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Opinion

Bluebottle man-o-war stings mighty

August 22, 2025
BY DR. JOHN FLETEMEYER I’ve suffered the painful sting of a Portuguese man-of-war at least a dozen times. Consequently, being victimized by a man-of-war, it’s easy to argue that it’s one of a be…

San Carlos and the ‘Commissioner item’

August 22, 2025
Last week, there were no actual items relating to Boca Grande on the agenda of the Lee County Commission. But there was one item that was indirectly related, by inference and omission. Commissioner…

Turtle Patrol highlight: nest excavations and inventory

August 14, 2025
BY ARLENE HALL, BGSTA SECRETARY One of the more important tasks the BGSTA turtle patrollers perform is nest inventory. This is done by digging up and documenting the nest contents either three da…

COLUMNS: CAPT. VAN HUBBARD

August 14, 2025
Our lives fly by; The impressions we make to young are permanent Today’s times are faster than we can deal with frequently. Take to the outdoors to refresh and recover. Many of us like fishing an…

An AI ‘Beacon’ of disaster radio gloom from Gainesville

August 14, 2025
Above, a Boca Beacon file photo from Hurricane Charley, 21 years ago. This week, we have a reminder from Chief C.W. Blosser about the hurricane season ahead, encouraging people to plan for what m…

EcoWatch: Protect our oceans, the pulse of the world

August 14, 2025
“At the end of the day, the government and local government all bow to public pressure [regulatory] enforcement is weak, and environmental litigation is near to impossible, so there is an urgent nee…

Odd year: Review of this season’s sea turtle nesting figures

August 7, 2025
BY ARLENE HALL, BGSTA SECRETARY Can you believe we are only at the halfway point of this sea turtle nesting season? The word “only” used here is as an option, in case you are not a sea turtle fan…

History: 800 years ahead for Banyan Street ‘cathedral’

August 7, 2025
BY KAREN GRACE, BOCA GRANDE HISTORICAL SOCIETY In 1915, Peter Bradley of the American agricultural Chemical Company had 26 banyan trees planted on each side of what was then Second Street. The tr…

COLUMNS: MATTHEW HACKL

August 7, 2025
Boca Grande: Curve of the horizon, dignity of a heron BY MATTHEW HACKL I was born in May of 1999, but in some ways, I was born again each time I crossed the toll bridge returning to Boca Grand…

It used to be her town. But we must work this out.

August 7, 2025
The last real top 40 hit from James Taylor was a duet with J.D. Souther. The song “Her Town Too” did not reach that high on the Billboard list in 1981, but many will remember it as a lament about ho…