Pelican Press Stan “the Man” Zimmerman Ousted by Observer Group

As most of you know, the Observer Group (of the Sarasota, Longboat, East County Observers) purchased the much-loved island-and-beyond Pelican Press newspaper a couple of weeks back. Word on the street was that axes would soon be swinging … and at least one has already swung.

Highly respected and gazillion-award-winning shoe-leather newspaperman Stan Zimmerman was let go by the Observer Group on Thursday of last week.

Zimmerman had just nabbed a 2010 second-place award from the Florida Press Association for his investigative reporting on the FBI’s investigation into former Sarasota County School District employees involved in the purchase of classroom ActivBoards. He collaborated on that piece with another former Pelican reporter William Mansell.

Zimmerman holds an MA in Journalism and Public Affairs from American University, Washington, DC, and is the author of “A History of Smuggling in Florida;” The History Press, 2006. The guy is widely known and respected for his straight reporting and pull-no-punches news-gathering. I know I’m not the only one in Sarasota who will sorely miss seeing his columns and articles in print.

But … good news: Stan let me know that he’s “moving his pen” over to SarasotaPatch.com, where I believe he’ll continue to cover Sarasota County people, government, shenanigans, places, hoopla, and news of import. In fact, I notice he’s got a story up there today — check it out by clicking this link http://sarasota.patch.com/government, and I notice you can do an RSS subscribe to his county coverage so you can count on continuing to receive his excellent reporting.

Good luck, Stan!