Over the last few weeks, you have probably heard and read a lot from the Chamber & Economic Partnership (CEP) on the topic of workforce or Talent Development as we call it. When the CEP Board adopted our new 5-year strategic plan, Moving Forward-Phase II, in late 2016 it highlighted Talent Development as one of the two signature new project areas for the CEP. This new emphasis has really come into focus over the last year. I want to discuss why this is such an important emphasis for the CEP and then explain what we are doing.
As communities across the country have been rebounding and growing post-Great Recession, one of the area’s that it became apparent had suffered was talent development. As companies, communities, and schools struggled to just remain viable, the importance of investing in workforce often went to the side. When this is coupled with the pending retirement of millions of Baby Boomers, a talent deficit becomes a clear reality. It is our belief that talent development is incredibly significant to the continued growth of our community. In fact, we believe the communities which figure out talent, will be the communities that win the next half century. Continue reading
Civil War:
Last month I wrote how Civil Wars begin. The information I received was from the web about the writings of Jack Minzey who died this year. He studied the subject for many of years and wrote a number of books on the subject. History tells us what happened. The social and political behavior today fits that mold. Hatred and social disorder is out of control. We need more love and respect. If not love and if not respect, then tolerance. No matter who wins the election I would never try to unseat a president that was voted into office. In today’s society most people have guns because they feel they need to protect themselves and their families. THEY DO! Today if you don’t agree with your neighbor they get violent and verbally abusive. Right now I have someone verbally abusing me over this very story from last month. Continue reading
By Tony Powell
Do we have a misunderstanding of the First Amendment which guarantees ‘free speech’?
A County Property Appraiser in Florida asked, “Show me a successful Moslem country?” He has been immediately denounced by the media and others as a ‘Xenophobic Racist’ (I didn’t know that ‘Moslem’ was a ‘race’).
(Definition of xenophobia. : “Fear and hatred of strangers or foreigners or of anything that is strange or foreign”).
A Georgia politician reports that she was being ‘attacked’ because she talked to Saudi prince who is ‘Anti-Israel’.
(In Europe, you go to jail for saying that the ‘holocaust’ never happened). Since when was stupidity illegal?) Continue reading
Lake County and all of Florida are safer today thanks to a new state law that gives law enforcement a valuable tool to prevent gun violence by helping keep firearms out of the hands of individuals who demonstrate an obvious threat to themselves or others.
Florida joined a handful of states earlier this year when it passed the Risk Protection Order Act (RPO), or red flag law, spurred to much-needed action in response to the tragedy in Parkland, Florida. This important law, passed with bipartisan support in the state legislature, allows law enforcement to remove firearms and ammunition from violent or mentally ill individuals while affording citizens their due process.
The process for obtaining an RPO is straightforward and puts the decision to remove guns in the hands of a judge. First, law enforcement files a petition listing the statement, actions or facts which give rise to a reasonable fear of significant dangerous acts by respondent. The petition is heard by a Judge within 24 hours to determine if there is reasonable cause to believe the respondent poses a significant danger of causing personal injury to themselves or others in the near future by having in their custody any firearm or ammunition. If granted, the respondent is served with the temporary order, and they must immediately surrender their firearms, ammunition and concealed weapons license pending a final hearing. Continue reading
By TomL
For a long time I have been hearing about Political PACs. So I decided to look it up on the internet. First it is short for “Political Action Committee”. Their purpose is raising and spending money to elect and defeat candidates. Most PACs represent business, labor or ideological interests. It’s the ideological interests where the trouble comes in. There is always a radical in the group. They want to get their person in office and will go to extreme measures to make that happen, even break the law.
The Marion County School race has done that again. One of the candidates has made charges of being threatened and bullied in hopes that she would drop out of the race. Some history…several races back, employees of the school system actually stole a candidate’s identity and tried to use it to their advantage. They were caught by the Marion County Sheriff’s office and were not even charged. They were not fired. Back then Sheriff Dean was in office and he was busy trying to damage control a scandal of his own when his person in charge got caught up in a problem. Continue reading
~$50 million toward fixes for federal Herbert Hoover Dike, $700,000 for Lee County~
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Today, Governor Rick Scott announced that the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (Corps) have reached an agreement on a $50 million state investment to fund repairs to the Herbert Hoover Dike. This agreement follows a $50 million investment made earlier this year, bringing the State of Florida’s total investment in this federal project to $100 million. After decades of federal inaction, Gov. Scott fought to secure this state funding and secured a commitment from the White House to provide the federal funds to fix the Herbert Hoover Dike. The funding will accelerate critical repairs to the Herbert Hoover Dike surrounding Lake Okeechobee. Once completed, this project will reduce the need for harmful water releases from the Army Corps of Engineers by allowing more water to be stored in Lake Okeechobee. Continue reading
Lady Lake Chamber host a Nothing but Networking Luncheon every month. Here is a picture from that luncheon at the Water Front Inn in the Villages. The people at this table are all business people networking with each other. When you sit there and have lunch and listen to how each other’s businesses work and what is a perfect referral for them, then they can help each other. It’s like a hundred sales people on the street.
Several months ago we ran a picture of Bob Irwin of Bob’s Coins and Jewelry in Summerfield Florida catching his record fish. It was the largest marlin the captain’s boat had caught off Aruba. The Caption estimated the fish to be 500 lbs and 12 ft long. The marlin was caught in record time 17 min 49 seconds. The fish ran under the boat to cut the line on the prop 7 minutes into the fight. The prop then spun the line around enough times to reconnect the line to itself and continue the fight. At 17 minutes 44 seconds as the mate bent down to unhook the fish the stainless steel hook snapped and the fish released itself! The first and only stainless steel hook to ever break on that boat!
What an adventure‼ Bob’s fish replica is now on display at Bob’s Coin & Jewelry. It’s located at Spruce Creek Terrace Shoppes.
By TomL
OBL (Ocala Business Leaders) held a Political Forum at their regular breakfast meeting so the local Candidates could speak in front of the OBL Members. It was interesting to hear each answer questions and understand what they stood for. The speakers were: Continue reading
Cracker Jack and Lane Loury getting used to each other. Lane is 18 months and is getting his second lesson from his mother Lindsay. Photo taken by Debbie Sykes, grandmother.
