Issue link: https://newsleader.uberflip.com/i/132206
Sarasota News Leader May 24, 2013 Page 88 Siesta Seen Café on Ocean Boulevard; the organizers re- "We could have gotten something passed this quest heavy tipping. The garbage collection legislative session to allow us to continue the 'No Smoking' [prohibition]," Patterson said, will start at 9 a.m.) "and it got stopped in the [State] House. … When SKA board member Ron Flynn asked Apparently there were lobbyists for certain whether deputies try to ascertain where the industries that exerted pressure," she added. underage drinkers get their alcoholic beverages, Blakely told him a lot of the teens — 80 "Next year, you guys all need to write" to legto 90 percent — fill a water bottle with liquor islators, Patterson continued, asking that they from a family member's stock and head out to amend the state law to give local government the beach. The most common choices seem to bodies control over smoking. be vodka and bourbon, he added. They typi"So we have to continue like this for another cally will drink down the alcohol in about two year?" Shay asked. hours, he continued, which contributes to a high blood-alcohol level. Deputies found one "You bet," Patterson told him. 16- or 17-year-old girl during spring break who "We need to target [legislators] to get the right had a blood-alcohol level of 0.32, he pointed to govern our own parks," SKA President out. (The legal limit for drivers is below 0.08.) Catherine Luckner added. "Our earnest objective is not finding a teenager dead in the bushes the next day," Blakely 'WHEELCHAIR MAN' said. During the deputies' report, Shay also took Deputies also are noting a lot more marijuana the opportunity to ask about the fellow known use during the Drum Circles held on Sunday as "Wheelchair Man," who has been a fixture on the north part of the island for years. evenings on Siesta Public Beach, he added. When Shay asked whether that was as big a problem when the county was prohibiting smoking on the beach, Blakely told him, the smoking ban "gave us a lot easier access," meaning they more readily could approach people who were smoking anything. In the aftermath of a 12th Judicial Circuit Court decision regarding a City of Sarasota case in December 2012, local governments have been unable to use the state anti-smoking law to ban tobacco use on county-owned property. Lately, Shay explained, the SKA had been receiving numerous emails from residents about the man, who regularly is seen sitting in a wheelchair in the vicinity of 4708 Ocean Blvd., near the Windward Passage condominiums; there, he can remain in the shade of a tree. Residents have complained, Shay said, because the man stays on the sidewalk, making it necessary for pedestrians to use the bike lane to get around him. "Now it's a safety issue," Shay added.