Written by Marcy Shortuse on . Posted in News.
■ BY MARCY SHORTUSE Lee County Planning approached the Boca Grande Historic Preservation Board at their monthly meeting on Wednesday, May 8 with three projects on the agenda, but one stood out as a point of contention and spurred conversation that lasted well over an hour. Coincidentally, it was also one of the first home […]
Written by Marcy Shortuse on . Posted in News, Profiles.
■ BY SUE ERWIN Tricia Heaton describes herself as a needlepointing, party throwing, traveling bookworm. An eternal optimist who sees beauty in everything, she almost always has a camera in hand. Both her paternal grandmother and her mother were needlepointers, and she enthusiastically learned to stitch by the time she was six. “As a teenager I […]
Written by Marcy Shortuse on . Posted in Editorial, Letters to the Editor, News, Opinion.
To the Editor: The annual statewide recreational alligator harvest begins August 15, and the application process is a random drawing – so the more choices you make, the better your chances of getting drawn. The application period for the phase I random drawing begins May 17 at 10 a.m. and runs through May 27. More […]
Written by Marcy Shortuse on . Posted in News.
■ BY MARCY SHORTUSE Last week the United States Army Corps of Engineers in Jacksonville announced that some Gasparilla Island beaches in Lee County would be renourished this summer, which initially sounds like a great idea. Beaches in the Historic District have lost a great deal of sand in the last few years, leaving a […]
Written by Marcy Shortuse on . Posted in News.
The Boca Grande Fire Department and Lee County EMS responded to their first shark bite call since 2005 on Wednesday, May 1. At approximately 6:42 p.m. the call came in. The victim had been fishing on a boat in Boca Grande Pass when he lost his balance and fell into the water. Witnesses said it […]
Written by Marcy Shortuse on . Posted in News, Sports & Outdoors.
The weather may have cooled off, but the island is heating up with the hustle and bustle of season again. Visitors and residents alike are flocking back to one of Southwest Florida’s most prized possessions. Restaurants and area shops are getting busier, and the roads will soon be packed. Fishing gear was removed from a […]
Written by Marcy Shortuse on . Posted in News.
All the students at The Island School took field trips last week. Shown here, grades 3-5 took their annual excursion to the Ringling Museum in Sarasota, where they studied form, different types of paintings and the artists who painted them, and much more. Shown below, grades K-2 went to the Big Cat Habitat and Gulf […]
Written by Marcy Shortuse on . Posted in News.
BY MARCY SHORTUSE – We are one step closer to having a little more beach to our name. On Tuesday, April 23 The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers of Jacksonville awarded a $6.4 million contract to a company from New Jersey for what they call “reducing risks to landside infrastructure in the Lee County portion […]
Written by Marcy Shortuse on . Posted in News, Profiles.
BY SUSAN ERWIN – Becky Hunt is passionate about pursuing her goals in life, and that diligent trait has clearly been passed along to her daughter, Evie, who has been The Island School reporter for the Boca Beacon since last fall. Becky was born in Clermont, Florida, a town just west of Orlando. “My parents […]
Written by Marcy Shortuse on . Posted in News, Profiles.
■ BY SUE ERWIN Lindsey Allen and his wife Ellen discovered Boca Grande about 14 years ago. After a successful career and raising two sons in Chicago, they decided that they wanted to spend the winters in a warmer climate. He chose to study accounting because his father was a career Coast Guard officer with a […]