Pelican Press AN OBSERVER NEWSPAPER
INSIDE
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 20, 2011
Saturday night, October 29th AT sIesta oyster bar
It’s a Halloween jaIlbreak... … rIgHt Into skob!
jaIlHouse Costume party
4.00
$
Bloody Kamikazis $
2.00
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S I E S TA K EY S A RA S OTA
Jailhouse Beer
Costume Contest
5238 Ocean Blvd Siesta Key
the real story By Rachel Brown Hackney | Managing Editor
Tennis rumors prove untrue County staff has reassured Key residents that tennis courts will be available at all times when work begins on the planned Siesta Public Beach improvements.
DIVERSIONS
In response to a rumor that recently sprang up on the Key, Sarasota County staff members last week worked to reassure the public that the tennis courts at Siesta Public Beach will not disappear when the county begins phasing in planned improvements to the park.
“I went out there … and talked to about 10 people,” Project Manager Curtis Smith told the Pelican Press. “There won’t be any gap in availability” of the courts, he added. Joyce Dalbey, a regular tennis player at the beach, emailed County Commission Chairwom-
an Nora Patterson Oct. 7 to report that she had seen a sign at the courts telling the public the courts would be removed and new ones would not be constructed until the improvements were well under way. In response, Patterson contacted Carolyn N. Brown, general
When her clothing line folded three years ago, Sigrid Olsen found refuge in painting. The gallery owner explains why some snowbirds aren’t meant to retire.
manager of the Parks and Recreation Department. Patterson wrote Oct. 7 that she had had numerous emails similar to Dalbey’s. “I am answering each that we are not (removing the tennis courts) but may be moving them
SEE TENNIS / PAGE 2A
Championship form
NEIGHBORHOOD
Master’s class
artist 13A Renowned Jack Dowd talks
with Out-of-Door Academy fourth-graders about how he creates his iconic sculptures.
In the Interim
18A
The Rev. Dean Taylor is delighted to find himself in the community of faith at St. Boniface Episcopal Church.
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CELEBRATING
YEARS
1971-2011
INDEX
Business directory.........26A Classifieds................... 26A Community Calendar......23A Cops Corner..................11A Crossword.....................25A Opinion..........................6A Real Estate...................24A
Vol. 41, No. 14 | Two sections YourObserver.com
Loren Mayo
Mary Abranski puts power into her serve during The Rider Sandals Big Shot Volleyball Series Saturday on Siesta Public Beach. For more details and photos, see Page 16A.
ALL IN THE TIMING By Rachel Brown Hackney | Managing Editor
Commissioners confident about candidate timeline The majority of the Sarasota County commissioners believe they are allowing ample time to receive applications for a new county administrator. If they do not find the applicant pool adequate, they will extend the process.
Although two community activist organizations and a wellknown Sarasota attorney have questioned the schedule, the majority of the Sarasota County commissioners this week told the Pelican Press they felt confident about the timeline for selecting a replacement for former County Administrator Jim Ley. In email exchanges with the commission and county staff in the past week, Citizens for Responsible Government and at-
torney Dan Lobeck expressed concern that the schedule the commissioners approved is too compressed to allow sufficient opportunity for the best candidates to come forward. Additionally, in her organization’s October newsletter, Sarasota County Council of Neighborhood Associations President Ann Kaplan wrote a column saying the hiring of the new administrator “is a decision that should not be rushed but very carefully con-
sidered and thoroughly vetted to make sure we get our (government) back on the right track in terms of efficiency, public trust, transparency, ethics and making service of the public sector the No. 1 priority.” Cathy Antunes, spokeswoman for Citizens for Responsible Government, told the Pelican Press Monday that the selection of the new administrator “is too impor-
SEE ADMINISTRATOR / PAGE 8A
MEETINGS The Sarasota County Commission has confirmed the arrangements and timeline for public meetings and interviews with candidates for county administrator. • Nov. 2: The commission will receive from its consultant, The Mercer Group, the applications from the top 15 candidates. • Nov. 8: The commission will review the applications and select three to five candidates to come to Sarasota for public meetings and interviews. • Nov. 13: The first “meetand-greet” public meeting will be held at 4 p.m. at the Venice Community Center, 326 S. Nokomis Ave., Venice. Each candidate will be given an opportunity to talk about his experience; a 45-minute
SEE MEETINGS / PAGE 8A