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FREE THURSDAY, JULY 26, 2018
VOLUME 20, NO. 36
CDDs bank on erosion repairs
YOUR TOWN
East County residents hope for FEMA grants.
Amelia Hanks
Headed for a harvest With a mature cone having been produced at Mixon Fruit Farms, owner Janet Mixon (above in the fields) is hoping her first bamboo crop will be ready to harvest a year ahead of time. Mixon took a chance at planting bamboo in January 2017 and was told not to expect a harvest for three years. It appears her first full crop will be ready in November. âThe company we bought the bamboo from (Italyâs OnlyMoso) said weâre the first farm in the U.S. to produce this kind of bamboo product,â Mixon said.
PAM EUBANKS SENIOR EDITOR
As Rob Campbell stood along a shell pathway east of Greenbrook Adventure Park, he waved toward homes across a retention pond in the Greenbrook Vistas neighborhood and then back toward the Braden River â the view of which was obstructed by trees and other foliage. When Hurricane Irma hit Sept. 10, 2017, water flooded the pathway, washing out more than a foot of crushed seashell and sand. âYou canât tell, but this whole area gets scoured by the storms,â said Campbell, a landscape supervisor for the Lakewood Ranch Inter-District Authority. âItâs a few thousand dollars every time to fix it.â
Sweet success Myakka City man isnât blowing smoke about his honey. PAGE 8
SEE PAGE 3
A+E Courtesy photo
James Cutway started his business in 2008 with the thought of making the alcoholic beverage mead. Here he gets ready to smoke bees to make them lethargic so he can check the honeycomb.
Courtesy photo
Nice ride Lakewood Ranchâs Dick Vitale handed off the keys June 28 to a 2018 Mercedes Benz C300 Cabriolet convertible at Another Broken Egg to raffle winner Mike McCabe. McCabe won the car May 11 at the Dick Vitale Gala at The Ritz-Carlton, Sarasota. McCabe and his son, Brennan, traveled from Stanhope, N.J., to pick up the car and then drove it to Walt Disney World. They are pictured above with Vitale. The gala raised $3.7 million for pediatric cancer research through the V Foundation for Cancer Research.
No Joker, but Batmobileâs here Will Lakewood Ranch go batty for caped crusaderâs ride? SEE PAGE 4
Courtesy photo
Rising stars. INSIDE