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Now We're Talking
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Author: |
Joe Byrnes |
Created: |
10/3/2006 12:31 PM |
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All about news and life in Marion County, Fla. |
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Marion County quotables from 2007 |
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By Joe Byrnes on
12/26/2007 2:24 PM
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This is the Now We're Talking column from Wednesday, Dec. 26.
Your local news in 2007 has had tornadoes, financial woes, courtroom drama, quirky politics and a lot more. And, of course, the people in the news have had something to say about it all.
Here are a few of those lively quotes pulled from Star-Banner stories:
"I believe we made the devil mad. We finished our revival Wednesday night, and Thursday our church was torn down. We raised the roof for the Lord."
- Paula Countryman, of the Lady Lake Church of God, which was destroyed in a tornado on Feb. 2
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"We're all in shock. I've lost family members before, and I've never had to bury a child. ... This is the hardest thing that any of us will have to do."
- Lisa May, the stepmother of tornado victim Brittany M ...
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An Ocala holiday symphony |
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By Joe Byrnes on
12/26/2007 2:21 PM
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This is the Now We're Talking column from Wednesday, Dec. 19.
In addition to four regular concerts, Ocala's Central Florida Symphony Orchestra has become part of our holidays - playing under the stars at Muni during the FAFO Mother's Day event and on the Downtown Square in December.
At Symphony Under the Lights on Friday, my wife and I unfolded our chairs on the square and gazed up at the glimmering trees. The night was temperate, and I could still see a crescent moon and a few stars.
The music was bright and beautiful. And the people - young couples, senior citizens and families with babes in blankets, toddlers in strollers and dogs in Christmas clothes - were in a holiday mood. The outdoor concert - heard over the hum of traffic and the wail of sirens - was a taste of what the professional orchestra has to offer.
On Sunday, I joined hundreds at the Ocala Breeders' Sales audi ...
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Pieces from the puzzle of James E. Roberts' troubled life |
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By Joe Byrnes on
12/5/2007 8:55 AM
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The Sheriff's Office report, from May 26, 2005, was filed under the category "Children at Risk."
At about 7:30 p.m. that day, Deputy Linda Carson found 16-year-old James E. Roberts sitting along North U.S. 301. He was trying to hitch a ride to his grandmother's house in Citra to pick up his clothes and his dog.
The grandmother, Pearla Floyd, told Carson she used to have custody of Roberts but sent him back to his mother in Ocala because he argued all the time and was breaking things.
His mother, Sherry Ann Mahle, met the deputy at the North District Office and laid out her problems with him:
He was constantly running away, Mahle said, so she had turned him over to her parents.
In the grandmother's petition for custody back in October 2003, she said Roberts needed a settled environment after his brother's death in a traffic accident.
&l ...
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Bear photos from the Ocklawaha area |
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By Joe Byrnes on
11/28/2007 5:09 PM
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Courtesy of Jim Horton
Among the callers today with stories about bear encounters was James G. Horton, who has 20 acres on Lake Faye between Ocklawaha and Moss Bluff.
Area residents have been seeing Florida black bears for the past couple of weeks, he told me. "They've been in my woods like wild cats. I mean they've been everywhere."
Recently, Horton and his adult daughter were driving all-terrain vehicles in the woods. He followed some tracks around a sinkhole and rolled right up to bear. Horton warned his daughter. Then he went back for a camera.
Horton was kind enough to send me ...
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Bear stories - don't feed your furry neighbors |
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By Joe Byrnes on
11/28/2007 12:25 PM
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The Ocala National Forest is overflowing with bears. They're stuffing themselves before the lean winter.
The Florida black bear is protected as a threatened species, but the area around the Ocala forest - with an estimated 800 bears - has a healthy population. They're not man-eaters. In fact, there's never been a documented case of a Florida black bear attacking a person, according to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.
But the big furry omnivores - like those roaming the north shore of Lake Weir and raiding chicken coops in Moss Bluff - certainly appear dangerous. Bartow McDonald can tell you that. On Sunday night, he stepped out of his house on the lake to see a 450-pound papa bear 15 feet away in his front yard.
"This bear is enormous and very intimidating," said McDonald, an experienced hunter. "It's not like he turned and ran in fear. He just kind of meandered away.& ...
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Trolling the streets for news |
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By Joe Byrnes on
11/14/2007 8:18 AM
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This is the Now We're Talking column from Wednesday, Nov. 14.
I should probably write something about the $3.13 price I saw for a gallon of regular unleaded or the race-colored glasses of actor/defendant Wesley Snipes or the grey-green, greasy future of the Rainbow River.
Or I should at least call for a designated driver on all Marion County juries.
Here's the problem. Those topical, timely and potentially informative columns would require work, and I just got off vacation, physically, at least. My mind is still in vacation mode, bobbing in a boat on Lake Wauberg, waiting for the next 14 ½-inch-long speckled perch to bend a rod.
Now I am going to get my mind back in the game and forget the cool fall evening and the glorious sunset mirrored on the lake ... Hmm. Maybe a cup of coffee will help.
I'll grab my computer bag and tell you how this many-zipp ...
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One of Munroe's first ER doctors dies |
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By Joe Byrnes on
11/7/2007 10:09 AM
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Emergency medicine has made huge strides in Marion County since the 1960s.
Granted, if you go to an emergency room to see a doctor, you might be in for a long wait, but the doctor should be on hand immediately for anyone who is critically injured.
It wasn't always that way. Ocala's funeral homes used to provide the ambulance service to Munroe Memorial Hospital.
The emergency patients were evaluated by a nursing supervisor. If a doctor was needed, the nurse would telephone the one on call. The pediatrician, cardiologist, ophthalmologist, general practitioner - you name it - might arrive at the hospital a half hour after the patient.
That changed on Feb. 1, 1970, when three doctors - cardiologist Earl Yantis and pediatricians Harry Edwards and Robert W. Carr - began to provide round-the-clock coverage for Munroe's emergency room.
"It was just this giant step up ...
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Errol in the Afterlife |
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By Joe Byrnes on
10/31/2007 9:06 AM
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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 |
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By Joe Byrnes on
10/27/2007 11:53 AM
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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! |
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By Joe Byrnes on
10/22/2007 8:53 AM
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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 |
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By Joe Byrnes on
10/17/2007 9:37 AM
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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 |
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By Joe Byrnes on
10/10/2007 11:55 AM
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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 |
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By Joe Byrnes on
10/3/2007 7:41 AM
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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 |
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By Joe Byrnes on
9/26/2007 5:36 AM
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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 |
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By Joe Byrnes on
9/18/2007 4:09 PM
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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 |
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By Joe Byrnes on
9/12/2007 6:59 AM
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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 |
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By Joe Byrnes on
8/29/2007 11:12 AM
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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 |
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By Joe Byrnes on
8/22/2007 7:52 AM
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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 |
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By Joe Byrnes on
8/22/2007 7:51 AM
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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 |
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By Joe Byrnes on
8/15/2007 10:51 AM
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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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