This weekend will be the last chance for residents of Lee County to share stories that recount their experiences at the Old Lee County Courthouse so that they can be included in its centennial celebration.

Florida suffered its first alligator-related fatality since 2007 last week, when a 12-foot gator attacked and killed 61-year-old James Okkerse while he was out snorkeling at Blue Spring State Park. Speculations persist on whether the park officials did enough to warn people in the water about the potential dangers that existed in the time of the fatal encounter. There were a couple of sightings of an alligator in the park the day before that were reported by visitors. The sightings were of a specimen about the size as the one suspected in the attack.

According to Russell Anen, 73, who swam with Okkerse on the morning of his disappearance, the park had not warned them about the alligator sightings. However, records at the Florida Department of Environmental Protection showed that the area where the alligator had been sighted was closed for nearly an hour after the reports came in on Sunday, October 18. The reported alligator was not found during this time.

The Uncommon Evening, an annual event put on by the Uncommon Friends Foundation, was held for the first time this year at the historic Burroughs Home and Gardens in Downtown Fort Myers. While guests mingled and enjoyed drinks and hors d'oeuvres at the main house at the start of the night, a majority of the evening took place in the new Gale McBride Pavilion overlooking the Caloosahatchee River. While the evening was hit with intermittent rain, everyone at the party was in high spirits, as they were there to celebrate the best of individuals and businesses in Southwest Florida. With many dressed in 1920s-inspired attire, it was a throwback to the heyday of the property, when Mona and Jettie Burroughs, the daughters of Nelson and Adeline Burroughs, regularly held social events on the property.

Sanibel Mayor Keven Ruane gave a short presentation to the Council, asking them to join the effort with other Lee County local governments to hire Dan DeLisi for water resource consulting in Tallahassee during the upcoming legislative session.

DeLisi, a former member of the South Florida Water Management District, has extensive knowledge of local and regional projects needed to address water resource challenges in the Caloosahatchee River and Estuary.

The Friends of the Fort Myers Beach Library are sponsoring a book sale on Saturday, November 7th from 9:30 a.m. till 12.30 p.m. in the parking garage of the Beach Library. The sale features treasures gathered in recent months and almost every subject and format will be offered in the sale.

I lived in Dearborn, Michigan for 12 years in the early 1990s and it was then becoming quickly populated by Muslims crossing over from Canada.

On Tuesday, the US government announced an $11 billion deal to sell Saudi Arabia four advanced warships.

Officials with the Pentagon and Department of Defense said the sale would address the mounting regional tension in the Middle East and provide our ally with the necessary tools to address threats to its sovereignty.

The taxpayers in the Town of Fort Myers Beach should be outraged over the recent rhetoric in Town Hall to consider letting a small group of special interests usurp the public space in Times Square for use by the beach Chamber of Commerce.

Not sufficiently chastised by its last unsuccessful attempt to secure taxpayer money from the Tourist Development Council who found them to be “ineligible “for funding, the Fort Myers Beach Chamber of Commerce is once again asking to use valuable public property despite a history of non-payment of rent and other unfulfilled financial obligations.

The environmental group Greenpeace today delivered a bill banning all deforestation in Brazil to members of the Brazilian National Congress. Since the draft legislation began circulating in the country in 2012, it has been signed by more than 1.4 million Brazilians.

The popular initiative was received in the green room of the Chamber of Deputies by elected representatives who care about saving Brazil’s Amazon rainforest.  An estimated 20 percent of more than 1.5 million square miles of rainforest has been cleared to date. Much of the land has been used to graze cattle and grow soybeans, Brazil’s two largest exports.