bserver O
EAST COUNTY
You. Your neighbors. Your neighborhood.
NEWS
snow day!
PAGE 6A
PAGE 4-5B
Thursday, FEBRUARY 2, 2012
sports
Ranch High Tabernacle students leaders plan enjoy annual Winter concert benefit. Wonderland event.
OUR TOWN + We want to hear your love story! Got a love story fit for the Hallmark channel? We want to hear it! To celebrate Valentine’s Day, the East County Observer woud love to publish your tale of true romance. Anyone interested in participating should contact Managing Editor Michael Eng, meng@yourobserver.com.
Meet Lakewood Ranch’s new basketball coach. PAGE 13A
turnover By Pam Eubanks | News Editor
Neal begins transition to residents Within the gates of the Country Club of Lakewood Ranch, residents in Country Club West are preparing to run their own community development district. LAKEWOOD RANCH — The transition officially has begun. Country Club West resident Richard Williams, one of two resident supervisors on the Lakewood Ranch Community Development District 6 board, now will represent his friends and neighbors on a larger scale, as well. The retired attorney is the first resident from CDD 6 to serve
on the Lakewood Ranch InterDistrict Authority board. He replaced longtime CDD 6 supervisor Dale Weidemiller at the IDA’s Jan. 19 meeting. “We need to get a foot in to find out what’s going on,” Williams said. “Now that I’m on the IDA, we can continue to see what their short- and long-term goals are.” Williams and fellow resident
Bob Burstein were elected to the developer-controlled CDD 6 board in 2010, after the district reached 250 electors, as per state statute. State law will require the CDD 6 board to become completely resident-controlled this November, because the district will have more than 500 electors.
SEE CDD 6 / PAGE 2A
CRIME WATCH
ROPED IN!
By Pam Eubanks | News Editor
Residents consider new safety precautions
+ Critter Corner Leebo, a 18-month-old neutered male pointer/dane mix, needs a loving home. Leebo is active and friendly and has lots of energy. He came to Napier’s Log Cabin Horse & Animal Sanctuary Inc. from Manatee Animal Services. Adoption donation is $150. Napier’s is a not-for-profit 501 (c)(3) no-kill Florida corporation that provides loving adoptive homes or permanent homes to needy animals. For more, visit www. NapierFamilyFarm.com or call 750-8185. If any animal rescue organization would like to have a pet featured in Critter Corner, email Michael Eng, meng@ yourobserver.com.
Riverwalk Hammock residents say they hope to make a presentation to the Manatee County Sheriff’s Office following the murder of Ina Gross.
Courtesy of Eric Nalpas
Local polo players and cowboys competed in a variety of rodeo-style contests during the annual SMR Cup Jan. 27-29, at Sarasota Polo Club. For more coverage, see 4-5B.
on tour By Pam Eubanks | News Editor
Quartet inspires east students
+ Wood stork visits Summerfield lake Summerfield resident Gary Miller caught this image of a wood stork that took a break on the lake at the intersection of Lakewood Ranch Boulevard and Clubhouse Drive. “It is my understanding that the wood stork is the only American stork,” Miller says. “He reminds my wife and me of the Marabout storks we encounered in Chad, Africa. in the 1970s.”
Pam Eubanks
Richard Williams, a supervisor on the Lakewood Ranch CDD 6 board, recently was appointed to the Inter-District Authority board.
The award-winning Ariel String Quartet inspired student musicians in the East County as part of the Perlman Music Program/Suncoast Jan. 19-25.
MANATEE COUNTY — As Braden River High School student Hannah Palmer sat in the orchestra room, the 16-year-old couldn’t take her eyes off members of the Ariel String Quartet, who were performing at the front of the room. For Palmer, the sounds they produced with their instruments were mesmerizing.
“They’re not much older than I am,” said Palmer, who plays tenor saxophone and other instruments. “It makes me realize I can aspire to be just as good. It makes me want to work harder (on my music).” The Ariel String Quartet’s visit was part of The Perlman Music Program/Suncoast Education
Outreach Program, which brings program alumni into area schools as professional teaching artists for three weeks in October, January and May to present hands-on training opportunities for local students and their teachers. The group visited schools such
SEE PERLMAN / PAGE 2A
LAKEWOOD RANCH — Neighbors in the Riverwalk Hammock community in Lakewood Ranch are rallying to restore the sense of community that was present when their neighborhood first opened more than a decade ago. Spurred to action by the murder of their beloved neighbor, Ina Gross, Jan. 9, more than 20 neighbors gathered Jan. 25 to discuss ways they, as residents, could improve the safety of their neighborhood. “I think we just need to be aware of each other; we need to know each other’s faces, each other’s cars,” one woman said. Although many residents in Riverwalk Hammock admit they still are nervous that Gross’ murderer remains at-large, most agreed their tight-knit community already has its own sort of built-in neighborhood watch, because homeowners from
SEE CRIME / PAGE 2A
INDEX Classifieds ........ 17B Cops Corner..........7A
Crossword.......... 16B Opinion.................8A
Real Estate........ 14B Neighborhood...... 1B
Sports................ 13A Weather............. 16B
Vol. 13, No. 5 | Two sections YourObserver.com