LONGBOAT
Observer Longboat Key’s weekly newspaper since 1978
Skiing skills PAGE 1B
YOU. YOUR NEIGHBORS. YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD.
VOLUME 42, NO. 25
FREE
YOUR TOWN
•
THURSDAY, JANUARY 30, 2020
Chief retiring in October When he leaves, Cumming will have served 40 years. PAGE 4A
Courtesy photo
Huck selects the 49ers.
49ers otter win in Miami According to Pippi and Huck, the San Francisco 49ers will win Super Bowl LIV over the Kansas City Chiefs this Sunday in Miami. Mote Marine Laboratory and Aquarium’s three otters, including Jane, who picked the Chiefs, put their best foot forward in picking the winner of the human sports game. Typically, manatees Hugh and Buffett make the selections, but because their habitat is under renovation, the otters took over the task. Hugh has had the better picks, going 10-2, while Buffett is 6-6. Mote marine biologists used target training with the North American river otters to get them to make their picks. Come Feb. 2, we’ll see who was right.
ROARING ENCORE Longboat Harbour celebrates the 1920s all over again. PAGE 23A Nat Kaemmerer Nat Kaemmerer
John and Mary Bock dressed the part at Longboat Harbour’s salute to the 1920s.
See a bird, save a bird If you come across a bird that’s visibly injured on Longboat Key, don’t panic — even if you’re not an aviary medical professional. Your first order of business is to call the area’s resident bird doctors, Save Our Seabirds, at 388-3010. They’ll dispatch a volunteer. However, if you’re reasonably OK with handling wildlife and nearby, you can expedite the bird’s return to health by carefully bringing it to Save Our Seabirds at 1708 Ken Thompson Parkway. The bird hospital is open from 7:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. daily.
Fish out of water Eric Garwood
A long-term plan is being formulated to dredge much of the Greer Island sandbar.
Town plans to tackle shallow water where Canal 1A meets Sarasota Bay. SEE PAGE 6A
A+E A much wider perspective INSIDE