The island's 03 newspaper • € > of record 33 : i i ••••'I'I.' •. -iaiiiS*---- Week of Feb. 26-Mar. 3,2004 SANIBEL & CAPTIVA, FLORIDA VOLUME 31, NUMBER 9, 24 PAGES 75 CENTS City and County still can't agree on By Donna T. Schuman materials. and the fiber. Staff writer Prior to applying the FRP wraps, any unsound or disin- "It is not a structural wrap, it is a gift wrap," Kangari tegrating concrete must be removed, steel rebars and cables said. "There is no way.. .no chance." The dispute between Sanibel and Lee County regarding must be primed and new concrete must be cast and Despite the lack of confidence in the city's proposal, the the fate of the Sanibel drawbridge remains unresolved fol- smoothed to replace the old, Rizkalla told the Council county maintains that replacement would be the best long lowing Monday's joint mediation. members and Commissioners. term solution. After nearly six hours of discussion and expert testimo- The technique, which has been used for more than 11 "We don't disagree that carbon liber wrapping has its ny from bridge engineers, neither the Sanibel City Council years, would cost an estimated $5 million and take between advantages, but the procedure is still in the infancy stages," or the Lee County Commissioners seemed convinced that six and nine months to complete. said Paul Wingard, deputy director of the Lee County either solution would best ensure the safety of Lee County- However, the County sees the rehabilitation method as Department of Transportation. residents traveling on the ailing bridge. throwing good money after bad. If the county decided to rehabilitate, Wingard said, it However, the two governing bodies did agree on one "This bridge is worn out," said John Albion, Lee County would still have a bridge that would interrupt transporta- thing, to hold another mediation session. Commission Chairman. "This method is not going to get us tion, have outdated bascule equipment and have a non-con- During the meeting, held in Cape Coral's City Council 20, 30 or 40 years." forming safety rail. chambers, both sides argued its case but failed sway each The County's consultants agreed. Following Rizkalla's "The bridge consists of a quilt system of patches," others perception of the situation. testimony five different bridge engineers representing Lee Wingard added. "Even with major repair and rehabilitation For the first time, county officials heard Sanibei's pro- County explained why the wrapping technique would not we would have a bridge that still needs to be replaced in 15 posed rehabilitation method that would add another 15 to be feasible. years." 20 years to the life of the 40-year-old drawbridge. The City According to Amir Kangari, an engineer with PBS&J — Although its main concern is making the bridge safe as of Sanibel maintains rehabilitating the drawbridge is feasi- the county's bridge consultants — the wrap method on the soon as possible, Sanibel also hopes a rehabilitated bridge ble, despite the county's contradicting reports. bridge would not stop the steel or concrete underneath from See BRIDGE Sanibei's bridge consultant, Dr. Sami H. Rizkalla, an corroding. engineering professor from North Carolina University, Kangari then backed his theory with a short video of a page 2 claimed wrapping the ailing bridge in Fiber Reinforced bridge in Melbourne, Florida that had undergone the FRP Polymer (FRP) composites would restore the shear capaci- wrapping procedure. In the video, Kangari tapped on vari- ty of the structure. ous repaired portions of the bridge with a hammer to reveal Mardi Gras con'--. - "The bridge can be economically rehabilitated to restore where corrosion has occurred since the repair. its original structural capacity and integrity," Rizkalla said. The hollow metallic noise heard throughout the video, However, the process entails more than just applying the Kangari said, indicates a separation between the structure to Periwinkle P. - '.: Causeway designs getting nearer By Donna T. Schuman tions of the bridge and a limestone mended painting those sections to Staff writer textured finish for the bridge's sub- maintain color consistency through- structure. out the bridge. Despite the continued dispute "The bridge should be beautiful in "We have not been happy with over the fate of the Sanibel draw- its lines and the colors should be in some of the projects we have seen bridge, the Roadway Landscape the same family," said Sanibel resi- and done [with the colored con- Advisory sub-committee continues dent Carla Johnston. crete]," Bell said. "We have felt that its design plans- for the remaining The colored portions of the it doesn't work well." spans of the Sanibel Causeway. bridge, including the railing and the The entire sub-structure of the After reviewing various color Florida Bulb Tee supports will likely bridge, including the piers, columns schemes and textured finishes, the be coated with an acrylic spray finish and pilings, will feature a lime-stone committee agreed the bridge's cos- according to Ed Bell, a design con- finish that they feel would tie into the metics should reflect the natural sultant for URS. natural look of the spoil islands and * --t-nfait environment of Sanibel. Although the committee dis- The committee selected a light cussed a finish where the color is See DESIGN blue-green hue for the painted por- mixed into the concrete, Bell recom- page 2 Mosie the Clown, aka Merna Ruby,, a member of Clowns of America Intl., and Smiles :Uniimited. Has been doing Periwinkle N Story -and photos by f Amy Fleming, Staff Writer i' • i \ * \ *' jX-ct 3 The Februai Pat Sing • Li. iit.j'o pagt 6 issue speaks fi • Refuge to lower Fat Tuesday came to the islands for the tenth year in a water levels row, as residents and guests of Periwinkle Way Trailer Park « GARDENING page 9 Club in Naples put on the dog for Mardi Gras. The Sanibel School » SPORTS page 10 Beacon is the school According to Jerry Muench, owner of the park along ;The 18th annual Porter : Annual shorebird migra- : with brother Dick Muench, the annual parade was started • REAL ESTATE page 12 newspaper put out by the •tion prompts refuge to I ; students. |Goss luncheon held at the by L.C. Miller and wife, "and it grew every year from that." • DATELINE page 14 ; Vineyards. j lower water levels in \ Now, the Muench's provide a cookout for all comers, (March. : • TV LISTINGS page 16 with hot dogs, burgers, corn on the cob, side dishes and i • OBITUARIES page 19 See pages 12-13 — See page 3 — See page 7 See MARDI GRAS • CLASSIFIEDS page 20 page 14 Design • Installation • Maintenance • Tree Work 3889 Sanibel Captiva Rd. Phone: 239-472-l|37.0 Sanibel Island, FL 33957 28 YEARS BEAUTIFYING SANIBEL & CAPTIVA Fax- 239-395-21082 2 • Week of Feb. 26-Mar. 3, 2004 • ISLAND REPORTER where he was speaking. So very possibly nothing will ever be found, either Goss defends U.S. Intelligence in Iraq because it doesn't exist or it's been well hidden and isn't By Renny Severance at the end of the Cold War. very large to start with. Nonetheless, intelligence is all about Executive Editor We did not invest in the field stopping bad things before they happen and the best intelli- and reduced our assets. gence we had said invasion was the right approach. On Monday, Feb. 23, Southwest Florida's own "We wouldn't take intelli- In other comments about the coming political year, the Congressman Porter Goss appeared at the Vineyards in gence from sleazy people," congressman said that he expected not much to happen in Naples for a luncheon in his honor by the Yale Club of he said. So they went away. the legislature. No one has a significant majority in the Naples. In fact, this was the 18th year that he has been so and they came back on 9/11." Senate where 60 votes are needed to pass anything, not just honored. He went on to discuss a simple majority. Ever the consummate public speaker, Goss spoke to a "trend lines" based on the Moreover, it's an election year. Most successful legisla- crowd of nearly 200 people. He spoke with no notes and intelligence we did have tion, he said, deals with middle of the road items rather than covered a wide range of subjects ranging from the awful about Iraq. Saddam Hussein Porter Goss the extremes. In election years, parties tend to focus on the state of political division in Washington and in the country has used weapons of mass destruction in the past and cer- extremes in an effort to fire up the support of the voters. generally, to how legislation gets passed and what we can tainly was known to have the money, the delivery systems, Therefore, not much happens in the halls of Congress. expect this year, to some of his own career in government. and the technology needed. Following the expulsion of U.N. But on the positive side, Goss noted with wry humor, But the bulk of his remarks were focused on a subject in weapons inspectors, it seemed only logical that the trend "not much bad will happen either." which he is generally regarded as one of Washington's most lines would keep going in the same directions. Following his remarks, Goss answered a number of ques- knowledgeable veterans: intelligence. In other words, our intelligence apparatus was somewhat tions from the audience covering a wide range of subjects He got an early grounding in the subject as a young man impaired at the time, but based on the best it was able to from the war on terror to his plans for retirement.