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6 days ago | 
pineisland-eagle.com | Paulette LeBlanc
Grown-up Pine Islander Gianna Reese said she would describe herself as a mom, wife and a school social worker. Her husband is in ministry, she said, also making her the wife of a pastor. When she first came to Pine Island, she was 12 years old. Her immediate family moved to the island to be near her grandfather, she explained. “My grandfather had been living on Pine Island for a few years at that point and his mother, my great-grandmother, bought land and built a house here in the 1960s.
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6 days ago | 
pineisland-eagle.com | Paulette LeBlanc
Jun 24, 2025 By 3 min read
1 / 3The Bobby Holloway Jr. Memorial Foundation scholarship award winners and members of the foundation’s board of directors. PAULETTE LEBLANC2 / 3Bobby Holloway Jr. Memorial Foundation Board Member Steven Hook at the scholarship award presentation. PAULETTE LEBLANC3 / 3Bobby Holloway Jr. Memorial Foundation Board Member Monika Oakley at the scholarship award presentation.
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1 week ago | 
pineisland-eagle.com | Paulette LeBlanc
Lee County Sheriff’s Office Sgt. Willie Rivera came to protect Pine Island in 2009. After being stabbed on the job in Bokeelia in March 2018, he said he went to Pine Island Elementary School to serve as a resource officer. “It wasn’t by choice. They told me it was for my safety,” Rivera said. Rivera also said at the time he took the role he would keep until retirement at the school, he had no idea that it had been his true calling all along.
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1 week ago | 
pineisland-eagle.com | Paulette LeBlanc
Joe Hernandez said he would describe himself as a husband, father and grandfather before anything else. He also said he calls his occupation his silver sword, because it is his way of giving back to the community. As a retired EMS chief, who served for 30 years in the fire rescue service, he finished his career with the Task Force FEMA Urban Search and Rescue under the National Response System.
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2 weeks ago | 
pineisland-eagle.com | Paulette LeBlanc
Jun 10, 2025 By 5 min read
1 / 2Lee County Property Appraiser Matt Caldwell, left, and Tax Collector Noelle Branning address the crowed at the Greater Pine Island Civic Association meeting. PHOTO PROVIDED2 / 2One of the graphics used at the GPICA meeting to explain the property tax system.
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3 weeks ago | 
pineisland-eagle.com | Paulette LeBlanc
The surprise decision to move Lee County EMS out of Station 1 on Pine island was discussed at the Matlacha/Pine Island Fire Control District board meeting May 27. The meeting was held at Station 1 at 5700 Pine Island Road in Bokeelia. Discussion on the Lee County lease agreement was opened by M/PIFCD Attorney John Miller, who brought it to the attention of those in attendance that Lee County EMS had been utilizing space in Station 1 for years.
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3 weeks ago | 
pineisland-eagle.com | Paulette LeBlanc
Grayce Smith has grown up on Pine Island. In fact, she said her whole family is a family of islanders. In her particular family, she said, she is the oldest, wearing the banner of daughter, granddaughter, niece and older sister and older cousin, making a path for the younger ones. “I’m the first one to leave the island to go to school. It definitely felt a little weird to be the first to experience leaving home,” Smith said.
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1 month ago | 
pineisland-eagle.com | Paulette LeBlanc
The Greater Pine Island Emergency Task Force wants islanders to know that it is still functioning behind the scenes. Board chair Elsie Stearns said the group is currently operating under the umbrella of the Beacon of Hope and encourages anyone looking for information on the team to visit the Beacon website to keep up with what they’re doing.
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1 month ago | 
pineisland-eagle.com | Paulette LeBlanc
On Thursday, May 15, former island Fire Chief David Bradley Sr. passed away. He was 70 years old. Bradley was born on June 14, 1954, at Barksdale Air Force Base, in Shreveport, Louisiana. He lived in Louisiana until 1978, when he moved to Pine Island. After 36 years he moved back, and called Welsh, Louisiana home. A dedicated member of the island firefighting community for 36 years, he started as a volunteer for the Matlacha/Pine Island Fire Department and retired as fire chief in 2014.
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1 month ago | 
pineisland-eagle.com | Paulette LeBlanc
At the Board of County Commissioners meeting last Tuesday, May 20, Public Safety Director Benjamin Abes told commissioners the lease for property near Station 1, located at the corner of Stringfellow Road and Pine Island Road in Pine Island Center, for which the county has been involved in negotiations, that a mutually agreeable reconciliation has not been reached.
