Forum set for council candidates

By STAFF REPORT

trepecki@breezenewspapers com

The League of Women Voters of Sanibel will host a Public Candidate Forum for the city of Sanibel's election on Feb 23 from 5 t o 7 p m a t

B I G A R T S , w h i c h w i l l a l s o b e l i v e s t r e a m e d on Facebook

T h e e l e c - t i o n f o r t w o s e a t s o n t h e

S a n i b e l C i t y

C o u n c i l w i l l b e h e l d o n

March 7

Winners of amateur nature photo contest announced

On Feb 6, the “Ding” Darling Wildlife Society-Friends of the Refuge held an official judging f o r i t s 3 0 t h a n n u a l “ D i n g ” D a r l i n g

Amateur Nature Photography Contest

T h e 2 0 2 2 w i n n e r s w e r e t o b e announced in October at the J N “Ding”

D a r l i n g N a t i o n a l W i l d l i f e R e f u g e ' s inaugural Art in the Wild festival, but Hurricane Ian in September canceled the event and judging Judges selected three winners and 10 honorable mentions out of 140 entries from 22 states and three countries All photograph entries were shot at the Sanibel refuge complex

“ D e s p i t e t h e d i s r u p t i o n f r o m Hurricane Ian, the contest generated much excitement and nostalgia among photographers and our judges,” contest c o o r d i n a t o r a n d D D W S A s s o c i a t e Executive Director Sierra Hoisington said “Our refuge may not look the same as it did when these photos were created, but the wildlife is still here, and nature's resilience promises to return to its former beauty captured in these works ”

First place went to Frank Brinker, of Oberageri, Switzerland, for his portrait of a least tern hatchling titled “Speedy ”

“I love the movement portrayed in

See PHOTO CONTEST WINNERS, page 10

First

Busy week for crews at Sanibel, Captiva fire districts

By TIFFANY REPECKI

trepecki@breezenewspapers com

Island fire crews responded to separate incidents involving a store and a residence last week

The Sanibel Fire and Rescue District responded to a structure fire on Feb 13 at about 11:30 p.m. at Jerry's Foods, at 1700 Periwinkle Way, Sanibel Fire Chief Kevin Barbot reported that police officers were conducting a routine check of the area on their patrol and went around the rear of the building

“They saw flames coming from a wall AC unit,” he said

It was mounted to the side wall of the structure Crews arrived on scene and located the source of the fire inside of a storage room Barbot reported that the unit caught on fire, catching the wall on fire.

“We showed up and put the fire out in about 30 minutes,” he said

Four candid a t e s h a v e been certified to run for the s e a t s T h e y include incumb e n t s M a y o r Holly Dineen Smith and Vice Mayor Richard Johnson, and challengers Jude Sincoskie and Troy Cobb Thompson

The league reported that the forum's moderator will be professor Roger Green, head of Florida Gulf Coast University's Political Science Department The ques-

See FORUM, page 5

Easily access up-to-date Sanibel and Captiva businesses that have reopened using a smart device or computer.

Chamber creates interactive guide to open island businesses

The Sanibel & Captiva Islands Chamber of Commerce's latest tool for steering visitors and islanders to businesses back in operation after Hurricane Ian has gone live on Wander: Maps & Navigation

“We have literally put the status of Sanibel and Captiva businesses at your fingertips whether they’ve reopened onisland or elsewhere, such as Bell Tower,” chamber President and Chief Executive Officer John Lai said “We have the great flexibility to make changes within minutes when we learn of a new business reopening, a change in hours, traffic glitches due to clean-up operations and other new information in this ever-shifting post-hurricane world ”

The chamber has populated the interactive map with businesses that have opened, whether or not they are chamber members The easy-touse, GPS-enabled map also pinpoints beach accesses that have opened, bike parking areas and the user's relative location Points of interest can be filtered by seven categ o r i e s : b e a c h e s , s h o p p i n g , a t t r a c t i o n s , lodging, vacation rentals, services and offisland businesses

Users can download the app onto their smart device from the Apple App Store and Google Play or by scanning a QR code

T h e y c a n a l s o a c c e s s i t t h r o u g h t h e w e b s i t e a t tinyurl com/sancapwandermap

In partnership with Billy’s Bike Shop on Sanibel, the Wander Map app is biker friendly Billy’s will distribute information to bicycle renters, post the QR code along the city of Sanibel’s shared use path and keep users apprised of any parts of the path to avoid due to debris or construction

“We are only the second Florida community, along with Islamorada in the Florida Keys, to make use of this exciting navigational tool We thank the Wander Maps organization for making this application affordable to us and training our team to customize the platform and reduce costs as we as a chamber and community recover from the hurricane,” Lai said “We look forward to the day when individuals will be able to access the technology from our restored visitor center, which we hope to have reopened by April.”

For more information or to request updates to the app, contact Aaron Walton at aaron@sanibel-captiva org or 239-472-8759