Skip to main content
Search Results for “not”

PROFILE: Dr. Francine Finucan

Written by Sheila Evans on . Posted in Profiles.

Being in the family chiropractic business was not the original plan for Francine Finucan (fah-NU-kin). She was supposed to be a college-educated stay-at-home wife and mother. That was her father’s plan for her. Francine – Frankie to her friends – had other plans. Among them was to come to Florida and help people stay healthy and fit in multiple ways.

Frankie was the oldest of three siblings. According to her father, who was a well-known chiropractor in Roseville, Michigan for 50 years, Frankie’s brother Paul was to be the chiropractor. He was to take over dad’s business when the time was right. Their younger brother Andrew was going to be president of the United States. Dad is one out of three so far. (Andrew could still become president if he really tried.)

LETTER TO THE EDITOR: Ode to an island icon

Written by Boca Beacon Reader on . Posted in Letters to the Editor.

Editor’s note: This poem was sent in by an island resident, who was sitting with a young family member at the restaurant when she wrote it. It is beautiful. These yellow walls are still the same:  The tables worn, The paintings crooked. Even after all that happened here, Boats still line the docks.  And though […]

LETTER TO THE EDITOR: Sign now, says 1,000 Friends

Written by Boca Beacon Reader on . Posted in Letters to the Editor.

To the Editor: Governor DeSantis has only days left to VETO the “Sprawl Bill”, SB 540. SB 540 would threaten ordinary Floridians with financial ruin for exercising their right to legally challenge amendments that conflict with their communities’ comprehensive plans. Floridians who lost such challenges could be forced to pay the attorney fees and costs […]

Clinic demo, expansion plans denied by BGHPB

Written by Marcy Shortuse on . Posted in News.

It was easy to see that the Boca Grande Historic Preservation Board didn’t want to make the decision they felt they had to make on Wednesday, May 10 at their monthly meeting. The proposal was from the Boca Grande Health Clinic to demolish the old Annex building and to build a new building approximately four times the size of the old one – weighing in at 13,299 square feet. After a series of pointed questions directed to several Clinic representatives, though, they had to deny the Certificate of Appropriateness based on two criteria within the Boca Grande Historic District Design Guidelines, specifically addressing the mass and scale of the proposed building and its height.

The reasons given officially to the county were submitted as, “Although the Board did not object to the form or materials proposed for the proposed office, it found that the height of the structure is too large for the immediate block of surrounding residences. The proposal is therefore not consistent with Guideline 4.1. The Board finds that the proposed structure exceeds both the mass and scale of the block and therefore is not consistent with Guideline 4.3.”

New golf cart ordinance in limbo as DeSantis weighs his decision

Written by Marcy Shortuse on . Posted in News.

On Wednesday, May 11 Gov. Ron DeSantis had a bill on his desk that could affect Gasparilla Island in a big way. House Bill 949 is all about golf cart use and the requirements needed to operate one. As of Wednesday morning DeSantis issued a statement saying he was favorably inclined toward signing it.

The bill would require a golf cart driver to be 16 with a learners permit or drivers license or 18 and up. Drivers of all ages would be required to have a government-issued ID of some sort.

OBITUARY: Lawrence Forsell

Written by Boca Beacon on . Posted in Obituaries.

Lawrence Forsell, 84, passed away peacefully with family members present on May 3, 2023. He was born in Rockford, Illinois, May 29, 1938, the son of George and Petrona Kazlauskas Forsell. Lawrence was united in Marriage to Alice Rix on December 6, 1985. At the age of 6, Lawrence’s father died from appendicitis. He was […]

IN THE SPOTLIGHT: Toni Vanover

Written by Sheila Evans on . Posted in Profiles.

It is a common myth that librarians are quiet, dull, and living in a world of fiction most of the time. If that is the image you have, Toni Vanover, Boca Grande’s librarian for the last 20 years, will quickly dispel it. She is funny, clever, and extremely smart. She loves people even more than she loves learning and sharing knowledge, and that says a lot, because those are things that really get her going.

Toni had not intended to be a librarian. It was more like a calling. After growing up in Staten Island, New York, she decided to go to George Washington University, in Washington, D.C., to become a diplomat or work in the Peace Corps.

LETTER TO THE EDITOR: Marine minerals and state interests

Written by Boca Beacon Reader on . Posted in Letters to the Editor.

Billions of acres of submerged land off the nation’s coast are thought to contain large reserves of cobalt, manganese and other minerals considered critical to our national interests. 

Ocean areas and resources offer a wide range of uses to both the state and nation. The maritime industry relies on safe shipping channels. Commercial and recreational fishing industries are dependent on productive marine habitats, including coastal reefs, seagrass beds and artificial reefs. Universities and other institutions need a natural marine environment for their research and to provide educational and economic opportunities now and in the future. Oil, gas, sand, gravel, phosphate, and heavy mineral reserves all elicit industry interest.