This New Year, which is fast approaching, will bring to us, here in Osceola County, many changes, including newly elected Commissioners and hopefully, one new Councilman.

We’re also changing as a people, but we’re not sure which direction we’ll change towards. Will we just settle back and accept things for “that’s just the way it is", or will be continue (for some) to ask logical and challenging questions?

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Yes, the City of Kissimmee has lots of extra money laying around, or so it seems. Tuesday night the city commission was falling over each other to continue spending $30 k for the UCF small business center, located at, where else, but the Chamber of Commerce building.Now, we don’t have a problem with the small business center being at the Chamber, we DO have a problem with the City Commission spending OUR money for a center that has no restrictions on useage.

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Tuesday evening, as budgets were discussed and final votes taken on community groups, someone forgot the Kissimmee Chamber of Commerce! Supreme leader of the Chamber, Mike Horner, was stunned, but never spoke up. The City Manager explained that the item never showed up in the budget, therefore it never made the list to be considered. The item is a $30,000.00 grant the city has given the Chamber to run its small business program.Horner claims the program may be lost, completely, if the City doesn’t fund it. Hmmm, nice tactic, wrong time to pull it.

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The Foundation lost a little more gravy when the City Commission (Kissimmee) decided to save another $10,000 and cancel the contract they had with The Foundation to oversee the Charter School’s contract. Apparently they may not have done such a bang up job as there are problems with the books of the Kissimmee Charter Academy. The company running the show says it will bring in a new bookkeeper and get to the bottom of the money problems. Hmmm, wonder if any “grants” were written to any other group?

Florida’s Governor Charlie “Good Time Charlie” Crist is facing a lot of heat for his ecent European trip which cost ALL taxpayers $430,000 for him and his entourage. Sharing the Good Time logo, perhaps the Governor is in training for a seat on the Kissimmee Commission? He and Mr “Good Time” Gemskie seem to have lots in common when it comes to wasting tax dollars.

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In this blog, we’ll just begin by asking some questions;

Who is the St Cloud Councilman related to a developer/builder at Stevens Plantation and has voted on issues regarding that subdivision?He even sits on the community’s governing board! IF true, is there no conflict?

Who is the St Cloud Councilman who recently has electrical work performed without ever getting a permit or having a licensed electrician perform the work? If true, were any laws/rules violated?

A new(old) group has formed locally. Formally meeting under the Dirtdobber banner, the group is now called, Osceola County Business and Taxpayers Association(OCBTA). STILL headed by Billy Newman, the group is looking for local governments to take care of local businesses before going to outside(of the county) businesses. Not a bad idea, and it’s been tried before. Good for the City of St Cloud where their city manager agreed and we’re told, has written a form of “buy local” policy. Our question?

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We hope everyone was able to have a good Thanksgiving!

Osceola County, in conjunction with the National Association of Counties(NACo)is giving away prescription discount cards to ALL county residents. You do NOT have to meet any guidelines such as health, employment, or age. These cards will save an average of 20% off retail prices of prescription drugs and will be accepted in over 90% of America’s pharmacies.
Cards are available for ALL at:Osceola County Human Services at 108 Park Place Blvd.; Council on Aging at 700 Generation Point(off East 192 behind McDonalds);the BVL Community Center at 501 Florida Parkway;as well as all Health Department offices and libraries. REMEMBER, this card is available to ALL OSCEOLA RESIDENTS regardless of age,health, or employment. A good deal in these tough times.

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STUPID computers! Our program crashed and burned, all while we had something to say. Oh well, it’ll have to be passed on because we have plenty of NEW stuff and rumors to spread, much to the disappointment of CURRENT school board member Jay Wheeler, who has been added to the list of those needed to be off the School Board!

Seems Jay’s been giving out advice (free, so what can you expect), telling newly elected officials not to pay attention to any annonymous blogs/papers/writings/whatever. Jay’s a fine one to talk! He couldn’t buy a spot as Chair or Vice Chair of the School Board last week and he showed his disappointment. To leave McKay and Stone in place, instead of making some changes, tells a lot about the entire make up of this school board.

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Okay, we’ll start out with a couple corrections/explanations, whatever, to make the record crystal clear!

At Monday’s Commission meeting, there were THREE (3) County Commissioners who wanted to bring the Signature Crossings back to the Commission. Two (2) remained mum on that question. They were Chairman Shipley and Commissioner Quinones. The other three want to see it back, which is interesting because ALL FIVE said NOT to bring it back on the 17th (this Monday) which would take THREE of them completely out of it. But rest assured, Signature Crossing is NOT on Monday’s agenda.

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The so called workforce project, now called Signature Crossing, was NOT presented for discussion at today’s County Commission meeting. Further, all five County Commissioners agreed it would NOT be discussed or presented on the 17th, next week’s meeting as there are more than enough items for that agenda and the County Manager’s office has not yet received any official request to be on any future county agenda. A certain amount of paperwork is required to be submitted along with the request and none of that has happened as of this afternoon!

The project was first brought up by many residents/taxpayers who spoke during the first citizens forum and all spoke against the apartment projects.

During the Commissioner’s time, Ken Smith brought up the projects saying he just wanted fairness in allowing the item on to the agenda. He admitted he thought it was slated for the 17th, but the Manager stated he had received no such request. As each Commissioner spoke, they all agreed it should be given a fair hearing, but also said they believed it should come before the new Commission, to be seated in two weeks. Chairman Shipley stated, before hitting the gavel, that all 5 have stated the item should come up at a future date, but NOT the 17th. Looks like we’ll just have to watch the future agendas for when it will be before the Commission.

One item we forgot to mention in the last blog was that there is no leak in the Holopaw landfill! We received an email from Fred Hawkins who told us this has been a rumor for the past few weeks. He said the facility is inspected quite often and the soils are tested and there is absolutely NO leaks or damage to the landfill’s liner! Good news and we appreciate Mr Hawkins straightening this out for us.

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Going over some of the names of The Foundation’s board members who favored the workfarce housing papartment project we saw Patsy Heffner’s name as one who supported the projects. Knowing full well the County didn’t have the $1.7 million to give, we can only wonder if she decided to lay off 17 of her employees (that’s what it would take to make up the dollars, we’re told) from her offices, countywide, so the County would have the money. How good is that of her to do that? We’re sure her employees won’t be too pleased but hey, it’s Patsy’s office! Just wondering.

Also just wondering why St Cloud’s Mayor would go against a 4-0 vote of the City Council, who disapproved of the project, along with many, many St Cloud citizens, and voted for it? In fact, she also wanted to keep the money the County gave, illegally, because she said something like, if they gave it, that’s their problem! This was given to us by someone sitting close by her when she made the statement, allegedly. Now, that’s some intelligent thinking on her part. Wonder how she’d feel if the city of St Cloud did something similar and she wanted the money back? Just wondering!

This afternoon, the County Commission will have their regular meeting and so far, the only major item on the agenda is discussion, and tightening up the contract to construct that sorely needed convention center which so many people believe we are in need of. That alone, is a discussion worth listening to because it does involve the deal where absolutely no county money is supposed to be involved in! We remember that same line of baloney when FORMER County Commissioner Jim Swan was going around the county making the same promises about Osceola Parkway, back then Dart Blvd. He was told by many then, it would never work out that way. Hmmmm, now we have a parkway with one set of toll booths, an administration building(for that one set of toll booths), and an operation we’ll be paying for forever. Thanks a lot Jimbo!

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We have been made aware of a situation regarding the Osceola County Commission. It’s possible they’re being polled, either by staff or someone close to a project being pushed by many who don’t care how they get it, just as long as they do.

We’ve been told that County Commissioner KEN SMITH and OUTGOING Commissioner BILL LANE have alrady agreed to have the workforce housing project brought before the Commission as a “walk-in” project, to be heard by the Commission. We see many, many problems with this, the first being the fact that no back up documentation has been made available to the general public as of this morning.

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One thing is fairly clear in our area. The taxpayers came out and voted. FINALLY! In one of the highest turnouts recorded, Osceola voters voted early. They voted absentee. They voted on election day. For that we say to YOU, THANK YOU! Thank YOU for making the effort! Thank YOU for caring enough to make your voice heard. And your voice was heard, loud and clear. We salute each and every one who voted.

Needless to say, it’s President elect Obama. Both Tom Feeny and Ric Keller are out.
Somehow, even though Osceola voted to change out the felon Siplin, Orange County voted to keep this guy and so, Gary Siplin will continue to laugh at the voters and return to Tallahassee.

Mercedes Leon was handily defeated by incumbant Lawson Lamar. Darren Soto easily defeated J.P.Quinones.

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Okay, okay, we slept in this morning. All of us went to the UCF game last night and it was an okay game and UCF lost in OT. The problem we see is the coaching and play calling. Just awful at times.

Alright, we’ve already told you who we’d LIKE to win, so here comes the names we think will win in tomorrow’s marathon election.

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Here is a presentation of what went on at yesterday’s 3rd special vote at The Foundation, compliments of Carl Cricket’s special correspondant, Tom Long. There were only 3 negative votes, the rest of the board seemingly changing their minds over night! We will let you know who they are as soon as we can get a list of names.

What became very clear was Jay Wheeler’s attitude towards the TAXPAYERS and his kid like glee when the vote was counted. Jay Wheeler is not only a putz, in our opinion, but is truly an enemy of the people of Osceola County!

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Getting right in to it we’ll start with the upcoming vote this Wednesday, the 29th. See Tom Long’s email we’ve copied below.

Greetings Fellow taxpayers,

This coming Wednesday, October 29, 4PM at the Osceola Center for the Arts, The Education Foundation will revote on the government subsidized housing project known as Signature Crossing.

I have fought this project in your name for the last two years. Now I am asking for you to take one hour of your time to attend this meeting. You do not have to speak, just be seen.
There is little chance that I will be allowed to speak, so having many of us there may tip the scales for our side. I will be there early. Please let me know if you are will to spend one hour to take back our county. If you know anyone on this list, please call them to stop the waste of millions of our tax dollars.

Chairman Emeritus
Tom Tompkins State Housing & Development
Board Chairman
Pete Edwards CBME Hospitality Inc.
Board Vice Chairman
Fred Hawkins, Jr. Waste Services
Raquel Berberena Tupperware Brands Corporation
Sandy Borders C & S Acconting Services, Inc.
Raymond R. Bradick Bowyer-Singleton & Asso., Inc.
Alan Byrd McCree, Inc.
Wade Davis School District of Osceola
Kevin Dougherty, Sr. V.P. CFE Federal Credit Union
Linda Downing Valencia Community College
Deborah Fahmie
Nancy Gemskie
Richard Greco Celebration Homes
Tom Greer School Board Member-SDOC
Michael Grego, Ed. D. Superintendent SDOC
Donna Hart Mayor of St. Cloud
Bill Haupt Florida Hospital
Bob Healy, Jr. Funeraria San Juan
Patsy Heffner Osceola County Tax Collector
Tony Iorio Avatar Properties Inc.
Carlos Irizarry City of Kissimmee
Paul Kinser
Chris Klinger Valencia Community College
David Lane St. Cloud Chamber
Tom Lang KCVB
Hector Liasuain Osceola Couonty-Engineering Department
Sarah Logan Gray/Robinson PA
Melba Luciano School District of Osceola County
Mark McHugh Gatorland
Mike Mekdeci Stetson University-Celebration
Ed Moore Osceola Center for the Arts
Jim Murphy Osceola Management Consulting
Blaine Muse
Pam Ollis
Kathy Pierson MPB Communications
Scott Polodna Circuit Judge
Jo QuittschreiberFlorida Republican Women’s Network
Marc S. Reicher Champions Gate
Laura Rhinehart, Ed D School District of Osceola County
Diane Salisbury Hanson, Walter & Associates
Jim Shanks Behavioral Healthcare
Allen Sims
Ed Smallwood
Shad Tome Hamony Development
Mel Welch Total Design Consortium
Lawrence Williams Waddell Williams & Associates, LLC

We believe Mr. Long has said it all. Let anyone on the above list know just how you feel. Either way, just voice your opinions.

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Despite the vote by The Foundation majority of Board members, Tom Greer went ballistic yesteday and is demanding yet another vote on the issue, which is expected to come about next Tuesday.

Meanwhile, Jonathan Wolf, the project’s developer has been making the rounds at the County Building and, today, it’s said that Schools Superintendent Grego, along with Jay “what’s in it for me” Wheeler were observed trying to arm wrestle at least one County Commissioner (to be named later) into supporting the project. What is both funny AND sad about ths is the Superintendent is new here and has been thrown to the wolves by the Greer gang and has been given his direction by Greer on what must have been a very long drive home the other day.(Greco took Greer home after The Foundation meeting).

There’s even more players in this game of very big money, including OUTGOING Commissioner Bill Lane, who is rumored to now be supporting the project, making many wonder what kind of promises might have been made by the Greer gang and Wolf. It’s been rumored that Mr Wolf has promised several electrical companies, including Terry’s Electric, which is owned by an out of state company, work on the project if approved. We have to ask IF Mr Greer has something riding on the deal since he’s risking his own health for an apartment complex which, if built, will be known as The Projects, we predict.

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Okay, we screwed up. We took a couple extra days connected to the weekend because, quite frankly, we (a couple of us, including Carl) were tired. Plus, Carl took someone from here to listed to Sen. Obama in Orlando. That was something different!

The Osceola Foundation had an executive board meeting yesterday during which the executive board, by one vote,(Pete Edwards’) decided to recommend going ahead with Signature Crossings, the subsidized housing project. Pete, in OUR OPINION, is in the hands of the highest bidder, this time, Jonathan Wolf. This morning, however, the tides were turned on ol’ Pete and a clear majority of the entire board turned the project down, despite some wrangling by Edwards, who attempted a voice count and declared the project supported. FRED HAWKINS called for a vote by show of hands and there were TWO votes, (we think because Pete couldn’t count that many hands) and BOTH times the vote was gainst going ahead with the housing project. Hawkins stated that after he learned about just WHO could reside in the projects, he decided he didn’t want The Foundation to just be another landlord, much to his credit. Others agreed and despite Pete’s wrangling, it was turned down.

This does NOT mean it’s over, but it does give The Foundation a lot of credibility back! Further, it shows how some people will attempt to twist the facts, and try any way possible to get this project in. Good for The Foundation that Edwards is on the way out!

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We have heard that althought The Foundation wants to keep this as quiet as possible, upon request by the County the funds will be returned. A letter has already been sent to The Foundation by the CVB Director requesting the return of the illegally spent money.

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We have major criminal activity in the employee of Osceola County. We also have far too many complaints coming in for poor Mr Pierce, cousin of the Chief of Staff, to handle.

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While the Teka Village wall/fence fiasco was slated on today’s county agenda, don’t count on it. It’s been pushed back to the 27th of October.

You’ll remember this is the event where the County Commission UNANIMOUSLY approved (on Monday) to contribute funding towards construction of a wall/fence surrounding Teka Village on Old Canoe Creek Road, but then, just two days later(Wednesday), Commssioner KEN SMITH phoned the Teka Village representative to tell him the project would NOT be receiving county funds. We’ve been scratching our heads trying to understand how this could be since the Commission NEVER MET PUBLICLY to have the opportunity to rescind the unanimous vote! We just never realized Smith had so much power! Perhaps the State Attorney, while investigating other allegations, will be able to sort this one out as well.

We understand there may be a way out for Commissioner Paul Owen regarding the TDC appointment for District 1. For the first time Owen may just appoint someone who actually lives within his district. Look for Randy (former state office holder) Johnson, who is now a bigwig with the DESTINY corporation and a major donor(check the record) to the Owen campaign fund. Johnson, is also a very close ally of Jim Murphy, current Chairman of the TDC who has been on the TDC during much of the questionable behavior of that group, including questionable, alleged donations to The Foundation, mis appropriation of TDC tax dollars and also staff spending which was uncovered during an audit of the TDC books. Not the type of legacy anyone would want to leave behind them. Possibly, in comes Johnson, and his good friend Mr. Murphy will be sure to guide and give Johnson tips on how to get through those TDC meetings. What a pal! Now, will the District 1 voters actually buy in to this?

Now, here’s the beginning of our wish list for the elections, as well as who we think will actually win. You know our record(it stinks) but hey, we keep trying and maybe, one day, the voters will get it right! Just kidding!!!!

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While the News-Gazette covered the story and printed the comments, we can tell you it was NOT a mistake, except for being caught misusing TDC tax money.

Former Kissimmee Commissioner (wish he’d come back!) began this with a question asking how much money the TDC was giving. After a county audit, it was learned that close to $90,000 was given, $52,000 inappropriately. The nerve of anyone, including Mr Smith to say if asked, we’ll give it back, shows the outright lack of judgement and trustworthiness some of our elected officials have adopted as their usual mode of operation! Chairman Shipley, in an attempt to keep things calm commented that we found an oversight and we now need to fix it. We disagree, An oversight happens once, maybe twice, BUT when it occurs for YEARS, that’s more than just an oversight. Commissioner Smith, we’re told, is ON THE RECORD a few years ago acknowledging how the TDC funds could and could not be used. He knew then, why not while HE was collecting? Also, what was the connectioin between Mr Murphy and the rest of the TDC Board with the Foundation? We laid that out for you last blog. Well, we have this to tell you.

A report/complaint/question HAS BEEN MADE with Lawson Lamar’s office and it has been turned over to their investigative unit. CONFIRMED! Anyone with doubts may contact Bill Vose of Mr Lamar’s office.

We truly hope this will NOT be swept under the rug and that those at fault be forced to resign their positio9ns, no matter what those positions are! We agree with Mr Herring. Each and every member of the TDC Board should resign, or be asked to resign by the County Manager, IMMEDIATELY. The investigation of these felonies are serious and should be considered just that, SERIOUS! Time for the good old boy network to be turned off, forever.

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Monday, after John Q hurried to make an appointment (it was an at large so anyone could have done it) to the TDC and named Bill Hansen we believe, to yet another term on the TDC. Even though citizens are begging for change on that particular boad, Quinones made sure to butter up the press. Muy Bien, amigo!

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We’ve found out that the Osceola Foundation has decided to rid themselves of “surplus” land which was donated to them by Larry Godwin. Seems they stand to make about half a million on this Boggy Creek property! The deal is being handled by Schoolfield Properties, we’re told. Nice

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The following is a “As I See It” column written by OUTGOING County Commissioner Bill Lane in the Octobver 1 issue of the Saint Cloud In The News.

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We received a notice from the Osceola County Landlord’s Association and decided to share it with all of you. By the way, we wrote Jonathan Harrell and he has NOT responded if he’ll show up at the debate, IF there’s one.

It should be pointed out that Mr. Harrell has a great opportunity and, in this case, silence is NOT golden.

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At last Thursday’s St Cloud council meeting quite a show was put on by Jarom Fertic, along with some whining by the newly reformed Dirt Dobber boss, Billy Newman.

During discussions over the budget Fertic objected to a 3% raise to city employees and voted against the budget saying employees could have a 2% raise instead. Cooler (and smarter) heads prevailed and the city employees received a 3% raise. City Manager, Tom Hurt, was awarded a 2% raise and immediately donated the entire raise to the summer scholarship programs for Parks & Recreation. The County Manager could take a lead from that!

Dirt Dobber Billy Newman complained that they were forming to force the local and county governments to award contracts to local contractors rather than those winning bids with a lower bid. We pointed out that in the past; Newman had bid on 6 of 14 jobs, and won all 6 jobs in the city of St Cloud. We heard he recently was not awarded another bid and is now crying foul. Our only guess is the taxpayers be damned as long as the local guy gets the work, regardless of price. Unless we can “fix” the bids (wink, wink) .
In the past year staff has approached the Mayor and council with suggestions on dealing with local contractors, however, the council has failed to act on developing any new policy. Also in the wind is talk that the Dirt Dobbers will be putting up a candidate to oppose Councilwoman Mickey Hopper. Guess they still need that third vote?

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First we’d like to inform you that Kissimmee City Commissioner Carlos Irrazarry’s father passed away earlier this week. Our prayers go out to Carlos and his entire family.

It’s been a few days now and still, we’re sorry to say, there’s been no response to our questions posed to Ms Carr at the Osceola Foundation. Many bloggers stated there was no chance of a reply, but hey, we did offer an opportunity which she, and possibly her board, passed on. Meanwhile, many rumors continue about who is investigating who in Osceola County. We do know the Feds have pretty much wrapped their investigation up at OUR jail. Who knows when official results will be in.

Another rumor is there may very well be an investigation going on regarding the TDC, CVB, and expenditures not approved by State Law. We could NOT get any response from the State Attorney’s office as their comments are we don’t discusss if there is, or is not one going on. We’ll see, but no one has been asked specific questions, yet and we do know lots of people want to be spoken to! Hear that Lawson?????

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With the last blog, there were many comments including some from Ms Cathy Carr, an employee at The Osceola Foundation for Education. Her comments prompted some of us to come up with some questions, a few we’ll ask here, as Ms Carr did write she’d like us to have a question/answer session.

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We’re sorry to let you know that Osceola County School Board member, Tom Greer, suffered a heart attack sometime last night and is in critical condition in an area hospital. We’re told he may be facing bypass surgery.
More as we learn it.

Well, we should have known that after the last two blogs emails would be headed our way. All kinds of emails. Enough to make us think, hmmmm, let’s take a closer look at the Foundation. Here now is “OUR” look and opinion of this fast growing insiders group.

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That’s the question of the day, as the Executive Board of the Osceola Foundation meets today to discuss the actions of their board in the past. The layout we’ve been given follows.

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Today’s County Commission meeting was interesting, VERY interesting. The pay raises that were on the “Consent” agenda, were removed by Chairman Shipley and placed on the regular agenda, as they should have been in the first place!

Both Jo Thacker, the County Attorney, and Kathy Wall, the County Auditor displayed more class than anyone has in a very long time when they both requested their contracts with the County be rebewed with no salary increases. Both cited their enjoyment in working at the County level and both expressed a deep level of concern for all County residents as we ALL go through this recession period.

Commissioner Paul Owen stated he was against any raises and proposed the Manager come back in two weeks with a plan of freezing certain higher salaries for a period of up to two years. But then he also stated that he had given his word to the manager that after a year, if the job was done, he’d be given a raise.

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The Kissimmee Police Department has been a busy bunch, making arrests and looking for suspects.

On Wednesday, around 9:15AM a man was approached by 2 dirtbags who robbed him in the stairwell of his apartment on Destiny Drive in the Legacy Apartments. Despite assistance from the Sheriff’s helicopter and KPD K-9 unit, the suspects were not located.

Both are described as black males, about 6′ tall, one is about 165 to 170 pounds, last seen wearing a gray hooded style shirt,black sweatpants, and “shiny house shoes” similar to slippers. The other is a skinny rat, maybe 140 to 160 pounds and last seen wearing a red hooded style shirt with black sleeves,blue jeans,and black sneakers.

If YOU know, or suspect who these idiots are, please call KPD at 407-846-3333 or Crimeline at 1-800-423-8477. Remember, if you see it, or hear about it, report it! It’s your neighborhood.

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The Sheriff’s Office will have their specialized units looking for YOU, IF you’re drunk driving tonight, or for the weekend. This Labor Day weekend local law enforcement will be cracking down on drunk driving and if you’re caught, there are NO BREAKS! An average drunk driving charge will cost you an easy six to seven thousand dollars by the time all the bills are paid, be smart and DON’T DRIVE DRUNK!

Now that the primaries are over one election day story that didn’t seem to make the local papers was what happened at the BVL polling location. It seems that there were people ready to vote, and people ready to work, but darn, where the heck are those oaths to sign? Seems all poll workers are required to sign the oaths but someone forgot to get them to this polling station, we’re told. To top that, one of the machines were giving the staff a particularly difficult time and they were ready to make a move that would surely have caused more problems so in steps Supervisor of Elections candidate Michael Brigmond who advised staff and actually reset the machine so it would correctly operate. As we’re told, the people couldn’t cast their votes until almost 8:15AM. Yes, we know the election is over, it’s just good to know that the modus operendi at the Elections Office continues….unphased.

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After roughly 20 years of service to the City of St Cloud we’ve learned that today will be Police Chief Mark Faucett’s final working day in the office, so if anyone wants to convey their best/worst wishes to him, you have only a few hours to go!

Faucett will be officially retiring later in the year but with vacation and sick time, plus a little early figuring, along with the hiring of his son as a Police Officer, he’s decided to leave and avoid any conflicts.

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We’ve received notice that Michelle Bronson, Human Resource Director at the City of St Cloud, has given a 30 day notice of resignation. We received an email from her saying she decided to resign and move on.

You’ll recall Ms. Bronson was involved in a dispute involving allegations against the City Manager, Tom Hurt, who was acussed of harrassment towards another employee, Mrs. McCorkle, the current Parks & Recreation Director. Following an investigation into the allegations, Hurt was cleared of any wrongdoings based upon statement by several employees.

Ms. Bronson also served as the Assistant City Manager and during that time Mr. Hurt praised her work.

We’ve received, through our blog as well as emails, some disturbing information regarding possible discrimination within Osceola County employment.

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Congratulations to all those winners out there! You obviously worked hard enough to draw the majority of votes!

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We’ve been advised that someone, who we believe was NOT qualified to hold a certain position wih the County, MAY, actually be related to Beth Knight. PLEASE note, we said MAY be related. Now, we’d just love to know how a position can be posted with specific qualifications and the county hire someone who did NOT meet those specific qualifications?

As we’re told, the position was advertised and allowed a substitution, on a year for year basis, foe lack of college degree IF you had the EXPERIENCE in the position working for GOVERNMENT. IF this is true, we do not believe Mr. Pearce meets those advertised guidelines, IF, indeed, the position was advertised this way. Guess it never hurts to have Big Jim and a relative in the background,IF any of that is true!

Catching up on a story we mentioned in the last article but didn’t write about it, the County Manager would not/did not allow any “REGULAR” working employees the opportunity to check on their homes/families, as has been an unofficial custom in the past, when Tropical Storm Fay was closing in on Osceola. In fact, some employees were stuck at the Emergency Operations Center immediately after their regular working hours, and through the night. Not a big deal, right? We’re told the Manager was NOT in his office the entire day and did apear at the EOC for “a couple hours” and then disappeared. Another leadership by example demonstration.

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We received information regarding the never ending issue of the Osceola County Probation. We had already believed there was mis-management issues over the entire corrections department, including the jail. After reading this, we challenge the County Manager and County Auditor to review this entire issue to see if, indeed, there was misappropriation of funds.

*We edited small parts to eliminate certain names NOT issues.

Setting the Record straight about Probation

It seems that GRASSHOPPER (from the comment section)doesn’t know what she is talking about and the process of privatizing did not start 2 years ago neither. Since the Probation Department came under the County from the deficient Salvation Army, the County received a letter from private probation companies every year saying that they could do it better and cheaper. Because the letters were sent to County Commissioners they were always explored and in many instances discussed in open meetings.

These are what we believe are facts; the Probation Department was brought under the County under the understanding that it would have its own budget revenue placed in reserve. At one point the reserve for the Probation Department grew to close to $600K and the then County Manager Ed Hunzeker decided to change this and send all of Osceola County Probation’s revenue to the general fund. In essence eliminating any budgetary reserve for the Probation Department. Having said this, no one in probation’s management was ever given the mandate that probation had to pay for itself. It was only tasked with providing the best services.

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The numbers publicly given by certain county staff seem, well, unbelievable. Why? The County Manager claims Probation was running a $400,000 deficit, but we seriously doubt he figured that out with his own crayons. You see, the Osceola Probation Department, ranked number 1 in the State of Florida, had outstanding collection numbers. Did you know that they have more than 2000 probationers?

How about, did you know that each probationer pays (paid) the county $46 per month, making the county RECEIVING little more than $1,104,000.00 per year, NOT including a $5.00 probation admin. fee, and also NOT counting the money generated from the community service BUYOUT at $10.50 per hour! YOU do the math and let us know what you come up with. We did and we came up with something smelling fishy. We’ve also been told that, quite possibly, some funding earmarked for the Probation operation(and even written into the budget) were actually used in the Corrections Department, more pointedly, the jail. Funny when that happens. Hopefully, we hear an audit may be going on and we’ll all learn the truth. Seems that someone,(and we’re not pointing fingers at the Peaches or plums) MAY have played a little numbers game to carry some through, while shorting another program. Let us point out, we do NOT KNOW this for sure, but many more people are now asking questions. By the way, a question we’d ask the management staff of the Probation Dept., or Mrs. Peach, if the numbers were so bad for Probation, why didn’t you simply raise the fees to cover the actual costs?

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First day of school in Osceola County went fairly well except now, they’re off for at least Tuesday, depending on what Tropical Storm Fay does. The school system will announce, tomorrow, Wednesday’s class schedule.

Osceola County officials have declared a State of Emergency, effective 2PM, Monday and any Osceola citizen wanting information regarding this storm can call the county’s hotline at 407-742-0000.This line will be manned while the Operations Center is open.

The City of Kissimmee has a hurrican hotline at 407-344-4636 for all Kissimmee residents. Citizens are also encouraged to listen to radio channel 93.7 FM for the city’s broadcast.
The city of St Cloud Council met Monday at 5:30PM and declared a state of emergency. They have also activated their emergency hotline for all St Cloud citizens.The NON EMERGENCY number is 407-957-7161. That line is a recorded line manned by the Police Department. ALL EMERGENCY calls should be called in to 911!

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County Commission Seat 5 candidate Fred Hawkins sent us an email to let us know that with the possibility of at least a Tropical Storm Fay, or even Hurricane Fay, he will ask his supporters to pull in his signs if the forecast is bad. “Even the little yard signs in a 70 mph wind could hurt someone or cause damage.

We agree and appreciate Mr. Hawkins’ attempt at being a good neighbor. Hopefully ALL other candidates throughout the county will share his concerns and be good neighbors ONLY in case the storm looks like it will hit us badly. Having gone through several hurricane seasons, 4 years ago was the very worst for us with good friends losing much of what they had. Kudos to Mr. Hawkins for this idea!

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Just what do political signs mean? Well, if you drive past anyone of a dozen or so intersections throughout the cities or County, you’ll see they don’t mean much! ANY candidate who thinks she (or he) needs to post more than 1 sign on any property tells us a couple things.

One: the candidate has too much money to waste on signs and is just throwing them up without regard to the community and its particular beauty.
Two: The candidate is desperate and believes the voters are idiots who will exclaim,"Wow, look at all those signs! I better vote for them!".

Signs mean nothing when there are 2 or more signs on the same property running for the same position. Signs mean more when you see one (1) sign on a residential property which, ti us, means the resident is supporting the candidate. Signs mean nothing when they’re posted along the rail of a fence every ground post. Again, that candidate is not really thinking about you, the voter. All they want is to “get the name out there", which it does. In the wrong way. Sign pollution during political season is something we must live with, we’re told by all the code enforcement departments throughout the county. They may not say it aloud, but the lack of enforcement makes it obvious they don’t want to rock the boat. Too bad since it’s the citizens who pay the freight in this county, and those posting signs don’t even have to pay a permit fee to post them.

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A former Kissimmee city worker, who claimed he was discriminated against for speaking Spanish on the job, will now take his case to federal court.
Brandon Cordero was fired after speaking Spanish to some residents who needed his help at the city civic center.

Florida’s Equal Opportunity Commission ruled there was discrimination and that clears the way for the Department of Justice to now hear the case. Hmmmm
We wonder what the city’s response will be? Perhaps install more fountains?

The Osceola County jail has been under investigation by the Feds for quite awhile. Plus, we understand there may be an audit being conducted by the County as well, so some changes should not be a suprise, right? Listen to this and you tell us!
We heard that Joyce Peach, the Assistant Corrections Director is heading downwards to a position she created for a friend of hers. She will become a “Program Manager", whatever that is! There will be NO pay cut, so she’ll keep her $117,978 salary despite going into a position that has topped out at $69,580.87!!! PLUS, she will remain in the State pension in the “high risk” rated area which pays more to those working DIRECTLY within a true high risk area/position!

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Once again there are more MISTAKES at acting Supv of Elections, Connie Click-Durbin’s office. With “23 years of experience", you’d expect a much cleaner, and more efficiently run office, but, apparently not where Mrs. Durbin is concerned.

This past Thursday, during the “Logic and Accuracy test", a couple problems were discovered. We know, you say, nothing new in this office, but wait, this is too good.
It seems that possibly 15 OR MORE absentee voters may have received at least 2, (TWO) ballots in their envelopes. Yup, we’re not aware of who those lucky voters are but hey, you can tell each candidate you’ll vote for them and you’re safe!
There’s also concern that the new “ballot on demand” system has not yet been able to perform the way it’s supposed to, leaving questions as to when/IF the system will be functioning when absentee voting begins this week!

This, plus a local man is upset because he says he notified the Supervisor of Elections of a party change, not once, not twice, but THREE (3) times and each time his form has apparently been LOST! No explanation from the 23 years of experienced queen of elections has been given except “There’s nothing we can do” because it was past the deadline when the guy pointed it out. Dooooohhh! Don’t you just love it when all that experience works for you?

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As we’ve been told, Thomas Chalifoux resigned his school board seat effective yesterday afternoon and handed his written esignation to the school board attorney. This resignation comes on the heels of a lawsuit filed against Chalifoux for failing to resign as required by Florida Statute. Chalifoux contends he did resign and all was fine. If so, why resign again?

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The emails began coming in Friday morning telling us we only passed along one rumor about Thomas Chalifoux’s election problem. Almost all agreed with our opinion regarding his leadership skills while on the school board, we were told there was a suit in court orchestrated by Mike Horner,Candidate alleging Chalifoux violated campaign rules.

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We find we MUST explain, again, the money list we posted. We said at the very beginning that the list we had might have contained some names who no longer were employees of the County. “Insider” took us to task telling us to keep up. Thanks “Insider", we suggest you keep practicing reading!

Is it true the State of Florida has told Thomas Chalifoux he cannot run for the District 79 House Seat because he failed to resign his School Board Seat as required by State Statute? Doooooughh! IF true, this would just be another example of the shining leadership examples our current school board displays. Too bad because Mr Chalifoux has a heart and does care, something we have concerns over with Mr Horner.

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We received a few emails and even a post on our blog about posting the list, so here it is! Kind of.
Below is the list we were able to obtain regarding salaries(beginning with $99,000.00) of the highest paid County employees, along with their start dates, Department, and years of service. *This list does include some employees who may not be employees any longer. More of our list may be appearing here soon.

Employee Job Title Hire Date Years Service Annual Salary
THACKER, LAURA JO COUNTY ATTORNEY 6/9/1997 10.7 $177,457.28
FREILINGER, MICHAEL J COUNTY MANAGER 4/9/2007 1.0 $175,100.49
STANGLE, KATHLEIN KAY DEPUTY COUNTY ATTORNEY 3/25/1996 11.9 $170,996.80
WALL, KATHERINE A COMMISSION AUDITOR 10/4/1999 8.4 $144,283.24
GRULICH, MARIA CLARK ECONOMIC DVLP ADMINISTRATOR 5/15/2000 7.8 $139,100.00

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We first NEED to clarify our last blog which identified salaries of certain County employees. These salaries are open to the PUBLIC! To the few who wrote questioning our motives in divulging the numbers, our explanation is simple. These are the same people suggesting the cuts of employees making half, or less than half the salary they are making, and they are NOT taking ANY cuts, including their expense accounts, which we’ll be writing about soon.
We’ll begin with the next highest salary which will be;the Assistant County Attorney, Kathlein Kay Stangle at $170,996.80.

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Well, there were interesting meetings regarding the county budget. First was the Constitutional Officers where there were no arguments or fights. There were also NO candidates for county commission at all, other than the two incumbants. Guess they were busy.

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First, our All American City has announced (officially) bulk trash collection reductions to one day a week, down from two days a week. The change goes into effect Monday, August 4. The decision will NOT affect regular garbage or yard waste collections.
So, now that it’s official, you can thank the current City Commission for this cut, the first in services cuts. While this is not a major loss, it could very well be the beginning of more cuts in City services to come. Will there be more?

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The scheduled debate for the District 5 County Commission candidates, previously scheduled for July 31st, has been cancelled. As of now, nothing else has been scheduled. There had been some conflicts surrounding the July event, and only 2 candidates had been willing to participate in the event so organizers decided to cancel.

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You will be able to see the entire report, something no one else has provided, for you to read all 5 pages of the “Inquiry” and YOU make your decision!

You will also note that this report is undated AND unsigned. We have no explanation for this but this is direct from St. Cloud City Hall!

Click here to view the St Cloud City Manager Inquiry in full!

This document requires the Adobe Acrobat Reader, available for free download at http://adobe.com.

More blog stuff coming Sunday evening. God Bless you all! Be healthy and stay safe!

The alleged shooter of Mario Small was released yesterday after the grand jury allegedly came back and said they wanted more evidence to indict Jermain Jones, who is believed to be the shooter during a robbery gone bad in the McLaren Circle area. When the robbery began, it’s said that Mario, aged 15 and his brother, 14 turned and ran after seeing guys with guns. That’s when one of the alleged gunmen, believed to be Jones of Apopka, is reported to have fired several shots, one of them fatally striking Small Jr. The KPD is continuing its investigation.

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We just want to grumble a little today, so please bear/bare with us.
We’re wondering just how much longer Jarom Fertic, currently a St Cloud Council person, will continue to act like a spoiled child. We know folks in St Cloud are getting tired of his childish behavior just from the amount of email we’ve received.

Seems last Thursday, when told he could not participate in voting on a project which would involve his parents property, he was quite put out and for almost the rest of the meeting kept asking the city attorney if he was allowed to vote on each project that came up.

Quite frankly, this little mama’s boy needs to grow up and learn that he currently represents those who placed him in office and to knock off his little rants. It looks pathetic and he’s losing support every time he pulls these little exhibitions. We already pointed out that his education must be limited as he was totally unable to understand the simple question on the attorney evaluation form when asked how the attorney was at mentoring. If you remember, Fertic replied he had never seen anyone with him so he couldn’t tell how he mentored them! We first thought it was a good joke but quickly realized he was serious. Councilwoman Hopper had to explain it all to him and that the question referred to how the attorney advised him! Ohhhhhhh…..

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