I am so glad to hear that yet another individual has "retired" to Highlands County and seeking gainful employment. Your article "Candidate Files for Sheriff" on Oct.18 features Ronald Grimming and after several lengthy careers in law enforcement, retiring from two separate states' highway patrol command positions, as well as retiring from one stint with Miami-Dade College. At 62, this individual is probably eligible for Social Security and Medicare. Now this individual wants to be our sheriff. I am sure this fine man would do fine, but what is it with this area? Why are so many "retirees" coming to Highlands County to squeeze our small job market? I have never seen so many 60-plus something people who had their union jobs, benefits, retirements from somewhere else, yet "retire" here only to pursue work full time. Especially if those jobs offer "any" benefits. You won't find them working the midnight shift. Or especially difficult or hard work. Or at the Stop-N-Shop. ...more

October 20, 2007

Chris Gratton's second homecoming in the Lightning's season opener Thursday will be remembered, and rightly so, for his third-period scrap with New Jersey's David Clarkson. ...more

October 6, 2007

Contractor John Simon said the thought of apartments and condominiums at the old Gary Adult School, 3610 E. 10th Ave., didn't appeal to him. ...more

September 26, 2007

Even with the occasional bumps in the road, Al Reyes appreciates how good he has had it this season. ...more

September 23, 2007

From the time he arrived as a fourth-grader until he graduated high school in 2004, Taylor Pike was one of the more popular students at Cambridge Christian School in Tampa. ...more

September 22, 2007

They strike him at the strangest times - little culture shocks stemming from nearly a quarter century of isolation from the outside world. ...more

September 18, 2007