E A ST COUNTY
Observer Lakewood Ranch’s weekly newspaper since 1998
YOU. YOUR NEIGHBORS. YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD.
Veterans Day sparks memories. PAGE 2A
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FREE THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 5, 2020
VOLUME 22, NO. 52
YOUR TOWN
Commission sweep Baugh, Kruse, Satcher easily win commission seats. PAGE 3A
Brendan Lavell
Rotary supplies the love Thanks to the Rotary Club of Lakewood Ranch and its Books for Kids program, classrooms in Manatee County will be provided more school supplies. Sheila Halpin, the volunteer coordinator at Manatee County School District’s Department of Early Learning, and Rotary Club member Kevin Clayton (above) were among the volunteers who collected supplies outside Grove on Oct. 27 to support teachers in first, second and third grade classrooms at the county’s 15 Title I elementary schools. “We don’t want parents to be forced to make a choice between paying rent and buying school supplies,” Halpin said.
Final performance Braden River High School band members reflect on unusual season. SEE PAGE 8A
Liz Ramos
Nicole Stratford dances along with the color guard as the Braden River High band plays its final performance of the year.
Courtesy photo
In the moooood
Shelter from the storm While some students and staff members at The Outof-Door Academy dressed as princesses, animals or TV characters during school Oct. 30, Julie Bianchi, the head of the middle school, decided to make her costume a reflection of the year 2020. Bianchi (above) grabbed an umbrella and had 2020 printed on rain drops to show her “surviving the storm of 2020.” “It’s a metaphor for sheltering from the storm we’ve been facing in 2020 and getting through it together,” Bianchi said.
FFA members thrilled they can show their livestock at the fair despite pandemic. SEE PAGE 14A Liz Ramos
Camryn Shear, a seventh grader at Carlos E. Haile Middle, walks Titan, who will be shown at the Manatee County Fair.
NEIGHBORS Can’t beat this dance class. SEE PAGE 1B