Roxanne Tobaison had no idea she was an artist until she was grown, married and raising children. ...more

August 20, 2008

We agreed rather foolishly to tackle the touchy subject of morning people versus night people. Unfortunately, we began our discussion around 9:30 one evening. Early Bird wanted to "call it a day" and Night Owl wanted to write this article. ...more

July 25, 2008

Big fish. It's what all who love angling dream of. ...more

July 25, 2008

Unless he has another brush with the law and a DNA sample is taken from him, JonBenet Ramsey's killer might never be caught. ...more

July 11, 2008

As I ride along U.S. 27, I look out on Lake Jackson. As I look past the weeds, where there is sand, I notice people out there with chairs, coolers and some of them who can get their boats afloat, boats. Where there is sand and water people tend to go to the beach, have fun, swim, relax and just have a good time. I further notice that none of them choose to sit in the weeds. It's still unimaginable that we spent over $70,000 to remove some of the weeds from the dry lake bed, and maintain the so called "native" weeds. Weeds are unsightly. Weeds are weeds. A weed by any other name is still a weed. We pick them from our lawns and flower beds. We poison them to get rid of them. But then along comes someone with a grant to grow them. Who decides that we should have weeds growing where there will again someday be a lake? We don't need to cultivate weeds where there should, and eventually will be, water. Something for boat props to get tangled in. Now I've noticed that we are maintaining the weeds. We are mowing weeds in a lake bed. I wonder how much that is costing and who is paying that bill? ...more

July 3, 2008

It used to be that a 4.0 grade-point average was considered a perfect "A," but the numbers posted by some recent Hillsborough high school graduates have been positively stratospheric - including the county's top GPA of 8.68 earned by a student at King High School who was this year's numbers leader. ...more

June 14, 2008

AVON PARK — Norm Stephens knows that in a recessionary economy, voters aren't likely to approve any suggestion of a tax increase. And in November, there will be nine ballot issues to confuse voters, including a one-cent sales tax which that would replace school property taxes. And furthermore, the 10-mill college property tax is No. 8 on the list, after the amendments prohibiting gay marriage and illegal aliens owning land. So its chances of passing may be small. But if voters approve in November, the Legislature would be required to allow the commissioners in Highlands, Hardee and DeSoto counties to hold a election which would generate property taxes to support South Florida Community College. "It's a four-step process," said Stephens, SFCC president. "It has to be approved by 60 percent of the voters in November. That allows the Legislature to develop rules. Then the counties can place it on the ballot, and the voters would have to approve again." ...more

June 8, 2008

The Greens owed $580 to the homeowners association, so it foreclosed and the family lost its home. It's an increasingly common story. ...more

June 2, 2008

Ken DeVane is no longer a member of the city's municipal code enforcement board. ...more

May 24, 2008

Marty Williams came up with an idea to help Bishop McLaughlin's football players forget about a dismal 2007 season. ...more

May 21, 2008