The Tampa Tribune's vice president of advertising and sales will be leaving to become the publisher of Florida Trend, a magazine owned by Tribune competitor St. Petersburg Times. ...more

November 11, 2008

As a retired police officer with over 36 years of experience, I feel compelled to voice my concerns regarding the upcoming Sheriff's election. I have followed this race very closely and found that Sheriff Benton willfully misled the public on the evidence issue. The missing evidence is extremely disturbing to me because as Mike Rowan so aptly said during the primary, "the evidence room is the integrity of the Sheriff's Department." When the original 13-page Newell report was submitted our sheriff missed a golden opportunity to stand up as a leader, acknowledge the problems and move towards resolving evidence issues. Instead she attempted to cover up this report. When the report surfaced, she misrepresented Mr. Newell's work and damaged his reputation in a public forum. ...more

October 26, 2008

Two words that describe character are integrity and reputation. In these political times, some may say that it is difficult to find a candidate with one, if not both, of these characteristics. It is with personal knowledge that I attribute these characteristics to Mr. Bob Germaine. ...more

October 25, 2008

There's a TV commercial that's been going around for a while. I'm not sure how effective it is because I can't remember what they are trying to sell, but then that's not unusual these days. ...more

October 24, 2008

Integrity is the most important quality of any human being to possess, especially politicians. Trust of the people is imperative! As a former mayor and city councilman for the city of Sebring and a member of the sheriff's rescue unit, I know how important it is to have a leader that you can trust. Three out of four of our children are in law enforcement: Major Mark Sauls, Sgt. Monica Sauls and Agent Gene Sauls Jr. of I.C.E. We the people expect and deserve honesty. I supported and voted for Susan Benton during the last election. I had high hopes that she would have the vision and integrity to make the needed changes in the Highlands County Sheriff's Office. Some of the changes she has effected have made a difference; higher salaries for the troops, some new technology, more deputies on the road. What she did was what should have been done. Nothing new or spectacular, simply what needed to be done. ...more

October 16, 2008

The weekend work release program is now up and running fully again, following a Friday meeting between the sheriff's office, the clerk of court's office and Highlands County Court Judge Anthony Ritenour. ...more

October 15, 2008

Zane Thomas, running as an independent, has 25 years as a Navy officer, traveling around the world and serving in both diplomatic and combat roles. ...more

October 12, 2008

Highlands County Court Judge Anthony Ritenour will not allow inmates to serve jail time on the weekend work release program until changes are implemented. ...more

October 8, 2008

Lynn Helms and her husband, Richard, moved to Plant City from Connecticut in 1998. They soon discovered First Presbyterian Church of Plant City. ...more

July 16, 2008

Tuesday night, interim City Manager Mark LeCouris showed the City Commission a slide show focusing on the city's "challenges of the future." ...more

July 5, 2008