SARASOTA/SIESTA KEY
Observer YOU. YOUR NEIGHBORS. YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD.
Couples renew their love.
PAGE 4B
FREE • THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 16, 2023
VOLUME 19, NO. 12
YOUR TOWN
Cranes take flight downtown See what’s going on where with this map of the latest downtown projects. PAGE 3A
Courtesy photo
Kodak is the fourth member of the Sarasota Police Department’s K-9 unit.
SPD going to the dogs
HAUTE DOGS Sarasota Garden Club welcomes canines to the catwalk to raise funds for Donte’s Den. SEE PAGE 1B
Czech Republic-born K-9 Kodak, a German shepherd, has completed 640 hours of initial training with handler Officer Paul Gagnon. Training includes patrol work, tracking, building searches, area searches, article searches and apprehension. Gagnon joined the SPD K-9 unit in 2021 and is certified by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement as a K-9 handler. When not helping solve crimes at work, Kodak, who celebrated his second birthday on Feb. 8, enjoys taking long walks on the beach, playing ball and chewing on things that should not be chewed on. The Sarasota Police Department K-9 unit currently has four dogs and four handlers.
Dariela Delgado
Panache with Pooches Fashion Show models Zooey and Sandy Koolkin give their best pose during the Sarasota Garden Club’s event Feb. 8.
Dariela Delgado
A+E
Mentor moment
Lysette and Arlette Alanis are sisters with a passion for helping others, especially kids. Their mother, who is also a USF student, told them about the opportunity to tutor and mentor middle school students as part of a literacy initiative that’s funded by a $500,000 gift from Sarasota philanthropists Joe and Mary Kay Henson. “I already had done observation in kindergarten through fifth and high school. So, I took this opportunity to see what a middle school setting is like,” said USF education major Arlette Alanis. The Alanis sisters both say they want to make a difference in the lives of these students. “I thought this was a good opportunity to interact with students and encourage them to love reading,” said Lysette Alanis, a communication sciences and disorders major.
Art in common places. INSIDE
Restaurants seek street reservations File photo
Brick’s Smoked Meats is one of several restaurants that take advantage of parking spaces to expand their al fresco dining.
City restaurants lobby to keep outdoor on-street dining spaces that emerged during the pandemic. SEE PAGE 5A