Written by Marcy Shortuse on . Posted in News, Profiles.
■ BY SUE ERWIN Mitch Smith recalls spending the summer months of his youth at day camp at the Boca Grande Community Center. His father, Myron, worked for a cleaning business on the island for many years. His mother, Janice, worked as a teacher in Charlotte County for many years and now works for the Department of […]
Written by Marcy Shortuse on . Posted in Editorial, Featured News, News, Opinion.
■ BY MARCY SHORTUSE This week many of us watched in horror as Hurricane Harvey turned into a nasty houseguest who wouldn’t leave and left thousands of people in Texas and Louisiana homeless, displaced and, in some circumstances, dead. It was an unprecedented storm in the fact it stalled out over land and dropped enough […]
Written by Marcy Shortuse on . Posted in Featured News, Letters to the Editor, News.
To the Editor: Thanks for all the verbal support received concerning leafblower noise and health hazards. Remember … if daily and weekly leafblowing were done every other day and week, noise and pollution would be reduced by 50 percent immediately! Speaking of pollution, here are some “fun” facts: All four-stroke engines fire ALL of their […]
Written by Marcy Shortuse on . Posted in Featured News, News.
■ BY SUSAN HANAFEE Editor’s Note: This is the second in a series of articles about the forces that have shaped development in Boca Grande and on Gasparilla Island. As the tarpon season is getting underway in 1975, a station wagon backs into a gas pump at Millers Marina, rupturing a 5,000-gallon tank. The resulting […]
Written by Marcy Shortuse on . Posted in Profiles.
■ BY SUE ERWIN – Known for her smiling face and pleasant manner, Karen Kelley wears many hats at The Island School, where she has been employed since the school started back in 1999. Karen worked in the office that first school year, eventually leading her to other positions as a paraprofessional, creative arts and drama teacher, as […]
Written by Marcy Shortuse on . Posted in Featured News, News, Obituaries.
Patricia Ann Heisel, 84, died July 30, 2017, at her home at Walloon Lake, Michigan, surrounded by her husband of 61 years and five children, after a brief and brave fight against acute myeloid leukemia. Pat and her husband, William, split their time between Boca Grande and Walloon Lake. Pat enjoyed volunteer work tutoring migrant […]
Written by Marcy Shortuse on . Posted in Featured News, News.
■ STAFF REPORT OIn the evening of August 11 Boca Beacon and Gasparilla Island Magazine staffers were more than happy to find out we had won a total of 12 awards from the Florida Press Association Better Weekly Newspaper Awards, and the Florida Magazine Association Awards. The Boca Beacon received two first place awards, one […]
Written by Marcy Shortuse on . Posted in Featured News, News.
■ BY SUSAN HANAFEE Editor’s Note: This is the first in a random series of stories about the forces that have shaped and continue to impact development and construction in Boca Grande and on Gasparilla Island. The fight over the fate of Gasparilla Island nearly 40 years ago sounds like a novel Florida writers Carl […]
Written by Marcy Shortuse on . Posted in News.
■ BY SUE ERWIN Pearl Harbor survivor John Seelie, who attended the 75th anniversary ceremony of the attack on December 7, 2016, has passed away. Seelie, 94, was a resident of Englewood and for years would ride his bike from his home to Boca Grande to have coffee or enjoy lunch on the island with […]
Written by Marcy Shortuse on . Posted in News, Profiles.
■ BY SUE ERWIN If you’ve visited the Boca Grande Health Clinic over the past few years, you’ve probably met Laquanda Dixon, the medical assistant at the health center. Laquanda has been working at the clinic for three years. Besides greeting and helping to care for patients, she also is the quality improvement coordinator. She was born […]