SARASOTA/SIESTA KEY
Observer
Snow day.
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YOU. YOUR NEIGHBORS. YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD.
FREE • THURSDAY, JANUARY 18, 2024
VOLUME 20, NO. 8
YOUR TOWN
Microbiology 101 for swimmers A nonprofit looks out for recreationists by monitoring fecal bacteria in the bay. SEE PAGE 3A
THE WAY FORWARD Ian Swaby
Sarasota came together for MLK Jr. Day to march, sing and celebrate. SEE PAGE 2B
Mydahlia Glover, Ava Everett, 10, Aya Everett, 4, Teidra Everett, Ace Everett, 7, and Vickie Oldham
A voice for history
During the Martin Luther King Jr. Day Celebration and Unity walk, a group could be seen waving to the walkers from the steps of the Leonard Reid House. From 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Jan. 20, the celebrations will include the historic home, which is now undergoing its soft opening as a Black history and cultural center, with “How Long? Not Long: The Push for Voting Rights.” Vickie Oldham, president and CEO of the Sarasota African American Cultural Coalition, got the idea for the event when she visited Selma, Alabama and Montgomery, Alabama, over the holidays, walking the Edmund Pettus Bridge and visiting the The Legacy Museum. “There are some things that you can’t understand unless you go there, go there and look, and look at the communities and visit the churches,” she said. The event will feature a dramatization of King’s Montgomery Speech.
Ian Swaby
The Rev. Patrick Miller and the Rev. Wesley Tunstall Jr. at the intersection of North Osprey Avenue and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Way.
Courtesy image
Volunteers Angel Carino and Jorge Mata-Huesca
Family aid
For the St. Jude Catholic Church/Hispanic-American Center, the holiday giving season started in September, with a $10,000 grant from the Kathleen K. Catlin Foundation of the Community Foundation of Sarasota County. St. Jude used the foundation funds for its Program for the Needy, which distributes food in conjunction with St. Jude’s Food Pantry. During the 2023 holiday season, the grant money purchased 400 $25 gift cards, which were given to families registered for the Toys for Tots Christmas Program and families receiving aid from the food pantry. A total of 370 families registered for the Toys for Tots program, reflecting 813 children. Each registrant also received a whole chicken, donated by a local grocer.
A+E
Insufficient frontage The Planning Board rejects the 342-foot-tall Obsidian for lack of retail space. SEE PAGE 4A
Courtesy image
The upper floors of Obsidian would offer unimpeded bayfront views.
Sarasota inherits new ‘Wind.’ INSIDE