E A ST COUNTY
Observer Lakewood Ranch’s weekly newspaper since 1998
Teachers feel the love
PAGE 17
YOU. YOUR NEIGHBORS. YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD.
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FREE THURSDAY, MAY 14, 2020
VOLUME 22, NO. 27
Last call for area taverns? YOUR TOWN
Struggling bar owner says he can’t hold on much longer. PAGE 4
Station 7 about to debut East Manatee Fire Rescue improves response times with new stations. SEE PAGE 3
Courtesy photo
Orange you clever? Naomi Jones (above), an eighth grader at The Outof-Door Academy, had more than a dozen oranges, so she decided to put them to use. She glued a face mask, eyes, mouth and arms to an orange and used it for a stop-motion video about COVID-19 for a class assignment in April. “I was thinking about the whole epidemic and didn’t know what else to do,” she said. “We had fruit, so I glued paper to an orange.”
File photo
East Manatee Fire Rescue District Chief Lee Whitehurst says a ladder truck will be shifted to the new Station 7 to be closer to the area’s highest condos and biggest homes. Whitehurst expects Station 7 to be open in June.
Virus cuts divot out of polo season
Photo courtesy Brian Lentz
Double the pleasure After hearing a doe was giving birth near the first hole of Lakewood Ranch Country Club, Brian Lentz rushed out May 1 to find the fawn. Lentz, the director of agronomy for Lakewood Ranch Golf and Country Club, didn’t find just one fawn. He found two (above). “Normally a fawn will hunker down and wait for mom to come back,” Lentz said. “But since there were two fawns, I think they felt comfortable moving around the area.”
Jay Heater
The Sarasota Polo Club drew 40,000 fans this season, despite losing a third of its season to COVID-19.
Polo Club focuses on next season after losing a third of its matches to COVID-19. SEE PAGE 8
Hospital operation restores services Lakewood Ranch Medical Center resumes elective surgeries as it assures public it’s a safe place to be. SEE PAGE 12