I.M. STACKEL

Staff Writer

• Contact I.M. via e-mail
• Call I.M. at 239-263-4891

Beat: Collier County growth

Started at the Daily News: February 2001

Bio: I was born and reared in Brooklyn, N.Y., in a small boating community that -- in the 1950s -- looked a lot like Naples without the palm trees. I entered Brooklyn College in 1970, but the first five years of the 70s was still "the sixties," so I was way too busy traveling and experimenting with life to get a degree. I always wrote. When I was in grade school, we used to listen to a Board of Education-produced news show called, "Let's Look at the News." Students were encouraged to write in letters addressing issues. We all did that. It was a sign of the times. Remember, that I was 10 when the Cuban Missile Crisis went down, and we all thought the world was coming to an end. While my first "grown-up" job was in Jerusalem in 1973 just after the Yom Kippur War, I spent most of the 1970s writing poetry. I was a travel writer during the 1980s and early 1990s, mostly covering Asia, the South Pacific and the Caribbean.

My spare time is spent exploring the same subjects and issues that have always fascinated me: geotectonics, spiritual belief systems, love, the anthropology of food. The latter is nicer than saying I obsessively collect and read cookbooks.

Recent stories:

• Incumbent Collier commissioner Coletta moves on to general election by margin of nearly 2 to 1
  August 26, 2008
• Collier declares state of emergency; three schools to open as shelters
  August 18, 2008
• Collier County Democratic Excutive Committee chairman steps down amid controversy
  August 8, 2008
• Procrastinators slip in before deadline passes to register to vote in Collier primary election
  July 28, 2008
• Collier’s property values dipped lower than expected last month
  July 1, 2008
• Collier fire districts discuss discus how to merge with EMS without raising taxes
  May 2, 2008
• Comcast moving headquarters from Collier to Lee
  April 29, 2008
• Outlook at Collier County's three regional airports is looking up
  April 4, 2008
• Collier wants feedback about tolling Jolley Bridge
  April 2, 2008
• Even in overflow tent, Ave Maria dedication moves attendees
  March 31, 2008
• See full list of stories by I.M. STACKEL...