LONGBOAT
Novelist ‘goes home.’
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YOU. YOUR NEIGHBORS. YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD. VOLUME 43, NO. 12
FREE
YOUR TOWN
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THURSDAY, OCTOBER 29, 2020
Moving day, again Village cottage could land on town’s new green site. PAGE 3A
HAPPY HAUNTS
Mark Bergin
Retired Chief Pete Cumming and his wife, Diane..
So long, Chief
With equal parts smiles, good wishes and first responder protocol, Chief Pete Cumming said goodbye to Longboat Key last week. Town officials, police and fire rescue personnel saluted Cumming on his retirement after 12 years with Longboat Key. Deputy Police Chief Frank Rubino presented Cumming with a commemorative plaque. “This community is unlike anything I’ve ever encountered from county law enforcement, state law enforcement,” Cumming said. “It was an awakening for me. I didn’t think anything this small could be so good.”
Scary (and not so scary) sights are popping up all over the island. PAGE 6B
PHOTOS AT YOUROBSERVER.COM
Brewery byproducts The more beer you drink, the more red tide Mote can try to kill. The research facility is working with University of Maryland to try to find a new way of reducing red tide, using “brewer’s spent grain” from Darwin Brewing Company. The spent grain is similar to barley straw, which is known to fight some algae blooms. There are some unknowns, such as how well it will work in saltwater and how effective it can be in staying near enough the bloom.
Photos by Nat Kaemmerer
Above: 729 Fox St. has a whole graveyard set up and a grisly guard dog with double the skeletal fangs. The longer you look, the more scary things you’ll spot, but linger too long, and the ghost in the tree might start plotting to make you part of the display, too. Top: At 556 Spanish Drive N., the scarecrow on the porch is dressed for the season — and for the times — with a mask covering his felt face.
A+E
Power to the people
Turtle Tracks LONGBOAT OCT. 18-24 2020 Nests 0 False Crawls 0
2019 0 0
Total as of Oct. 24 2020 2019 Nests 1,136 1,342 False Crawls 1,307 1,518 Source: Mote Marine Laboratory
Musical visions. PAGE 16A
Mark Bergin
A Wilco Electrical LLC worker works on the town’s underground utilities project along Gulf of Mexico Drive.
Utility work nearly done in first phase. SEE PAGE 5A