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departmental disagreement
by Robin Hartill | Managing Editor
Deputy fire chief resigns Matthew Altman stepped down from his position after disagreeing with Chief Paul Dezzi about a disciplinary incident over the holidays.
+ Party celebrates couple of 66ers Windward Bay residents Stanley and Marilyn Hochman celebrated their 66th wedding anniversary with friends Dec. 28. The Hochmans married Nov. 24, 1948, but opted to hold off on their 66th celebration until their snowbird friends returned for the winter. Stanley Hochman, 93, still feels like a newlywed after 66 years. “I feel like we were married yesterday,” he said. When the Hochmans planned their anniversary party, they knew just whom to call: Lazy Lobster Longboat owner Michael Garey, who organized Marilyn Hochman’s 60th birthday celebration 25 years ago — back when he was a maitre d’ at Café L’Europe.
Matthew Altman resigned from his position as Longboat Key Fire Rescue deputy chief Dec. 31, after a disagreement with Chief Paul Dezzi over how he disciplined another of the department’s three deputy chiefs. The incident in question oc-
curred over the holidays, when Altman was serving as acting chief while Dezzi was on vacation. Altman spoke with the Longboat Observer briefly Tuesday but declined to discuss the incidents in detail.
“I’m going to look at all my legal outlets,” he said. Altman said he stands by two memos he wrote on Dec. 28 and Dec. 30. Here’s how Altman describes what occurred between
SEE RESIGNATION / 10A
Longboat Key Fire Rescue Chief Paul Dezzi with Deputy Chief Matthew Altman in 2013.
PIANO MAN
Amanda Sebastiano
Courtesy photos
+ Wolverton hosts private for holidays Longboat Key resident and Pearl Harbor survivor Woody Wolverton hosted U.S. Marine Corps Private Devin Alexander Berry over the holidays at Wolverton’s home. Berry graduated from Sarasota Military Academy in 2014. Prior to graduation he enlisted in the Marines. He recently completed his bootcamp training in San Diego and is now stationed at Fort Leonard Wood in Missouri. Wolverton is a member of the Sarasota Military Academy Board of Directors. “He’s a great young man,” Wolverton said. “If all the young men in our country were like him, we wouldn’t have any problems.”
Dale Hooey accompanied singers on the piano at the All Angels by the Sea Episcopal Church’s Cabaret Sunday, Jan. 4. Guests and members of the parish gathered for a final holiday party that included performances of Christmas carols and songs. For more photos, see page 20A.
YOU’VE GOT MAIL
by Robin Hartill | Managing Editor
Referendum to go postal in May Voters will decide in a special election whether to give the stamp of approval to tourism on the Islandside property, most likely via mail. The Longboat Key Town Commission intends to deliver on its plan to have a mail-only referendum vote to determine whether voters will allow tourism use on the Longboat Key Club’s Islandside property.
At its Jan. 5 regular meeting, the commission unanimously approved the ordinance that will place the referendum question before voters in a May 12 special election. But the commission did not
specify in the ordinance that the vote will be mail-only. That’s because the commission needs the stamp of approval of Florida Secretary of State Ken Detzner to hold the vote exclusively by mail. Town Attorney Maggie
Mooney-Portale told the commission it could include language specifying the vote would take place by mail at Monday night’s meeting. Portale had previously spoken to Vice Mayor Jack Duncan, who proposed adding it to the ordinance’s language.
SEE KEY CLUB / 12A
INDEX Calendar...............28A Classifieds......... 30A
Cops Corner....... 14A Crossword.......... 29A
Neighborhood.... 17A Opinion.................8A
Real Estate........ 26A Weather............. 29A
Vol. 37, No. 23 | Two sections YourObserver.com