Woodland mourns The Rev. Keith Martin

Keith Martin

EAST MANATEE -- The Rev. Alan Keith Martin, 53, last led a service at Woodland Baptist Church on July 4.

He did that despite being terminally ill with cancer, a disease which he had fought for several years.

“Why sit around the house when I could be out there serving the Lord?” is how The Rev. Banks Corl remembered his friend and colleague who died July 15 with his family at his side.

The Rev. Martin served as associate pastor of worship arts -- music, drama and media -- for the more than 2,500 members of Woodland Baptist, 9607 State Road 70 E., for more than six years.

For funeral arrangements and to read more:

www.bradenton.com/2011/07/19/3355147/woodland-baptist-mourns-the-loss.html

Sign the Guest Book for the Rev. Alan Keith Martin at http://www.legacy.com/guestbook/bradenton/guestbook.aspx?n=alan-martin&pid=152642905&cid=view

Home invasion a first at Lakewood Ranch

LAKEWOOD RANCH — A man rang the doorbell at a home in a gated community about 5:30 p.m. Sunday and forced his way in when the resident answered, the Manatee County Sheriff’s Office reported Monday.

The intruder held the victim against his will, ransacked the residence, loaded personal items into the resident’s vehicle and ordered the victim into the vehicle, according to a Manatee County Sheriff’s Office report.

The victim was released on the side of the road at Lorraine Road and University Parkway, and later treated for minor injures, deputies said.

The stolen vehicle was found at Market Street and University. It had been set on fire.

Charges of home invasion, false imprisonment, grand theft auto and arson await the suspect.

“We don’t think this was random, but we don’t know for sure,” said Dave Bristow, spokesman for the Manatee County Sheriff’s Office.

Lakewood Ranch has until now been spared from home invasions in Manatee County.

Don O’Leary, a community development supervisor who lives four doors down from the Waters Edge Way address, said the home invasion is one of the most serious crimes at the Ranch he can recollect.

“You don’t expect that in broad daylight,” O’Leary said.

Anyone with information about a crime is asked to call the Manatee County Sheriff’s Office at 941-747-3011 or Crime Stoppers at 866-634-TIPS (8477).

Save a life, help an Alzheimer's caregiver get help

It was 10 years ago this month that my sisters and I lost our mother. She didn’t have Alzheimer’s but our stepfather did, and we believe that her death was hastened by the huge burden of trying to care for Harry.

My mom wasn’t one to complain. She was living in the New Smyrna Beach area and I was working in Bradenton. But I made it a point to see her once a week, and it finally dawned on me that Harry’s situation had gradually moved from simple forgetfulness to something a lot worse.

For the full column, visit:

//www.bradenton.com/2011/07/17/3351341/alzheimers-caregivers-need-strategy.html

New veterinary clinic proposed for Lakewood Ranch area

Progressive Veterinary Practices plans to build an 8,000-square-foot veterinary clinic at 10915 State Road 70 East, located just west of the Lakewood Walk shopping center, and the Manatee County Tax Collector's Office.

Members of the Manatee County Planning Commission this week approved, with stipulations, the general development plan for a 2.25 acre site. Among those stipulations: buffering and fencing.

The site was formerly used as a Disabled American Veterans post, which was demolished several years ago.

A subsequent owner proposed building a medical office building there, before selling it to K2M LLC which paid $2.95 million for the property.

K2M proposed building a drive-through bank there. The bank was never built and the preliminary site plan expired.

Area marked in blue on Manatee County staff report map is where a proposed veterinary clinic would be located.

San Marco Plaza: Its day has come

Venetian architecture at San Marco Plaza. (Photo by Jim Jones)

Plans for San Marco Plaza were first announced in early 2004.

 "Three restaurants -- two of them Italian -- and two art galleries, along with other shops and a movie house have all expressed interest in joining San Marco Plaza. The movie house ... would feature more artsy and foreign films, " according to Herald archives.

Also planned was a move of the Golden Apple Dinner Theater into San Marco Plaza.

Those initial plans either failed to materialize or didn't work out.

Things were complicated by a meltdown of the economy and some of the investors going into default.

It's been a tough slog, but there is reason for optimism among the business survivors at San Marco Plaza, and  several new businesses that are set to join the mix.

For more, see Friday's Lakewood Ranch Herald.

Call it C & H Baseball Plus

Former Braden River High School athletes Stephen Fischer and Lauren Powell are working as summer camp counselors at C & H Performance Center. (Photo by Jim Jones)

C & H Baseball has worked quietly in the Bradenton community for many years while building a national and international following.

True to form, the company quietly moved into a new 17,000-square-foot, $1.5 million facility earlier this year at 10615 Technology  Terrace, Lakewood Ranch.

It's still manufacturing the  high-end batting cages, wall pads and more that major league sports requires.

In addition,  C & H Performance Center has been added to help athletes of all ages sharpen their skills and get in the best shape possible.

For more, see Thursday's Herald.

Rob and Danielle Huff have realized there dream of an indoor facility where athletes of all ages can work on their skills. (Photo by Jim Jones)

Straw poll coming on LWR incorporation; two sides debate

Tom Thomaides (left) and Bob Hendel (right) presented the pro and con, respectively, of incorporation for Lakewood Ranch. At center is Chris Wille, editorial page editor for the Bradenton Herald and Lakewood Ranch Herald. (Photo Jim Jones)

With a straw poll awaiting Lakewood Ranch’s registered voters in early August on whether they want cityhood for their community, proponents and opponents fought it out Wednesday before an influential business group.

Cityhood would mean more effective government for local residents, better access to state grant funds and incentives, more control over their community, and more say on where impact fees collected at the Ranch are spent, Tom Thomaides of the Lakewood Ranch Incorporation Group told members of the Lakewood Ranch Business Alliance.

Bob Hendel of the Friends of Lakewood Ranch, a group that says this is not the right time to consider incorporation, disagreed.

Incorporation now is too risky, and the economic feasibility study is flawed, Hendel said in the debate at the Fete Ballroom of the Polo Grill. “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”

For more, see Thursday's Lakewood Ranch Herald.