Written by Marcy Shortuse on . Posted in News.
■ BY MARCY SHORTUSE While many have been waiting with bated breath to hear about the outcome of a proposed condominium/restaurant/shopping complex on the old Fishery property, they will have to wait a bit longer for the outcome. Late afternoon on Thursday, Jan. 4 the Charlotte County Planning and Zoning Board sent out a notice […]
Written by Marcy Shortuse on . Posted in News.
■ BY SUE ERWIN Inspire. Educate. Preserve. Those are key efforts that the Barrier Island Parks Society board members strongly hope to achieve in 2018. BIPS held its monthly board meeting on Wednesday morning at the Amory Memorial Chapel at Gasparilla Island State Park. The focus of the meeting was implementation of the 2017-2020 strategic […]
Written by Marcy Shortuse on . Posted in Featured News, News.
■ BY SUE ERWIN When U.S. Sugar CEO Robert Buker took the stage at the Boca Grande Community Center auditorium on Wednesday evening to discuss Florida’s sugar industry, audience questions following the presentation sparked both support and irritation. Buker provided an inside look at the sugar and citrus industries, focusing on Florida’s oldest and largest […]
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■ STAFF REPORT On Friday, Jan. 19 Royal Palm Players presents a one-night-only event guaranteed to raise your spirits as you raise a glass of wine. It’s “The Boca Girls,” and it’s a spoof. A reading. A lot of laughs. Alice Court, Linda Rollyson, Ann Fletcher and Erica Ress Martin are The Boca Girls. They’re […]
Written by Marcy Shortuse on . Posted in Featured News, News, Obituaries.
Virginia “Jinny” Estelle Garrett Cunning, 100 years of age, passed away on Friday, December 15, 2017 at Elizabeth House, a hospice facility in Flat Rock, N.C. Jinny was born in 1917 in Brooklyn, New York, the daughter of the late Lewis and Rebecca Kimmelman Garrett. After graduating from Bryant Business College in Providence, Rhode Island, […]
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Calvert Cottrell Groton, 87, of Boca Grande died on December 25, 2017. He was the youngest son of the Rev. John Mansfield Groton and Anngenette Cottrell Groton of Westerly, R.I. He is survived by his wife, Louise (Loulie) Mauran; his children, Anne Jacobs of Yarmouth, ME, Virginia Goelz of Briarcliff, NY, Calvert Groton, Jr. of […]
Written by Marcy Shortuse on . Posted in Editorial, Featured News, Letters to the Editor, News.
To the Editor: A 12-foot long great white shark weighing nearly 1,700 pounds recently journeyed away from its normal stomping grounds and is swimming off the coast of Tampa Bay. Miss Costa is an immature great white shark that was pinged by OCEARCH, a nonprofit research group, on September 23, 2016 off the coast of […]
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■ STAFF REPORT The year 2017 was relatively quiet on the island, shy of Hurricane Irma, a new look for the Range Light and new preserve land at the Causeway thanks to the Gasparilla Island Conservation and Improvement Association. We mourned the passing of several beloved island faces, including Creighton Sherman, Dee Wheeler, Doris Bishop and […]
Written by Marcy Shortuse on . Posted in Featured News, News, Obituaries.
Lois Sawyer Weir, born March 15, 1930 in Escanaba, Michigan, passed away on December 21, 2017, surrounded by her children, Tom, Penny and Mary Sue at her home in Boca Grande, Florida. Lois grew up in Escanaba, MI, where she met her husband Cliff, of 60 years, while racing 21-foot Sea Gulls on Lake Michigan. […]
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The feature profile stories in the Boca Beacon add a personal touch to the newspaper each week. Here are a few quotes from some of the prominent interviews that took place in 2017. “Everyone on the island is so nice and friendly; it’s almost like having another family. I feel fortunate to be able to work in Boca Grande […]