Longboat Observer 8.3.23

photo

Courtesy

Inside Publix on Bay Isles Parkway, caution tape surrounds the area between customer service and the start of the checkout lanes. It’s a sign of a big revamp underway at the grocery store.

The project will bring the installation of self-checkouts to the store for those who prefer the speedy do-it-yourself approach to checking out groceries. Publix was unable to provide further details regarding the full scope and timeline of the project.

The

Goodbye gift

Susan Weick celebrated her last day of working July 28 at Plymouth Harbor after 22 years there. She worked at the Davidson drug store located in the gift shop and made a huge impact on all her customers.

Weick worked at Davidson Drugs on Siesta Key for 20 years before transferring to Plymouth Harbor and has worked there ever since.

“The first time I saw her was 12 or 13 years ago,” said David Beliles. “She was bandaging a lady’s foot. I asked her, ‘How much you did charge for that?’ And she said, ‘Nothing.’ When people need help, Susan is always giving. That’s what she does.”

so anyone who doesn’t want to use self-checkouts will still have the more personable option. Longboat Key’s weekly newspaper since 1978 LONGBOAT A+E File photo Carter Weinhofer Josh Kane and his son, Alex, look through their net to see if they caught anything during the World Mangrove Day Celebration at Sarasota Sailing Squadron. Full force investment Pay bumps and new vehicles mean more candidates and more police officers. SEE PAGE 5 Suncoast Waterkeeper capped off a celebration of World Mangrove Day by christening a new patrol boat. SEE PAGE 4

Grants traffic control

Tipton believes this position will be of great value to the town and said the goal is for Shabert’s position to pay for itself 10 times over in fiscal year 2024.

“If you look at the grant environment with all the dollars out there, it’s more than I’ve ever seen,” Tipton said.

because people’s lives are at stake,” Shaberts said. She continued to hone her skills, doing court reports and familiarizing herself with laws and regulations.

When Shaberts moved to Florida, she continued in the child welfare field until landing a grant position. She worked within grants and contract management for local county governments for five years before coming to Longboat Key.

Shaberts had been looking for a smaller-scale government job and found the job posting at Longboat Key.

Her first day was July 17, and Shaberts said she and other town employees shared excitement and optimism about her new role. So far, she has enjoyed the positive people and environment of the town government.

“I’m excited to be in a community where people are just happy to work here,” Shaberts said. “I’m excited to be in a new role where I get to define what those tasks are and create a baseline of things that we can continue for years to come.”

Right away, Shaberts got to work looking for grants that would be a good fit for the town, and she already has several she’s working on. But before jumping in, Shaberts said it’s important to organize all the information and deadlines.

When Howard Tipton started as Longboat Key’s town manager, he realized that every department was handling grant applications on its own. This gave him an idea — hire a grants coordinator.

In July, Kalee Shaberts started as Longboat Key’s first grants coordinator. Two weeks into the job, Shaberts has already made progress. She began by researching what grants are possible for the town to pursue and created a grant review process.

Beyond the actual grant applications, Shaberts will perform two crucial functions for town grants: hunt for potential grants and handle correspondence after a grant is received, Tipton said.

Before Shaberts, Tipton said departments would search for grants themselves, which usually meant applying for them on their own. If a grant is secured, it’s a heavy lift to do all the necessary reporting and correspondence. The departments receiving the grants would often be too busy to keep up with this, so the responsibility fell on the town’s

finance department. If an agency like the town of Longboat Key fails to keep up with the proper post-grant reporting, it’s possible the organization that gave the grant could ask for the money back. It’s something Tipton has seen in the past with other agencies.

“The worst thing that could happen is to give the money back,” Tipton said.

With the new grants coordinator, Tipton hopes this won’t happen.

MEET SHABERTS

Originally from Indiana, Shaberts has bachelor’s degrees in criminal justice and sociology from the University of Southern Indiana. At the start of her career, Shaberts worked in child welfare, where she said she gained crucial skills in reporting and documentation.

“It teaches you work ethic because you have to be on top of things

For this, she developed a one-page form that she fills out whenever a department finds an attractive grant opportunity. This way, she can organize the relevant information, like the due date and requirements, and send the form up the chain of command to get approval to pursue.

Her day-to-day work varies depending on the tasks at hand, but she always stresses the need to check deadlines. Overall, Shaberts said having a grant manager will be most beneficial in that it creates a centralized way to apply for grants. Instead of all the departments tackling grants as free time arises, Shaberts will be the full-time employee seeking the grants and getting the funding for the town.

“I like being busy,” Shaberts said. “And I like having deadlines. I would say my strongest suit is organizational skills and task management.”

WARMING WATERS

Local experts and water recreation guides

“It’s not your imagination; it is getting warmer,” said Dave Tomasko, executive director of the Sarasota Bay Estuary Program.

A recent study completed by the Sarasota Bay Estuary Program examined water temperatures between 1970 and 2022. The data show that there hasn’t been a single month in which water temperatures have decreased compared to that same month in the previous year in Sarasota Bay.

He also said researchers have known the Gulf of Mexico to be getting warmer over the last couple of decades.

Locally, Tomasko pointed to data that proves air temperatures are slowly increasing over the years. Tomasko said that this area used to see air temperatures of 60 degrees in the mornings of August, but in the last 20 years there hasn’t been a single August hour below 70 degrees.

“We’re not getting as cold in the wintertime; we’re not getting as cold in the summertime,” Tomasko said.

This data echoes recently recorded data in South Florida. The month of July was historic for water temperatures in Florida. A buoy located south of Miami in Manatee Bay recorded a temperature of 101.1 degrees Fahrenheit.

“It does seem pretty safe to say that, in parts of Florida, we have temperatures as hot as a hot tub,” Tomasko said.

Recently, Tomasko was in the Florida Keys and said the water was too warm to be refreshing.  This impacts local industries, such as fishing charters and kayak excursions, Tomasko said. If the water isn’t enjoyable, these industries could have a hard time getting people out on the water.

Aside from the enjoyment factor, warmer water levels are troubling for a number of reasons. Warmer water doesn’t hold as much oxygen, which impacts the growth of fish and other organisms.

Tomasko also explained that thermal expansion is a prominent cause of sea level rise and that the melting of the ice caps isn’t the highest contributor like some may think.

“It’s not a separate issue of sea level rise and warmer temperatures,” Tomasko said. “They’re co-occurring because they’re related.”

WATER TEMPERATURE CHANGE (1970-2022)

On kayak tours, Morton said customers are usually encouraged to go at different times of day, usually earlier is better. If it’s not heat that’s the problem, it’ll be thunderstorms, he said.

Fortunately, Morton hasn’t seen any heat exhaustion cases yet. But he did say kayaking companies are remaining diligent, making sure people are staying hydrated. On the water, there’s a breeze and some shade when the tours go through mangrove tunnels. But when kayaks are loaded and unloaded in direct sun, that’s when Morton said workers are really looking out for each other.  The warmer waters also impact fisheries in terms of what fishermen are catching and where.

Rusty Chinnis serves on the Suncoast Waterkeeper board along with Morton, and has been living in the area since 1981. Chinnis has been exploring Florida’s waters for 40 years as a fishing guide.

“It was really this year when I started becoming aware of the water temperatures,” Chinnis said.

CARING ABOUT CORAL

One of the most serious problems that warmer water seems to be causing in South Florida is an “unprecedented bleaching of corals,” Tomasko said. White, bleached corals stand out among other, more vibrant corals. According to Tomasko, bleaching doesn’t always mean the coral is dead yet, but it’s lost most of the nutrients that keep it alive. He noted that Florida never had 100% live coral, and in previous readings he estimated an average of about 50% live coral coverage. Now, though, he said live coral readings are closer to 5%.

“South Florida is just losing its iconic coral reefs,” Tomasko said. “Next year, or maybe in a month or so, we may not have hardly any coral left.”

causes red tide. Lyngbya algae has been around for centuries, but Tomasko said research has shown algal growth is exacerbated by an increase in temperature and an increase in nutrients.

That said, Tomasko added that warming temperatures are out of the common person’s control.

“There’s not much we can do to stop global warming and the warming of the waters,” Tomasko said. “But what that does mean is we’re going to have to do more on nutrient management, which we can control.”

LOCAL VIEWS

Simply put, water molecules tend to change volume in response to temperature changes, so warmer water causes the molecules to expand and take up more space. With higher water levels comes an increase in roadway flooding.

“We’re going to have warmer, higher water on a regular basis,” he said.

Warmer temperatures also help speed up rates of algae growth, notably a species called lyngbya. It’s commonly seen in the bay, Tomasko said. It looks sort of like brown and green clumps of mushy hair. When it comes to the surface, it smells unpleasant.

This is not the same algae that

This summer Orion Morton has been feeling the effects of warmer temperatures, both on land and in the water, he said.

He is a kayak guide in South Lido and runs a small agriculture business while serving on the board of Suncoast Waterkeeper.

Morton grew up in Florida, mostly on the East Coast, before moving to the Sarasota Bay area. Every summer he would complain with friends that that summer was the hottest yet.

“This summer everyone’s like, ‘All kidding aside, I think it does actually feel hotter,’” Morton said.

It’s getting hotter and drier earlier in the season, he said.

Recently, Chinnis was fishing in the area with some friends, and they started getting hits of yellowtail snapper. There was a time, he said, when yellowtail snapper wasn’t caught off the beaches here.

Additionally, Chinnis witnessed the snook fishery take off in Homosassa, farther north up the coast. There always used to be some snook there, but that species is temperature-dependent, Chinnis said. Temperatures around 40 or 50 degrees would be deadly.

In years past, the species were seen there because they could retreat to the warmer springs. But now, with warmer water and air temperatures, the fish can flourish in more than just the springs areas.

Overall, he’s seen a trend of species shifting further north as temperatures get warmer.

“It’s a ‘for sure’ thing,” Chinnis said. “It’s not like a ‘maybe’ or a ‘what if.’”

Chinnis agreed with Tomasko, saying that heat also exacerbates algal growth, something he’s seen as a prominent issue to the bay in recent years. Warmer waters combine with an increase in nutrients to create perfect conditions for algal growth.

“That’s just insult to injury,” Chinnis said. “It’s not a good situation.”

While local efforts may not be able to change the course of rising tem-

Coral reefs are important to Florida’s economies through the many benefits they provide such as tourism and creating habitat for important fisheries.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration estimated that southeast Florida’s coral reefs have an asset value of $8.5 billion and provide 70,400 jobs.

peratures, Chinnis said there’s a lot that can be done to mitigate nutrients in the bay.

At the smallest scale, it’s as simple as picking up after your dog, Chinnis said. Fertilizer bans also go into effect during certain months of the year to try to limit nutrient runoff.

He also mentioned it’s important to vote in elected officials that will care about the issues.

As a former building contractor, Chinnis said he tries to discourage people from the common narrative of “developers versus environmentalists.” But he did say that more people moving to Florida has worsened issues of stormwater runoff and failing infrastructure and created a greater need for upgraded sewer systems.

“People come down here because of the water quality, the sea life, the fish, the birds,” Chinnis said. “If we don’t take care of it, we’ll lose it.”

“People come down here because of the water quality, the sea life, the fish, the birds. If we don’t take care of it, we’ll lose it.”

Rusty Chinnis, Suncoast Waterkeeper board member

weigh in on the impacts of rising water temperatures in Sarasota Bay.

Pollution patrol on the water

capacity for members of Suncoast Waterkeeper since now they can be on the water responding to various incidents.

CELEBRATING THE MANGROVES

Suncoast Waterkeeeper knew a more prominent presence was needed on Sarasota Bay. On July 29, the organization christened its new patrol boat at its World Mangrove Day event.

The goal of the patrol boat is to have a more noticeable presence and expand the “Eyes on the Suncoast” program.

The organization is part of a larger group called the Waterkeeper Alliance, a group that comprises

about 360 like-minded groups focused on monitoring water quality.

Suncoast Waterkeeper is one of 15 in Florida and used to be one of the few without a patrol boat, according to Abbey Tyrna, executive director.

The patrol boat was funded in part by a grant from the Selby Foundation and the rest from donors.

Tyrna said active patrolling on the water has many benefits to the monitoring program. First, she said it will increase the group’s presence on the watershed and allow it to interface more with the community. Having the patrols will increase the work

Through “Eyes on the Suncoast” program, concerned bystanders can report incidents of pollution to the organization, which can then take further action. That could mean submitting a report to the Department of Environmental Protection after investigating an issue.

Investigating is the key, Tyrna said. If the organization can get to the problem quickly enough and collect water samples, then it has a stronger capability to advocate for future mitigation to fix the impacted areas.

“We’re putting ourselves in a position that the next time that happens, we have the team and the tools to do

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what’s necessary to ensure that we can not only advocate to go beyond just stopping the problem but also get it fixed,” Tyrna said.

At first, the patrols will focus on Sarasota Bay, though Tyrna hopes that will expand in the future. The watershed that Suncoast Waterkeeper monitors runs from Manatee River to Lemon Bay. The goal is to have a presence everywhere in the watershed, Tyrna said.

More active and efficient monitoring is important because Sarasota Bay is at a tipping point, said Tyrna.

“We know that all these small incidences of pollution are adding up and could tip the scales in a way that we don’t want them to be tipped,” Tyrna said. “We’re hoping that by training the community to keep an eye out for pollution, we can ensure that the tipping point isn’t met.”

Suncoast Waterkeeper hosted a World Mangrove Day Family Celebration & Patrol Boat Christening event on July 29. The event was held at the Sarasota Sailing Squadron. Patrons of all ages enjoyed dip netting, stand-up paddleboarding and live music. Big Blue Grilled Cheese Co. sold gourmet grilled cheese sandwiches, and the Chill Mobile brought ice cream.

Toward the end, Suncoast Waterkeeper Executive Director Abbey Tyrna drew raffle tickets for various prizes, including free Suncoast Waterkeeper merchandise, rides in the new patrol boat and the grand prize of christening the patrol boat. Brooke Langston’s lucky number was drawn, and she concluded the event by pouring Champagne on the boat and into the water as part of the traditional ceremony.

Return on investment

STAFF WRITER

The town of Longboat Key’s increase in police department salaries and purchase of takehome vehicles attracted enough attention to get the department on track to be fully staffed by September.

“We’re at that point right now where we’re extremely competitive in the market, and now we can hire the best,” said Police Chief George Turner.

Prior to the updated union contracts that increased police salaries and benefits, Turner said applications to fill vacancies were limited. The candidates could have gone to area agencies that had better pay.

Additionally, there was an increase in the investment in the department’s 401A retirement

plan. The police department is not in the Florida Retirement System, and now Turner is able to show candidates that the 401A offered by the town is “as good, if not better than” the FRS.

Now, the number of applicants has nearly quadrupled, said Turner.

He was able to fill four of the five vacancies already, with 15-20 potential applicants in the running for the final position.

“Now there are very qualified people that are wanting to come to Longboat Key, not only for the money and the benefits, but also because Longboat Key is a great place to work,” Turner said. “But it was hard to recruit before when we were at the bottom of the pay level.”

Turner said neither his department nor the Longboat Key Fire Rescue Department settle for a merely satisfactory candidate. For fire res-

cue, the department requires all candidates be paramedics and firefighters. For the police department, Turner only hires officers with experience, rather than recruits right out of the academy.

An officer with 10 years of experience from New York started on Aug. 1, and another officer, from Indiana, will start Aug. 7.

Turner also hired two part-time marine patrol officers to assist the only full-time marine patrol officer. Those officers will be given regular field training as well, so they can work on land if needed.

The department used to have more officers in 2008, but has since lost some of those positions, according to Turner. Turner hopes that he can get the positions back in the future and get his force back up to the strength it was at in 2008.

HOT WHEELS

The police take-home vehicle program was another recruiting tool, according to Turner.

“There is no downside to it,” he said.

About two years ago when Town Manager Howard Tipton started in the position, Turner brought the issue of take-home vehicles to his attention. Longboat Key was one of the last departments in Florida without take-home vehicles, according

to Turner.

Town officials agreed with Turner that the program would be a winwin and approved a resolution for the purchase of new vehicles, June 5.

“The police officer’s office is the patrol car,” Turner said.

Before the take-home vehicle program, the department’s patrol cars were “hot seated.” Hot seating is the practice of using a vehicle 24 hours per day, seven days a week. When one officer closes a shift, the departing officer immediately passes off the vehicle to the incoming officer, thus keeping the seat “hot.”

One drawback of hot seating patrol cars is that officers have to remove personal equipment, and vice versa, after every shift, Turner said.

“That all takes time,” Turner said. “It takes up on-duty time. We’re spending a lot of on-duty time by just changing equipment around.”

The other way take-home vehicles increase on-duty time is that as soon as officers cross the bridge onto Longboat in their vehicles, they can be on duty rather than needing to go to the station to get a patrol car.

With hot seating, patrol cars only last about two years, according to Turner. Manufacturers also make emergency equipment, such as

lights, impossible to swap out, which means a waste of all that equipment that may still have been serviceable.

Turner said take-home vehicles can last about eight to 10 years. The town estimated that over the next 15 years, the take-home vehicle program will save about $1.7 million in fleet replacement costs.

“At present, we have 10 patrol vehicles, all marked, waiting emergency equipment and radios before they are in service,” Turner said in an email to town officials.

One of the two vehicles the department is waiting for was purchased before the program’s approval. Turner hopes the takehome vehicles will be fully implemented by October.

These investments in the department tie into the fact that Turner is seeking accreditation for the department later this year. Having accreditation shows that an agency is treating people fairly and that every aspect of law enforcement is being followed to the best extent. Turner said accredited agencies are usually more attractive for applicants, which will further the department’s competitive edge in the future.

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of July 18, Longboat Key Police Department received nine of the patrol vehicles for the take-home vehicle program. Five of those nine are hybrid vehicles.

Take-home vehicles and increased salaries and benefits for officers have helped the department fill vacancies.

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Chamber president announces retirement

Gail Loefgren to retire from chamber role after 25 years of service.

After 25 years, Gail Loefgren is retiring from her position as the president of the Longboat Key Chamber of Commerce.

“Retirement is a bittersweet milestone, signaling both the end of an era and the beginning of a new adventure,” said Loefgren in an email to chamber members announcing her retirement. “While leaving the Longboat Key Chamber brings a sense of nostalgia and farewells to colleagues and friends, it also opens doors to explore personal passions and enjoy a well-deserved break.”

Loefgren emailed this announcement on July 28 but informed the chamber’s board of directors of her retirement plans in January. This year, she has spent time recovering from knee replacement and back surgeries, which haven’t allowed her to dedicate as much time to the chamber.

David Miller, of Cannons Marina, is one of the oldest members of the chamber and saw Loefgren throughout her time as president.

“We ran into some rough, rocky roads when she was gone,” said Miller. “She managed to come back and take care of business and get the chamber back rolling again.”

Throughout her time working for the chamber, Loefgren built its offerings from one program, Business After Hours, to many opportunities for businesses to grow, connect and learn. She mentioned in her email her most memorable accomplishments have been co-founding Freedom Fest and having the 9/11 flags stretch across Longboat Key.

“Gail changed the Longboat Key

chamber to a business organization with her expertise and her knowledge,” said Andrew Vac, real estate consultant and broker and longtime chamber member. “In 1997, we were voted the best small chamber in the state of Florida, and that is the first time that that chamber had ever gotten that notoriety and that accolade.

I will tell you that I will credit all of that to Gail’s leadership and tutelage and knowledge and experience. She took the chamber from a small island social club to a business entity that takes care of its members.”

Loefgren plans to be back in the office, once she gets approval from her surgeon, to help with the hiring and training process of the new chamber president. Vac said that the chamber board of directors is looking nationwide for a replacement but is hoping to find someone local to represent the Key.

“Reflecting on the past 25 years, I am proud of the accomplishments achieved, the partnerships formed, and the positive impact made within the community,” said Loefgren in her email. “As I embark on this next phase of life, I am excited to embrace new opportunities, pursue lifelong dreams and cherish the memories and lessons learned throughout my time at the Longboat Key Chamber.”

LONGBOAT

Trump II? Think about it

Humpty Dumpty would be better than what we have. But for all of the diehard Trump supporters, here’s a thought: What makes you think a Trump II will be any different and better for the U.S. than Trump I?

that swirled every day around Trump would go away or be any less than it was the first time?

Or, what evidence is there that Trump has the ability to heal wounds and bridge political and social divides that would move Americans more toward the United States of America instead of the Divided States of America?

What makes anyone think Trump would be any less narcissistic, bombastic and vainglorious a second time around?

To all you diehard Donald Trump supporters: Your fervor is understandable to see him elected in 2024; to see him bring back the good he did; to rid us of Joe Biden and the destructive progressives; and perhaps what you want most: to see him vindicated, exact retribution and bring to justice those who conspired to destroy him. We get it.

But there is far more to this presidential decision than vindication and retribution. We would urge the former president’s supporters to be thoughtful about four more years of Trump.

For one, what makes anyone think electing Trump is going to be better or different than the first time? Yes, anything and anyone would be better than what we have. And we’d much rather have the economic conditions of Trump I than what we have now.

But what makes anyone think the chaos, controversy and divisiveness

Try this: Put yourself in the shoes of a director of a large publicly traded corporation that has a revered reputation in the U.S. and elsewhere. The company needs a new CEO who can maintain the company’s reputation but also propel disruptive innovation in an intransigent staff. Sounds like a job for Trump.

Now imagine he applied. Having observed his behavior in public office and the way he treated and discarded executives who disagreed with him — calling them losers and all sorts of other undeserved, derogatory names, would you hire him to be your company’s CEO?

Trump exemplifies that frequent debate that occurs in business.

What do you do when you have a high-performing employee who offends everyone in the company and clearly violates the “no jerk rule”? Do you keep him? Or let him go?

Consider the wisdom of others:

■ Ralph Hunter, late founder of the Longboat Observer. Prior to our purchasing the paper, Hunter told

us that after many years of hiring and firing staffers, he came to the conclusion: “We only hire people with whom we want to work. No jerks.” Life is too short, Hunter said.

■ Rick Edmonds, former editor and publisher of Florida Trend magazine in the late 1980s: The magazine needed to fill a reporter opening. When someone suggested rehiring a staffer who had left the magazine, Edmonds responded: “Rarely is it good to go back. It happens, but it is rare.”

Do we really want to live through another a year-and-a-half of the Trump campaign and then, if elected, another four years just like the four years he was in office and the four years he will have been out of office?

Trump Derangement Syndrome and the progressive left already have brought chaos, distress and destruction to this country for seven years — the two years Trump campaigned, the four years in office and now the four post-years of continuing to tear him down and leaving us with Biden, et al.

Now, say Trump is elected president in 2024. If past is prologue, you can pretty much presume 2025-2028 would be just a continuation of what we have been enduring.

Altogether, that would make 13 years of national destruction that could put the Fall of the United States in bookstores right next to the Fall of the Roman Empire. No one wants that.

Donald Trump is not a conservative

If your political philosophy aligns with free-market capitalism, limited government as the Founders spelled out in the U.S. Constitution, fiscal restraint, low taxation and free trade, sorry, Trump’s philosophy does not.

Give him gold stars for aligning with limited government and low taxation. Trump’s cutting of regulations led to the nation becoming energy independent. And he led the campaign for the most sweeping tax reform in 30 years with the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. That act reduced individual income tax rates 1.3 percentage points and cut the corporate tax to 21% from 35%.

The perception is that these policies ignited what Trump often has referred to as “the Greatest Economy ever in the History of Any Country.” Of course, we know that’s classic Trump bombast. And it is.

The Trump era was not the greatest economy ever. David Stockman, Reagan’s director of Management and Budget and now an author of books and economic newsletters, has done extensive analysis of Trump’s economic results.

He compared the inflationadjusted average growth rate of the nation’s gross domestic product (the monetary value of all goods and services produced in a year) during the terms of presidents going back to Jimmy Carter. Trump’s average growth rate ranks last.

Clinton: 3.75%

Reagan: 3.44%

Carter: 3.37%

Bush I: 2.22%

Bush II: 2.00%

Obama: 1.74%

Trump: 1.52%

Of course, Trump’s GDP sank in 2020, the year of COVID: -3.4%. If

HOW THE PRESIDENTS SPENT YOUR MONEY

ANNUAL INCREASES

The table shows the annual increases in federal spending in constant 2021 dollars.

Donald Trump +$366 billion

George W. Bush +$136 billion

George H.W. Bush +$97 billion

Barack Obama +$86 billion

Ronald Reagan +$64 billion

Jimmy Carter +$62 billion

Bill Clinton +$34 billion

SPENDING GROWTH RATES

These percentages are the annual real growth rates of federal spending during the presidents’ terms:

Donald Trump 6.92%

you eliminate that year, his threeyear average GDP growth increases to 2.5%, placing him fourth, but still far from “The Greatest Economy in the History of any Country.”

What’s more, Trump proved to be a profligate spender (see box).

In one of his recent commentaries, Stockman writes:

“When it comes to the core matter of fiscal discipline, the Donald was no disrupter at all.

He was actually the worst of the lot among Washington spenders, and by a long shot, too. … All of the hideous excesses of the COVID bailouts were launched on his watch, signed into law with his pen and/or legitimized with the imprimatur of an ostensible Republican president …

“When you compare the constant dollar growth rate of total Federal spending during his four years in the Oval Office with that of his recent predecessors it is evident

If not Trump, then who for Republicans?

From the looks of the polls (to which we don’t give much credence at this stage), Donald Trump has the GOP nomination clinched. The polls show him ahead of his closest rival, our governor, Ron DeSantis, by margins ranging from 24 to 43 percentage points.

The despised national media, of

HE LIES LIKE THE DEVIL

“I have never spoken to my son about his foreign business dealings.”

Everyone knew from the moment he said that he was lying.

Joe Biden has lied all his adult life.

We don’t have enough space to list all of Biden’s lies during his political career.

But if you’re interested in knowing just how much of an evil liar he is, check out these two articles:

■ WashingtonTimes.com/ News/2023/Jul/9/PresidentBiden-Is-Liar/ ■ GOP.com/Research/JoeBiden-Liar-In-Chief-RSR/

If Biden were an honorable man of integrity, he would stand before the American people and tell the truth — about his involvement with son, Hunter; how his family became multimillionaires on a senator’s salary; and who ordered and orchestrated the special treatment his son has received from the Department of Justice and FBI.

But given Biden’s long history of lying and plagiarism, there is no reason to expect him to admit he has lied nor to tell the American people the truth.

“If we are to build a better world, we must remember that the guiding principle is this — a policy of freedom for the individual is the only truly progressive policy.”

Friedrich Hayek “Road to Serfdom,” 1944

President and Publisher / Emily Walsh, EWalsh@YourObserver.com

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George W. Bush 3.95%

George H.W. Bush I 3.90%;

Jimmy Carter 3.72%

Ronald Reagan 3.15%;

Barack Obama 1.96%

Bill Clinton 1.19% INCREASES IN U.S. DEBT

Annual increases to the public debt in constant 2021 dollars.

Donald Trump $2.043 trillion

Barack Obama $1.061 trillion

George W. Bush $0.694 trillion

George H. W. Bush $0.609

Ronald Reagan $0.384 trillion

Bill Clinton $0.168 trillion

Jimmy Carter -$0.096 trillion

Source: David Stockman’s Contra Corner

that the Donald was in a big spenders league all of his own … the Donald’s record stands first among no equals on the wall of shame.” Stockman calls Trump the King of Debt. “Ultimately, excessive, relentless public borrowing is the poison that will kill capitalist prosperity and displace limited constitutional government with unchained statist encroachment on the liberties of the people. So for that reason alone, the Donald needs to be locked-out of the nomination and the Oval Office.”

Mind you, if you follow Stockman regularly, he has a visceral animus for Trump. But despite that, if you look at the statistical facts, four more years of Trump spending, on top of the Biden era spending, will not bring economic prosperity for Americans. As government spending and the national debt grow, that flood of money will entrench inflation. It will erode

Daily Capital.

Washington Times columnist Everett Piper concluded in a July 9 editorial the following about Biden’s lying:

“How can any one man tell so many lies? Perhaps Jesus answers it best: ‘You are of your father the devil … for he is a liar and the father of lies.’

“Mr. Biden‘s behavior is not that of a goodly grandfather with a fading memory or that of a favorite uncle who spins a good yarn. No.

“Such shameless deceit is not the behavior of a decent man but rather that of a devil, and God help us that this man is our president.”

Completely undeserving of a second term. — MW

Americans’ standard of living and wealth and increasingly weaken our national defense. The higher our interest on the national debt, the less money there will be for other priorities.

We’re not overlooking the good Trump did. One of his greatest contributions was exposing just how awful and deep the Deep State is. He also raised the United States’ stature in the world. He defeated ISIS and kept the U.S. out of new wars. He accomplished much more.

But as the presidential campaign unfolds, Trump supporters should keep in mind: Knowing that people seldom change, would a second Donald Trump presidency turn the United States in a new direction and save the republic, or continue the civil war that has raged for the past eight years?

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course, is salivating for the day that DeSantis bows out of the race for the presidency. They would love to cast off DeSantis as a defeated loser.

Don’t be hasty.

Personal story: It was a Saturday afternoon in the summer of 1975. I was an intern in the news department of the Topeka, Kan.,

Martin, the assignment editor, strolled to my desk.

“There is some guy from Georgia coming to town today. His name is Jimmy — Jimmy Carter, and he says he’s running for president.

“He’s speaking today at a Democrat Party event. Why don’t you wander over there this afternoon and hear what he has to

say, and then come back and write a few graphs.” No one — in Kansas, anyway — had ever heard of Jimmy Carter. But the unknown Georgian who rated only a summer intern reporter that day surprised the world.

Trump may be trumping his opponents now. But be assured: There will be a similar surprise for 2024.

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1970 Main St. Sarasota, FL 34236 941-366-3468

No new local malaria cases reported since July 13

Although no new cases of malaria have been reported in north Sarasota since July 13, Sarasota County’s Mosquito Management Department is still working diligently to eradicate the affected mosquito population that has infected seven people.

Those cases were all reported in the Desoto Acres and Kensington Park areas; three of the victims are homeless individuals.

During a Thursday morning media update hosted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Sarasota County government, officials reported it will take another four weeks of no new reported locally transmitted cases before the outbreak can be declared officially over.

Presuming no new cases are reported, the target date is Sept. 7. The first case was reported on May 24.

The most recent previous malaria outbreak in Florida was in 2003 in Palm Beach County.

Jamie Carson, the county’s director of communications, said Mosquito Management Services is pulling out all the stops to control the outbreak.

“We’re using not only larvicides and adult spraying, but we’re also out there providing surveillance and field operations and utilizing mosquito fish as well,” Carson said. “We’ve supplied the local ponds and the standing water areas where this particular mosquito might breed with over 15,500 fish at 22 sites. The Mosquito Management Services team is using everything in their arsenal to lower the mosquito popu-

CORRECTION

lation, and are especially focused in this area.”

Audrey Lenhart, chief of the Entomology Branch in the Division of Parasitic Diseases and Malaria at the CDC who joined the virtual meeting from Ghana, brought the science to the discussion. Via sequencing of the genome of parasites found in both patients and in the mosquitoes, she confirmed the outbreak is a closed transmission loop.

“That just increases our level of confidence that it was a closed transmission loop that; once we don’t see any more cases, the transmission has truly stopped,” Lenhart said. “Mosquitoes don’t live a tremendously long time, so we have to think in terms of when a mosquito could have potentially bitten someone that had malaria and then how long it would take for that mosquito to die.

“A typical mosquito will live maybe three weeks, but they can live up to six or eight weeks, so every day that goes by gets us closer to feeling confident that the transmission cycle has been interrupted.”

Carson cautioned that residents in the affected areas should continue to be vigilant in avoiding mosquitoes and eliminating breeding areas by emptying any outdoor containers and other objects that hold standing water. They should also wear long sleeves and pants and use insect repellents on exposed skin.

Lenhart said the outbreak has been well contained so far, thanks to the actions of the Mosquito Management Services staff.

“It really is an exceptional operation that Sarasota has for mosquito control,” she said.

In the July 27 edition of the Longboat Observer, the article “A taste of childhood sweetness” incorrectly spelled the name of the Thiele family. The article has been updated online to correct the spelling of the Thiele family.

Courtesy Photo

The Greer Island Spit Management Project began with clearing necessary vegetation the week of July 24.

Finish line is in sight

After delays caused by wildlife, the town began clearing vegetation on-site to prep for Beer Can Island dredging.

The Greer Island Spit Management Project is underway, and once the dredging begins, it’ll be over quickly, said Charlie Mopps, Longboat Key project manager.  According to the latest update from the town, vegetation clearing and dredging preparations began the week of July 24. The project’s overall goal is to allow water to flow through Canal 1A and prevent a significant buildup of sand on Greer Island (Beer Can Island) in the future.

The sea turtles that originally delayed the project have hatched, according to Mopps. The town’s Public Works Department will remain in coordination with environmental monitoring partners throughout the remainder of the project.

PROJECTED TIMELINE

The town of Longboat Key’s website gives an estimated timeline:

n July 17-28: Mobilization of

Upland Equipment and Dredge

n July 24-31: Upland Clearing & Excavation

n July 31 to Aug. 14: Hydraulic

Dredging of Greer Island Spit

n Aug. 5-8: Hydraulic Dredging of Canal 1A

n Aug. 21-23: Beach Tilling

n Aug. 23 to Sept. 4:

Demobilization

The website said this is a tentative schedule subject to change. For more information, please contact the Public Works Department at 316-1988.

But old, sunken Florida Power & Light lines may cause a slight hiccup. Mopps said there may be some lines located underground in the spit site. That won’t be a major drawback, he said, and once those are located, they

can work around them. Dredging is set to begin the week of July 31.

From the time dredging starts, it will only take 14 days to complete.

During the entire project timeline, Mopps advised that portions of Greer Island will be off limits, especially to the east of Longboat Pass Bridge.

After completion of the dredging, Mopps said the flushing of Canal 1A will be greatly improved. This means water will be able to flow back to the lagoon area behind Greer Island.

“It also restores the riparian rights of the boat owners that live back there, to allow them freedom of navigation out to the Gulf,” Mopps said.

The sand dredged from this area of Longboat Key will then be placed back down shore — sand that was formerly part of beach renourishment projects.

“What we’re doing is reclaim the sand that (the town) already diligently paid for,” Mopps said. Replacing the sand further down shore, the already installed ground should prevent another significant buildup from occurring in the near future, according to Town Manager Howard Tipton.

Back-to-School Bash!

SATURDAY, JULY 22

CAR TROUBLES 9:44 a.m., 6000 block of Longboat Drive South Agency Assistance: Palmetto Police Department found a Longboat resident’s car unattended in Palmetto. The department asked Longboat Key Police to check on the vehicle’s owner. Longboat Police were able to contact the owner, who was aware the car was in Palmetto due to car troubles.

OUT OF GAS

10:20 a.m., 3500 block of Gulf of Mexico Drive Traffic Hazard: Police noticed a traffic hazard while on patrol. A vehicle was parked in between the roadway and bike lane. The driver stated she ran out of gas, so the responding officer helped push the vehicle off the road while she waited for her husband to return with gas.

STRANDED PONTOON

4:28 p.m., Sarasota Bay Boat-Miscellaneous: An officer on marine patrol was dispatched to a report of a pontoon boat taking on water with 12 people on board. On the scene, the officer realized the boat had not been taking on water, but the engine was disabled. The boat had been stranded for two hours. The crew didn’t come prepared with enough water, so the responding officer assisted the children and elderly on board the police vessel and back to where they had rented the boat.

SUNDAY, JULY 23

UNATTENDED VEHICLE

12:02 a.m., 4000 block of Gulf of Mexico Drive Suspicious Vehicle: On patrol, an officer noticed a vehicle with Virginia tags parked in a business’ parking lot. Upon inspection, the officer saw the vehicle was unoccupied but was warm to the touch, indicating it hadn’t been sitting for long. The officer checked the area around the car and further down the road, but saw no one.

WEDNESDAY, JULY 26

GARBAGE PICKING

7:08 a.m., 5000 block of Gulf of Mexico Drive

SUNDAY, JULY 23

SUSPICIOUS BUOY

8:57 p.m., 6000 block of Gulf of Mexico Drive Boat-Miscellaneous: A boat with flashing lights, possibly in distress, was reported off Whitney Beach. Police responded to investigate, and found that the flashing light was a buoy.

Trespassing: Longboat Police were dispatched to respond to a suspicious person described as a female in her 30s with a cart. They were advised she was rummaging through a construction dumpster. Responding officers made contact with the complainant, who said he had confronted the woman. The woman began yelling at the complainant before taking a can of spray paint out of the garbage. She then got on her bicycle with a cart that appeared to be made of PVC pipe, and was not seen again. Officers were unable to locate her.

EVADING POLICE

7:51 p.m., 500 block of Bay Isles Parkway Citizen Assist: A resident concerned about a stray cat called the Longboat Police Department for help. She had concerns about handling the cat and if it could be fed or taken home. The officer didn’t see the cat at first, and the resident said maybe it was hiding from law enforcement.

A+E INSIDE:

< THIS WEEK: ‘Clowns Like Me’ returns for a second run from Aug. 3-6. 14

KEEPING THE FARCE : ‘A Comedy of Tenors’ stages an operatic reunion. 13 >

ARTS + ENTERTAINMENT

If these Kennedy walls could talk

Sarasota native Kate Storey’s ‘White House by the Sea’ chronicles 100 years at the famous family’s summer home.

About 20 years ago, Kate Storey was writing for her high school paper at Riverview High School, encouraged in her dream to be a journalist by her teacher Pat Bliss. When she wasn’t dishing out ice cream at Big Olaf, she liked to hang out with her friends at the beach on Siesta Key.

After graduating from the University of Florida with a journalism degree, scoops of a different kind were top of mind for Storey as a tabloid reporter at the hard-charging New York Post.

A plum assignment from Esquire Magazine about George, the irreverent political magazine founded by John F. Kennedy Jr. in the 1990s, led to longer articles and a shift to magazine journalism. It ultimately gave Storey, now senior features editor at Rolling Stone, the opportunity to write a book about the Kennedy family compound in Hyannis Port, Massachusetts.

“White House by the Sea” was published in June and immediately became a New York Times bestseller. Its arrival has made for a busy summer for Storey, who is juggling her book, her Rolling Stone job and a new baby with the help of her husband, Heath Brown.

It’s not surprising that a woman who has written extensively about celebrities understands the perils of living in the public eye. To protect her son’s privacy, Storey declines to reveal his name and makes sure that family pictures do not show his face.  Storey took time out of her busy schedule to talk with the Observer about how she found something new to say about the legendary American family whose victories and tragedies have inspired mountains of books.

In the fall, she will hold a reading at Bookstore1 in downtown Sarasota.  Because her parents live near Siesta Key, Storey returns to Sarasota regularly. Her son loves the new playground and pavilion area at Siesta Key, she says. Her new favorite hangout downtown is Project Coffee on Pineapple Street, around the corner from Burns Court Cinema.

You wrote a book set in Cape Cod, the ultimate summer destination, that arrived in bookstores just in time for summer. How did you manage that?

From the very first conversations

I had with my publisher, Scribner, we knew this would be a summer book. It’s a book that covers a huge amount of history and a lot of heavy topics, but I tried to write it in a way that it would also be good to read on the beach.

A century is a long period of time to cover in a book. How did you tackle it?

The only way I could tackle it was by having laser focus on Hyannis Port. The book doesn’t go to Washington, D.C. or Boston or Palm Beach or Dallas. I came across a lot of interesting stories from those places, but this is — more than anything else — a story about a place.

How did you go about researching your book?

Part of the challenge of writing about 100 years is you have to research different time periods differently. I spoke to more than 120 people for the book, so a lot of the stories from 1960 through today are anchored in those interviews. But for the earlier time periods, I relied heavily on oral histories, local newspaper archives, property records, letters, national magazine and newspaper archives, memoirs and biographies and local history books.

Was there any reference that you found exceedingly helpful in your research?

I really liked Carole Radziwill’s memoir. David Nasaw’s “The Patriarch” is also a fantastic book about Joe Kennedy. And Laurence Leamer has written great books about the family. The most helpful reference for me was this incredible oral history project Sen. Ted Kennedy asked journalist Dotson Rader to put together shortly before Kennedy’s death.  Kennedy took Rader from room to room in the house — which I used to write the prologue — and Rader interviewed longtime neighbors and staff who have since passed away.

I was lucky enough to be the first researcher to use this project.

Are there any people who worked at the compound for years and that you were able to interview?

Yes, I was lucky enough to talk to nannies, groundskeepers, sailing instructors, personal assistants, drivers, security guards and even the family piano player. Those were some of my favorite interviews — the regular people who had a frontrow view to history. The piano player, for example, remembered playing at the Big House one quiet afternoon when a friendly man came into the house dripping from

the pool. He realized later the man was Archbishop Desmond Tutu!  Did you spend time at the JFK presidential library?

I signed my book contract in March 2020 — just days before the pandemic shut down everything, including the JFK presidential library. Not being able to go to the library was a huge hurdle in writing the book. Luckily, I worked with some incredibly kind, creative and patient archivists there who were going into the library a day or two a week. They would send me scans and audio recordings that I needed.

The Kennedy family compound at Hyannis Port isn’t open to the public. Were you able to spend time there?

Two of the three houses that make up the official Kennedy compound are still owned by members of the family, so I was able to do interviews at two homes on the property and walk around the grounds to see how they’re all connected, which was really helpful. I did interviews at many of the other Kennedy family homes across Hyannis Port, as well.

Over the years, family members

have purchased other homes in the neighborhood. One of the most impressive properties is a house called Brambletyde, which is down the street from the official Kennedy compound. JFK and Jackie rented Brambletyde the summer before his death because it was more private than their home. They both loved the house so much they tried to buy it but the owners wouldn’t sell.

Today, JFK’s nephew owns that home, and I interviewed him there.

Is there a Kennedy who has become the caretaker of sorts of the Kennedy compound?

Ethel Kennedy still lives in the house she lived in with her husband, Robert F. Kennedy, and all of their children. She’s definitely lived in the compound the longest. The Big House is now owned by the Edward M. Kennedy Institute for the U.S. Senate, which is in the process of deciding how to use it.

So much has been written about the Kennedys. Were you worried that you wouldn’t find anything new?

There has been much written about the family. But I really saw this as a book about a community and a

place as much as a book about the Kennedys. I tried to shift my perspective away from digging for new information about the family, and to think about it as a story about a place that was transformed when the neighbors became one of the most famous families in the world.

Why do you think the Kennedy family has been touched by so much tragedy?

It’s really hard to wrap your head around. Because my book is multigenerational, you really see how tragedies and trauma impact subsequent generations. And because I focused on the place the family most considers home, you really see how these tragedies impacted them when they were able to take down their guard and grieve. For instance, Rose Kennedy, who has a reputation for being so stoic, opened up to her longtime neighbor and her cook about the loss of so many of her children. She told her neighbor that she considered her daughter Rosemary’s lobotomy to be the family’s greatest tragedy.

Is there anything I didn’t ask you that you want to mention? Go Rams and go Gators!

A Clockwork Comedy

The beloved characters of ‘Lend Me a Tenor’ are reunited in ‘A Comedy of Tenors’ — and they take themselves very seriously.

MARTY FUGATE CONTRIBUTOR

When it comes to farce, the clockwork of comedy is intricate. In a Ken Ludwig farce, the mechanism is intricate indeed. For hilarity to ensue, it all has to work like, well, clockwork. Director Sean Daniels is directing Ludwig’s “A Comedy of Tenors,” which opens Aug. 2 at Florida Studio Theatre. He loves the material he’s working with. But he has no illusions about its challenges. Some of those challenges are physical.

As Daniels sees it, the on-stage action in a Ludwig farce is part dance, part martial arts movie and part marathon. The actors don’t just stand around and talk.

“‘A Comedy of Tenors’ is particularly athletic and puts serious demands on the human body,” he says. “While every cast member is a true athlete in great shape, early rehearsals were tough — and revealing.” He adds that the actors used rehearsals to figure out and finetune their movements.

“Until we got the timing down right, the actors were constantly running into doors, tossing themselves over couches. They wound up with a lot of scrapes and bruises and went through a lot of bandages and ointments. But they’re tough, and we’re over that part.”

While tough actors heal, props don’t.

“We broke a lot of rented furniture during rehearsals,” he says. “We finally went out and bought our own. It’s cheaper that way.”

What’s the comedy engine driving a Ludwig farce?

According to Daniels, farce or not,

the playwright takes the underlying story seriously.

“To quote the great Mel Brooks, ‘When I cut my finger on a piece of paper, it’s a tragedy. When you walk into an open sewer and die, that’s comedy.’ So comedy’s a tragedy that happens to somebody else. That’s

Ludwig’s first comedy commandment. It’s hilarious if you’re sitting in the audience. In the worlds of his plays, nobody’s laughing.”

Daniels notes that Ludwig’s characters are relatable, flesh-and-blood human beings. Their farcical stories (which may be tragedies to them) are grounded in logic. He adds that

“A Ludwig farce isn’t like the crazy, surreal absurdity of Monty Python routine where anything goes,” Daniels says. “They’re more like ‘The Office’ — or Shakespeare, for that matter. His comedies are plot-driven, with a strong sense of storytelling. They’re also character-based. Ludwig’s people don’t know they’re in a comedy. It’s not a farce to them! They take their stories very seriously. It matters to them.”

Daniels adds: “In ‘A Comedy of Tenors,’ the characters’ careers are on life support — and they’re putting on an opera concert that could put them back on top. They don’t want to fail and they don’t want to flop. The stakes are real.”

The story matters to Ludwig’s characters. That means it has to matter to the actors playing them. It has to feel real to them. For the FST cast, it does.

“There’s a very touching scene where one of our leads has to cry on stage because he just can’t take it anymore,” says Daniels. “It gets me every time. It’s by far the realest thing we’ve done — and that means we’ve all done our work.”

He adds, “This play is about people desperately trying to make amazing art despite being foiled at every turn. I hope audiences will revel in the lengths we go to in order to put on a great show.”

In Daniels’ view, “A Comedy of Tenors” is a true ensemble piece.

IF YOU GO

‘A COMEDY OF TENORS’

When: Through Aug. 20

Where: Florida Studio

Theatre’s Gompertz Theatre, 1265 First St.

Tickets: $25-$39

Visit: FloridaStudioTheatre.org

To bring the farce to life, the actors must leave their egos at the door. They have. The cast is now working together like a well-oiled machine — and loving every minute. Rehearsals are done and everything clicks.

The only major snag?

Ludwig wrote the play for a specific theater — one that had a curtain. It stayed down when the audience took their seats. It went up for a big reveal of the spectacular set when the play began. FST’s stage has no curtain, so Daniels had to think fast.

“We need a fix to distract the audience,” Daniels says. “Who do you call? The playwright, obviously. He’s the ideal fixer. So, we asked Ken Ludwig for help. He could have said no. But he generously wrote a long monologue that did the job.”

Ludwig’s “A Comedy of Tenors” is a sequel to his “Lend Me a Tenor.” Do you need see his first farce to enjoy the followup?

“No,” Daniels says. “Ludwig’s sequel stands on its own. If you’re meeting these characters for the first time, you’ll have a blast. If you fell in love with them in the original, it’ll be like meeting old friends.”

Comedy of Tenors’ is particularly athletic and puts serious demands on the human body. While every cast member is a true athlete in great shape, early rehearsals were tough — and revealing.”

Sean Daniels, director

“ ‘A

CAT DEPOT SUPPLY & GIFT STORE

THIS WEEK

THURSDAY

SUMMER CIRCUS SPECTACULAR

2 p.m. at Historic Asolo Theater, 5401 Bay Shore Road

$15-$20

Visit CircusArts.org.

Master of Ceremonies Heidi Herriott presides over performances by hand balancers, clowns, jugglers and aerial rope artists, to name a few. Runs through Aug. 12.

‘THE SURFER BOYS’

7:30 p.m. at FST’s Goldstein Cabaret, 1265 First St. $18 Visit FloridaStudioTheatre.org.

From the group that brought you “The Jersey Tenors” comes a rousing tribute to the band that took America on a “Surfin’ Safari” in the early 1960s. Runs through Aug. 13.

‘DIVAS THREE’

7:30 p.m. at FST’s Court Cabaret, 1265 First St. $18 and up Visit FloridaStudioTheatre.org.

Created by Nancy Allen Productions, three female vocalists present four decades of songs made famous by Aretha Franklin, Celine Dion, Whitney Houston and other women who have won the coveted title of “Diva.” Runs through Sept. 17.

DON’T MISS

‘CLOWNS LIKE ME’ Sarasota actor Scott Ehrenpreis reprises his hit one-man show, “Clowns Like Me,” about his struggle with developmental disabilities and mental illness.

IF YOU GO

When: Aug. 3-6

Where: Cook Theatre at FSU Center for the Performing Arts, 5555 N. Tamiami Trail Tickets: $30 Info: LifelineProductionsInc.com

OUR PICK

LOOMIS BROS. CIRCUS

Loomis Bros. Circus features wild jungle cats, American show ponies and poodles. Ringmaster Justin Loomis presides over three rings filled with acrobats, trapeze artists, clowns and more.

IF YOU GO

When: Aug. 4-6

Where: Robarts Arena, 3000 Ringling Blvd.

Tickets: $30; $8 for children 3-12; 2 and younger admitted free Info: LoomisCircus.com

Courtesy photo

‘A COMEDY OF TENORS’ 8 p.m. at FST’s Gompertz Theatre, 1265 First St. $25 and up Visit FloridaStudioTheatre.org.

Set in 1930s Paris, “A Comedy of Tenors” is a madcap romp that follows a producer as he tries to keep an Italian superstar from falling prey to temptation and mayhem. Runs through Aug. 20.

‘IT’S A BIRD ... IT’S A PLANE ... IT’S SUPERMAN!’

7 p.m. at The Players Centre, 3501 S. Tamiami Trail $17 Visit ThePlayers.org.

Presented by The Players Studio

Teen Musical Theatre Bootcamp, “It’s A Bird … It’s A Plane … It’s Superman” is set in 1960s New York City as Superman battles to stop a crazy scientist bent on destruction. Runs through Aug. 6.

SATURDAY

‘MOUNTAINS OF THE MIND: SCHOLARS’ ROCKS FROM CHINA AND BEYOND’ 10 a.m. at John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art 5401 Bay Shore Road Included in $25 admission fee Visit Ringling.org.

The selection of scholars’ rocks and related paintings and prints will be on view in the Ting Tsung and Wei Fong Chao Center for Asian Art for the first time at The Ringling. Through June 23, 2024.

YOUR NEIGHBORS

AND RESEARCH ROMANCE

Randy and Martha Wells met through the Sarasota Dolphin Research Program and have complemented each other’s strengths ever since.

Individual dolphins can be distinguished by the shape of their fins, which is why, for Randy and Martha Wells, dolphin fins and their variations have added significance.

“For our wedding rings, Randy made a band, and it has eight individual fins that he did tiny little carvings on. Each of them is special in our relationship. Fins have become a really big symbol in our life,” said Martha Wells.

Martha and her husband, Randy, weave their life around their curiosity and love for dolphins. Randy is the director of the world-renowned Sarasota Dolphin Research Program, and it was through this program that Randy and Martha met.

FORMING CONNECTIONS

Randy grew up in Peoria, Illinois, and moved to Sarasota in high school. The Florida curriculum allowed Randy to take classes that weren’t offered in Illinois schools, such as oceanography and marine biology. This began his fascination with marine life, specifically sharks.

After getting rejected from his dream internship working with sharks at Mote, his father helped him get another opportunity. In 1970, Randy became a volunteer assistant for Blair Irvine, who worked at Mote Marine Laboratory at the time.

Irvine was studying the behavioral interactions of sharks and dolphins, while in his free time focusing on the mysterious lives of wild bottlenose dolphins. Throughout the rest of Randy’s high school career, he and Irvine set out to do the first study on wild dolphin ranging patterns. This led to the creation of the Sarasota

Dolphin Research Program.

After getting his doctorate from the University of California, Santa Cruz, Randy returned to work at the SDRP. In 1989, he became a senior conservation scientist with the Chicago Zoological Society, which started its operation of the SDRP that same year.

But why is an organization in Chicago running a program in Sarasota?

“The Gulf of Mexico is crucial to so much,” said Martha. “There is the environmental connection, in essence with what comes down the river system out of Chicago. The river system is directly tied to the Gulf of Mexico and the Sarasota dolphins.”

Around the same time, Martha worked for the Brookfield Zoo, the Chicago Zoological Society’s home base.

“(SDRP) ended up being one of the programs that we went to Washington to find support for. The politicians in Illinois and also

in Florida saw that connection with the Gulf of Mexico,” said Martha.

“So this brought new money into the agency that allowed them to do work they really wanted to do and supported the program. Randy and I met through doing that work.”

Randy and Martha started dating after a few months of working together. They bonded over their passion for environmental conservation and love of marine life. After enduring three years of longdistance dating, they got married in 2002 and settled in Sarasota to be near their favorite finned friends.

ENGAGING NEIGHBORS

The Chicago Zoological Society’s main mission focuses on connecting people to wildlife and nature to inspire conservation. The Wells explained that this is the purpose

behind SDRP and their efforts to educate people about their work.

Much of that work involves identifying and tracking wild dolphins in Sarasota Bay to learn more about their behavior and the threats they face. The SDRP is the longest-running study of wild dolphins in the world.

“We hope to help people appreciate (dolphins) more as individuals, knowing that they’re our neighbors and we’re their neighbors,” said Randy.

Martha now works at Carter Global, a nonprofit consulting agency, but she uses any chance she gets to help Randy and his team. Her science communications background allows SDRP to have access to many connections in the community that are useful for the animals. She also helps with spreading the word about the program and getting people engaged.

Martha never misses one of the many research trips Randy goes on with the SDRP. While Randy and the employees are focusing on their research, Martha talks with the many different people they encounter abroad and documents their work by taking photos.

“It allows for the science people to do the science,” said Martha. “So then if there’s a local constituent who wants to learn about it, or who has questions like ‘Why are you guys driving boats fast? Why can you get close to the dolphins and we can’t?’ ... I can go and talk to people with a level of knowledge.”

Randy and Martha always find a way to connect Randy’s research to their daily life. They explained that every day they spend out in the field,

“I could not ask for a better partner. She is amazing. She’s one of the smartest people I’ve ever met. And she does only high quality work. She’s never steered me wrong and any bit of guidance I’ve gotten from her.”

they know they are in for a surprise. “It’s like opening a Christmas present,” said Randy. “When you go out there, you don’t know what you’re gonna find. And as we’ve gotten to know the animals better, we can interpret things much more easily with background information, knowing who the animals are, how old they are, what their sex is, who they spend their time with. That sort of thing allows us to ask more and more complex questions and get new answers that nobody’s ever, ever been able to do before.”

Randy said his complex work could not be done without Martha.

“I could not ask for a better partner,” he said. “She is amazing. She’s one of the smartest people I’ve ever met. And she does only high quality work. She’s never steered me wrong and any bit of guidance I’ve gotten from her.”

Stay sharp and prevent decline

As we age, cognitive decline becomes more of a concern, with diseases like Alzheimer’s and dimentia becoming a worry. But, as Dr. William Nields told the audience at a presentation July 28 at St. Armands Key Lutheran Church, research about the causes of cognitive decline has shown there are ways to prevent it.

“We are using a sort of holistic functional medicine protocol,” said Nields, who works with Grey Matters Precision Brain Health Center of Sarasota. “We work on preventing cognitive decline before it happens. Even if cognitive decline starts to happen, we can improve that function down to the root cause.”

Grey Matters Precision Brain Health Center is based on the research of Dr. Dale Bredesen. He wrote “The End of Alzheimer’s,” which made it onto the New York Times Best Sellers list.

“He was invited on ‘Good Morning America,’” said Nields. “And he made a very bold statement. He says Alzheimer’s is reversible. This caused a controversial firestorm because every good scientist and every good academic institution knows there is no cure yet.”

He explained that Bredesen’s work is new and goes against the norm of the typical single cure for an illness. Nields said that previous research didn’t focus on that Alzheimer’s as a complex disease. Therefore, there are multiple steps that need to be taken to prevent or reverse cognitive decline rather than having one straightforward cure.

“This Alzheimer’s disease is not a single problem,” said Nields. “It’s more like a roof with multiple holes.

They found that if you fix enough of these holes, enough of these problems, people will get better.”

According to Grey Matters, some risk factors and toxins that cause cognitive decline include insulin resistance, sleep apnea, mold exposure, COVID-19, low Vitamin D, gum disease, vascular disease and a leaky gut.

In 2018, Bredesen published a clinical trial using his protocol in the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease in which improved cognitive testing was seen in 84% of the trial patients, who were in late stages of dementia.

In his presentation, Nields highlights that the Bredesen Protocol identifies various subtypes of Alzheimer’s disease and addresses the individual with a personalized plan. Plans from this protocol are based on four categories: the root cause, diet, lifestyle and supplements.

Nields emphasized that maintaining a healthy lifestyle is a proven method to prevent cognitive decline. Focusing on people’s diet, exercise, sleep habits and daily activities mat-

ters, especially during retirement.

Practical tips Nields mentioned are going to a doctor if you snore or bleed when you floss, eating lots of fiber and colorful fruits and vegetables, incorporating exercise that uses both the brain and the body and getting good sleep.

Nields said that as people get older, it’s important to prioritize doing challenging activities to keep the brain active. “Brain fitness,” as Nields called it, will keep building the neurons needed to keep the mind sharp. He recommended an app called Brain HQ that has challenging puzzle games. He said playing them for 30 minutes three times a week would be a benefit. Playing games like canasta or bridge can also have the same effect.

Nields said the center’s methods have helped reverse cognitive decline in people in early stages of dementia. Beth Jones came to the presentation and said that her mother has been doing the protocol for about 10 weeks. She has already seen an improvement in her mother’s cognitive skills.

“Recently, she got dropped off at the wrong place,” said Jones. “In the past, she wouldn’t have even gone to text me. She would have just sat there. And she found it on her own. When we got there, she was grumpy. And I’m like, ‘Mom, you just found this place by yourself.’ Three years ago, two years ago, she would have never been able to do that.”

Frozen treats for first responders

Employees of the Longboat Key Police and Fire Rescue departments on July 25 lined up outside to cool down with summer treats. The Rotary Club of Longboat Key arranged for the Sunny Days Ice Cream truck to come to the departments’ campus in recognition of the hard work the first responders do around the Key.

Nancy Rozance organized the event. She said there are few chances to show appreciation for what these departments do, so it’s important to make it a priority. “We try to do different things. The ice cream truck has been done in the past, and they really appreciate it.”

Joe and Jennifer Kyser own Sunny Days Ice Cream. Joe Kyser is a retired lieutenant from the Sarasota Fire Rescue. Several staff members from the Longboat Key Fire Rescue worked with Kyser when they were employed by Sarasota County, including Fire Chief Paul Dezzi.

Kyser gave two ice cream bars to each employee of the police and fire departments and one to Rotary Club members. For all off-duty employees, they requested their choice of ice cream in advance, and Kyser left it in the departments’ freezers for them to enjoy at their leisure.

Longboat Key Rotary Club arranged for an ice cream truck to stop at the Longboat Police and Fire Rescue departments to recognize their hard work in the community.

WorshipWithUsAtOurChurch SundayService10:00AM

TheRev.Dr.NormanPritchard

Men’sBibleStudy:Monday@9:00

Women’sBibleStudy:Wednesday@10:00

Visitors&ResidentsWelcome WatchOur10:00AMServiceLive: www.bit.ly/cclbksermonsor www.christchurchoflbk.org (followYouTubelink)

YouTube link)

You are invited to join us in worship, song & friendship at Shabbat services every Friday

To learn more about our Temple and all our educational, cultural, and social programs, please call us. We’d be delighted to talk with you. Questions? Email us at info@longboatkeytemple.org

Warm welcome

Networking at Noon is back and with a lot of fresh faces. This Longboat Key Chamber of Commerce event was held from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. on July 28 at the Chart House.

After a relaxing summer, everyone was excited to see each other again. Andrew Vac, real estate consultant and broker, moderated the event and welcomed all members and their guests. People had shrimp Caesar salad, a burger or pasta.

Medge Jaspan, Richard Sanders and Mark Stough are new members and attended as their first networking event with the chamber. Jaspan owns the Holistic Healing and Wellness Center of Longboat Key. Sanders and Stough work for Finch Roof Consulting in Sarasota.

Many chamber members brought guests to this event who they thought would be interested in becoming a member. Director of Event Planning at Cafe L’Europe Ashley Watts brought Beth Robertson, owner of the new company Etch And Burn. Diane Lopez, director of resort operations at the Resort at Longboat Key Club, brought her new manager-intraining Kyle Doering, who started in May. The town’s new grant coordinator, Kalee Shaberts, also attended with the town’s finance director, Susan Smith.

The chamber will meet for its next Networking at noon on Aug. 24 at the Lazy Lobster.

MONDAY, AUG. 7

MAKE YOUR OWN NIGHT LIGHT

BOTTLE

1 p.m. at The Paradise Center, 546 Bay Isles Road. $5 for members; $20 nonmembers. Get creative with making your own wine bottle night light. Spend the afternoon in community by painting and designing your bottle with lights; no artistic skills necessary. Register by Aug. 4 by calling 383-6493.

RECURRING EVENTS

MONDAYS STRETCH AND STRENGTHEN

From 10-11 a.m. at The Paradise Center, 546 Bay Isles Road. This class is mostly seated and great for all fitness levels. Focus is on strength training and flexibility for balance. Suzy Brenner leads the class. Fee is $15. Walk-ins welcome. Call 3836493.

MONDAYS, WEDNESDAYS AND SATURDAYS

LORD’S WAREHOUSE

THRIFT STORE

The thrift store will be open 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at 6140 Gulf of Mexico Drive. Donations are accepted during business hours. Call 383-4738.

TUESDAYS AND FRIDAYS

LONGBOAT LIBRARY

From 10 a.m. to 1 p.m., Tuesdays and Fridays. 555 Bay Isles Road. Call 383-2011.

TUESDAYS QI GONG

From 10-11 a.m. at The Paradise Center, 546 Bay Isles Road. Qi gong is a mind-body-spirit practice designed to improve mental and physical health. Class is outdoors, weather permitting. Cost is $15. Walk-ins welcome. Call 383-6493.

YOGA

From 11:15 a.m. to 12:15 p.m. at The Paradise Center, 546 Bay Isles Road. Debbie Debile of Feel Good Yoga & Massage leads a gentle yoga class that can be done on a mat or in a chair. Cost is $15; free for members. Call 383-6493.

MAHJONG

From 1-3 p.m. at The Paradise Center,

SATURDAY, AUG. 5

BREAKFAST WITH THE SHARKS

From 8-9:30 a.m. at Mote Marine Laboratory and Aquarium, 1600 Ken Thompson Parkway. Members pay $36; non-members pay $40. Start your day with sharks before the aquarium opens to the public. A continental breakfast will be provided while you learn about Mote’s resident sharks. Hear about breakthrough shark research during a guided tour of the aquarium. Buy tickets online at Mote.org/Experiences.

546 Bay Isles Road. Fun time for experienced players. To check availability at the tables, email Amy@ TheParadiseCenter.org.

ROTARY CLUB

Meets at 5 p.m. on first and third Tuesdays in All Angels Parish Hall, 563 Bay Isles Road. To learn more, call Nancy Rozance at 203-6054066 or email Info@LongboatKeyRotary.org.

WEDNESDAYS

BEGINNER TAI CHI

From 10-11 a.m. at The Paradise Center, 546 Bay Isles Road. Class is outdoors, weather permitting. Cost is $15. Walk-ins welcome. Call 3836493.

MARIACHI MUSIC

From 5:30-8:30 p.m. at La Villa Mexican Grill, 5610 Gulf of Mexico Drive. Enjoy dinner and a serenade by Mariachi Contemporaneo. Call 383-8033.

KEY EN PROVENCE $4,935,000

Spectacular 3BD/ 4BA 3,400sf open plan w/10’ ceilings & Gulf-side wrap around terraces. One of 21 in meticulously maintained Gulf front gated community w/ Gulf-side pool & spa. Conveniently located mid-key.

LONGBOAT KEY L’AMBIENCE

$3,650,000

Casually elegant, rarely available 3BR/4BA direct beachfront walk-out. Private staircase from your private Gulf front terrace leads directly to the beach & Gulf. Amenities include lobby concierge, 24hr guarded gate, olympic sized pool, 2 har-tru tennis courts, fitness center & more.

LONGBOAT KEY WATER CLUB $3,545,000

Spectacular 6th floor 3BR/4BA redesigned Dover plan. Highend finishes include private elevator opening to Sarasota Bay & city skyline views from floor to ceiling glass and mastersuite terrace offers Gulf vistas.. Luxurious resort style lving on beautiful beach w/all amenities.

LONGBOAT KEY

• CANAL LOT#1 $1,995,000

• CANAL LOT#2 $1,995,000

Build your dream home on one of north LBK’s most desirable streets. Premier boating location. Great canal leads directly to Bay & ICW No bridges. Walk to beach.

LONGBOAT KEY BOATERS DREAM $2,850,000

Meticulous 4 BD/3 BA wide deep water canal with direct access to Sarasota Bay - no bridges! Great dock. 2 boat lifts. Private beach access directly across the street.

Condo in The Water Club tops sales at $3.15 million

Acondominium in The Water Club tops all transactions in this week’s real estate. Gary Morrison, of Longboat Key, and Kimberly Skaff, of Charleston, West Virginia, sold their Unit 607 condominium at 1241 Gulf of Mexico Drive to Eric Doubell, trustee, of Stow, Ohio, for $3.15 million. Built in 1996, it has three bedrooms, four baths and 2,965 square feet of living area. It sold for $1,375,000 in 2020.

PELICAN HARBOUR & BEACH CLUB

Edward Roche sold the Unit 302 condominium at 4241 Gulf of Mexico Drive to Eric Van Severen, trustee, of Davenport, Iowa, for $2 million. Built in 1980, it has three bedrooms, two-and-a-half baths and 1,660 square feet of living area. It sold for $1,387,000 in 2021.

EMERALD POINTE SOUTH

Debra Dranoff, of Wyckoff, New Jersey, sold her Unit 16 condominium at 1902 Harbour Links Circle to Matthew Pannier and Linda Torcivia, trustees, of Lake Bluff, Illinois, for $1.5 million. Built in 2001, it has three bedrooms, three-and-a-half baths and 2,180 square feet of living area. It sold for $650,000 in 2018.

LONGBOAT HARBOR TOWERS

Denise Andersen, Cynthia Brady, Jane Schweitzer, Jeffrey Stimson and Scott Stimson, of Cornelius, North Carolina, sold their Unit 404 condominium at 4401 Gulf of Mexico Drive to Julie Marie Sommers, trustee, of Bradenton, for $1.1 million. Built in 1972, it has two bedrooms, two baths and 1,314 square feet of living area.

ST. ARMANDS TOWERS NORTH

Peter and Jennifer MacDonald, of Sherborn, Massachusetts, sold their Unit 74 condominium at 1 Benjamin Franklin Drive to Duane Zeleniak and Tonimarie Macaluso, of Sarasota, for $950,000. Built in 1968, it

RESIDENTIAL REAL ESTATE TRANSACTIONS

JULY 17-21

has two bedrooms, two baths and 1,389 square feet of living area. It sold for $530,000 in 2015.

INN ON THE BEACH

Thomas Panaseny and Hanh-Diep Panaseny, of Tampa, sold their Unit 7105 condominium at 225 Sands Point Road to Daniel and Michelle Lehman, of Decatur, Indiana, for $800,000. Built in 1983, it has one bedroom, one bath and 642 square feet of living area. It sold for $610,000 in 2021.

WHITNEY BEACH

Amy Jones, of Bradenton, sold her Unit 176 condominium at 6750 Gulf of Mexico Drive to Elizabeth Loews, of Ellicottville, New York, for $650,000. Built in 1970, it has one bedroom, one bath and 846 square feet of living area. It sold for $228,000 in 2019.

TOP BUILDING PERMITS

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1930 Harbourside Dr 122 | Fairway Bay - Bay Isles | $978,000

2 bed, 2 bath | 1,312 Sq Ft

This residence has southeastern exposure with epic sunrises and Sarasota skyline views. Almost new two-bedroom, two-bath residence where a high-end interior designer selected impressive new finishes and features. Fitness center, pool & tennis. - THIS RESIDENCE HAS DEEDED BEACH ACCESS www.1930HarboursideDr122.com

2251 Gulf of Mexico Drive 204 | Aria - LONGBOAT KEY | $10,500,000

3 bed + office or 4 bed, 3.5 bath | 4,032 Sq Ft

Living in Aria is Instant enjoyment! Modern luxury living in this spectacular gulf-front corner residence that lives like a home on the beach. It offers a private gulf front 3400 sqft terrace with a private 49 ft. infinity edge lap pool and a summer kitchen for outdoor living. 4-5 car garage, social room, guest suite, fitness center, on-site management.

www.Aria204.com

Ritz-Carlton Managed

Transferrable Beach Club Membership - Available Immediately

1300 Benjamin Franklin Dr 907 | $3,800,000

3 bed, 2.5 bath | 3,057 Sq Ft

Experience the beachfront living paired with The Ritz-Carlton's unparalleled services. The corner residence features an open floor plan with panoramic views of Sarasota & her islands, with sunrise and sunset. Wrap-around terrace, guest suites, social rooms, concierge, 2 pets welcome, 2 parking spaces.

JUSTLISTED

408 Jackson Dr | St. Armands | $2,988,000

3 bed + den or 4 bedrooms, 3 bath | 2,344 Sq Ft

Steps to St. Armands Circle! Residence with a private pool in a botanical setting with updates. The soaring ceilings create abundant space, complemented by tile floors, a wall of sliders, molding, wood accents, and recessed lighting.

www.408JacksonDr.com

www.RitzCarlton907.com

Sunset Views

50 Central Ave #16D | Downtown Sarasota | $2,350,000

2 bed, 2 bath | 1,700 Sq Ft

Experience panoramic views from this 16th-floor boutique condo in downtown Sarasota. With each room offering stunning sights and an additional 300 sq ft west-facing balcony, it's the perfect spot for enjoying breathtaking sunsets. Located amidst downtown's buzz, this quiet, private oasis lets you relish the vibrant city life from a serene retreat.

www.50Central16D.com

Sq Ft

Ultimate luxury in this Bayfront masterpiece within the gates of Bay Isles, Harborside. Formal model has endless upgrades. Four or five bedrooms, library, and a gourmet kitchen overlooking the bay. Boat dock & lift. Deeded Beach Access, elevator. Rarely does a home of this size and quality become available.

www.3554FairOaksLane.com

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65 Selena of “Only Murders in the Building”

66 Swashbuckler Flynn

68 Sidekick’s address

69 *Complimentary mealtime gesture

70 Flies alone

71 Marked, as a ballot

73 Some suit fabrics

75 Adorable toddler

77 Girl Scout cookie that’s also the name of an island country

80 “Over Vitebsk” painter Chagall

82 *What X can represent, in a love letter (see 67-Across, 90-Across, 38-Down and 69-Down)

85 Non-silence of the lamb?

87 ___ for tat

ROGER SELLS LUXURY WATERFRONT PROPERTIES

#1 SARASOTA SINGLE AGENT 2008, 2010, 2012 - 2022

7652 SANDERLING ROAD

Resort-style living at this spectacular Siesta Key beach home is a one-of-a-kind experience! Directly overlooking the coastal landscape of the Gulf of Mexico, this beautifully private estate rests on more than an acre, with 172’ of beach! Designed to highlight the sparkling Gulf and striking sunset vistas you can enjoy from any room.

www.7652Sanderling.com

$9,995,000

$2,195,000

The walkable location of this St. Armands homesite will immediately draw you in, offering an oversized, 1/4-acre lot for you to design your dream home. Immaculate Gulf beaches at Lido and Longboat Key, plus the best of Sarasota’s “Cultural Coast” are a sunny bike ride away. www.201NorthWashington.com

$2,295,000

This direct bayfront, fifth-floor Antigua residence at Grand Bay offers nearly 3,000 SF of living space waiting for you to make it your own. One of the largest floor plans in the community, these residences do not come on the market often. Include TWO PARKING spaces and various first-rate community amenities to enjoy.

www.GrandBay251.com

235 COCOANUT AVENUE #125-D

Located only minutes from the heart of the city, this beautiful townhome is in a central location. With its contemporary 2BR+bonus room design and move-in ready condition, this getaway offers the best of both worlds - the ease of a maintenance-free community combined with the privacy of single-family living.

www.MarqueeEnVille125D.com

$995,000