PelicanPRESS SIESTA KEY
AN OBSERVER NEWSPAPER
FREE • THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 14, 2013
WELCOME BACK
See what news you missed this summer. PAGES 14A-20A
OUR TOWN
take two
TRAVEL
DIVERSIONS
Meet the winner of the 2013 ‘It’s Read Everywhere’ contest. PAGE 1B
One of Sarasota’s first model homes retains its star power. INSIDE
by David Conway | News Editor
DID follows the lights
After shutting off the tree lights in Five Points Park due to maintenance issues, the Downtown Improvement District considers a new lighting system.
Helgi Olafson
Courtesy
+ Fit foundation Pine View School graduate Helgi Olafson raced in the rev3 Florida 70.3 Triathlon, Sunday, Nov. 10, in Venice. Olafson grew up around the world in Canada, Hawaii and Sarasota. His final time was 5:14:30. Olafson suffers from Ankylosing Spondylitis (AS), and hopes to raise awareness of the disease through competing in triathlons and by his foundation: the Helgi Olafson Foundation. For more information on AS and Olafson’s mission, visit helgiolfson.org.
The Downtown Improvement District hopes to recapture the excitement following the 2011 installation of tree lighting at Five Points Park while avoiding the problems that shut off those lights for good in June. The DID board is considering two different systems that
would place four upward-facing LED lights on the 26 trees in Five Points Park. The installation of a new system could come just three years after the DID, along with the city and Selby Foundation, spent $81,000 to place lights on the branches of those same trees. Those lights are still up, but the
DID turned them off in June. DID Operations Manager John Moran said issues arose due to tree growth and animal interference. With potential annual maintenance costs rising to more than $20,000, according to city Chief Planner Steve Stancel, the group decided to cut its losses.
At the same time, DID put out a request for proposals for a new lighting system. The winning submission came from Candela Controls, a lighting specialist out of Winter Park. The project would have four color-changing LED
SEE LIGHTS / PAGE 2A
PATRIOTIC PORTRAIT
Harriet Sokmensuer
Ellie Neuwirth reacts to the unveiling of a portrait of her from her days in the Air Force during the Senior Friendship Centers Portraits of Service event Friday, Nov. 9. Neuwirth was 27 years old when joined the Air Force. For more event photos, visit YourObserver.com.
BARGAINING POWER Courtesy
Shan and Tayla Rosenthal on the catwalk
+ Family fashion Temple Emanu-El mothers and daughters walked the catwalk at the temple’s Intergenerational Fashion Show, Sunday, Nov. 3. Guests enjoyed the show over lunch and mimosas. The luncheon raised $2,000, which will benefit scholarship and educational programs at Temple Emanu-El Religious School.
by Nolan Peterson | News Editor
Changes surface in Big Pass dredge A twist in the debate to dredge Big Pass has increased county commissioners’ leverage to demand more answers from the Army Corps of Engineers. Amid a rising tide of demands for more scrutiny of a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers proposal to mine Big Pass for Lido Beach sand by 2015, a geographic oversight might ultimately leave the project’s fate in the hands of the Sarasota County Board of County
Commissioners. Discussion at a Nov. 1 West Coast Inland Navigation District meeting revealed that one of the project’s proposed erosion-control jetties, known as groins, is scheduled to be built on county property at the southern end of
Lido Beach. This latest twist in the decades-long debate about dredging Big Pass will allow the county to stall a key component of the Corps’ plans by refusing permission to build on county land. According to the project manager, Milan Mora, this would likely
scrap the entire operation. Commissioner Nora Patterson said the groin’s location on county property doesn’t necessarily mean the county can stop the project, but it will increase the County Commission’s leverage to demand the project face greater scrutiny. “I think we should hold at least
SEE BIG PASS / PAGE 2A
INDEX Opinion.................8A Classifieds ........ 10B
Cops Corner..........9A Crossword............ 9B
Neighborhood...... 1B Real Estate.......... 6B
Sports................ 22A Vol. 44, No. 16 | Three sections YourObserver.com Weather............... 9B