Ryan’s hope 3A Site unseen 5A Green with … 9A Chamber in force at council meet Visitation encounters obstacles State offers tips for water ickies Civil discourse Two friends visit battle- fields, avoiding fighting 1B GondLOCAL NEWS COVER TO COVERoliAWARD-WINNINGer WEEKLYS NEWSPAPERun 50 CENTS VOLUME 64 NUMBER 24 WEDNESDAY-FRIDAY EDITION, JULY 15-17, 2009 AN EDITION OF THE SUN Gondo is tops again Sunshine complaint filed STAFF REPORT with state attorney The Venice Gondolier Sun BY GREG GILES dressed, saying he didn’t want trial after it admitted violations was again named the best NEWS EDITOR to create any expectations. occurred. The individual de- weekly newspaper in its circu- Wilmore previously filed a fendants were dismissed from lation category at the Florida Venice resident Winston complaint with the Florida the suit. Press Association Newspaper Wilmore has filed a Sunshine Ethics Commission against Wilmore’s latest complaint Awards ceremony Saturday. It’s Law complaint with the state Vice Mayor Sue Lang, who he alleges that Mayor Ed Martin, the 10th time in 11 years that attorney’s office against the said personally benefitted Vice Mayor Sue Lang and the paper has captured the top five most recently elected city from certain council actions. council members Ernie Za- award. council members. The chief allegation was dis- vodnyik, John Moore and Kit The newspaper also won a The case was filed July 3 and missed. Other allegations of McKeon conspired to create a first-place award for general has been assigned to Dennis Sunshine law and public voting bloc to improperly pay excellence, the second year in nell won a first-place award in Nales, Chief Assistant State records violations weren’t ad- the attorneys hired before the a row it received that honor. It sports photography. Copy Ed- Attorney for the 12th Judicial dressed, in deference to the city stepped in to represent all took third for overall graphic itor Rob Broyles took second in Circuit. Nales acknowledged Sunshine lawsuit against the the named defendants. design as well, improving from individual graphic and shared Monday by telephone that he city, several council members Wilmore’s complaint is in an honorable mention last in Feature Editor Kim Cool’s received the complaint and and some other board mem- some aspects identical to an year. third-place award for environ- said it was “being reviewed.” bers. ethics complaint filed last Editor Bob Mudge won four mental writing. He didn’t give a timeline on The city settled the suit in first-place awards, for humor Projects Editor Brooky how soon it would be ad- February just prior to going to Please see FILED, 7A column, headline writing, edi- Brown won third place for best torial writing and First Amend- obituary and former Sports ment defense, for which he Editor Tripp Miller got second received the Jon A. Rosenraad in sports game-day story. Award. More than 90 papers sub- He also took second place mitted a total of 1,539 entries, for editorial page. and 73 papers won at least one Photo stringer Justin Fen- award. New e-mails defy court order BY GREG GILES NEWS EDITOR Ramifications are growing over Sunday’s personal e-mail exchange between Mayor Ed Martin and council hopefuls Ted Koszarski and Jim Ben- SUNSHINE LAW SUN FILE PHOTO nett. Water is a great beverage, but claims that bottled water is superior to tap water are more fiction than fact. Koszarski the result of a court-approved inadvertently settlement that banned city sent the e- employees and elected or mail string to appointed officials from using Bottled water blues getting louder the city serv- their personal e-mail ac- er when he counts. He said he plans to BY DON BLAIR blues.com for verification. blind car- study the e-mails more and CORRESPONDENT Two of the main reasons so many are turning bon-copied Martin will come up with an opinion away from the bottle and back to the tap are Ernie Zavod- whether they constitute viola- What is going on around the world? Coun- cost — up to 10,000 times the cost of your tap nyik’s city ac- tions in a day or so. tries, counties, cities and companies are all water, according to the Earth Policy Institute — count instead of his personal Both Martin and Koszarski walking away from bottled water. and those darn bottles, which can and do leach account. said they believed the e-mail In the past several years a number of anti- harmful elements into their contents, such as In the e-mail Martin dis- exchanges weren’t about city bottled water slogans have turned up, such as Bisphenol A, which has been shown to be a can- cussed short-term rentals and business, and thus it was ap- “Just say no to bottled water,” “Back to the tap” cer-causer. And don’t forget, those bottles are economic development, and propriate to use their private e- and “Think outside the bottle.” There must be a made from crude oil. offered Koszarski campaign mail accounts since using the reason. These facts have been stated by the En- advice. city accounts for political cam- As it turns out, there are a number of them vironmental Protection Agency, the Natural City Attorney Bob Anderson paigns is a violation of city pol- including the allegation that the healthiest Resources Defense Council and even the Food said the exchange isn’t a icy. water simply does not come in a bottle. and Drug Administration. Sunshine law violation, but “It’s a gray area,” Koszarski Companies such as Coca-Cola and PepsiCo, Here is a verbatim statement from the FDA: may have gone astray of the with their well-known Dasani and Aquafina “Companies that market bottled water as being court order and city policy — Please see DEFY, 6A brands of bottled water, spend millions on ads safer than tap water are defrauding the Amer- depicting freshness and purity when, in fact, ican public.” The Natural Resources Defense both of these brands use municipally treated Council chips in this comment: “The FDA’s tap water as their source. In cases in which bot- standards for bottled water are in many ways Moon indigo tlers state that certain beneficial ingredients are weaker than EPA rules that apply to big city tap added, it has also been shown and certified that water.” these additions often are of no appreciable value health-wise. Visit www.bottledwater Please see BLUES, 7A Much-needed dredging project stalled BY GERALD A. ROGOVIN “So far, for naught,” he said. program over a 10-year period. CORRESPONDENT “Our much-needed dredging But progress stopped at that is at a standstill. The need has point. The Fairwinds commu- Dredging Lyons Bay in No- grown, and we must find a way nity refused to submit any komis has been considered de- to get the project done.” signed petitions, and it repre- sirable for almost eight years. Baar and some Inlets neigh- sents a third of all the water- A survey to measure its bors retained engineers to front parcels. The docks at depth by one of the waterfront conduct a bathymetric survey. Fairwinds, many of which are communities confirmed the County staff proposed an as- in disrepair, were paid for by need. So did Sarasota County, sessment district that includes individual owners, not the which passed an ordinance all the waterfront properties, community. Some docks are ordering portions of the bay to plus the Inlets, Fairwinds, Dol- being replaced, following a be dredged. And the West phin Shores, Nokomis Oaks finding by insurance carriers Coast Inland Navigation Dis- and Shore Oaks communities. that they had become a liabili- trict voted to contribute The Inlets group circulated ty. $100,000 toward the estimated a petition supporting a coun- Implementing the dredging $450,000 cost. ty-funded engineering/envi- program requires approval by PHOTO COURTESY OF FRAN PALMERI Yet, nothing has happened. ronmental study. They suc- two-thirds of the 181 property Frequent contributor Fran Palmeri sent in this photo of a recent full Hal Baar, a resident of the ceeded, obtaining signatures owners on the bay. Baar said moon over Oscar Scherer State Park. Inlets, has pushed the effort from two-thirds of the owners since it was proposed. for a maintenance dredging Please see STALLED, 6A FRONT SECTION OUR TOWN SECTION IN THIS EDITION COUPONS DEATHS Good morning, BOB VEDDER......................................10A OBITUARIES ............................................4A CROSSWORD ..................................................6B AMERICAN PROFILE Affordable Hearing ......................3A Duane Piper Gondolier Sun BUSINESS ..................................................8A OPINION ....................................................10A DEAR ABBY........................................................5B CLASSIFIEDS Twin Palms Chiropractic ............7B subscriber, LEGALS......................................4, 15-18A POLICE BEAT ........................................4A MILESTONES ................................................11B Venice Car Wash..........................4B LET ‘EM HAVE IT ............................11A SPORTS......................................................12A VENUE........................................................................3B VIRGINIA HENDRICKS LOTTO ............................................................2A WEATHER ..................................................2A WELL-BEING ....................................................7B 7 0 5 2 52 , WEDNESDAY AND SATURDAY WWW.VENICEGONDOLIER.COM FOR HOME DELIVERY, CALL 207-1300.I III 2A SUN NEWSPAPERS ALMANAC WEDNESDAY, JULY 15, 2009 Florida Lottery www.flalottery.com BACK IN TIME CASH 3 PLAY