Well, just as most Kissimmee citizens thought, AND worried about, the Kissimmee Fire Dept. grounded a fire unit today. Known as the Special Ops engine, it sat in the fire house right next to City Hall, unable to respond to calls because of no crew being available to man the engine! Seems that the normal shift is in some kind of training today AND Friday, eliminating the engine’s ability to respond to emergency calls. Why, you ask? Because the Fire Department is short by AT LEAST 6 firefighters.

If anyone takes a look at the budget and expenditures for the last 6 to 8 weeks you’d see that over $100,500 has been spent in just overtime to cover shifts! On channel 9’s news tonight, Dep. Chief Gurley said there was no risk to anyone in the city. We disagree. All you need to do is the math. If you normally have X amount of engines and crews on duty, and you cut one of the crews, you become short, creating an extra burden of coverage upon all the remaining crews on duty. You create stress, you create a shortage of equipment, and you create a shortage of manpower.

Meanwhile, Commissioner Jeanne “I haven’t seen a tax or fee I didn’t like” Van Meter continues to push for a stupid water fountain in a roundabout for a TOTAL of almost $200,000.oo. Don’t listen to the politicians who say it doesn’t cost that much. Pull the entire project’s paperwork and you’ll see the total estimated costs. ANY elected official who would support a stupid fountain instead of manning our fire equipment needs to be replaced almost immediately. Imagine if Van Meter was actually a county commissioner? What additional cuts would she make at the county level and how many more fountains would she want in, maybe, BVL or Poinciana?

C’mon folks, you need to step up and call these palooka commissioners and tell them how you feel. OUR emergency personnel deserve much better than they’re getting. And so do the citizens! You can call Van Meter at 407-973-5186, Gemskie at 407-433-0188, Grieb at 407-922-2000 (allegedly a cell), and the Mayor at 407-973-5226. Commissio0ner Irizarry was opposed to the fountains and all the crap that went with it. His cell is 407-443-4946.
Unless you call and express your opinions, for OR against, they’ll continue down their little yellow brick road, skipping all the way and taking all of us to bankruptcy. Call them today!

There will be an important tax meeting December 6th, being held at the KUA Main office on Carroll Street, beginning 6PM.

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This meeting is all about the recent attempts by Tallahassee to allegedly cut taxes and tax reform.

Guest speakers include State Senator Mike Haridopolos, Osceola County Appraiser’s Office representative Katrina Scarborough, and tax Roll Administrator Ken Pennington. We’re only guessing Tax Appraiser Mercer must have other scheduled plans that forced him to miss this very important meeting. AND, this meeting is being brought to you by the Osceola County Landlord’s Association who actually care about Osceola County. This meeting is open to the ENTIRE county and ANYONE interested in attending should be there. More questions? Call Tom Long at 407-892-5836 or 407-973-6766.

Finally, the Osceola County Sheriff’s Office and SWAT team served a warrant at 1911 Smith Street in Kissimmee. Besides arresting 10 dirt bags, they also were able to seize cocaine and a rifle.

The 10 dirt bags are; Maetta Green, Amy Garza, Jennifer Green, Adella Green, Tashawna Williams, Jerry Clark, Aaron Ford, Jarvis Hill, and Elijah McDaniel. *just a note that these are some of the UGLIEST looking people and their drug use is so obvious. UGH!
All the charges run from sale and delivery of cocaine to possession of drug paraphenalia.

Thanks to those who put us on the the fire department shortage, and thanks to all who continue to provide us information that helps us give back to you, the community.

By the way, A r m a n d o still hasn’t given us his answer. We guess he’s still trying to read it.

God bless you all, be healthy, and please, stay safe, especially in Kissimmee!