dinner Committee: (standing) Lisa Rubinstein, Sally Yanowitz, Brad Goddard, Alexandra Jupin, Hillary Steele, Ina Schnell, Ellen Berman, Teri Hansen, Veronica Brady, Caroline Andrus, Pauline Joerger, Debbie Benedict.

Seated: Patricia Caswell, Sheila Weiss, Gerri Aaron, Chairwoman Flora Major, Bruce Rodgers and Vivian Kouvant

+ Black Tie Affair

Sarasota Opera

2011 Winter Opening Night Gala • 7 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 5 • The Ritz-Carlton, Sarasota • Ticket $225 • Reservations 366-8450, Ext. 402 It seems like only yesterday.

The Opera Ball held Dec. 22, 2001, was the first event to take place at the just completed Ritz-Carlton, Sarasota. It was a “can’t miss” if ever there were one, an important first in Sarasota hospitality and a new benefit for the opera — a second gala, in addition to opening night. The Opera Ball continued at the Ritz-Carlton

until 2005 when it was suspended to focus resources on the capital campaign, and the opening-night celebration in a tent downtown once again became the opera’s only major gala. Now, Executive Director Susan Danis says, “I think everyone loved the tent experience, but they are ready for a change. Given all the changes downtown … we thought it best to reinvent opening night once again and move it to the Ritz.”

The 2011 Winter Opening Night Gala follows the performance of “La bohème.” (Guests will valet at the Opera House, travel to the Ritz in luxury coaches and retrieve their vehicles there.)

It fuses the grand traditions of opening night, and the opera ball and has all the markings of another “can’t miss.”

together

we can...

Birds of a feather give together Harry and Victoria Leopold, dressed as Pappageno and Pappagena from the Sarasota Opera’s production of The Magic Flute, will do anything to get you to attend the opera!

In fact, they love and support the whole gamut of the arts in Sarasota and would bring everyone in the world here to share their enthusiasm if they could.

When it comes to giving back to their community and strengthening the arts, the Leopolds put their trust in the expertise of the Community Foundation of Sarasota County. By partnering with us, they learn of the best opportunities for their charitable giving, while enjoying peace of mind and the added value of leadership, stability and donor service.

Costume Design by Howard Tsvi Kaplan

30 Y E A R S 941.955.3000 | www.CFSarasota.org

51033

Together we make beautiful music.

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THURSDAY, JANUARY 20, 2011

CAMERA READY

Dogs’ Night Out ‘An Evening at the Bow Wow Bistro’

Animal Rescue Coalition | Friday, Jan. 14 | Saks Fifth Avenue

Frosty and Tana Sandefur Above: Sally Schule and a couple of the pups that were up for adoption

Photos by Molly Schechter

Co-Chair Molly Klauber and Raja

Leah Carroll and Lucy as shepherdess and lamb

Ella Lahners and Gracie

TM

Irwin and Sylvia Pastor with Fannie Mae

Lula

Time for a New Look?

2010 2011 S E A S O N

Leif Bjaland, Artistic Director & Conductor

sE Masterwork ROM Observers 5” x 8” Jan 20

An Italian affair to remember

Great Savings on all Hunter Douglas Window Treatments!!

January 28, 8 pm - Neel January 29, 8 pm; January 30, 2:30 pm - Van Wezel

Kitchens • Bedrooms • Bathrooms • Built-ins Flooring • Wallcoverings • Furniture • Accessories

Berlioz’ Roman Carnival Overture was a success from the moment it premiered. A brilliant Italian guest artist renders a Mozart Piano Concerto with remarkable beauty.

we do it all!

Mendelssohn’s Italian Symphony and Respighi’s Roman

Celebrating 25 years in business

Festivals round out this Italian affair.

INVENTORY CLEARANCE SALE

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Paid for in part by Sarasota County Tourist Development Tax Revenues

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THURSDAY, JANUARY 20, 2011

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CAMERA READY

Starry Night Dinner Series highlighting ‘Twelve Angry Men’ Asolo Repertory Theatre | Saturday, Jan. 15 | Home of Dr. David Shoemaker

Photos by Molly Schechter

Carolyn Keystone and Jim Meekison

Photos by Stephanie Hannum

Lorene and Mike Donahue, Lisa and Walter Gotsch, honoree Les and Carol Brualdi and Alaa and Christine Mira

Winter Gala Bradenton Opera Guild | Sunday, Jan. 16 Lakewood Ranch Golf and Country Club

Myrna and Dr. John Welch

Joyce Cooper, Marsha Roth and Anna Maria Troiano

le

Sale 20-50 percent off!

Ad Proof for The Islander to run: 01-19-10 reply via e-mail to your sales rep with corrections or The Islander assumes the ad is oK as is to publish.

All replies receive confirmation e-mail.

Bill and Penny Kebernusz

Ken and Jennifer Tarasi with Suzanne and Hank Foster

Salena Wilhoit

Aimee and Chris Cogan

Hosts Dr. David Shoemaker and Yara Michaels

Sale! 3 stores, 3 showrooms of mark downs

Prices are marked up to 5O percent off throughout each store.

Additional discounts on selected items at all three showrooms.

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NEXT DAY DELIVERY! NEW SHIPMENTS ARRIVE DAILY!

“The Florida Look Since 1950”

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THURSDAY, JANUARY 20, 2011

CAMERA READY

On Pointe Luncheon

Sarasota Ballet | Monday, Jan. 10 Michael’s On East

Photos by Stephanie Hannum

Dr. Elizabeth Callahan, Sara Sardelli and Jamie Carter

Susan Brennan, Bishop Frank Dewane and Giovanna McGrath

Photos by Stephanie Hannum

Catholic Charities Ball Patron Party

Above: Simon Mumme, Paula Clemow and Ricardo Graziano Right: Nina Schmidt and Janet Sperling

Catholic Charities of Sarasota and Manatee Counties | Tuesday, Jan. 11 Northern Trust

Antonette and Bill Cunningham

Ceil and Jerry Mallgraf

Alison O’Donoghue, Leslie France, Retta Wagner, Julie Dooley and Kelly Collins LEFT TO RIGhT: ANGELA SAUER, KATE hAMPTON & KIM hAUSLER. PhOTO bY FRANK ATURA.

1960s: 3 STEwARDESSES, 2 bAChELORS, 1 APARTMENT, You do the math.

by

Marc Camoletti

Beverley Cross & Francis Evans

OPENS JANUARY 21

JANUARY 23, 2PM MATINEE SPONSORED BY

SMART PHONE MICROSOFT TAG

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ASOLOREP.ORG

Asolo Rep’s artistic programs are paid for in part by Sarasota County Tourist Development Tax Revenues.

ALSO PLAYING LA BÊTE: JAN 22, 2PM TWELVE ANGRY MEN: JAN 22, 8PM

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THURSDAY, JANUARY 20, 2011

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13B

Earn and Redeem Connoisseur Club Points Every Time You Travel

Photos by Michael Eng

Lisa Botticelli, Anne Francis and Julia Robinson

Beertopia

Junior League of Manatee County | Saturday, Jan. 15 Gold Coast Eagle Distributing

are you a Member of the Gulf Coast Connoisseur Club? admiral travel is celebrating its one-year Connoisseur Club anniversary with 25,000 Points to sPEnd on dininG, winE and futurE travEl!

Deanna Davis and Ben Guth

Earn 25,000 Points whEn you book with our toP 25 travEl PartnErs

Helena Williams and Chairwoman Heather Kortzendorf

Visit www.admiraltravel.com/travelconnoisseur for a complete listing of our partners along with terms and conditions. Be sure to sign up for our e-newsletter to stay on top of your Connoisseur Club travel benefits.

Anna Pohl and Gris Bettle

Dress Up for the Season!

Just imagine all the food, wine and future travel experiences you can enjoy with the $2,500 in points you will earn simply by booking with admiral travel.

...Elegant Gala Gowns …Glamorous Evening Wear …Sassy Cocktail Dresses

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the spirit of Europe with Celebrated hosts

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Zythology: Celebrate the beers of Europe VIP brewery access with Anheuser-Busch Brew Meister George Reisch SePteMBeR 12 - 20, 2011

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il Palio: window views of sienna’s historic horse race

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THURSDAY, JANUARY 20, 2011

CAMERA READY

Co-Chairs Len and Helen Glaser and Susie and Jack Steenbarger

Photos by Molly Schechter

A Night to Celebrate Israel

Jewish Federation of Sarasota-Manatee | Wednesday, Jan. 12 Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall

50578

Betty Schiff

First Concert of the Season!!

Celebrate the Season at Longboat Key Center for the Arts!

HARMONY AND JAZZ

Dr. Joshua and Julie Green

Durante Gallery Ozanda Gray, Vocals John Lamb, Bass Ed Brickman Michael Royal, Piano Scott Blum, Drums “Legal Forging” December 2 – 16, 2010 Opening Reception | Thursday th| December 2 | 5 -7 pm Wednesday, January 26 Please rsvp to 941.383.2345 by November 30 for the Dec 2 reception.

Guest Speaker Natan Sharansky, Ruth Ades and Sara Ades Goodwin

The Original

Creative Kitchen & Baths The Name You Can Trust!

Begins: 7:30 pm

A selection of Ed’s work will be for sale to benefit the Longboat Key Center Advance Tickets $20 / Door $25 for the Arts

by Bob Elmes, Inc.

State Certified General Contractor CG-C060087

Bring your heart and soul and take your place in the chorus to Ed Brickman has been making jewelry since he was a teenager and has never connect in the communal spirit of song. This concert features lost his enthusiasm for the creative process. His work can be found in the thepermanent incredible voice of ofthe Ozanda along with New the Jersey, best of collections Newark Gray Museum in Newark, andthe areas musicians to bring you and evening of Harmony and Jazz. the Museum of Arts and Design in New York City. Ed has been teaching jewelry for many years at LBKCA. This is the first time Ed will be showcasing

Buyover the200 whole series concertsYou’ll before andshow! get 20% off! pieces fromof his5collection. notJanuary want to 26th miss this Cultural Mediafor Room Sign up now February classes!

‘Open Trunk’ Holiday Sale by

2 - 16, 2010 GoDecember to our website at www.lbkca.ringling.edu for a complete listing.

Find that unique holiday gift for your loved ones made by Ringling College

Check this out! students and alumni. You’ll find paintings, sculpture, jewelry, crafts, and

Herbie Rose Waterscape Workshop much, much more!!

January 31the – Sale: February 9:30 am to 3:30 pm Hours for Monday1through Friday, 9 am to 4 pm

• Sarasota Bay’s leading home and condo remodeling craftsman since 1997 • Renovations professionally designed to fit your style and budget.

• Complete turn-key project management

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Light and Reflections with watercolor Saturday, December 4, 11 am to 3 pm & Saturday, December 11, 11 am to 3 pm

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Opening Reception and Sale | Thursday | December 2 | 5 -7 pm toinformation 941.383.2345 by 30 fororthe Dec 2lbkca@ringling.edu reception.

ForPlease ticketsrsvp and callNovember 941.383.2345 email

Call Bob Elmes today for a free consultation

6860 Longboat Drive S | Longboat Key, FL 34228 www.lbkca.ringling.edu | 941.383.2345 Hours: Monday – Friday | 9 am to 4 pm

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THURSDAY, JANUARY 20, 2011

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15B

FASHION by Stephanie Hannum | Black Tie Editor

guestfashioneditor LISA MERRILL

With a long career as an international flight attendant, Lisa Merrill picks up trends during her many exotic travels. Merrill likes wearing color while in Florida but sticks to simple lines and easy-to-travel clothing while working.

THEA HANDBAG

“I met Thea in Hong Kong — she designs great bags.

This one is big enough to hold everything and is a great travel bag. Everything to me is travel-related.”

JORYA DRESS

“A great, easy dress but with something unexpected. It’s a straight sheath, but the sequins give it a pop, and it can be worn during day or night.”

“My style is individualized, and I’d say, European-based and fashion-forward because I travel all the time.”

EMILIO PUCCI SHOES

MARLENE BROWN BANGLES

“This is a happy dress, especially because I wore it to my son’s wedding. It has a ‘Mad Men’ look with the full skirt.”

SAKS FIFTH AVENUE SHOES

“There’s a light of elegance to these shoes — not to mention I love pink.”

TUNIC SOPHIE LEMAÎTRE HANDBAG

“I bought this in France; it’s very fun. It’s different and grabs attention.”

“These are great daytime shoes, and I really like slingbacks. I get dressed fast — I certainly cannot be late for work — so these are great.”

“My friend designs this jewelry in New York. These bangles are fun and go with everything. They have a simple look but make a big statement.”

CARLISLE COLLECTION DRESS

“I bought this tunic in India, but it’s perfect for Florida.

Sometimes I wear tunics as dresses or with white jeans.

Linen is a great fabric, cool and comfortable, and the embellishments are fabulous.”

DONNA KARAN SKIRT CARLISLE COLLECTION SKIRT “I love the colors — the beading is like a work of art. It’s fun and happy.”

“I love the movement of this skirt. It started as a longer skirt, but I like to make skirts shorter and give them my own twist, because I know what works for me.”

LAUNDRY DRESS

“This is the best dress for summer — it’s comfortable and perfect for Florida.”

SALVATORE FERRAGAMO HANDBAG

“This bag is very architectural, a work of art. I like things with a lot of style.”

The Artist Series of Sarasota presents

LIZ CALLAWAY LIVE! Award-winning actress, singer, and recording artist

With Alex Rybeck musical director/pianist

Songs by Sondheim, the Gershwins, Rodgers and Hammerstein, and more...

Sun – Jan 23 at 2:00 and 7:30 p.m.

Tues – Jan 25 at 7:30 p.m.

In the Historic Asolo Theater at the Ringling Museum of Art

50570

Tickets online 24/7 at www.artistseries.net or call the box office 50917

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360-7399

Presented with support from

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941.926.7000

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THURSDAY, JANUARY 20, 2011

941.907.2000

PrudentialPalmsrealty.com

lakewoodranchrealty.com

Defining Luxury Real Estate in Sarasota

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L’Ambiance

Over 6000SF of living space + 1800SF of rec-room/storage, 4 car Reduced $600K! Lot 100’ of beach. Currently 2 small Views of Sarasota Bay, Grand Style, Rich woods, club room. Walks on the beach from this direct gulf front condominium begarage. Pool, 50 ft. dock & lift. Owner/agent Lisa Morris 544-3332 beach cottages on property. Owner/agent 586-4052 Prudential Lakewood Ranch Realty, Pat McMillan 544-4538 hind the gates of Longboat Key Club. Candria Crisp 726-5822

$1,575,000

Emerald Harbor Lot

Waterfront lot at the end of cul-de-sac, boasting 150’ of bayfront scenery. Coastal living at its finest! Teri Sax 228-5578

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Penthouse perfection.Total renovation. 3BR/3BA, huge balcony, stone, granite, columns. WOW! Mark Huber 356-2435

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Hawks Harbor

3BR/2.5BA Key West style home, wood floors, stone fireplace, commercial kitchen, dock and boat lift & bay view. Marty Benson 232-9264

lonGBoat reduced $10,000

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LOnGBOaT/ LIDO KEyS & DOWnTOWn $1,789,000 Downtown – Beau Ciel Spectacular Bay Views! 3100SF end Residence with water views from every room. Designer Finishes thru-out. Bayfront Terrace. Linda A. Page 504-0123 $859,000 Grand Bay Wrap-around views of Sarasota Bay & LBK golf course. Professionally decorated 3BR/3.5BA 2,250 SF residence. Underground parking & private elevator entrance. Luxury Amenities. David & Lori Simon 400-8764 $689,900 Bay Isles Homes individually designed; flowing floor plan, lush landscaping; pool & paver deck.

Private membership – Beach Club. Stephanie Shaw 544-3770 $595,000 Sleepy Lagoon 17000 sq ft Lot close to the beach on Secluded Gulfside Road. Lots of possibilities. Bruce & Jenine Meyer 266-8152 $589,900 Harbour Oaks Beautifully remodeled & appointed 3BR/2.5BA Harbour Circle attached villa behind the gates of the LBK Club Harbourside. Caged pool w/pond & fountain view. Mark Huber 356-2435. $549,900 Sleepy Lagoon Park Deep Water Canal Home! 2 story, 2BR/2BA, Deep Water Dock & Lift. Easy access to Gulf. Open floor plan, Cathedral ceilings, Pool, Den/Office on 1st floor. Courtney Campbell 806-7238 Reduced $24K $525,000 Islander Club Fabulous full gulf views from 10th floor condo on Longboat Key. Great amenities including club house, tennis & fitness. Hutson/Hagan 400-6682 Reduced $50K $499,000 Privateer Spectacular southern views Gulf, Bay & City skyline 2BR/2BA. Renovated 6th fl condo, Open kitchen, granite ,Beach, Pool & Tennis. Bruce & Jenine Meyer 266-8152 Short Sale Reduced $114K $485,000 Seaplace II Spacious, updated TKF condo. Resort style living by the beach. Flat screen tv, fully equipped kitchen, W/D in unit, 2 pools. Jan Huff 735-8700 Reduced $54K $445,000 Casa Del Mar Immaculate 2BR/2BA condo boasting stunning upgrades.

Beautiful end unit with partial gulf view. Being sold turnkey furnished. Teri Sax 228-5578 Reduced $50K $449,000 Fairway Bay 2BR/2BA, 1,442SF turnkey furnished, corner unit. Large bay front terrace, Bay views. Covered parking space. Amenities & pet friendly! Mark Huber 356-2435 $435,000 One Watergate Great Downtown, Bay & Marina views. 2/2 flrpln has office/den, garage parking.

Close to the cultural & downtown activities. Marty Benson 232-9265 Reduced $74K $395,000 1350 Main Lowest priced 2BR/2BA unit at the best condo in downtown Sarasota. Pool/city views. Perfect move in condition. Michael Granston 504-8018 Reduced $141K $269,000 Conrad Beach Oversized vacant lot located on Conrad Beach. One of the areas most sought after communities. Great gulf views. Teri Sax 228-5578 $265,000 Longboat Harbour Towers Spectacular direct Gulf Views from this 7th floor condo with extra large balcony. Great bldg with many amenities. Low fees. Maureen Curtin 228-5121 Short Sale ,Reduced $20K $219,900 Central Park West of Trail 2BR/2B updated, end unit condo.

500SF rooftop patio. Near downtown, beach. Kayak from dock to Bay. David & Lori Simon 400-8764 SIESTaSiesta & WaTERFROnT Header: & Waterfront $725,000 Siesta – Siesta Dunes Rarely available 3BR on Siesta Key beach. Split plan, cathedral cielings, partial gulf views, w/d, huge master suite. Rudy Dudon 234-3991 $699,000 Mainland Bayfront Best Waterfront Value near Downtown! Remodeled home & Pool - Fantastic Location - Bayfront Parcel & Dock included! Linda A. Page 504-0123 $625,000 Siesta- Tivoli Gorgeous 2BR/2BA , 4th floor end unit w/balcony. Turnkey furnished with split floor plan. Updated baths, hurricane shutters. Washer & dryer in unit. Mitchell Team 586-1754 $525,000 Tidy Island Live on Private Island! Updated 3BR/2.5BA, 2764SF, Bay views, fireplace, elevator, gated, pool, spa, fitness, tennis. Michelle Musto 809-3714 MaInLanD Header : Mainland Reduced $50,000 $749,000 Osprey The Oaks 3BR/4.5BA custom home with many upgrades!

Oversized lanai w/pool/spa + kitchen. Golf & lake views. Shirley LaGrange 894-4297 $639,000 E. Sarasota – Trillium Elegant 3750SF family pool home with 3.5 car garage and many upgrades.Gated community. Rayman/Tan 504-9232 Short Sale, Reduced $60K $570,000 E. Sarasota – Deer Hammock Huge home on 5 acres w/ additional 2880 sq ft bldg, plus adj. 5 acre lot. Equestrian estate or work-from-home. Rayman/Tan 504-9232 Reduced $68K $370,000 Manatee - River Club South 4BR/4BA + 2 Offices, 1/2 acre private lot overlooks lake & preserve. Tile & wood floors. No CDD fees + Easy access to I-75. Prudential Lakewood Ranch Realty Claudia Schwab 962-9453 $365,000 Palmer Ranch - Isles of Sarasota 3BR/3BA home w/Open floor plan+ den w/built-ins. Many Amenities: fitness, htd pool, sports pavilion, tennis & clubhouse. Jan Murphy 504-9765 Bank Owned! $300,000 Sarasota – Country Club Of Sarasota Spacious 3BR/3BA, 3200SF, backs to golf course. Huge Master BR, Newer tile roof & updated plumbing. Gated. Gary Hoskins 809-7709 Short Sale, Reduced $16K $179,000 E. Sarasota – Heritage Oaks Great 1st floor end unit & shows like a model. Golf community w/bundled amenities including country club. Pam Hagan 400-6682 Header: Rentals REnTaLS $5800/mo. The Concession Annual/unfurn Rarely available in prestigious gated golfing community. Almost 5,000SF, 4BR/5BA, gourmet kitchen, family & media rms + 3-car garage. Heated pool/spa; preserve & lake.

Prudential Lakewood Ranch Realty, Cliff Kaplan 739-3220 $2000/mo. Lakewood Ranch Furn. 2BR/2.5BA townhome has 2 master suites, wood flooring + 2-car garage. Lake views, avail. with a 30-day minimum from 2/15/11. Gated complex close to shopping & restaurants. Prudential Lakewood Ranch Realty, Alba Lange 704-3026

Nokomis

Waterfront views of Roberts & Dona Bays. 4BR/3BA + office. Updated & maintained. Attached 1BR/1BA guest house. Gina Penzotti 809-2152

Bayfront reduced $30,000

$1,299,000

Beau Ciel

3,134 SF with Bay, Yacht Harbor & City views. Lives like a single family home with sep. LR & DR. Linda A. Page 504-0123

east sarasota reduced $149,000

$1,350,000

East Sarasota

Home on 5 Acs. Upgraded Oak floors, Elaborate stone fireplace & sunken media area. Room for Horses. Greg Hudson 302-1485

Waterfront Penthouse

$999,000

Phillippi Landings

3BR + Den penthouse, 2857SF w/1200+ patio/deck.

One of a kind says it all! Harold Lasky 780-8514

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lonGBoat reduced $100,000