Pine Ave. parking plan clears hurdle

ANNA MARIA — After months of sometimes testy discussions, the city commission and the planning and zoning board have finally reached consensus about how the parking for the Pine Avenue business district should be handled.

“It may not be perfect, but thank heavens we’re finally doing something,” said Randall Stover, the chairman of the planning and zoning board. More...

Father Harry says farewell to Island

HOLMES BEACH — Father Harry Parsell will be leaving the Episcopal Church of the Annunciation in much better shape after seven years as its priest. “We’re going to miss him terribly,” said Joan Oster, a member of the vestry.

Oster was co-chair of the search committee that called Fr. Harry to Annunciation. More...

Locals hear oil discussion

ANNA MARIA – With oil from the Deepwater Horizon rig more than 350 miles from Manatee County, hundreds attended a meeting last week organized by new conservation group, Keep OFF (Oil Free Forever) Manatee, whose leader, Mike Shannon, manages the BeachHouse restaurant in Bradenton Beach.

If oil reaches Anna Maria Island, “We will have a life-changing event on our hands,” he told an audience of fishermen, artists, hoteliers, surfers, business owners, conservationists and other residents. More...

Drilling protest Saturday

Hands Across the Sand II will be held at Manatee public beach on Saturday, June 26 at noon to protest oil drilling.

Participants are asked to dress in black and join hands for 15 minutes, and should use approved beach accesses and parking, avoid bird and sea turtle nests, and be courteous and respectful to those who disagree. More...

Challengers file in three local races

The months before Election Day, Nov. 2, could get interesting in three local races in which all the incumbents are facing challengers.

Democrat Sundae Lynn Knight has filed to run against at large Manatee County Commissioner Carol Whitmore, a Republican.

Whitmore is a long-time Holmes Beach resident. She is a registered nurse and certified risk manager. She served as a Holmes Beach Commissioner from 1991 to 1998 and as mayor from 1998 to 2006. She was elected to the county commission in 2006.

Knight, a resident of Bradenton, has a degree in civil engineering from the University of Central Florida. She is employed by Sarasota County as a road and bridge engineer and specialist for traffic operations and land development services and serves on the development review committee. More...

Four qualify for three seats

BRADENTON BEACH – It looks like there will be one race for a city commission seat in the November election.

Two people qualified last week to run for the Ward 4 seat that was vacated a month ago when Mayor Michael Pierce resigned to attend to family matters and Commissioner and Vice Mayor Bob Bartelt became mayor. Jan Vosburgh, who was appointed to the seat after Bartelt became mayor, qualified as did Mike Harrington, a resident who came to city hall the day before qualifying ended to ask for a four-way stop at the intersection of First Street North and Church Street. More...

Drive to recall Commissioner Stoltzfus continues

ANNA MARIA — Efforts to collect enough signatures to mandate a recall election for Commissioner Harry Stoltzfus are going forward.

“We continue to collect signatures, including those of many people who did not sign the original petition,” said Bob Carter, the chairman of the Recall Stoltzfus Committee.

The group successfully completed the first phase in the recall process in which they collected the signatures of 247 registered voters, of which the Supervisor of Elections Office certified 214. More...

Young pastor hopes to revive teen program

HOLMES BEACH – Seeking to rebuild its youth program, CrossPointe Fellowships welcomes youth pastor Brad Lowery for a summer internship.

For Lowery, 23, it was like coming home. He lived in Bradenton until the age of 7, then his family moved to Connecticut, then Virginia. He graduated from Liberty University in Lynchburg, Va., with a major in Biblical studies. More...

Florida native landscape flourishes in park

ANNA MARIA – The city’s historical park surrounding Belle Haven Cottage on Pine Avenue features a lush Florida native landscape and offers a peaceful haven from the outside world.

But it wasn’t always a place of beauty. It was once the city dump. Concrete slabs and pipes, garbage, wood, rusted metal and debris filled the lot and fouled the banks of the canal. In addition, the Pelican Man had a cage there where he kept injured birds that he was rehabilitating. More...

It’s tarpon season – show some respect

Tarpon season is here and anglers who rig properly, are patient and show a little respect to the fish and other fishermen can experience one of angling’s greatest pleasures. If you never tried tarpon fishing, the Island has some of the state’s top tarpon guides who can help you experience the thrill of a lifetime. There’s no better way to learn the ins and outs of this demanding sport than fishing with a professional. It is money well spent. More...

Luxury sales get a bounce

One of the things that has always been fascinating to me about real estate is that you never know what may happen next. Sometimes it’s good, sometimes it’s bad and sometimes you just want to get and bed and pull the covers over your head. But according to the Wall Street Journal, there is one area of the real estate market that has bounced back big time.

MDA DataQuick, a real estate data provider did a study for the Wall Street Journal at the end of May regarding the sale of luxury houses. The study found that sales of homes over $2 million in the first quarter of the year were actually on a par with the levels of 2005, the peak year for existing home sales volume nationwide. More...

Tees, totes and more at J & J

Anyone who has lived or worked on Anna Maria Island knows that small businesses come and go almost as quickly as each day’s sunsets. But there is one business on the Island that has seen 25 sunsets with the same owners and is planning on seeing many more. More...

Investor nervousness builds

In my column two weeks ago, I discussed the concept of expecting financial markets to be uncertain and to learn how to capitalize on volatility rather than being a victim. Of course, the idea for that article was primarily the very sharp intraday market drop that occurred on May 6, which is now known as the “flash crash." More...

AMI CC basketball award winners announced

The winners of the Community Center’s awards for the basketball season were announced last week. Congratulations to all. More...

Golfers enjoy drier air

Last week started out hot and humid, but a front came through on Wednesday bringing drier air and the Key Royale Club golfers were a little more enthused about getting out and knocking golf balls around the course. More...

Oil spill could affect loggerhead status

The 363 sea turtles killed and 106 injured since the April 20 Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico could hasten the loggerhead sea turtle’s journey to the endangered list.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) National Marine Fisheries Service is considering classifying nine loggerhead sea turtle populations as separate species under the federal Endangered Species Act, with two as endangered and seven as threatened. More...