A waterspout formed west of the Martinique condominiums in the Gulf of Mexico this morning, pictured here behind Island Gallery West in Holmes Beach; a second waterspout briefly formed. Skies have cleared and today’s forecast is partly cloudy and windy with a high of 73.
- Tom Vaught | Sun
- Tom Vaught | Sun
- Tom Vaught | Sun
The red tide is gone! I don’t know anybody that isn’t elated that the most recent harmful algae bloom is absent from local waters. Cross any bridge, look out at the bay and you’ll be convinced that all is well. The water is clear and there are large areas of flats that appear covered with seagrass.
Unfortunately, things are not what they seem. While it’s true that the water in the bay is crystal clear, this same clear water is revealing what may be a “ticking time bomb.” Large areas of Sarasota Bay, even some close to the passes and enjoying daily flushing, are choked with algae. The clear water also affords a look into the bay and my experience over the last few weeks has been discouraging. In areas that are generally flush with mullet, you could sit and count off the minutes without seeing one of the ubiquitous fish jump. There are signs of recovery, as bait enters the bay and mullet are again starting to make an appearance. Still, after dealing with red tide events since the early 80s this is one of the slowest recoveries I can remember.
If there’s a “proverbial” pony anywhere, it’s that people who in the past quickly reverted to the “out of sight, out of mind” school of thought, are asking important questions. When Realtors and developers realize that the price of inaction on water quality incurs a serious cost we may be finally rounding a corner towards awareness.
The first line of defense lies with our local politicians who enact the laws that protect our water, air and land. Let’s not forget that they work for us. Unfortunately, the public, and I include myself, has not been as engaged as they need to be in this decision-making process. Hopefully, that’s changing. Residents of Manatee County need to get behind commissioners who are working to address water quality issues. They are currently tackling the need to establish a dedicated source of funding to improve water quality. Residents are encouraged to learn about this initiative and get involved in assuring that common sense rules, regulations and infrastructure support us economically as well as protecting the quality of life that we enjoy.
Still, with the apparent “new will” and understanding of the problem in Tallahassee, there is resistance to doing the “right thing.” A good example is legislation that Manatee County state Rep. Will Robinson has introduced, with a companion bill by state Sen. Joe Gruders of
Sarasota, to monitor and inspect septic tanks, thought to be a leading problem in water pollution. The bills would require the state health department to identify all onsite systems in the state and compile that information in a database. Beginning in 2022, the bill would require onsite systems to be inspected at least once every five years unless the system is covered by an operating permit.
What appears to be common sense legislation is being intensely lobbied by entities like state restaurant and homeowner associations. The arguments seem to be the same – that the bill would be too expensive and cause economic hardship to the interested parties. What’s missing from this reasoning is the understanding that not addressing these issues will actually be more expensive for those that oppose it, not to mention future generations of Floridians. It’s time that we all take a more proactive role in addressing these critical issues.
More Reel Time:
Reel Time: Innovators – Architects of modern saltwater fly tackle, part 2
Reel Time: Innovators – The architects of modern saltwater fly tackle
ANNA MARIA – The Anna Maria Island Garden Club pulled out all of its members’ showstopper designs for this year’s flower show. The show featured a Hollywood film theme and was held March 20 at Roser Memorial Community Church.
Approximately four dozen members participated in eight different film-themed categories including Breakfast at Tiffany’s, Dirty Dancing, Titanic, Blue Hawaii, Gone With The Wind, The Wizard of Oz, E.T. The Extraterrestrial, and Horticulture. Judges for the event were Jacque Catrone, Bonner Joy, Kelly Kary and Lizzie Vann.
Winners in the Breakfast at Tiffany’s category, a place setting featuring flowers, were Shawn Mayers in third place, Janet Riley in second place and Zan Fuller in first place. In the Dirty Dancing category, featuring arrangements based on the Hogarth Curve S-shaped designs, Sam Krusa came in third, followed by Marilyn Pomeroy in second place and Kathy Goerlitz in third place. Titanic, an underwater design challenge, ended with Lynda Striger in third place, Peggi Clauhs in second place and Fuller in first place.
In the Blue Hawaii tropical flower design competition, Rita Allen came in third place, followed by Dusty Crane in second place and Priscella Sewald in first place.
The Gone With The Wind category found Stevie Coppin in third place with Clauhs in second place and Ginger Huhn taking top honors in first place. In the space-age design E.T. category, Phyllis Hayes came in third with Loretta Esta Brooke in second and Sandra Shea in first place.
The fantastical Wizard of Oz category competition ended with Charlotte Noyes in third place, Striger in second place and Crane in first place. Ending the awards was the Horticulture category with Det O’Brien coming in third place, Striger in second place and Clauhs taking top honors in first place.
After the awards were announced, the public was invited to examine all of the flower show entries and grab a bite to eat at the bake sale table where volunteers sold all sorts of sweets and goodies ranging from breakfast breads and muffins to brownies and cookies. All proceeds from the bake sale and donations go to the many local organizations the garden club supports, including Anna Maria Elementary School, the Holmes Beach Parks and Beautification Committee, The Center of Anna Maria Island, De Soto National Memorial Park, Anna Maria City Pier Park, the Island Library, Friends of the Island Library, Cortez Cultural Center and Annie Silver Community Center, among others.
ANNA MARIA ISLAND – The Manatee County Tax Collector told concerned county commissioners last week that vacation rental owners using Airbnb to rent their local properties online are paying their fair share of tourist tax.
“Tourist tax dollars across all vacation rental platforms, including Airbnb, are being collected and remitted,” Manatee County Tax Collector Ken Burton Jr. told commissioners in a detailed presentation by Burton and his staff.
The report was prompted by a January county commission vote to investigate taking the responsibility for collecting Airbnb tourist taxes away from the tax collector and transferring it to the Florida Department of Revenue (DOR). Commissioners had expressed concern that a 2018 lawsuit that Burton’s office filed against Airbnb to enforce collections was moving too slowly.
The county’s 5 percent tourist tax is collected from owners of accommodations rented for six months or less who charge the tax to their renters, in most cases, tourists. About 50 percent of the tax proceeds are allocated to Bradenton Area Convention and Visitors Bureau tourism marketing efforts, with about 20 percent allocated to beach renourishment and the rest to statutorily-defined uses that benefit tourism.
In 2015, the DOR and Airbnb agreed that Airbnb would collect sales tax from its users in all 67 counties, but would collect tourist tax in only 26 counties, said Michele Shulz, Burton’s director of Field Services and Collections. In the remaining counties, including Manatee, Airbnb rental property owners are on the honor system to remit the 5 percent tourist tax directly to the tax collector.
Burton chose to sue Airbnb rather than sign an agreement that would have required him to waive his ability to audit Airbnb records to identify owners and forced him to discharge past due taxes and penalties owed by Airbnb and all its clients, said the tax collector’s attorney, Janelle Esposito, of the Esposito Law Group.
Entering into such an agreement with Airbnb would violate state law and result in less collection of the tourist tax, she said, adding that the lack of an agreement “does not mean we are not collecting the tax.”
The tax collector has 7,063 vacation rental accounts registered, Shulz said.
Hotels and motels are easy for the tax collector to identify and collect tourist taxes from, but it’s not as easy to determine whether condos (53 percent of the county’s vacation rentals), single family homes (27 percent), multi-family homes, apartments, duplexes, mobile homes, rooms and travel trailers are being rented to vacationers.
Burton’s office uses several methods to uncover vacation rental owners who are dodging the tourist tax, including Harmari, online software that assists in identifying short-term rental properties.
Harmari found that in January in Manatee County, 99.83 percent of vacation rentals using all vacation rental platforms already were registered with the tax collector.
“They only found six new accounts,” Shulz told commissioners.
When Harmari specifically looked at Airbnb rentals on March 1, the program found that 78 percent of Airbnb properties in the county were registered. Out of 210 properties identified, Harmari found 46 unregistered accounts, whose owners have received letters from the tax collector requesting compliance.
If rental property owners do not comply, the tax collector can place a lien on a rental property and garnish income.
“We have a high collection rate,” Shulz said.
Airbnb is growing locally as well as internationally. In 2015, Airbnb accounted for .6 percent of the $11 million in tourist taxes collected in the county, she said. By 2018, Airbnb accounted for 4.2 percent, or about $620,000 of the $14.6 in tourist tax collections.
Airbnb is the second-largest online rental platform used in Manatee County, with about 2,300 properties. The most popular is VRBO, with about 4,750. Flipkey is in third place, with about 2,200, according to the tax collector’s office.
BRADENTON BEACH – Several court filings have been made recently regarding the Sunshine Law lawsuit filed against six former city advisory board members.
On Friday, March 21, one day after deposing City Attorney Ricinda Perry, defendant John Metz’s attorney, Thomas Shults, filed a motion to dismiss Perry as the co-counsel representing the city of Bradenton Beach in the Sunshine Law lawsuit. The filing notes Perry is listed as a witness for the city.
Citing rules regulating the Florida Bar, Shults’ motion to dismiss says, “Ricinda Perry cannot serve both as an advocate at trial for the city and a witness on the city’s behalf.”
Attorney Robert Watrous is the lead attorney for the city of Bradenton Beach and co-plaintiff Jack Clarke in the efforts to determine if six former city board members violated the Florida Sunshine Law in 2017. Perry serves as co-counsel and paralegal Michael Barfield is providing Watrous and Perry with additional legal assistance.
Right after Perry’s March 20 deposition, Watrous said he has not yet decided whether he will call Perry as a witness in the trial currently scheduled to take place in July.
On Friday afternoon, Barfield and Watrous were asked if they thought the motion to dismiss Perry had legal merit.
“We don’t think so. Motions to disqualify one’s counsel is one of the most disfavored motions there is,” Barfield said. “The citizens of Bradenton Beach wisely rejected Mr. Metz as a candidate for elected office. Mr. Metz is free to be frivolous with his own funds, but it’s sad when he wastes taxpayer resources in his personal crusade against the city attorney.”
On March 15, Shults filed a notice of filing return of service of constitutional question on Florida’s Office of the Attorney General. The court document includes a copy of the certified mail receipt sent to Attorney General Pam Bondi in Tallahassee.
On Oct. 10, 2017, Shults previously filed a notice of constitutional question that questions whether the Florida Sunshine Law enacted by the Florida Legislature in 1995 infringes on an individual’s First Amendment rights regarding free speech, assembly, association and petition rights. The 2017 filing also questions whether the Florida Sunshine Law is “vague and overbroad.” The 2017 filing was sent to Bondi’s office when it was filed.
According to Perry and Barfield, representatives of the Attorney General’s Office have expressed interest in potentially joining the city and Clarke as co-plaintiffs in this case.
On March 14, defendant Reed Mapes’ attorney, Jim Dye, filed a motion for withdrawal of counsel informing the 12th Judicial Circuit Court that he would no longer be representing Mapes. On Friday, March 21, Judge Edward Nicholas issued an order approving that request. Mapes now joins Tjet Martin, Patty Shay, Bill Vincent and Rose Vincent as pro se defendants who are representing themselves.
On March 14, Watrous filed notice of taking depositions for defendant Rose Vincent and former CNOBB member Mike Bazzy on May 8, former CNOBB member Carol Harrington and continued deposition for former CNOBB webmaster Michael Harrington on May 14, former CNOBB members Connie Morrow and Janie Robertson on May 20 and former Bradenton Beach Mayor Bill Shearon on May 24.
On March 14, Shults filed a notice of taking depositions for Mayor John Chappie and Commissioner Ralph Cole on May 31, City Planner Alan Garrett on June 12, Building Official Steve Gilbert and Commissioner Jake Spooner on June 13 and Commissioner Marilyn Maro on June 18.
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BRADENTON – Attorney Thomas Shults spent six hours deposing City Attorney Ricinda Perry under oath.
Perry’s videotaped deposition took place Wednesday, March 20 at the Manatee County Judicial Center in Bradenton. The deposition was part of the ongoing pre-trial discovery process in the Sunshine Law lawsuit the city of Bradenton Beach and co-plaintiff Jack Clarke filed in 2017.
Shults spent much of the day posing questions unrelated or distantly related to the city’s efforts to obtain a judge’s ruling as to whether defendants Reed Mapes, Tjet Martin, John Metz, Patty Shay, Bill Vincent and Rose Vincent violated the Florida Sunshine Law while serving on a city advisory board in 2017. At the time, the six defendants were also members of the non-city-affiliated Concerned Neighbors of Bradenton Beach (CNOBB) group.
Among other things, the civil lawsuit alleges the advisory board members violated the Sunshine Law when discussing CNOBB’s potential pursuit of a charter amendment that would prohibit parking garages. The lawsuit complaint states parking garages were previously discussed by the Planning and Zoning Board that included Mapes, Metz, Shay and Bill Vincent and could have foreseeably come before those individuals again in their official capacities.
Shults spent the first 80 minutes questioning Perry about her education, bar exams, electronic communications and role as the city attorney. He spent the next 60 minutes questioning her about the 2018 lawsuit the Keep Our Residential Neighborhoods (KORN) political action committee filed against the city.
The KORN lawsuit was filed after the city commission rejected the group’s request to place four petition-initiated charter amendment questions on the 2018 city ballot. Judge Lon Arend recently ruled the KORN amendments must be placed on a future ballot.
Attorney Robert Watrous, representing the city and Clarke, accused Shults of engaging in discovery for the KORN lawsuit instead of the Sunshine lawsuit. Mapes and Metz served as KORN officers.
Two and a half hours into the deposition, Shults referenced a 2015 Arizona court ruling that may support Metz’s affirmative defense argument questioning whether the Florida Sunshine Law is unconstitutional because it infringes on an individual’s First Amendment right to free speech. Shults also referenced a recent Texas Court of Criminal Appeals ruling that struck down a provision of the Texas Open Meetings Act the court deemed unconstitutionally vague.
“I pay attention to Florida law,” Perry said.
Three hours into the deposition, Shults asked Perry if anyone ever applied for a permit to build a parking garage in Bradenton Beach. Perry said she didn’t know because the city was founded in the 1950s and she has not been the city attorney that entire time.
When asked if anyone applied to build a parking garage during her time as city attorney, Perry said that would be a question for City Planner Alan Garrett or Building Official Steve Gilbert. She noted that in 2016 then-mayor Bill Shearon proposed partnering with Manatee County to build a parking garage near the public works building.
Perry said she reached out to the CNOBB members before the lawsuit was filed and encouraged them to refrain from engaging in discussions that could result in Sunshine violations. She said those efforts included a written appeal to Shearon to take preventative action – a request Shearon didn’t act upon.
Perry also noted CNOBB meeting recordings posted at the CNOBB website were later disposed of by website administrator Michael Harrington, which he acknowledged when deposed under oath.
Shults referenced a recording of the July 25, 2017, CNOBB meeting and asked Perry if she heard Metz use the term “parking garage” when she previously listened to the recording.
“I heard enough to know Mr. Metz participated in a conversation that violated the Sunshine Law,” Perry said.
On that recording, Metz can be heard sharing his thoughts on whether CNOBB should pursue a parking garage prohibition.
“I say that we do and that we put it more that no parking garage built for public paid parking or something like that. It doesn’t matter whether it’s by the municipality or some huge corporation,” Metz said during the July 25 meeting.
Perry said she also heard Mapes and Shay on the recording.
“I know they were talking about city business and taking votes,” she added.
CNOBB ultimately decided not to pursue a parking garage prohibition, but KORN later took up that initiative.
Shults’ last line of questioning pertained to several disputes Metz has had with city officials and city staff.
“When I look at Mr. Metz, I see a man who is probably so unhappy. He’s widowed and has absolutely no relevance as an attorney anymore because he’s not licensed in Florida. He wants some semblance of validity and some purpose to serve. I actually feel very sorry for him,” Perry said.
At 5 p.m., Shults adjourned the deposition and said he would set a date for its continuance. Watrous objected to setting more deposition time for Perry. Shults said he would seek a court order if needed.
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Commission rejects Sunshine lawsuit counteroffer
BRADENTON – Fit Crew Bradenton and Reveal Vitality are forming a partnership which will allow the businesses to offer the next level of health and fitness. By offering professional nutrition counseling through Fit Crew and state-of-the-art scans and diagnostics through Reveal, the companies are able to better serve their clients and help them reach their health goals in a cost-effective, time-efficient and convenient manner.
“We have shared a passion for health and fitness for over nine years as well as the belief that most chronic illnesses stem from a lack of education regarding proper nutrition,” Reveal Vitality Founder Christopher Davis said. “After seeing that we had multiple mutual clients in our respective businesses, we recognized the incredible potential to truly elevate the health of our clients by combining our services.”
Currently, the partnership includes nutrition counseling, personal training, DEXA body composition and visceral fat measurement, circumference measurements, VO2 max and metabolic rate assessment, IV nutrient therapy, Ketone level measurement, and hormone balance evaluation and treatment. The businesses offer more comprehensive solutions to chronic health concerns and issues and allow individuals to enjoy optimal health without many of the current medications that are prescribed to treat symptoms rather than underlying root causes.
For more information about the partnership and upcoming public seminars – or to schedule an appointment – please email info@fitcrewbradenton.com or info@revealvitality.com or visit them online.
Reveal Vitality is a wellness and functional medicine practice with the mission of educating and empowering every individual to live a life of optimal health and wellness through nutrition, education, hormone balance, fitness and permanent weight control programs.
Reveal was founded by Davis, a triple board-certified integrative interventional cardiologist with a passion for educating and empowering individuals to take control of their own health by teaching simple lifestyle changes that have been overlooked by our medical establishment for years. He firmly believes that our bodies were designed to heal themselves given the proper nutrition.
Operating since 2010, Fit Crew is the collaborative effort of Niels Renzenbrink and Andrew Terman. Located at 608 19th Ave. W., Fit Crew is the largest independently-owned gym in Bradenton and offers a wide variety of group classes such as HIIT interval training, strength and conditioning, cardio, stretching, Olympic weightlifting, and youth classes – as well as personal training and nutrition counseling.
Technology has done as much to change the real estate industry as Henry Ford did to change the production of automobiles. However, where Henry Ford brought the cost of cars way down with his technology, the real estate industry hasn’t adjusted their fees. But before every real estate broker within 50 miles of Anna Maria Island starts calling me, let me give you the pros and cons of this debate.
Yes, it’s true that house hunters can go online and see virtually every house on the market in their chosen area. It’s also true that buyers frequently call brokers after they have sifted through the online housing inventory and are ready to get inside the property. And yes, it’s also true that brokers are saving a lot on gasoline by not driving customers around for days on end as we all did years ago. But none of this tells the real story.
Let’s start with selling your home and determining a listing price. It’s pretty easy to gather a bunch of comparable properties that have sold in your area from realtor websites and county records, but are they really comparable? You haven’t been inside these properties, so you don’t really know how they compare. Active local brokers have been in a lot of closed properties and they have the ability to analyze selling prices and recommend where your house should be listed. If your house sells fast because it was priced correctly, you’ll quickly forget about the real estate commission.
How about showing your home. Do you want to field calls and schedule appointments with buyers who may not be qualified financially or who may just be kicking tires? And don’t dismiss the importance of negotiating once a buyer comes forward with an offer. No matter how successful you are in your business life, negotiating real estate offers are a different animal, the element of emotions when you’re negotiating on your own home can’t be overstated.
Finally, here in Florida, it’s not uncommon to be selling to an out of state or out of country buyer. Navigating the details of these transactions can be tricky unless you have someone who has been through it. Not to mention selling a property from out of state that needs to be cleaned out and ready for sale, another job that Florida brokers are set up to do.
What about buyers, why do they need to call a broker after they’ve done all the work on their smartphones. If you’re sitting in New Jersey in February looking at beach properties on Anna Maria Island they all look great. You really need the advice of a local broker to educate you especially in a specialized area like Anna Maria Island.
Are you relocating permanently and need advice about schools, are you buying a second home and need advice about rental possibilities, or do you simply want to know the quality of the restaurants in the area? All of this, the really important and the really not so important is where someone with years of local knowledge becomes crucial.
I love the real estate technology available to everyone today, I love that you can see every property that’s on the MLS, but this technology has been around for about 10 years and real estate professionals are still going strong. There must be some reason, maybe the brokers just decided to get out of their cars and realigned their priorities. Just like Henry Ford, technology is meant to enhance not replace.
More Castles in the Sand:
Budweiser Brewery’s signature advertising logo – a bright red wagon with brass accessories pulled by a team of husky Clydesdale horses – visited Anna Maria Island this afternoon at the invitation of local legend, Duffy’s Tavern.
Co-owner Peggy Davenport, daughter of Duffy’s founder Pat Geyer, rode on the wagon as it moved slowly through the high season traffic between Holmes Beach City Hall Park and Duffy’s. Davenport said she had been trying to get the team of horses out to Duffy’s for years.
The team is one of three the brewery has, each one in a certain region of the country. The song Budweiser uses in its ads played from a red truck that carried the wagon and horses as a team member explained how they take care of each of the eight one-ton horses as a large crowd of locals and Island visitors admired the animals. As sightseers used their cell phones to capture the moment, the Budweiser team showed Davenport what it means when they say “This Bud’s for you.”
- Tom Vaught | Sun
- Tom Vaught | Sun
- Tom Vaught | Sun
- Tom Vaught | Sun
Tom Vaught | Sun
BRADENTON – When Chief Tom Sousa retires from the district in October, West Manatee Fire Rescue will have a new chief in Battalion Chief Ben Rigney.
When Sousa announced his early retirement from the district, board members decided to open the position first to internal candidates before considering allowing non-district employees to apply. Out of that first round of searching, one internal candidate emerged – Battalion Chief Ben Rigney. During a March 19 meeting, commissioners voted unanimously in favor of appointing Rigney as Sousa’s successor as fire chief, contingent upon contract negotiations with board Chair David Bishop. The terms of the contract will be brought before the board at a future meeting.
Commissioner Larry Jennis, who headed the selection committee, recommended the board do away with the final phase of the application process, presenting a short oral presentation to the board. Jennis said that with Rigney having already presented to the board numerous times there was no reason to ask him to do it again, something his fellow commissioners agreed with.
Rigney’s appointment to the fire chief position will be effective upon Sousa’s retirement, expected Oct. 17.
Commissioner Randy Cooper said he feels that Rigney is well qualified for the position and has good ideas to move the district forward in the future. “I’m looking forward to working with him,” he said.
“I think he’ll make a fine chief,” Commissioner George Harris said.
“I’m very pleased with the candidate,” Commissioner Al Robinson said.
For his part, Sousa said he’s very pleased with the choice of Rigney as his successor. “The district’s in great hands so everything’s going to work out great,” he said.
“I’m very excited,” Rigney said of the opportunity to be WMFR’s chief. “I’m very excited to work with the district and to further the goals of the missions of the department.”
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HOLMES BEACH – If you were green with envy on St. Patrick’s Day, it’s only because you weren’t at the Island’s annual Beach Bistro St. Patrick’s Day Parade.
The parade stretched from the intersection of Gulf and Marina Drives to Palm Drive. The festivities brought out hundreds of people who crowded in along the sidewalks to get a glimpse of this year’s participants, ranging from pirates and conquistadors to locals dressed in their leprechaun green best and a few live animals trotting down the parade route.
A lone bagpiper kicked off the parade along with Holmes Beach Police Chief Bill Tokajer who led the parade with flashing lights and tossing beads to the crowd.
Several local bands participated, including the marching bands from Southeast High School, Rowlett Middle Academy and Lee Magnet Middle School. A New Orleans-style jazz band greeted with cheers along with a team of bagpipers, though the star was a little drummer boy playing along with the Lion Rampant Pipe and Drum.
The biggest roars from the crowd undoubtedly came when the area’s pirate crewes came on the scene. The Anna Maria Island Privateers led the pirate charge into the parade aboard the SkullyWag landbound pirate ship followed by the DeSoto crew of conquistadors from the Hernando DeSoto Historical Society, who closed out the parade on the San Cristobal landbound ship.
As usual, the parade was put on and sponsored by local restaurateur Sean Murphy.
Kristin Swain | Sun
Mike Field | Sun
Mike Field | Sun
Kristin Swain | Sun
Kristin Swain | Sun
Kristin Swain | Sun
Kristin Swain | Sun
Mike Field | Sun
Kristin Swain | Sun
Kristin Swain | Sun
Kristin Swain | Sun
Kristin Swain | Sun
Kristin Swain | Sun
Kristin Swain | Sun
Kristin Swain | Sun
ANNA MARIA ISLAND – The 26th Annual Tour of Homes was so popular that attendees sometimes found themselves waiting for up to 10 minutes to enter one of the four beautiful Island homes featured on this year’s tour.
Attendees were graciously greeted in each home by volunteers who had stories to tell, highlighting the unique aspects of each area of the homes.
At the Willow House, the talk centered on the home’s unique paint colors, many of which attendees were marking down for redecoration of their own homes. The Willow House is the only one on the tour that was not inhabited. The four-bedroom home was designed by Beacon Home Designs, built last year by Moss Builders and is for sale through Gulf Bay Realty.
A favorite home on the tour was the Horne Home in Holmes Beach. The house, previously owned by Ann Horne to whom this year’s tour was dedicated, was opened by the family especially for the event. The beachfront cottage features woodgrain ceramic floors with no thresholds between rooms, handmade oyster shell wall sconces created from shells collected at Anna Maria Oyster Bar, owned by Ann’s son John, and nautical touches throughout.
“That’s my favorite one,” one attendee said as she exited the property.
The beachfront Fangmeyer Home in Holmes Beach also was a favorite, featuring beautiful Gulf of Mexico views from almost every room. The 14-year-old house was painstakingly decorated under the discerning eye of owner Belle Fangmeyer. European touches lend an understated elegance to each room in muted colors and beautifully carved furniture and décor pieces. The smell of fresh flowers followed attendees through each of the three bedrooms, floating through open windows on the sea breeze. Dan and Belle Fangmeyer purchased the home in 2017.
One of the homes that attendees said they were most excited to see was the Kerschner Home on Key Royale. Owner Kathy Kerschner said the home was “a labor of love” for herself and husband Dan. The couple carefully created the home with the help of local architect Gene Aubry and Shoreline Builders to reflect their personal style and showcase the work of local artists, including their latest acquisition, an original by painter Robert Johnson. Gorgeous views of the bay greeted visitors on one side of the house where the owners can view the sunrise. On the other side of the home, balconies adorn each room to allow for views of the sunset each evening. One of a kind light fixtures and chandeliers featuring glass artwork from Israel twinkle throughout the house. Handcrafted woodwork also is displayed throughout the first floor including the dining table created from a 100-year-old piece of sinker cypress and the Camphour wood countertop in the powder room created by Greg.
The final stop on the tour was The Center of Anna Maria Island’s Bazaar and the Tropical Treasures Boutique, sponsored by Duncan Real Estate. At the Center, attendees were treated to refreshments by Cupcake Delights and The Traveling Gourmet, local artwork in the silent auction and for sale in the Boutique, and items available from local vendors in the Bazaar. The quilt, created by the Eyeland Needlers for the event, also was on display with raffle tickets available for purchase. This year’s quilt was sponsored by Green Real Estate. The Ugly Grouper was the music sponsor for the Tour of Homes.
Kerschner said the home was “a labor of love” for herself and husband Dan. The couple carefully created the home with the help of local architect Gene Aubry and Shoreline Builders to reflect their personal style and showcase the work of local artists, including their latest acquisition, an original by painter Robert Johnson. Gorgeous views of the bay greeted visitors on one side of the house where the owners can view the sunrise. On the other side of the home, balconies adorn each room to allow for views of the sunset each evening. One of a kind light fixtures and chandeliers featuring glass artwork from Israel twinkle throughout the house. Handcrafted woodwork also is displayed throughout the first floor including the dining table created from a 100-year-old piece of sinker cypress and the Camphour wood countertop in the powder room created by Greg.
The final stop on the tour was The Center of Anna Maria Island’s Bazaar and the Tropical Treasures Boutique, sponsored by Duncan Real Estate. At the Center, attendees were treated to refreshments by Cupcake Delights and The Traveling Gourmet, local artwork in the silent auction and for sale in the Boutique, and items available from local vendors in the Bazaar. The quilt, created by the Eyeland Needlers for the event, also was on display with raffle tickets available for purchase. This year’s quilt was sponsored by Green Real Estate. The Ugly Grouper was the music sponsor for the Tour of Homes.
The Kerchner Home's main living area. - Kristin Swain | Sun
The Kerschner Home's kitchen, featuring an heirloom dining table. - Kristin Swain | Sun
The kitchen at the Willow House. - Kristin Swain | Sun
The Willow House. - Kristin Swain | Sun
The entry way at the Willow House. - Kristin Swain | Sun
The dining area in the Willow House. - Kristin Swain | Sun
Owner Greg Kerschner shows off a dining table created from a single piece of sunken cypress. - Kristin Swain | Sun
The chandelier in the entryway at the Kerschner Home. - Kristin Swain | Sun
Attendees line up to enter the Kerschner Home on Key Royale. - Kristin Swain | Sun
A ceramic iguana relaxes poolside at the Kerschner Home. - Kristin Swain | Sun
Volunteer Diane Phinney readies to drive attendees to the next house. - Kristin Swain | Sun
A bedroom in the Willow House. - Kristin Swain | Sun
A guest bathroom in the Kerschner Home. - Kristin Swain | Sun
A handmade oyster shell wall sconce in the Horne Home. - Kristin Swain | Sun
A memory board highlighting the Horne family. - Kristin Swain | Sun
The Horne Home's living area. - Kristin Swain | Sun
The kitchen in the Horne Home. - Kristin Swain | Sun
The Horne Home. - Kristin Swain | Sun
One of a kind pieces of artwork were available in the silent auction. - Kristin Swain | Sun
Attendees check out the unique offerings at the Tropical Treasures Boutique. - Kristin Swain | Sun
A beautifully carved mirror in one of the bedrooms at the Fangmeyer Home. - Kristin Swain | Sun
The Fangmeyer Home. - Kristin Swain | Sun
The Fangmeyer Home's French countryside inspired kitchen. - Kristin Swain | Sun
A living area in the Fangmeyer Home. - Kristin Swain | Sun
Attendees buy raffle tickets for the Tour of Homes quilt. - Kristin Swain | Sun
Belle Fangmeyer greets guests at her home. - Kristin Swain | Sun
PERICO ISLAND – You’ll soon be able to waste away in Margaritaville in a new way at One Particular Harbour.
The first ever Compass hotel is coming to the newly opened marina at One Particular Harbour. Representatives from Floridays Development Company, Minto Communities, Margaritaville Holdings and Compass came together at the site March 15 for a groundbreaking ceremony complete with stilt walkers, a steel drum player and gold shovels. The six-story, 123-room hotel is planned to open in early 2020 and feature a free-standing Floridays Restaurant and Grill that will be open to the public.
“This is a watershed day for us at Margaritaville, it really is. We couldn’t be more excited about launching the Compass brand. If you want to know what Margaritaville really all is about, all you have to do it turn around and look, so that’s a perfect place for our first Compass,” said John Cohlan, chief executive officer of Margaritaville Holdings.
Rooms are planned to feature modern, nature-inspired designs with Margaritaville’s signature bedding, oversized bathrooms with rainfall showers, smart television and luxury onsite amenities. While staying at the hotel, guests can enjoy a daily breakfast buffet, cocktail happy hour, high-speed wi-fi and an outdoor pool area overlooking the marina.
One Particular Harbour is a condominium development and deepwater marina located within the Harbour Isle development on the northwest side of Manatee Avenue on Perico Island. The development features waterfront homes overlooking Anna Maria Sound. For more information, visit the sales center located at the front of the development at 12300 Manatee Ave. W. or go online to Minto’s website.
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With the close of youth flag football, all of the focus is on adult flag football and adult volleyball. The hardcourt saw week five regular-season action with team Freckled Fin paired up against team ACE Hardware.
Freckled Fin dominated the first game with a strong service game by Sean McCarthy and perfect sets by John Coleman and Colleen McCarthy. Teammate Nate Talucci shut down long rallies with perfect placement over the net time and time again.
Mackenzie Kosfeld showed her volleyball talents along with Jenna Duvall for ACE Hardware. Finding their groove in the first game, after some long strikes and miss-hits, Team ACE Hardware fought the good fight in the second game, leading most of the battle to take the win.
To start the second game, Duvall was in the service area and immediately put four points on the scoreboard with her serving prowess.
The scoring stayed tight the entire game where mistakes made the difference. Another miss-hit by ACE Hardware gave Freckled Fin’s Oskar Coba the scoring opportunity taking the score to 20-16.
In turn, the perfect serve by Kosfeld resulted in a long return by Coba.
To end the second game of the night, ACE’s perfect serve could not be returned by Coleman, taking the match to the third and final game.
Rally scoring in the league lends itself to lots of volleyball action on Tuesday nights at The Center. In the tiebreaking game, first to 15 wins.
The final game was close with great play on both sides of the net. Freckled Fin’s Mike Kaleta and Susie Quinby provided much-needed team support and strong hits. The ACE Hardware team just got a little too far behind to make the comeback they needed to take the match, losing by five points.
The playoff and championship games are scheduled for Tuesday, March 26 starting at 6:30 p.m.
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Many of us take the tackle we fish with for granted, but it wasn’t long ago that anglers didn’t have the choices we have today. In the early days of saltwater fly fishing, there were no pre-made rods available, anglers had wrapping machines and would build their own rods from blanks made by US Fiberglass. Lefty Kreh and Flip Pallot remember how they would take a blank, wrap the guides, glue the individual cork rings, turn and sand them on lathes and head to the street to try them out. It was a common practice to make a few casts, find the rod too whippy or a guide that trapped line, and immediately break them apart and rebuild them. By constantly experimenting with different guides, blanks, and other components, they essentially advanced the technology of rod building. Many of the spin and plug casting rods they also built gave them ideas that they incorporated into fly rods. Companies like Shakespeare and Fenwick were aware of these pioneering anglers, who competed for 12 months of the year and had representatives like Ben Hardesty work closely with them, making the new innovations in rod design available to a larger angling public.
Fly reels were also very basic and required constant refinements to handle the rigors of the salt. The Pflueger Medalist, Taurus, Hardy, Zenith and Rogue reels of the day required anglers to modify the inadequate drags and spools to fight and land the big fish they encountered. Some had metal drags (Rogue), while others used clickers (Hardy) and had drag adjustments in the handles (Taurus and Rogue). One of the solutions they discovered was to use greases with different viscosities on the center post of a reel in order to defeat the friction and subsequent heat developed when fighting big fish. Never Seize, used on the shafts of a ship’s propeller, was one of the products Kreh remembers using. Pallot recalls the automotive product STP having the perfect viscosity, with the addition of a few drops of gasoline. Time and time again it would be an angler from one of the fly clubs (fishing for a MET record) that would come up with an innovation that would advance the sport. One of the fishermen’s favorite gathering places, where many of the new ideas were discussed, was Mel Shapiro’s fly shop on Bird Road in South Miami.
Fly lines of the day had advanced from the days when they were spun by hand from horsehair in a Cortland factory. The invention of nylon created stronger tapered lines that were coated with PVC. By 1954, Leon Martuch (Scientific Anglers) had patented a device to vary the coating on level fly line cores and followed with the addition of micro-balloons in the early 60s which allowed the line to float.
A big problem for fly anglers was finding a fly line to match to their rods and reels. At the time, lines were not standardized. Fly anglers had to own many different lines for the various species they targeted. Cortland, Shakespeare, and Sunset all made lines the anglers used but in those days, there was no rhyme or reason to the weights and tapers. Myron Gregory, a leading tournament fly caster from San Francisco, was responsible for suggesting a standardized system. He recommended using numbers to determine line size instead of the confusing line lettering system that was in use at the time. Lefty remembers the long passionate letters Gregory would write to him, Pallot, Ted Trueblood, Al McLane and others, extolling the virtues of a line system. He also marshaled the outdoor writers of the time to pressure the line and rod manufacturers to adopt the system. Gregory was a true pioneer and one of the first anglers Lefty remembers who used a shooting head. At the time, fly anglers could never just take a fly line from the package and fish with it. Every line available had to be modified to the particular use for which it was intended. Anglers would make the heads and tapers longer or shorter, and splice in different size running lines. Pallot remembers that at the time, all running lines, despite the fly line size, were standardized. In order to create the line he preferred, he would splice a product called “Amnesia” to the line. At that time all monofilament line, according to Lefty, was as kinky as a coil spring. “Amnesia,” which had less memory, could be stretched and straightened into an effective running line.
In the early 60s, Pallot and his friends would fish for tarpon off the bridges in the Keys. In those days, as today, the fish would lie in the shadow lines and wait for food to be swept to them by the tide. The big difference was that it wasn’t uncommon for tarpon to swim 20 feet to inhale one of the “chicken feather” creations the anglers cast. Because they lost so many fly lines to the bridge fenders, Pallot and his angling buddies would create their own lines. They would stretch 500-pound monofilament line beside a G2AF fly line and sand in the taper with Emory cloth. At the time they didn’t realize that it was the weight of the line as well as the taper that really mattered. As always, they innovated with the materials they had on hand.
While technology played a big role in the advancement of fly tackle and techniques from the 1950s to the present, it was the often-unheralded competitive anglers that spurred the creation of the tackle we enjoy today. Modern saltwater fly anglers owe a debt of gratitude to Kreh, Pallot and the men and women who continue to add to our collective knowledge. The next time you make a successful cast to a school of tarpon you’ll have a new appreciation for the line that effortlessly unrolls into the twenty-knot wind, the silky smooth drag and the bend of the rod as the line rooster-tails to the horizon.
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