PelicanPress SIESTA KEY
AN OBSERVER NEWSPAPER
FREE • Thursday, JULY 26, 2012
NEWS
DIVERSIONS
INSIDE
Siesta Isles sea wall sparks liability concerns. PAGE 5A
Rick Kerby sets the stage for a new home. INSIDE
Harry Higel’s death remains a mystery. PAGE 13A
OUR TOWN
quick fix By Alex Mahadevan | News Editor
Beach Road considered for CIP Sarasota County will temporarily repair the cracked road near Beach Access 3 and determine if it can free up funding for a permanent solution to the erosion problem.
Courtesy photo
+ Care package makes an impact On the Fourth of July, Siesta Key Oyster Bar held a cookout to raise money for the troops, specifically the 214th Fires Brigade, which is currently serving in Afghanistan. Beth Owen-Cipielewski’s son, Justin, serves with the brigade, and Owen-Cipielewski and the rest of the SKOB staff wanted to raise funds to send care packages oversees. There was also a banner for people to sign and write messages to the troops that Owen-Cipielewski packed up along with the requested items: dried fruit, tuna packs, magazines and protein bars. Recently, Owen-Cipielewski received an email from her son with a photo of himself and other soldiers holding up the signed banner.
Three weeks after Tropical Storm Debby annihilated south Siesta Key, causing more than $5 million in erosion damages, the island found a silver lining in the storm’s wake: more attention from Sarasota County. First, it was the delayed stormwater runoff improvements planned for Beach Road, which flooded for an entire weekend
after the storm. Sarasota County Commissioner Nora Patterson asked county staff to try to expedite the permits required for construction. Now, a neglected stretch of the same street, which was filed away under Sarasota County’s list of unfunded mobility projects last year, is getting another look after the tropical storm
widened fissures in its asphalt, prompting resident emails to commissioners. The response was quick and personal. “(Patterson) was worried about what would happen to the road if a major storm hit in March,” said Beach Road property manager Jean Furlong in an interview with the Pelican Press. “Now we know.”
Staff from Sarasota County Mobility Management personally informed residents around the closed stretch of Beach Road that the holes and cracks in the street would be filled once the Florida Department of Environmental Protection approves a permit for the work, said Saraso-
SEE ROAD / PAGE 2A
Alex Mahadevan
+ Barge-ing in As work continues on the Siesta Key North Bridge, a tugboat has recently brought out a barge hosting a large crane. Along with the new equipment, the metal grating on the bridge surface has been completely replaced. Trucks began removing the rusty remains Tuesday, July 24. Bridge work is scheduled to last until October.
Turtle tracks Week of July 15 through July 21
Nests on Siesta Key.........27 False crawls.....................15 2012 2011 Nests 298 139 False crawls 304 173
Alex Mahadevan
Sarasota County placed eight barricades secured by sand bags near the collapsed asphalt on Beach Road, which it plans to temporarily repair.
CLEANING UP THEIR ACT
By Alex Mahadevan | News Editor
Contract winner will ‘champion’ Village look Championship Landscape Maintenance Professionals will oversee annual maintenance of the commercial district for less than half of what was expected. Sarasota County has shuffled through three procurement officials over the last year, as it staggers back from a crippling purchasing scandal. Sarasota County Administra-
tor Randall Reid, who has made it his mission to pressure-wash the ethical standards of that department, appointed Ted Coymen Jr. to the position July 20 — the same day a vendor was finally chosen to
do the same to Siesta Key Village. Barring any objections from the other six firms that bid on the contract to maintain the Village, Sarasota County commissioners will vote Aug. 21 to approve the
$97,417 annual deal with Championship Landscape Professionals, Sarasota County Traffic Engineering staff member Ryan Montague told the Pelican Press. The other companies had until Wednesday, July 25 to question
SEE VILLAGE / PAGE 2A
INDEX Briefs....................4A Classifieds ........ 22A
Cops Corner....... 12A Crossword.......... 21A
Neighborhood.... 13A Opinion .............. 8A
Sports................ 20A Weather............. 21A
Vol. 42, No. 52 | Two sections YourObserver.com