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THE WIRE Window fan, PAGE 4 $20 In Today’s Classifieds! AND WEEKLY Charlotte Sun HERALD NEANDERTHAL ENGRAVING STONE CRABS OVER AND OUT Neanderthals created cave art, an activity regarded as a major Charlotte finishes on an upswing, including Johnny Field cognitive step in the evolution of humankind. batting .352 in August, but misses the postseason. SPORTS PAGE 1 An Edition of the Sun VOL. 122 NO. 245 AMERICA’S BEST COMMUNITY DAILY TUESDAY SEPTEMBER 2, 2014 www.sunnewspapers.net $1.00 LIFE STORIES A real Bear No pennies, no support of a firefighter Deep Creek, Harbour Heights leaders oppose sales-tax extension his time of year, fantasy jocks By GARY ROBERTS Creek Section 20 Property Owners seen as a critical public-safety issue are studying depth charts and STAFF WRITER Association president. and a top priority in the area. T psyching up for the start of That is the message being sent out Moreover, local leaders say that, another NFL season. DEEP CREEK — Claiming they are this week to the property owners of despite generating considerable tax Not Richard tired of getting nothing in return for 3,300 parcels in Section 20 as part of dollars, the growing community Chapura. their county tax dollars, community the notification package for the annual continues to be ignored by Charlotte When he’s not leaders in the Deep Creek/Harbour meeting in October. In his President’s County. working as a fire- Heights area are speaking out against Statement, Goldstein outlines his “The county sees us as a cash cow. fighter-EMT with the proposed sales-tax referendum. reasons for opposing the measure that They’re happy to take our money, but the Englewood Fire With a sizable voting bloc drawn will appear on the November ballot. when we ask for something we have to Control District, from 15,000 registered voters, several Chief among them is the county’s re- beg and plead,” Goldstein said. “You’re Chapura concen- community advocates have declared fusal to allocate funding for sidewalks looking at a total tax bill of a signifi- trates on coaching a thumbs-down to extending the near Deep Creek Elementary School. cant amount of money.” Riverview High 1 percent local option sales tax. The need to provide sidewalks for Another basis for opposing the sales School’s freshman “I believe we should vote against 153 students who walk along unlighted Steve football team. it,” said Harvey Goldstein, Deep BAUMANN “My wife’s the big roads to the school or to bus stops is PENNIES | 4 football fan,” he said COLUMNIST last week at the fire station in Grove City. “I’ve got NFL Ticket at home, but it’s not for me.” Celebrating the past Ditto for fantasy sports. Families “My one and only fantasy football league, I let the computer pick my team, and I forgot my password, so I couldn’t even log in. And I won the league,” he said. “Swear to God, I did nothing and I won seek to my league.” Take that, La-Z-Boy quarterbacks. Observations from a real pro. A Bear. A guy who played with Walter Payton and Mike save lives Singletary. Nearly made it to the Super Bowl. Twice. By ELAINE ALLEN-EMRICH Chapura, 50, grew up in Sarasota, the COMMUNITY NEWS EDITOR son of a Riverview coach. He got offers ENGLEWOOD — Lisa Brandy was a to play college football from Miami to foot away from her dying 18-year-old Arizona, but chose the University of daughter. Helplessly neither Brandy nor Missouri. Chapura was tall (6-foot, 4 inches paramedics could save her from drug “once,” he said, before losing a half-inch of poisoning. head room due to collisions.) He was big Out of her personal tragedy, the (weighing 265 in college and 287 as a pro). Sarasota mom created a foundation in His time in a straight 40-yard dash was 2011 in memory of Brandi Shea Meshad 4.9 seconds, but he played even quicker in called Brandi’s Wish Foundation. The the thicket around the line of scrimmage. foundation actively works to change Chapura lettered his freshman year at state legislation and pass laws to protect Missouri and, after injuries slowed him, children from the dangers of prescrip- he came on strong his junior season with tion drug misuse and abuse. 98 tackles. Sunday night, Brandy joined others “I basically averaged 11 tackles a game who have lost a loved one to accidental and my high for the year was 21 against overdoses. Members of the Suncoast Nebraska,” Chapura said. “Most sacks I Moms Group gathered at Ricaltini’s had: I had four sacks and a tackle for a loss Bar and Grille in Englewood for against California.” SUN PHOTO BY TIM KERN International Overdose Awareness Day. Four sacks in one game is impressive. More than 40 people released white Twenty-one tackles is stardust. The Ponce de Leon Conquistadors of Charlotte County show off their giant pirate ship float balloons with crosses on them in an Despite another knee injury, the Chicago during the 58th Annual Pioneer Days Parade Monday in Englewood. Read about the parade and Bears drafted him in 1987. But that was the see more photos on page 10 and on Facebook. SAVE | 4 year of the NFL players strike. And his knee was hurt — yet again — in a pre-season game. That year, the Bears — led by coaching legend Mike Ditka — made it to the NFC Burnt Humane Society thrift Championship game, only to lose to Washington. “The following year, we played the San Store boil Francisco 49ers in the NFL Championship store moving south game and lost to them,” Chapura said. “So I’ve been one game away from the By STEVEN J. SMITH North Port Thrift Store” in the search bar Super Bowl twice,” Chapura said. notice SUN CORRESPONDENT on Facebook. Third season, Chapura replaced William According to Claire Berten, SHS director “The Refrigerator” Perry when Perry broke NORTH PORT — In preparation for of thrift store and outreach services, the his arm. His highlight? Fielding a squib its early November relocation to Port North Port store has outgrown its current continues space — its home since the fall of 2008. kick. Charlotte, the Suncoast Humane Society’s STAFF REPORT The injuries took a toll and Chapura North Port thrift store is holding a moving “And we weren’t able to find another eventually was released by the Bears. sale today through Oct. 17. North Port location that fit our needs,” she He made stops at Phoenix, Houston and The entire Burnt Store Utilities The store is offering 80 percent off all said. “We’re going to go from about 5,200 square feet to 8,300 square feet. We were Philadelphia. In 1992, he was drafted into service area served by Charlotte merchandise at its current location at the short-lived World League by the San looking at opening a Port Charlotte store County Utilities remains under a 14942 Tamiami Trail in the North Port Antonio Riders. Then a herniated disk. anyway, and we’ll revisit looking at North precautionary boil water notice, Place Shopping Center, near Pizza Hut, Post-pro career, Chapura married and in which was issued Sunday. Port locations again in a year.” 1994 came home, where he worked con- and an additional buy-one-get-one-free The Humane Society, a nonprofit The affected CCU customers in coupon is available on its Facebook page struction, then trained as a firefighter-EMT. the Burnt Store area — including organization, is supported by individual He’s been in Englewood 15 years. for those who “Like” the page. That page Tern Bay, Pirate Harbor, Burnt Store can be found by typing “Moving Sale for Chapura is a proud member of the Fire Colony/Lakes/Village/Marina — will THRIFT | 5 District’s outstanding extrication team, remain under a boil water notice which has been invited to participate in a until further notice. CCU is request- world competition in England. (The team ing that all affected customers boil won a national competition in 2008.) With half the $12,000 needed to get their drinking and cooking water PHOTO PROVIDED for a minimum of one minute at a there, team members are holding a raffle The Suncoast and fundraisers. They need donations, so rolling boil. The boil water notice is due to Humane Society’s help them out. North Port thrift “That’s the most important part of this, “water pressure dropping below 20 psi for over an hour, including a loss store is holding as far as I’m concerned,” Chapura said at a moving sale the end of an interview last week. “Because in system pressure in numerous through Oct. 17, football was fun, but that was a long time areas of the service area from this $89,331 ago and this is my reality now.” failure,” stated CCU in the press prior to its move to Stephen Baumann is a member of release. Port Charlotte. the Sun’s editorial board. Contact him For questions or for more infor- $93,998 at [email protected], or call mation, call 941-764-4300 or go to 941-681-3003. www.charlottecountyfl.gov. THE SUN: Obituaries 5 | Police Beat 6 | Legals 6 | Crosswords 7 | Viewpoint 8 | Opinion 9 CLASSIFIED: Comics 7-10 | Dear Abby 10 | TV Listings 11 INDEX | THE WIRE: Nation 2 | State 3 | World 5-6 | Weather 6 SPORTS: Lotto 2 Daily Edition $1.00 Look inside for valuable coupons CHARLIE SAYS ... High Low This year’s savings to date ..