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http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/opinion/letters/sfl-pbmail945oct11,0,4536137.story?coll=sfla-news-letters
Crist pushing the wrong old agenda
Etta Schaeffer
Boca Raton
October 11, 2006
It is with great interest that I watch the campaign of Charlie Crist forgovernor.This is a man with no children of his own who tells us he wants to do whatis best for all the children of Florida.
To accomplish that, he states thathe will continue the educational programs initiated by Jeb Bush.Crist fails to mention that because of Jeb's education agenda we are nearthe bottom of the nation's rankings in per-student spending, we haveteachers who are going elsewhere to make more money, our children spend amajor part of their school life in portable classrooms, and there are widediscrepancies in the quality of education students receive from one schoolto another.
Shouldn't we be looking at the states that are ranked in the top half so that we can emulate their success? To vote for our children and the futureof our state and country, do not vote for the same old, same old, CharlieCrist.
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http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/southflorida/sfl-1011till,0,4394672.story?coll=sfla-home-headlines
Request to fire Broward schools chief on board agenda
By Jean-Paul Renaud
sun-sentinel.com
October 11, 2006, 8:55 AM EDT
Broward Schools Superintendent Frank Till's job may be in jeopardy,according to next week's School Board meeting agenda, which lists a requestto terminate his employment.
Till sent out an e-mail Tuesday evening telling board members that theircolleague, Stephanie Kraft, will ask to terminate his contract next week.
"I have just been notified by Mrs. Kraft that she is going to bring anagenda item to the Board next week to terminate my contract," he wrote.
The meeting will be Oct. 17.
Till and his staff have been under fire lately for the confusion that hassurrounded High School LLL, and the multiple pieces of land that were boughtfor the same property.
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http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/15727880.htm?template=contentModules/printstory.jsp
CAMPAIGN 2006 | GOVERNOR'S RACE
Jones 'outraged' by Crist's handling of case
Racial politics are continuing to shape the contest to replace Gov. Jeb
Bush.
BY BETH REINHARD
breinhard@MiamiHerald.com
Daryl Jones, who would be Florida's first black lieutenant governor if theDemocratic ticket is elected, accused Republican candidate Charlie Crist onTuesday of ''playing politics'' with the 1951 murder of a civil-rightsleader and his wife.
Crist, the state attorney general running for governor, announced in Augustthat four dead Ku Klux Klansmen were responsible for killing Harry T. andHarriette Moore in the small town of Mims.
Jones said he was ''outraged'' by Crist's claim. Though he has noindependent knowledge of the case, Jones pointed to newspaper articles inwhich two experts say Crist's investigation did not uncover anything new.
The 30-member panel for the nonprofit groupthat rewards police tipsters says Crist's investigation didn't meet itscriteria for solving a crime.
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http://www.palmbeachpost.com/state/content/state/epaper/2006/10/11/m1a_DAVIS_1011.html
Davis touts plan to slash cost of storm coverage 40%
By S.V. Date
Palm Beach Post Capital Bureau
Wednesday, October 11, 2006
bocaraton - Democratic governor hopeful Jim Davis Tuesday embraced afar-reaching plan to have the state manage a new fund to underwrite the bulkof hurricane insurance policies for all homeowners, promising a 40 percentreduction in premiums next year.
"What I'm describing will ultimately bring some sanity back to insuranceprices in Florida, ultimately put Citizens out of business, ultimately savebusinesses in Florida from going under because of insurance prices," Davistold several dozen residents at the Whispering Walk retirement community.
How Davis' plan stacks up
Here's how Democrat Jim Davis' hurricane insurance plan compares with thestate's present windstorm insurance system:
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http://www.theledger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?Date=20061011&Category=NEWS&ArtNo=610110323&SectionCat=EDIT&Template=printart
Foley's Pension Is Still Safe
Disgraced nationally after his tawdry e-mails and instant online messages to former congressional pages surfaced, Mark Foley, R-Fla., resigned from theU.S. House of Representatives last month. Unlike most Americans, he'llreceive a nice pension after working for just less than 12 years.
Now 52, Foley will receive a pension of $32,000 if he starts drawing it at age 62, or $22,400 if he begins taking it at age 56.
Neither figure is adjusted for cost-ofliving increases in the pension system, said the National Taxpayers Union, which figured them.
While an ongoing investigation determines if Foley's actions were criminal,his pension is safe even if he's convicted of anything.
How safe is it? Former Rep. James Traficant, D-Ohio, was convicted on 10counts of racketeering, fraud and bribery in 2002. Yet he remains entitledto a $37,000- ayear pension.
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http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/southflorida/sfl-1011calcaterra,0,5854916.story
Bill Calcaterra
By Elizabeth Baier
South Florida Sun-Sentinel
October 11, 2006
1944 -- World War II raged in Europe, Bing Crosby's I Love You topped thecharts and the word "gay" was still only an adjective that meant beinghappy.
In the small town of Norway, Mich., Bill Calcaterra knew his family expectedhim to date girls in high school, marry after graduation and take over thefamily business.
But he liked other boys and, in the 1940s, he knew better than to talk abouthis secret desires.
"The word `gay' hadn't even been created," said Calcaterra, 80, a witness todecades of social change. "I figured I was homosexual but to me that wasbad, so I hid it."
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http://www.tallahassee.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061011/CAPITOLNEWS/610110316/1010/NEWS01&template=printart
Davis tackles property-insurance woes
By Aaron Deslatte
FLORIDA CAPITAL BUREAU
With his campaign grasping for traction as the Nov. 7 election nears,Democrat Jim Davis is saddling his gubernatorial aspirations to the singlebiggest issue moving voters this year: sky-high property-insurance hikes.
Davis, the Tampa congressman, issued an election-year pledge Tuesday tocreate a new Hurricane Premium Protection Fund that he said could help lowerinsurance rates as soon as next year.
Davis said the fund would lower rates by providing cheap capital toinsurance companies and holding them accountable for passing on thosesavings to policyholders.
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http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/southflorida/sfl-1011moorehead,0,2888533.story
Melodie Moorehead
By Elizabeth Baier
South Florida Sun-Sentinel
October 11, 2006
1972 -- Melodie Moorehead realized she was attracted to girls at age 10,when she was in the fifth grade. But it took her 12 years to comfortably sayshe was a lesbian in the midst of the gay revolution. Once she did, at age22, her calling as a gay activist became clear.
She wasn't alone. In June 1969, New York police raided the Stonewall Inn, agay bar in Greenwich Village. Angered by police sweeps targeting the gay andlesbian community for indecency, patrons reacted violently, leading to threedays of riots in New York.
That sparked political activism in cities around the country. From 1970 to1975, several states repealed anti-sodomy laws, gay community centersreceived federal grants and openly gay men and lesbians were elected topublic office.
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http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/15727303.htm?template=contentModules/printstory.jsp
CAMPAIGN 2006 | U.S. HOUSE
Iraq war dominates Shaw-Klein debate
BY ERIKA BOLSTAD
ebolstad@MiamiHerald.com
In their first major debate in front of a large crowd, U.S. Rep. Clay Shawand state Sen. Ron Klein worked to define themselves in the simplest ofpolitical terms: longtime congressional experience versus new leadership.
But the charged-up and partisan crowd of 300 in Coral Springs remainedevenly split Tuesday night in a race that political analysts say leanstoward Shaw -- yet remains too close to call a month before the election.
The war in Iraq dominated the debate, held at the Coral Springs Center forthe Arts and sponsored by the League of Women Voters of Broward and PalmBeach counties.
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http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/15727300.htm?template=contentModules/printstory.jsp
POMPANO BEACH
Pompano preacher alters his stance on Islam
BY DARRAN SIMON
dsimon@MiamiHerald.com
The Rev. O'Neal Dozier, whose characterization of Islam as a ''cult'' and a''dangerous religion'' cost him some political friends, said Tuesday he haschanged his position.
Dozier initially made his remarks in July on a South Florida radio show. Hewas voicing his objection to the construction of a mosque in a black PompanoBeach neighborhood because, he said, the community could become a breedingground for terrorists.
On Tuesday, Dozier, 58, once a political appointee of Gov. Jeb Bush, said ina press release that he never meant to include ``peace-loving Muslims whoshare American values of freedom, tolerance and human rights . . . as partof the problem regarding radical Islam.''
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http://www.sptimes.com/2006/10/11/news_pf/State/Crist_s_lead_solid_wi.shtml
Crist's lead solid with few on fence, poll says
By ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published October 11, 2006
TALLAHASSEE - Democratic gubernatorial candidate Jim Davis will have adifficult time overtaking Republican Charlie Crist, a poll released Tuesdayindicates.
The Quinnipiac University poll shows Crist with a solid lead and just a fewlikely voters who remain completely undecided.
Crist, the state's attorney general from St. Petersburg, was backed by 53percent of likely voters, including leaners, compared with 43 percent whosaid they favored the Democratic congressman from Tampa. Just 3 percent wereundecided.
The random telephone survey of 783 likely voters was conducted Oct. 3-8.
In a larger sampling of 968 registered voters, Crist was favored by 50percent to Davis' 39 percent.
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http://www.palmbeachpost.com/opinion/content/opinion/epaper/2006/10/11/m14a_cfo_endorse_1011.html
Start fresh, with Sink
Palm Beach Post Editorial
Wednesday, October 11, 2006
Democrat Alex Sink has the better qualifications to be Florida's chieffinancial officer, and she also has the better argument. This year'sproperty insurance bill from the Legislature, Ms. Sink says, "was totallyinadequate."
That bill came on the watch of Senate President Tom Lee, who is Ms. Sink'sopponent in the Nov. 7 election. In many years, the Republican and TampaBay-area home builder would be the better candidate. He's hardly a badcandidate this year. Sen. Lee has spent 10 years in Tallahassee as ahardworking, reasoned, mostly moderate legislator. But the chief financialofficer is the closest thing Floridians have to a vote on insuranceregulation, and what the Legislature produced on insurance during the twoyears of Sen. Lee's presidency hasn't dealt with the crisis Floridians face.
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http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/southflorida/sfl-1011mahee,0,7768055.story
S.F. Mahee
By Elizabeth Baier
South Florida Sun-Sentinel
October 11, 2006
1987 -- A scandal erupted inside a Pentecostal Church in New York when S.F.Mahee, then 16, told the bishop's daughter she was a lesbian.
In a matter of days, the news echoed throughout the tightly knit religiouscommunity. Mahee's mother, an evangelist in the church, told her daughtershe was "living a sin" and "would go to hell."
The gay rights movement of the 1970s left communities around the nation witha better awareness and acceptance of gay issues. Many of Mahee's friends inhigh school included openly gay teenagers and at least one transgender boy.
But what followed for Mahee was a deeply personal, religious struggle withinher African- American community.
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GLCC has new jobs website:
http://glccsf.jobing.com/default.asp
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