Patrick E. McCarthy

CHARACTER AND CHARACTERS

Revel in your city's quirks

While surfing the Web the other day, I came upon a thoughtful column by Otis White titled “Last Call in Margaritaville.”

“Every city has problems,” White wrote.

Including St. Petersburg.

“Its problem: It's running out of beach bums. Not the touristy kinds, who spend a week baking on the sand, but the real 365-day beach bums who devote a minimum amount of their time working and a maximum perching on bar stools.”

I know a few of them.

Florida panthers are trying to come back from the brink of extinction. The one …

Creation “Science” Is the Christian Right's Trojan Horse Against Reason

By Chris Hedges, Truthdig

Posted on March 28, 2007, Printed on March 28, 2007

http://www.alternet.org/story/49811/

Before they seize power and establish a world according to their doctrines, totalitarian movements conjure up a lying world of consistency which is more adequate to the needs of the human mind than reality itself; in which, through sheer imagination, uprooted masses can feel at home and are spared the never-ending shocks which real life and real experiences deal to human beings and their expectations. The force possessed by totalitarian propaganda — before the movements …

We will be at SpacePort USA on the anniversary of Alan Shepard's historic flight in 1961 this date. May 5th.

The Picture is of us with Edger Mitchell (Apollo14) at friday night's dinner for the Astronaut Scholarship Fund

Well the honeymoon is over! Mushy fries & tough pork! Another crappy take home meal from our Venice sonny's BBQ.

It seems that the new management at our local Sonny's BBQ is doing damage control. We spoke about the problems I have had & she promised that the to go dinners will be just as great as the dine in dinners. So go to Sonny's & tell them Pat sent you!

In a state with confusing boat laws, Venice 'water Nazi' just doing his job

By PAUL QUINLAN

paul.quinlan@heraldtribune.com

VENICE — Supervisors call Tim Erickson a model officer and his 26-year record patrolling Venice's waterways exemplary.

But to countless boaters across the United States who congregate on the Internet to swap names of the best waterfront cities in which to drop anchor, the 56-year-old Florida Fish and Wildlife officer is referred to in unflattering terms, including “water Nazi,” “Barney Fife” and “that power drunk moron in a uniform.”

One Web site devoted to boaters in Southeastern states, cruisersnet.net, published an article …

Editor:

A short note to the members of the Beautification and Tree Council — welcome to North Port city politics.

Several years ago, I was a member of the Beautification and Tree Council. When it came time for the joint meeting with the commissioners we had put together a number of suggestions we thought appropriate. One of the commissioners looked down at us and replied, and I quote, “you people are just trying to micro manage the city.” So much for good intentions. Needless to say one and two other members of the advisory council resigned in shocked amazement.

The advisory councils are, as Jane Sharpe suggested in the newspaper article, window dressing. The commissioners are able to say “see we have members of the community on councils to advise us.” However they seldom take the “advise” of the council members.

I don't know why the commissioners are not more attuned to the council members. Perhaps the liaisons between the commissioners and the council members are not doing their job. The newspaper article stated that “many city advisory boards” are confused about their duties. Whoever is at fault, the problem should be corrected.

The members of the advisory councils devote their time and effort to doing a good job. Someone should be paying attention.

Betty Martin

North Port

This past July 4th I joined ABATE at their booth at the dry pits for the boat races. Although I do not own or ride a motorcycle I have many friends that do. For more information check out the links

PiratePat

FALLEN FREEDOM FIGHTER

It is with deepest regret that we report the

death of Marty Schultz, ABATE of Maryland state director, who was

riding home on the morning of August 30th after picking up his bike at

a shop when he was struck and killed by the driver of a Jeep Liberty

who ran a stop sign, violating the …

Subject: Airplane Humor

It takes a college degree to fly a plane but only a high school diploma to fix one: a reassurance for those of us who fly routinely in their jobs.

After every flight, Qantas pilots fill out a form, called a “gripe sheet”, which tells mechanics about problems with the aircraft.

The mechanics correct the problems; document their repairs on the form, and then pilots review the gripe sheets before the next flight.

Never let it be said that ground crews lack a sense of humor.

Here are some actual maintenance complaint s submitted by Qantas' Pilots …

Coastal Clean Up 2006 is upon us. We need names & t-shirt sizes for those who what to help by early sept. work day is sept 16th 8am to noon Rain date is Sept. 23rd. Please let me know your t-shirt sizes!

more to follow

Another upcomming event:

Article published Apr 29, 2006 in the Sarasota Herald Tribune

By: Morgan Stinemetz

Education is the answer to reducing boating deaths

Eighty people died last year in boating-related accidents in Florida. The stated reasons for the accidents — all of which were thoroughly investigated — were as varied as clouds in the sky. On the other hand, the one underlying contributory factor, the common thread, the connecting link, was incipient boater stupidity.

I make this point because people don't intentionally go out boating to die. People go boating to enjoy a few hours of fun. The fact that 80 of them passed on to their final …