William Arthur Boutwell Jr, 93, died Wednesday in
The Boutwells were one of
His father, W. A. Boutwell, Sr. and the inventor of Half & Half, was very much involved in the development of
A lot of history is passing as we approach our 100th birthday in 2013.
The BAD NEWS-
A lot of bad news in
Richard "Dick" Coffman, was a former teacher, Football, Basketball, and Swimming Coach at
Bob McKnight, former State Legislator and a graduate of Lake Worth High said on his blog recently that he had the most indescribable respect for Dick Coffman. Read more at Bob McKnight's Blog.
The GOOD NEWS-
is that our own Virginia Thomas of Thomas Dance Studio after 8 days from recent major surgery, is now in rehab at Signature Healthcare and doing well. The Director there is another Lake Worth High School grad.
“Giving corporate interests an outsized role in our process will only mean citizens get heard less,” said Senator Robert Menendez of New Jersey, chairman of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee. “We must look at legislative ways to make sure the ledger is not tipped so far for corporate interests that citizens voices are drowned out.”
"The five-justice majority set aside a century of precedents and conveyed essentially full First Amendment speech rights on corporations in ruling that campaign finance limits are unconstitutional. It could unleash up to $1 trillion in corporate money for attack ads in the next election cycle."
"It's the Super Bowl of bad decisions," said Common Cause president Bob Edgar, a former congressman from Pennsylvania.
Now I know what Rahm Emanuel meant when he said, "When you think about the First Amendment...you think it's highly overrated."
Read more: Supreme Court Overturns finance Laws
Those voting RIGHT were Paul Stevens, Ruth Bader Ginsberg, Stephen Bryer, Sonia Sotomayor.
Tuesday's election was a wake-up call for Democrats. But I have to wonder why it took an election to finally wake-up?
Tuesday night our City Manager had to endure a lot of political bull about her performance review. She hasn’t even been here a year yet. It was, “gee, we have to know how to evaluate you in order to ensure that you are meeting all the goals and the review should be done quarterly if possible.” What a bunch of hooey. There were never any set goals other than Section 1. Duties:
As City Manager, Employee agrees to perform the duties and functions specified in the City Charter, and to perform such other legally permissible and proper duties and functions as the City Commission shall from time to time require.
Florida is a very pro employer State. Under Florida law, employment contracts that do not specify a definite term of employment are terminable "at will." In other words, an employee can quit or be fired at anytime for any reason, other than those proscribed by law (e.g., race, sex, handicap, age, etc.). As I remember Stanton's contract, there was a beginning but no end. Employment contracts which specify a definite term of employment are not terminable at will.
First of all, Susan Stanton has been the most transparent city manager in the history of
If there is anyone on the Commission that has no idea as to what our city manager is doing and what she has accomplished, then resign now. Ask yourself Mr. Mayor and Mr. Commissioner, how much more of a gauge do you need? If you had attended city commission meetings on a regular basis prior to your elections, you would have known. This insult to our city manager was embarrassing.
Where's Susan?
A powerful message
This past Sunday, Tricia Fitzpatrick and a friend went down to the "pocket park" to see how they could help. One of the residents in that neighborhood had complained about the fact that the "city can't maintain anything." This is the normal argument when some people just don't like something and she didn't like the fact that the City wanted to protect these rights of way as public land. They were all set to spend as long as it took to clean up debris and trash.
The only difference today between the two is that America still imposes its influence on Haiti. According to former ambassador Brian Dean Curran, the US policy helped to destabalize Haiti in the years leading up to 2004 when Aristide was forced out by armed rebels.
They may live in mansions and their campaign buttons may be bigger but the affluent who reside on the island of Pam Beach have some concerns that are very much the same as we have in Lake Worth. Preserving their historic buildings are important as is the sand on their beach.
Yesterday, Katie and I were at Bethesda-By-The-Sea distributing Florida Hometown Democracy information. This magnificent church, built in 1889, could not have been a more appropriate place for this meeting as it was hosted by the Palm Beach Theater Guild that wants to preserve the historical Royal Poinciana Playhouse. Just being there made you a part of the history, something that Palm Beach wants to remember and protect. And who can blame them? It is a beautiful town.
Don't think that Lake Worth is the only city with controversial issues. Knowing that Palm Beach had this hot button issue and one that involved development, we stayed to hear the candidates, Cynthia Simonson, with a background in finance and Jeff Cloninger, a real estate broker and an alternate on the Town of Palm Beach’s Planning Board.
Their opponents pulled a "no show" and it might have had something to do with their views on the historic Royal Poinciana Playhouse property. Both Cynthia and Jeff want to maintain the island’s uniqueness and small town charm and both want to preserve historic buildings. They do not want bad development in
Campaign Button
I was given a Stop Sterling button.
The
The election is February 2 and it is an extremely important one for the Island and for all those who know that history is something to preserve and hold dear. We both couldn't help but think, if Florida Hometown Democracy was in effect, politics would never again get in the way of government approving Comp Plan changes that would allow something like this to happen. This beautiful town and its history belong to the people, not a few on a town council and a developer.
Good luck to Cynthia and to Jeff.
Stephen Carr, LecturerIn Thursday’s Neighborhood News there was a small segment on the Ashley Gang. Coincidentally, Katie had invited me to the Lantana Historical Society’s meeting that night to hear a lecture on, you guessed it, The Ashley Gang.
Stephen Carr, a
John Ashley, whose one eye was shot out by a foe, along with his girlfriend, Laura, were sort of like the pre Bonnie and
His tentacles reached out all over the State. He was a prolific bank robber and train robber extraordinaire. He and his family were well known. John and his gang stole an estimated $1 million between 1915 and 1924. Robbery, murder mayhem, rum running and moonshine stills were his way of life. He was in and out of jails as well as in Raiford twice where he escaped both times.
In the end, he was betrayed by his lover and murdered while handcuffed by the PB County Sheriff. Stephen Carr said it was his bawdy girlfriend, Laura that turned him in because she thought he was running out on her with their last stash estimated at around $250,000. His crime spree lasted for approximately ten years; John Ashley was only 32 when he was shot to death. Laura ended up taking her own life a few years later by drinking a can of Lysol. The stash was never found and people search for it to this day.
