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Longboat Key | Opinion

Clockwise from top left: Gil Waters in victory after the opening of the new Ringling Bridge, August 2003. Waters and city engineer Alex Davis-Shaw. Waters and his wife, Elisabeth. “The Old Coots Lunch Bunch.”
    By
  • Matt Walsh
  • January 10, 2018
Tribute to a visionary

For nearly 60 years, Gil Waters was a force in Sarasota. Thanks to his passion, vision and determination, we have the ‘Gil Waters Bridge,’ the Van Wezel and FCCI Insurance.

  • Longboat Key
  • Opinion
    By
  • Matt Walsh
  • January 3, 2018
THE WORD: 20-GREAT-TEEN!

Despite the World of Trump, Washington and the national media, we can continue to turn the tide with our own decorum and the push for economic freedom and prosperity.

  • Longboat Key
  • Opinion
    By
  • Matt Walsh
  • December 27, 2017
We’re Main Street; not ‘mainstream’

The national news media have smeared all of journalism, while the media tech giants admit they ‘are destroying how society works.’ Whom can you trust? Some of us still place a high value on credibility, reliability and trustworthiness.

  • Longboat Key
  • Opinion
    By
  • Matt Walsh
  • December 20, 2017
At the time of Christ’s birth

It's a story that crosses religions and faiths.

  • Longboat Key
  • Opinion
Eric Garwood rang the bell at Longboat Key's Publix for the first time this season.
    By
  • Eric Garwood
  • December 16, 2017
Ringing in the holiday spirit

A stint for the Kiwanis Club at the Salvation Army kettle puts a jingle in the season.

  • Longboat Key
  • Opinion
    By
  • Matt Walsh
  • December 13, 2017
Find a way to say yes

This time, the next step in the Colony saga is for real. As Longboat’s P&Z board weighs Unicorp’s plans, it also should consider the alternative: more of the same.

  • Longboat Key
  • Opinion
Longboaters having fun and supporting a cause at the Lawn Party
    By
  • Matt Walsh
  • December 6, 2017
In the end, well worth it

Every year, the Lawn Party organizers fret and worry about how they’re going to pull it off. It’s a miracle — of American generosity, volunteerism and capitalism.

  • Longboat Key
  • Opinion
    By
  • Matt Walsh
  • December 6, 2017
Dec. 7, 1941

Longboat's Pearl Harbor hero

  • Longboat Key
  • Opinion
U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla.
    By
  • Matt Walsh
  • November 29, 2017
Unfair for 155 years

Sen. Bill Nelson laments how the Republicans’ proposed tax reform is unfair. Duh. The U.S. tax system has never been fair. But we’ll take the corporate tax cut over no cut.

  • Longboat Key
  • Opinion
    By
  • Matt Walsh
  • November 29, 2017
Make them pay — with their own money, boot them out

The rules need to be the same across the board.

  • Longboat Key
  • Opinion
    By
  • Matt Walsh
  • November 21, 2017
What drove the Pilgrims to America?

'Their desires were set on the ways of God and to enjoy his ordinances.'

  • Longboat Key
  • Opinion
    By
  • Matt Walsh
  • November 21, 2017
The Bedrock of America

Thanksgiving is much more than being thankful and remembering the Pilgrims and Indians’ first feast. It reminds us why the Pilgrims came: for the freedom to worship.

  • Longboat Key
  • Opinion
    By
  • Matt Walsh
  • November 15, 2017
Start over on Lido Beach

All Lido Key residents wanted was an updated pavilion, restaurant and pool. But here it is six years later, and the city has faltered again. That seems to be a recurring theme.

  • Longboat Key
  • Opinion
    By
  • Matt Walsh
  • November 8, 2017
Give all veterans their due

We owe more than ‘Thank you for your service.’ Veterans committed their lives to keep us free — a priceless virtue.

  • Longboat Key
  • Opinion
    By
  • Matt Walsh
  • November 8, 2017
More mush from the wimps

Sadly, we know how this is going to turn out.

  • Longboat Key
  • Opinion
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Latest in Longboat Key

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Brent Piersma and Beverly Sutton fill seed packets for Hope Seeds.
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Longboat Key Police Chief Russ Mager speaks at a Rotary Club of Longboat Key meeting Tuesday, Sept. 16. Mager, who spent nearly three decades in law enforcement primarily in Delray Beach, said LBKPD has training requirements similar to the much larger city of Delray and that officers on the Key are well prepared for any event that may take place thanks to partnerships the department has with neighboring jurisdictions.
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Lucie Lapovsky, president of the Longboat Key Democratic Club, and Nick Gladding, president of the Republican Club of Longboat Key, are two members of Miracle on the Key, a group which aims to find common ground among hot-button political issues.
  • December 3, 2025
Longboat Dems, GOP join together to find common ground

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