IT WAS SEPTEMBER OF 1968, TWO MONTHS BEFORE THE presidential election, and Richard Nixon, the Republican nominee, had a problem. Despite sustained and elaborate efforts by his campaign staff to craft a new image for their dour candidate, the public still viewed Mr. Nixon as surly, humorless, devious and introverted.
I’ve been waiting a long time for the Nile crocodile to invade Florida. You probably have too.
Now it’s finally happened (See related story on page A11.)
Lots of Bucks. Money Tree. $10,000,000 Fortune. Money Bags.
Back in the day of the Great Depression, the Works Progress Administration launched a massive employment relief program to put Americans back to work. There was good cause: Unemployment rose to unprecedented levels, finally peaking in 1933 at 24.9 percent.
Naples City Council consists of a nonpartisan mayor and six council members who are elected at large. The city charter limits them to serving two consecutive four-year terms. Over the coming week in this space we will introduce them all.
The authors of The Federalist Papers neglected to explain the fearsome powers that inhere in the “Dear Colleague” letter under our system of government.
After wintering in Central and South America, species such as the ruby-throated hummingbird return to Florida this time of year to build nests and raise their young.
Spotting native alligators and crocodiles in Florida is common, but anyone who sees a large reptile might want to take a second look: Man-eaters that can grow to 18 feet long and weigh as much as a small car have been found in the Sunshine State.
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission plans three webinars for the public to discuss and answer questions in real time about its black bear management program. Topics include new bear population estimates, 2016 bear range updates, Bear Wise communities, results of the 2015 limited bear hunt and input concerning a possible hunt this year.
Adonis Autism Inc.
Medical milestone
The Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Greater Naples invites everyone to its annual Gay Pride service honoring the local lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community at 10:30 a.m. Sunday, June 5.
The United Way of Collier County, Publix Super Markets, Collier Area Transit and the Harry Chapin Food Bank teamed up on a recent Saturday to collect food donated by customers at six Collier area Publix stores. A host of volunteers worked hard to promote the items the food bank needs most, collect the food and stuff the CAT buses with the items.
Collier County Honor Flight delivered 65 WWII and Korean War veterans from Collier and Lee counties to Washington, D.C., to see the war memorials erected in their honor on Saturday, May 21. Each with a guardian/escort, the veterans departed RSW at 6 a.m. and returned home to a welcoming crowd late that evening.
“That’s so cool, man!” The guy in the plumbing supply van was willing to hold up rush hour traffic just so he could make sure his feelings were known. “The exhaust is so mean, and the body is so stealth!”
¦ The Collier County Veterans Council honors the fallen and the faithful at a Memorial Day service on Monday morning, May 30, at Hodges Funeral Home at Naples Memorial Gardens. The prelude begins at 9:30 a.m. with the Pine Ridge Middle School Band under the direction of Kelly Parker.
AARP offers classes to help older drivers learn about new traffic laws, refresh their driving skills and reduce their risk for tickets and accidents. Drivers over age 55 might be eligible for a discount on auto insurance.
In addition to their regular traffic enforcement details, Collier County Sheriff’s Office deputies are on the lookout for drivers in violation of seat belt and child safety restraint laws through June 5.
Seven Collier County Sheriff’s Office deputies were honored recently for bringing people back to life after sudden cardiac death.
The Collier County Sheriff ’s Office and Dunkin’ Donuts invite the public to the next Coffee with a Cop from 8-10 a.m. Friday, May 27, at the Dunkin’ Donuts at 4800 Golden Gate Parkway in Golden Gate.
“I’VE LOST A LOT OF CLOSE FRIENDS,” SAID DERALD Robertson, recalling the early 1990s in Detroit. They got HIV and started to die of AIDS before he found out he was also HIV positive, not long after breaking up with his boyfriend at the time. He was 17 and doctors didn’t expect him to live past 21.
My mother once rode 30 miles down the mountain on rough dirt roads in the back of a 1928 Dodge to play the first movement of Beethoven’s “Moonlight Sonata” to a recital audience 4,000 feet below her home on a cattle ranch in the Colorado Rockies.
When WGCU Public Media told Southwest Florida’s best fundraiser for the arts about their Fund Our Future initiative to raise $30, she asked what they needed as their lead gift.
Down through all the millennia that mankind has smoked tobacco, no one would have believed (or even imagined) that a battery-powered contraption with no tobacco would one day be considered a tobacco product.
Earlier this month, the English rock band Radiohead released to much critical acclaim its ninth album, “A Moon Shaped Pool.” I only know this because my millennial son advised me of it during a recent phone call. He also said the accompanying video on YouTube was not to be missed.
The young adults featured here grew up in Immokalee. Some are the children of migrant farmworkers, others have parents who cobble together multiple low-paying jobs to support their families. All of them found the Guadalupe Center’s Tutor Corps Program while attending Immokalee High School.
Now that arts organizations are cooling off after entertaining snowbirds with high impact productions all winter, amateur performers are re-emerging with a whole bunch of new material. Show-offs. They know we like seeing what they can do, and regular Florida Weekly readers know that we are particularly partial to improvisational comedy.
Drug Free Collier invites parents and other adults to “Hidden in Plain Sight,” a walk-through of a child/ teen’s mock bedroom with a discussion of how to look for signs of substance abuse, from 8:30-10:30 a.m. Saturday, May 21, at Barron Collier High School. Admission is free.
Adonis Autism Inc. invites families with young or adult children with autism or other disabilities to learn about plans for the development of Osprey Village, a multigenerational cohousing community. Presentations take place from 6-8 p.m. Thursday, May 19, at Food and Thought, 2132 Tamiami Trail N., and from 2-4 p.m. Saturday, May 28, at House of Gaia, 1660 Trade Center Way in Naples.
More than 600 people brought their treasures to the 2016 WGCU Antiques Appraisal Fair at Alico Arena. Items from clocks and jewelry to paintings and pottery were inspected by area experts whose valuations brought jubilation to some and disappointment to others. Values ranged from $50 to $200,000.
Google sees the future
Naples Municipal Airport has started several improvement projects at the south end of the airport along North Road between Tower Drive and the observation deck. The work entails removing the berm along the sidewalk and re-landscaping the area to improve drainage and prepare for potential development, and building public restrooms at the observation deck.
Collier County Supervisor of Elections office has moved to a new location at 3750 Enterprise Ave. For years, the office operated from three different locations, which created challenges when staging elections. The new office is open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday-Friday.
For information about voter registration and the 2016 election cycle, visit colliervotes.com. ¦
The Conservancy of Southwest Florida and the neighboring Naples Zoo celebrate Endangered Species Day with a variety of engaging activities that raise awareness about Southwest Florida’s most vulnerable species. Members of either organization will enjoy free admission to both on Friday and Saturday, May 20-21. Regular admission applies for nonmembers.
¦ Gulfcoast Runners presents the Memorial Day 5K stepping out at 8 a.m. Monday, May 30, from The Crust restaurant to benefit SNIPP Collier, an organization that provides spay/neuter services to pets in impoverished areas of Collier County. Registration is $28 through May 29 and $35 the day of the race. Students are $15.
¦ The third annual Audubon Country Club Dog Show raised $9,000 for the Collier County Domestic Animal Services Trust Fund. The event included a silent auction of items ranging from a Key West excursion to cosmetic procedures and a dinner party for 10 prepared by an Audubon resident known for his culinary talents.
Here’s where Collier County Sheriff’s Office traffic-enforcement deputies will be the week of May 23-27:
Monday, May 23
Goodlette-Frank Road and Pelican Marsh Boulevard: Speeding
Davis Boulevard and Radio Road: Speeding
Pine Ridge Road and Napa Boulevard: Red-light running
The David Lawrence Center invites the public to the first-ever open house and Mental Health Fair at its Naples main campus from 3-5:30 p.m. Friday, May 20. The center’s clients, their friends and family members and all who support the nonprofit mental health and substance abuse treatment facility are welcome.
An international team of researchers has identified 74 areas of the human genome associated with educational attainment. It is well known that social and other environmental factors influence education, but these findings, reported by the Social Science Genetics Association Consortium, suggest that large genetics analyses may be able to help discover biological pathways as well.
Volvo has been trying to add excitement to its image of safety, reliability and practicality. But the model that fits the stereotype of a solid and sensible car is arguably the most significant. The importance of the 2016 Volvo S60 T5 Inscription is less about what it is and more about from where it came.
Florida’s Paradise Coast-Naples, Marco Island and the Everglades saw another record-setting year for tourism in 2015, with not only a healthy increase in visitors, but significant increases in spending and economic impact.
GINA STANCEL AND HER TWO NEIGHbors patrol the streets where they live on the river side of McGregor Boulevard, scanning with small, powerful LED lights. The group checks out drainage ditches, strolling along the street and sidewalk. They take long, slow steps into front yards, pushing around in the bushes.
Nobody asks a man what he has in his wallet. He has a man card. It doesn’t have to think about it. It just is; and though the scales may be tipped against him by some prejudice of identity or difference, being a man isn’t one of them.
The time has come, my fellow capitalists, to begin planning for the vast sea of opportunities certain to arise in the American economy only months from now.
It will begin in Texas and extend to Florida. By the middle of May next year, the weather along the Texas border will be warm enough to fry an egg on a rattlesnake’s back. That’s ice cream weather, friends.
As the end of the school year draws near, Leah Porrata is gearing up to be in “full summer swing.” As director of education at Gulfshore Playhouse, she’s planning, plotting, creating and calculating the company’s STAR Academy summer camps.
Editor’s note: When somebody emailed former Chief Assistant U. S. Attorney Douglas Molloy a Washington Times editorial (Jan. 7) by one- time Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich, the writer added a section under the Gingrich byline purporting to be the politician’s words. Mr.
SWFL Citizens Alliance hosts the first of three legislative candidate forums at 7 p.m. Tuesday, May 17, at the Marco Island History Museum. Doors open at 6:30 p.m. Admission is free.
More than a dozen local civic organizations host a public forum for Collier County School Board candidates from 6-7:30 p.m. Wednesday, May 18, at The Norris Center.
Jeff Lytle, retired editorial page editor for the Naples Daily News, will moderator the panel that includes John Brunner, Stephanie Lucarelli and Louise Penta for District 2; and Erick Carter and Lee Dixon for District 4.
Fun Time Early Childhood Academy is enrolling students for the summer Voluntary Pre-K program. VPK runs from 8 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Monday-Friday, starting June 6 and ending Aug. 5.
[img_assist|nid=244263|title=|desc= With golden retriever Tex by her side, Joan Hedderick, a volunteer with PAWS Assistance Dogs, reads to a group of preschoolers at Fun Time Early Childhood Academy.
Jail Is hell
This is an oxymoron on wheels. How else can the biggest MINI ever be described? But aside from driving a contradiction, there is some genuine appeal behind the new Mini Cooper Clubman.
The new 2016 car has swelled five inches in its wheelbase, grown a few inches wider, and added over a foot in overall length compared to its predecessor.
¦ The Youth Leadership Committee at Make-A-Wish Foundation Southern Florida hosts a golf tournament Saturday morning, May 14, at The Ritz-Carlton Golf Resort. Registration for $175 includes a light breakfast, golf, lunch, silent auction and raffle. Proceeds will help Make - A- Wi s h grant wishes to two local children.
AARP offers classes to help older drivers learn about new traffic laws, refresh their driving skills and reduce their risk for tickets and accidents. Drivers over age 55 might be eligible for a discount on auto insurance.
Here’s where Collier County Sheriff’s Office traffic-enforcement deputies will be the week of May 16-20:
Monday, May 16
Pine Ridge Road and Whippoorwill Lane: Aggressive driving
Oil Well and Immokalee roads: Redlight running
Airport-Pulling Road and Golden Gate Parkway: Red-light running
With their dilapidated trailer falling apart around them and the floor rotting out under their feet, the family was living in some of the worst conditions in Collier County.
[img_assist|nid=244279|title=|desc= Kyle Prue, front right, with TIF students Lizette Silva, Anita Cruz, Thianica Previlus, Abryana Delgado, Stephanie Ortiz and Cindy Jaimes.
Collier County Clerk of Circuit Court Dwight Brock invites the public to “Filing a Small Claim,” a free seminar from 2-4 p.m. Wednesday, May 18, at South Regional Library on Lely Cultural Boulevard.
Filing a small claim is way to settle a legal dispute with someone when the damages or value of property involved does not exceed $5,000.
In honor of Mental Health Month, the David Lawrence Center invites the public to the first-ever open house and Mental Health Fair at its Naples main campus from 3-5:30 p.m. Friday, May 20. The center’s clients, their friends and family members and all who support the nonprofit mental health and substance abuse treatment facility are welcome.
May is National Mental Health Month, but who’s “minding the store” during the remaining 11 months of the year? Sadly, we don’t need to look far: Recent federal data on surging suicide rates makes it clear we have lots more work to do to help ailing minds.
The Best is Florida Weekly’s take on some of the best, of course, but also some of the wackiest, most wondrous, obscure, ridiculous and even scandalous people and things that make Southwest Florida such a great place to live.
They called Shakespeare “the bard,” but he wasn’t the only one who put the hammer of thinking to the anvil of living to make art that can burn holes in the night with its luster. No, sir.
Florida panthers’ favorite foods include whitetailed deer and wild hog, but they’ve also been known to feed on livestock and even pets now and then, including two Chihuahuas this year in a Collier County neighborhood that borders prime panther habitat.
Harriet Tubman was literally a freedom fighter. The “Moses” of the Underground Railroad liberated herself and dozens of others from slavery over the years in a biopic-worthy life of bravery and idealism.
In a pluralistic society, if you want to trash or otherwise discredit language, law, policy or behavioral protocols commonly adopted to avoid offending a particular tribe, you label it as oh, so “politically correct.” Said with derision and irony, it is an easy way to mock, undermine and discount cultural manifestations believed to be evidence of society trying too hard to do the ri
