STORY TOOLS

• E-mail story
• iPod friendly
• Printer friendly

Tell us about it

• What would you add to this story? Tell us what we missed.
• Do you have photos from this event? Documents we need to see? Share with us.
• Upload photos & videos
• More ways to get your stuff online and in the paper.

More Only on Marco

• Marcophiles: Everything you want to know about warblers
• Marco Island museum leaders to learn from County museum director
• Marcophiles: Marco says bye to some and welcome to most

Share and Enjoy [?]

Residents who are looking to take advantage of something that was designed specifically with them in mind need look no further than Orion Bank’s In the Round lecture series.

Branch Manager Keith Dameron created the program last year. The talks are designed to put local officials and experts in front of full-time residents to discuss topics that affect the island. In the intimate space of the Orion Bank lobby on Elkcam Circle, residents are encouraged to ask questions and engage with the speakers in a setting that was created specifically to put them at ease.

“This years topics will be wide ranging and unique, but most of all, interesting, informative and, occasionally, controversial,” Dameron said in an e-mail.

They sure were last year, but honestly, is there anything on this island that isn’t controversial? A rare shell at Tigertail Beach could be found and someone would still write a treatise on how that particular mollusk is found only on the southernmost point of a South Pacific archipelago and its finder was obviously confused.

Hopefully, Dameron will keep this series going for years to come — there’s simply too much fodder not too.

The next lecture will feature Matthew Chester, a special agent with the Federal Bureau of Investigation. He will discuss bank fraud, a crime that is growing in popularity on Marco Island. He is highly credentialed — so much so that listing his qualifications would seem only like a ploy to take up space — and will discuss why it’s so popular on the island, how safe your funds are and how easy it is to counterfeit checks. There will also be an overview on the different types of bank fraud.

If the chances of this kind of crime seem relatively remote to you, I would suggest you find your reality check at 6:30 p.m., June 27, in the bank’s lobby.

Chester is sure to give you a good enough shake to pop that bubble you’ve found so cozy — and you might even learn how to protect yourself.