PelicanPress SIESTA KEY
AN OBSERVER NEWSPAPER
inside
Thursday, JANUARY 26, 2012
DIVERSIONS
spotlight
INSIDE
PAGE 3B
ODA senior Bello Nock is directs school living large on production. his funny farm. PAGE 1B
OUR TOWN
where it began
‘Dolphin Tale’ scientist visits Siesta Key.
By Rachel Brown Hackney | Managing Editor
Lawsuit back in Circuit Court
A U.S. District Court judge agrees that a Village property owner’s latest lawsuit against the county hinges on issues that should be tried in Circuit Court.
File photo
+ Swan still calling Siesta its home When the Key experienced those blustery winds out of the north a few weeks ago, Sarasota Bay, as usual, receded from the shallow area near the north Siesta bridge. And, although it is common to see a variety of sea and shore birds gathered on the exposed sandbar, one bird stood out among its feathered friends. According to Gulf & Bay Club resident Nancy Deckard, her husband spied one of the swans that had flown from the club last summer. “That guy’s been missing since August,” Nancy Deckard said of the swan.
A U.S. District Court judge in Tampa has sided with Village property owner Chris Brown’s contention that his third lawsuit against Sarasota County belongs in the 12th Judicial Circuit Court, where it was filed. U.S. District Judge Susan C. Bucklew issued her ruling Jan.
17, in response to a motion filed in November by Brown’s Sarasota attorney, Morgan Bentley, of Bentley and Bruning. The Sarasota County Attorney’s Office was successful in October in moving the lawsuit to U.S. District Court, saying that that was the appropriate venue, because
Brown had charged in the lawsuit that the county had violated his Fifth and 14th Amendment rights. The lawsuit alleges the county singled Brown out in raising the 2011 parking assessments on three of his Village properties, while county staff lowered the taxes for 74 other Village proper-
ties in the Key’s Parking Improvement District. Filed Oct. 4 in the 12th Judicial Circuit Court, the lawsuit says the 2011 parking assessment for Blu Smoke on Avenida Messina, now Blu Que Island Grill, went up
SEE LAWSUIT / PAGE 2A
+ Credit goes to Dowling After an article appeared Jan. 19 about burned-out streetlights on the Key, Siesta Key Association Director Michael Shay wrote to report that Rae Dowling, area manager for exterior affairs for Florida Power & Light, “was the catalyst who got the lights fixed.” Shay wrote that right after he contacted Dowling Jan. 6 about 25 streetlights being dark, she made sure to correct the problem. Shay also said the SKA website, www.siestakeyassociation.com, has been updated to help residents report any burned-out bulbs in the future.
Tell us your news As of this issue, the Pelican Press will be following the format of its sister publications in The Observer Group by providing this space for community news. If you have a tidbit you think would be interesting to pass along, please call Rachel Hackney at 3663468, Ext. 357, or email rhackney@yourobserver. com. We welcome photos, too.
Rachel S. O’Hara
Callista and Newt Gingrich look out into the crowd of more than 4,000 people who came Tuesday to Dolphin Aviation to hear the Republican presidential contender speak. See more photos on page 13A and on www.yourobserver.com.
halfway there
By Rachel Brown Hackney | Managing Editor
Maintenance Corp. ordinance set for hearing The County Commission this week approved a Feb. 21 public hearing on a new Maintenance Corp. ordinance for the Village. With no comment Tuesday, the Sarasota County Commission unanimously set a public hearing for 9 a.m. Feb. 21 on a revised ordinance governing the upkeep of the Siesta Key Village. Almost six months after the
commission agreed to general parameters for a reworking of the ordinance, a draft of it appeared on the consent agenda for the board’s regular meeting Jan. 24. Following complaints and a lawsuit filed by Village property
owner Chris Brown in January 2011, James Harriott Jr., executive director of the Public Works Department, told the County Commission July 26 that a revised ordinance would ensure the responsibilities of all the parties in-
volved would be specified and the county would make certain detailed records were kept regarding expenses for the Village upkeep. “The key change to (the ordinance) is the county is taking over the responsibility of taking on the contract (with the vendor),” Tom Maroney, general manager
SEE MAINTENANCE / PAGE 12A
INDEX Briefs....................4A Classifieds .......... 9B
Cops Corner....... 14A Crossword............ 8B
Neighborhood...... 1B Opinion.................8A
Real Estate.......... 7B Vol. 42, No. 26 | Three sections Weather............... 8B YourObserver.com