VOLUME 63, 63, NUMBER NUMBER 11 12 VOLUME
amilies set get for Refuge, DDWS to present next lecture in series nFForum oticecouncil of city proposed school tcandidates ime changes
CROW: Bird flu strain killed cam-star eaglets
REFUGE/DDWS
David Rahahę·tih Webb will discuss the Indigenous culture of Sanibel Island and Southwest Florida. The remaining schedule is as follows: “While waterfowl lecture can shed the virus, others, like birds of prey, Feb.susceptible 6: “Python Amy Siewe, “Burmese are∫ highly andHuntress” can succumb rapidly.” Pythons in the Comolli saidEverglades”* the disease can be transmitted through feces Feb. 20: Author Charles Great and∫respiratory secretions of anSobczak, infected “The bird. It can Florida also be Invasionby— From Pepperobjects. to Pythons”* carried contaminated ∫ Feb. can 27:contract Author/photographer Budd Titlow, “Bird Humans the disease. Brains: Minds of our Feathered Friends”* “TheInside eagletsthelikely contracted the disease by eating an in∫ March 13:said. Actor Joe Wiegand, “President Teddy fected bird,” she Roosevelt Reprised” The eagles bring food up to the nest for the eaglets, which signing lectureThis brings the possibility had*Book just started towill feedfollow themselves. is limited on abefirst-come basis.are Early arrivals can thatSeating M15 and F23 could infected. They being monitored check in after 9 a.m. and after noon and obtain an entrance See EAGLETS wristband so they can explore the Visitor & Education, page Center,7
By TIFFANY REPECKI By MEGHAN BRADBURY trepecki@breezenewspapers.com news@breezenewspapers.com Voters will have an opportunity next With of getting stuweek to the hearultimate from thegoal candidates seeking dents to school safe and on time, parents election to the Sanibel City Council in received their firsttheir formal notification last March, including thoughts and opinweek theof School ions onfrom a range topics of island interest. District Lee County The of League of Women Voters of of a change schoola Public Candidate Sanibel willin host times year. Forumforonnext Feb. 11 from 5 to 7 p.m. at Some elementary BIG ARTS on Sanibel. It will feature the schools will likely be four candidates certified to run for three starting earlier, middle open seats in the city’s General Election, schools will be set for March 4. starting Free and open to the all, at a.m. and highatschools the9:45 doors will open 4:30 p.m. will“We’re be starting at 7 a.m.organization as the district a nonpartisan and proposes implement focused ontovoters — what its theySafe need Start to be Initiative fortothe schoolasyear. armed with be2025-26 fully educated they go The initiative, pending approval bysaid, the to the polls,” President Cathie Kozik school focuses on improving noting board, that voter education is one of bus the routes, shortages group’s addressing goals. “Wedriver believe hearing and the improving timely arrivals students, candidates in their own voiceforis very very district officials said. important.” As proposed, revised start andLaura end Current City the Councilmembers times are: and John Henshaw and Vice DeBruce MayorSee Mike Miller are seekingpage re-elecTIME CHANGES, 20 See FORUM, page 18 IslanderInsIde ISLANDERINSIDE
Wildlife DriveFlorida and trailsEagle beforehand. seats have must beset filled Southwest Cam Saved followers up 15 minutes before the lecture risk being reassigned. a memorial in memory oforeaglets E24 and E25 at the For more information, Church of the Nazarenevisit on dingdarlingsociety.org/lectureBayshore Road next to the series. Pritchett Farm, where the eagles nest in North Fort The refuge is at 1 Wildlife Drive, Sanibel. Myers. /CHUCK BALLARO
trepecki@breezenewspapers.com nmayberg@breezenewspapers.com
An upcoming meeting will focus on20, the On his first day in office on Jan. restoration of the storm-damaged Sanibel President Donald Trump issued an execuFishing Pier. tive order to change the name of the Gulf The Sanibel Island Fishing Club of Mexico to the Gulf of America. willThe meet on Feb. 11 at 7 p.m. at The order was among dozens issued by Community Houseand onone Sanibel, withhita the 47th president which will half-hour social 6:30 Gulf-front p.m. This close to home for set Lee for County’s month’s presentation will involve speakcommunities and islands. ersThe leading a discussion on not an initiative to name change will take effect repair the pier for public use, including immediately; the executive order sets outa to fund it. agrassroots process campaign for appointing a board which could lead to the change being made 18 as See FISHING CLUB, page
quickly as 30 days. 21 to proclaim, “New map just dropped, Gov. Ron DeSantis, though, wasted no and the GULF OF AMERICA has never time. That evening, he issued an executive looked better off of Florida’s shores,” order of his own related to a winter weath- with a map showing “GULF OF AMERIer warning for the Panhandle and northern CA” in bold letters with Scott’s name Florida, referring to the “Gulf of underneath. America” and so garnering national covIn response to questions about the erage in advance of the cold front. timeline for changing the name of the Messages left with DeSantis’ commu- Gulf of Mexico and review board process, nications office were not immediately as well as the potential costs to schools to returned. change textbooks maps,FISHING and for federSANIBEL and ISLAND CLUB He was not theIsland only Florida official to will al agencies to adopt for official The Sanibel Fishing Club talk about thechanges storm-damaged embrace called-for change. Scott’s staff referred House queries Sanibelthe Fishing Pier at its meeting ondocuments, Feb. 11 at The Community Sen. Rick took to X on Jan. onU.S. Sanibel, andScott the community is encouraged to come out. See GULF, page 20
ALSOINSIDETODAY alsOInsIdetOday
Guest Commentary........................4 Commentary.......................4 Guest Web Poll.........................................4 Poll.........................................4 Web Captiva Current..........................6 Captiva Current..........................6-7 Business......................................8 Business......................................8 Preserving Paradise.....................12 Paradise.....................12 Preserving Island Living................................14 Living................................14 Island Sports.........................................16 Sports.........................................16
CCB0000266 PFEIFER REALTY GROUP 000120 6 x 1.5
Classifieds 39 Classifieds 35
Island Reporter
Fishingorders club toname talk about Sanibel efforts Trump change to thepier, ‘Gulfrepair of America’
By TIFFANY By NATHANREPECKI MAYBERG
captivasanibel.com
As a descendant of the Spanish Seminoles who once populated Sanibel Island and an eighth-generation Sanibel native, David Rahahęętih Webb will speak about his book, “The Spanish Seminole: The Untold History of the Spanish Indians as Told by a Descendant,” on Jan. 30 at the J.N. “Ding” Darling National Wildlife Refuge on Sanibel. The free lectures will be held at 10 a.m. and 1 p.m. in the Visitor & Education Center auditorium. In the 1700s, as Florida’s Indigenous tribes were displaced, the forebears of the Miccosukee and Seminole descended along the southwestern Gulf coast. They soon began working with Hispanic-Latino and Indigenous fishermen from various Spanish colonies, who worked seasonal operations along the barrier islands, including Sanibel. Eventually, the seasonal operations became prolific year-round fisheries and communities, incorporating the fishing practices handed down from the 6,000-year-old Calusa culture. Their productive estuarine fisheries were called ranchos. Author and artist Webb adds to our understanding of the ranchos from the perspective of a descendant. His family included the first documented births on Sanibel and in southern Florida. Webb’s Sanibel pedigree dates to pioneer families and his involvement with the refuge goes back four generations to his By CHUCK great-grandfather, Jake Stokes,BALLARO the refuge’s first employee. news@breezenewspapers.com Webb lived part-time with his grandmother, Edythe Stokes, Theworked Southwest of a and strain who at theFlorida refuge Eagle for 33Cam yearseaglets beforedied retiring is of the bird according to officials with the Clinic Webb’s for the honored by flu, the naming of the administrative building. Rehabilitation of Wildlife (CROW) Sanibel. mother worked at the refuge andonfor the “Ding” Darling CROWSociety-Friends is watching the adult mated(DDWS), pair to and determine Wildlife of the Refuge Webb whether they have been infected well. then worked at the refuge fromas1996-97 with Americorps, CROW released themonitoring results of its necropsies at a on news conhelping with wildlife and giving talks various ference topics. on Jan. 30 at the Church of the Nazarene on Bayshore Road nextSpanish to the Pritchett Farm, where the eaglesfornest in North “The Seminole,” which is available purchase in Fort Myers. Nature Store, presents a detailed account of the the Refuge The eaglets, and E25, HPAI cul— Spanish IndiansE24 of Sanibel and tested beyondpositive — theirfor history, highly pathogenic — a disease that causes high ture, and legacy —Avian usingInfluenza newly uncovered documents, primary mortality to oral susceptible birds, according to CROW Research sources and histories. andAMedical Director Dr.follow Jessica book signing will theComolli. lecture. “It includes poultry but also“Ding” many wild birds. This Theusually DDWS co-hosts the annual Darling Winter strain is aSeries highlywith pathogenic formand of the H5N1financial virus, which has Lecture the refuge through support caused catastrophic the birds they Society. affect,” she said. from Friends of the losses “Ding”inDarling Wildlife
Page A1 n Week of Wednesday, February 5, 2025
WEEK OF OF JANUARY FEBRUARY29, 5, 2025 2025 WEEK
Residential Customer ECRWSS
Ft MYERS, FL Permit #5733
PRSTD STD US POSTAGE PAID