Written by Boca Beacon on . Posted in Letters to the Editor.
To the Editor: The Homeless Coalition’s 2015 Point-in-Time Count indicates that across Charlotte County during a 24-hour time period, 548 people were considered homeless, as defined by the federal Homeless Emergency Assistance and Rapid Transition to Housing Act (HEARTH).” These people made up 402 different households. The count included those staying in emergency shelters, transitional […]
Written by Boca Beacon on . Posted in Letters to the Editor.
To the Editor:In our busy work-a-day world sometimes it’s easy to pass on pitching in when events are organized in and for our community. The assumption being that someone else will be at the ready to step up when volunteers are needed. In some communities, I’m sure, help never comes, or does in so many […]
Written by Boca Beacon on . Posted in News.
Several incidents kept area firefighters busy over the Memorial Day weekend, but none of them were on Gasparilla Island. We did have one crime report, though. On the afternoon of Saturday, May 23 firefighters from Charlotte County were battling a brush fire that burned more than 100 acres just northwest of Coral Creek Golf Course […]
Written by Boca Beacon on . Posted in News.
BY JEAN NETHERY The Beacon welcomes back our occasional writer, Jean Nethery, who is writing this time about Ireland. This is part one in a two part series. As our Boeing 757 touched down on the Dublin runway I could almost hear the angels singing “When Irish eyes are smiling, sure ‘tis like a morn […]
Written by Boca Beacon on . Posted in News.
One of Boca Grande’s charter captains, Capt. Jimmy Robertson, is in need of some good energy and prayers from the community as he faces stage 4 liver cancer and issues from a recent fall. Jimmy was diagnosed with Stage 4 Liver cancer that has metastasized to his spine. He has lots of treatments coming up, […]
Written by Boca Beacon on . Posted in News.
Another dead sea turtle has been found on a local beach, this time at the very northern tip of the island. According to one sea turtle patroller, Marilyn Googins, she found it at the “northern end of zone 1 on Friday, May 15.” “There is a walkway easement off Sunset Pines Circle and it was […]
Written by Boca Beacon on . Posted in Letters to the Editor.
To the Editor: It’s that time of year again. The time when the lords and ladies assemble their baggage trains and go back to whatever magical kingdom they’re trying to make Boca Grande into. When the island sheds it’s Downton Abby patina and morphs back into Mayberry. The time of plentiful parking. The time when […]
Written by Boca Beacon on . Posted in News.
BY MARCY SHORTUSE Sea turtle season has just begun and while nest numbers are still low, island patrollers have already found one turtle dead on local beaches. According to Maureen McConnell, the head of the island’s sea turtle patrollers, she received a call of a “stranded” juvenile loggerhead turtle at the north end of the […]
Written by Boca Beacon on . Posted in News.
The Boca Grande Fire Department hosted the First Annual Boca Grande Firefighters’ Benevolent Fund Golf Tournament on Saturday, May 2 at the Rotonda Golf & Country Club. For their first-ever tournament they had 18 teams participating, with a team comprised of Venice firefighters coming out on top as the winner with 18 under par. The […]
Written by Boca Beacon on . Posted in Featured News, Letters to the Editor.
To the Editor: We spend six months in Boca Grande, and the other six months we live in northern Ontario, Canada, where I was born and raised. Since building our beloved Camp David on the shores of Lake Superior some 20 years ago, we have attended an Anglican (Episcopal) church, St. James, in Goulais River. Many […]