Coastal Breeze News

By Natalie Strom [email protected] In honor of the Second Annual National Everglades Day, April 6th, Rookery Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve (RBNERR) was ready to throw a party. Just last year the date was chosen as it is the birthday of Marjorie Stoneman Douglas, a champion of the Everglades, known best for her book, “The Everglades: River of Grass.” She was at the forefront of the fight towards redefining the Everglades as a treasured river rather than a useless swamp. Much has been learned about “The River of Grass” since Douglas wrote the book in 1947, but the devastation to ... Read More »

By Jane A. Marlowe Marco Island joined thousands of communities all around the country on April 13th in launching Relay For Life, one of the most successful and recognized events in American Cancer Society’s history. Ken Hobson, MC for the two-day Relay, welcomed survivors, volunteers and supporters to the opening ceremonies which began with Marva Sutt singing The Star Spangled Banner. Raul Medina of Suntrust Bank and Chair of Relay-Marco Island, described the phenomenal growth of Relay since its inception in 1985. More than four billion dollars has been raised worldwide, “to support the American Cancer Society’s mission to Save ... Read More »

By Julia Barnett April is National Poetry Month, and Big Cypress National Preserve is celebrating by hosting its first annual poetry contest. Accepting submissions now through April 15th, the park encourages participants to visit the preserve and write about their experiences there. Big Cypress National Preserve is one of the United States National Parks, open to the public 24 hours a day. It is comprised of freshwater, and is a watershed to Everglades National Park. Set aside in 1974, it was named Big Cypress in reference to the large size of the area, and the expanses of cypress strands within ... Read More »

The unique ecology that is Fakahatchee Strand Preserve State Park is located about 45 minutes from Marco Island. It is a linear swamp forest of about 80,000 acres, which translates to approximately 20 miles long and 5 miles wide. Although it is a part of the state park system, it is actually a state nature preserve and thus, more highly preserved and regulated than a park. It is the largest state park in Florida; larger than the next three combined Loosely defined, a strand means a moving body of water. Fakahatchee is truly Florida wilderness. In 1913, the area was ... Read More »

By Nancy Richie To celebrate the upcoming 43rd Earth Day (April 22, 2013), the 6th Annual City of Marco Island Amateur Native Wildlife Photo contest is open for entries. The Coastal Breeze News is again sponsoring this contest and will publish winning photos in its May 3rd, 2013 edition. There will be one winning photo in each of the four categories offered. The City of Marco Island City Council will recognize the winning photographers at the regularly scheduled May 6th City Council meeting. This year, the contest began on March 18th and will be open for submittals of photos through ... Read More »

Dr. Doug Caldwell of the University of Florida will offer a presentation on the whitefly infestation on Marco Island Wednesday, April 10th at 2 PM. The workshop is sponsored by the City of Marco Island, UF-IFAS, Affordable Landscaping and Arborjet, Inc., and will be held at the Community Meeting Room at 51 Bald Eagle Drive. The Rugose Spiraling Whitefly has been a problem for shrubs and trees on Marco Island, producing white wax on the under side of leaves and fronds, then excreting large amounts of sugary honeydew, on which the unsightly black, sooty mold grows. The infestation is throughout ... Read More »

The Marco Island Historical Museum is thrilled to host South Florida: A Villager’s View, oil paintings from Tara O’Neill on display from April 3, 2013 to June 27, 2013. The opening wine and cheese reception, which is free and open to the public, will be held on Thursday April 4, 2013 from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. in the Marco Island Historical Museum. Live entertainment provided by J-Robert. The tiny island of Goodland, Florida, has been a special source of inspiration for local award-winning oil-painter Tara O’Neill for many years. Born the ninth of ten robust children to an Irish ... Read More »

The Marco Island Shell Club hosted its 33rd Annual Shell Show from March 14th to the 16th. Awards were given in many categories, both scientific and artistic. Patrons could view the award-winning designs and purchase many others created by members of the Shell Club from November through March. Read More »

By Noelle H. Lowery [email protected] Red tide blooms have been rolling along the coastline of southwest Florida since early last fall, and Marco Island has not been immune to their effects. According to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, Marco Island started presenting “very low” to “low” concentrations of red tide in early December. By mid-February, those concentrations crept up to “medium” status. Left in their wake have been wracking, hacking coughs and breathing problems for those on land, and a slow, suffocating death for those under the sea. Dead fish of all varieties — including Goliath Grouper — ... Read More »

By Natalie Strom [email protected] Remember the 2000 Oscar winning movie “American Beauty” with its iconic floating plastic bag image? Picture that scene. Now, imagine 90 billion more of them doing the exact same thing. According to the Retail Bags Report to the Legislature by the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), that is the number of plastic bags used in 2003 within the United States alone. The 57-page report that was sent to both Florida’s Senate and House of Representatives to be reviewed this year, calls for the Legislature to, “review the available options and take action to discourage the ... Read More »

Waste Management, with its green toters and green recycling trucks, has unintentionally  colored its company with the idea behind its latest campaign. Currently, the company is working to increase its recycling awareness program through public festivals and events, partnering this year with the Marco Island Seafood Festival. The two entities have come together and announced the ZERO Waste Challenge for the two-day Seafood Festival held March 23rd and 24th at Veterans Park. “This is something new we are doing,” explains Stephanie Kissinger of Waste Management’s Public Sector Solutions. “We are basing this off of Waste Management Corporate’s sponsorship of the ... Read More »

By Noelle H. Lowery - [email protected] Last Monday’s Marco Island City Council meeting was a tale of two of councils. While the meeting was marked by decisive acceptance of a $500,000 grant to create artificial reefs, it also was mired in confusion over City Manager James Riviere’s performance evaluation. Early in the evening, the council unanimously adopted a $500,000 grant from BP’s Gulf Tourism and Seafood Promotional Fund. The grant money will be mingled with similar BP grants awarded to the city of Naples and Collier County to fund a system of 36 artificial reefs planned to stretch along the southwest ... Read More »

It was “A Day of Fashion” on Thursday, February 21st as the ladies of the Marco Island Woman’s Club held their 13th Annual Luncheon and Fashion Show. Held at Hideaway Beach Club, proceeds from the event go towards the Club’s scholarship program. The Marco Island Woman’s Club was founded in 1966, and has always taken pride in its goal to serve the community. Current work includes providing educational scholarships for Marco Island students. The Woman’s Club also founded the Marco Island Public Library, funded the gazebo at the Marco Island Historical Museum, donated funds to the Marco Health Care Center ... Read More »

By Noelle H. Lowery - [email protected] It is no secret working families have been tormented by a stormy economy in recent years. According to the US Census Bureau, 10.4 million families — nearly one-third of all working families in the US — probably did not make enough money to cover their basic needs in 2011. In Florida, that amounted to 642,000 working families, or 37 percent of the state’s hardworking households. That means a family of four bringing in nearly $46,000 a year still struggled to feed and clothe itself. “Collier County and Marco Island are not immune,” says Steve Sanderson, ... Read More »

Eleven years after the first event, the Marco Island Yacht Club Fleet is still sailing on to an ever growing event. One hundred and sixty sailors and observers descended on the Marco Island Yacht Club, Saturday February 23, 2013. This annual event is greatly anticipated by the community and the entire Yacht Club membership as the fleet presents itself to the New Year’s Commodore and Bridge Officers. On shore the Rear Commodore Dick Irwin, Chaplain Neil Hunt and Commodore Jim Marr, saluted and blessed the Yachts as they passed in review. From the beginning of boating, mariners have brought their ... Read More »

Marco Island Parks and Recreation will be hosting its annual Spring Jubilee event on Saturday, March 30th from 10 AM until 12 PM. This year’s event will include over 20,000 Easter eggs for ages 10 and under. Age groups include: 3 years and under, 4 to 5 years, 6 to 7 years, and 8 to 10 years old. The Easter Egg Hunt will start promptly at 11:30 AM. Additional activities this year include: music and games by Mobile Sound Entertainment, a Marco Magic Cheerleader demonstration at 10:30 AM, Magic by John, face painting, five different inflatable games, train rides from ... Read More »

The Port of the Islands Gun Club is at it again. For the third year now, the club is prepping for its Annual Charity Sporting Clays Event, dubbed “Shoot Down Kids Cancer.” On Saturday, March 23rd, from 9 AM until 2 PM, the POI Gun Club hopes to break its record of $28,000 raised last year – aiming for $32,000. The whole thing started when, “a couple of us here have had bouts with cancer and we’ve always wanted to give something back,” explains Gary Landis of the POI Gun Club and one of the founding members of the event. ... Read More »

By Donna Fiala [email protected] What a fun filled month February was! There were so many things to do on Marco Island there was hardly a minute to spare! Coming up is the St.Paddy’s Day Parade at 1PM on Sunday, March 10th. Our wonderful Father Tim will be the Parade’s Grand Marshal. As always, our Irish “princess” Kathleen Reynolds is organizing the parade sponsored by the Sons & Daughters of Erin. Kathleen has so much dedication and enthusiasm over everything Irish that it makes this German/Hungarian woman (that’s me) want to be part Irish! The party actually starts on Saturday at ... Read More »

By Monte Lazarus - [email protected] I recently had an unusual visitor. It just dropped by to see me and, using powers of deduction I developed by reading all of the Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, I concluded that it was from another planet. The fact that it was green and that it had only three fingers on each hand like a cartoon character were hints.  What confirmed that it was otherworldly was it was wearing a double knit “leisure suit” with a shirt collar hanging over the lapels. “Aha,” I thought, “Only someone from outer space would still wear one of those outfits.” ... Read More »

Suggested Economic Reforms By Roy Eaton There is no doubt that our immigration policy has been a complete disaster. It is estimated that over the last several decades, between 7 and 20 million immigrants have entered our country illegally, although 10 million is the most widely accepted estimate. Ironically, several of the most vocal among us, who express utter contempt for their presence and wish to immediately expel undocumented individuals from our shores, are often the same ones who looked away when immigrants crossed our borders, because they were in need of their services. Neither political party can escape blame ... Read More »