SRQ DAILY Jan 20, 2022
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"We can not only make our Florida waterways safer, but we can help honor Ethan's memory."
The death of a Sarasota boy in 2020 could soon inspire a change to Florida’s boating safety laws.
Legislation filed by Rep. Fiona McFarland, R-Sarasota, would add requirements for watersports instructors to wear killswitch devices so that motorboat engines will stop if they ever fall overboard. The freshman lawmaker began crafting legislation shortly after taking office with Greg and Mindy Isaacs, whose 10-year-old son Ethan died at a Sarasota youth sailing event.
“We can not only make our Florida waterways safer, but we can help honor Ethan’s memory,” McFarland said.
Both of Ethan’s parents spoke this week at a House Tourism, Infrastructure and Energy Subcommittee meeting in Tallahassee, where the bill received unanimous and bipartisan support.
Mindy Isaacs testified the parents thought little of leaving their children in the care of trained adults at the event. “We trusted the instructor would keep him safe,” she said. Instead, an accident that left the instructor overboard and the boat spiraling out of control.
Greg Isaacs said the legislation, which also increases boater education on the use of engine shut-off devices, could prevent a future similar tragedy.
“This bill is a simple no cost solution to this issue,” he said.
Marine industry professionals and civic boating groups all offered support to the bill. Rep. James Buchanan, R-Venice, serves on the committee that heard the bill, and suggested the legislation would be critical in protecting individuals in local waters. He talked about spending his own youth a 16-foot skiff in Sarasota Bay.
“I know it is one of the most difficult bays in the state to navigate. Now as a father, I can’t imagine what you guys are going through,” he told the Isaacs. “Our entire community grieves with you.”
The bill must be heard by two other House committees before reaching the floor. Sen. Joe Gruters, R-Sarasota, is carrying a companion bill in the Senate, where the bill awaits a first hearing. 
Image courtesy McFarland office.
New to our portfolio of community engagement programs, the SRQ Magazine 35 Under 35 Competition recognizes and honors young professionals, innovators, scientists, creatives, entrepreneurs and philanthropists within our hometown.
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From our very first class of 35 Under 35 Honorees—featured in our December Edition—we have Nate Beachy, President at Sutter's Quality Foods. Since the early 1960s, this family-owned business has been bringing local dairy items, orange juice, high quality eggs (that don’t run all over the grill), award winning cheeses and many more quality products to numerous restaurants and markets along Florida’s west coast.
What's a recent achievement you are most proud of?
As a food distributor, 90 percent of our company's revenue comes from restaurants and hotels which were largely shut down for a good portion of the year. To weather that storm, we did four key things. We trimmed payroll by incorporating rotating shifts to give employees as much work as we could while giving others planned days off. We leveraged our longstanding relationships with our suppliers to pay them back slowly for expired inventory. We maximized our credit with our bank to keep operations going. And, the riskiest of the four, we expanded our territory 10x during the pandemic. I decided I wanted to be aggressive rather than trimming our footprint and scaling down. I have a really great team and they went to work and made it happen.
Sutters Quality Foods, 6830 Richardson Rd, Sarasota, 941-371-2596
New micro-mobility transportation options will soon be available to residents and visitors of Sarasota after the City Commission on Monday unanimously approved an agreement with an e-scooter and bike sharing provider. Veo, a nationwide company based in Chicago, was selected as the exclusive operator in designated areas across Sarasota. About 350-400 scooters (both seated and stand-up) and 50-75 bicycles (traditional and pedal-assisted) will initially be available for rent, with the company having the option to increase the rental fleet if usage requirements are met. City staff will now be assessing areas of the City where scooter and bike corrals may be operated via geofencing and establishing parking corrals. The service is expected to be available in early March.
Rental costs for scooters will be $1 to unlock them via a mobile app, and 37 cents per minute. Bike rentals will be 50 cents per half hour. Through its Veo Access program, the company also offers discounted rates to low-income users who qualify. The City will receive a share of the company’s revenues as part of the two-year agreement. As part of the agreement, the company has committed to employing locally based staff who will be available to repair and replace vehicles, return misplaced scooters and bikes to parking corrals and respond to any issues.
Sarasota-based Icard Merrill is pleased to announce that Telese L. Zuberer has succeeded Robert G. Lyons as the law firm’s president. The change in leadership is the first in 23 years, and Zuberer is the first female to hold the position. Zuberer co-founded and operated McKay Law Firm, P.A., for 13 years before joining Icard Merrill as a shareholder in 2017. The move to Icard Merrill, with a larger firm infrastructure and framework, allowed tremendous growth for her community association law practice. Zuberer’s practice focuses on representing not-for-profit community associations, including condominium associations, homeowners’ associations, voluntary community associations, and commercial and business associations. Telese was named to the list of 2021 Florida Super Lawyers and holds the AV® Preeminent Peer Review rating from Martindale-Hubbell. She served as president for the West Florida Chapter of Community Association Institute (CAI) in 2009 and served on the board of directors for six years before being reelected for another three-year term commencing in 2018. Zuberer regularly teaches continuing education courses for community association managers, serves as the guest speaker for numerous organizations, and authors articles for various publications. She received her J.D. from University of Miami School of Law in 1999, and her LL.M. in real property development in 2000.Icard Merrill, which opened its first office in Sarasota in 1953, also has offices in Lakewood Ranch, Punta Gorda, and St. Petersburg.
The Commission on Accreditation of Rehabilitation Facilities (CARF) International announced Goodwill Manasota has been accredited for an additional period of three years – the highest level of accreditation CARF provides. Goodwill’s accreditation status will be in force through the end of 2024 for its employment and career services (Job Connection program).Goodwill’s Job Connection – a free service – is designed to help individuals obtain long-term employment or transition to better paying jobs. Through community partnerships, Goodwill matches jobless and underemployed workers with companies seeking well-trained, dependable employees. Additionally, Goodwill employs 700 team members, many of whom have self-identified barriers to employment. Goodwill team members have access to individual coaching as well as on-the-clock education and training to help them achieve career and life success. CARF is an independent, nonprofit accrediting body of health and human services. CARF’s mission is to promote the quality, value, and optimal outcomes of services through a consultative accreditation process and continuous improvement services that center on enhancing the lives of persons served. Founded in 1966, as the Commission on Accreditation of Rehabilitation Facilities, and now known as CARF International, the accrediting body works to develop and maintain current, field-driven standards that improve the value and responsiveness of the programs and services delivered to people in need of life enhancement services.
Art Center Sarasota’s 2021 exhibition season continues with four exhibits, January 27-March 5. Vitus Shell: “31 Flavors” features large-scale, mixed-media works exploring the Black experience by the Louisiana-based artist Vitus Shell. JAVO: “Revisited” feautures intricate works on canvas that explore the beauty and tragedy of culture-making within the native Puerto Rican’s adopted society. In the juried exhibition, “Visions in Black,” Art Center Sarasota partners with the Suncoast Black Arts Collaborative to showcase the works of local art students alongside works by seasoned artists of African descent. The “Visions in Black” exhibit is sponsored, in part, by the Gulf Coast Community Foundation. “Anything Goes” is a juried exhibition of artwork spanning a range of mediums, including paintings, drawings, photography and sculpture. The opening reception for all four exhibits is Thursday, January 27, 6-8 p.m. Masks are required. Art Center Sarasota is part of #SafeArtsSarasota. Art Center Sarasota, 707 N. Tamiami Trail, Sarasota. For information, visit www.artsarasota.org or call 941-365-2032.
Pictured: Vitus Shell Studio Portrait. Photo courtesy of Art Center Sarasota.
Remember the beautiful restaurant we featured in December’s Edition? (The one with the delicious Cheesecake?) We paid The Porch Restaurant another visit to learn more about their historical building and incredible food.
Watch our newest As Seen in SRQ Magazine Video now!
CHAPLIN: The Musical will run from Thursday January 20 2022 to Sunday February 6 2022 at Stone Hall, 502 Third Avenue West, Bradenton. Approximate running time: 2 hours and 15 minutes. He came to America an unknown. He left amidst scandals and controversy. In between, Charlie Chaplin became one of the best-loved and most famous entertainers in the world. Chaplin provides a captivating close-up of the man who changed motion pictures forever. The musical dramatizes the making of Chaplin’s legendary films, including The Kid, The Circus, Modern Times and The Great Dictator as well as his turbulent childhood, frenzied love life and political beliefs. Featuring an original score by Christopher Curtis, including “Look at All the People,” “Just Another Day in Hollywood” and “This Man,” Chaplin tells the touching story of the man who makes the world laugh as his legendary screen persona, the Tramp, but struggles to find happiness in his own life.
Experience this new, authorized symphonic tribute to the Fab Four featuring Grammy winner Jeff Tyzik's electrifying arrangements, based on the Beatles' original master recordings at Abbey Road on Friday, January 21 at 7:30pm at the Van Wezel and Saturday, January 22 at 2:30pm and 7:30pm at the Van Wezel. Revolution takes audiences on a magical musical journey through the hits that transformed popular music forever.
The time is 1959. The place is a seedy bar in Philadelphia. The audience is about to witness one of Billie Holiday’s final performances. Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar and Grill by Lanie Robertson will show from January 21 to February 20, 2022 at the Venice Theatre.
The Language of Ephemera, A Two Person Exhibit with Sally Pettibon and Eszter Sziksz, DLA will have its Opening Night Reception on Friday, January 7th, 2022 from 6pm to 8pm. Open Exhibition Dates are January 8th through 22nd By Appointment Only. Ephemera is generally defined as collectible memorabilia that was intended for a short term purpose. It is almost always paper-based and is often written or printed items that were expected to have short term popularity or usefulness. But oftentimes, we do keep and cherish ephemera items – especially vintage ones. Pettibon and Sziksz, explore the transitory through thoughtful, quiet, and powerful reflections on what ephemera is in relation to the passing moments of time.
Perhaps no other play rings truer today. Thornton Wilder’s magnificent Our Town is, at its heart, about us. All of us who are swept up by time and subject to inescapable change. As another ordinary day begins, the inhabitants of a small American town go about their business: newspapers are delivered; people go to work; gardens are tended. And a boy and girl fall in love. But as life’s events unfold, one question remains: “Do any human beings ever realize life as they live it?” Long after it won the 1938 Pulitzer Prize for Drama, Our Town remains one of the most enduring American plays of all time, reminding us to celebrate love, family, community, and the beauty in the ordinary. Recommended for general audiences. Our Town will show January 12–March 26, 2022.
Reminiscent of Springsteen for their muscle and passion, U2 for their do-right attitude, and Dave Matthews for their well-earned reputation for energetic live-shows, the Adam Ezra Group’s grassroots approach to alternative folk rock has won them a dedicated fanbase. Sonically, their music ranges from blues rock stompers laced with searing electric fiddle and frantic percussion, to lush folk ballads that spotlight frontman Adam Ezra’s gritty, soulful voice. They’ve won three New England Music Awards: best song in 2016, album of the year in 2012, and band of the year in 2013. Their latest record, Hurricane Wind is entirely fan-produced and includes three collaborations with John Oates, of Hall and Oates. Fusing folk intimacy and rock energy with soul power and pop charm, the Adam Ezra Group first emerged from Boston in the early 2000s and quickly garnered widespread acclaim for their bold, insightful songwriting and interactive, euphoric performances. From hole in the wall bars and house concerts to sold-out headline shows and dates with the likes of Little Big Town, The Wallflowers, Gavin DeGraw, Train, and The Wailers, Ezra and his bandmates treated every single gig like their last, attracting a die-hard following that believed not just in the music, but in their commitment to activism and social change, as well. Adam Ezra Group will perform on Saturday, January 22 at 8pm.
This family fun event in honor of 15 years of service to the Lakewood Ranch community will take place on January 22 from 11am to 1pm at Greenbrook Adventure Park. This event is free and open to the public and will feature food trucks, entertainment, Touch-A-Truck emergency vehicles, pet a baby alligator, rescue dog demonstration, hands-only CPR instruction, family safety tips, mounted patrol, and much more. Special tribute honoring LWR CERT members begins at 12:15pm.
Schubert's bewitching "night music" leads to the joyous sunshine of Mendelssohn's most beloved work on Sunday, January 23 at 4pm at Holley Hall. Inspired by Goethe's The Beautiful Night. This program consists of Schubert Nocturne (for trio) and Mendelssohn Octet.
BERNADETTE PETERS, Broadway's brightest star, in an evening of song from the Broadway shows she's received accolades for, as well as from all her Grammy Award®-winning and nominated albums including standards, Rodgers & Hammerstein, Stephen Sondheim, Jerry Herman, among others. A glamorous evening as only Bernadette Peters can do. This show will take place on Sunday, January 23 at 7pm.
Broadway and TV star NORM LEWIS can currently be seen starring in the SAG, Critics Choice, and NAACP Image Award-nominated Netflix film “Da 5 Bloods” by Spike Lee and in the groundbreaking FX series, “Pose.” He was previously seen in the NBC television special, “Jesus Christ Superstar Live in Concert!,” alongside John Legend, Sara Bareilles, and Alice Cooper. He recently appeared in the Broadway revival of “Once on This Island” and as Sweeney Todd in the Off-Broadway production of “Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street” at the Barrow Street Theatre, receiving the AUDELCO Award for his performance. In May of 2014, he made history as “The Phantom of the Opera’s” first African American Phantom on Broadway. An Evening with Norm Lewis will show on January 23 and 24, 2022 at the Venice Theatre.
German Cornejo’s TANGO FIRE encompasses and defines all that is Argentine Tango; dancing which sizzles with sensuality, accompanied by the unforgettable music of the great Tango masters including Piazzolla, Pugliese and Gardel. As one of the world’s most popular dance forms, this exhilarating show combines the rawness and sophistication, seductive and sultry side of Tango, evoking the intoxicating passion of late-night Buenos Aires. This show will take place on Monday, January 24 at 8pm.
They were just four guys from Jersey, until they sang their first note. While their harmonies were perfect on stage, it was a very different story off stage — a story that has made them an international sensation yet again. Go behind the unmistakable music and inside the story of Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons in the Tony® and Grammy Award®-winning true-life musical, JERSEY BOYS. This show will take place on Tuesday, January 25 at 7:30pm and Wednesday, January 26 at 7:30pm and 1:30pm.
Sarasota High School Theatre's I Never Saw Another Butterfly will show January 26-28, 2022. Over 15,000 Jewish children passed through Terezin, and only about a hundred were still alive at the end of the war. One of the survivors, Raja, having lived through it all, teaching the children when there was nothing to teach with, helping to give them hope when there was little enough reason for hope, creating a little world of laughter, of flowers and butterflies behind the barbed wire, tells the true story of the children. There were no butterflies at Terezin, of course, but for the children, butterflies became a symbol of defiance, making it possible for them to live on and play happily while waiting to be transported.
In this version of the future, expectant parents learn within the first few weeks of pregnancy which traits their child will have and what behaviors it is likely to exhibit. This intriguing new play follows the extreme lengths two couples go to in order to have a baby. Babel probes the world of modern eugenics, explores the societal value of a baby, and asks us what we are willing to risk for love. NNPN Rolling World Premiere. Babel will show from January 26 to February 18, 2022.
New College Students will be stationed in gallery 21 ready to share their research and insights on a selection of nineteenth-century artworks. This event is the culmination of an independent study project focused on "Bringing Art to Life in the Museum" and directed by Professor Katherine Brion, a specialist in nineteenth- and early-twentieth-century French art. This event is included with Museum Admission and will take place on January 26 from 2:30pm to 4pm.
Halo Arts Project presents the 3rd annual Angels for Artists Art Auction and Rock n' Roll Benefit. Funds support Visual Artists Fellowship Award. The Virtual Auction will take place on Wednesday, January 26 from 5:30pm to 7pm. The Silent Art Auction will take place on Thursday, January 27 from 5:30pm to 8pm at MARA Gallery, 1421 5th St. and will feature cocktails and a meet the artists. Join the Halo Arts Project for 2 fun filled evenings that include live rock n' roll music by a local favorite, and over 100 artworks by local artists auctioned on January 26 and 27 with bids starting at $75. This is a great opportunity to add exceptional art to your home or office collection.
SRQ DAILY is produced by SRQ | The Magazine. Note: The views and opinions expressed in the Saturday Perspectives Edition and in the Letters department of SRQ DAILY are those of the author(s) and do not imply endorsement by SRQ Media. Senior Editor Jacob Ogles edits the Saturday Perspective Edition, Letters and Guest Contributor columns.In the CocoTele department, SRQ DAILY is providing excerpts from news releases as a public service. Reference to any specific product or entity does not constitute an endorsement or recommendation by SRQ DAILY. The views expressed by individuals are their own and their appearance in this section does not imply an endorsement of them or any entity they represent. For rates on SRQ DAILY banner advertising and sponsored content opportunities, please contact Ashley Ryan Cannon at 941-365-7702 x211 or via email |
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