Dumbing Down When I was in high school in the late 1960s, schools graduated students who could read and write at a 12th-grade level. They could also make change for a dollar. ...more

January 27, 2008

Bad Choices Have Bad Consequences At the risk of being called an apologist for Domenick Maglio, I must again defend his principles for raising children. ...more

December 20, 2007

From the minute the Pasco football coaching job opened, there was plenty of speculation about who would be the next coach of the most talked-about program in Pasco County. ...more

December 20, 2007

Twelve deputies and their supervisor were suspended without pay for their role in a high-speed chase that never should have happened in the first place. ...more

December 18, 2007

This letter is to address the recent termination of "Coach" Earnest Perkins. As a parent of a student-football player at Avon Park High School, I have witnessed the influence this man has had on not only my child, but his friends also. I have had a chance to be around and listen to them talk about the coach and these guys have a lot of respect for him. ...more

December 16, 2007

John Lima can't imagine doing anything else. He is not a 9-to-5 kind of guy. And forget working behind a desk. ...more

December 14, 2007

Thursday's long-anticipated report on Major League Baseball's "steroid era" was surprising only in the long list of players who tested positive for performance-enhancing drugs and that all 30 teams had at least one abuser. ...more

December 14, 2007

AVON PARK — Individualized Study Services sounds like an educational plan tailored for the particular student. In a way that is exactly what it is, but years ago ISS was short for In School Suspension. So as that former name implies, it's a program for students with disciplinary problems that are not serious enough to merit an Out of School Suspension or, at the secondary level, assignment to The Academy at Youth Care Lane alternative program. But at the elementary level some schools, such as Lake Country Elementary, don't have ISS. ...more

November 26, 2007

AVON PARK –– The last words Avon Park girls basketball head coach Paulette Daley said before she walked off the court during the Class 4A-District 10 championship game against Sebring last season have built the foundation and set the tone for the Red Devils this year. "We'll be back," said a confident Daley. Those words are the rallying cry for the more focused and discipline squad that is devoid of senior leadership, but has the tools to push the defending-district-champion Blue Streaks to the limit. "It was a very challenging year," said Daley, who led Avon park to a 14-5 overall record last season. "The second year should be smoother, since the girls know my system and they know full well that the district title slipped out of their hands." The "oh-so-close" moniker was placed on the Red Devils last season after holding the undefeated Blue Streaks to 16 points in the first half of the district championship game, but couldn't capitalize on Sebring's off night, as the score was tied at intermission. ...more

November 13, 2007

It is amazing how readily and quickly people will accept lies, with respect to God, truth and reality. ...more

November 8, 2007