VIN'S PEOPLE: Palmetto Youth Center’s 22nd MLK Essay/Speech Contest celebrates excellence
Well done to the Manatee County students who shined at the Palmetto Youth Center’s 22nd annual Martin Luther King Jr. Essay and Speech Contest.
Braden River High’s Alana Frazier, Sean Mayfair-Drennen and Denise Candela went 1-2-3 in the high school category. Maya Drefus and Alexa Sowards were finalists.
Dr. Mona Jain Middle’s Edward Grayson, Kyla Logan and Alexander Falu went 1-2-3 in the middle school category. Sugg Middle’s Camden Walsh earned honorable mention. Finalists included Emma Aquino, Caroline Bartlomiejczuk, Jasmine Bigos, Madison Boyer, Isabella Brown, Jacob Gomez, Aly Harmon, Colin Hymes, Kaitlyn Kotowski, Kayra Morales, Victoria Peterson and Kara Roux.
The contest committee members were Freida Bellamy, Sharon Cheatham, Brenda Harvey, Patricia Johnson, Kenyatta Randall and Stefante Randall.
• All the best to Dave Marino, retiring as Palmetto High’s successful head football coach after 13 seasons. Starting as an assistant at Southeast in 1991, he’s spent more than 30 years as a high school football coach in our area.
• Say it ain’t so! Dwayne Denison is one year shy of the Big 6-0!
• And Annamaria Diamant is 35.
• A bow to restaurateurs Popi and Manny Ameres, deserving recipients of the Manatee County Fair’s 2023 Distinguished Citizen Award.
• Speaking of the Fair, Culinary Contest Chair Patty Keen-Freed put together a panel of discerning judges who probably OD’d on all those desserts. Among the judges were Marianne Barnebey, Betty Brooks, Melissa Burns, Debbie Crowe, Pat Dodson, Trace Germana, Rick Groover and Rick Kerby.
Patty’s devoted helpers in arranging and presenting the impressive array of edibles were Gayle Ballenger, Mark Barnebey, Leigh Evans, Gavin Freed, Norma Kennedy, Peggy Long, Punkin Olmstead, Hailey Stovall and Lacey Williams.
• Gary Holbrook is 39. Again.
• So is Jane Pfeilsticker.
• Big ups to John Horne.
The owner of the popular Anna Maria Oyster Bar and Café L’Europe, not to mention a community leader, is the new chairman of the board for the Florida Restaurant & Lodging Association. The FRLA represents the state’s $111.7 billion hospitality industry and 1.5 million employees.
So how does Horne like the way this title fits?
“Like Sinatra! Chairman of the Board, baby!” he kidded.
Actually, when it comes to titles Horne isn’t above poking fun at himself.
Take his business card with Oysters Rock Hospitality, AMOB’s parent company.
“My title is CEO – Chief Executive Oyster!”
• And Bingo is back 1 p.m. today at Our Lady Queen of Martyrs, 833 Magellan Drive, Sarasota.
Vin’s People runs Sundays. Email Vin Mannix at vinspeople@gmail.com. Or call 941-962-5944. Twitter: @vinmannix.
This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: VIN MANNIX: Manatee students excel in MLK Essay and Speech Contest
