Art League Shocker

The art community was stunned last week when the Anna Maria Island Art League closed its doors with no notice.

On Thursday, May 17, Joan Voyles, president of the Artist's' Guild of Anna Maria Island, the other longstanding art group on the Island, made the announcement at the monthly meeting of Cultural Connections, an organization representing the Island's nine Island arts and cultural groups. More...

Project on beach OK'd by commission

BRADENTON BEACH – The city commission passed on second reading the final order for the joint development agreement between the city and ELRA, Inc., the owner of the BeachHouse restaurant where plans have been made to install a sand dune system and parking lot on land south of the restaurant.

Three parking spots will be on city property and available for public use. More...

Code violation prompts $1,000 fine

HOLMES BEACH – The Holmes Beach Code Enforcement Board has fined Beach to Bay Construction $1,000 for violating a stop work order on a house at 5608 Holmes Boulevard.

Two board members, Chair Don Schroder and Michael Klotz, recused themselves from the decision, citing business dealings with principal Shawn Kaleta or his companies. Alternates Marvin Grossman and Renee Ferguson took their places.

Beach to Bay has built some of the homes that are the subject of residents' recent complaints about vacation rental problems such as noise, parking and trash. More...

Cell tower ordinance gets first look

ANNA MARIA – City Attorney Jim Dye reviewed differences in the city's current cell tower ordinance and an amended ordinance at a recent meeting in order to get feedback from commissioners.

"All governments are restricted by state and federal law," he explained. "You cannot prohibit the provision of wireless service."

"This ordinance is less complicated than the current ordinance. The current ordinance relies on a tiered system of review, but the one has preferred locations." More...

Historical Society awards scholarships

ANNA MARIA – Three Manatee High School students were awarded college scholarships at the annual members meeting of the Anna Maria Island Historical Society last week.

Kelly Guerin, daughter of Mark and Lori Guerin of Holmes Beach, received a $2,000 scholarship. The scholarship committee noted that her community service involvement includes coaching children in soccer and basketball, assisting physically challenged youths at summer surf camp and tutoring students as a member of the national Honor Society. More...

Fire rates to go up 2.5 percent

BRADENTON – West Manatee Fire commissioners last week approved a 2.5 percent increase in assessment rates for 2012-13.

Fire Chief Andy Price said workman's comp is going up 19 percent and retirement and health insurance also are going up, and pointed out, "For a single family home, the base rate is up $4. It's not a large increase but it's a necessary increase."

"We spent a lot of time going over this and it's a very realistic budget given the way the department has been operated," Commissioner Scott Ricci added. More...

Jason, Dr. Dave to rock Friday

HOLMES BEACH – Concerts in the Park will feature blues and Southern rock with Jason and the Burners and the Dr. Dave Band on Friday, May 25, at the Holmes Beach Veteran's Pavilion next to city hall, 5801 Marina Drive.

D.J./M.C. Chris Grumley starts the show at 5 p.m., with Jason and the Burners playing the blues from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. and the Dr. Dave Band playing Southern rock from 8 to 10 p.m. More...

Wedding Festival turns a profit

HOLMES BEACH – The Anna Maria Island Chamber of Commerce made $12,132.05 from the Wedding Festival held recently. That was above the $10,000 estimate, according to Chamber Vice President Deb Wing.

Wing said they made $18,650 before expenses, including $2,548 from the 59 vendors and $2,548 from ticket sales. Expenses were $9,265.95, including $6,000 for advertising in media not on the Island.

Chamber board member David Teitelbaum said there is still room for non-profits to advertise on the five trolleys that service the Island. More...

Save our seahorses

Sometimes, the tiniest members of the marine world are overlooked in favor of manatees, sea turtles and other imperiled species with big personalities.

The dwarf seahorse is one of them.

Picture a seahorse and imagine its baby – that's the size of an adult dwarf seahorse, about 2 centimeters high. Dwarf seahorse babies are so tiny and transparent that they're only readily visible when they blink their eyes. More...

Sister Keys clean up largest to date

Sarasota Bay Watch (SBW) held its annual Sister Keys Clean Up Saturday May 12, at the Mar Vista Dockside restaurant in the Longboat Key Village. One hundred and ten volunteers showed up to lend a hand, get a free one year membership to Sarasota Bay Watch and a lunch on the bay courtesy of Ed Chiles and the Chiles Group.

It was a perfect day with low humidity, a brisk wind to keep the bugs at bay and sunny skies. At the end of the day a large dump truck was filled with debris ranging from tires to toilet seats. The town of Longboat Key Public Works Department, led by James Linkogle, helped transport people, provided trash bags and hauled the trash away. More...

Vacation homes lead the market

Austerity vs. growth

Elections in Greece and France a couple weekends ago caused financial markets to gasp for air for a few days, with fears of unknown policies the new administrations might implement. In general, voters in these countries used the "throw the bums out" method, replacing officials who were using austerity measures of cutting spending and raising taxes to try to solve severe deficit imbalances and control the growth of national debts.

Austerity measures make a lot of sense on the surface. Stop spending money you don't have and tax those who can pay more to close the budget gap. The problem is that when an economy is struggling to avoid recession or to crawl back into a pattern of growth, spending cuts and higher taxes work against the goal of accelerating growth and job creation. More...

Business with a heart

BRADENTON BEACH – Zac Shely figures he may have saved a couple hundred turtles' lives by bringing in chairs from the beach after sunset, figuring each nest has about 100 eggs.

Chairs, umbrella stands, grilles, beach towels and other items can trip up a nesting loggerhead sea turtle and cause her to abort her attempt to lay a nest of about 100 eggs. The items also can disorient turtle hatchlings, which will begin leaving Island nests for the Gulf around the first of July. More...

Dips Ice Cream goes undefeated

As the NBA basketball playoffs heat up for the summer, so do the Anna Maria Island Community Center's basketball playoffs. In two out of the three divisions, the regular season championship crown is still up for grabs. Only Dips Ice Cream, in the 14-17-year-old division, has wrapped up first place for the regular season with an 8-0 record.

Just like in the pros, the real quest for the championship lies in the playoffs. During the regular season, there is a first place champion, but all standings are used for placement and game scheduling for the tournament. Every team will make the playoffs and have a shot. The team that has come together the best at the end of the year will be crowned division champs. More...

Where do you get your protein?

The most common question vegetarians or vegans get about eating a plant-based diet is, "Where do you get your protein?" I got it long before I wrote my book, especially as an athlete. For reasons that have more to do with marketing more than science, some athletes believe that meat and dairy are the only good sources. This is not true.

Most of us are aware that protein has an important role in our bodies, but you may not know why. Made up of amino acids (oxygen, nitrogren, carbon, and hydrogen), protein is the nutrient responsible for growing new cells and building and repairing tissue. However, contrary to popular belief, we don't need to consume that much of it to be healthy. More...