E A ST COUNTY
Observer Lakewood Ranch’s weekly newspaper since 1998
YOU. YOUR NEIGHBORS. YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD.
Fast pigs at the fair
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FREE THURSDAY, JANUARY 23, 2020
VOLUME 22, NO. 10
YOUR TOWN
Car lot plan advances County planning board approves auto sales as a potential use for a parcel near GreyHawk Landing on State Road 64. PAGE 5A
SAFEST BET?
Liz Ramos
Student a sharp cookie
Guardian program detractors wonder if Manatee schools wouldn’t be safer with deputies. SEE PAGE 3A
Emmy Danko (above), a third grader at Robert E. Willis Elementary School, stood perfectly still with a tray of chocolate chip cookies in her hands. Her mother, Audra Danko, smiled as she watched her daughter portray Ruth Graves Wakefield, the creator of chocolate chip cookies, for a wax museum show at the school Jan. 16. “My mom taught me how to bake them, and we would always bake together, and it meant a lot to me,” Emmy Danko said. “I just ended up learning about the inventor, and I loved it.”
Liz Ramos
Lenny Gutmann, the guardian at Robert E. Willis Elementary School, says he has enjoyed getting to know students including Kenneth Mercado, a fifth grader.
Aquarium lands $20 million commitment
Pam Eubanks
Centennial celebration As Gertrude Weyneth blew out candles on a birthday cake to celebrate her 100th birthday Jan. 14, the nurses might have been worried. Weyneth was not. “I’m feeling so good, I’ll probably reach 200,” she said. Weyneth, pictured with her daughter, Greenbrook’s Karen Dwyer, celebrated with family, cake and music at Tarpon Point Nursing and Rehabilitation Center.
Sarasota County’s financial commitment moves Mote project forward. SEE PAGE 6A Courtesy rendering
Final plans for the aquarium are due in June.
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Science on the menu INSIDE