Voters Want Drawbridge
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Deep well Easter sunrise City says under review service it's prepared page 3 page 9 page 12 APRIL 1,1999 VOLUME 26 NUMBER 13 40 PAGES SANIBEL & CAPTIVA, PLORIDA Voters want drawbridge Hillebrandt wins city council race • By the numbers/page 4 council election • Poll positions/page 5 to replace George By Gwenda Hiett-Clements Madison who News Editor and resigned. ' l§||ilNBlL» Pattie Pace Hillebiandt ililllHHRi Staff Writer was to be on the Pattie Pace job quickly. He Sanibel voters ovciwhelmingly was sworn in at ABOVE: Bob Laswell, standing, supported keeping the Sanibel 9 a.m. chats with Bill Phillips, treasurer Causeway with a drawbridge in Wednesday just of BIG Arts, who provided advice Tuesday's referendum and also prior to his first Hillebrandt and guidance and hosted a meet- chose Bill Hillebrandt hands down council session, and-greet coffee for the candi- as their next city councilmcmbcr. a special meeting to discuss the date. Forty-one peiccnt ot lslanUcis causeway referendum results. voted in the special election and ot Throughout Tuesday evening, AT LEFT: Tina and Bill those, 01 peicent voted in lavoi oi mote than 100 oi lUUehumdtVsuyi- Hillebrandt react as Bob Wigley, keeping the causeway with a diaw- poitcis slopped by his home on his co-campaign manager, jumps bridge. The tally was l,fc>88 in lavor Woodnng Point to olfer then best for joy after announcing the compared «to. 163 or 9 percent wishes and ultimate congratulations results of Tuesday's election. against. • to the winning candidate. Hillebrandt captured 76 percent Seventy-six percent voted for Campaign manager Ginny of the votes in the city council Hillebrandt, who garnered 1,403 Fleming, who carried a portable race. He will fill the council seat votes, while 438 people or 24 per- Gwenda Hiett-Clements vacated by George Madison. cent voted for Bob Laswell in the I> See Voters, page 4 City settles Stewart FIGHTING FIRE WITH FIRE By Pattie Pace anyone to get a claims bill through the Legislature. Staff Writer Sometimes it's better to compromise rather than continue. Anyone who ever gets caught up in the Jeremy Stewart, the 20-year-old man who was hit process is at a disadvantage because they've taken by a Sanibel police car while riding his motorcycle what should be a legal process and made it politi- in 1995, settled his lawsuit against the city last cal," Hart said. "We had 10 minutes to convince week. what was, for the most part, a conservative For $750,000 over and above the $100,000 Legislature why they should validate a jury who already paid by the city's insurance carrier, Florida heard three days of testimony." Mutual Insurance Trust, Stewart's attorney Kim Hart was referring to a Lee County jury award of Hart agreed to settle the case once and for all. $1.6 million in damages, which included past and According to Florida law, government entities future medical expenses, past and future wage loss, can be held responsible for up to $100,000 per and past and future pain and suffering. Stewart's left claimant or $200,000 per accident, regardless of a hand was severely damaged in the accident, leaving what a jury might award. To receive an additional him with limited claw-like movement, and he lost settlement, the claimant must lobby the state his spleen. Legislature to pass a claims bill that would override That award was reduced to $1 million by a 5-3 the statutory cap. vote in a state Senate committee, according to City "I think the political process makes it difficult for t> See Lawsuit, page 2 Rauschenberg documentary to air • Arts/pages 16-19 color, textures and mediums Rauschenberg hopes to redirect the way people look at art. He innovated By Jill Goodman techniques for recreating images on Plexiglas, paper Staff Writer and other unusual surfaces. Born in the oil town of Port Arthur, Texas, In a public television docu- Rauschenberg discovered the joy of art in his late mentary scheduled for broad- teens after visiting a museum for the first time. cast April 7, the American Following a stint in the Navy, he entered art school Masters Thirteen/WNET series in Kansas City, Mo. But it was at Black Mountain will take an in-depth look at College in North Carolina that his insatiable quest to Captiva artist Robert innovate was developed. It was here that the artists pushed fox a new expression in art. Ranschenherg. Acclaimed as one of the In the film, Rauschenberg openly discusses his tentative steps ttiat took him beyond the mundane. Michael Pistella greatest living artists in the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service workers light fires at the world, Rauschenberg experi- Eauschenberg His manner is quiet, gentle and he seems reluctant to ments with looking at everyday talk about himself. J.N. "Ding" Darling National Wildlife Refuge during the things in an unusual way. With extravagant use ot first prescribed burn in five years. For details and more t> See Rauschenbejrg, page 2 photos of the successful effort, please turn to page 22. 2 • APRIL 1, 1999 • ISLAND REPORTER Rauschenberg From page 1 He tells of the times during the 1950s when he, along with the likes of dancer Merce Cunningham, and artists James Rosenquist and Jasper Johns lived in $30-a-month loft in lower Manhattan, "I couldn't afford to do anything," Rauschenberg said. "If I went someplace, I would have to walk. I had a budget of 25 cents a day." He bought day-old bread and some peanut butter. Remembering those olden days, the fabulously successful artist softly chuckled, "I did quite well." It is this unassuming manner that lends charm to this film of the man compared to Picasso; the man who led the break- away from abstract impressionism; the man who, with boundless energy, is the inventive artistic genius of our time. From using toothpaste and fingernail polish and house paint on automobile tires rolled over paper, to stunning the critics with his stuffed goat girded by a tire, he reflects life as it is. Rauschenberg continues to strive for the unusual and familial- — things that make a viewer stop and react. Opening commentary in the film states that Rauschenberg pushed back the boundaries of art, that he brought technology to fine art and that he works in the gap between art and life. At 73, Rauschenberg continues to work in his studio on Captiva often with several of his assistants. According to Rauschenberg's son, Christopher, a pho- tographer, "His job is to make it so that something beautiful and thrilling and exciting will happen. And if he does that by himself, that's fine. If he does it with other people, that's just as fine." ABOVE: Captiva resident Robert "Robert Rauschenberg: Inventive Genius" is narrated by Rauschenberg is a living artistic legend. His Dennis Hopper, and was produced by American Masters, life and work are featured in an upcoming known for its biographical programs. Over the past two PBS documentary to air locally April 7. decades, American Masters has produced more than 88 doc- umentary biographies on artistic greats. AT RIGHT: Rauschenberg looks at ordinary The American Masters filmmakers state that things in an unusual way and tries to get Rauschenberg is the pivotal creative force in the movement viewers of his artwork to do the same. that redefined modern art. The program will air locally on WGCU-TV at 10 p.m. Wednesday, April 7. Photos I Special to the Reporter From page 1 tie l.ich Blvd.. »lonj FerlulnU* V»; Lawsuit 0 e m s (,„ Ybal RJ.t alung tin wntern ilili i Bmshvliu Gatf Cour.i to Chi bueh biti CliBBhoU Cundo (not Include) *nd Sinrin Attorney Bob Pritt. The reduction followed "This was a pretty interesting claims Free, curbside pepper the introduction of videos taken during an bill," Pritt said. "There was a lot of lobbying $80,000 undercover investigation of on both sides.... With a new governor, it's a pickup scheduled Stewart. whole new ball game. The city of Sanibel has contracted with The tapes showed him surfing, fishing Browning-Ferris Industries to conduct a and white-water rafting in Costa Rica, "This is probably the first hotly contest- ourbside Brazilian pepper pickup day which indicated that Stewart's injuries were ed claims bill with lots of risks going both Friday, April 9. The service will be provid- exaggerated and the jury award not based on ways. That makes for a settlement atmos- ed free to all properties in Zone 2 (see map)' all the facts, according to Pritt. phere." only, and all pepper debris must be placed curbside Thursday, April 8. Debris need not be bundled. However, only Brazilian pepper will be picked up and all piles must be placed in clear areas,. Corrections neither under power lines nor hanging veg- • Ike and Mike, they look alike etation. Piles containing trash or vegetative In the March 25 edition of the Island debris other than Brazilian pepper will not Reporter,, Sanibel Brew Pub General be picked up. Manager Bobby McCurry was incorrectly If needed, ,an extra piekup -day "Will be Special to the Reporter identified as his twin brother in a cutline Saturday, April 10, but pepper placed curb- This map shows Sanibel's Zone under a photograph. Richard McCurry, a side after April 8 will not be picked up. 2, which will have a free, curb- long-time employee of what is now Taking Brazilian pepper off Sanibel and side Brazilian pepper pickup NationsBank, is also a manager at the pub.