Vol. 13 No. 47 - September 18, 2013

news

Anna Maria Island Sun News StoryPeace Day comes to AME

HOLMES BEACH – As the war and revolution make the news from the Middle East, students at Anna Maria Elementary will hopefully be learning how to make peace on Tuesday, Sept. 24.

The event, which occurs three days after the United Nations’ International Day of Peace, first began after the 9/11 terrorist attacks. More...

‘Day trippers’ - it’s all in the name

ANNA MARIA – After receiving letters and reading letters in The Sun about a certain class of visitor that Mayor SueLynn calls day trippers, the mayor said she is changing the name she gives them,

SueLynn has said in past meetings that the day trippers are people who come for a day at the beach with their own food and don’t spend any money on the Island. She has said the city should collect something for the wear and tear on the roads and other infrastructure and used that as a basis for discussing the implementation of paid parking. More...

Tree house owners fined

HOLMES BEACH – Code enforcement board members imposed a fee of $100 per day beginning the date of their hearing, Sept. 12, on tree house owners Lynn Tran and Richard Hazen for failure to come into compliance with city code.

The city’s building department has ruled that the tree house at 103 29th Street was constructed without a permit and encroaches into the erosion control line. In July, the board found the couple in violation and ordered them to remove the violations or demolish the structure by Aug. 28, which they did not do. More...

Occupancy, rates up in July

July tourism was up 3.8 percent this year over last, with 56,900 people visiting Manatee County, according to the county’s tourism consultant firm, Tampa-based Research Data Services (RDS).

Year to date, tourism is up 5.6 percent, with 377,800 visitors to the county so far in 2013, according to RDS. More...

Bridge Street set for barbecue, blues

The Bridge Street Merchants will present the Blues Backyard BBQ on Saturday, Sept. 21, from 5 to10 p.m., featuring live music, crafts, a full bar, food, games and more.

“With fewer art and craft vendors, there will be plenty of space for folks to bring their own blankets and chairs and sit back and enjoy the band with a cold beer and tasty BBQ sandwiches and platters provided by Island Time Bar & Grill and Bridge Street Bistro,” event coordinator Melissa Enders wrote in a press release. More...

Anna Maria Island Sun News StoryIsland beautification groups honored

Several groups from Anna Maria Island won awards from Keep Manatee Beautiful at its annual awards ceremony last Thursday at the Polo Grill Ballroom in Lakewood Ranch.

Manatee County Administrator Ed Hunzeker was the keynote speaker talking about future beautification in the county. More...

Budget and millage questioned

HOLMES BEACH – Several residents had comments regarding the city’s millage rate and budget, which were the subject of the first public hearing last week.

Treasurer Lori Hill announced that the proposed millage rate was the same as last year or 1.75.

“This rate is 5.5 percent more than the roll back rate,” Hill explained. “The roll back rate is the millage rate that would have to be levied to get the same tax revenue as last year.” More...

Anna Maria Island Sun News StoryIsland Time says thanks

BRADENTON BEACH – The breeze inside Island Time Bar & Grill was incredibly cool, thanks to the restaurant’s proximity to the Gulf of Mexico, as Doug Bidwell sang to a group of people whiling away the afternoon watching college football.

Cars passed by on Gulf Drive, inching around the roundabout and stopping for pedestrians, many in swim suits and carrying beach gear. More...



features

Anna Maria Island Sun News Story ‘Dark and stormy’ helps beat the heat

The heat is taking its toll.

It is starting to impact our judgement in subtle ways. People keep telling me that they think it is getting cooler. Delusion. One degree – maybe.

The other day I came out of the front door and discovered a roach that had become disoriented and ventured out from the shaded area of the porch.

More...



OUTDOORS

Anna Maria Island Sun News StorySun protection – it’s the cool thing to do

If you’ve been on the water over the last few years, you’ve noticed anglers covered head to toe even on the hottest and sunniest days. They’re wearing long pants, long sleeved shirts, gloves, face protection and hats. Years ago anglers were limited to hats, long heavy cotton clothing and greasy lotions that reflected the sun’s harmful rays. The damaging effects of sun exposure are one of the most important things for an angler to understand.

Sunlight is primarily composed of infrared, visible and ultraviolet light. The ultraviolet light (UV) is potentially harmful and is the wavelength that causes sunburn. Sunburn is a form of radiation burn that results from exposure to this property of light. Symptoms of overexposure in humans consist of red or reddish skin that is hot to the touch and can include general fatigue and mild dizziness. An excess of UV radiation can be life-threatening in extreme cases. More...



real estate

The insurance company you love to hate

I have a secret, I hate insurance. I hate thinking about it, I hate talking about it, I hate paying for it, and I especially hate writing about it – something that I have been doing way too much of recently. But, never-the-less here I am again with another column about Citizens Insurance.

On Monday, Sept. 9, the state’s insurance regulators allowed Citizens Property Insurance Corp. to charge an estimated average increased rate of 6.3 percent. This figure is down 1.6 percent from the original request Citizens made. What this means to the regular homeowner according to the Florida Office of Insurance Regulation is an average increase of 7.9 percent statewide. More...



business

Anna Maria Island Sun News StorySandbar renovation serves up history

In 1911 it was a common site to see ladies in their long dresses, large hats and parasols parading down Pine Avenue from the Anna Maria City Pier where they disembarked from their steamers from Tampa or St. Petersburg. Their destination was a meeting place on the beach called The Pavilion, and incredibly more than 100 years, later that same spot in the sand remains one of Anna Maria Island’s favorite meeting places. More...

Anna Maria Island Sun News Story

The value of a financial plan

Investment Corner

In a recent magazine targeting those of us in the financial services industry, the author of one article pointed out how representatives of the larger wirehouse brokerage firms like Merrill Lynch, Smith Barney and Morgan Stanley were moving to become more like independent advisors and to provide more broad financial planning advice. The article went on to say that many clients of these firms were paying $4,000 or more for the financial plan.

This caught my attention because $4,000 isn’t an inconsequential amount to most of us. I’ll be the first to say that spending a few thousand on a financial plan might be the best investment you could make in yourself for the future benefit of your family – if it is a good plan, and if you actually follow the plan. More...



turtles

Anna Maria Island Sun News Story

Turtles break record, keep nesting

Sea turtles are going for the gold on Anna Maria Island, breaking last year’s record of 362 nests with a whopping 367 nests, up seven from last week.

They’ve also topped the 2012 hatchling total of 12,627, with the latest number of hatchlings reaching the Gulf of Mexico at 15,596, up from 12,312 last week. 189 nests have hatched so far, and there are more to come. More...



SPORTS

Anna Maria Island Sun News StorySoccer Spirit Week

The long anticipated start of the 2013 Anna Maria Island Community Center’s fall co-ed soccer season begins with Spirit Week, which is a group of fun soccer activities that kickoff the start of the regular season games.

Youth and adult teams alike have been practicing and gearing up for the spirited start of the season for the past two weeks. Twenty-seven teams were formed this year and divided into six different age divisions. All will begin the journey this week, vying for the coveted title of Community Center Cup Champions. More...

Dream weekend will never be forgotten

Feasting on Fitness

The year I almost died of a colon blockage and my sister got breast cancer, I ran to the health food store and read all five books on fiber. That’s all there was at the time. A few years after that, some very brave hero doctors, as I like to call them, took a gutsy, unconventional stand and started writing books about how eating a plant-based diet could improve health, help lose weight if needed and even reverse and prevent disease. The skeptic investigative reporter in me wasn’t so sure at first, but a look at my own family history, with a mom, aunt and eventually both sisters with breast cancer and way more was a testimonial that conventional medicine and lifestyle wasn’t the answer. More...


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