The islands' newspaper oj record "Incoming Tide" by Ikki Matsumoto Week of December 2 - 8, 2004 SANIBEL & CAPTIVA, FLORIDA VOLUME 31, NUMBER 48 24 PAGES 75 CENTS Centenarian in a fortnight BIG ARTS 25th Annual Art Fair By JENNY BURNHAM Staff Writer BIG ARTS celebrated the silver anniversary of the ARTS, said participation was excellent, only two artists Annual Art Fair on Friday and Saturday after short of last year's, and that owing to traffic accidents. "She was the child that wasn't supposed to live," said Thanksgiving. They were beautiful days and islanders The financial results are still being tallied at this writing Judith Alexander's daughter, Ann McDonnei, because and visitors alike turned out to appreciate the work of but preliminary indications appear quite similar as well. she had typhoid fever as a child. "They thought she was more .than 70 artists and craftspeople from all over the The quality of the work and the public response seem going to die, but I guess she got even." world, as well JS the iniisiL pimidcd In IIK- T-I.HKI T&.ir.d iii iiii|ii>>>v' -loni \IM> I.) year. "Every year gets better and Mrs. Alexander will be 100 years old on December Iviici," said one artist according to 17 of this year. Willi.uns. •% :. -i categories of work along with . j 'A" categories of Best in Show were '•'Ok--2- ^ ••;„.'' |i"l;'id by Joe Fettingis, a signature '"v"' iiRi'iher of the National Watercolor S< i u ty. Working from his studio in i .ik^i'Ort, IN, he is also a photographer .iii'! . teacher. \ ! i.e winners were: Juozas Salditas Gisela Damadl Alan Promades Laura Pieper Jewelry Tom & Cathryn Nowicki Mixed Media Lynn Russell Original Wearable Art Lisa Labnon i Painting 1 and othi&s. Susanna Spann Photography from paintiii.'s John Flower jewelry lo photogr:ipli\. .Sculpture wobtf tirT-rfthg.' scutpluic. ceramics and more. Each Carl Wagner artist donated a work 10 BIG ARTS for the I until ais- K ing rallle that ran continu- Best of Show ously lor both-clays. 2-D Jack & A.J. Ferrell v Photo by Kevin Duffy 1-U.llung 3-D Rick Russell Lisa "Williams, market- Judith Alexander looks forward to her 100th birthday. ing coordinator for BIG She attributes her longevity to her ancestors, she said, "the Scotch grandparents from Canada," and her Norwegian grandparents. considers toxins and build-back issues She was born Judith Olsen in Blanchardville, Wise, "bt/FFY to carry herbicides and pesticides on their shelves. to Oscar and Leah Olsen. :er "Study which ones we shouldn't use on the island and Her older sister, Janet, "dominated me, absolutely ask stores to voluntarily remove them," he said. dominated me," said Mrs.Alexander feistily. "We were Maintaining a healthy environment and conserving Rothman also suggested instituting a hazardous waste very close." natural systems generated a great deal of discussion pick-up day on Sanibel so islanders won't have to drive The family moved to Dousman, where her father Tuesday as the Planning Commission continued its to Fort Myers with their toxins. started .a small bank, and then to Madison, where he study of and proposed changes to the Sanibel Plan. "It's very difficult to go to Page Field and dump off a served as Deputy Insurance Commissioner for the state. Commissioner Ellis Robinson submitted a list of ele- little bottle that you don't want to have," he said. It was at the University of Wisconsin in Madison that ments for inclusion to the plan that key on the proper Assistant Planning Director Ken Pfalzer, who is she met her husband, Andrew Alexander. disposal of household toxin> and landscape design that preparing the final draft of the plan, said that the "He saw me," she said, "walking on campus, and minimizes dependence on herbicides and pesticides and Department of Environmental Protection, and not wanted to know who I was." allows for the conservation of water. Sanibel, controls pesticide usage. "He was with another girl at the time," added Ms. The storage of toxins such as herbicides, pesticides "Right now it's out of our hands," he said. McDonnell. and paint in homeowner's garages represents a clear Pfalzer hopes to turn the plan over to council, with the On their first date they went to an ice cream parlor threat to the ground water supply in the event of flood- commission's suggested changes, by the end of the year. with another couple. ing from storm surge, she said. The deadline for turning the final document over to the "Andy quoted poetry, '1 must go down to the sea "We want to encourage safe storage to remove from Florida Dept. of Community Affairs is May 1. again,' and I was so impressed. 1 thought he'd be quot- any flood risk," Robinson said. Encouraging homeowners to landscape with native ing poetry all the time, but he wasn't." Sanibel resident Tom Rothman agreed, saying he plants will reduce dependence on the city's water supply, After university, Mrs.Alexander spent a year teach- would like to see the island take "a leadership role" on ing in Montana. the issue by urging lawn service companies to use only See PLANNING "Women didn't 'do' things in those days. I taught organic pesticides and encouraging island merchants not page 3 school in Montana. Andy was in Chicago, but you were not allowed to be a teacher if you were married." It was after her return to Chicago, according to her \ REPLANTING daughter, that Judith Olsen and Andy Alexander went INDEX out and got married on a lunch hour. "It was a.perfect- • LETTERS PAGE 6 Periwinkle Planning Caytion still ly happy marriage," said Ms. McDonnell. Mr. Alexander worked for Northwestern Mutual • LOOKING BACK PAGE 8 •Partnership Commission advised Insurance Co., which moved the couple several times, • DATELINE PAGE 10 hears from public from Chicago to Milwaukee, and from Milwaukee to San''Francisco. After'Pearl Harbor, the Alexanders • SPORTS PAGE 12 Group forms to help Concerned citizens ask The city has removed returned to Milwaukee, but the hire of San Francisco • TV LISTINGS PAGE 15 guide the restoration of commission to protect many in the last few .soon took them back to California. Periwinkle Way • OBITUARIES PAGE 16 wildlife. months! "Andy loved that town," said Mrs. Alexander. "He ioved it. He walked it at.night." • CLASSIFIEDS PAGE 20 • PERMITS PAGE 22 — See page 11 — See page 6 - See page 2 • POLICE BEAT PAGE 22 page 8 2 • Week of December 2 - 8, 2004 • ISLAND REPORTER Zimomra said she would like to see that awareness extend to residents informing police about neighbors they Alligator removals should not diminish caution observe feeding 'gators. By KEVIN DUFFY "One area we are ratcheting-up is education, the impor- Staff Writer tance to report feeding," she said. Tomlinson cast doubt on the popular notion that 'gators Islanders shouldn't slip into complacency over the large can peacefully interact with humans as long as they aren't number of alligators removed from Sanibel since the city's fed, which alters their behavior patterns. laws regarding nuisance alligators were changed in August, 'There is a lot of opinion that, if you have a large 'gator a top city official said. in an area where it thinks it can eat something, it will eat Seventy-one' gators had been taken from public areas of something," he said, adding this applies to humans or pets Sanibel and destroyed as of Nov. 17 under the city's open that are lingering along the banks of freshwater bodies. harvest permit secured from the state. Sanibel police began The city sent a direct mailing to every home on Sanibel their count July 28 with the removal of a nine-ft." gator from in late September, alerting residents to the change in policy a pond behind their station, five days after the death of Janie toward nuisance 'gators and the number to call to report Melsek, an island landscaper who was attacked by a 12-foot problems, Zimomra said. They also ordered hundreds of alligator on July 21 and died in a Lee Memorial Hospital additional copies of the green pamphlets they created long emergency room two days later. before Melsek's death, informing residents and visitors that Melsek's death prompted the city to change its policy on they could "create a monster" by feeding alligators. alligators to mirror that of the state. Alligators no longer Tomlinson pointed out that although an alligator has not must attain eight feet in length in order to be destroyed. been fed, it can still lose its natural fear of humans on reach- Now, 'gators as small as four feet in length can be disposed ing a larger size. of if a citizen calls authorities and says the animal is a threat "Yes, we've said for years not to create a monster, but it's to humans or pets. not 100 percent understood that large ones won't go after City Manager Judie Zimomra cautioned residents that, people," Tomlinson said. just because 71 alligators have been destroyed on Sanibel in "There js some thought among staff that, as a .'gator the last four months, they shouldn't think it is now safe to be becomes larger, it poses a natural threat to people, but that around freshwater bodies on the island. One reason is isn't our official position," said Gary Morse, spokesman for because state trappers are only removing 'gators in non-con- Florida Fish and Wildlife.