bserver O EAST COUNTY FREE • THURSDAY, JULY 31, 2014
YOU. YOUR NEIGHBORS. YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD.
REAL ESTATE SPORTS
Pomello Park home sells for $925,000. PAGE 24
OUR TOWN
Courtesy photo
+ Instructor jazzes up routine
SNAPSHOT
Coastline players dig in for beach championships. PAGE 14
Photographers begin annual photo journal. PAGE 5
FARAWAY FRIENDS
by Amanda Sebastiano | Staff Writer
INTERNATIONAL
ALLIANCE
The East County’s Sue Encke, a jazzercise instructor, recently attended the annual Jazzercise Live event in Washington, D.C., along with more than 1,500 other customers and instructors from across the world.
+ Tiny Hands supports students The Tiny Hands Foundation, with the help of more than 200 volunteers, will fill 1,500 backpacks with school supplies for children in need from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Aug. 2, at the Boys and Girls Club of Sarasota, 3100 Fruitville Road, Sarasota. “We all remember the excitement of starting school with our new pencils, notebooks and backpacks and want to ensure more children have that same exciting start to the school year,” the foundation’s Ron Trytek adds. “We are providing a backpack to every school-aged child in community care in Sarasota, Manatee and DeSoto counties in support of the Guardian ad Litem Program.” For more information, visit tinyhandsfoundation.org.
+ Fund begins wreath sales The Taylor Emmons Scholarship Fund, established in honor of former Out-of-Door Academy student Taylor Emmons, is at it again. The organization, which provides a scholarship to an ODA student each year, has begun holiday wreath sales. This year, the Humane Society of Sarasota County will be the joint beneficiary of proceeds raised through wreath sales. For more information, visit temmons.org.
EXCERPT FROM LETTER Hi! First, I’m sorry I’m writing you just now. Second, you asked about what’s happening in Israel. It’s not the first time this is happening, something like that happened before something like 2 years. But, it is the first time I heard a alarm in my house. At the last time there were alarm only at the south of Israel but not it’s also at the center (the area I live). I heard only two alarms until now which it’s nothing compared to Tel-Aviv Where there are two daily alarms, my grandpa and my uncle living there. Only one man died because of that. Well, you asked about how I feel about that – I don’t know… I don’t really scared because Israel gat this thing called “Iron dome” which protect us from all the rockets. But I’m angry about the Hamas who saying all the world how bad we are and What happens is our fault. Anyway, don’t worry me and my family are just fine. Love, Lia
Amanda Sebastiano
Twelve-year-olds Natalie Mount and Lia Silber, who lives in Israel, met in May at Temple Emanu-El. They have been pen pals since.
As pen pals, Natalie Mount and Lia Silber illustrate a positive message of friendship in a war zone. EAST COUNTY — As a 12-year-old American girl, it’s hard for Natalie Mount to imagine death and destruction happening outside her living room window. Mount’s mother, Marni, was pregnant with Natalie during 9/11. To Natalie, the Twin Towers have little connection to her other than the pictures she sees of them on the Internet or in her classroom at Haile Middle School. Countries away and 6,616 miles from Natalie’s Mill Creek home, lives a girl in Tel Mond, Israel — Lia Silber — a 12-year-old who finds the daily blare of warning alarms
a routine annoyance. Although the two may seem an unlikely pair, they have become close friends through handwritten letters, emails and pictures of family and friends they have sent to each other since they met in May. The girls’ emails and handful of written letters to each other started as chats about must-read books — such as the young-adult “Hunger Games” series — school, friends and “girl talk.” Lia teaches Natalie Hebrew words and phrases and corrects her when she miswrites
SEE PEN PALS / PAGE 8
WATER USAGE
by Pam Eubanks | Managing Editor
Technology optimizes conservation Savings to Lakewood Ranch CDDs will be highest now, during rainy season. LAKEWOOD RANCH — When Joe Sidiski became a supervisor on the Lakewood Ranch Community Development District 4 board four years ago, he had an agenda to improve the quality of life in his Greenbrook community. On many evenings as he and his wife, Bonnie, would walk after dinner, the couple would be forced off the sidewalk as sprinklers turned on and launched water toward them. But thanks to technology upgrades in the Lakewood Ranch community, Lakewood Ranch’s operations department not only has been able to make adjustments to CDD 4’s watering schedule, but it has also saved money — more than $4,000 in the month of June alone. Combined with districts 1, 2 and 5, Lakewood Ranch saved an estimated $11,400 on irrigation water last month. “People move to the community because they want to enjoy the community,” Sidiski said. “We have not been bothered by watering since they
SEE WATER / PAGE 8
Pam Eubanks
Landscape Supervisor Ramone Sepulveda checks a weather station in Lakewood Ranch.
INDEX Building Permits....25 Classifieds ...........29
Cops Corner............7 Crossword.............28
Neighborhood.......17 Real Estate...........24
Sports...................14 Weather................28
Vol. 16, No. 38 | One section YourObserver.com