Man killed in Cortez accident

An unidentified man was hit by a car and killed Tuesday morning, April 17, around 9:42 a.m., according to the Florida State Patrol.

The incident occurred as the victim was trying to cross Cortez Road at 115th Street, just east of the signal light that was installed a few years ago to allow pedestrians to cross Cortez Road safely. The victim died at the scene and witnesses said emergency technicians worked on him for several minutes before declaring him dead. More...

Viens to stand trial

Lomita, Cal. restaurant owner David Viens, who formerly owned a restaurant in Bradenton Beach, has been ordered to stand trial in the 2009 death of his wife, whose body has never been found. Viens, 47, faces one count of second-degree murder in the death of 39-year-old Dawn Viens, who was last seen Oct. 18, 2009. Viens, had long been a considered a suspect in his wife's disappearance.

In 2011 Viens jumped off a cliff in Rancho Palos Verdes after news reports cited him as a person of interest in the murder Detectives say Viens confessed to his wife's murder from his hospital bed. More...

Results of the Bottle Boat Regatta

Chamber asks for reduced Bayfest lot fee

ANNA MARIA – Commissioners said they want to see profit and expense figures from the AMI Chamber for Bayfest before they decide whether to reduce or waive the fee for use of the six lots at the corner of North Bay Boulevard and Pine Avenue.

In February, commissioners agreed on a fee of $500 if alcohol is not served and $1,000 if it is served. The Chamber asked the city to waive the fee for Bayfest, the annual festival on Pine Avenue in October. More...

Panel nixes parking/dune plan

BRADENTON BEACH – It was a somewhat rowdy hearing for a proposed joint major development application for a dune project and parking lot on land south of the BeachHouse restaurant during a planning and zoning board hearing last week. Following testimony, board members recommended turning down the proposal. Then certain members voiced dissent that they were only a recommending body, and they hoped the city commission, which has the final say, would also vote it down.

The project, which was proposed by BeachHouse owner Ed Chiles, would build a dune system for flood protection on the beach just south of the BeachHouse and there would be a parking lot on the land closer to Gulf Drive. More...

Property managers work on rental issues

ANNA MARIA – About 20 property managers attended a meeting called by Commissioner SueLynn to discuss improving methods to manage and control problems with rentals.

SueLynn has been working with property managers over the past few months to develop a list of Neighborhood Friendly Guidelines and a list of Property Manager Best Practices. More...

Fund-raiser for accident victim

ANNA MARIA – Friends of Georgia Gibbons and her family are coming together for a fund-raiser to help with expenses after the young college student was hit by a car while crossing the road late at night in Tallahassee, where she attends college.

She has been in a coma and doctors are not sure of the extent of her injuries, although they know she suffered brain damage. More...

Police warn of bank scam

The Bradenton Police Department has sent out an alert regarding a scam via text messaging.

A resident recently got a text message that she assumed was from her bank warning that there was a lock on her debit card and she needed to call a number to get it unlocked. When she called the number in the text message, she was asked to provide her full bank account number. She hung up immediately, thinking it was a scam and when she contacted her bank, she was told everything the text message told her was false. Her bank had not contacted her regarding her debit card. More...

Board hears pier and church parking pleas

ANNA MARIA – Commissioners continue to work on resolving parking issues on Pine Avenue that were brought to their attention by members of Roser Church and the city pier leaseholder.

"With our economy, a lot more people are staying closer to home or they are vacationing here, and we don't have the facilities to accommodate all the people who want to come here," said Roger Roark, chair of the congregation of Roser Memorial Community Church. More...

Committees aim to solve rental issues

HOLMES BEACH – City commissioners heading committees designed to solve vacation rental problems have completed their investigations, but took no action at last week's commission meeting.

For several weeks, residents have asked the commission for help with noise, parking and trash problems at vacation rental homes built in residential areas. Some also suggested a building moratorium, which commissioners deferred until the committee reports were in. More...

Island to host Authentic Florida conference

HOLMES BEACH – The first-ever Sustainable Authentic Florida Conference will be held Oct. 17 through 19 on Anna Maria Island, which organizers say personifies authenticity.

"There's something very comforting about Anna Maria Island and Cortez," said Herb Hiller, of the East Coast Greenway Alliance, who requested $25,000 for the event on Monday from the Manatee County Tourist Development Council (TDC), an advisory board to the Manatee County Commission. More...

Holmes Beach Founders Day celebrated

HOLMES BEACH – Once upon a time, not so very long ago, there was a sandy little beach town where doors were always unlocked, peacocks strolled the shell roads and everybody knew everybody else.

That was once Holmes Beach, which celebrated its 62nd anniversary Friday and Saturday, April 13-14, with a two-day festival launched by keynote speaker and native Paulette Webb, a former Holmes Beach city clerk.

Webb’s parents, J.D. “Doc” and Jackie Webb, came to the city in 1953 to visit family, and Doc vowed never to return to the hot, mosquito-ridden wilderness. More...

Captain Justin Moore sails to a first

Chris Estep of central Florida, is a frequent visitor to Anna Maria Island. Estep fishes regularly with Captain Justin Moore, one of Florida's top guides and son of Island icon Captain Scott Moore. Last Tuesday, April 3, after a productive half day of fishing the back waters of Anna Maria Sound, Estep asked Moore about the possibility of heading offshore in search of kingfish and cobia.

Moore obliged, and after working the three mile reef with no success, they headed farther offshore to explore some hard bottom. Limestone outcroppings and ledges in the Gulf are a magnet for baitfish, which, in turn, attract large predators. When they arrived at the location some seven miles off Longboat Pass, Moore spotted a big pod of bait and began fishing the perimeter of the school. More...

Citizens Insurance could affect tourism

Living in paradise isn't always carefree. There's always something trying to implode our flip flop lifestyle. This time it's Citizens Insurance, the state run insurer, again.

With the beginning of hurricane season less than two months away and our annual visitors beginning to dissipate, Citizens Insurance is getting our attention for the second time this year. In February it attempted to introduce surplus lines of insurance into the insurance marketplace as a way to off load policies from Citizens to private insurers. After the heart was cut out of the bill by consumer groups who objected to homeowners not having a say in Citizens moving them to a surplus lines insurers, the bill was put on hold in the Florida House. Now Citizens has come up with another way to improve its bottom line and/or get rid of policies. More...

Commission hears streetscape proposal

HOLMES BEACH – The Holmes Beach Commission encouraged the Holmes Beach Merchants last week to continue working on their plan to revamp the commercial district's streetscape on Marina and Gulf drives.

Located at the heart of Anna Maria Island, Holmes Beach should have a thriving business district like Bridge Street in Bradenton Beach and Pine Avenue in Anna Maria, said Holmes Beach Merchants spokeswoman Amy Welch, who presented the Holmes Beach Commercial District Concept Plan designed by Gary Hoyt, of Sarasota-based Hoyt Architects, who designed Lakewood Ranch Main Street. More...

Seasonal patterns for investors

The passage of time allows us to make observations about seasonal or calendar-based tendencies of price movements in the stock market and other asset classes. Many of these appear to be solid patterns to be followed at first glance, but none are perfect, and all are subject to modification when they become too popular.

One well-known pattern we are approaching is the "Sell in May and go Away" theory. This historical observation correctly observes that the bulk of the stock market's gains are achieved in November through April, and that being invested in May through October yields little gains for the risk assumed. The trouble is that it doesn't work that way each year. More...

Grandmother, granddaughter seek turtles

HOLMES BEACH – It was hard to sleep the night before Anna Maria Island’s sea turtle nesting season unofficially opened last Saturday.

Rising before dawn, first-time Turtle Watch volunteers Tracy Kimpton and her granddaughter, Mara Dunn, 7, headed for Manatee County Public Beach and excitedly began scouring the sand for the tracks of loggerhead sea turtles that might have nested the night before.

Unseasonably warm weather bumped the normal May 1 start of sea turtle up this year, according to Anna Maria Island Turtle Watch and Shorebird Monitoring Director Suzi Fox, who trained Kimpton, Dunn, and other volunteers earlier this month to spot signs of turtle nesting. More...

Read Suzi Fox's Blog - Flipper's and Feathers >>

Close win for Island Sun

The Sun Sports game of the week was the opening contest for the Anna Maria Island Community Center's spring adult co-ed basketball season. The Island Sun team took on the BeachHouse restaurant team to tip-off the season.

The Island Sun team came out with the hot hand in the first half. As a team, it hit eight three-pointers in the first half. Matt Dwyer led the way in scoring that half with 17 points, Nate Coleman added nine, Jonathan Schneider added six, Scott Dell added three and Jason Sato chipped in with two for The Sun, totaling 37 first half points. More...

Go with greens for a tasty meal

Eating healthfully doesn't have to break the bank. I've eaten this way pretty much the past 30 years to dodge a family history of breast cancer that got my mom, aunt and both sisters. Most adults had major heart disease, diabetes, Alzheimer's and arthritis. All this while I still continue to place in 5K races for my age group and did my first marathon two years ago. I was the fifth oldest to finish The Palm Beaches Marathon. More...