Sabine: The search continues

ANNA MARIA – Authorities were set to bring in cadaver dogs, an earth mover and prisoners with shovels Tuesday and Wednesday to try and find the remains of an Island woman who disappeared mysteriously nearly six years ago.

Sabine Musil-Buehler was last seen in public at a Halloween party at Haley’s Motel on Oct. 31, 2008. More...

Best tourism season ever predicted for AMI

BRADENTON – When the numbers are in for this year’s high tourist season, which ended with Easter, they will prove perceptions that it was the best in the history of Anna Maria Island, according to Mary Ann Brockman, of the Anna Maria Island Chamber of Commerce.

Brockman and other tourism officials and industry members gathered last week to celebrate Tourism Week at the Manatee Performing Arts Center, hosted by the Bradenton Area Convention and Visitors Bureau (CVB). More...

Anna Maria goes it alone on parking

ANNA MARIA – While Holmes Beach City Commissioner David Zaccagnino works on a traffic plan for all three cities, which includes paid parking, at least one city commissioner wants to continue to explore its option on its own.

During a special work session on Wednesday, May 7, Commissioner Dale Woodland said commissioners were given a copy of Zaccagnino’s plan and they should stop working on their own plan and talk about it at the next Barrier Island Elected Officials meeting. That meeting is set for May 21, at 2 p.m. at Anna Maria City Hall. More...

Narcissus slated for summer ceremony

EGMONT KEY – The 1866 wreck of the steamer U.S.S. Narcissus is expected to become Florida’s 12th Underwater Archaeological Preserve in September, organizers announced last week.

Plans are being finalized to make a plaque to sink at the site and organize a shipboard dedication ceremony with the governor, said Katherine Chakour, of the Florida Aquarium, which nominated the ship for the preserve program with South Eastern Archaeological Services. More...

City close to selecting pier contractor

BRADENTON BEACH – The Sarasota-based Duncan Seawall, Dock & Boat Lift firm emerged from last week’s Pier Team meeting as the leading candidate to win the lucrative city pier reconstruction contract, but a final recommendation has not yet been made.

The five bids unsealed last month ranged from $1.2 to $1.8 million. Miami-based PAC Comm Inc. submitted the lowest big, at $1,202,140. Duncan’s bid was slightly higher at $1,309,452. More...

Board to proceed with Grassy Point plan

HOLMES BEACH – Beautification board members approved a plan for improvements to Grassy Point outlined by member Jerry West last week.

West said his plan is four-part and includes:

• Placing signs at 30th Street and Avenue C to direct people to Grassy Point;
• Moving the proposed boardwalk off of East Bay Drive to the south nearer Mike Norman’s parking lot;
• Extending the upland pathway to the mangrove area;
• Exploring the possibility of putting a freshwater pond in the upland area. More...

Center adopts animal policy

Group agrees on changes to annual artsHop event

ANNA MARIA – Members of Cultural Connections agreed with the executive committee recommendation to pare down the number of events offered at their annual artsHOP in November.

They said it could include the Friday night gallery walk, a special play at the Island Playhouse on Friday and Saturday nights and the Symphony in the Sand on Sunday. Jeanie Pickwick of AMICO, said county officials have talked about adding an event on Friday night.

Mike Coleman, of Pine Avenue Restoration, told the group about plans to present the second chalk festival in Anna Maria in January 2015. He said he had requested a two-day event, the same as last year, but city commissioners would only allow a one-day event. More...

Law needed to help pelicans, turtles

HOLMES BEACH – After a year of trying to educate fishermen not to cut fishing lines that entangle pelicans and other wildlife, Jeannie Bystrom wants Island officials to emulate Naples and pass ordinances prohibiting certain fishing gear.

Over the past year, she and her friends and veterinarian husband have saved more than 100 pelicans with wings hooked to their feet, fishing line tethering them to mangroves in Bimini Bay, and worse, mostly due to sabiki rigs with multiple hooks and fishing lures with treble hooks, she said. More...

Tarpon – one of fishing's greatest challenges

Tarpon season is poised to get off to an early start this year as anglers start pursuing one of fishing’s greatest challenges. At this time of the year the action can be almost non-existent one day and extremely productive the next. I spent a day on the water with my longtime friend Captain Rick Grassett last week looking for some early season tarpon, and although we spent five hours on the water and had only one cast at a school of about 20 fish, it was a beautiful day on the water. It was time spent with a friend, recollecting other trips of memorable fights and bites. We knew when we went that it was possible we wouldn’t see any fish. Then again it would have been possible to have shots and bites from scores of fish. That’s tarpon fishing! More...

Is there a mystery to real estate offers?

We all love to read a good mystery. John Grisham, Mickey Spillane and Sr. Arthur Conan Doyle have written intricate and page-turning stories, keeping us at the edge of our seats. But when it comes to either waiting for an offer on your property or waiting for an acceptance on an offer for a property you want to purchase, being in the middle of a mystery just isn’t fun.

Buying and selling real estate is always an emotional rollercoaster, but we’re all human and we all make mistakes in judgment sometimes driven by frenzy and greed. But if you follow a few simple rules and keep your emotions in check, you’ll come out ahead, whether you’re the buyer or the seller. More...

Motorworks brews winning formula

BRADENTON –The folks at Motorworks Brewing invite you to join them in celebrating American Craft Beer Week through Sunday, May 18.

Located at 1014 Ninth St. W. in Bradenton, near McKechnie Field and the Village of the Arts, Motorworks Brewing is a beer connoisseur’s paradise that also operates as a full-production brewery. More...

Old tech is better bet than new tech

In the last two months there has been a big change in how investors are viewing investing in technology companies. For most of 2013 and the first month or so of 2014 investors couldn’t get enough of what I like to call “new” technology companies. These are companies like Amazon, Twitter, Netflix, Facebook and others. In a way they aren’t really even technology companies other than the fact they use the internet to facilitate consumer commerce and communications.

Investor excitement about these fast growing firms drove them to very high prices and extreme valuations. It was a bit reminiscent of the 1999 to 2000 period where technology and dot.com companies were bid up to stratospheric valuations, which ultimately culminated with the NASDAQ market declining 80% in value when the bubble burst. More...

Adult Co-Ed Soccer Results

Ross Built Construction  3
Slim’s Place  1
Adam Bujarski scored all three goals, and Max Gazzo and Scott Rudacille combined for 13 saves in goal as the Ross Built Construction team moved into the top spot alone in the leader board. Jesse Brisson scored the only goal from an assist by Danny Anderson. Diego Felipe and Nate Talucci combined for 12 saves in goal for the Slim’s Place team.

Jessie’s Island Store  3
Island Pest Control  3
Danny Burton scored all three goals, and Pedro Gonzalez had five saves in goal for the Jessie’s Island Store team’s tie game. Eric Pullen had two goals, and David Hiram scored the other goal for the Island Pest Control team. Ray Gardner had 15 saves in goal including the game saving save on a penalty kick with less than a minute left in the game to keep the score tied. More...