Project in Final Stretch
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THE WIRE PAGE 1 Canvas chairs, $15 In Today’s Classifieds! AND WEEKLY Charlotte Sun HERALD ARCHIE TO BE SHOT IN COMIC CITIGROUP SETTLES FOR $7B The famous freckle-faced comic book icon is meeting his The settlement represents a moment of reckoning for one of the demise in Wednesday’s installment of “Life with Archie.” country’s biggest and most significant banks. THE WIRE PAGE 1 An Edition of the Sun VOL. 122 NO. 196 AMERICA’S BEST COMMUNITY DAILY TUESDAY JULY 15, 2014 www.sunnewspapers.net $1.00 LIFE STORIES In her own Project in final stretch By BRENDA BARBOSA Bletchley STAFF WRITER PUNTA GORDA — After months of heavy construction that closed circle off parts of Gilchrist Park and ary Merrill is as honest and open as Harborwalk, detoured downtown anyone you’ll meet, but for 50 years traffic and kicked up massive M she kept secret the work she did amounts of dust, the city’s flooding during World War II. mitigation project is finally in the She was sworn to. home stretch. The British-born Local residents, who patiently Merrill, now 92, worked have watched their front yards get at Bletchley Park, the turned into construction zones, say British Code and Cypher they are happy the work is nearing School which famously completion. SUN PHOTO BY BRENDA BARBOSA cracked the German “It doesn’t bother me, but my wife hates all the dust,” said Johnny Construction in Punta Gorda’s historic district is expected to continue through the end of Enigma code. It’s said July, as workers move on to the final leg of the downtown flooding phase 2 project. the Bletchley code Vaughn, a resident who lives on workers shortened the Durrance Street. path along Harborwalk between the project to be done by July 16, war against Germany by Last week, the pedestrian and Mary Street and Booth Street, where but heavy rains and back-to-back Steve two years. bicycle path on the west side of a large swath of mangroves was events at Gilchrist Park slowed work Merrill was there Gilchrist Park was re-opened after mistakenly cut down, also reopened. BAUMANN throughout. And the months of being closed off, and the City officials initially had slated PROJECT | 6 COLUMNIST remarkable thing was, she couldn’t tell anyone about it, not then and not for 50 years afterward, according to the official secrets act. “My husband knew,” she said last week at her home in Englewood. ‘Citizen heroes’ “But it was no big deal. It was a boring wartime job.” Maybe to a 20-something-year-old, but when the story trickled out five decades after the war, the public took notice. Recently, honored for fire rescue millions have tuned into “The Bletchley Circle” on PBS, a wartime drama involving By ADAM KREGER four women who struggle to find fulfilling STAFF WRITER work after their code-breaking years. Born outside London, Mary landed her A house fire sparked during a Fourth of job because she could type and could speak July cookout in Port Charlotte might have German. It was 1939. been fatal, had it not been for some quick “Every day, various listening posts around thinking from a father and son who lived the country took down everything the 1 -0 nearby. That’s why the county’s fire chief Germans said on the radio” and sent dis- praised the pair of rescuers on Monday. patches to Bletchley, Mary said. Dispatches Ralph Marok, 50, and Gregory Marok, were analyzed and the information passed 29, were recognized Monday during a on to the Americans, who conducted day- special ceremony at the Charlotte County time bombing runs. Public Safety Building in Punta Gorda. Fire “They would send us the targets for the r i i r Chief Marianne Taylor bestowed the men next day and we would tell them, to the best with certificates of appreciation — the of our knowledge, what the Germans could first the chief has issued to citizens since put up in opposition.” taking her post in April. She added, “I guess we were reasonably “Too often, heroic acts from our citizens successful at that.” The fact it was top-secret work presented FIRE | 6 some problems. “It was a very difficult time, because we were not allowed to talk about it and you were not allowed to tell anybody about where you were working,” Mary said. All Britons were mobilized for the war effort. “So all women were supposed to be in the women’s forces and if you were a civilian at {,!< my age, then people could make very snide k 777 <; remarks — ‘What strings did you pull to get SUN PHOTOS BY ADAM KREGER out of service?’ Of course, I hadn’t pulled any strings. Charlotte County Fire Chief Marianne Taylor presents Ralph Morok, 50, of Port A 65-year-old woman was treated at a local “But you couldn’t tell them that you were Charlotte, with a certificate of appreciation during a ceremony Monday at the hospital after she inhaled smoke during a blaze doing much more important work than Public Safety Building in Punta Gorda. Ralph and his son, Gregory Morok, 29, pulled at her home on Glendale Avenue in Port Charlotte you would have been doing if you had been their neighbor from a burning home on the Fourth of July. on July 4. conscripted.” Despite that, Mary made the best of the experience, both professionally and personally. “One foggy night,” Mary met an American Area makes baby boomer rentals list B-17 pilot at a social gathering. One thing, another and eventually they were married By MATT M. JOHNSON place in the nation for renting to the without the risk of buying. May 12, 1945. It was four days after VE Day. BRADENTON HERALD baby boomer generation. Sarasota Many baby boomers are mov- Mary and Bruce Merrill moved to the County ranked 14th. ing to the area from states in United States, where he worked for the Baby boomers love renting homes In all, Florida counties took the northern part of the country U.S. Forest Service. They had four daugh- in Charlotte and Sarasota counties. 16 of the top ............................................................................................... because of the ters and a son, and lived in such places as The same can be said for a lot of 25 spots in “Once they leave severe winters Colorado, Atlanta and the Black Hills, S.D. places in Florida: Fifteen, to be the statistical over the last While in southwest Virginia, they met the re- exact. survey. the working world behind, few years, nowned artist Lois Tracy, who owned a home It’s no secret that the generation That Florida said Lindsay in Englewood. Mary and Bruce visited and born between 1945 and 1964 has is a popular they are going somewhere Harrington, liked it so much they bought lots themselves been moving to Florida for years, place for the the sun shines community and built a home. whether to buy retirement homes or 50ish- and commercial Looking back on her wartime work last to spend part of the year in vacation 60ish-set to and the weather is nice.” realtor with week, Mary said, “For 50 years, I kind of put homes. But what has changed during rent comes as Coldwell — Tom Heatherman it on the back burner. the past six years is that boomers are no surprise ............................................................................................... Banker “Then, suddenly, people are interested in driving the rental market in much to local rental Residential it, which kind of doesn’t make much sense the same way that they’ve fueled property managers. In the wake of a Real Estate out of Punta Gorda. to me. This very boring job has become so home sales. housing market crash and recession “The winter up north was brutal fascinating to people.” According to new statistics that stripped many boomers of their and they chose to get out,” he said. Stephen Baumann is a member of the Sun’s produced by online housing data investment portfolios and homes, And many of these baby boomers editorial board. Contact him at sbaumann@ provider RealtyTrac, Charlotte renting in the Sunshine State is a sun-herald.com, or call 941-681-3003. County is ranked as the ninth-best way to achieve a desired lifestyle RENTALS | 6 THE SUN: Obituaries 5 | Crosswords 7 | Police Beat 7 |Viewpoint 8 | Opinion 9 CLASSIFIED: Comics 7-10 | Dear Abby 10 | TV Listings 11 INDEX | THE WIRE: State 2 | Nation 5 | Business 6-7 | Weather 8 | World 8 SPORTS: Lotto 2 Daily Edition $1.00 Look inside for valuable coupons CHARLIE SAYS ... High Low This year’s savings to date ... Poor Archie! SUN COUPON CALL US AT 90 76 VALUE METER $50,959 941-206-1000 7IIII 05252I IIIIIU 00025MD 8 Scattered storms, 55 percent chance of rain Our Town Page 2 C www.sunnewspapers.net The Sun /Tuesday, July 15, 2014 COUNTY SEEKS Applicants must be residents of • Gardens of Gulf Cove Street • Harbour Heights Waterway to: Public Works Department, residents of Charlotte County and Charlotte County and reside within and Drainage Unit Advisory Unit Advisory Committee: one 7000 Florida St., Punta Gorda, FL reside within the unit. Submit an VOLUNTEERS the unit. Submit an application and Committee: one volunteer to serve volunteer who must be a resident of 33950; call 941-575-3600; or email application and a résumé to: Public The Charlotte County Commis- a résumé to: Public Works Depart- as a regular member for a three-year Charlotte County and reside within [email protected].