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Letters to the editor & Op Ed
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Posted April 21, 2012 09:55 am
By Sandra Caslow
On April 22,
2013, Girl Scouts will honor their volunteers on
Girl Scout Leader Appreciation Day during
National Volunteer Week. Our dedicated leaders
give of their time on a weekly basis to plan and
lead fun, educational Girl Scout troop meetings
and field trips. Girl Scout leaders teach the
girls about health and wellness. They take them
on a caving expeditions or to the stables to
learn to ride. They go to international fairs to
experience different cultures and teach them to
create a space rocket out of paper, a film
canister and
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Posted April 11, 2013 08:25 am
By Mike Gordon
A taxing authority, flush with taxpayer
dollars, buys property with the people's
money then years later decides to give away
that property. A fairy tale – perhaps? Nope.
Sadly, business as usual in Columbia County.
Whether it's the Lake Shore Hospital
Authority suggesting that we now give away
property that was purchased with taxpayer
dollars, without so much as an apology for
gambling with our money, or that same
Authority eliminating the people's right to
speak out at its public meetings, the
arrogance continues
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Posted April 1, 2013 10:45 am
Guest Column by Dr. Anne Shortelle, Ex. Dir. SRWMD
A clean and dependable supply of water is vital
to our environment, economy and quality of life,
today and into the future. Water conservation
is the most important step that each of us can
take to meet our future water needs and sustain
our fragile water resources, such as our
springs. That is why I am committed to
fostering a water conservation ethic throughout
the Suwannee River Water Management District
(SRWMD). We can all be part of the solution by
doing our part to conserve our precious
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Posted December 17, 2012 10:50 | Letter to the
Editor
Thank you for
your mention of Greenville, SC in your article,
"Columbia
County Economic Development Meets Alachua County
Economic Development". Actually, there is
more to the city of Greenville than you
mentioned in your article. We also have thriving
theater and art from small to grand scale
rivaling New York City. What once was an eyesore
river running through our city is now a
beautiful park with waterfalls and a pedestrian
bridge
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 Boondoggle in the Boondocks: Stop the Columbia
County Events Center Madness Now
Posted December 6, 2012 10:25 am | Op/Ed by Mike Gordon
Nick Patel, hotel entrepreneur and Tourist
Development Council member, was spot on in his recent
remarks regarding the Columbia County Events Center. We
simply cannot afford one. the only profitable events
center in Florida is the one near Disney.
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Posted November 19, 2012 11:5 | Letter to the
Editor
After attending last Thursday night's County
Commission meeting and the Events Center
presentation at the Fairgrounds, I am convinced
that the County Commission is going to ram it
through, Chicago style, no matter what. Some
people are set to make a fortune; some are
setting themselves up for a cushy County job and
the rest of their cronies are paving the way to
place the cost for their pet project on the
backs of Columbia County taxpayers. As the
saying goes: “Those that govern never run out of
things they can’t accomplish with someone else’s
money!”
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Posted November 1, 2012 06:50 am | Op/Ed
On the ballot
are four proposed amendments to the Columbia
County Charter. The Observer recommends a no
vote on each amendment. (1
comment)
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Posted September 17, 2012 02:00 am
Beverly Bell interviews Leslie Thatcher, content
relations editor at Truthout, one of a number of
independent, non-commercial news sites that
offer an alternative to corporate-controlled
media. In a world where corporations are
considered persons and a few individuals are
funding the lion’s share of the presidential
elections, independent media is critical to
keeping citizens informed and motivated
defenders of democracy.
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Agenda 21: Where is the tin foil hat? I may need
it.
Posted August 23, 2012 12:50 am
What is Agenda
21? If you’re like most of us, you’ve never
heard of it. If you have, you may have concluded
it’s simply too ridiculous to believe. A
conspiracy to establish a One World Government
reducing Americans to meaningless serfs who are
controlled by the wealthy elite…
(2
comments)
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Posted July 19, 2012 06:50 am | Op/Ed
There seems to be a misconception by some that
the privatization of Columbia County's Emergency
Medical Service was a good deal for the County.
Before anyone backs the County and Lifeguard,
let's go over some of the facts. While some
supporters of the EMS privatization may have
business knowledge, their knowledge of EMS is
severely lacking. Some claim that Lifeguard
better serves the County. Those that do are
mistaken. Columbia County Emergency Medical
Service response times were better than
Lifeguard's and as for Lifeguard having a higher
level of service; again the privatization...
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Posted June 25, 2012 06:45 am | Op/Ed
By Toby Witt
Until you know
all the facts and have a little knowledge about
the industry then the privatization Columbia
County's EMS may look like a great deal for the
county. What the press knows and reports
and what the commissioners and county
administration think they know isn't so black
and white. It is true that EMS ran at a 1.2
million dollar deficit. But the question you
should be asking is – Why?
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 Time
to Cut Federal Spending: ATF, An Antiquated
Agency
Posted June 21, 2012 06:55 am
By State Senator Steve Oelrich (R-Gainesville)
As our federal government continues to grow and
the private sector scales back, we begin to
realize how critical it is for certain agencies
to cut their budgets drastically or be
eliminated entirely.
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Posted April 24, 2012 01:15 am
By Corydon B. Dunham
A proposed new plan for government control of
television news, and perhaps Internet news, is
now pending before the Federal Communications
Commission. It would enable the government to
suppress opposing points of view, reduce
diversity and chill speech.
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Columbia County, FL (Posted September 23, 2011 06:15 am)
I am not, nor ever have been a law enforcement
officer. Having watched the videos posted on
your site as well as several others on YouTube,
as a layperson I didn't see anything that I
would deem excessive. What I saw was a group of
LEOs surrounded by what looked to me like a
crowd about to riot. (Read the article:
Lake City Florida:
Police harking back to a bygone era - When will it change?)
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Columbia County, FL (Posted August 3, 2011 06:15 am)
Waste Pro committed to Columbia County that we
would exceed your expectations, if we were
permitted to be your solid waste collection
company. You trusted our commitment and we lived
up to our words... Gone also is the opportunity
for further job creation that may have resulted
from this contract continuing to be locally
held.
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WASHINGTON, D.C. (Posted July 16, 2011 01:45
pm)
On Friday, Congressman Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio)
spoke on the House floor about the decades long
transfer of wealth from everyday American people
into the hands of the few... He called it the
theft of Main Street by Wall Street. The result
has left millions out of work, underemployed and
in fear of their Social Security in order to pay
for continued tax cuts for the rich.
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(Posted July 14, 2011 08:20 am)
By
Marc Ferrulo | Exec Dir
Progress Florida
Gov. Rick Scott has a
plan for the health care of Florida’s children, seniors,
and disabled, and it’s not good. His plan is nothing
less than a corporate takeover of Medicaid, with HMOs
managing the care of our state’s most vulnerable. The
Legislature passed Gov. Scott’s plan, but it requires a
number of rules to be waived by the Obama Administration
(through the...
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(Posted April 4, 2011 04:45
am)
After
reading,
Columbia County Commissioner's pool remains a
death trap - State turns deaf ear, this
article it has really opened up my eyes. While I
was considering moving to northern Florida and
after reading what goes on in Columbia County, I
can honestly say Columbia County is not on my
lists of best places to live, but rather sounds
like a County to stay away from. ¶ ...you just
may be saving an innocent person from a tragedy
down the road.
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(Posted March 28, 2011 12:30 pm)
By KrisAnne Hall
This past week there was a media frenzy sparking
fear across the nation with headlines like,
“Florida Judge Orders Use of Sharia Law!” ¶ I am
not willing to trade liberty for any fear.
I am not willing to trade the ability for my
church to govern according to the dictates of my
conscience due to a fear of foreign Islamic
invasion. If we allow fear to dictate, the
enemies of Liberty have succeeded and tyranny is
already established.
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Columbia County, FL (Posted March 21, 2011 04:55
am)
I just read your Thursday, March 17th article:
County Commissioner DuPree's Pool-A back yard
death trap. I have friends, who had a fenced
yard, with "Private Property-No Trespassing"
signs properly placed and a locked gate. While
they were on vacation in 2006, their five year
old neighbor, who could not swim, climbed the
fence, got in the pool, could not get out and
drowned. Very tragic!
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Columbia County, FL (Posted March 11, 2011 01:05
am)
By "A Life In Lake City"
Excellent
commentary by Mr. Womer, who is objective about
Columbia County's economic realities. Only
those who have lived outside Lake City-Columbia
County area can see the true reality of life in
this community. This area has potential,
however... What is the next disaster?
Will it be emergency medical services?
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Special to the Observer (Posted Feb 07, 2011 06:50 am)
By Eben Fodor
The
“conventional wisdom” that growth generates
economic and employment benefits was not
supported by the data. The study found that
those metro areas that have fared the best had
the lowest growth rates. Even metro areas with
stable or declining populations tended to fare
better than fast-growing areas in terms of basic
measures of economic well-being.
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Columbia County, FL (Posted
Feb 03,
2011 07:45 am)
By Barbara Jeffords Lemley
The world is
reading about Lake City, as can be plainly seen
in the media and on the web. The feedback is not
positive. Time is of the essence to improve the
image. (2 comments)
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Columbia County, FL (Posted Jan 13, 2011 07:45 am)
By "A Life In Lake City"
People regardless of their age, race, sex, economic
status or occupation have choices they can make in their
daily routine... This situation did not occur over night
and it will take time to resolve. If you have concerns
make your voice known. Nothing will happen if you
remain quiet - there is strength in numbers.
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Columbia County, FL (Posted Oct 23, 2010 09:15 am)
By Judy Thacker
Cap and Trade is coming to Florida if we don’t stop
it! You are likely to be sending one of the men
who made that possible to our United State Senate seat.
Yes, I am talking about Marco Rubio and Charlie Crist..
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Columbia County, FL (Posted
August 5,
2010 03:55 am)
By Ever Vigilant
In Columbia County we see a
microcosm of this cancer... Closed meetings,
lack of transparency, the imposition of mandatory water
hookup, character assassination, back door
deals and the Good Old Boys that have thumbed
their noses at the voters of Columbia County for
the past 50 years are causing people, who have
never been involved in politics, to cry out for
change. (click title to read more)
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Columbia County, FL (Posted
July 26,
2010 04:00 am)
By Ron Buchner
In the tough economic times, you would
think the City of Lake City would at least attempt to
make their large purchases in the local area... This is
one time the city should take lessons from the county.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
City Manager
Wendell Johnson
I appreciate
your concerns and it amazes me how citizens will take
the "word on the street" and run with it...
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Columbia County, FL (Posted
July 18,
2010 06:30 am)
By Terry Rauch
Florida has very large problems. Our taxes are too
high, people are unemployed, property values are in the
tank. What has Tallahassee done for these problems? Not
a thing. ¶ The answer is very simple: Shrink the
government, deregulate and lower taxes. In other words,
"use common sense."
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Columbia County, FL (Posted
July 18,
2010 • at 05:30 am)
Dear Mr. Lilker:
I grew up in what you term “The Hood”,
and I am a member of New Bethel Missionary Baptist
Church. The latest initiative by my pastor and others is
a step in the right direction. Despite all of the
unanswered questions, it is a positive step. More than
what has been done in the past... Sincerely, Patricia A. Perry
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Columbia County, FL (Posted
April 9,
2010 • at 03:55 pm)
By Ever Vigilant
The behavior of the Columbia County
Board of County Commissioners and their zany antics has
been documented repeatedly... While Florida's Sunshine
Laws demand transparency in government, the clarity of
sunshine has yet to penetrate the opaque smoke screen
that surrounds the workings of Columbia County
government... The Columbia County legacy and legend is
spreading like a field fire: failure to respond to ...
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March 16, 2010 11:55
pm - from the NY Times - orig pub date March 13, 2010
SEAN WILENTZ
Princeton, N.J.
RONALD REAGAN deserves
posterity’s honor, But
the proposal to substitute
his image for
that of Ulysses S. Grant on the $50 bill is a
travesty that would dishonor the nation’s
bedrock principles of union freedom and equality
— and damage its historical identity.
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Columbia County, FL (posted March
16, 2010 11:55pm)
Oil is a diminishing and
expensive source of energy, and coal is dirty.
Alternative energy sources,
including solar and wind power, can only provide 10% to
20% of our energy requirements.
By Donald A. Moskowitz
Londonderry, NH
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Published March 12, 2009
OP-ED CONTRIBUTER
Jessica Catherwood Natale
The County Commission has decided to withdraw
Columbia County from the interlocal agreement with
Florida Crown Workforce Board (FCWB) in favor of joining
with Region 9 Alachua/Bradford.
This is really perplexing considering their excellent
record of performance.
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Published March 16, 2009
The Columbia County Board of County Commissioner’s
recently moved to sever ties with the Florida Crown
Workforce Board (FCWB). This was the wrong thing to do.
Two of the reasons the Board cited were an unwillingness
to recognize the role of the Consortium and a lack of
communication with the BOCC. This is completely
false and inaccurate.
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Lake Shore Hospital Authority
February 22, 2009
Can anyone please explain for me why the people
of Columbia County are exclusively responsible for the
funding of a regional asset--to wit the Lake Shore
Hospital Authority and its Shands hospital?
I don't care if you own a home or property or are
just renting, you are paying directly or indirectly a
significant annual tax to fund and support this
Authority if that property is in Columbia County.
If your property is in Suwannee, Hamilton, Baker, Union
or Alachua County you have this great resource available
to you thanks exclusively to the tax dollars of the
Columbia County property tax payers.
Why are we allowing this inequity to happen?
Why is the Lake City Reporter allowing this tax-eating
kingdom-building monster to fester and grow in relative
obscurity? I guarantee it is going to get bigger
and hungrier.
Robert C. Long
Lake City, FL
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Special to the Observer
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Posted October 27, 2011 05:55 am | Special
We are experiencing something of a bubble in
education...a bubble as pernicious as the
bubbles we had in technology in the 1990s and in
housing in the 2000s. --PayPal co-founder Peter
Thiel ¶
There's an entire middle ground. You want to
provide the opportunity for people to make the
choice that's right for them. --Wharton
marketing professor Eric Bradlow
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Even for Cashiers, College Pays Off
 Posted
June 26, 2011 10:45 am | Special
ALMOST a century ago, the United States decided to make
high school nearly universal. Around the same time, much
of Europe decided that universal high school was a
waste. Not everybody, European intellectuals argued,
should go to high school.
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Girl
Scouts: Build girls of courage, confidence, and
character who make the world a better place
Fairy
Tales in Columbia County? A land give away? Nope, just
business as usual.
Suwannee
River Water Management District Promotes Water
Conservation
Greenville,
SC: Dedicated public servants stuck to their plan.
You
Can't Ever Stop Being Vigilant: The Role of Alternative
Media In Protecting Democracy
Lifeguard
Ambulance, A Good Deal For Columbia County? Former union
president weighs in
Don’t
Let Big Government Choose Your News
Waste Pro, Columbia County's Carter Speaks: "Our word
was our bond."
New
York weighs in on
Commissioner DuPree's pool
Florida Judge Ruled Correctly - Islamic Law Must Be Used
Commissioner, weighs in on the Florida Crown
controversy.