LONGBOAT
Observer Longboat Key’s weekly newspaper since 1978
Color her a lover of the sea. PAGE 22
YOU. YOUR NEIGHBORS. YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD.
VOLUME 41, NO. 44
FREE
Bridge project begins
A CLEAN SWEEP Volunteers keep an eye out for living creatures while helping New Pass. PAGE 20
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THURSDAY, JUNE 13, 2019
YOUR TOWN Celebrating graduation Carlianne Rain Nieding, the daughter of Longboat Key residents Staci and Ken Nieding, graduated from State College of Florida with a high school diploma and an Associate of Arts degree. She is heading to Tallahassee at the end of June to begin the summer semester at Florida State University and plans to study environmental science.
Longboat Pass work will last the summer. PAGE 6
Courtesy photo
Onto nationals.
Tennis champions
Eric Garwood
Workers were getting preliminary tasks done at the north end of Longboat Pass Bridge on Monday.
A+E
Eric Garwood
Aleaah Echols prepares return some coral back to the water.
Take a theatrical journey. INSIDE
Almost ready to go Eric Garwood
Contractors for Verizon have been installing conduit and fiber to link south-island cell antennas mounted on buildings with its cell network. It’s not part of the town’s project.
Verizon GMD crews precede town’s project to bury utility cables. PAGE 3
Sarasota County, in the form of the Longboat Key Public Tennis Center’s Mixed 40 & Over 8.0 team, remains tied for first in the race for the 2019 USTA Florida Championship Cup. The Longboat team recently defeated Hillsborough County for a sectional title in Orlando. The team of Captain Janet Sperling, Coquina Homer, Jeffrey Stern, Nick Hardy, Calvin Hac, Eric Abbott, Jim Capazola, Babette Paige, Dean Dancer, Ann Lammers, Jill Lyons, Rosa Rojas Weis, Jane Hancock, Margaret Wieczerzak and Sandra Poston qualified as the Florida Sectional champions to compete in the USTA National Championships on Nov. 15-17 in Orlando.
Turtle Tracks LONGBOAT June 2-8 2019 2018 Nests 124 126 False Crawls 230 70 Total as of June 8 2019 2018 Nests 396 316 False Crawls 521 218 Source: Mote Marine Laboratory