ONTHE ISLANDTHIS WEEK

See JULY 4 on PAGE 11

WHAT LIGHT IS TO TH

E EYES - WHAT AIR IS

TO THE LUNGS - LIBE

RTY IS TO THE SOUL O

F MAN.

Vol. 36, No. 27 Boca Grande, Florida Your Locally Owned Weekly Newspaper July 3, 2015

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Stop by The SandBar on Sundayand help Jimmy

STAFF REPORT

STAFF REPORT

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Fundraising for Capt. JimmyRobertson continues on Sun-day, July 5 at The Sand Bar.

There will be a fish fry at 2 p.m., andmore auctions and raffles will be held.There will also be a corn hole tourna-ment.

The cost to get in the fish fry is $12per person. Call (352) 586-0480 withquestions.

All you need toknow about the islands 4th of July

This year, the 4th of July festivi-ties will begin bright and earlyat 10 a.m. on Saturday, July 4,

as all participants in the 3rd annual4th of July golf cart and bicycle paradewill congregate in the parking lot nextto PJs Seagrille.

Decorate as you will, just keep itfestive and 4th of July-ish. Please, nomotorized vehicles in the parade forthe safety of the younger participants.Bring your own water, it will be hot!

Then, at 10 p.m. that night, BocaGrande Marina will sponsor a fire-works extravaganza. Best viewing will

Sheriffs Office topatrol Bike Paththis weekend

The Gasparilla Island Conserva-tion and Improvement Associa-tion (GICIA) encourages

everyone to have a safe 4th of Julycelebration this year. Undoubtedly,there will be increased usage of theGICIA Bike Path over the holidayweekend.

In its ongoing efforts to maintain asafe path for all users, the GICIA hascoordinated with the Lee CountySherriffs Department to run bike pathsafety details throughout the 4th ofJuly weekend.

The GICIAs ability to have thedeputies working the detail over thebusy weekend is possible due to agenerous grant by the Boca GrandeWomans Club.

Even though the island is not asbusy during the summer, we antici-pate increased usage of the Bike Pathover the long holiday weekend, saidDeb Martin, GICIA Bike Path Chair-man.

Summer is a fun time to be in BocaGrande, and the GICIA encourageseveryone to be courteous when utiliz-ing the Bike Path.

It is also important to remember thateven though there may be less trafficin July, it is illegal for anyone underthe age of 14 to operate a golf cart(even under the supervision of anadult).

Please have a wonderful freedomcelebration and be courteous and safewhen using the GICIA Bike Path.During the safety detail, deputies willensure that users are implementingthe following rules of the Bike Path:1. Persons under age 14 are pro-hibited by law from operating golfcarts.2. Electric golf carts must yield toall other path users.3. Gas powered vehicles (includinggas powered golf carts) are prohib-ited from traveling on the bike path. 4. All users of the bike path mustyield to traffic where the path inter-sects with public roads and streets.5. The jogging path is for pedes-trian use only.6. Bicycles and golf carts must ob-serve the 15-mile per hour bikepath speed limit.7. Golf carts operating on the pathafter dark must have adequatehead and taillights.

Intrigue in Australia leads back toFlorida and Boca Grande

Bill Caldwell remem-bers him as astraight-laced,

hard-working fisherman,not as a smuggler and in-ternational fugitive.

The Tampa Bay Timesrecently broke a storyabout a man who died in atraffic accident in Australia,and was revealed to beRay Stansel, wanted forsmuggling marijuana intoFlorida during the 70s.Stansel was living in Aus-tralia under the last nameLafferty and had been reported deadin 1975 in a scuba accident off theHonduras, according to a June 19TBT article.

Law enforcement offi-cials believe Stansel con-tinued to smuggle beforefleeing to Australia, wherehe was known as a muchmore subdued, communityand environmentally-minded individual, said theTampa Bay Times.

That is considerablycloser to the man Caldwelldescribed. He spent thebetter part of his youthworking for Stansel, whostill went by Stansel at the

time. Caldwell met Stanselwhen he was an adoles-

cent with his family in St. Pete, whereStansel lived.

BY JACK SHORT

See INTRIGUE on PAGE 11

Islander Bill Caldwell.

An item stricken from the 2015-2016 Florida budget thatwould have sent $1 million to

the Gasparilla Island State Park con-tained little information about how themoney would have been used, otherthan that it was marked for the as-sessment and evaluation of lands forpurchase inside the optimum parkboundary.

No one else is saying much about iteither, as it turns out.

A representative of the SenateBudget Committee responded to re-

quests for more information but wasunable, in a week, to discover any-thing.

The office of State Senator LizbethBenacquisto, who touted the item be-fore it was vetoed, along with othersearmarked for projects in Lee andCharlotte Counties, in an email to con-stituents, has not returned repeatedrequests for information or comments.

The Florida Department of Environ-mental Protection, who would have re-ceived the entirety of the $1 million

Little information available about $1 million that would have gone toGasparilla Island State Park

Minimum wake expansion proposedby Charlotte MAC

Aproposed minimum-wakezone expansion that began asan effort by a small group of

homeowners has passed its firstmajor hurdle.

The Charlotte County Marine Advi-sory Committee heard presentationsover the last two months from thepublic representing homeowners inBoca Grande North and in housesalong Gulf Shores Drive, as well as

members of the Charlotte CountySheriffs Department, and have rec-ommended an expansion of the mini-mum wake zone in place near thesouthernmost of the three bridgesleading onto Gasparilla.

According to Jason Ouimet, trafficengineering superintendent for Char-lotte County, the minimum wake zoneproposed by the MAC is actually a

BY JACK SHORT

See WAKE on PAGE 13

See $1 MILLION on PAGE 11

BY JACK SHORT

STAFF REPORT

BOCA BEACON - July 3, 2015 Page 13

combination of several proposalsbrought by various groups.

The current minimum wake zoneruns from the west side of the south-ernmost bridge approximately 250meters towards the pass and approxi-mately 50 meters east of that samebridge.

The MACs proposal will include thatzone, but expand it westward to thenorthernmost tip of Gasparilla Islandand include water between the cause-way and the trestles from a pointsouthwest of Gulf Shores Drive to thenorth end of the middle bridge.

The area around Boca GrandeNorth was added at the behest of resi-dents in that development, and thearea underneath the middle bridgewas added at the recommendation ofSgt. Lytle of the CCSD, according toOuimet, who said Lytle worried thatboats speeding through that areawould pose a threat to boaters andswimmers that congregate on theshoal east of the middle bridge.

The length of the zone, from northto south, is approximately 1,300 me-ters.

Ouimet said the area under the sec-ond bridge, because the clearance un-derneath it more than 24 feet, has nofender system, and has a piling spanof more than 100 feet, had to be in-cluded as an expansion of any mini-mum wake zone to the south because

it would not otherwise meet FloridaFish and Wildlife Commission stan-dards.

A minimum wake zone requires thatboaters reduce speed to the absoluteminimum required to navigate safely.

Ouimet said the effort was moti-vated by the need for swimmer andboater safety as well as wildlife pro-tection.

Patrick Bell, who owns a home onthe north shore of Gasparilla Islandnear the south bridge, said he and ap-proximately a half-dozen homeownersmet with commissioner Bill Truex,chair of the Charlotte County Board ofCommissioners, about their concernsapproximately a year ago.

They initially asked for more en-forcement of the existing minimumwake zone, which the county pro-vided, but not for long.

Palmer and Linda Long had said inan interview with the Beacon in 2013that the FWC told them there wasntsufficient documentation of manateeskilled by boat strikes in that area towarrant an expansion of the minimumwake zone.

Representatives of the Fish andWildlife Marine Research Institutehave noted in past, interviews (unre-lated to the proposed expansion) thatit is difficult to know where many man-atee mortalities take place becausethey often keep moving after a strikebut before being discovered or dying.

The Longs and Bell said they ob-served manatees using the channel

frequently. Bell said he observes boats

screaming through the channel thatruns along the north shore of Gaspar-illa where he lives, and fears for thesafety of kayakers, swimmers, andpaddle boarders that use the water.

People take their life in theirhands, he said. Ive seen kayaksoverturned (by wake) and peopleknocked off of boards

He added that the wake is a nui-sance to those with docks and boatsin that area.

Bell said the problem has worsenedsince the new south bridge was com-pleted in 2013 with higher clearancesthat seemed to encourage faster traf-fic.

Then, a few months ago, said Bell,the MAC notified them that commentswere being solicited on the matter.

According to the minutes of theMACs May 14 meeting, some presentspoke against the proposed measure.A man noted therein as Cpt. Blagosaid that there was no problemthere, and that the FWC agreed withhim, and a Mr. Hoffman said, he wasnot in favor of slow speeds for privatedocks, because people would have tobe in the middle of the ocean to get onplane again.

Bell said that most argumentsagainst the minimum wake zone camefrom fishing clubs.

Charlotte Countys legal departmentis drafting the proposal. When com-plete, it will be submitted to FWC for

preliminary approval, then to the Char-lotte County Board of Commissioners,and then again to the FWC for finalapproval, Ouimet said. If it is ap-proved, it will require permits fromother agencies including the Depart-ment of Environmental Protection andthe United States Coast Guard. Heestimated that final legislation couldtake six months to a year before beingenacted.

Ouimet said he was not aware ofany involvement by the Gasparilla Is-land Bridge Authority, which declinedat their recent board meeting to agreeto post any signs related to a mini-mum wake zone on their bridges, say-ing they didnt want to compromise thestructural integrity of the pilings bydrilling anchors into them, and thatthey didnt want to begin a slipperyslope, by approving the request,brought before the board by Bell.

GIBA Executive Director Kathy Ver-rico said that she could not recallwhen the authority was last asked topost a sign on one of its bridges thatwould be visible from the water.

Bell said he was disappointed, butthat they chose not to do that and itstheir right.

He said that additional signs will beput in place in the water if the meas-ure is approved. There are signsposted near the shoreline on whichBoca Grande North sits, but that theyare illegal and that most boaters knowthat and dont pay them any heed.

Wake

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