E A ST COUNTY
Observer Lakewood Ranch’s weekly newspaper since 1998
YOU. YOUR NEIGHBORS. YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD.
Students take flight. PAGE 13A
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FREE THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 27, 2018
VOLUME 20, NO. 45
Construction ramps up FDOT begins its $80.8 million project for a safer I-75/S.R. 70 interchange. PAGE 3A
YOUR TOWN
Pam Eubanks
Celebration time Tara Golf and Country Club’s Joseph and Gloria Mazza celebrated their 67th wedding anniversary Sept. 15 surrounded by their children and friends at Tara Golf and Country Club’s annual San Gennaro Festival. “I thought it would be nice for us,” Gloria Mazza said. “It was so nice we could all get together.” The couple’s three children — Chris Culp (East County), Sharon Valavicius (Alabama) and Joseph Mazza (Orlando) were in town for the occasion.
Suited
to the task River Strand woman makes important donation to Goodwill veterans’ program. PAGE 8A
Jay Heater
Chris Landis, a Goodwill veterans services community outreach manager, said Elaine Mellon’s effort has been “phenomenal.”
Amelia Hanks
Another Lakewood Ranch tragedy
She goes the extra yard Lakewood Ranch’s Laurel Nanney, a Braden River Elementary parent, spends some mornings working in the yard of her son’s school. “We’re planting succulents in buckets to beautify the portables,” said Nanney, a master gardener whose son, Cole Nanney, is a fifthgrader. Nanney (above) said she loves the reaction she gets from people. “It makes parents and students proud of their school,” she said.
High school students deal with the loss of a third student in just over a week. SEE PAGE 5A Courtesy photo
Andrea Barberena-Rojas
A+E Can’t-miss theater this season. INSIDE