News Briefs

+ LECOM hosts pre-med course
Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine has opened enrollment for its introductory pre-medicine/pre-science course for high-school-age students.

The Human Body Explored program is a comparative anatomy/physiology course designed as an introductory class for Manatee and Sarasota county students ages 14-18 interested in pursuing a career in health care.

The class meets from 5:30-7:30 p.m. monthly starting Oct. 12, at LECOM, 5000 Lakewood Ranch Blvd.
Registration costs $125.

For more information, contact Dr. Russell Sexton at 756-0690 or [email protected].

+ Ranch districts renovating landscape
Landscaping crews are working to replace sod in several sections of Lakewood Ranch, including along Lakewood Ranch Boulevard in the Summerfield community, as well as in the Lakewood Ranch Golf and Country Club.

Lakewood Ranch Town Hall Director of Operations Ryan Heise said the effort is a part of a program to replace declining turf throughout Lakewood Ranch’s Community Development Districts 1, 2, 4 and 5.
“We’re renovating some of our older turf areas,” he said.

Landscaping crews, he said, will be replacing sod, but they also will be expanding mulch beds and making other changes in some areas to accommodate the maturation of the area’s landscape.

+ Viking to host dinner for Payton
Chefs at the Viking Culinary Center will show off their culinary skills while raising money for the Payton Wright Foundation during the center’s Intimate Dinner 6-9 p.m. Sept. 24, at Viking, 8130 Lakewood Ranch Main Street, Suite 104.

Guests will enjoy watching the chefs as they host a live interactive cooking demonstration. Tickets are $150.

For more information, call Patrick Wright, 893-7007, or email to [email protected].

+ Correction
In the Sept. 15 edition of the East County Observer, we reported Braden River student Shelby Graves recited a poem about losing her father in the 9/11 attacks. Graves’ poem was inspired by a girl who lost her father; Graves did not lose her father.

“It was merely written from that perspective and not from her actual experience,” said Debbie Graves, Shelby’s mother. “Shelby got choked up as she read it to the school because she could empathize with such a person in that situation.

“Apparently, everyone assumed she was talking about herself when she read the poem,” she said. “She did not mean any disrespect and merely wanted her peers to realize that kids their own age lost their parents on that fateful day.”