PelicanPress SIESTA KEY
Happy Father’s Day!
AN OBSERVER NEWSPAPER
Thursday, JUNE 14, 2012
NEWS
DIVERSIONS
NEIGHBORHOOD
Commission Dig the Beach volleyball proposes 3.39% competition comes millage increase. to Siesta Key. page 18A PAGE 3A
OUR TOWN
Actor Don Walker takes a spin in the director’s chair. INSIDE
police beat By Alex Mahadevan | News Editor
Deputies prepare for hot summer It’s another sweltering summer on Siesta Key, which means plenty of sunscreen, preparation for the Fourth of July fireworks show and large audiences at Sunday beach drum circles.
+ Happy Father’s Day! After 2,997 votes were cast in The Observer’s online Father’s Day photo contest, a winner has been named. Rachel Stepanov submitted a photo of her husband, Yevgeniy, and their triplets: Charlotte, Adrik and Natalia. The photo received 1,936 votes and was named the winner. Stepanov submitted the photo as a thank-you to her husband, who is not only a great father but a great husband, she says. Congratulations to all who submitted photos, and an early “Happy Father’s Day!”
There were about 600 people at the drum circle Sunday, June 10, at Siesta Key Beach. Some lingered from the volleyball tournament earlier that day and others were regular rhythm seekers. The combination of volleyball tournaments, 5K races and other beach events coupled with the weekly jam sessions has led to an increasing number of complaints
about the drum circle crowd, said Sarasota County Sheriff Sgt. Scott Osborne. And, with Sky King Fireworks distributing flyers that advertise illegal fireworks at Siesta Key condominiums, it could be a hot summer for Sarasota County emergency agencies. There was some graffiti left on a wall of the main beach pavilion two weeks ago, Osborne said, as
an example of complaints. “It said some things that couldn’t go in print,” he said. The Sheriff’s Office typically increases its presence on the beach during the summer months, something that will not change this year. But deputies, the Sarasota County Fire Department
SEE POLICE / PAGE 2A
Alex Mahadevan
The combination of school vacation and frequent events swells the number of people attending the Siesta Key Drum Circle during the summer months.
COOL RUNNINGS
Joe Volpe
+ Blooming beauty Siesta Key resident Joe Volpe captured this dragon fruit in bloom, a rare sight, this weekend during a midnight rainstorm on Siesta Key. “We started with 13 buds but only eight flowered,” Volpe said. “Four one night, four the next; and now we wait.” Three years ago Volpe’s neighbor, Lyette Robetti, gave him the dragon fruit cutting. According to Volpe, the flower is about 9 inches in diameter and only blooms for one night.
Turtle tracks Week of June 3 through June 9
Nests on Siesta Key.........38 False crawls.....................41 2012 2011 Nests 134 55 False crawls 125 67
Rachel S. O’Hara
There were 150 runners in the Sarasota Christian Church Running Water 5K, Saturday, June 9, on Siesta Key Beach. For more photos, see page 19A.
FLOAT ON
By Alex Mahadevan | News Editor
It’s Christmas in June at the Siesta Chamber Members of the holiday committee are hoping to secure 30 floats. It takes Santa Claus about 15 minutes to complete his 1.4mile journey atop a float through Siesta Key Village, climb down from his sleigh and mount his yuletide throne to collect Christmas wishes from eager children during the annual Siesta holiday parade. It’s a pretty short trip for a celebration for which members of
HOW TO HELP
To sign up to participate in the parade, contact Cheryl Gaddie at 346-7401 or email her at cherylgaddie@gmail.com.
various Siesta organizations are already preparing. But, with organizers hoping to nab 30 floats
for the parade and only 14 confirmed so far, time is precious. Members of the Siesta Key Chamber of Commerce, the Siesta Key Village Association and the Siesta Key Association sat hunched over a glass dining table Tuesday, June 12, in the offices of Smith Architects and Cheryl Gaddie Designs on the north end of the Village. The crew of seven
analyzed various route options and discussed how to attract more floats. Minutia such as the distance between Santa’s Village and performing gymnasts shows how much detail goes into the planning process — the fake snow that accompanies Saint Nick becomes a liability for the gymnasts if it touches tumbling mats.
SEE PARADE / PAGE 2A
INDEX Briefs....................4A Classifieds ........ 26A
Cops Corner..........9A Crossword.......... 25A
Neighborhood.... 16A Opinion .............. 8A
Sports................ 24A Weather............. 25A
Vol. 42, No. 46 | Two sections YourObserver.com