Nine exceptional student education students from Avon Park Middle School walked or wheeled Friday to The Depot Restaurant for their first "community experience" of the school year. ...more

November 18, 2008

Dear Abby: My beautiful 9-month-old daughter, "Lyric," is the result of an affair. Her father, "James," has never seen her, except in photographs. His family has no idea she exists. When I send pictures, he promises to visit "soon" - but I'm not supposed to ask when because he "just doesn't know right now." ...more

November 9, 2008

For the first time, researchers have decoded all the genes of a person with cancer and found a set of mutations that may have caused the disease or aided its progression. ...more

November 6, 2008

For the past two weeks I have been sitting on the corner of Interlake Boulevard, in Lake Placid with my choices for elected officials. As many know I sat there for a lot of hours. ...more

November 5, 2008

As we approach the finish line in this heated campaign, we must congratulate all those in the race: My most sincere congratulations to our Sheriff Susan Benton for her magnificent and professional wisdom. The P.B.A. has made a lot of noise against her, like a hen does when she has merely laid an egg, and when you listen to the hen noise it is as if she had laid an asteroid. ...more

November 2, 2008

The current economic disaster leaves me bitter. My parents grew up during the Depression, and I was inculcated with one basic financial tenet: Live within your means. Except for houses and cars, if you couldn't pay for it with cash, then you couldn't afford it. I was taught to save for emergencies, to not pay for services that I could do myself, and to value every penny. I cringe to think that I would ever need a government to bail me out because of choices that I made along the way. ...more

October 27, 2008

I looked it up, and our household income has doubled since George Bush took office in 2000. We have a mortgage, some credit card debt and a student loan to pay back, but we do a budget each month and try very hard to stick to it. My wife went back to school, with a student loan, to become a teacher, a profession that requires her to give much more than she receives (in money). ...more

October 26, 2008

I and just about everybody I know are totally fed up with this election, which has been ongoing ever since the congressional elections two years ago. And if that isn't bad enough, we end up with two candidates offering lesser-of-evils choices. ...more

October 20, 2008

Yesterday, we received in our mail yet another political publication. This one, however, was from a different source, the Florida Police Benevolent Association; the one which often solicits for donations to its "causes." Its large red headline stated: "Sheriff Susan Benton Accused of …" Accused! Not convicted, not charged, accused! This country's legal system proclaims a person to be innocent until proven guilty. We were astounded that such an organization, which supposedly bases its existence on that proclamation, could so blatantly accuse one of its own as if already proven guilty. Regardless of one's political loyalties and choices, such a charge is both immature and just plain wrong. We see this piece of paper as libel. Yes, our country has freedom of speech, but libel is not freedom of speech. Acting to damage someone's reputation without proof of fault is actionable in a court of law. For shame! ...more

October 18, 2008

To promote use of THE Bus, county commissioners at their Tuesday meeting will discuss issuing complimentary one-day passes. ...more

October 13, 2008