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Summer heat becoming a real issue with humans, as well as with pets

Written by Marcy Shortuse on . Posted in Health & Wellness, News.

Anyone who knows island resident Libby Frazier knows that she is a lover of all animals. You might see her on her golf cart in town, several dogs in tow, running daily errands. There are few people who can say they have taken their cockatoo or their chickens to the Blessing of the Animals that the churches used to have here, but she is one of them.
Just recently Libby was at home when she saw her dog, Lucy, running toward her and knew right away that something was wrong. Libby could feel the heat emanating from her, could see her labored breathing and realized that she was overheating.
She did the only thing she could think of, the same thing that many people would do in her position – she filled a tub with cold water, dumped some ice in it and put her little dog in to cool off.
Two days later, though, Lucy passed away. Libby was devastated. We are so sorry for her loss.

Beacon/Gasparilla Island Magazine staff brings home 15 awards

Written by Staff Report on . Posted in News.

The Boca Beacon/Gasparilla Island Magazine staff attended the Florida Press Association and Florida Magazine Association awards ceremony last Friday, July 21 at The Westin in Sarasota and came home with 15 awards. Out of more than 1,200 entries in the Florida Press Association “Better Weekly Newspaper” contest, our little newspaper took nine awards. Editor Marcy […]

Public participation meetings for federal disaster recovery funds planned throughout Lee County (but not here)

Written by Staff Report on . Posted in Community, News.

Resident participation meetings throughout unincorporated Lee County and in municipalities are planned in August to receive public comment and input on the Draft Action Plan for the $1.1 billion Community Development Block Grant – disaster recovery funds received from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. The Draft Action Plan will be published at […]

EDITORIAL: This dead parrot is a lawsuit waiting to happen … please, Lee County, let us take down the Bakery Building

Written by Marcy Shortuse on . Posted in Editorial.

It took 15 days to complete the Sanibel Causeway after Hurricane Ian crunched it. It took two-and-a-half months for the severely damaged Gasparilla Inn & Club to open up again. But we still don’t have a cell phone tower.
It certainly isn’t for a lack of trying on the community’s part. We have a cell phone tower committee that has met on a constant basis to get this ball rolling. Calls and meetings have been had with Vertical Bridge, the tower company, and a lot of the footwork to get this done has taken place. So why don’t we have a cell phone tower yet, 10 months after Hurricane Ian?

The saga of ‘The Forgotten Ones’ at Gasparilla Mobile Estates continues …

Written by Staff Report on . Posted in Community, News.

More developments have unfolded in the Gasparilla Mobile Estates controversy and they are just as strange as the ones that preceded them. Residents have a new eviction notice, a new reason given by the property owner for them to leave and a big difference in appraisal amounts.

Mike Leslie, a resident of the little community just off island, has been watching closely what happens to his southern property while he’s at his home in Michigan. He is doing everything in his power to make sure that the people of the park can be allowed to keep their homes. It is a constant battle, to be sure, as they face a new challenge almost every week.

Gasparilla Pines Pathway to connect two Cape Haze preserves

Written by Garland Pollard on . Posted in Community, News.

A new sidewalk and drainage program on Cape Haze will connect the Lemon Bay Conservancy’s Lemon Creek Wildflower Preserve and Charlotte County’s Amberjack Environmental Park. The project, called the Gasparilla Pines Pathway, is slated for completion on March 29, 2024. 

The Pathway’s right-of-way has just been cleared of trash left there from nearby mobile homes and illegal dumping after Hurricane Ian. Irene Slattery, vice president of the Lemon Bay Conservancy, said that the trash was dumped “from the intersection over to our gate.” 

The budget for the Pathway is $727,900, paid for by Charlotte County’s Placida Street and Drainage Municipal Service Benefit Unit, or MSBU. The design engineer and project architect is Johnson Engineering.

Rare whale shark visit off Sarasota coast reveals this kindler, gentler shark is in local waters more often than one thinks

Written by Marcy Shortuse on . Posted in News, Sports & Outdoors.

Whale sharks just aren’t something you see every day, even in the offshore waters of the Gulf of Mexico in our area. But that doesn’t mean it never happens.

In fact, it happened to some boaters approximately 26 miles off the coast of Sarasota County not too long ago, on July 3. 

A video on TikTok surfaced with the encounter, taken by a charter captain named Michael Russo with the alias “Boca Grande Tarpon.” It was captioned “One of the coolest encounters I have ever had out of Sarasota. I think that sharks just follow me.”