Moments in time

1981 — June 11. Siesta Key resident Doug Stone had more use of a fish than anyone else in his neighborhood. First he’d catch it. Then he’d preserved its image on paper. Then he’d eat it. What Stone didn’t eat, his cat finished off. Stone was an ichthyologist (a fish studier); an ichthyophagist ( a fish eater); and an ichthyographist (a fish printer). Stone transformed the fish into art using an ancient Japanese art form called gyotaku (gyo meaning fish and tuku meaning rubbing). At one point, 30 of his gyotaku prints of fish that live in Sarasota Bay were on exhibit at Mote Marine Science Center.

1982 --- June 10. Parasailing was igniting some people’s tempers on Siesta Key according to the June 10 Observer archives. Howard Beach, who represented Surfrider Beach Apartments on Midnight Pass Road, petitioned the Sarasota County Commission to pass an ordinance prohibiting parasailing from any county beaches. Beach told commissioners that a parasail rental shop had been operating near the Surfrider for about a year. He said the beach the company was using was 100 feet wide and the towline they used was nearly 400 feet long.

“The line sometimes stretches all the way across the Surfrider beachfront, thereby blocking our own guests access to the water,” Beach said.

Beach wanted the county to pass an ordinance similar to the one the city of Sarasota adopted in December 1979, which banned boating activity, including water skiing within 500 feet of shore. Today, businesses are not allowed to solicit services on the beach, and that includes parasailing companies. According to ordinance 90.33, if there is an exchange of money for a service in a county park the person representing the business can be charged with a second-degree misdemeanor.