LONGBOAT
Observer Longboat Key’s weekly newspaper since 1978
Town Hall visions.
PAGE 1B
YOU. YOUR NEIGHBORS. YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD.
VOLUME 42, NO. 32
FREE
Join in the fight to beat the virus
COVID-19 COMES TO LONGBOAT
THURSDAY, MARCH 19, 2020
Voters approve bonds Bayside and Gulfside districts in both counties OK borrowing for years of beach renourishment. ERIC GARWOOD MANAGING EDITOR
Support your local businesses. SEE PAGE 8A
YOUR TOWN
Courtesy photo
Staff photo
Father Phil Schweda
Produce was hard to find at Longboat Key’s Publix on Sunday.
St. Mary sends off Father Phil
Privateer resident tests positive, is hospitalized. PAGE 2A Preparations for virus prompt wave of changes. PAGE 3A
Rev. Phil Schweda, affectionately called Father Phil, presided over his last service at St. Mary, Star of the Sea, Catholic Church on Longboat Key on March 15. After the service, congregants gathered for sandwiches, treats and a final goodbye to Schweda, who stepped into his role at the church when longtime pastor Monsignor Gerry Finegan stepped down shortly before his recent death. Members of the church gathered around him at his table or stopped by for a quick word. Schweda will head to Lakewood Ranch’s Our Lady of the Angels Catholic Church. Father Robert Dziedziak takes over at St. Mary.
•
Riptide rescue shows risk Brendan Lavell
Deputy Chief Sandy Drake was nearby at a fire station on St. Armands Key when the call came in.
Deputy chief rescues father and son after currents swept them from beach. SEE PAGE 10A
Longboat Key voters Tuesday voted to approve a plan to borrow up to $34.5 million to help finance the town’s comprehensive beach management plan. Bayside District and Gulfside District voters in Sarasota and Manatee counties cast ballots on the measure as part of Tuesday’s presidential primary voting. Overall, the ballot question passed by these margins: Bayside voters in Sarasota approved the bonds with 76% of the vote, in results reported by 8:30 p.m. Sarasota Gulfside voters approved with a total of 85%. Bayside voters in Manatee County approved with 64.7% of the total. Gulfside voters approved with 78.4%. Town officials have said the exact total of the borrowing and its impact on tax bills won’t be known until the levels of state and federal reimbursements are calculated. The term would be eight years or less. The $34.5 million figure was arrived at with an assumption of minimal outside assistance. Manatee County officials have committed to more than $2.5 million to help pay for the project.
BLACK
TIE
A purrrr-fect evening. INSIDE