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All you need to know about Boca Grande’s 4th of July

This year, the 4th of July festivities will begin bright and early at 10 a.m. on Saturday, July 4, as all participants in the 3rd annual 4th of July golf cart and bicycle parade will congregate in the parking lot next to PJ’s Seagrille. Decorate as you will, just keep it festive and 4th of […]

Little information available about $1 million that would have gone to Gasparilla Island State Park

BY JACK SHORT An item stricken from the 2015-2016 Florida budget that would have sent $1 million to the Gasparilla Island State Park contained little information about how the money would have been used, other than that it was marked for “the assessment and evaluation” of lands for purchase inside the optimum park boundary. No […]

Intrigue in Australia leads back to Florida and Boca Grande

BY JACK SHORT Bill Caldwell remembers him as a straight-laced, hard-working fisherman, not as a smuggler and international fugitive. The Tampa Bay Times recently broke a story about a man who died in a traffic accident in Australia, and was revealed to be Ray Stansel, wanted for smuggling marijuana into Florida during the 70s. Stansel […]

Help a local captain and have a great time doing it this Sunday

Fundraising for Capt. Jimmy Robertson continues on Sunday, July 5 at The Sand Bar. There will be a fish fry at 2 p.m., and more auctions and raffles will be held. There will also be a corn hole tournament. The cost to get in the fish fry is $12 per person. Call (352) 586-0480 with […]

MS fundraiser is just another 150-mile ride to Boots and Dick

BY JACK SHORT Some people like adding a little challenge to their charity. Boots and Dick Tolsdorf are just such people. In a move that is, amazingly, not unusual for them, the Tolsdorfs are going to join about 2000 other cyclists on June 26 and 27 for a two-day, 150-mile bike ride beginning in Boston […]

Fallout from Scott’s veto pen hits Gasparilla Island

BY JACK SHORT Among the record setting number of items, worth a combined $461 million, that fell to Florida Governor Rick Scott’s veto pen, was a large appropriation for Gasparilla Island State Park. The Florida Department of Environmental Protection would have received, from the general fund, $1 million (non-recurring) for the assessment and evaluation of […]

Turtles are getting busy on island beaches

BY MARCY SHORTUSE Sea turtle season is heating up, with hatches about to begin and large numbers of nests to be found on island beaches. So far we have 283 nests, as well as seven green turtle nests. Last year at approximately this time, we had 158 loggerhead and four green nests, which means that […]