April 2009
9 posts
Is this an FSU student protest or study hall?
This generation is so lame.
I mean really.
FSU students are going to march on the Capitol this morning and stage a “read in.”
With respect, students, that’s not a protest. That’s more like an outdoor study hall.
Back in the 1970s, we took over the administration building at my college for, well, I don’t remember the reason. The why is not important. Besides, it was a long time ago. But I’ll tell...
FL Legislature needs to rethink its rethinking
Don’t let anybody fool you. What is happening in over the budget in the state Legislature is not simply about bringing revenues and expenses into balance. Our lawmakers and political leaders are rethinking government, retooling it and re-engineering. I’m not sure exactly what that means – except that perhaps it means that raising taxes on the cancer-causing cigarettes that place a burden on...
Holocaust Remembrance: Learning to civilize man
You can see the photographs from the month-long Holocaust Remembrance project on Tallahassee.com/holocaust, and I hope you will. But that is not enough.
Watch the videos of the survivors, listen to their words and read more about their history on the site, too. It is all so very powerful.
But that is not enough, either.
Get in your car, drive around town to the places pinpointed on our interactive...
Extreme thanks to EMHE's Kazis family of...
It was something watching Tallahassee on national TV during “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition” Sunday night. Dozens of my Facebook friends posted their emotions during the show, all speaking pretty much as one in being proud of this community and in awe of the courage of the Kadzis family.
In this one case, our community came together to support this family. What an incredible story of strength and...
Monster Truck Show tix winner announced
Our ticket-winning Tweeter is a hero.
ReignOfTheTec: I want the monster truck tickets so that me and my heroic friends can block flying debris from women and children.
I’ve just Tweeted a direct message to him to let him know of the win. Anyway, I think he is a male based on his photo.
These were the finalists, as selected by the judges (me and Julia Thompson):
Second Place: You would get the...
Note to Google: It takes money to create our...
Earlier this week, the American Society of Newspaper Editors became paperless. Members voted to change its name to the American Society of News Editors.
That’s the same move the Florida Society of Newspaper Editors made earlier this year.
I’m a member of both groups and on the board of FSNE.
I support the change, and voted in favor during the FSNE roll call, but am not in love with...
Tweet dreams of Monster Truck Show
Someone said what I’m about to do is a shameless promotion of my blog.
And her point was what?
Some of you have been reading this blog since it started in September 2006. You already know I don’t mind bribing you if that’s what it takes to expand our digital networking. My motto, as you well know, is whatever it takes.
OK, let’s get down to business. I have FOUR tickets to the Monster Truck Show...
Let's out think violence, Tallahassee
If you were out of town last week, you missed a lot.
The Legislature continues to look at ways to cut the budget, including how to cut state workers’ pay. It rained and rained and rained some more, causing Fay-like floods in isolated areas of the region.
And we were hit with another outbreak of violence. This one resulted in one man being shot to death and six others wounded when people started...
Latest on finding my grandfather
About 9:30 last night, a message popped into my Facebook inbox telling me when and how my grandfather died.
“He was walking along Landis Avenue, and a car hit him. The man in the car was arrested, and he told police that a light from another car blinded his vision momentarily, and he heard a noise, and stopped, and went back and saw your grandfather on the street. He was rushed to the hospital,...
March 2009
14 posts
Tallahassee violence is real
I’ll admit I know nothing – as a young staff member pointed out yesterday – about the night life on the streets of Tallahassee.
But I do know this: Curtis Brown, 26, died in the parking lot of McDonald’s/Circle K at 811 Lake Bradford Road Sunday morning.
And now his mother, Mary Brown, and other family members and friends are grieving for the man Leon County Sheriff’s Office deputies called...
Yes, it's my job to stir trouble
Sometime fairly recently, the question has changed. It no longer seems relevant to ask people how they prefer to consume news and information, that is, in printed newspapers or on digital sites.
Now what seems more important is how well sourced our news will be and, just as importantly, whether it will be vetted.
Let me give you an illustration from this weekend:
About 5:30 Sunday morning my cell...
Judge infringes on free speech in Hoffman case
Statements made by Leon County Circuit Court Judge Kevin Davey during a pre-trial hearing in a civil case brought by the parents of Rachel Hoffman against the city of Tallahassee drew an immediate and strong reaction from First Amendment advocates.
“We don’t see the justification for the gag order in this particular case,” said Adria Harper, director of the Florida First Amendment...
Note to reader: The Mustache stays, pal
Maybe it’s the stock-market crash or the economic crisis. It seems one or the other is blamed for every malady coming down the pike these days.
It has to be something. Maybe something is in the air or the water. Or maybe somebody slipped Stupid Pills into the vitamin jar.
I mean what is wrong with some people?
Let me give you an example:
Last week, I wrote a blog in reaction to state...
Remembering the Holocaust in the digital age
Barbara Spiegler Goldstein is particularly moved by photographs of train tracks that led to the camps where 6 million Jews and others were murdered.
The tracks show that the Nazi’s genocide was carefully planned. The builders of the tracks, the planners of the routes and others – all had to know.
The photographs overwhelm emotions, but also teach us important lessons from that horrible period of...
Happy birthday, Toney Douglas: Bring home the ACC...
Tomorrow is Toney Douglas’ birthday. This one is his 23rd. None would be better than this one should he work his magic for the Florida State Seminoles one last time in the ACC Tournament.
Mr. Defense. Mr. Offense. Mr. Desire. Mr. Clutch.
Click here to see our special online-multimedia project on Douglas. It was begun weeks ago, before anyone dared dream FSU would be this close to history, before...
Got an idea: It could create jobs
Home Cooking
Our Jobs ·Our Economy·Our Future
Real Ideas from Real People
CLICK HERE TO TALK ABOUT YOUR IDEAS
CLICK HERE TO SEND YOUR IDEAS TO THE MAYOR
OK, so what do you have to lose by taking the Home Cooking campaign seriously?
Our community is facing a triple whammy: government jobs are being lost, the undersized private sector is losing jobs, and it’s harder to bring new jobs to this...
Reasons I'm optimistic on newspapers
Even as economic bombshells pummel the newspaper industry’s landscape, I’m gaining confidence in our future. You might say I have a Charlie Crist-like optimism.
I’d understand if you think that’s Pollyannaish. Another 175 jobs – 40 in the newsroom – were lost just this week at the Miami Herald. That’s more than 20,000 lost jobs in my industry in the past two years.
The Rocky Mountain News shut...
Cops protesting in the streets: World is upside...
Perhaps it was just so jarring waking up to photographs of police and other law-enforcement officers rallying in protest of possible budget cuts by the Legislature that would cost more jobs.
Maybe I’m just getting old. In my day, it was understood that officers only took to the streets to keep the peace between rival factions. You know, like when the peace-niks and hippies protested the war in...
FSU is now crazy about basketball
Go crazy, Florida State basketball fans: Your teams are going to the NCAA tournaments. The madness is just beginning
That’s right: BASKETBALL. Admit it. Unless you are the stray Gator or Hurricane or Bulldog who has wandered in here, you are getting excited over basketball in this football-crazed place.
Only a handful of schools have successful men’s and women’s programs hitting the mark at...
My daughter knocked another girl down
These are words I never thought I would write: My daughter Danielle won her boxing match with a TKO.
That’s technical knockout. Meaning the referee stopped the fight to prevent injury to her opponent.
If you open the link to the photo gallery, mine is the one in the Carolina blue, light brown pony tail flying.
I’m dealing with a lot of emotions.
Yes, I’m a proud daddy.
But, you know, that’s...
No, Mr. Meggs, Bill Proctor is not an idiot
It must be nice to live in a world where you get to change the reality if the facts aren’t running in your favor. It must be nice to be above questioning. And it must be nice to be able to dismiss as an “idiot” anyone who dares to try.
Leon County State Attorney Willie Meggs said what he said and now is attempting to hide from it. Here is what he said verbatim to a reporter for the Tallahassee...
Extreme reaction to ABC's Home Makeover
I could not for the life of me understand why a woman was screaming at me – chanting, actually, at the top of her lungs – the word extreme.
She obviously was extremely unhappy with our coverage of the “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition” build in Tallahassee last week, though I think she was more upset with ABC for only building one larger home instead of two or three smaller ones. I think she wanted...
Harvey case a reminder of value of newspapers
My inbox and blog board have been flooded with responses to our coverage of Wakulla County Sheriff David Harvey’s hit-and-run crash and subsequent revelation that he had been drinking. Overwhelmingly, with a few exceptions, they have not been running in Mr. Harvey’s favor.
One note stands out. It is from a local doctor who, to the best of my knowledge, is not an activist or known Harvey political...
February 2009
12 posts
Wakulla County needs your help, Gov. Crist
OK, I’ve left this alone for a couple days while I’ve been doing other things, so let me see if I have this all straight. Please, please let me know what I have wrong. To recap:
Wakulla County Sheriff David Harvey is out at a country club and drinks alcohol.
He gets into a WCSO-owned vehicle and drives home.
His vehicle crashes into a car parked in a driveway with a mom and her 13-year-old...
Spending time with FSU and Marshall's Red Dawson
And now a respite from the politics of vehicle crashes, school-budget cuts and other bad stuff.
I get to see an old friend tonight and spend some time talking about two of the universities I care most about: Florida State and Marshall.
Red Dawson, a Hall of Fame FSU receiver in the 1960s who gained new fame with the film “We Are Marshall,” will be at the Silver Slipper with Marshall head football...
Pols just don't get the public trust issue
This one should be interesting, maybe even instructional for our public officials who sometimes don’t seem to understand why citizens watch them so carefully and always assume the worst.
A county-owned vehicle being driven by Wakulla County Sheriff David Harvey struck another vehicle. The sheriff left the scene, driving less than a mile to his home to call-in the accident report. No one was...
NY Post cartoon either stupid or racist
The best that can be hoped for is that the New York Post editors are guilty of stupidity, but even that just doesn’t add up.
A political cartoon appeared in the Post this week depicting two white police officers with a gun standing over the bullet-riddled money of an obviously dead money. The caption reads: “They’ll have to find someone else to write the next stimulus bill.”
The cartoon...
Hey, don't yell at the umps (or at me)
Some people say a person’s character and morality are defined by what he or she does when no one is looking. I guess that’s right.
But sometimes, character can also be revealed when everyone is looking. When you are a parent, just know everyone is looking, especially your children.
I’ve been coaching baseball since they made me give back my player’s uniform in college after an injury to my...
If we would only run public schools like the...
If this were strictly a business decision, it would be a relatively easy one: Bell Vue Middle would be closed. The savings of about $2 million would help stem a projected $12 million overall budget deficit for next year.
Done.
But they don’t make widgets at Belle Vue; they educate children, unfortunately, not well enough based on state and federal standards. Belle Vue has been the worst performer...
Cheaters always prosper, right A-Rod?
Reports out of New York say that baseball’s A-Rod is getting more ink in the big-city newspapers than the recession or President Obama.
I’m not surprised. It’s been “Media Gone Wild” since reports surfaced last week that Alex Rodriquez, who played high-school ball in Miami where he grew up, was linked to a positive test for steroid use in 2003.
The New York Yankees star third baseman is the...
FSU men's BB deserve more love
Florida State basketball fans are happier now that the men’s team is showing up in the national rankings for the first time since Monica Lewinsky was a household name, especially in the White House. They’ve beaten Florida and Clemson away, California on a neutral court, Cincinnati on a neutral court and had a very nice win against a Sweet 16 team from a year ago, Western Kentucky. They should’ve...
Someday you'll pay to read my blog
I think you can start to call this a trend: Bloggers and others around the country are asking people who read, watch and/or listen to their work to donate money to support the cause. It goes something like this: “Hi, I’m Bob and there is no charge for reading this blog. But if you enjoy it and want to help ensure I can continue to provide it, please send me money. You can make a cash donation of...
Searching for my grandfather
I’ve been searching for my grandfather for a long time. I’ve walked the cemetery where he is supposed to be buried. I’ve flipped through boxes of family belongings when my grandmother died. I’ve never found an obituary, birth record or marriage license. I’ve tried searching the Internet for clues. Nothing much was ever found. No obvious grave site. Not even a Web search of burial sites offered...
Waiting for next year on Red Hills Horse Trials
It’s not just the equestrian event that is lost with the cancellation of the Red Hills Horse Trials this year; it’s also the hotel rooms that won’t get filled from the 25,000 visitors expected that mid-March weekend. And dinners that won’t be served, the tips that won’t be earned at local restaurants.And sales that won’t be made by vendors at the event. And money that won’t be raised for...
Signing Day worth $3.3 million to local athletes
There is a sports story on the front page of the Tallahassee Democrat this morning. Let the hate mail begin. Why is all the “important” news of the day buried inside while you publish “trivial” stories such as this one about the NCAA football national signing day on the front page? Well, let me start with a few numbers: 49: How many student-athletes from the Big Bend region who signed letters of...
January 2009
13 posts
Remembering two civil-rights heroes
I was asked to speak at Friday’s renaming of W. Jennings Street in honor of Wilhelmina Jakes and Carrie Patterson, the two Florida A&M University students who lived on Jennings Street in 1956 when they sat in a whites-only section on a city bus. Their actions helped ignite the Tallahassee Bus Boycott, and begin a tradition of student activism at FAMU and across America that has carried forward...
Sure I go on momslikeme.com, so what?
Some of my Facebook friends were giving me a hard time because I joined the Facebook group for Tallahassee’s momslikeme.com.
Leslie Boyd, a reporter who worked with me at the Asheville (N.C.) Citizen-Times, started it out with this post: “Uh, Bob, you’re not a mom.”
Technically, no, I said in response.
Well, that set off a bunch of other comments both on my Facebook page and in my e-mail...
Why Charlie Crist is so popular
I spent much of the last week in the company of other reporters and editors from around the state and almost all day Thursday sitting on a plastic folding chair listening to speaker after speaker talk about the state’s financial mess.
Not just any speakers: We heard from the state’s top brass including Gov. Charlie Crist and CFO Alex Sink, Senate President Jeff Atwater, House Speaker Ray Sansom,...
What people are saying about Obama
Look, I’ll admit it. I’m a sucker for this kind of thing. Strip away all of the politics and all of contrived made-for-TV stuff of any inauguration, and there was a man who had fulfilled his dream, surrounded by his lovely and so very proud wife and family, in front of millions of people. And on top of all that, he is the embodiment of the hopes and dreams of so very many millions more. I’ll admit...
Reembering those who came before Obama
The drive in the car is always a chance for talking with my son. Last night, we talked about Martin Luther King Jr., C.K. Steele, Ralph Abernathy, Rosa Parks, Wilhelmina Jakes and Carrie Patterson. Jakes and Patterson were the young Florida A&M students who ignited the Tallahassee bus boycott in 1956 and helped spread the civil-rights movement to Florida’s capital city. We spoke of Willie...
Speaking for my daughter's friends
A little girl I know has been hospitalized at Shands in Gainesville since Dec. 23. She has been battling infection, fever and an array of respiratory and other ailments since undergoing a spinal-fusion operation.
Doctors inserted metal rods into her back and wired them to her spine to prevent scoliosis, or curvature. Over time, the rods fuse to the spine to keep it straight and strong....
Note to pilot: So much for the good life
Allow me a second to speak for my kind: men. Marcus Schrenker, dude, what were you thinking? Take a look at picture No. 2 in our photo gallery. Marcus is depicted looking rather handsome, standing in front of a car I can’t afford and a private plane I can’t afford with his arm around his wife Michelle that I … well, I better stop there. Other photos in the gallery show his home I cannot afford on...
What's different between Hilton and Anthony cases?
Here’s the part I don’t get in blocking public access to dicovery documents in the Gary Michael Hilton case under the argument that the court, prosecutors and defense attorneys are concerned about protecting the pool of potential jurors from public opinion:
What is different about publicity in the Hilton case and what is happening in Orlando in the Casey Anthony case?
Sure, Orlando is a bigger...
Missing our point in Gary Michael Hilton case
It now appears that Leon County Circuit Judge Terry Lewis may be ready to release some documents in the Gary Michael Hilton case scheduled to go to trial later this year.
Hilton, of course, is the man accused of the heinous murder of Cheryl Dunlap of Crawfordville. He’s also admitted to murdering a young woman in Georgia and has been possibly linked to the murder of an elderly couple in North...
aKtion Club inspires me to write
Every so often – just when it is most needed – life offers you a gift of inspiration. I received mine last night. I had been invited to speak to a group with the Killearn Kiwanis Club that supports its special chapter called the aKtion Club. Membership in the aKtion Club is comprised of developmentally challenged adults. They have their own officers and, as a service organization, work with...
Facebook crowd ready when Bush decides to run
Jeb Bush says he won’t run for the U.S. Senate in 2010 because now is not the right time for him to return to elected office.
What that means, of course, is everyone else can and probably will.
The jostling has already begun, not just for the seat Sen. Mel Martinez is giving up, but for those that will be given up by the people who will now line up to run for the Senate. It’s like dominoes (the...
Better the Gators than Sooners
OK, let’s get this straight: The only time blue and orange look good is on a New York Mets logo. And grown people mimicking a gluttonous reptile by waving your arms … well, you just look ridiculous.
I mean really: The whole alligator species should have become extinct centuries ago.
But as football teams go, these Gators are alive and well for a national championship bid. Well, a BCS championship....
If we keep cutting education, who is going to...
In my next life, I’m going to hit the math books more heavily. I might even try to stay awake in algebra class. It seems in all walks of life math is the most-needed skill these days.
Take subtraction, for example.
Right down the road from my office where I sit typing this blog, state lawmakers are doing a lot of math, trying to figure out how to subtract $2.3 billion from $70 billion.
I was...
December 2008
14 posts
Resolving to find the silver lining
OK, it’s that time, when the pessimism of the last year gets overwhelmed by hopes for the New Year. Maybe that’s why Christmas precedes the turning of the calendar: It, too, offers hope.I’ll tell you my resolutions for the New Year, but you have to tell me yours, too: 1. Work harder and more effectively. 2. Play, watch and live more baseball. 3. Do more to help others. 4. Learn to shoot straighter...
FSU over Wisconsin by 10 in bowl game
OK, so it’s the holidays and FSU is playing football again. All is perfect, right? Florida State, 8-4, is favored by the odds makers to beat Wisconsin, 7-5, by 5 or 6 points in the Champs Sports Bowl in Orlando Saturday. I think it will be more like 10. Kickoff is officially scheduled for 4:30 p.m. Wisconsin has a losing conference record and I place a lot of value on how you play against the...