The Newscaster/Nature Coast News
PAGE 11 - December 24, 2008
Editorial - Opinion - Commentary
Editorial
Yankeetown Mayor’s Report
WELCOME ABOARD NEW EMPLOYEE, Mr. Chris Howard the newest addition to the
Letter to the Editor:
Yankeetown Town Staff. Mr. Howard was selected to fill the position of Town Maintenance
Re: Congratulations to the Town of Inglis
and began work last Thursday. Mr. Howard has recently relocated to the area from Indiana to
Congratulations to the Town of Inglis for another outstanding Christmas Parade.
be near his wife's family. He and his wife Tammy have 3 children. Yankeetown has a six month
Our annual parade is small, but there is always a lot of spirit and enthusiasm among the
probationary period which Mr. Howard must now complete satisfactorily but it is hoped that
participants and the children are always happy to see the floats, fire engines and of course,
he will have a long and happy career with Yankeetown.
that jolly old elf himself, Santa Claus.
By the time this is printed, the new water plant should have had it's substantial completion
One phase of this years’ parade that deserves special mention is the “lining-up” of
walk down with our constructor, Beach Construction, our design engineers, Mittauer and
the participants and monitoring the parking lot where the parade starts.
Assoc., and the owner, us. I do not foresee any problems but I'll let you know next week.
In the past, the entrants have been poorly advised as to where to park and line up. A water line
Testing is ongoing. The diesel generator was being tested as of Friday. Fuel oil was delivered
that serves the Food Ranch Plaza shopping center was run over by a fire truck and broken a
last week. The sand filters at the new water plant were filled last week. One of the layers in the
few years ago, causing the entire shopping center to be without water for several hours. The
sand filter is a type of coal. We have one bag of coal left over, if you have someone on your
police and fire departments have also had problems in the past keeping free access to the
Christmas list that has been naughty and you need some coal for their stocking, stop by and
shopping center for an unreasonable period of time leading up to the parade.
we will fix you up.
The livelihood of the businesses and employees of those businesses in the Food
Apologies for the mix up on the bulk pick up last week. Apparently there was a communi-
Ranch Plaza depend on their customers and denying them access to the center often turns
cation problem between Waste Pro management and their field staff. Hopefully everyone got
them away to other stores in other communities. All of the merchants are eager to do their part
their stuff picked up on the rescheduled date last Saturday. No news on the legal front.
to assist the city produce a parade, but not at the expense of losing business.
While it may be a little late, if you still have charity on your list. I wish you would consider
This year is the first since the parade has begun at Food Ranch Plaza that the parade did not
Heifer International. This is an organization that uses donations to supply animals to poor
interfere with shopping center parking and business. I want to thank Inglis Police Chief Steve
families throughout the world. One of my ideas of projects that I have wanted to do was
Dixon for a job well done. I was impressed how he handled the parade line up with such
organize a project where Yankeetown sent an "Ark". An Ark comprises two cows, which
professionalism and ease. When it was brought to Chief Dixon’s attention that a water line
provide milk, two sheep, which provide wool, two camels, which provide transportation, two
was ruptured during a past parade line-up, he immediately located the line and roped off the
oxen to pull plows, two water buffalo and ten other pairs of animals. This type of gift promotes
affected area with police tape. He made it look easy.
self reliance in that it gives the poor a way to help themselves. Maybe next year. Anyway,
Hats off to you chief! I even take back most, but not all, of those nasty things I said
check out their site WWW.Heifer.org.
about the Miami Hurricanes back in September.
Doug Johnston, Food Ranch Mgr.
Special Thanx to all those who brought the town hall goodies over the Christmas Holiday.
Fin & Feather Raises Money for
We may gain a ton but at least we will be fat and happy. Also Thanx to the Fire Department for
putting up the Christmas lights at town hall. Christmas is here! Merry, Merry, Merry Christ-
Toys For Tots
mas! Good Night and Good Luck, Dawn Marie Clary, Mayor of Yankeetown.
Letter to the Editor:
Re: Who IS Jim Sherwood and Where Is HE Taking Us:
Bubba's Fin & Feather 1st Annual Toys for Tots Run with the Marine Corps, held
Unfortunately, responding to each of the multitude of untruths presented last week by
Sunday December 14th, was Great. 35 Bikes made the ride and there were 54 here by the time
Sherwood requires more time and space than available. As election time approaches, his and
the run was over. We raised over $800 in cash and contributed a trailer load of toys for Levy
his allies’ personal attacks and baiting will soon become a deluge.
County children. Many thanks to the staff of the Marine Corps.
Just two examples of his numerous untruths: 1) Ralf Brookes had NOTHING to do with
Gobblers Eatery held a special breakfast for the riders and provided the food for the event
the original wording of the Charter amendments, 2) The moratorium was approved by the
and donated the proceeds for the benefit. Cutler Spur Band provided entertainment for the
then-Council BEFORE any of those named by Sherwood were elected.
afternoon. The list of thank-yous for all who helped to make the Levy County Run a wonder-
Who would you trust, those who moved here for the uniqueness that is Yankeetown,
ful event is way to numerous to print. So Thank You ALL for giving so freely of your time and
want to defend its way of life and honor EXISTING laws for NO personal gain, or Ohioans
loving hearts. We made many children's Christmas special!
looking to profit and run? Ask Sherwood how many of his legal attacks were successful. The
answer: None! Truth prevailed.
Meritless lawsuits continue to waste taxpayer money. But why wouldn’t you want the
Town defend itself when unjustly assailed by out-of-state interlopers?
The fact is: EXISTING laws averted Sherwood’s over-the-top development, not any
moratorium or Mr. Haines or Mr. Brookes or anyone or anything else. The courts have agreed!
This all began when Yankeetown mysteriously had the area’s most well-known devel-
opers’ attorney as its own Town Attorney in 2005. One Council member had signed a contract
with Sherwood (a conflict of interest she kept secret for many months). An election was held
without disclosure of SECRET, taxpayer-funded meetings between Sherwood, the Attorney
and then-Mayor Wall. Could Johannesson have subsequently run unopposed had the truth
been known?
At a taxpayer-funded Town meeting, Sherwood’s partner told a gathering of 300 people
that our laws did not matter and what we townspeople thought was irrelevant. HE was going
to build regardless. “Change happens!” Could he and Sherwood have been so confident
because of Johannesson, who had told me in her office that she was going to do everything
in her power to move their development forward? Please note that she later tried to eliminate
the Town itself, which I believe is also the aim also of Sherwood, to circumvent our laws.
Dear Reader, who is this outsider Sherwood, what does he really want and, more
importantly, what successful development has he actually accomplished? Maybe in his next
diatribe he can elaborate on that. Keep the faith!
Edward Candela, Yankeetown
e-mail your news to: newscast@atlantic.net
Donald Cowan (Cutler Spur) and Marine Sgt. Mike Harrell from Chiefland. Donald said, "We
had a great day and raised lots of money and toys for the kids."
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