A reporter's journey through East Manatee

Nick Williams

Massive churches, growing communities, fun places to go and historic places to see...

Welcome to East Manatee County!

Greetings, residents of Manatee County and readers of the Bradenton Herald and Lakewood Ranch Herald. My name is Nick Williams and I will be helping keep you updated on what's going on in East Manatee.

Friday, East Manatee editor Jim Jones gave me tour of the area and I'm still absorbing all of which I saw.

To start the day, we headed down State Road 64 near I-75 when we received a call about a possible dead panther on the side of the road. Fortunately (and unfortunately), it wasn't a panther, but a 60-pound bobcat.

After that, here's the rundown of what I can recollect:

The Sheriff's Youth Ranch on Rye Road,  the Manatee County rowing facility in Parrish where the Canadian Olympic team is training, a public hearing sign in front of Cross Creek,and seeing a neglected mansion on Rye Road,

The Florida Railroad Museum, eating  delicious barbecue in Parrish,

Meeting community development manager Jahna Leinhauser with Manatee Chamber of Commerce -- she gives a shoutout to Strike Zone, a $2 million indoor sports complex in East Manatee,

Driving past Manatee Technical Institute, stopping at  LECOM (Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine) and meeting Michael Polin, head of communication, and while we waited, the LECOM security guard as well. He is from a small town in Pennsylvania and is a retired military man and police officer,

Heading over to Main Street on Lakewood Ranch, where we run into Bob Stepleman, chairman of Community Development District 2.

We also meet Mike Gough who is training 21 college football players who hope to gain entry to the NFL.

We stop by Honor Animal Sanctuary where contruction is underway to build bigger and better kennels for the dogs there, and then we motor over to the Premier Sports Campus at Lakewood Ranch (wow!).
 
Whew...