Daiquiri Deck to open in downtown Venice

I saw this article on Facebook and thought WOW - a fun place to go in VENICE!!!  We need it!!

conceptual rendering of the proposed
Daiquiri Deck for Venice.  
(Rendering provided by Beebe Design Studio Architects)

By Kim Hackett

Published: Wednesday, May 2, 2012 at 4:45 p.m.

Last Modified: Wednesday, May 2, 2012 at 4:45 p.m.

VENICE - Siesta Key's Daiquiri Deck Raw Bar, known for its beer-pong competitions as much as its mussels and oysters, is bringing its restaurant concept to mature Venice, where the median age is 68.

The owners plan to build a 6,100-square-foot restaurant, the third in the Daiquiri Deck chain, on a vacant lot adjacent to the Bank of America building near Centennial Park.

It will be the first new commercial building constructed in the downtown historic district in 30 years, said architect Mark Beebe, who designed it.

The planned Caribbean-themed restaurant will seat 218, about half on two outside decks, with sports TVs, live Jimmy-Buffet style music and of course, daiquiris, co-owner Todd Syprett said. It will open at 7 a.m. for breakfast, serve lunch and dinner and close at 2 a.m. — almost unheard of in downtown Venice where the locals joke that the sidewalks roll up at 9 p.m. and most retailers close before dinner.

Syprett said he and the other two owners plan to open in December and employ about 100 people, most above minimum wage jobs. The menu will include coconut shrimp, sandwich wraps, seafood and oysters.

The Venice location will be different than the college-age dominated Siesta Key restaurant and bar, which features "Bar Wars" on Tuesday nights.

"We're a little more than daiquiris and college kids," said Syprett, 45, who opened the Siesta bar in 1993. "Siesta is a creature unto itself."

The Venice restaurant's design was approved by the Architectural Review Board last week. It will have to be approved by the Planning Commission and the City Council.

The owners opened a Daiquiri Deck on St. Armand's last year and were encouraged by local business people to consider a Venice location.

The success of the 15,000-square-foot Pineapple's Restaurant, which opened in 2010, and the recent opening of a Bonefish Grill chain convinced Syprett that the timing was right.

"Everybody looked at Venice as an old blue-haired community but it has become more diversified," Syprett said.

Downtown merchants hope it will encourage more night life.

"It's going to offset the mentality that we are solely a retirement town," said Jeff O'Berry, who owns Nifty Nic Nacs, a nostalgic novelty store and one of the few merchants who stays open late. "It's going to be good for downtown."

Justice is Served

Woman gets 13 years for DUI manslaughter

By LEE WILLIAMS
Correspondent

Published: Tuesday, March 20, 2012 at 6:20 p.m.

Last Modified: Tuesday, March 20, 2012 at 6:20 p.m.

SARASOTA - Missa L. Billib was driving drunk — more than twice the legal limit — the night of Nov. 6, 2009, when she left Hoosier's Bar in Osprey and drove into the path of two oncoming motorcyclists.

One rider managed to avoid the collision.

The other, Robert K. "Kenny" Sheaffer, 57, a postal worker and married father of three, was not so lucky.

Sheaffer tried to stop, left more than 38 feet of skid marks, overturned without striking Billib's 2008 Chevy Tahoe and was thrown from his 2005 Harley Davidson.

The accident left Sheaffer brain dead. He died 13 days later, after his family made the difficult decision to remove him from life support.

Billib was convicted of DUI-related manslaughter earlier this month after a three-day trial.

Tuesday, Circuit Court Judge Charles E. Roberts sentenced Billib to 13 years in prison followed by 10 years of probation, just two years shy of the 15-year maximum sought by the prosecution and Sheaffer's family.

"Fifteen years is an extremely small price to pay for taking my dad's life," Sheaffer's daughter Jenny told the judge.

Court documents show Billib, 45, has had previous arrests for DUI, battery, habitually driving with a suspended license and grand theft from a victim over 65 years of age.

She did not testify during her trial, but told the courtroom Tuesday she was sorry for what she had done and that she had been in an abusive relationship.

"I somehow became an alcoholic myself. I can only imagine how you feel," she said. "Through these past two years I have suffered a lot too."

Sheaffer had worked for the U.S. Postal Service for more than 25 years. He married Margaret, his high school sweetheart, in 1971. The couple had one son, Kenny Jr., 41, and twin daughters Jenny and Jeannie, who are 37.

"He was a wonderful guy who worked his butt off for me and our three kids," Margaret Sheaffer said. "He would do anything for anybody. If he became your friend, you'd be friends for life."

Sheaffer also said her husband's death has forever changed her.

"I lost my partner, the love of my life. I don't feel safe going anyplace," she said. "I haven't been out of the house in two years, except a couple times. I don't want to go to church or to meet new people. I'm having a real hard time of it."

Kenny Sheaffer Jr., was satisfied with the sentence because of what Billib put his family through, especially the decision to remove his father from life support.

"She's had a previous DUI and other arrests, so obviously babying her isn't working," he said. "It wasn't her right to take my father away. She acted like judge, jury and executioner."

The Sheaffer family has filed a civil suit against Billib and Hoosier's Bar. The case is pending.

Missa L. Billib