Legal budget clarification

This morning, I was in contact with a member of the county legal department to receive clarification on several incorrect items that have been floating around in the public concerning their salaries and benefits. In an article written in the Hernando Today this week, the salaries of the county attorneys, along with their support staff, included benefits. The way the article was written it gave the reader the impression their benefits were in addition to the stated salaries when, in fact, they were already included in the total, per individual.

Mr. Weissinger's salary and benefits have been funded primarily by the Utility Regulation Fund (prior to the purchase of Florida Water) or the Utilities enterprise fund for the past seven years. This funding mechanism for Mr. Weissinger is abundantly clear in the county budget. The Utilities Department budget specifically takes into consideration the need for specialized legal work, such as litigation or human resources matters. These services are handled by the appropriate county attorney who specializes in such law. This budget arrangement for the Utilities Department allows for an "equivalent" of an attorney position, while the work is assigned to the appropriate lawyer to handle any particular matter in the most effective way. This method creates a trade-off of services for the Utilities Department to cover all the requirements of their legal needs.

The lead attorney, Mr. Garth Collar has estimated that the Utilities Department is 50% of Mr. Weissinger's legal work. The remaining 50% of budgeted legal work for the Utilities Department is handled by the appropriate county attorney for specialized work, such as litigation and human resources. The theory behind this accounting method is that only ratepayers (of Utilities) pay for the Utilities Department's legal work, rather than requiring the general public (who are not ratepayers) subsidize this legal work through the general fund.

Cries of fraud were heard from Jaz Zydenbos, candidate for county commission, district 1, on local talk radio this morning as he berated Commissioner Stabins. These unfortunate comments by Mr. Zydenbos could have been prevented had he researched the legal department's funding mechanisms for himself. Mr. Stabins was correct in stating that paying Mr. Weissinger through the Utilities Department was actually saving taxpayers money because Ad Valorem dollars are not used to fund that legal position.

This unique budgetary procedure of the legal department, and the utility department, actually saves a tremendous amount of money by eliminating the need to process each legal procedure through the clerk of court's office which carries stiff administrative fees. This procedure also ensures that Utilities Department receives the appropriate legal services, without taking the tax dollars out of the general fund.

Crossed the line...

This morning's edition of the Hernando Today ran an article calling for an outside audit of the county legal department by a self-proclaimed civic activist in Hernando County. This activist has been lobbying for an outside audit of the county legal department for months and is unwilling to accept an audit conducted by Karen Nicolai, Clerk of Court for Hernando County. This demand is inconsistent with her past requests to save the taxpayer dollars at any cost especially when no one knows how much an outside audit would cost, in comparison to using the county clerk's office for this purpose.

It should be noted that this activist has openly targeted Mr. Garth Collar during the citizen input portion of the Hernando County Commission meetings quite frequently with her petty insults at the podium. She labeled his department the "Collar Law Firm" in her habitual attempts to humiliate the county legal staff with her many unfounded complaints.

Her latest attempt to discredit the county legal staff may be the result of her recent, failed lawsuit against Commissioner Rose Rocco. Garth Collar served as legal council for the Supervisor of Elections which was also a party to this suit against Ms. Rocco. The suit brought by this civic activist cost the county taxpayers a bundle of money to defend which could be construed as frivolous, with her repeated filings in Appeals Court, and then her last ditch effort in the Florida Supreme Court. Ms. Rocco spent well over $100,000 to defend herself in this never-ending suit brought by this "civic activist" and this doesn't take into consideration the tax dollars spent for county legal services to defend the supervisor of elections office.

Has this civic activist finally crossed the line to become a public nuisance?

Candidate forum, district 1

The Nature Coast Republican Women's Network will hold a candidate forum on Tuesday, June 3 at 6 p.m. at Oak Hill Hospital in the 4th floor conference room, Entrance C, Medical Office Building. This forum will host Jeff Stabins, Michael Burmann and Jaz Zydendos who are Republican candidates running for district 1, county commission seat. For information, contact Pat McNiff at pkmcniff@surfmk.com or 666-8972.

Fallen heroes

The following note was taken from the book "In the words of Ronald Reagan" which I felt was an appropriate way to remember all our fallen heroes on Memorial Day weekend. I hope you agree.

Our young friends-

Yes, young friends, for in our hearts you will always be young, full of love that is youth -- love of life, love of joy, love of country. You fought for your country and for its safety and for the freedom of others with strength and courage. We love you for it. We honor you. And we have faith that, as He does all His sacred children, the Lord will bless you and keep you, the Lord will make His face shine upon you and give you peace, now and forevermore.

Handwritten note left at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, 1988

by Ronald and Nancy Reagan

Ambulance rates

This morning, I attended the public hearing for a increase of ambulance rates for Hernando County Fire Rescue. This request by HCFR passed with a 3-2 vote, with Commissioners Rocco and Rowden in the minority. I sent to email (below) to Commissioners Russell and Rocco, with a copy to Commissioners Stabins, Kingsley and Rowden after the meeting:

Commissioners Russell and Rocco:

My thanks goes out to you for at least attempting to investigate the problems in our health care system in relation to "the uninsured" bad debt related to the ambulance service. The insured in our county, state, and Nation are not only picking up the tab for the uninsured, with fee increases like the ones we witnessed this morning, but also with massive increases in our personal health insurance costs.

It was refreshing to see that both of you were willing to address the local problem. Even though you were on the losing end of the vote, the real losers are the taxpayers in this county that have been faced with fee increases to offset the reductions in Ad Valorem rates.

I wish you both well in your upcoming budget hearings and hope you continue to work hard for the taxpayers of Hernando County.

Respectfully,
Anna Liisa Covell

Accreditation

Last Friday morning, I was privileged to attend a breakfast at Oak Hill Hospital to celebrate the accreditation of their chest pain center. The room was packed with doctors, nurses, support staff, several elected officials, representatives from the Spring Hill Fire Rescue and Hernando County Fire Rescue EMS units and the Oak Hill Community Advisory Board.

Oak Hill's CEO, Mickey Smith opened the meeting with some light-hearted jokes about the items on the menu which included bacon and sausage, saying they had a top-rated heart facility downstairs. He then thanked Rich Linkul, their public relations director for his outstanding job of setting up the entire breakfast.

Walt Panonne, Director of Nursing, then took the opportunity to thank everyone from the EMS, to their support staff personal that made this accreditation possible for Oak Hill Hospital. Mr. Panonne then asked Mickey to come back the podium for the presentation of the letter of accreditation while photos were taken by Rich Linkul.

Mickey took the opportunity in his closing comments to introduce Senator Mike Fasano and Hernando County Commissioner Chris Kingsley and give them the opportunity to say a few words about the accreditation. Dr. Blackburn took this opportunity to explain the 12 point EKG lead system that will be installed on all EMS vehicles in Hernando County, complements of Oak Hill Hospital in a private-public partnership for excellence in health care for our county.

As an attending member of the Oak Hill Community Advisory Board, I would like to mention a few fellow board members in attendance who were John Druzbick, Nick Morana, Pat Crowley, John Ehlenbach, and Gus Guadignino.

Hernando County residents are lucky to have this state of art medical facility in our community. Oak Hill Hospital is only one of nine facilities in the entire state of Florida to hold this chest pain accreditation and soon all EMS will have a direct 12 point EKG link to their emergency staff for triage in the field.

Poker run

Here's your chance to support our troops with a fun event:

Lea's Prayers & Postage "2nd Annual Poker Run"

Sunday, June 8, 2008

Registration / 10 a.m. VFW Post 10209

For information

Dee Mills 352-428-8564 or Linda Kidwell 352-684-4185

Appeasement...

Let's face it, George W. Bush just needs to "man up" and admit he was indirectly speaking to many members of the Democratic National Committee during his speech last week on Appeasement while on a state visit in Israel. President Bush appeared to be speaking to not only Barrack Obama but Jimmy Carter, Nancy Pelosi, and the likes of Jim McDermott. William Jefferson Clinton needs to be included in this tone of appeasement for his actions while Commander-in Chief for our Nation, too.

Barrack Obama was quoted in a nationally televised democratic political debate as saying, "As president he would personally negotiate with Iran and offer economic incentives and a chance for peaceful relations if Iranian leaders would forgo their pursuit of nuclear weapons and their support of terrorists. "

Who will ever forget the memorable photo-op by Speaker Pelosi in her head scarf while in Syria stating to President Bashar Assad, "The road to Damascus is a road to peace."

The U.S. News and World Report columnist, Mr. Zuckerman, described Jimmy Carter's recent visit with Hammas as, "If only Carter's opinions could be dismissed as hot air from a politician losing the limelight. But he does real damage. "

Here's a little ditty about Baghdad Jim McDermott. On March 26, 2008, an indictment unsealed in Detroit accused Muthanna Al-Hoota, a member of a Michigan nonprofit group, of arranging for McDermott, David Bonior and Mike Thompson to take a trip in 2002 to Iraq, paid for by Saddam Hussein's intelligence agency.

Let's not forget the inaction's that could be viewed as appeasement of terrorists by Bill Clinton. This list is long but here are a few that should jog your memory; Khobar Towers, the USS Cole, and the U.S. Embassy in Nairobi, Kenya.

Here is a little food for thought. The failed Munich Agreement, with overwhelming approval of Neville Chamberlain, gave Adolf Hitler everything he wanted in his attempt to keep Great Britain out of World War II. Everyone should question Obama's outrage about President Bush's speech on appeasement calling it fear mongering. Maybe Obama was actually influenced by his pastor of 20 years, Jeremiah Wright who shares that same believes of Louis Farrakhan that the Holocaust never took place.

It is high time for President Bush to begin pointing his finger at the appeasement activities in the Democratic National Committee and say, how do you expect to protect our country when you will openly negotiate with terrorist nations?

Neck of the woods

During this morning's discussion on local talk radio, county commission candidate, Jaz Zydenbos, asked the show host how to pronounce 'Istachatta'. Apparently Mr. Zydenbos was in my neck of the woods for the county budget workshop last week. This question by Mr. Zydenbos brought back memories of the 2006 campaign.

Does anyone remember when Augie Peritti had no clue where Istachatta-Nobleton area was during his unsuccessful bid for county commission in 2006? He got stumped on a question about the Istachatta-Nobleton area in his first time interview on local radio. Being the trooper that Augie was during his campaign though he marched himself out to Istachatta and became a regular at the Friday night fish fry at the local general store in Istachatta.

Hopefully, Mr. Zydenbos will familiarize himself with the northeast section of Hernando County in his quest to become a county commission. At least there's hope for Jaz since he was able to find us on the map in his drive-by visit last week. Now all he has to do is learn how to say Istachatta and then look due east to see there are more Hernando County residents living in Nobleton!

Armed Forces Day Rally

ARMED FORCES DAY RALLY
MAY 17 10:00-12:00

SUPPORT OUR TROOPS
&
THANK THEM FOR THEIR SERVICE &
OUR FREEDOMS!

Come & Wave An American Flag Or Support Our Troops Sign!

May 17, 2008

All Groups, Schools, Churches & Patriotic People

WHERE:

SR 50 & US 19
SR 50 & Mariner Blvd
US 19 & Spring Hill Drive
US 19 & Forest Oaks Blvd
Spring Hill Drive and Mariner Blvd
US 41 and SR 50 Bypass
***Or any location you would like to assemble
***Flags will be available for those who don’t have a flag at the corner of US 19 & SR 50 to pick up

10:00AM-12:00NOON

CONTACT
PAT: 352.666.8972
ANNE: 352.688.0585

Army surplus

Has anyone been yearning to rummage through an old army surplus store but have been lost since Jake closed his PJ's Army Surplus store on US 98? Well, you are in luck! A new army surplus store opened on May 5th at the corner of Jefferson and Smith streets' called is Tactical Supply. You can't miss the place which is all decked out in OD green and surrounded by military vehicles. For all you non-military buffs, OD green stands for olive-drab green and that's the exterior color of this building. Good luck goes out to this new store that has joined many of the bustling businesses that now line Jefferson Street.

Travel time

Commissioner Kingsley has been reimbursed the highest amount for travel among all five of his fellow commissioners in Hernando County, for fiscal years 2006,2007 and 2008, according the Hernando Today. In fact, Mr. Kingsley received over 3 times the amount of travel reimbursement compared to the next highest commissioner's related expenses, with his totaling $3,512.11 . It would be interesting to know if these trips were related to official county commission business or travel time for Mr. Kingsley to attend St. Leo College...

Raw sewage...

Clearing the air at the Hernando County Utilities Department will require an open-honest approach to following the Florida statutes regarding raw sewage. Utilities director Joseph Stapf sounded like he was trying to explain away the blatant violations of the Department of Environmental Protection rules with his explanation of why county utility workers dumped raw sewage on to the ground at the Hernando Beach Waste Water Treatment Plant and into a retention pond off Quality Drive near the Wellingtion subdivision.

Mr. Joseph Staph stated that supervisors in the field sometimes had to make judgement calls that the public might not understand. No, Mr. Staph, we do not understand how government can pollute the environment while the private sector is required to follow DEP rules to the letter of the law. It is a clear violation of DEP rules to dump any raw sewage onto the ground, whether it is a teaspoon, or the approximately 20,000 gallons as reported by county workers. Accidental dumping versus the intentional dumping by the county both carry requirements with the Department of Environmental Protection and stiff fines exist for both circumstances.

The excuses made by Mr. Joseph Staph for this "illegal dumping" in emergency situations are just that, excuses. Has Mr. Staph ever considering having any one of the three private waste haulers in Hernando County on contract to cover those emergency situations? The Hernando Beach Waste Water Plant has been plagued with odor problems for years. Maybe this "illegal dumping" is the source of the odor problem that has been right under their noses!

Misfits...

Well, it looks like we have another line-up of misfits to challenge Congresswoman Ginny Brown-Waite in this year's election. With this varied selection, finding a way to begin will be difficult but here goes.

First, we have a candidate named Jim King who filed as a republican in this year's race congressional race against Ginny Brown-Waite. Mr. King has made many unsuccessful bids for election in the past. He ran as a reform candidate, democrat, and the most recent was his campaign as a republican against Pete Enwall in 2000 for the congressional seat then held by Karen Thurman. The race between Enwall and King turned very ugly, very fast, with Mr. King turning on the negative machine. It should be noted that Jim King paid to have his name placed on the ballot this year opting not to use the petition method.

Next, we have Mr. Werder, the disabled truck driver that has challenged Ms. Brown-Waite numerous times for the congressional seat. Mr. Werder has been a gentleman in all his last campaign attempts with Ginny Brown-Waite and has actually provided some comic relief into the serious world of local politics. Everyone should remember when he was a write-in candidate and carried around a 6 foot pencil to make his point. He also wore a hat that made him look like he had just stepped out of the Hatfield and McCoy cartoon. Mr. Werder was able to secure his name on the ballot as a democrat by petition but he had to use paid petitioner gathers to achieve this process.

Another democrat on the ballot is named Carol Castagnero. Ms. Castagnero refers to herself as Grandma Carol. Grandma Carol is like that aunt you never talk about and hope no one finds outs she's related to you. Bless her heart, she means well but had to buy her way onto the ballot because she could not convince enough people to sign her petition cards.

Just in the nick of time, John Russell decided to run again for the district5, congressional seat. At the 11th hour on Friday, Mr. Russell paid approximately $10,000 to compete for a 3rd time against Ginny Brown-Waite. There isn't one positive term that could be used to describe the past, mean-spirited campaigning of this individual. Even Mickie Mouse doesn't want him to come back to Disney World so it's no wonder the democrats haven't jumped on board to support his campaign.

Well, that the line-up of individuals to challenge Ginny Brown-Waite in her re-election campaign bid this year. Yes, Ginny was the only candidate with overwhelming support of the public to place her name on the ballot by petition method. She was able to secure the 5,536 signatures with the assistance of many supporters within her district which should serve to illustrate her approval rating over the last eight years.

Atta-boy

Did anyone go to the Doo Wop fundraiser at the Palace Grand last Sunday.? The room was packed and the music as great. The best part about the entire event was it raised over $5,ooo in profit to assist the BandShell Bash in downtown Brooksville. The event coordinators, Gloria Olson and Sue Rupe, did a fantastic job putting this event together. Their efforts for this successful event will enable the Bandshell Bash to continue for another year. Gloria and Sue deserve an atta-boy for all their hard work!

Good Faith

The Mural Society has worked miracles on the old walls in downtown Brooksville over the last few years. Everyone seems to be delighted with the beautiful murals around the city from the police car on Brooksville Avenue to the Civil War scene on Orange Avenue. All of these murals have been made possible through private donations in the community to beautify the city.

The mural in progress on the wall of the Antique Shop on Liberty Street in downtown Brooksville is also being funded by private donations and it looks like this one will not be completed any time soon. Apparently the artist accepted payment for this work but has not completed the mural. This is really a shame because the Mural Society paid this money in good faith...

Art in the Park

The Hernando County Fines Arts Council will hold their 24th annual art, craft and music festival this weekend. "Art in the Park' is presented by the Hernando County Fine Arts Council and sponsored by the city of Brooksville, Bay News 9, Hernando County Tourist Development and the Tampa Tribune. The event takes place in Tom Varn Park on Jefferson Street in Brooksville. On Saturday the hours are 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and on Sunday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. This event is free to the public.