Kudos To Fagan For Work On Bayport Park Re: Landscape Rules At Bayport by Tony Marrero ...more

June 12, 2008

GO FISHING is a daily look at the area fishing scene through the eyes of local charter boat captains and fishing guides. Today: Randy Rochelle. ...more

May 20, 2008

Maybe Paulo Lobo should have stuck with his initial decision to keep Gayego out of the Preakness. ...more

May 18, 2008

Regarding "Gonzmarts Quit Knights Over Vulgar Gasparilla DJ" (front page, Feb. 19): ...more

February 21, 2008

Three million kudos to Mr. Ken Wheeler. It does our heart good and makes us fell warm and fuzzy inside when we read how hard our public servants are working on our behalf. Now when we go down to pay our taxes there will be a big smile on our faces and a big thank you sir or madam. ...more

February 15, 2008

While it is unusual to rethink the need for positions once one is well into the recruiting process, the new director positions certainly warrant deeper study than apparently took place; Kudos to the commissioners for taking a second look. Most likely, when this all shakes out, one of two things will happen: either we will not add the directors or adding them will be greatly delayed. Citizens adeserve more information about justifications for this major move, especially with the smaller-government-cut-expenses environment we live in. Speaking of expenses, the monetary cost of the new director positions has been routinely misrepresented, in print at least, because only salaries are mentioned. Employee benefits, perks, office space, equipment and the inevitable support staff-executive assistants, clerks- makes $1,000,000 a more accurate guesstimate of the annual cost. In addition, there are also significant startup costs associated with recruiting and situating them. Besides monetary costs, adding a layer of management results in a deterioration of communication from the bottom to the top. Information is filtered as it goes up the chain of command and often never reaches the top person. Generally, this means that the county manager will be less aware of negative information. ...more

February 9, 2008

What chutzpah! First the state intrusively reduces local governments' revenues, tacitly accusing them of wasting money. Then it proposes House Bill 683 designed to kill one county's innovative money saving idea – building its own asphalt plant – in order to endear itself to a special interest group. Our leadership should join forces with officials of other counties that either currently do or contemplate doing their own road construction in aggressively fighting this legislation that forces them to use private contractors for non-maintenance roadwork. ...more

January 30, 2008

Kudos to Darryl Scott for the amazing changes under way at Animal Control. Keep up the great work. It's wonderful to see county personnel working hard to make it a first-class facility as well as putting funds to their intended use. What baffles me is, how did his predecessor stay in the position for so long while the facility remained dilapidated and the cat's area was in such horrendous shape as described in the Jan. 20 Highlands Today article? ...more

January 30, 2008

Questionable Strategy Regarding "Next President Should Pledge Better Way To Field Candidates" (Our Opinion, Jan. 3): ...more

January 4, 2008

Regarding "State Jurors Gain Power To Question" (front page, Jan. 4): Kudos to the Florida Supreme Court for allowing judges in criminal cases to permit jurors to submit questions when they believe they need to have an answer(s) that may be crucial to their ability to ascertain "reasonable doubt." By joining Arizona, Colorado, and Indiana in this practice, Florida has significantly advanced and improved the system of jurisprudence in Florida. The next step should be to mandate that judges allow vetted questions from a juror to be asked. ...more

January 4, 2008