ARTS, DINING & ENTERTAINMENT — Pages 2-SB OUTSIDE, SPORTS, FISHING & HEALTH — Pages 17-22B BULK RATE J »\ U.S. POSTAGE PAID SANIBEL, FL PERMIT #33 ,-.. t .'; 1 ^~ POSTAL PATRON Vol. 36, No. 41 Friday, October 24,1997 Two Sections, 52 Pages 75 Cents This Award Winner Week Tax Vote The Sanibel City Council tentatively decided to hold a referendum to see if resi- dents want to pay for the •••< sewer expansion project with property taxes instead of a utility tax. .....,......,:........3A Ghost Stories It's approaching Halloween, and islanders seem to be full of ghostly experiences. ..........................,.„......5A Cruising SVtcPhees Scott and Gretchen McPhee 'jft report from the Cook Islands. ..17B Review/Preview Frank Wagner looks at the past year's Community Concert series and tells us what kind of music is planned. for this season. : .....6B Classifieds 22A Commentary 14-16A Crossword ...23B Environment 17A •*•< Fishing/Shelling 20-21B '4 Health 22B Island Dining 2-3B Night Life 4B Outside/Recreation 17B Thorn Redford look first place in the "Ding" Darling Wildlife Society's annual wildlife photography contest with this picture of a heron Police Beat 13A hunkering down in red mangroves. The original — a horizontal, almost panoramic shot — will be on display at the J.N. "Ding " Service Directory ..25A Darling National Wildlife Refuge Visitor Center: Show Biz ...5B Sports 19B Weather .....2A tiaif&A Great Week! 2A» October 24, 1997 - ISLANDER ISLANDER •Friday, October 24, 1997 •3A ^^(ffl^^ Remember UUhen... Jhemgm Front Page By Scott Martell • Sanibel Shell Shocked, a collection of humor col- ethical perceptions between the administration and Islander Editor umns by Islander columnist Art Stevens, will be pub- myself." Voters may choose (Information for this column was taken from lished by the end of the month. • Residents of Sanibel and Captiva reported being past issues of the Sanibel-Captiva Islander. The pa- shaken last Wednesday and Friday by a series of Fifteen years ago minor tremors that also affected Pine Island, Cape how to tax themselves per started publishing in 1961.) (Oct. 26,1982) Coral and Fort Myers Beach. Local police agen- ByJILLTYRER One year ago • Neal Bowen, Sanibel's first full-time city attorney, cies believe that the tremors may have been caused (Oct. 25, 1996) is bowing out after six years of service. Islander staff writer by military activities in the Gulf of Mexico. It looks as though citizens will get a chance to vote on whether they want to •The Pirate Playhouse hosts Shakespeare's Twelfth • The Islander endorses Jerrold Muench and Donald • Sanibel Homes offers two models on golf course Night, inviting about 3,000 Lee County students to Bissell for the Sanibel City Council. The two will pay for the sewer system through higher property taxes instead of through a utility lots. A3-bedroom, 2-bath tri-level home on Mock- tax. learn about the bard's work. "bring new ideas, practical judgment and young ingbird is offered for $83,900; a 2-bedroom, 2- • Janet Cali resigns as a commander with the Sani- blood" to the council. Officially, the agenda items were tabled until Council's Nov. 4 meeting, when bath with large family room home, also on Mock- it will consider an amended ordinance to levy the tax as well as a proposal to hold a bel Police Department due to a complicated and • Supervised by troop leader Debbie Friedlund, 15 ingbird, is offered for $75,900. acute form of arthritis. Girl Scouts turned out to spruce up Sanibel's his- referendum. If the referendum fails, the utility tax would kick in. • Classic Flight Inc. pilot Doug Keen is forced to toric cemetery this week as part of the Active Thirty years ago Council came to the decision after listening for nearly three hours Tuesday to land his bi-plane adjacent to the Beachview Golf Citizen's Badge requirements. (Oct. 26, 196J) one person after another in the audience of about 60 protest not only the tax, but the Course due to engine problems. • In response to charges by his son Peter, that the • The six-page Islander sells for 7 cents a copy, issue of having to pay for other people's sewer. city has been "dragging its feet in finalizing an ordi- with subscriptions costing $3 on the islands and The first to speak was former Mayor Jerry Muench, who said he was there to Five years ago nance setting up a moderate cost housing program $3.50 off-island. represent the 326 units in Periwinkle Trailer Park. He was on Council when the City (Oct. 27, 1992) for the Island," Councilman Fred Valtin said he • The IN. "Ding" Darling National Wildlife Ref- bought the sewer system and he was glad it did, he said, "but, honest to God, I don't • Fill dirt is increasing the city's coffers. In Septem- "plead[ed] guilty to not forcing the issue." He said uge is now the official name for the Sanibel Na- know where we got off line here.... Our staff direction was if you use the sewer, you ber, the city collected $88,600 in fees at the cause- he expected the ordinance to fly by year's end. tional Wildlife Refuge. New signs are being in- pay for your sewer. I certainly don't want to pay for everyone's sewer.... This is just way weigh station from trucks crossing the cause- stalled. The name change climaxed five years of not right. It is unfair," he said, drawing a loud round of applause from the audience way. Last year, the amount was $9,555. Finance Twenty years ago efforts by the J.N. "Ding" Darling Memorial Com- — which Mayor Bob Davison gaveled down. Director Renee Lynch attributes almost all the dif- (Oct. 25,1977) mittee. Darling died in 1962. People in Sanibel Bayous have their own system, said Rose Van Laere, in an ference to development at the Sanctuary develop- • City Planning Director Carleton Ryffel resigned his • Bird tours to be resumed: Griffing Bancroft is emotional speech. She and her husband have been paying for that system for 18 ment at Wulfert Point. position after about one year's service. He sited "non- once more back on the island and ready to resume years and now the city is planning to charge them so others can be on sewer. "We Sanibel Elementary School is preparing to celebrate satisfaction with the terms of my employment which his highly successful bird tours. don't mind paying our share, but I'll be darned if I pay for someone else's." Some its 30th birthday with a party. I agreed to, and a basic conflict of philosophical and people on fixed incomes are saying they'll have to move off the island, and that includes her and her husband, she said, her voice breaking. "Pennies don't fall out of heaven. That was only a dream. I think the whole system is the pits." When Ed Meyers bought his home in the Dunes, he said, the fact that it was on sewer was factored into the price. He's already paid and he doesn't want to pay for fee</ others, he said. Those who are getting the system should be assessed and pay for it Weather themselves. "It's hard for me to understand why we're having this big hullabaloo because The Islands' Community for the last six months, I have gone to City Hall several times and said 'What are we Newspaper since 1961 going to do for the people who've already paid?'" said Urban Palmer. He's been MAILING ADDRESS paying for sewer service on the island since 1971, he said, and "I was told 'Don't P.O. Box 56 • Sanibel, FL 3395,7 worry about it'" but now he's facing the proposed utility tax. "I thought that was Fax 472-5302 dead and buried a few years ago." LOCATION Proceeds from the proposed tax would be earmarked to pay the city's half of Promenade Center the sewer expansion project — $1,031,193 per year for the next 20 years. Property 695 Tarpon Bay Rd Unit #13 owners who are getting the service will pay the other half. All phases of the island- PHONE: 472-5185 Forecast wide sewer expansion areestimated to cost about $40 million and the City will cover SUBSCRIPTION RATES Friday through Sunday—partly (Continued, page 4A) When you feed an $22.00 $28.00 cloudy, highs of 84, lows of 62. $20.75 Newspaper $26.42 Ne»rspaper Winds from the southeast to north- . alligator you are *1.2SSalesT»i $1.58 Sjdes Tax Youths hit the "lanes," rolling coconuts to knock over pineapple pins during BaileyFest CUSTOM DETAILING Amu* Subscription Annual Subscription west at about 8-10 m.p.h. Rain fore- training i! to approach LM County Florid-•••a cast—2-30%. Water temperatures 76 City looks at committees last weekend. Hundreds of islanders visited the shopping complex to partake in food, enjoy music, plays games and visit with neighbors. Photo/Scott Martell. PICK UP & DELIVERY humans and are $28.00 $42.00 degrees. Humiture, 87 degrees. New ByJILLTYRER Annual Subscription Annual Subscription moon Oct. 31, full moon will be creating a* USA Foreign Islander staff writer SERVICE Nov. 14. fife threatening Postal Information The debate over what to do with the city's vegetation and wildlife commit- BUFFING-WAXING'GLAZING The Sanibel-Captiva Islander (USPS 481-400) is published tees indirectly made its way to Council Tuesday. CARPET & UPHOLSTERY CLEANING situation.., every Friday and is distributed throughout Sanibel and Carlton/Naumann Captiva Islands by the Breeze Corp.