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Letters to the editor & Op-Ed
2025-2024
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2025
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June 7, 2025 10:50 am | 4 min read
Grab your sweet tea and duct tape, y’all — the
“Joint Stakeholder Workshop on Utilities” just
moonwalked into local lore like a squirrel on a
Red Bull IV drip.
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April 13, 2025 8:20 am | 3 min read
As millions of retirees, people with disabilities,
and other beneficiaries try to cope with DOGE impacts on
Social Security,
one group stands particularly vulnerable.
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2024
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October 22, 2024 3:40 am | 2 min read
FORT WHITE, FL – I am sharing with you why I
believe I am the right choice to be re-elected as Mayor
of Fort White. I grew up in Fort White and it holds a
special place in my heart.
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October 21, 2024 11:50 am
FORT WHITE,
FL – I’m running for Mayor of the Town of Fort White, so
Fort White has a government for the people, and by the
people. We all have a voice, and a community is stronger
when our voices are heard, and we come together for a
common purpose.
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July 3, 2024 1:35 am
The Florida Commission on Ethics was born about 50
years ago, when a pandemic of state and national
political scandals made our legislators very anxious to
look virtuous — while not, of course, getting too fussy
about all that fair play and honesty stuff.
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May 29, 2024 10:30 am
When I worked in Atlanta, Georgia, legislators were
revising the state's public meetings and open-records
laws — what we call "Government in the Sunshine" down
here in Florida — and some fellow Capitol reporters
thought I was just bragging about my home state's
traditions of open government.
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February 27, 2024 10:35 am
LAKE CITY, FL – As defined in the
dictionary, the word COUNCIL is outlined
as follows: a body of people elected to
manage the affairs of a city, county, or
other municipal district.
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February 22, 2024 9:30 am
Donald Trump is the frontrunner for the
Republican nomination for president in
2024. President Biden is the incumbent.
With two likely candidates who have
served in the White House, 2024 presents
the possibility of 2 candidates having
detailed records for comparison.
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February 8,
2024 12:30 pm
Wednesday, the Florida Supreme Court
heard oral arguments over whether an
amendment that would secure reproductive
freedom in the Sunshine State should
make it onto the November ballot.
Remarkably, the court spent little time
discussing the thin and unconvincing
arguments Attorney General Ashley Moody
put forward in her attempt to block the
amendment.
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Special to the
Observer
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 The
Last Librarian
An updated twist on the
disappearance of printed books
April 14, 2019
As a retired
public library employee, when the “The Last
Librarian appeared on my Book Cub list I knew I
had to read it. And I wasn’t disappointed.
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 Oh,
Florida!
How America's Weirdest State
Influences the Rest of the Country
Posted February 11, 2018
A woman from the Keys is driving to see her
boyfriend and tells her ex-boyfriend (yep, ex)
who’s in the passenger seat, to take the wheel
so she can spruce up for the new guy, whipping
out a razor to shave what news accounts called
her “bikini” area. It did not end well…
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A Hesitant Adventurer’s Search for
Wonder in the Natural World
Posted
October 9, 2016
El Capulin Monarch Sanctuary, Mexico, 2007. Deep
in the Sierra Madre Mountains, millions of
monarch butterflies are arriving from North
America after their grueling annual migration.
They cover the mountaintop, the trees. Leigh Ann
Henion, there on a magazine assignment, is smack
dab in the middle of them. “They brushed against
my face and fell into my hair,” she said,
enchanted by the glorious sight.
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The inspiring story of the
woman who saved the Appalachian Trail
Posted May 15, 2016
Before Women’s
Lib, before today’s slick designer hiking gear,
and way before GPS, there was Grandma Gatewood.
This strong-minded mother of 11 with 23
grandkids knew who she was and what she wanted.
She wanted to walk the Appalachian Trail from
beginning to end. All by herself. And nothing
was going to stop her.
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Florida Commission on Ethics: Chaining the
Toothless Watchdog
Another
Trump Presidency: What Would It Mean For Health
Care?
Grandma
Gatewood’s Walk