We Americans must sacrifice time and effort to do our homework in order to be knowledgeable voters. ...more

February 6, 2008

SEBRING –– The Highlands County commissioners have decided to appoint a citizens review committee to give them advice on whether to raise, lower, suspend or even replace impact fees as a way to finance infrastructure. But how that committee will be chosen and what special interest groups it will represent remain far from settled. The big divide on how to constitute this committee became apparent at Tuesday's commissioners meeting, when commissioners Barbara Stewart and Guy Maxcy put forth opposing views. ...more

January 23, 2008

Explosive Issues The concerns expressed by C. Melancon in the Jan. 5 Tribune regarding the effects fireworks have on her dogs, the response by the sheriff and the working of the state's fireworks task force ("Treated To Holiday Noise," letters) bears careful watching because, look out, we are about to be pre-empted again by state law! ...more

January 14, 2008

Regarding Mr. Troyer's letter concerning the merits of an income tax for Florida. Economics 101 tells us that the broader the base for any taxes, the more money it will raise. ...more

December 20, 2007

WAUCHULA — Trucker Jean Claude Meus' fight to have his 15-year prison sentence overturned or reduced received a big boost Wednesday afternoon. In a written opinion, Judge Douglas A. Wallace, of the Florida Second District Court of Appeals, suggested that Meus received ineffective counsel during his postconviction trial in 2005 at the Hardee County Courthouse. "(The opinion) was written very precisely," said defense attorney John H. Trevena, of Largo, who represents Meus. "Given its wording, I believe that it will give Mr. Meus an opportunity for a new trial." Meus is currently sitting in a state prison after being convicted of vehicular homicide in 2003 for the much publicized death of Nona Moore, 40, and her 8-year-old daughter Lindsey. The accident happened in 2001. During Meus' criminal trial, prosecutors said that he fell asleep at the wheel of his tractor-trailer, driving through a stop sign and eventually overturning his vehicle onto Moore's van at Seven Mile Point, just outside of Wauchula. Prosecutors maintained that Meus fell asleep shortly before the accident, but Meus maintained throughout his trial that a vehicle had cut him off, forcing him to swerve into Moore's van. ...more

November 30, 2007

How illegal immigration was stopped in 1954 Many of our citizens believe that we cannot get rid of the millions of illegal immigrants we now have in our country and eliminate the cost and problems they cause. Fortunately, President Eisenhower showed us how to do it in 1954 and it worked for many years. ...more

November 28, 2007

A few weeks ago, I wrote about my opinion that a lot of misinformation is intentionally given out in politics and/ or by bureaucrats. Most e-mails I received agreed with me. One respondent questioned why the politicians would do that when they want projects to be on time and within budget. I have a very long list of very proven reasons why they do. In a short summary, I believe the combined reason is arrogance. They have a very overwhelming paradigm that they possess unquestioned entitlement. They use that to satisfy their desire to accomplish many of their personal agendas, and to get projects started. ...more

November 5, 2007

We hear it all the time: Candidates for political office seldom give straight answers. Much of what we learn about them comes from political advertisements developed by their opponents and special-interest groups. That's politics. ...more

October 30, 2007