SIESTA KEY
Observer YOU. YOUR NEIGHBORS. YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD.
VOLUME 49, NO. 31
FREE
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Focused on safety School security ramps up in the year since Parkland. SEE PAGE 3A Samantha Chaney
14 ways to Valentine Planning not your thing? We’ve got you covered. SEE PAGE 1B
A new way to park
Sarasota draws artists for street fest. PAGE 6B
THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 14, 2019
YOUR TOWN
Courtesy photo
Advice for long life Betty Holland turned 103 years old Feb. 11 at Sarasota Health and Rehabilitation Center. Her secret to living so long? “Don’t die. Just keep rolling along,” said Holland. Holland was born in 1916 in Wisconsin. She and her family — her son, Mike, and daughter, Jane — have been vacationing in Siesta Key since the 1950s and moved here permanently in 2013. Holland is now the oldest resident of Sarasota Health and Rehabilitation Center.
City launches pay system on St. Armands. PAGE 4A Courtesy photo
Fiesta of a prize
BLACK
TIE
All Taylor Armstrong did was donate blood. Now, he’s driving around in a new ride. Armstrong, of Sarasota, donated between Nov. 1 and Jan. 6 and was automatically entered in a car-lease giveaway. On Jan. 26, he and four other winners drew keys in game-show style to see whose would start the Ford Fiesta on Sarasota Ford’s showroom floor. Armstong’s key cranked the engine, and now he gets the car for two years, courtesy of Sarasota Ford and SunCoast Blood Bank, which turns 70 on Feb. 14. This is the second year of the car giveaway teamwork between the organizations.
A ball in paradise. INSIDE
David Conway
A parking patron reads the instructions on a kiosk before paying to park Tuesday on St. Armands Circle. City officials said the machines’ operation is similar to that of an ATM.