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Disaster planning for residents with pets

■ SUBMITTED BY CHARLOTTE COUNTY EMERGENCY OPERATIONS CENTER Residents with pets face additional tasks when preparing for a disaster. All Charlotte County shelters accept pets except the special needs shelters. Pet owners are encouraged to prepare ahead of time, should there be a need to evacuate for a possible disaster. Pet-friendly shelters provide a safer […]

If you’re wishin’ to go fishin’ …

■ STAFF REPORT Grab your fishing pole and tackle box and come join the family fun at our youth fishing tournament on Saturday, Sept. 9 from 9 to 11 a.m. at the Boca Grande Fishing Pier North. The event is sponsored by the Boca Beacon, Boca Grande Marina and Lee County Parks & Recreation. The […]

Profile Mitch Smith

■ 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 […]

Never forget that Texas could have been us

■ 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 […]

Make Boca Grande quiet again … redux

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 […]

The Gasparilla Island Act: Part II Building in Boca, and a war of words over the island’s future

■ 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 […]

Bridge scale lane set to reopen Monday

■ STAFF REPORT – The installation of the Boca Grande swing bridge’s new scale lane is almost complete, and it is scheduled to reopen on Monday, Aug. 28 at 5:45 a.m. The Gasparilla Island Bridge Authority originally installed the truck scale in 2000. Removal of the old scale began on Monday, July 31. GIBA Executive Director […]