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 For full Olympics coverage, see SPORTS section inside.
OUNT: I.Russia Gold 4* Silver 6 Bronze 5 2.Netherlands Gold 4-Silver 4-Bronze:6 3. United States -Gold: 4.Silver: 3 -Bronze: 7


 AN EDITION OF THE SUN
VOL. 122 NO.47


 Io Sun AAC Pick of the Day
 Steam mop, V52
 I, n Today's
 ANDWEEKLY Classifieds

 Theriotte Sun~'
 HERALD 


"'MARINE-BIOLOGIST WOES RAYS' NEW CATCHER
The 2006 ban on utilizing state money for travel to Cuba, The addition of Ryan Hanigan has given the team's
even [or research, is hindering researchers,. catching a measurable boost. SEE SPORTS PAGE 1


AMERICA'S BEST COMMUNITY DAILY


SUNDAY FEBRUARY 16, 2014


www.sunnewspapers.net


$2.00


 GOOD MORNING


 Potatoes, rutabagas

 and chewing gum

 A leisurely walk this week with the sun on
 my face brought back summer memories
 of days free of responsibility, exploring the
 woods and fields around the old greenhouse
 where we lived in
 .a Palisades, N.Y Maybe in
 '"H those Depression days we
 t? 'had too many potatoes
 and rutabagas, for many
 <i-. of those memories are
 around eating.
 In the spring, the huge
 old cherry tree would give
 forth dollops of sweet
 sap in the grooves of old
Derek injuries. It was better
 than any stale baseball
DUNN-RANKIN cardbubblegum.
CHAIRMAN Next to our 200-year-
 old frame house, a field
of goldenrod invited twisting of the stems into
tunnels and hideaways.
 In the woods behind the house, a stand of
young birch trees had replaced the hardwood
logged out years earlier. In a sunny opening, a
patch of wild asparagus invited tasting. Along
an abandoned stone wall, wild grapes tempt-
ed us to linger. In the front yard, a profusion of
dandelions hid sweet nectar in their stems.
 It was in the summer that the country road
in front of the house was repaved by a racking
truck, followed by a tanker whose sprinkler
system sprayed heavy tar on the old asphalt
and gravel. As it dried, it made great chewing
gum.
 Some things we learned the hard way.
 Playing mumblety-peg and marbles was
a youthful introduction to the perils of
gambling. To get in the game and be one of
the gang required a contribution a marble
would do. With the prized horde I had left
from Christmas, I was introduced to a winner-
take-all game. It was my first venture into this
game of skill. The leader drew his penknife
and traced a large circle in the clay. We each
contributed a hostage. I went home sadder
but wiser with an empty marble bag.
 Visiting my older cousin David's family in
Hackensack, N.J., I learned about electricity
as I went down the wooden steps into the
basement. David asked if I had ever felt
electricity. "It is easy," he said, and unscrewed
the bulb over the stairs that was turned on by
pulling a string.
 "Wet your finger and put it in there," he
said, and pulled the string. I have never want-
ed to mess much with electricity ever since.
 Moving to Miami Beach, my brothers and
I discovered coconuts our very first week. A
hurricane had bent the tree in the empty lot
so that you could almost run up to the coco-
nuts. With legs wrapped around the trunk, we
could shimmy up and twist off a nut or two.
Pounding the point of the husk on a cement
sidewalk would open up the nut within.
 Miami Beach emptied out in the summer,
and fruited trees in well-maintained yards
yielded kumquats, bananas and guava fruit
that wouldn't be missed.
 At the head of Lincoln Road, we discovered
the Atlantic Ocean. There was a small beach
where we more or less taught ourselves to
swim.
 As the Florida economy began to revive
in the late 1930s, there was always a new
construction site. Lumber had to be cut and
fitted. There were end pieces and bent nails
that could be straightened. It was raw material
for tree forts.
 We lived only two blocks from the canal that
connected Indian Creek and Biscayne Bay.
The city had cut two lengths of a coconut tree
that looked like the beginnings of a catama-
ran. We collected enough scrap lumber and
scavenged enough nails to make a platform
that tied the trunks together. Coconut trunks
are very heavy. We could not budge our vessel
even an inch off the ground.
 We comforted ourselves. Around the comer
from Central Beach Elementary School, a
candy store sold a frozen Three Musketeers
bar for a nickel.
 No radio, no television, no money- and
we did not even know we were deprived.
 Derek Dunn-Rankin is chairman of the
Sun Coast Media Group. He can be reached at
derekdr@sun-herald.corn.


 A true lifeline


911 operator's calm coaching saves lives


 ByADAM KREGER
 STAFF WRITER

 CHARLOTTE COUNTY-A local
911 operator has been credited with
saving a life over the phone. Again.
 Because her role in the most-recent
incident lasted only as long as the call
- about three minutes she didn't
even know it.
 "We only hear half of what
happens," said Bethann Alexin,
the lifesaver. "We don't know the


outcome of these calls until we read
the newspaper."
 Alexin's latest heroics came Jan. 26.
Stan Moeschl, 82, was with family
at his sister-in-law's house in Port
Charlotte, talking about a Caribbean
cruise he had just been on with his
wife Kathy. It was around 3 p.m.
 "He was just sitting on the sofa
talking about what a good time he
had," Kathy said. "And all of a sudden,
he started jerking around."
 Stan had gone into sudden cardiac


arrest. He stopped breathing and
turned blue.
 "We called 911, and this very calm,
cool and collected woman walked us
through how to do CPR and what to
do," Kathy said.
 The voice on the other end of the
line was Alexin. She's been working
in the Communications Section of
the Charlotte County Sheriff's Office
in Punta Gorda, assisting 911 callers
for five and a half years. Her
 OPERATOR 114


'Be Greek for a day


 SUN PHOTOS BY GARY ROBERTS
Above: Members of the Holy Trinity Pride of Greece Youth Dancers junior group put their talents on
display at Saturday's 21st Port Charlotte Greek Fest, to which Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Church,
24411 Rampart Blvd., played host. The celebration continues from noon to 6 p.m. today. Right: Peter
Lambropoulos entertains the crowd with his Greek mandolin-type instrument, called a bouzouki.

 21st annual event a cultural 'feast-ival'


 By GARY ROBERTS
 STAFF WRITER
 PORT CHARLOTTE Bonnie and
Mike Smith of El Jobean were enjoying
their lunch of lamb shanks and gyros
at Saturday's Port Charlotte Greek Fest,
when a conversation with another
couple at the table soon revealed a con-
nection beyond their love of Greek food.
Remarkably, Mike and K.T. Addington


of Englewood were alums of the same
public high school in South Bend, Ind.,
albeit a few years apart.
 "We sat down to eat and just started
talking," said Addington, who winters in
Englewood, while exchanging numbers
over a Greek salad. "We couldn't believe
we went to the same school."
 Of course, table-time talk soon


GREEK 115


PALM home may be first and last


 By BILL JONES
 SUN CORRESPONDENT
 PORT CHARLOTTE -You could
hardly tell the students from the
technicians.
 The students, from Charlotte
Technical Center in Murdock, were
working eagerly and effortlessly


side-by-side with skilled professional
framers early Thursday, preparing to
install trusses at the unique PALM
home on Arden Terrace in Port
Charlotte.
 It's an innovative, cooperative
project where more than 50 area
construction businesses are providing
building materials at cost, and skilled


workers at no cost, as they mentor
students from the center's drafting
and construction programs in the
construction of a new home from the
ground up.
 A creation of the Charlotte-DeSoto
Building Industry Association, PALM
 PALM 114


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CORRECTION
The Gulf Coast Chapter 1037 of the Vietnam Veterans of America auction, to be held from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday at the Punta Gorda Woman's Club, 118 Sullivan St.,
will include two tickets to the Daytona 200 among its featured items. A story in Saturday's paper misidentified the race. Also, an additional auction item not included
in that story is a pass to Minor League Baseball, good for all games throughout the U.S., any days, any times, for the entire 2014 season. For more information, call Ed
Schuppenhauer, auction chairman, at 941-423-7623.