Dear Friends,
Quick update for you. Constituent service remains our number one priority. Our office has three staff members located in Tallahassee, Lake County, and Marion County that are always ready to serve you and answer any questions or concerns that you may have. I am your Senator, and I work for you. As always, I am available to meet with you personally, please don’t hesitate to reach out to my office to schedule an appointment.
This past month, we completed our first week of committee meetings (along with some Senator training sessions) and we also received our assignments from Senate President Galvano. I am happy to report that your Senator was named Chairman of the Committee on Ethics and Elections. With the passage of Amendment 4 and the elections debacle in Broward and Palm Beach counties, we anticipate that this committee chairmanship will allow us to play a key role in protecting the integrity of Florida’s elections. I am committed to defending our elections process by making it easy to vote and hard to cheat. Continue reading
During this holiday season, I am often asked at parties “Where do you work?” While many people are aware of the CEP, I find a number of people are confused by our initials and who we are. It is easy to assume everyone knows who we are and what we do, but that is not always the case. The CEP is an acronym for the Ocala/Marion County Chamber & Economic Partnership (now you know why we use CEP!). We are the community’s chamber of commerce as well as its official economic development organization. The CEP was formed just over six years ago with the merger of the former Chamber and Economic Development Council. While this version is only six years old, our roots go back 130 years to the founding of the Ocala Board of Trade in 1887.
The driving factor behind the merger of the two organizations was to create a unified, single voice for the business community. One entity that could assist businesses locating to our community, growing in our community, starting in our community, and thriving in our community. In fact, the basic structure of the CEP is with teams dedicated to Business Attraction, Business Retention, Business Creation, Business Advocacy, and Business Services. It was this approach in part which lead to the CEP being named Florida’s Chamber of the Year 2018 and a finalist last year for National Chamber of the Year. Continue reading
A Veteran at work!
Once in a while I like to help give a business a boost by highlighting the owner with a picture or some comments. This month’s spotlight is on George Marshal owner of SIGNS44. I have known George for many years, selling his flags as publisher of the newspapers I believe we should do business with guys like this. He has always been a patriot and likes to be a part of the local business scene. Let me list what I like about George.
You can count on what he says!
He believes in buying USA supplies!
These Flags are made in America. Many of the Flags are made by Veterans!
The Flagpoles are made in USA!
The man that sets up the flag pole is a Veteran!
So thank you for helping the Veterans! And thank you for helping a veteran!
Shop at Signs44 on Hwy 441 in downtown Lady Lake. See the ad in this paper! Continue reading
By TomL
I was at a business meeting where everyone was ask to tell about favorite Christmas. I thought how can I tell my story in short form. I told it and everyone thought it was great but a lot was left out so I decided to write about it and include more of the life story. This is my true Christmas story!
As a little kid we ran the neighborhood barefoot. I was about seven years old. My friend and I were playing by the railroad tracks about two blocks from home. There were some dirt mounds and holes in the ground. We were jumping off the mounds and sliding into the holes, having a great time. Only this one time I landed on a broken beer bottle and it cut my tendon almost completely in half. When I could see, it I knew it was bad. I told my friend to go get help. A nearby house was the home of a fireman. He came and got me and rendered first ad. He picked me up, put me in his personal truck and rushed me to the clinic in the next nearby town for emergency treatment. Continue reading
Light up Lady Lake is an annual Christmas event. The grounds and the cabin where the Chamber is housed is lit up with thousands of lights. They usually have several speakers and hundreds of spectators. It’s a great event and something to see!
By TomL
‘Twas the day before Thanksgiving at the Loury Farm. I had made a quick trip to the store. My wife was working in the kitchen making pies for the next day. Coming home up the driveway I saw a bunch of cars and trucks. I could not imagine who was there and why they were there. It was my niece and most of her family.
They like to come and see the animals and show their children the animals. It’s interesting that a lot of children have never touched a cow, a donkey, a horse, a bull and various other animals that we have around. An occasional peacock will visit from the neighbor’s farm. They won’t let you touch them for survival reasons. Continue reading
Pictured is OBL Founder David Liner, left, in coming president Connie Pendleton, right, and OBL’s official waitress, “Denise”, receiving a Christmas Cheer!
Ocala Business Leaders spread Christmas Cheers to a number of people. They partnered with the Salvation Army by Ringing the Bell for two weeks. Clark Yandle was in charge of that project. OBL also adopted Senior Citizens who live locally by buying gifts from their wish list. Diane Leaf helped co-ordinate that and Mr & Mrs Yandle helped make sure everyone had a gift. Great Christmas Spirit OBL!
Gerry Dietrich TVS LLC (left),talked about his Mobile Directory, how it worked and how to activate it. This is new technology that puts your ad in front of the customer when you get near them. Good talk lots of questions.
Gerry Winton (right), a local Handyman spoke at the Ocala Business Breakfast, describing what he does and took a lot of questions. It was a good talk.
Designs by Debbi, a local crafter/designer showing some of her creations at a street market in Dunnellon Florida. Dunnellon, Fl is known for its festivals held on the downtown streets.
