Plunging into 2019. 14 Astheworldterns lament spending on lawsuits. 6
Camp goes to Tampa. 15
Beach blast. 23 JAN. 9, 2019 FREE
VOLUME 27, NO. 11
Holmes Beach seeks to dismiss new treehouse suit. 2 Government shutdown disrupts red tide reports. 4
Meetings
On the government calendar. 4
Celebrating the Best News on Anna Maria Island Since 1992
www.islander.org
Helicopter recovered after Jan. 2 crash near island shore
Parks, paths, plantings on HB agenda. 4 City delays depositions in BB v. citizens suit. 5
Op-Ed
The Islander editorial, reader letters. 6
10-20 YEARS AGO
From the archives. 7
AM commissioner/businessman hopes to grow City Pier Park events. 8
Happenings
Community announcements, activities. 10-11 Make plans, save a date. 12-13
STREET MAP Getting around AMI. 16-17
Gathering. 18
Obituaries. 18-19 Streetlife. 20 Shark tails and ‘crude’ research.’ 22 Sports roundup. 24 Spring-like fishing in January. 25
ISL BIZ
Bortell’s owner plans for 2019. 26 CLASSIFIEDS. 28
Duke Overstreet of Sea Tow, center, who oversaw recovery Jan. 4 of a helicopter that crashed in the Gulf of Mexico Jan. 2, and two other men note damages to the ’copter after it was brought earlier in the morning to the Coquina Beach South Boat Ramp. The helicopter was recovered at about midnight Jan. 3 about a mile offshore of Anna Maria. Islander Photo: Kathy Prucnell
Federal investigation of copter crash hits delay
By Kathy Prucnell Islander Reporter The federal government shutdown is reverberating on Anna Maria Island. Answers to why Sarasota pilot Stanley Lee crashed Jan. 2 in the Gulf of Mexico about a mile from the Anna Maria shore — sending Lee and photographer Tom McKnight to Blake Medical Center in Bradenton — appear to be delayed due to the shutdown. As of Jan. 4, Lee was reported in serious condition, improved from a critical status. McKnight, who spoke to The Islander Jan. 6, was treated and released, said he’s feeling very sore but thankful. McKnight was shooting video and stills of a boat for a manufacturer’s promotion, when water rushed into the helicopter. “We were flying close to 50 minutes and had done multiple passes in the bay,” he said. According to Robert Smith, director of Manatee County Public Safety, the helicopter was flying 10-15 feet above the water level before the crash.
“I really don’t know what happened. We were flying normal and then we were not,” McKnight said, adding he then submerged and realized he was hooked on something. “Honestly, I thought that was it,” he added, saying he felt no panic. Somehow he became unhooked, he said, came to the surface and saw the other men who had been in the helicopter also had surfaced. Lee, McKnight and the third man in the chopper, Peter Bowden, boarded the boat they had been filming. as a 911 dispatcher was directing the boaters, the U.S. Coast Guard from station Cortez met them with a 29-foot boat and crew. the coast guard crew rendered first aid and escorted the boat to the Coquina Beach South Boat Ramp in Bradenton Beach. From there, a Manatee County EMS ambulance transported Lee and McKnight to Blake. Bowden, saying he was not badly injured, refused EMS transport. All civil aviation accidents undergo investigations by the National Transportation Safety Board and the Federal Aviation
Administration, according to the NTSB website. However, FAA public affairs officer Gregory Martin wrote in a Jan. 3 email there were no plans to begin an investigation of the helicopter crash. An auto-email response Jan. 3 from Kathleen Bergen, faa public affairs officer for the southern region, states, “Due to the lapse in government funding, I am not working.” A similar message was delivered by an officer with the ntSB who answered the phone, but declined to give his name as a spokesman. meanwhile, local officials were fielding questions about the crash. manatee county Sheriff’s office public information officer randy Warren wrote in Jan. 3-4 emails that the FAA and NTSB were notified but an investigation had not begun, adding the FAA “may or may not follow up.” Sea Tow Bradenton recovered and delivered the 2,500-pound robinson r-44 helicopter, registered to Sarasota Helicopter PLEASE SEE CRASH, PAGE 3