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Actress and director KT Curran has addressed some serious issues in fictional plays, short films and features that deal with the dangerous impact of bullying, the ripple effects of stress on emergency workers and how young people navigate decisions about first-time sex and fears of diseases.
But she didn’t want to take time to create a story to deal with the fentanyl crisis that has claimed tens of thousands of lives across the United States. Her latest film, “The Fentanyl Project,” which was recently shown at the Sarasota Film Festival, is a documentary with a focus on the impact of the synthetic drug in Sarasota County and two families dealing with the unexpected loss of a child and sibling after taking fentanyl.
The film, produced by Curran’s Wingspan Productions, will be screened on WEDU PBS at 9 p.m. May 16 and is available for viewing anytime on WEDU.org. Curran said Sarasota County school leaders are working to show the film to students in the district because of the dangers of the drug.
“The biggest problem is that there are people who don’t know they’re taking it,” Curran said. “The whole fentanyl story is so multi-layered. You could focus on the border. Is China trying to destabilize our country by flooding the country with cheap fentanyl? I’m focusing on the kids who don’t know they’re ingesting fentanyl. It’s flooding college campuses. Kids are going to a party and taking a pill someone gives them and they don’t know they’re going to die."
Sarasota great-grandmother celebrates 100 in style
Margaret Lutz was born on May 8, 1924, at the tail-end of "The Greatest Generation" and in the middle of the Roaring 20s. Her one wish was to have her family around.
Lido residents concerned about increased activity at Ted Sperling Park
Loud music, suspicious activity and personal watercraft cause disturbances, according to some residents who believe that better enforcement may be needed.
Some residents of South Lido Key are at their wits’ end about what they believe is an increase in criminal activity over the years in Ted Sperling Park.
David Rayner and Jim Musel, who both live about three building lots away from Ted Sperling Park, believe there needs to be more enforcement at the park, which has become a crowded party spot according to their accounts.
“If I had to suspect what’s going on, is that this is just the place to party, and it’s gotten out there,” Musel said. “It just has to stop. It can stop within a few weekends if they would start to enforce the rules.”
Noise disturbances, dogs on the beach and traffic have been going on for a while, he said.
Musel has lived on Lido Key for about 10 years, and he said the issues increased after the COVID-19 pandemic.
That’s when the spot became more popular, especially with personal watercraft users, said Rayner.
“There’s becoming a rough element that goes out there, maybe because they know they can get away with this stuff,” Musel said.
Groups of personal watercraft users frequent the park, often bringing professional DJs and loud music played from boomboxes out of car trunks, Rayner said.
He said the complaints from residents have grown over the years.
Five years after issuing bonds worth $24 million to purchase the University Park Country Club and its amenities, the University Park Recreation District has issued a second series of bonds totaling $21 million to upgrade the amenities.
Some residents are questioning the legality of the bonds and the impacts they could have on residents.
“The UPRD board looks at the ability to issue bonds as a piggy bank,” resident Dean Matt said. “They are loading debt on the homeowners, and half the homeowners don’t even realize it.”
The board has a different view of the situation.
“The largest asset that we have is our country club,” Chairperson Sally Dickson said. “If we don’t keep up with it and we don’t make necessary improvements to continue to meet the needs and the desires of our membership, as well as the people from the public who come in and enjoy aspects of what we offer, including golf and dining facilities, then that’s going to have an impact on our homes.”
According to Matt, homeowners are still paying down debt from the original bonds and will now be saddled with more. The bonds each carry 30-year terms and are added to homeowners’ property tax bills as non ad valorem assessments.
PFM Group Consulting, which supplies district management and financial advisory services to the board, estimated in November 2023 that the annual assessments per homeowner would range from about $900 to $3,000 over the next 30 years to pay for the 2024 bonds. In its methodology report, it provided an estimated assessment for each of the 1,202 homes in the district.
Matt said the number PFM provided doesn’t show the total cost of the 30-year payments, which is why he says homeowners didn’t have all the information before voting.
“The board always speaks in terms of the minimum amount,” he said. “They’ve never acknowledged what the 30-year payment is. Used salesmen have to do that.”
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*What will the bonds pay for?
- Golf course irrigation
- Golf course lake banks and bulkheads
- Kitchen renovation and modernization
- Fitness center renovation and modernization
- Activity space
- Administrative workspace
- 70 additional parking spaces and resurfacing
On May 6, Longboat Key commissioners selected members for several of the town’s boards, including the Planning and Zoning Board, Zoning Board of Adjustment, Citizens Tax Oversight Committee and the Sarasota/Manatee Metropolitan Planning Organization Citizen Advisory Committee.
The applicants were invited to a meet and greet workshop held by the commission on May 6 a couple hours before the official appointment.
County cuts off funding to local non-profit that helped rebuild home after Ian (Video)
The United Way of South Sarasota County told North Port's Community Correspondent Victoria Scott about the mistake that it believes commissioners made, that revoked critical funding.
It is a common perspective that United Way chapters do a lot of good work for communities.
But staff at one chapter in the North Port area are now scrambling to replace funding cut by Sarasota County Commissioners.
Last month, commissioners voted to eliminate the payroll deduction program for employees and to restrict funding to organizations that make referrals for abortion services.
On Wednesday, Chief Operating Officer Chris Johnson told North Port's Community Correspondent Victoria Scott that he believes the United Way of South Sarasota County lost funding because the United Way's 211 helpline lists Planned Parenthood as a resource.
"One of the things that wasn't considered is that United Way Suncoast is responsible for 211. United Way of South Sarasota County is an entirely independent 501(c)(3)." Johnson said. "So, the funding that was cut for us means that about four nonprofits that we support won't be able to be funded in the future."
Nonprofits they support include World Renew, which partnered with United Way of South Sarasota County to help a North Port homeowner rebuild in March. The home had been badly damaged by Hurricane Ian in September 2022.
The Pickleball Club, a firm founded in 2019 that develops and operates private, membership-based high-amenity indoor pickleball facilities throughout Florida, recently celebrated its one-year anniversary with a special day of member events.
On Thursday, May 2, nearly 100 club members, staff and leadership of The Pickleball Club at Lakewood Ranch enjoyed a day of fanfare, including food, fun, a Pro-Am tournament, live music, raffles, league announcements and membership sales to commemorate the occasion, including 50 percent off all passport memberships for the clubs in Lakewood Ranch, St. Lucie West and Village Park Center.
The 33,393-square-foot club located at 1300 Sarasota Center Blvd. in Lakewood Ranch features championship-grade courts with permanent nets, an outdoor players’ courtyard, Pickles Café, Dink’s Pro Shop, an indoor players’ lounge observation deck, luxurious locker rooms and a HEPA filtered air-conditioned environment.
Other locations under development for The Pickleball Club include St. Lucie West, set to open in summer 2024, Greenacres, Bonita Springs, Fort Myers, Pinellas Park and Venice. The company has a goal of opening 15 clubs over the next five years. For more information, visit:
The Publix grocery store in the Bayshore Gardens Shopping Center is closed until further notice, and it won’t reopen until 2025.
The supermarket chain plans to rebuild the more than 30-year-old grocery store, 6030 14th St. W, Bradenton. Publix expects to open a new, larger store in the same space next year.
“We are always evaluating our stores to provide our customers a pleasurable experience by having a store that meets their shopping needs for today and into the future,” said Hannah Herring, a Publix spokeswoman.
Herring said a reopening date has not been announced, but the store should reopen in 2025. Further details about what upgrades or changes will be made as part of the renovation were not immediately available.
As of Wednesday afternoon, the Publix sign had been taken down from the front of the building. A “coming soon” sign and construction materials have been installed around the store entrance and parking lot.
The Publix at the Bayshore Gardens Shopping Center opened in February 1992. Other tenants in the shopping center include Target, TJ Maxx and CVS.
There are at least 19 other Publix stores in Manatee County. The Publix nearest the Bayshore Gardens Shopping Center is at the Bradenton Commons, 4651 Cortez Road W., Bradenton.
Bradenton could become the third city in Florida where parents can use a drop box to surrender newborn children anonymously.
Manatee County and Bradenton government officials are working on a partnership to add a Safe Haven Baby Box to a local fire station. The drop-off boxes trigger a silent alarm for firefighters at the station to take action quickly and recover the child.
County officials drafted an agreement to add the Safe Haven box to a downtown Bradenton fire station, 1010 Ninth Ave. W. City officials will need to approve the agreement and begin training first responders on how to accept newborns at the station.
Commissioner Amanda Ballard, who is a former child welfare attorney and a mother, said the county wants to prevent situations where a mother could turn to abuse or neglect when they are no longer able to care for their babies.
A Nokomis man was arrested May 3 after failing field sobriety tests following a two-vehicle crash in Vamo.
Benjamin Robert Pettinato, 78, 200 block of E. Matisse Circle, Nokomis, was taken into custody by the Florida Highway Patrol-Venice on charges of DUI fourth or subsequent offense, a third-degree felony, and DUI with damage to property or person of another, a first-degree misdemeanor.
He was released on $3,500 bond.
According to a probable-cause affidavit, the FHP responded to a call regarding a multiple-vehicle crash at 10:15 p.m. May 3. Sarasota County Sheriff's deputies were on scene at the intersection of U.S. 41 and North Point Road, it says.
A white Lincoln SUV had crashed into the rear of a white Cadillac SUV, it says, and the driver of the Lincoln, Pettinato, was sitting on the driver's seat of his vehicle.
According to the affidavit, the driver of the Cadillac told the trooper that Pettinato had offered her money to admit to causing the crash because "he did not want a police report."
She declined and also refused to exchange information with him because she believed him to be impaired, it says.
When a trooper spoke with Pettinato, he noted "the odor of a consumed alcoholic beverage was present and emitting from his person," the affidavit says. It also says that his eyes were "bloodshot and watery" and his speech was "slurred."
Pettinato said he was driving home after meeting with a client and denied having consumed alcohol recently but said he had a drink earlier in the day.
He declined to perform any field sobriety exercises, then agreed to later, while telling the trooper he couldn't perform any physical activities due to a knee replacement.
The trooper told Pettinato that he was now conducting a DUI investigation. Pettinato informed him he was taking medication for his heart, an upper respiratory infection and pain.
The trooper then tested Pettinato for horizontal gaze nystagmus, which checks for jerky eye motion, and determined there was a lack of smooth motion, the affidavit says.
Then, he administered the Modified Romburg Balance Test, which involves the subject tilting his head back, closing his eyes and estimating the passage of 30 seconds. Pettinato appeared to fall asleep in the first test and in the second stopped the test at 17 seconds, it says.
He also failed the finger-to-nose test, according to the affidavit, touching his glasses each time.
The trooper then place Pettinato under arrest and asked if he would agree to a breath test. Pettinato declined, saying his lawyer had previously advised him not to.
When the trooper checked Pettinato's driving record, he found three prior DUI convictions, in 1993, 1997 and 2013, the affidavit says.
Records regarding his DUI charges in 1993 and 1997 aren't available online, but the file from the charge in 2013 shows he pleaded no contest and was adjudicated guilty.
His sentence included 100 hours of community service, a $2,000 fine, DUI school, a 12-month license suspension and no alcohol.
Pettinato's arraignment is June 14.
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