FLIER INSIDE
First Baptist Church of Pine Island gets ready for World Gospel Outreach Honduras trip
— INSIDE
PINEISLAND-EAGLE.COM
VOLUME 48, NUMBER 49
Fire District rep takes part in Tallahassee legislative trip By PAULETTE LeBLANC
pleblanc@breezenewspapers.com
Botana. Not only was Chief Dewitt there, but he also had a number of other fire chiefs from our special districts there,” DeLacey said. Tice, Lehigh, and Bayshore Fire all had fire chiefs in Tallahassee, she said, adding that she was honored to have been allowed to sit in on their pre-scheduled meetings. “It was very beneficial, because I could see the due process and the kinds of questions they were asking and the kinds of relationships they were interested in obtaining. It was very eye-opening,” DeLacey said. Showing up to get a birds-eye-view of these representatives in their milieu was admittedly the right decision on the part of DeLacey, as she said, this can only do the See TRIP, page 16
Pine Island Family Hair Salon owner celebrates 50th anniversary
pineisland-eagle.com
In an effort to stay ahead of any possible impactful legislation at the state level, a Pine Island Matlacha Fire Control District commissioner recently made a trip to Tallahassee to take part in the process. Commissioner Jamie DeLacey said whenever legislation is introduced, it makes an appearance on the agenda prior to a meeting. “I came to realize after a couple of years that it was too late to do anything by the time we talked about it— most of the decisions had already been made by then,” DeLacey said. This year, she thought she would try to get ahead of issues that might pertain to local special districts by asking local fire chiefs if anyone might be traveling to
Tallahassee for open legislation. “One of the fire chiefs out of Bonita said, ‘Yes, we go every year, we find it to be of great value and if you’d like to come with us this year, we’d love to have you sit in on our meetings.’ He said a lot of times the representatives and senators just get bombarded with people trying to access their offices,” DeLacey said. After finding support from her own district, coupled with curiosity about the process, she said she reached out to each Lee County representative, prior to the trip, to let them know she looked forward to getting to know them better and opening up the lines of communication. “Once I got up there, (to Tallahassee) I was very fortunate to sit in on Chief Craig Dewitt’s scheduled meetings. We got to meet with Sen. (Kathleen) Passidomo, Sen. (Jonathan) Martin, we got to meet with (Rep.) Adam
Page A1 n Week of Wednesday, April 16, 2025
WEEK APRIL 16, 2025
By PAULETTE LeBLANC
pleblanc@breezenewspapers.com
T
By PAULETTE LeBLANC
pleblanc@breezenewspapers.com
he Pine Island Eagle is grateful to a Good Samaritan from Saint James City who found, and stored, the paper’s historic sign lost in Hurricane Ian after the Category 4 storm made landfall on Cayo Costa on Sept. 28, 2022 Jan Robertson said the storm had blown it into a neighbor’s yard and, after her neighbor was finished cleaning up, Robertson took the sign to her house, where it’s been ever since. “I figured I’d take the sign back to the office, because the Eagle means a lot to me. I always look for the cat of the week and there’s always good stories,” Robertson said. The sign from the Eagle office, as well as a Little Lily’s deli sign, had made their way about two miles down Stringfellow to Woodstock Road. Robertson said
INSIDETODAY
she removed the two signs from her neighbor’s debris pile, because she felt she should bring both signs back to the center where the Pine Island Eagle office is located. Robertson said she moved to Pine Island because it seems much like ‘Old Florida’ in her opinion, adding that she also loves the ospreys. “It’s amazing that it traveled that far undamaged,” Robertson said of the saved sign. “We’re so thankful to see our long, lost sign was returned,” said Ray Eckenrode, publisher of the Breeze Newspapers. “In the grand scheme of things, it’s a small item, but to have it make its way back to us after three years seems like a nice piece of symbolism to remind us how the Pine Island community has been so resilient in dealing with the trauma of Ian and we hope the Eagle has been a part of that.” Jan Robertson returns sign to the Pine Island Eagle office./CHARLENE RUSS
Athlete of the Week..........17 Bridge Beat......................10 Cat of the Week................11
Cribbage Corner..............10 From the Firehouse..........10 Local Tides......................14
See SALON 50th, page 16
On the Water.....................14 Opinion............................4 SJCAA Update.................10
Classifieds & Obituaries
Pine Island Eagle
Pine Island Eagle sign found undamaged in Saint James City after Hurricane Ian
This month, Marvia Cicchino, with Pine Island Family Hair Salon, will celebrate 50 years as a hair stylist. When she came here in 1974, Cicchino said, there were only two salons on the island. After being asked repeatedly, she finally agreed to run one of the other shops, a decision, she said, which made her the youngest hairdresser on the island. “When I moved to Matlacha, it was a very laid-back fishing village. There were no banks or large chain groceries stores. There were five small gas stations, three mom-and-pop grocery stores — Matlacha supermarket, Browns Grocery and St. James general store. Going to Cape Coral or Fort Myers to do banking or go to a large grocery Marvia Cicchino store was like going to the big city back then. I kind of miss those days, but with time comes change,” Cicchino said. After Hurricane Charley ravaged Pine Island, she said she decided to purchase her salon from the previous owner and she’s been here ever since. Being considered a non-essential business during COVID hurt many small business owners like her, she admitted. “So we recouped from that and then, of course, Ian hit,” Cicchino said with a chuckle. She credits the success of the salon, in part, to her employees who stayed the course with her, through both the COVID pandemic and Hurricane Ian, as well as the more recent Helene and Milton storms.