1999-04-22.Pdf
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Posters are an Taste of — finally! Dark skies' page 11 the Islands page 2 page 23 APRIL 22, 1999 VQLUME 26 NUMBER 16 36 PAGES Mission WIGLEy, PRICE HONORED complete AT LEFT: Bob Wigley, right, is con- gratulated by Bill SCCF mokes $3 million Hillebrandt after being named the Sanibel/Captiva Trost land purchase goal Islands Chamber of By Dawn Grodsky Commerce Citizen Editor of the Year at the chamber's annual The Sanibel/Captiva Conservation Foundation reached meeting Tuesday its $3 million fund-raising goal Tuesday and will purchase evening. For details the 167-acre Trost tract, the largest remaining undeveloped of the meeting, parcel on Sanibel. please see page 12. A jubilant SCCF Executive Director Erick Lindblad For a profile of said, "We're extremely happy. ... We've done what some Wigley, see page 13. thought impossible. ... As hard as everyone has worked to make this happen, we're still a bit numb. Now that our goal has become reality, the enormity of this accomplishment is starting to sink in. The people who care about these islands raised $3 million to preserve an exceptional parcel of land." Photon I Michael PhU'lla The tract includes the largest remaining corridor of the Sanibel River, a unique, interior freshwater system that sup- ports bobcats,marsh rabbits and a variety of animals. It is also home to wading birds, waterfowl, aquatic vertebrates t> See Trost, page 2 AT RIGHT: Gary Price says, "I miss you all!" after being honored with the Lee LPA poised to Walter Klie Lifetime Achievement award for his 21 years of filiations^ reject drawbridges work with the city of Sanibel. He's also By Pattie Pace holding a plaque Staff Writer from the Sanibel Bike Club thanking Sanibel's attempt to secure a Lee Plan change allowing him for the 26 miles the Sanibel Causeway drawbridge to be replaced with of bike paths. For a another bascule bridge has reached a snag. profile of Price, On Sanibel's behalf, the Lee County Commission asked please see page 13. the county's Local Planning Agency to consider the policy change. But at this coming Monday's LPA meeting in Fort Myers, the planning staff is set to recommend the Lee Plan V •• ••:*••.:'• : ' -•••. > See LPA, page 2 TODAY Fourth suspect turns self in EARTH By Dawn Grodsky counts of kidnapping, and one Editor count each of occupied burglary, DAy home invasion, robbery, grand Last Thursday the fourth sus- theft, aggravated battery and wear- pect wanted in a violent "dinner- ing a mask while committing an set" robbery on Sanibel turned offense. himself in to the Lee County He is the' fourth person arrested AT LEFT: Patrik and Sheriff's Office after eluding in a March 21 incident on Pine Tree Dominik Pfister visit- investigators for several weeks. Drive in which the residents were ing from Switzerland Francisco Hurtado, 30, of home and severely traumatized. get involved in the Cape Coral is now in the Lee The home's owner, Mickey Woods, ladybug release han- County Jail, charged with two F. Hurtado dled by Sanibel Inn t> See Suspect., page 5 landscape supervisor David Hornsby Sunday as part of the Visitors aid in sea turtle rescue resort's annual cele- By Givenda Hiett-Clements the water at Blind Pass just across from bration. For the full News Editor Hal's Grocery when they saw the turtle sur- story about annual face for air. The loggerhead, listed as a Earth Day celebra- Thanks to the quick thinking and dedica- threatened species, was entangled in the tions, see page 14. For tion of island vacationers, a large male log- ropes of a blue crab trap and struggling to a look at how Sanibel gerhead turtle was rescued last Thursday get free. School students are just north of Blind Pass off Captiva. Sam Landry, Captiva coordinator of the celebrating Earth Rescuers swam out to bring in the turtle, Week, see page 15. Sanibel/Capliva Conservation Foundation's tangled in a crab trap, in spite of strong Sea Turtle Monitoring Program, said, "They winds and a choppy sea. flipped out. He ran to the grocery to find out Tolak Besman and Nancy Arena, vaca- what to do and called CROW (Clinic for the tioning from Fnrmington, Conn., were in (rwendu Hlett-Ch'wcnlx > See Rescue, ptige 11 2 • APRIL 22,1999 • ISLAND REPORTER Trost From page 1 and invertebrates, and alligators, Lindblad said. The Trost tract, so-named after its owner Herfa Trost of Frankfurt, Germany, is located at the intersection of Tarpon Bay Road and West Gulf AT LEFT: The 167-acre Drive. It will join the J.N. "Ding" Trost tract includes Darling National Wildlife Refuge's the largest remaining Johnson, Dayton and Bailey tracts on undeveloped corridor the other side of Tarpon Bay Road as of the Sanibel River. one, continuous, 500-acre undeveloped The Sanibel/Captiva stretch. To the east, the Trost tract con- E. Lindblad Conservation tinues all the way to Butterknife subdi- Foundation expects to vision along West Gulf Drive. close on the purchase The purchase will also bring the SCCFs conservation next month and will lands to 1,515 acres, Lindblad said. have a community He added he couldn' t stress enough the importance of the appreciation party in purchase. "In the foundation's long-range plans that started the fall. Whether the back in 1967, preserving the Sanibel River corridor was public will have access utmost, and this was the last big stretch of river corridor to the land remains to ^ left," he said. be seen. He added that Sanibel is the only barrier island on Florida's West coast that still has an interior freshwater wet- t land, which provides for a greater variety of wildlife. However, Lindblad said one of the unique parts of the river r- in the Trost property is that it has a rare, red mangrove for- Special to the Reporter est on it. able people doing remarkable things in support of the Trost amass the $3 million total in a campaign that was "At some point, whether from a hurricane washover, the fund-raising effort. announced late last year. The fund-raising team had hoped mangrove seedlings reached the middle of the river system "The best way to thank them all will be to buy the prop- to reach their goal by May or June and Lindblad said the •-•• (and thrived)," Lindblad said, noting mangroves are saltwa- erty in May and rename it Frannie's Preserve," he said, team decided it was important to concentrate the effort dur- ter trees. "The property also has, one of the most valuable referring to a $1 million, anonymous donation by an island ing the season. "We wanted to make sure we pulled out all coastal ridge habitats for gopher tortoises that's contiguous family who requested the site be named after their latS the stops," he said. with the Johnston Tract next door." - mother. Once the property closes, the SCCF will clear Brazilian Lindblad said he could relate countless stories of remark- Thousands donated large and small amounts of money to pepper from the site, which Lindblad characterized as a fair- ly-large effort. However, the funding for the clearing was included in the $3 million total. Lindblad said 10 percent of every donation was set aside for land management. POSTERS ARE IN! Lindblad said the SCCF will clear the Brazilian pepper and host an islandwide appreciation on the site in the fall. The complimentary po»teis that accompany subscnp- "The people of Sanibel and Captiva have done the tions to the inland Rrpmtei ha\c finally arrivrd. [Designed, unthinkable," SCCF president Dean Skaugstad said. "We d«. uiual, by noted artist Ikki Miilsumolo. the 1999 poster iV hope to thank each and every one of you at the big party a blue and green iri-colcicd heron. we're planning for this fall." Ilia. >eai •* pitetu is a hou/ontal, rather than Lindblad said details about the upcoming party have yet Matsunioto's usual \ertical format. to be decided. They'll have to see what state the ground is The posier i<> available ai the I viand Kcfwriu office, in after the pepper is removed. Also unknown is whether the 2340 Periwinkle \Vii\ in the Milage Shopping Center, for tract will have public access, such as trails. "That's for a renewing or gelling .i 1009 subscription future discussion," he said. • But for the thank-you event at the site, Lindblad said. If you want the poster mailed to >ou, call Slurlcue "One way or another, people will be able to see it." Cirasgrcun at 472-1587 LPA From page 1 remain intact, banning new construction of evacuation lock-down policy, which drawbridges, at least until the Planning, ••required that boat traffic be evaluated well Development & Environmental study of the in advance of motor vehicles. Sanibel Causeway and bridges, spoil The planning staff report indicates that islands and San Carlos Bay is complete. changes could still be made to the Lee Plan The Lee Plan calls for drawbridges on if the PD&E study proves a drawbridge evacuation routes spanning main or major poses no emergency management concerns. 18 Years Of Lee County Roofing Experience navigable waterways to be replaced with The LPA meeting begins at 8 a.m. in the fixed-span bridges. Recent policy changes county commission chambers. The cause- FREE ESTIMATES between Lee County and the U.S. Army way issue is listed as No. 15 on a 16-item Corps of Engineers call for opening draw- agenda. Assistant Planning Director Ken Don't wait until it's too late! With the rainy season bridges to boat traffic for 10 minutes each Pfalzer will represent Sanibel at the public soon approaching, call now for an honest opinion hour during hurricane evacuation.