Longboat Lookback

• Town officials and Longboat Key firefighters were deadlocked after firefighters rejected a salary and wage scale offer. Sound familiar? This was a front-page story in the Nov. 14, 1985, issue of The Longboat Observer.

• Patrons at Mar Vista Dockside Restaurant & Pub had been tacking up dollar bills on the restaurant’s ceiling and walls since 1983. The front-page photo in the Nov. 8, 2001, Longboat Observer shows Manager Joe Rogers collecting the estimated 5,000 bills to donate them to the New York City Firefighters Widows and Childrens Fund.

• ABC Sports personality Bud Collins spent a few days at The Colony Beach & Tennis Resort before heading off on assignment in the Soviet Union, according to the Nov. 14, 1991, issue. Before leaving for the communist nation — which collapsed a month later — he bought 10 St. Jude Gourmet Luncheon T-shirts to distribute.