Written by Sheila Evans on . Posted in Profiles.
The Friends of the Boca Grande Community Center is a hub for entertaining, educational and thought-provoking programs that set a tone and reflect the interests of the people of the island. One of the behind-the-scenes people who help make this happen is Josh Cross, the organization’s technology specialist. Josh likes being behind the scenes, not […]
Written by Delores Savas on . Posted in Columns, Community, News, Sports & Outdoors.
“Everybody needs beauty as well as bread, places to play in and pray, where nature may heal and give strength to body and soul alike.” John Muir, naturalist and poet Last week, residents of Florida were facing a situation akin to a weather emergency, as if a hurricane were on the way. The Governor’s office […]
Written by Anna Ridilla on . Posted in Breaking News, News.
Lumen Technologies, the parent company of old CenturyLink, Gasparilla Island’s landline telephone company, has had a major stock run-up this summer, due to speculator interest in demand for artificial intelligence-fueled connectivity, and the company’s fiber-optic network. Lumen Technologies (NYSE: LUMN), through its CenturyLink subsidiary, provides telephone and internet services for Boca Grande. As late as […]
Written by Garland Pollard on . Posted in Featured News, News, Real Estate.
Island real estate not easy to categorize; values hold steady If property owners have questions about their assessments that came out in recently sent Truth in Millage notices (TRIM), they have until Sept. 17 to contact the Lee County Appraiser’s office online at leepa.org or call (239)533-6100. “The first thing is, I encourage people to […]
Written by Garland Pollard on . Posted in Breaking News, Health & Wellness, News, Sports & Outdoors.
A half-million gallons of rainy sewage leaked onto the Gasparilla Island Water Authority plant grounds after Hurricane Debby. The spill was at 2:05 a.m. on Monday, Aug. 5. It did not go into the Bayou or Cross Island Canal, nor did it hit the golf course or GIWA retention pond. “We had the choice of […]
Written by Boca Beacon on . Posted in Obituaries.
Lynn R. Kieffer, age 77, of Princeton, WI, passed from our hands to God’s Hands early in the morning of August 28, 2024, at her home after a two and a half year battle fighting an unusual, genetic based form of cancer that started in her lungs. Her husband and daughters were with her during […]
Written by VAN HUBBARD on . Posted in Columns, Featured News, Sports & Outdoors.
How can we expect small businesses to survive dealing with the uncertainty of National Marine Fisheries’ inability to factor into their decisions the crippling impacts on our marine and tourism? This is not about politics or a political party, this is simply about the bureaucratic government’s brazen, inconsiderate attacks on our ability to create and […]
Written by Sheila Evans on . Posted in Featured News, Profiles, Sports & Outdoors.
F or years, the ecological wellbeing of Boca Grande’s plant life has been one of Rick Joyce’s favorite endeavors. Boca Grande, and all of Gasparilla Island, owes much of its beauty and charm to the talent, expertise and love Rick puts into his work. Rick is a certified arborist, professional horticulturalist and a man who […]
Written by Guest Columnist on . Posted in Columns, Sports & Outdoors.
BY ARLENE HALL, BGSTA SECRETARY As of August 31, the BGSTA turtle patrollers have officially phased out of monitoring the entire length of each of our zones and will now only focus on the remaining incubating nests. This change in our monitoring protocol occurs when no new nests or false crawls have been documented for […]
Written by Garland Pollard on . Posted in Editorial, Sports & Outdoors.
There was a time not too long ago when many local state agricultural offices, particularly in suburban areas, were interested devoted to “truck and ornamentals.” That phrase might sound foreign to many, but the meaning made more sense in an earlier age, when local nurseries and homeowners participated in agriculture and ate food from “truck […]