NEWS

4THE SUN ISLAND NEWS

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FEBRUARY 16, 2022

IN BRIEF

Chamber golf tournament May 13

The Anna Maria Island Chamber of Commerce will host its 23rd Annual Golf Tournament on Friday, May 13 at IMG Academy Golf Club in Bradenton. The tournament, which benefits the Chamber’s scholarship fund, is $500 per team or $135 per golfer. Registration includes golf, lunch, gift bag, greens fees, cart fee, prizes, beer and beverages on course and dinner. If you would like to come for dinner but not play, the cost is $40 per person. For more information and to register, call the Chamber at 941-778-1541 or info@amichamber.org.

No rapid testing at county sites

If you need a rapid COVID-19 test, you’ll have to go somewhere other than the two Manatee County-run testing sites, at least temporarily. Due to a lack of availability of rapid tests, county officials announced they are temporarily only offering PCR COVID-19 tests at the two sites. PCR tests take 24-72 hours or more to deliver a result. The two county testing sites are at the Bradenton Area Convention Center, 1 Haben Blvd. in Palmetto, and downtown Bradenton at 1301 18th Ave. W. If you need a rapid COVID-19 test, other options are available in Manatee County. Visit www.floridahealthcovid19.gov/ testing-sites to find a rapid testing site.

COVID-19 IN MANATEE COUNTY Feb. 6 Cases 2,892 % Positivity 21.91% Deaths <10 % Eligible population vaccinated 63.3% New hospital admissions 91

Feb. 14 Cases 2,235 % Positivity 18.29% Deaths 33 % Eligible population vaccinated 63.4% New hospital admissions 70

COVID-19 IN MANATEE COUNTY SCHOOLS Feb. 6 Anna Maria Elementary - 0 staff, 0 students Manatee County - 7 staff, 29 students Total since first day of school (AME) - 2 staff, 22 students Total since first day of school (county) - 814 staff, 4,311 students

Feb. 14 Anna Maria Elementary - 0 staff, 0 students Manatee County - 4 staff, 6 students Total since first day of school (AME) - 2 staff, 23 students Total since first day of school (county) - 841 staff, 4,438 students

Marine biologist opposes clam restoration project

A final commission decision has not yet been reached regarding a $50,000 funding request.

BY JOE HENDRICKS

SUN CORRESPONDENT | jhendricks@amisun.com

ANNA MARIA – Clams are not the solution to red tide pollution, retired marine biologist Dr. Randy Edwards told city commissioners who are considering a proposed clam restoration project in and around Anna Maria.

Having heard from Edwards during the Feb. 10 city commission meeting, the Anna Maria Commission has not yet made a final decision regarding a $50,000 funding request for clam and seagrass restoration projects recently proposed by local restaurateur Ed Chiles and representatives of The Gulf Shellfish Institute, The Diatom Initiative and Sea & Shoreline.

Led by Chiles, that group seeks $50,000 of the approximately $850,000 in American Rescue Plan (ARP) funds the city has and will receive from the federal government over a two-year period.

Edwards’ appearance at the Feb. 10 meeting served as a follow-up to the letter he previously sent Commissioner Jon Crane. In that letter, Edwards addressed Crane’s concerns regarding the degree to which clams remove red tide cells (Karenia brevis) from the waters in which they live. The toxic algae can cause respiratory irritation, shellfish poisoning and fish kills during its bloom phase.

After hearing Edwards’ scientific positions and personal views on clams’ impact on red tide mitigation, Commissioner Robert Kingan suggested, and the commission supported, directing city engineers to research potential stormwater mitigation/nitrate reduction runoff improvements as possible alternative uses of the $55,000 in ARP funds included in the city’s current fiscal year budget for water quality/environmental projects.

EDWARDS’ VIEWS

Edwards, a Bradenton resident, told the commission he has nearly 50 years of experience in marine biology and ecology. He said he holds a master’s degree in marine science and earned a Ph.D. based on his study of nutrient dynamics in Florida’s estuaries.

Edwards said he served as a research scientist at the University of Miami, where he directed a large aquaculture/fish species project that included a saltwater fish stocking program. He said he was then hired by Sarasota-based Mote Marine Laboratory to lead Mote’s fish stocking program.

He said he later focused his efforts on research pertaining to the ecology of fish and fish habitats in Florida’s bays and estuaries and directed studies for the Sarasota Bay Estuary Program, multiple Florida water management districts, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, the National Marine Fisheries Service and the U.S. Geological Survey.

“I have no dog in the fight. I’m free to speak the truth because I have no strings attached,” he said when noting he has no financial stake in the proposed restoration projects.

“I do believe that locally environmentally concerned citizens that have been involved in promoting clams as a way to mitigate red tide and nitrogen pollution actually do so out of very good intentions. The same applies to local organizations such as START (Solutions To Avoid Red Tide) and Sarasota Bay Watch. Almost all really believe that they are doing something very good for the environment. However, the scientific realities are that they have somehow become misinformed, or at least under-informed, and there seems to be some involved partially because of self-interest,” Edwards said.

“But clams are not the solution to pollution. The scientific fact is that even large populations of clams will not remove significant amounts of nitrogen. In some specific situations, clams could increase nitrogen and have negative impacts,” Edwards said, noting that clam waste contains ammonia that other organisms can convert into nitrogen.

JOE HENDRICKS | SUN Dr. Randy Edwards appeared before the Anna Maria City Commission on Feb. 10.

JOE HENDRICKS | SUN City Commissioner Jon Crane has expressed doubts about the effectiveness of clams mitigating red tide.

City triumphs in noise violation hearing

The Holmes Beach special magistrate upheld a November 2021 daytime noise violation.

BY KRISTIN SWAIN

SUN STAFF WRITER | kswain@amisun.com

HOLMES BEACH – It was a win for Holmes Beach police officers when Special Magistrate Michael Connolly ruled in favor of upholding a noise violation citation, assessing a $175 fine.

Property owner James Daniel Clark appeared during a Feb. 10 hearing to contest a noise violation citation received by his son, Justin Clark, on Nov. 27, 2021.

HBPD Officer Michael Van Horne testified before Connolly about the incident, which happened at a home Clark owns at 240 S. Harbor Drive in Holmes Beach. Van Horne said he responded to a noise complaint at the address. When he got out of his vehicle about 200 feet away from the home on the street, he said loud music was plainly audible. Upon walking up to the gate to the backyard, Van Horne and Sgt. Thomas Fraser said they saw several young people in a hot tub. Justin Clark responded to their summons to the gate and, with his father on the phone, answered police questions and received the noise violation.

Body camera footage from the two officers confirmed their version of events, also bringing to light that Justin Clark admitted that underage drinking was taking place on the property.

Speaking on behalf of James Daniel Clark was attorney Michele Grantham. Grantham argued that the neighbor who reported the incident had called multiple times since 2019 to report issues at the property and that the November incident was the only time that a citation was issued. She also argued that the police responding to the call had previously used a decibel reader to determine if a noise violation had taken place and did not use it this time, instead using the plainly audible portion of the city’s noise ordinance, along with seven standards outlined in the ordinance, to determine that a violation had taken place. Grantham said the plainly audible language and seven standards were too subjective.

Tokajer disagreed. He testified on behalf of his officers and said the noise ordinance allows officers to determine if a violation occurs based on reasonableness and their own common sense, even if that noise takes place during the day, as this one did. With the body cameras unable to amplify sound, what was heard on the camera footage was an accurate depiction of the noise at the time of the citation, he said.

“This is clearly a violation,” Tokajer said of the music, which caused the disturbance.

Though he wasn’t onsite at the time of the incident, James Daniel Clark testified during the hearing on behalf of his son, saying he believed the group of college sophomores were watching a football game and that was the source of the noise. While being questioned by Augello, he admitted that the noise heard in the body camera footage did not sound like a football game.

After hearing testimony on both sides, Connolly ruled that a violation had taken place and ordered Clark to pay a fine of $175 plus a $10 administrative fee.

KRISTIN SWAIN | SUN Police Chief Bill Tokajer testifies during a Feb. 10 code compliance special magistrate hearing.