Coastal Breeze News

Visitation to Collier County’s Paradise Coast rose 9.9% in June 2011 over June 2010, the fifth straight month of year-over-year increases. Those visitors also spent more. Direct spending by 115,800 visitors in June totaled $60,304,000, an 11.1% increase over the previous June. The Naples, Marco Island, Everglades Convention and Visitors Bureau’s preliminary June report shows increased visitation from all of the area’s key feeder markets. Canada showed the most growth, with a 27% increase, followed by the Northeast with a 15.5% increase and Europe, with an increase of 14.8%. “Our Paradise Coast spring/summer destination marketing campaign has proven to be ... Read More »

Collier County Domestic Animal Services impounded 49 dogs today surrendered by a local breeder because of a foreclosure proceeding on his property resulting in an eviction. The 20 adult dogs and 29 puppies are all golden retrievers and Labradors. Humane Society Naples is accepting four mothers with litters and five puppies – a total of 33 dogs. The balance of the adult dogs (16 in all) will be housed at DAS’s Immokalee shelter facility, pending a full health assessment. Collier Spay Neuter Clinic has agreed to surgically sterilize all the healthy adults next week, and an adoption event is being ... Read More »

Statistics for Marco Island only properties, from the Marco Island Area Association of Realtors® Multiple Listing Service, continue to show high sales activity. Pending listings, all property types, are up in the quarter-to-quarter comparison (April – June 2010 to April – June 2011) by 30.65% and up in the year-to-year comparison (June 2010 to June 2011) by 25.81%. Total all property types closed (Marco Island only) is up by 18.11% in the April – June 2010 to April – June 2011 comparison and up by 38.89% in the January – March 2011 to April – June 2011 comparison. In the ... Read More »

The talented kittens at For the Love of Cats, the no-kill shelter on Marco Island, are adding their own exhibition of original art to the Art Walk Event held at the Artist Colony in the Esplanade on Wednesday, July 27th from 5 pm to 8 pm. Formerly “starving artists,” the kittens had lots of fun and treats while they put their paw prints to canvas creating colorful acrylic paintings that will be for sale along with note cards created from their works. Each painting is a signed original and several of the kitten artists will be attending to help promote ... Read More »

From the Marco Island Chamber of Commerce July 21, 2011 Sandpoint, Idaho has been chosen as “Most Beautiful” small town in America. It’s great to have participated and recognized for what we all know…..we live in one of the most beautiful places in The USA!  Click here for the full announcement of all the winners: Announcement: Best of The Road Below is the link for uploading reviews and photos. Although the actual voting is long over, you can still submit a review and upload a picture if you wish. Click here:Reviews of Marco Island We expect there will be a lot of ... Read More »

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Retiring Police Chief Thom Carr neatly summarized his view of law enforcement: “This isn’t a job; it’s a profession.” Those few words succinctly characterize a career of remarkable breadth and depth. When Thom was 20, he enlisted in the United States Army, graduated from Officer Candidate School and Flight School, and became a helicopter pilot with the distinguished First Cavalry. He served honorably in Vietnam and collected a trunk load of medals by the time he left the military in 1972. Thom went on to complete his formal education, earning a Bachelor in Science degree from Indiana University. He became ... Read More »

By Danielle Dodder Like so many families, Debbie Stute moved to Marco to give her kids what she felt was the best education in the county. She expected her daughter to transition painlessly from 5th grade at Tommie Barfield Elementary to Marco Island Charter Middle. Instead, what she learned was that her daughter was now 17th on a waiting list to get in. “I moved here so my kids could go to school here, we’re working more to pay the higher rent. And now, to get bumped, it’s not fair. There’s never been a waiting list. There are 132 spots ... Read More »

Camera, Lights, ACTION! Have you ever wanted to be in a music video? For most young people, the answer would be a resounding YES! On Saturday, students attending Marco Island Academy and their friends, had an opportunity to be in a music video being produced for the school. Mark Haffner, who is a talented composer, producer, director and writer, is leading the school’s multimedia curriculum. The idea, derived last spring, was to develop a theme song for the school, one that shows how the school can break the mold traditional schools. Mark wrote the music for the video, auditioned bands ... Read More »

By Danielle Dodder Marco City Council meets again July 18, and summer sessions for city council mark what Chair Jerry Gibson terms the ‘meat and potatoes’ of council responsibilities.  His terminology may be prosaic, but the goals that the council should accomplish between now and the end of September involve hotly contested issues that impact nearly all of Marco’s residents: finalizing the city’s budget, setting the millage rate (the amount of property tax the city charges separately from Collier County) and addressing water rates. Gibson hopes we’ll be paying attention, saying his objective, and that of his colleagues, is to ... Read More »

By Danielle Dodder “I don’t know about you, but I want educated kids in charge of our future!”  Guarding children as a precious resource for the future is an over-used but rarely acted on notion that Marco Island Academy’s counselor Deborah Eby wants to make real for her students. Eby is a native of New York State and earned her Master’s in Counselor’s Education in 2002 from SUNY Brockport. Although she and her husband have grown children, it was the toddler they lost at age three to a heart condition who left Eby with the legacy of making sure other ... Read More »

Early Sunday morning on July 10th, two houses in Everglades City burned down. They were located in a development called Club Everglades on an island in the middle of the Barron River. Firefighters from the Ochopee Fire District had to travel by boat to get their equipment on the scene. All that is left of the first house is a pile of debris and a metal roof. The fire also ignited the house to the left which is now just a burned out shell. Fortunately the house on the right side only lost its exterior siding. The damage can only ... Read More »

Coastal Breeze News hopes to bring readers the City of Marco Island Council Meeting agendas on a regular basis. Some agenda items may include a short description to clarify the topic. Affected residents are urged to be informed of the issues and take part in their city government. Upcoming City Council Agenda July 18th, 5:30 pm  Regular Meeting held at the Community Room at 51 Bald Eagle Drive. Roll Call Pledge of Allegiance Approval of Agenda Presentations a. Police and Fire Youth Academy Awards Consent Agenda a. Council Minutes for June 20th (Regular Meeting). b. Appointment to Beach Advisory Committee. ... Read More »

By Donna Fiala Many of you might remember when PBA flew charters for the Marriott into the Marco Airport.  Some of those charters were for trips to and from Tallahassee. Some were even charters for the Florida Association of Counties to come to our fine county to hold their conventions and meetings. I was working at PBA, and at that time I learned about the FAC and what they do for the counties in Florida. I learned that they lobbied for the counties when the Legislature was considering Bills that might not be beneficial to the counties. They have intervened ... Read More »

By Monte Lazarus There’s an old adage that, as people live and age together, they begin to look and act alike; there’s a newer one that people and their dogs begin to act and look alike. I believe that people and their cars begin to look alike. As time goes by it’s easy to recognize which person belongs to which car…yes, I believe we have become servants of our automobiles. Many people I know well take their cars to mechanics much more often than they take their bodies and teeth to doctors and dentists. Indeed, if I had the power, ... Read More »

Ever go into Subway to get your $5 footlong sub and find you’re magically transported to a bistro in Italy? Well, it doesn’t really happen quite like that, but having the Sons of Italy serenade you while waiting for your sub certainly makes you feel special! In fact, it’s exactly what Nancy Santucci was trying to achieve when the Sons of Italy pulled out their instruments and began playing. “We have great customers, and we just wanted to say thank you to them for being so great! They’re wonderful musicians and hopefully the customers enjoyed their short time here” The ... Read More »

By Natalie Strom One of the most popular things to do for young girls on tropical vacations is to have braids and beads strung through their hair.  No one on Marco Island knows this better than Heidi Esala. Ms. Esala has transformed the braiding industry on Marco Island. The success of her braiding company, Knot Head Tropical Braiding, helped her to begin two other company ventures. Both new ventures have also thrived under Heidi’s ownership. Originally from Minnesota, Heidi developed her braiding skills at a young age. As a teen she learned to braid horses at a horseback riding academy. ... Read More »

Walt Tucker turned 90 this year.  In honor of this special event, his children and their families got together for a family reunion. Coastal Breeze News featured Walt in a Salute to Veterans last year, as a survivor of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. Eleven of Walt and Sue’s fifteen children came to honor him. They came from all over the United States; California, Illinois, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Colorado, Texas, Arizona and other parts of Florida. All in all, about 38 members of Walt’s family came for the festivities which not only included Walt’s birthday and Father’s Day, it ... Read More »

By Vince Kiernan and CBN staff It was Christmas Eve, 1954 when Vince Kiernan arrived in South Korea on Paengnyong Island which is about 200 kilometers Northwest of Inchon in the Yellow Sea. The island bordered the famous 38th parallel and they could see communist North Korea with mainland China less than 300 kilometers to the North. Needless to say, their geographic position was tenuous at best should hostilities resume. The Korean conflict had taken a breather after three years of fighting and peace talks were going on at Panmunjom. History had shown the Korean peninsula to be a battleground ... Read More »

By Craig Woodward If you are a frequent reader of this column you know that the last issue mentioned how Lostman’s Key and River were named. That information piqued my interest into researching this story and finding out more of the details. It turns out that the villain in the story was a notorious character in Southwest Florida around the late 1800s. Captain Jocelyn (also sometimes spelled Joselyn) was described in 1875 as having “fame in Florida rivaling that of the most bloodthirsty pirate of the China Seas.” While he claimed to be an Englishman from Plymouth, the locals believed ... Read More »