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Columns

  • A few resolutions for campaigns

    A few words for candidates
    It's the New Year and already the political races in Levy County are hopping — or should I say the charges are flying?
    Here at the Citizen we want to be of service to our readers and allow candidates to communicate with the public.
    But as with all things, there are a few rules.
    A. The Chiefland Citizen will allow you a one-time free announcement in the news columns where the candidate can make an unfiltered statement of their candidacy. Some have already been published.

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  • Setting your hair on fire with money

    County budget time is my least favorite time of year.
    But then again, there's nothing like watching folks who don't want to risk their political future by raising revenues, but who still want to tell the voters they preserved all the services.
    So now we must be creative in cutting the budget.  
    One of the more interesting exercises came at the Aug. 16 commission meeting when Levy County Fire Rescue No. 78 Chief Rick Bloom stepped to the podium. His unit covers Morriston, Montborook, Gulf Hammock and more.

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  • Levy gets presidential candidate visit

    It's not even 2012 and Donald Trump, Mike Huckabee and Mitch Daniels have dropped out of the Republican presidential nomination race.
    The wannabes are lining up to take their place.
    Florida has a presidential primary next year and most analysts say the state is in play. Look for the big population areas to get the candidates' attention.
    They won't stop in Levy County to ask for votes.
    But that is changing.

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  • It's time for a column of dibs and dabs.....

     Ever so often I come across a lot of items that don't merit a story or a column, but they do merit publication. And then there are observations that are not worth the time for a column.

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  • Budgets bring out the worst in us...

    I love summer. Summer is glorious in Florida.
    It's hot, humid, sticky. Beer pool season.
    It's also budget time.
    I don't know who in their evil mind set government's fiscal year to begin on Oct. 1, but they ruin summer for everyone with it. There must be a special place in hell reserved for the person who came up with this idea.
    The timetable has government body is struggling with balancing revenues and expenses into a budget during the hottest, most uncomfortable part of the year.

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  • Lessons I've learned from the dead

    My father and I were constantly at odds. I can't remember how or when it started, but I do remember thinking that he was the meanest, most unfair man alive.

    That changed right after I left high school as I started learning more about him as a man, and not just my daddy.

    By the time I moved to Georgia, we had a solid relationship-an unspoken one of mutual respect and trust.

    He wasn't into sentiment, and I wasn't about to broach my feelings of admiration for him. I thought I had years to tell him how much he meant to me, and how I finally understood the man he was.

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  • You deserve to have all the news

    Let's see, it was late July and I was still new on the job.

    I asked a Sheriff's Office spokesperson about air conditioner burglaries in the county and I also noted my street alone had an AC stolen that was almost turned into a home burglary. And the same road also had a home invasion that resulted in the suspect's death and an armed robbery.

    Like a mantra he said crime was down and pointed to 2007 figures showing crime went down in Levy County.

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  • Destroyer is out of service

    Being a Mets fan, it's awfully hard to make friends with a Phillies fan. After all, that's the team that knocked the Mets out of the playoffs last year, and they're about to do it again.

    However, there was one man in Levy County that I could call and joke with about baseball, and sports in general. As late as a week ago Tuesday, we were on the phone to each other talking about the pennant race, among other things in local sports. He was my favorite Phillies fan.

    His name was Claude Lewis, and he was a writer and sports editor for our sister paper, the Chiefland Citizen.

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  • Thank you, Claude

    I came looking for a job and I found a friend and serendipity.

    Serendipity is something every journalist needs.

    The tough, but garrulous journalism scholar John Bremner of the University of Kansas told journalists in his seminars they needed to find serendipity.

    Serendipity occurs when you are on your way to one thing and you discover another thing. It brings magic and the joy of the unexpected.

    You could have canned and sold serendipity.

    You lived it very day.

    You shared it every day.

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  • Be prepared for your end-of-days

    No one is prepared when the doctor walks into the room and explains that you or a loved one has an illness that cannot be cured. Both family and patient often receive this news at a time when they are already at wit's end - emotionally, spiritually and physically. But what if the illness is there yet the conversation about end-of-life options never happens?

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