- Named Best Florida Newspaper In Its Class -
VOL 19 No. 8
December 5, 2018
Anna Maria City Pier contract finalized The contract calls for the new pier to be completed by late August in 2019. BY JOE HENDRICKS SUN CORRESPONDENT | jhendricks@amisun.com
CINDY LANE | SUN
A pied-billed grebe floats on a pond at Perico Preserve. The grebe is not on the state’s list of species that can be hunted.
Hunters have bird lovers crying ‘foul’ at Perico Preserve BY CINDY LANE SUN STAFF WRITER | clane@amisun.com
PERICO PRESERVE – It’s a cool, sunny, Thanksgiving weekend day, and you’re walking along the path at Perico Preserve looking at the butterflies and being thankful that there’s no red tide in the preserve when a shot rings out. Four pelicans flush from the mangroves. Another shot. Two white egrets fly away from the sound. Two more shots – then silence. A few moments later, doors slam on a dark pickup truck parked on Perico Isle Circle, just outside the preserve boundary, the engine starts, the tires squeal, and it’s gone. What is happening at the preserve, created by Manatee County as a bird sanctuary? According to county environmental officials, state wildlife officials and neighbors of the preserve, duck hunting season is happening. The season closed the last day of the Thanksgiving weekend, Nov. 25, and reopens again on Saturday, Dec. 8, ending Sunday, Jan. 27. It’s a constant frustration to county environmental officials, who have no law enforcement powers, said Charlie Hunsicker, director of the Manatee County Parks and Natural Resources Department. For seven months out of the year, between August and February, it is legal to hunt 28 bird species in Florida, accord-
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CINDY LANE | SUN
A sign proclaims the preserve as a sanctuary for birds.
SEE PIER, PAGE 35
ing to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC); each species has specific dates designating its season. The juxtaposition of a densely populated neighborhood, a preserve that was built with birds in mind and hunters shooting at the birds is worrisome at best, and tragic at worst, Hunsicker said. “I am surprised we still allow hunting against residential neighborhoods in the name of sport where a catastrophic convergence of families and their pets meets up with people who appear in camouflage,” he said.
JOE HENDRICKS |SUN
SEE PERICO, PAGE 29
Folks still gather near the entrance to the old pier that was demolished earlier this year.
BRIDGE Street
Jewelers sparkles anew in Bradenton Beach. 14
Anna Maria Island, Florida
ANNA MARIA – The $3.33 million contract to build the decking and walkway for the new Anna Maria City Pier is a done deal. On Thursday, Nov. 29, City Commissioners unanimously authorized Mayor Dan Murphy to execute the construction contract with Tampa-based Infrastructure & Industrial Contractors Southeast Inc. (i+icon). The contract gives i+icon 270 days to complete the pier project by Aug. 26, 2019. It allows the city to penalize the firm $975 per day for any delays beyond that date, but gives the commission the discretion to extend the construction timeline due to a storm, prolonged loss of power or some other unforeseen occurrence. Murphy said i+icon indicated the first pier pilings will be driven in January. The contract states the new pier will be approximately 730 feet long and 12 feet wide, with a 111-foot by 88-foot T-end section to accommodate a restaurant, bait shop and restrooms. The scope of work does not include the restaurant, bait shop and restrooms spaces that will be addressed in a separate request for proposals (RFP). The commission-approved contract is $332,837 lower than the $3.66 million bid i+icon submitted in October as one of five firms responding to the city’s revised RFP. Those bids ranged from $4.78
HOLIDAY fun breaks out at The Center’s Lester Day. 3 PAT GLASS is honored by the
Manatee County Commission. 25 The Island’s award-winning weekly newspaper www.amisun.com