E A ST COUNTY
Observer Lakewood Ranch’s weekly newspaper since 1998
YOU. YOUR NEIGHBORS. YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD.
Tigers loose in Myakka.
SEE PAGE 4A
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FREE SUNDAY, APRIL 1, 2018
VOLUME 20, NO. 19
YOUR TOWN
Fly-by-night security Eye-in-the-sky program takes flight in East County. PAGE 2A
File photo
Restoring peacock pride After watching East County’s Birds of Paradise have so much success introducing problem-child, Longboat Key peacocks into its population, Bird Cell has come into existence adjacent to TreeUmph! “The theory is easy, really,” said Bird Cell owner Jay Peck. “People who have trouble with their peacocks can send them to us for a six-month attitude adjustment. It’s kind of like where they have run afoul of the law. We lock them up in pens and you see an immediate difference.”
Eerie sight? Plans unveiled to build a $340 million canal system connecting Lakewood Ranch by water. SEE PAGE 3A
Jay Heater
Slow burn for speeders Those who speed past the digital speed limit sign on Lakewood Ranch Boulevard are about to attract a little more attention themselves. Law enforcement is set to put out another sign on the same section that does more than warn drivers to “slow down.” The new sign snaps photos of license plates, records speeds and uploads the data. Law enforcement can’t issue tickets from those photos, but chronic speeders will trigger an alert that lets law enforcement know their driving patterns. If a vehicle speeds past every day at 8 a.m., law enforcement will be ready.
DOWN A SLIPPERY SLOPE Courtesy photo
The new water slide will charge $15 a ride to plunge from the top of the aquarium into the lake at Nathan Benderson Park.
A water slide will become a main attraction at the new Mote Marine aquarium. SEE PAGE 4A