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Charlotte County debris from Little Gasparilla staging at Eldred’s

Charlotte County will open a debris drop-off site at Eldred’s Marina, 6301 Boca Grande Causeway beginning Saturday, Oct. 5. The debris drop-off site is for residents of Little Gasparilla Island. No commercial debris is allowed. No perishable waste or household garbage is allowed. For a list of acceptable items to discard, visit www.CharlotteCountyFL.gov/solidwaste and click Mini-Transfer and Recycling […]

Island School hopes Monday open

BY CHRISTINE OLIVER, HEAD OF SCHOOL Students’ first day back to school is tentatively scheduled for Monday, Oct. 7, 2024. However, we still need the all-clear from the county. Lee County Facilities and several teams from Fireservice Emergency Disaster Response are currently at The Island School. They appear to be on schedule to be out […]

Inn reopening delayed, still asssessing damage

While there was significant damage to The Gasparilla Inn during Hurricane Helene, President and General Manager Brent Cross and staff are working to get the operations back open as soon as possible. In the interim, they have cancelled reservations and events through Oct. 30. “The main hotel held up well,” Cross said. However, other operations, […]

Briefly: Battery on island

On Wednesday, September 25, the Lee County Sheriff’s Office was notified of a battery on island, according to a department report. Deputy David Scozzafava and Lieutenant Mike Sawicki responded to the victim, identified as Christopher Eastman. Eastman stated he was with a coworker, identified as Daniel Lofsten, for Dun-Rite Carpet and Tile, and they went […]

Lithium batteries and salt cause extra fire risk

In the aftermath of Hurricane Helene, local fire departments, including the Boca Grande Fire Department, are responding to alarms relating to lithium batteries. When exposed to water, these batteries can rapidly deteriorate, overheat, and release gasses that may cause explosions and fast-moving fires. The rule is that if they have been damaged by water, get […]

Boca Bargains moves merchandise 

BY WENDY FREEMAN, BOCA GRANDE WOMAN’S CLUB The interior of our building at the Community Center took in a lot of water and mud, and there was plenty of damage. Floors will need to be replaced. Most of our cabinets, shelving, rolling racks etc., will also need to be replaced. Our amazing team of Jinny […]

Health Clinic operations detailed

BY MARK DRISCOLL, CEO The Boca Grande Health Clinic is operational with a small team onsite and physicians on call for urgent care. As you can imagine, our doctors have been busy over the last few days mending broken bones, and attending to falls, bites and scrapes. All those injuries we typically see after major […]

Ballot: Homestead exemption, public finance

Election Day on Tuesday, Nov. 5, will not only be a Presidential election, but it will have a large number of state, federal and local candidates on the ballot, including a Florida Senatorial election. It will also have six ballot initiatives. In the last two weeks, the Boca Beacon has reviewed the first four. This […]

Gasparilla recovery the subject of Lee Commission meeting on Tuesday morning

Lee County provided a hurricane recovery update at its regularly scheduled Board of County Commissioners meeting on Tuesday, Oct. 1, 2024, including updates on the Boca Grande Community Center grounds. Assistant County Manager Robert Codie said that the Community Center and The Island School had between 2-22 inches of water intrusion. “Those buildings are old, […]

Water Authority kept system intact during island floods

As Gasparilla Island dried out from Hurricane Helene, staff from the Gasparilla Island Water Authority continued to pump through much of the standing water that had leached into the sewer system due to the storm. “We anticipate normal operations for all utility services to be restored this week,” said Ron Bolton, executive director. It was […]