Written by Marcy Shortuse on . Posted in Education, News.
Four new teachers will be working with students this year: Gretchen Hughes, who will teach kindergarten; Susan McKenzie, who will teach second grade; Lisa Brown, who will teach fifth graders social studies and ELA; and Cindy Mack, who will teach art.
Written by Guest Columnist on . Posted in News.
If you have been on the Bike Path recently, you may have noticed that compost has been added where washouts have created areas where there is a steep edge. This week a sod company will be on-site to add sod to these areas. This will create a smoother transition along the path. The completion of this project will be pleasing to the eye and create a more enjoyable experience for path users.
Written by Sheila Evans on . Posted in Community History, News.
The first project to come before the Board was the replacement of an outside stairway at 225 Banyan Street. The stairway is on the south side of the house and is referred to as a “double-winder,” which means it has stairs to the right and left of the centerpoint. This is a short stairway, only four steps on each side. The owner wants to replace it with a single stairway directly in front of the doorway.
Written by Guest Columnist on . Posted in News, Sports & Outdoors.
You can take an active part in protecting shorebirds and their nests by obeying simple rules – picking up trash, filling in dug-out holes, keeping dogs that are predators to birds off the beach, staying outside of roped nesting areas, not chasing the birds and watching where you walk.
Written by Staff Report on . Posted in Columns, News.
“We received a hotline report of a turtle nesting during the day, and it just so happened to be Flame Lily. This rare daytime encounter provided a clear look at this turtle and heightened our suspicions that she might be a hybrid,” said Kelly Sloan, coastal wildlife director and sea turtle program coordinator. New genetic results from the University of Georgia’s Dr. Brian Shamblin confirm that Flame Lily is in fact half hawksbill, half loggerhead. Flame Lily’s first nest last year produced 104 hatchlings.
Written by Sheila Evans on . Posted in Profiles.
Originally from Ohio, Lindsay and her husband Tyler have been Floridians for the last eight years. They have three children, all born in the state: Shiloh is 6, Hart is 3 and Charlie is 2. Working full time and having three young children does not leave a lot of time for hobbies, but the family enjoys spending time at the playground, camping and going to the beach, especially the beach at Boca Grande.
Written by Marcy Shortuse on . Posted in Boca Beacon Back Pages.
Gasparilla Fishery in Placida was expected to open a new seafood restaurant. Plans called for the restaurant to be built on the west side of the current fishery building that had served as a seafood wholesale and retail operation since 1944.
Written by Boca Beacon Reader on . Posted in Editorial, Opinion.
Our current focus is in Charlotte County, Florida, near the tarpon fishing capital of the world – Boca Grande. A VI uses GIS mapping data layers for nursery habitat sites overlaid with data on things like current and potential development locations, freshwater flows, and whether land is publicly or privately owned to categorize areas as high, medium or low vulnerability. For example, a nursery site classified as “natural” that falls under an area that the Charlotte County deemed as likely to be developed would rank as “high” in the VI. Conversely, a degraded nursery habitat with low potential for restoration that falls under an area in the county that is at low risk for development would rank as “low” in the VI.
Written by Marcy Shortuse on . Posted in News.
According to the Federal Communications Commission, there are 82 affected area codes across the country that have had to be changed, as they all have one thing in common: Their area codes are all similar to or too close to “988,” which is now the established national number for the crisis line. The 82 affected area codes have one thing in common: using 988 as a local exchange, a term that describes the middle digits of a 10-digit phone number (for example: 123-988-1234). Four of those area codes are in Florida: 321, in Brevard County; 352, in north-central Florida; 941, which covers an area from Bradenton to North Port; and 561, in Palm Beach County.
Written by Boca Beacon Reader on . Posted in Community History.
It all started in the 1960s when my Granddaddy, Alfred Bavis Dixon, known by most folks as Alfred or A.B., bought a parcel of mostly submerged land from Bert Cole. Mr. Cole had purchased the deed from the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers when the Corps was building the Intracoastal Waterway, which stretches from Massachusetts to Brownsville, Texas. The Corps approached upland and adjacent landowners and sold off parcels of submerged and partially submerged land in order to help fund the massive project. Granddaddy was a dreamer and doer, a visionary, no stranger to long hours of hard work, a man far ahead of his time. He went to the proper authorities and obtained permits to dredge and fill the parcel, and then he brought a dredge that he had built with his son Ormand to his new dream. He never asked for any special favors, no government grants, no subsidies. All he wanted was to be left alone with his task. He got as much fill as he could get when the big dredge came through digging the waterway, and he dredged up more when he built the basin and channel out into the bay. The first time I remember going to “The Point,” as we all called it, I was just a kid, and Grandaddy had the dredge set up digging the channel out to the bay. I must have been about 10 years old at the time, and it was a very exciting time for me. We were living in Virginia then, and I had never seen anything like that.