2022 Members and Visitors Guide for the Punta Gorda Area
Issue link: http://www.epageflip.net/i/1440093
2022 Punta Gorda Chamber of Commerce Members & Visitors Guide Page 117 Delivering local news the way you want to read it. SUN The Daily Charlotte • DeSoto • Sarasota Charlotte County SUNDAY, APRIL 25, 2021 Vol. 4 / No. 1 S un BUSINESS & REAL ESTATE SEE PAGE 11 ty e Y y Y LUKE WILSON Parting thoughts for the Class of '21 SEE PAGE 4 LIVING THE SUNCOAST LIFE YOURSUN.COM FREE Weekly By ELAINE ALLEN-EMRICH STAFF WRITER North Port High School stu- dents attended the alternative "Let them Dance" prom, put on by the nonprofit group When All Else Fails and the Kiwanis Club of North Port. During the evening, held at Plantation Golf & Country Club in Venice and decorated with day-glow accessories, seniors named the prom king and queen and court voted by their peers. Seniors, who had their prom canceled last year due to the pan- demic, danced for five hours at the event, which included a sit-down meal, dessert bar, custom T-shirts, unlimited posing in the photo booth and professional photos given to all students online by Monica Amaya. About 325 students attended. Before the prom, students were invited to pick one of 400 donated North Port students celebrate 'ALTERNATIVE' PROM SUN PHOTO BY ELAINE ALLEN-EMRICH North Port High School students have a blast in the photo booth at the recent alternative prom at Plantation Golf & Country Club. Kaitlyn Smith, 18, and her date Schadarius Peterson, 18, attended the alternative prom together. SUN PHOTO BY ELAINE ALLEN-EMRICH Students sing at the alternative Let Them Dance themed prom. SUN PHOTO BY MONICA AMAYA SEE PROM, 2 By MORGAN SIMPSON STAFF WRITER Recent Venice High School graduate Chau Mai started creating art during the COVID-19 pandemic and has since won two awards and painted a mermaid for the FantaSea Project. "I was not confident with my art, but Venice Art Center helped me recognize my work," Mai said. "I feel more confi- dent with myself." Mai participated in the 2021 South Sarasota County School Show held at the VAC, where she won the Senior Scholarship award. She also participated and won in the student art show during the summer of 2020. She said the Venice Art Center told students about FantaSea that would be finished in 2021. So Mai decided to take part and completed a "Wonder Woman"-themed mermaid. "I made it a little different than 'Wonder Woman' because it's a mer- maid," Mai said. "I wanted to mesh the two together to create a new Wonder Woman." Mai said the mermaid took a month to paint by dedicating two hours everyday to the project, after she finished her school work. With all the recent art projects Mai has participated in, one would think she has been serious about art for awhile. However, Mai said she started taking art seriously in April of last year — near the beginning of the pandemic. "I decided to do something new, so I chose art," Mai said. Out of boredom and to give her some- thing to do, she watched different videos of art techniques During pandemic, artist discovered her passion SUN PHOTO BY MORGAN SIMPSON "I was not confident with my art, but Venice Art Center helped me recognize my work. I feel more confident with myself," Chau Mai said SEE ART, 5 By ELAINE ALLEN-EMR STAFF WRITER North Port High Sch ents attended the alt Let them Dance" pro by the nonprofit grou All Else Fails and the Club of North Port. During the evening, lantation Golf & Coun nice and decorated wi ccessories, seniors nam ing and queen and cou Port stud LTER PR S ol students have tive prom at Plan One-car crash on Kings Highway knocks down transformer PAGE 2B Violent dispute leaves one dead in North Port PAGE 2B Searching for Brian Laundrie in the mountains, islands PAGE 1B TUESDAY, OCTOBER 5, 2021 | $1.50 SUN The Daily Charlotte • DeSoto • Sarasota SUN COAST NEWS & VIEWS YOURSUN.COM 7 05252 00025 8 High 90, Low 74 Partly sunny SEE PAGE 2B TODAY'S WEATHER 2016 PULITZER PRIZE WINNER VOL. 129, NO. 278 | $1.50 Charlie on Facebook: Will you be my friend? INSIDE TODAY Bible verse 2A Stocks 7A SPORTS Lottery 2B Sports on TV 2B LOCAL Obituaries 6B Opinion 4-5B Police Beat 2B Calendar 6B DAILY BREAK Comics and Puzzles 2-5D Dear Abby 5D Heloise 4D Horoscopes 3D By JIM SAUNDERS NEWS SERVICE OF FLORIDA TALLAHASSEE — With Gov. Ron DeSantis describ- ing her as a "true fighter," Florida First Lady Casey DeSantis has been diagnosed with breast cancer. The governor issued a statement Monday about the diagnosis, though the state- ment did not provide details about issues such as the type of breast cancer, the stage or treatment. Casey DeSantis, 41, is the mother of three children under age 5. "I am saddened to report that Florida's esteemed first lady and my beloved wife has been diagnosed with breast cancer," the governor said in the statement. "As the mother of three young children, Casey is the cen- terpiece of our family and has made an impact on the lives of countless Floridians through her initiatives as first lady. As she faces the most difficult test of her life, she will have not only have my unwavering support but the support of our entire family, as well as the prayers and well wishes from Floridians across our state. Casey is a true fighter, Florida first lady diagnosed with breast cancer DESANTIS By DANIEL SUTPHIN STAFF WRITER ARCADIA — Jury selec- tion began Monday for the trial of a woman accused of starting a house fire that killed three young brothers in 2017. Marian Evette Williams, 53, of Bartow, was arrested March 11, 2017, in connec- tion with the deaths of Marcus, 10, Kiani, 8, and Kemaren Clark, 4. The state is seeking the death penalty. "The allegations against the defendant are among the most serious that can be made in this state," Judge Don T. Hall told potential jurors Monday afternoon. "For that reason, we are go- ing to proceed thoughtfully, carefully and deliberately... This is not going to be a process that we are going to rush." Jury selection is expected to take place throughout the week with the trial starting Monday, Oct. 11 at the DeSoto County Courthouse. Hall told potential jurors they are seeking 12 jurors and six alternates for the trial, which is expected to last around three weeks. "Most criminal trials in this (the 12th Judicial) Circuit are over in just a couple of days," he said. He said it's rare they go past a week. "But every now and then, one comes along which requires me as judge to recruit or draft members of Jury selection begins for triple homicide trial Woman accused of setting fire that killed 3 boys faces death penalty WILLIAMS By FRANK BAJAK and BARBARA ORTUTAY ASSOCIATED PRESS A massive global outage plunged Facebook, its Instagram and WhatsApp platforms and many people who rely heavily on these ser- vices — including Facebook's own workforce — into chaos Monday. The company did not say what might be causing the outage, which began around 11:40 a.m. ET and was still unfixed more than six hours later, although scattered users have reported partial restoration of one service or another. Websites and apps often suffer outages of vary- ing size and duration, but hours-long global disruptions are rare. "This is epic," said Doug Madory, director of internet analysis for Kentik Inc, a network monitoring and in- telligence company. The last major internet outage, which knocked many of the world's top websites offline in June, lasted less than an hour. The stricken content-delivery company in that case, Fastly, blamed it on a software bug triggered by a customer who changed a setting. By DAVID BAUDER and MICHAEL LIEDTKE ASSOCIATED PRESS NEW YORK — A data scientist who was revealed Sunday as the Facebook whistleblower says that whenever there was a conflict between the public good and what benefited the company, the social media giant would choose its own interests. Frances Haugen was identified in a "60 Minutes" interview Sunday as the woman who anonymously filed complaints with federal law enforce- ment that the company's own research shows how it magnifies hate and misinformation. Haugen, who worked at Google and Pinterest before joining Facebook in 2019, said she had asked to work in an area of the company that fights misinformation, since she lost a friend to online conspiracy theories. "Facebook, over and over again, SHUTTERSTOCK PHOTO The outage came the same day Facebook asked a federal judge that a revised antitrust complaint against it by the Federal Trade Commission be dismissed because it faces vigorous competition from other services. Whistleblower: Company chose profit over public safety Facebook faces growing issues SEE CANCER, 4A SEE SAFETY, 4A SEE OUTAGE, 4A SEE TRIAL, 4A Social sites suffer worldwide outage 4150 Whidden Blvd., Unit G, Punta Gorda, FL 33980 (941) 740-6040 www.HeatWavePC.com License #: CAC1819164 License #: CFC1430335 FAST, FRIENDLY HVAC & PLUMBING adno=3814642-1 Save Energy Save Money! ALL NEW A/C $ 29 58-POINT NOW JUST up to 60 months! $ 49 -OR- per month 0% APR Starting At One offer per location, cannot be combined with other offers. Not valid on prior sales. APR offer is WAC. Offers expire 10/31/2021. ELITE SERV I CE A/C TUNE UP SUN PHO ELAINE ALLEN-EMR By MORGAN SIMPSON STAFF WRITER Recent Venice High School graduate Chau Mai started creating art during the COVID-19 pandemic and has since won two awards and painted a mermaid for the FantaSea Project. "I was not confident with my art, but Venice Art Center helped me recognize my work," Mai said. "I feel more confi- dent with myself." Mai participated in the 2021 South Sarasota County School Show held at the VAC, where she won the Senior Scholarship award. She also participated and won in the student art show during the summer of 2020. She said the Venice Art Center told students about FantaSea that would be finished in 2021. So Mai decided to take part and completed a "Wonder Woman"-themed mermaid. "I made it a little different than 'Wonder Woman' because it's a mer maid," Mai said. "I wanted to mesh two together to create a new Wond Woman." Mai said the mermaid took a m paint by dedicating two hours ev to the project, after she finished school work. With all the recent art proje participated in, one would thi been serious about art for aw However, Mai said she sta art seriously in April of last the beginning of the pande "I decided to do somethi chose art," Mai said. Out of boredom and to thing to do, she watched of art techniques During pandemic, artist r- h the der month to veryday d her ects Mai has ink she has while. arted taking st year — near emic. ing new, so I o give her some- d different videos st discov "I w rec SEE ART, 5 High 90, Partly SEE PA TODAY'S W By JIM SAUN NEWS SERVICE OF TALLAHASSEE Gov. Ron DeSanti ing her as a "true Florida First Lady DeSantis has been 4150 Whi (941) 7 License #: C adno=3814642-1 w 74 nny 2B EATHER IN T den Blvd., Unit G 0-6040 ww AC1819164 Lic Save Energy oney! $ 29 58-POINT NOW JUST 0% APR % NEW A 7 05252 000 002 02 0 5 8 2016 PULITZ 2 ER PRIZE WINNER NE NE NER E VOL. 129, NO. 27 278 78 27 27 27 27 27 27 | $1 $1.5 .50 1.5 1 5 1.5 1 5 1 5 .5 1 Charlie on Facebook: Will you be my friend? NSIDE TODAY Bible verse e e 2A 2A 2A Stocks 7A 7A SPORTS S Lottery L 2B Sports on TV 2B LOCAL Obituaries 6B Opinion 4-5B Police Beat 2B Calendar 6B DAILY BREAK Comics and Puzzles 2-5D Dear Abby 5D Heloise 4D Horoscopes 3D G, Punta G Gorda Gorda Gord Gorda, Gorda a G a a ord FL 3398 398 98 98 398 98 980 0 ww.Heat atWave tWave tWav tWav Wav tWave ve at at at atWave tWave t at at at a PC.com cense #: CF CFC1430 FC1430 FC1430 FC1430 FC1430 FC14303 0 FC1430 CF 0 CF CF CF 35 Save En Save Money! N N up to 60 up to 60 up to 60 up t up to p to 60 up t p to p to 60 p to up to up t p to p to 60 up up t up t up to p to t up to p to p to 6 up to 6 p h ! h ! h ! month months h ! ths hs! s! ths hs $ 49 49 49 49 49 49 49 49 49 49 49 49 49 49 49 49 49 49 49 -OR- per per nth nth mont ont m 0% AP % Starting St rting $ At At One offer per location, cannot be co h d with with w mbined with w ned ined with bined ed w d wit with ith othe other offers other offer othe o . Not valid on prior sales. APR offer is WAC. Of C Of Of Of Of Offers ex fers expir s expire fers expire fers expire fers exp fer fers fers exp rs expi s exp fers exp fe fers ex fers ex fe fe expire expire expire x fers ex er xpire pir pir pire rs ex s i exp re p 10/31/2021. Sun Newspapers gives you local news the way you want it. We don't just deliver the newspaper every day, we give the public local news covered by local reporters in print and online every day. From your inbox to your browser on your phone, computer or tablet to our apps or the physical newspaper, Sun Newspapers family of products are delivered to you. We keep YOU better informed! adno=3824424-1 click • it SU S un LUKE WILSON Parting thoughts for the Class of '21 SEE PAGE 4 LIVING THE SU YOURSUN.COM FREE