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Now We're Talking

Author:	Joe Byrnes	Created:	10/3/2006 12:31 PM
All about news and life in Marion County, Fla.

Errol in the Afterlife
	By Joe Byrnes on 10/31/2007 9:06 AM

Today is Halloween. So here's a spooky story - a make-believe Internet blog - that goes by the name of "Errol in the Afterlife." My name is Errol, and I'm sitting at Starbucks downtown to access the Internet and enjoy the aroma of coffee. But don't even think about coming here to see me, not tonight or any night. I am dead, you see - or rather, you cannot see - you cannot see me, which is the point I was trying to make. I am a spirit on the loose - hovering under ceilings all over town, drifting alongside joggers at Jervey Gantt, haunting dreams, sitting in the chair opposite lone diners, reading over your shoulder and laughing as loud as I can (which you won't hear, of course, except maybe you'll feel the urge to smile) at children's knock-knock jokes. The Big Guy gave me this laptop and a trans-dimensional wireless card. So I can communicate with ...

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'No winners' in talented attorney's final case
	By Joe Byrnes on 10/27/2007 11:53 AM

There's bad news for any well-to-do motorist out there who is going to drive drunk - or be accused of driving under the influence - and in the process kill someone. Bill DeCarlis has tried his last case. On Friday evening, after not-guilty verdicts in a two-week DUI manslaughter trial, Billy Nichols Jr. wept and hugged his lawyers. DeCarlis gave him a half-embrace, but soon the old lawyer was sitting in his chair at the defense table, staring into space. "I just want to talk to the judge and say goodbye," he said gently as I approached him for an interview. I wanted to know if in fact this was his last trial. Yes, he said, after 40 years of criminal law - including dozens of DUI manslaughter trials - this would be the last one. The Gainesville lawyer also gave credit to co-counsel John Fuller. "It ...

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Hope everyone had fun!
	By Joe Byrnes on 10/22/2007 8:53 AM

This is it - just a photograph taken at twilight Saturday - from the Blessed Trinity Catholic Church carnival.

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Calling all career coaches
	By Joe Byrnes on 10/17/2007 9:37 AM

I'm not a curmudgeon yet - give me 15 or 20 years - but here's one thing that gets my goat. I can't stand it when people make sweeping generalizations about how youngsters today are spoiled, uncaring, irresponsible, lazy or otherwise good for nothing. I suppose those critics have had bad experiences. Often, I think, it's a problem of preconceived ideas or a case of appearances being deceiving. There are many, many more occasions to be impressed and inspired by the grit, energy, generosity, creativity - even brilliance - of our high school students and college-age neighbors. Take Cody Myers, for example, a senior at Marion Technical Institute studying industrial engineering and drafting. I met him at a luncheon on Tuesday, at which the Chamber of Commerce, CLM Workforce Connection and the school were recruiting mentors for its Career Coach program. Cody has a plan laid out: grad ...

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As Nichols trial nears, remember the victims
	By Joe Byrnes on 10/10/2007 11:55 AM

The trial is finally about to begin after almost three years - a long, painful wait for Adrian "Stretch" Cummings. The disabled Vietnam vet has seen delay after delay in the case of an Ocala businessman charged with killing his wife, Nancy Cummings, and daughter, Holly, in a drunken-driving accident. He consoles himself with the certainty they are still with him and with the memory of them as nurses and supporters of veterans. William Perry Nichols Jr., a corporate officer with Water Spots Inc., is set to go to trial next week in connection with their deaths. He is charged with two counts of DUI manslaughter and two counts of vehicular homicide. At 6 a.m. on the day after Thanksgiving 2004, he rolled his pickup truck over their car. The women were traveling on Southeast 180th Avenue Road on their way to work. Even Nichols' lawyers acknowledge that - when his blood was drawn ...

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Mr. Speed Limit tilts at windmills in Ocala
	By Joe Byrnes on 10/3/2007 7:41 AM

This week I'm reading "Zorro," a novel by Isabel Allende. I already knew, of course, about the legendary masked hero of Alta California. I had watched the old black-and-white shows on TV as a kid. Like countless other boys, I would brandish a stick - my imaginary sword - and slash the air with it and scratch Z's on just about anything in the cause of Justice. I'm telling you all this not to recommend the book - which deserves as much - but because I have come across another nameless crusader. Right here in Ocala, Mr. Speed Limit wages his anonymous campaign. His weapon: the video camera. His town square: YouTube.com/ocalaflorida. He rides shotgun all around the county videotaping speeders in the rain, bikers zigzagging between cars, drivers racing up the turn lane ...

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Lessons learned from the Southeastern Youth Fair
	By Joe Byrnes on 9/26/2007 5:36 AM

There are certain human qualities that grow best on a farm: hard work, patience, responsibility, appreciation for the wonders of nature, acceptance for the facts of life, and a willingness to rise early, eat your grits, drink your coffee and face the day. As Marion County becomes more crowded - growing houses, as the farmers say, instead of crops or cows or horses - you might ask where children can learn some of those values. The answer: the Southeastern Youth Fair. Every year the months-long preparations for the February fair begin with the Steer Weigh-in in September. So last Wednesday, I went to the Southeastern Livestock Pavilion with the crew for SBTV (our twice-daily newscasts on Ocala.com) to document the annual ritual. When we got there, the trucks and trailers loaded with steers had lined up from the front gate all the way to the back of the horse stalls. Working in the early-morning drizzle, you ...

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Putting the AMEN in First Amendment
	By Joe Byrnes on 9/18/2007 4:09 PM

If laughter is the best medicine, then satire is the cure for a case of politics. The Marion County Commission should learn from the University of Florida police. All those retirees parading in front of the commission to whine about water rates and going on and on and on. They just won't shut up. Who do they think they are to complain like that? They're almost as bad as Andrew Meyer - that loud-mouth UF student at the John Kerry town hall meeting on Monday - rattling off outrageous questions. The UF police took care of that guy. Six officers grabbed him while he tried to squirm away and while he complained loudly, "What did I do? What did I do?" Then they held him to the floor and Tasered him. I'll tell you what he did. He wouldn't stop talking. If there's nothing else you should learn at a great American university, it's ...

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Cupboards bare at Interfaith Emergency Services
	By Joe Byrnes on 9/12/2007 6:59 AM

Longtime volunteer Esther Smith, 81, of Belleview, sat across from me on Tuesday morning at Interfaith Emergency Services. I was in the chair where clients would sit when they came to ask for food, clothing, shelter or help with their bills. Smith - nicely dressed in a pink blouse and wearing gold-framed glasses - was heading a team of Interfaith volunteers, as she does one day out of every week. "I kind of feel like, for lack of a better word, I'm called to help people as much as I can," she said. Smith had just gotten some tough news, though, information that will make it harder for her to fulfill that mission. Because so many more people are coming for food from the Interfaith pantry in Ocala - and because donations have declined - the volunteers were instructed to tell the clients they can come in for groceries only once every 60 days, instead of once a month. & ...

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Getting to know Victor Jones
	By Joe Byrnes on 8/29/2007 11:12 AM

Marian Wingo telephoned recently to say she is proud of her grandson. He's 12 and going into the sixth grade. Big deal, huh? Well, yeah. Victor Jones - son of Vanguard High basketball star Toni Wingo - is a quiet, hearing-impaired child, as neat as a pin, with wire-rimmed glasses and the sweet hint of a smile. Marian Wingo, 77, has taken care of Victor since he was a baby and cared for his older brother, Richard Vaughn, as well. Their mother has struggled with mental illness. This summer Richard, now 16, went to live with other relatives in North Carolina. Victor stayed on with his grandmother. She has severe arthritis and gets assistance from Marion County Senior Services, and Victor, too, helps around the house and folds the laundry. "He knows I'm not well, and he tries to help me as much as possible," sh ...

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A puppy named Jorge
	By Joe Byrnes on 8/22/2007 7:52 AM

My wife and I have a new puppy - a black-and-tan long-haired dachshund named Sophie - and she is an absolute delight. We're in the process of house training her, but Sophie is still leaving little presents on the floor. In that way - and that way only - she reminds me of Jorge Gutman. The financially challenged Broward County developer has left a heaping mess in downtown Ocala. In Gutman's case, I don't think we should take the time to train him. I hope the city finds a way to place the City Shops & Walk project - now just so much dirt mounded, as it were, in the middle of Ocala's living room - into more dependable hands. Joe Byrnes may be reached at joe@ocala.com or 352-867-4112.

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Fly a yellow ribbon
	By Joe Byrnes on 8/22/2007 7:51 AM

From the Wednesday, Aug. 22, column. Marion County will fly a yellow flag at the Veterans Memorial Park in support of U.S. troops serving in harm's way. The decision - a unanimous vote of the County Commission - came following a request by Barry Barnett. The Palm Coast artist is on a months-long campaign to have Florida's local governments fly that flag. "Our goal is to see the yellow flag flying from every county flag pole without the county spending one dollar on the flag," Barnett said after the vote. He said it is totally non-political and unrelated to the nationwide debate about bringing the troops home from Iraq. "I could care less what the policies are," Barnett said. "I care about the person who is standing watch on a ship or on guard on land ... or in the air." The 3-by-5-foot yellow flag will have these ...

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Beware Florida's Weather
	By Joe Byrnes on 8/15/2007 10:51 AM

This entry ran as the Now We're Talking column on Wednesday, Aug. 15. It's August in Florida. We can either move somewhere else for the month or keep a careful eye on the weather. Star-Banner reporter Joe Callahan, who has written more articles about Marion County weather than just about anybody, summed up the situation for me. "We're in the Lightning Capital of the World," he said. "So, technically, you could walk out the door and get struck by lightning, bitten by a poisonous snake and a brown recluse spider and hit by hurricane just on the way to the mail box .Ê.Ê. and probably you'd get heat stroke somewhere in there." So it pays to stay alert. Here are some things to watch for: - In case you haven't noticed, it is dangerously hot. On several days during the past week or so, the National Weather Service issued h ...

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Headed for shore, he leaves wisdom in his wake
	By Joe Byrnes on 8/8/2007 11:15 AM

This entry ran as the Now We're Talking column in the Star-Banner on Wednesday, Aug. 8. I think of government work as public service. It comes from being a former schoolteacher, the husband of a state employee and the son of a state university professor. So as I sat in Sam McKinney's office last week and heard him talk about 35 years of service with the agency now called the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, including 30 years as the man in charge of fisheries for the Northeast Region, I was surprised to hear a trace of bitterness in his voice. Apparently, not everyone likes these government guys. An FWC biologist - even one who loves dogs, organizes fishing derbies for kids and is a devoted, caring father to his own developmentally disabled son - can receive threats and dirty looks from members of the public who see their interests threatened by ...

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FWC seeks public comments on bald eagle plan
	By Joe Byrnes on 8/6/2007 2:20 PM

The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission is looking for your comments on its plan to manage the bald eagle in Florida. State and federal agencies have concluded the species has thoroughly rebounded from near extinction in the 1960s and is no longer threatened. So how should the state manage America's national bird, which, by the way, is still protected under federal law? The FWC is considering that question. A final decision on the plan should come in December. A public workshop - for your input - is scheduled 5:30 to 7 p.m. Aug. 22 at the Northeast Regional Office, 1239 S.W. 10th St. in Ocala. This comment period ends Sept. 14 when the Commission meets in St. Petersburg, according to an FWC news release. "Commissioners will hear public comment at the September meeting and again at the December meeting, but no formal action will ...

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A killer is spared in recognition of two who truly lived
	By Joe Byrnes on 8/1/2007 12:22 PM

This ran as the Now We're Talking column on Wednesday in the Star-Banner. It's impossible to fold down into a newspaper column all the heartache and love lost and promise denied that came with the random murders of John Michael Parker and Amber Marie Peck. I won't even try. I'd like to focus, instead, on the decision their families made - choosing as they believed Parker and Peck would want - to spare the killer a death sentence and spare themselves a dozen years or longer of anguished waiting. On Monday, citing their wishes, State Attorney Brad King offered Leo L. Boatman, 21, two life sentences without parole if he pleaded guilty. The parents of the victims stood in Judge Willard Pope's courtroom and testified tearfully about them: a kind-hearted father, son and Marine Corps veteran and a caring, fun-loving daughter and sister who had discovered a new car ...

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Don't turn City Hall into Pottersville
	By Joe Byrnes on 8/1/2007 12:16 PM

This entry was published July 18. For an update on what happened at the City Council meeting, read Jessica Greene's news story titled "City makes decision on health insurance." They say the best defense is a good offense. And now, as the Ocala City Council defends against an anticipated loss of revenue, Councilman Kyle Kay is being downright offensive. Monday, the councilman - a banker from a banking family - took the opportunity in front of city workers to tout the benefits of thrift and personal responsibility and, at the same time, support an option that could increase their family health care costs by more than $300 a month. I picture Kay as a younger, slimmer, law-abiding version of Mr. Potter ...

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Smokers need not apply
	By Joe Byrnes on 7/24/2007 5:14 PM

This entry ran as a Wednesday column in the Star-Banner. The city of Ocala is offering one more reason to tell your kids not to smoke, and, if you're a youngster, another reason to avoid the nasty habit. This minor, local incentive is in addition to the obvious ones: the prospect of a long, lingering, painful death from heart disease or lung cancer and the daily waste of hard-earned cash, money that literally goes up in smoke. Ocala's new reason to quit is this: If you do smoke, the city won't give you a job, not with the Police Department, Ocala Electric Utility or Public Works or as a clerk or manager in City Hall. City Manager Paul Nugent told me the fire department already doesn't hire smokers, because of the added dangers from smoke inhalation during firefighting. Let me be clear. I'm an ex-smoker, and I know that smoking - though I still, absurdly, fin ...

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Lessons learned in naming schools
	By Joe Byrnes on 7/11/2007 4:43 PM

Hammett Bowen Jr. Elementary stands out as a recent exception when it comes to naming schools. The School Board named it after a person, a Medal of Honor recipient who gave his life to save others in Vietnam. But nationwide the trend is to name public schools after things in nature, not heroes or presidents. That's according to a study by the conservative Manhattan Institute. Its authors, led by University of Arkansas professor Jay P. Greene, looked at seven states, including Florida. Here are some of their findings: - Among 2,998 Florida schools, only five are named for George Washington while 11 are named after the manatee. - In Florida during the past 50 years, schools with nature-related names have increased from 18.7 percent to 36.8 percent. Meanwhile, schools named for people have decreased from 43.9 percent to 25.7 percent. - The majority of districts ar ...

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Nancy Stacy deserves a trophy
	By Joe Byrnes on 6/27/2007 1:47 PM

Republican Nancy Stacy has taken some heat for the political stunt she pulled. As a write-in candidate in House District 24, she blocked Democrats and independents from the June 5 GOP primary and forced a meaningless general election on Tuesday that wasted tens of thousands of dollars. Some people have railed against the "disenfranchisement" of those non-Republicans. Because of Stacy, they have had no say in selecting their representative. There's some truth in that. It's no less true that she deserves a trophy as Marion County's political operative of the year. She got in there and won the case for her partisan interests - her niche group in the political battle - by taking advantage of a technicality. She's like a good defense attorney exploiting a loophole to help her client. The cause of justice is not served when the criminal walks free on ...

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