Derringer, Cook among May 4 performers at MSA

Want to rock to Rick Derringer, Alabama’s Jeff Cook and some our town’s scholastic musicians? It happens May 4 at Manatee School for the Arts, where impressario Del Couch is relocating his Howling Dog recording studio as a teaching station for students at MSA and other high schools to learn about digital audio production.
The May 4 showcase will include musicians from MSA, Braden River High, Manatee High and King Middle’s Jake Castro band.
A pre-show party is 5:30 p.m. with the concert at 7 p.m.
Proceeds go toward the new computer music lab.
Call 941-545-4379 for ticket information.

Deborah Thomas was inducted into Delta Kappa Gamma Hall of Fame and Fay Murphy was installed as parliamentarian at the DKG Society International’s Mu state convention in Orlando.
They were among six women educators representing Manatee County’s Kappa chapter including Diana Buell, Leslye Mann, Phyllis Omilak and Judy Shostrom.
Thomas’s mother, Annie Lucy Williams, is the namesake for the Parrish elementary school.
Murphy is Kappa chapter president and was recently honored as a Woman of Achievement by the American Association of University Women’s Manatee chapter.
DKG promotes professional and personal growth of women educators and excellence in education.

Wade Ingram and Skyler Bellows won the Ford/AAA student auto skills state competition and qualified for the 2013 national finals in Dearborn, Mich., Ford’s world headquarters.
Ingram, a Palmetto High senior, and Bellows, an MSA senior, are in dual enrollment at Manatee Technical Institute’s automotive services technology program.
Richard Falco is their proud MTI instructor.

Read more Friday in Vin's People on Bradenton.com.

'This is going to my nephew in Afghanistan ...'

O ur nephew, Kevin Haddon, just started a six-month tour of duty in Afghanistan.
As the Mannix tribal line goes, he is the oldest of my nine nephews.
Anyway, Sherri and I were figuring out what to put in a care package for our family's favorite soldier.
Thing is, by the time we get it to him, Kevin's tour of duty might be over.
God willing.
We packed a box last weekend with some healthy goodies and items we knew he'd enjoy.
Like some of my Hawaiian shirts.
Can't wait to see those snapshots.
Well, I brought the package to Bradenton's downtown post office Monday and the postal clerk said we could get a discount if I used a particular U.S. postal package.
So I brought one home and Sherri repacked the whole deal ready to mail.
Then I went to our local post office in Tallevast Wednesday morning to get Kevin's care package on the way.
The clerk was helpful as always.
Except for one problem.
I'd grabbed the wrong box from the Bradenton office.
Not only would there be no discount, but this one would cost more.
She gave me the correct box.
I sheepishly brought it home and when my wife saw it she needed no explanation.
Sherri sliced open the old box, emptied its contents and re-packed them into the new one.
Lovingly, thank you.
I will return to the post office again, the third time this week, and, hopefully, get our favorite soldier a care package containing a little bit of Americana.
It is the least we can do, right?

A heroic 6-year-old boy gone much too soon

Lamontea Taylor was a typical 6-year-old boy from what we've read and heard and seen in photos.
A good kid.
A killer smile.
A popular Samoset Elementary School student.
Today his grieving family calls him a hero.
Before succumbing to the strong currents Saturday that rip through Longboat Pass, young Lamontea pushed his 5-year-old half-sister, Natallie Porter, to safety and was not to be seen again until authorities recovered his body 10 a.m. Monday.
That Lamontea is gone is a tragedy.
Six-years-old? A life snuffed out long before it even began.
Accidents happen, but this one was eminently preventable.
Where was the adult supervision, especially given the potential hazards swimming in an area notorious for potentially dangerous conditions?
An area clearly marked with warning signs.
The Bradenton Beach Police Report said several family members were gathered in the tree line and the children swimming were being watched by "older family members," according to the family.
They were, in fact, 15 and 16 years old, the police report said.
While teens can be quite responsible, they are not adults.
Adults with the awareness to realize the unfolding predicament and get the kids out of the water forthwith.
Thankfully, another adult, Isaac Espinoza, a stranger enjoying the beach with friends, came to Natallie's rescue.
He completed the last heroic act of 6-year-old Lamontea Taylor's life.

Marathon tragedy gives us pause before parade

There weren’t any chairs tied yet to the fences along Manatee Avenue West or the railings on the Manatee Avenue Bridge.
Those will start popping up by Wednesday.
Nor was there any savory smoke from all the parade parties that will be going on full blast outside the banks, insurance companies, law firms, doctors offices, realtors and hair salons.
I could smell the barbecue already.
I could also see the merry mob outside Smitty’s and Shake Pit as the parade turns east, greeted raucously by thousands of revelers crowding the sidewalks flanking Manatee Avenue West, most of them imploring:
BEADS!
BEADS!
BEEEEEEADS!
But all was peaceful on Manatee Avenue West, even with traffic, a week before the annual DeSoto Heritage Parade.
May it remain so this coming Saturday.

Read more Sunday in Mannix About Manatee on Bradenton.com.

LRHS grad on disabled list with Class-A ballclub

Lakewood Ranch High School grad Mike Ohlman is on the disabled list with the Frederick (Md.) Keys, Baltimore’s High-A Carolina League ballclub.
According to Keys’ officials and game accounts, the 22-year-old catcher suffered a dislocated right shoulder while dodging an errant pitch during a sixth-inning at-bat against Lynchburg last Monday.
It’s the same shoulder Mike hurt and rehabbed after the March auto accident that derailed the start of his 2012 season.
Mike was hitting .182 through nine games.

Braden River High School senior Demi-Shay Watchorn signs a scholarship Friday with Mercer University’s sand volleyball program, which debuted as an official collegiate sport last year.
Born in England, Demi-Shay is a dual-citizen and sister Brooke is a BRHS freshman and Pirate volleyballer, too.
Looks like mom Kimberly will be making plenty of road trips to Macon, Ga., where the Mercer Bears compete in the Atlantic Sun Conference.

Senior Airman Kristopher Tice deploys in May to Osan Air Base in South Korea, one of two major USAF installations there, along with Kunsan Air Base. He is a 2009 Palmetto High School grad.

Read more Friday in Vin's People on Bradenton.com.




  

Bradenton folks share lineage of noble Floridano

 

Ever heard of Francisco Xavier Sanchez?
Probably not.
But you should know who he was and what he represented, especially for a family of his descendants.
They include Bradenton folks, who number 10 generations, some of whom visited his gravemarker last weekend at the Tolomato Cemetery in St. Augustine, America's oldest city.
Born in Spanish East Florida, Sanchez (1738-1807) was one of the state's most successful planters whose career endured turbulent times under the flags of Spain and England.
Sanchez is the only known Patriot born in Spanish East Florida who served in that territory, which Spain ceded to the U.S. in 1821.
Among his descendants are: Rick Sheffield, an eighth great grandson,  his son, Travis, a ninth great grandson, Asaph Graham, another ninth great grandson, and Anthony Quandt, a 10th great grandson.
There were other Americans who benefited by this noble Floridano.
When Spain joined the colonies against England in 1779, the British imprisoned Spaniards and colonials in the St. Augustine fortress Castillo de San Marcos during the Revolution. It was called Fort St. Mark under British rule.
Sanchez provided prisoners with clothing and food.
Among them?
Thomas Heyward Jr., Arthur Middleton and Edward Rutledge --- all signees of the Declaration of Independence.
Francisco Xavier Sanchez died destitute, but his legacy lives on as an ancestor for the Sons of the American Revolution, Bradenton folks included.

An iconic piece of Americana bloodied ... again

 

An explosion behind the crowd near the finish line.
Boston police poised over a prone runner.
National Guardsmen ripping out a storm fence to reach the injured.
Weeping, dazed runners.
Sidewalks smeared with blood.
Images of the Boston Marathon tragedy.
Images that conjure past images of terrorism's ugly handiwork in America.
Images that make us say, dear God, not again.
That it should happen at this iconic event is not only horrific but profane.
I've never run the Boston Marathon or ever attended it.
But it's something that's always on our national consciousness.
It's Patriots Day, a celebration of the American Revolution.
A celebration of us.
I've known numerous acquaintances over the years who have run this historic race.
None ever came close to winning it, but that's not the point.
They experienced it, a piece of Americana.
A piece of Americana that was bloodied by Monday's bombings.