Don’t forget that on Wednesday October 27 is the annual State of the Village Address. The event is always the big deal of the year, but this time especially so since it’s the last one for departing Mayor Gene Flinn. The same is true for Councilman Ed Feller, MD, and both gentlemen will likely be reminiscing a bit.
Held again at the Palmetto Bay Village Center in the Palm Room, which is big enough to handle the anticipated crowd of perhaps 500 folks, at Old Cutler Road and 184th Street, the theme for the night is Building Community. “We’ve been doing that for the last eight years,” says Mayor Flinn, and with that in mind there will be a look back at what has been accomplished during that time, with not only words but also a 20 minute video showcasing high points of village history since pre-incorporation days as well as places and people, including past and present council members, with the new village hall as the capstone.
Baptist Health is funding the catering for the “light refreshments,” which include hot hors d’oeuvres, wine, soft drinks and desserts. Bo Boulenger, CEO of Baptist Hospital, is again serving as the MC of the event, which starts at 6:30 p.m. this year to allow extra time for visiting with the outgoing guys.
The invitations are being mailed out with the new village map, which will save postage, and there’s a link on the village website, www.palmettobay-fl.gov/, which will take you to the online version of the invitation on Facebook.
This year three additional sponsors, Krispy Kreme Donuts, 1st National Bank of South Florida and University Credit Union, are pitching in to help defray expenses. All three are opening new branches in the Franjo Triangle area near the new village hall location.
Getting ‘dolled up’... We hear from Palmetto Bay residents Gunther and Shirley Karger that they recently visited Baton Rouge, Louisiana, specifically Shirley’s doll exhibit in the museum on the Louisiana State University campus. Seems they took a few more dolls to Shirley’s Doll Cove. “This museum also houses the official LSU Tiger sports exhibit and you should be sure to visit this museum and the beautiful LSU campus if you are in the Baton Rouge area,” says Gunther. They stayed at the beautiful LSU Cook Hotel, which is part of the LSU Cook Alumni Center right on the LSU campus consisting of the hotel, a large conference center and the museum, and also attended a wedding in New Orleans while there.
Just as figger’d, last word on the petition “drive” to end MDX tolls is that it’s being shelved for now as the powers-that-be try to work out a compromise that will satisfy Commissioner Souto’s objections while reducing commuter, senior and student fees.
However, credit FDOT’s wordsmiths with posting warning emblems bearing the Sunpass logo on Kendall Drive approaches to SR 878 (Snapper Creek) and 874 (Shula), noting the requirement of “Cash Only.” It must have taken special restraint to resist enlarging the letters to “ONLY,” striking the word “Cash” to make the sign read “Sunpass Only,” which would hardly make sense to newcomers, tourists and the like. Just thought we’d “pat the po-pos” of SR folks to make up for picking on their officialdom for a change.
You know you’re a Floridian if a good parking place has to do with shade, not distance from the store; you leave the umbrella at home because the rain will be over in five minutes; you’ve driven through Yeehaw Junction; you think a six-foot alligator is about average; you’re annoyed at folks who feed seagulls; you know that anything under Category 3 isn’t worth the struggle with plywood four-by-eights; and TV weather people are the only people tracking storms off the African coast because reporting Florida “weather” really bores them to bits, the year ‘round.
Thought of the Day: Man is free at the moment he wishes to be. — Voltaire
Gary Alan Ruse and Richard Yager contributed to this column.
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