Lake County, Florida

Bicyclists: Please be careful

Earlier today I passed two bicyclists on Old Highway 50 (near where the speed limit drops to a crawling 30mph) who were riding on the road 2-3 feet from the edge of the road.  This is dangerous and unnecessary, especially since there is a nice bike trail (the South Lake Trail) just a few feet over.  The road is also bumpy there so the trail would be a better place to bike anyway.  Others have made similar comments.

Bicyclists, please be careful.  Given that we'll have many more miles of bike trails in the near future, there should be much less need for bicyclists to risk their own safety by reading on busy, narrow roads.

Anti sex-offender momentum grows

The city of Oviedo in Seminole County is trying to pass a law prohibiting sexual predators and certain other sex offenders from living within a one mile "restricted zone" of schools, churches, day-care centers, parks and playgrounds.  State law now prohibits sexual predators and certain other sex offenders from living withing 1000 feet (or about one-fifth of a mile) of the places where children congregate.

Similar legislation is being pushed in Miami Beach, where officials there are trying to create a restricted zone 2500 feet (or about one-half of mile) wide.  Given Miami Beach's peninsular shape, this would essentially drive sexual predators and perhaps some other sex offenders from the city).  The effort in Oviedo would have a similar impact, creating very large restricted zones.

Groups that will likely protest such laws on behalf of sex offenders face an uphill battle.  They'll argue that these laws impede upon the Constitutional Rights of the sex offenders.  But, come on, children have Constitutional Rights too!

Groveland votes to limit growth in Green Swamp

Groveland City Council voted 4-0 last night to limit growth in the environmentally sensitive Green Swamp area, limiting development to one house per five acres.  The Citizens Coalition of Lake County has been working diligently since November 2004 to rally support for protecting the environmentally sensitive Green Swamp.

Home Values in Clermont and Lake County

A report by Channel 6 shows that, in the past 24 months, home values in Clermont are up 35% while home values in Lake County overall are up 30%. 

If you want to investigate home values in your area, visit Yahoo Real Estate's "What's My Home Worth?"  Another good site to check out is Realtor.com.

Anna Cowin's husband threatens and makes physical contact with Lake County School Board member

Yesterday, the Lake County School Board voted to eliminate 3 positions which Anna Cowin filled with overpaid and under-qualified former staffers (see "Lake County School Board fires 3 Anna Cowin staffers").

Now several people are coming forward saying that John Cowin, Anna Cowin's husband, threatened Lake County School Board member Jimmy Conner, called Conner a profanity, clenched his fists, and then pushed Conner strongly by bumping his chest against Conner's.

Anna Cowin has serious issues.  There's no way she can run a successfully program given recent outrage against her politics - and now there's evidence that her clan is a violent one.  But you'd think that John Cowin, a orthopedic surgeon, would know how to better handle himself.  If I were one of his patients, I'd find another doctor (he has an office in Leesburg).

Here's what Lauren Ritchie of the Orlando Sentinel has to say about the incident:

Bullying is an elementary-school tactic with no place in government.  The school superintendent's husband needs to learn this lesson, along with a second one: Always play it straight with the public.  Just when it didn't seem possible that Anna Cowin's standing with residents possibly could drop lower, her husband, Dr. John Cowin, got into a scrap with a School Board member in public.

John Cowin needs to come clean. Then he must apologize.

We agree.  And we think Anna Cowin should quit due to her mismanagement of her office.

Source:  Orlando Sentinel, 5/11/2005

Lake County School Board fires 3 Anna Cowin staffers

The Lake County School Board has voted to eliminate 3 positions that Anna Cowin filled with former political staff who were overpaid despite having now experience in education.  The positions eliminated are:

• Deputy Superintendent
• Public Information Officer
• Constituent Services Officer

The moves will be effective July 1, 2005, and will save Lake County school districts $159,000 each year. 

For more info, see Anna Cowin, Embattled Lake County School District Superintendent.

Source: Channel 9 News, 5/10/2005

Anna Cowin, Embattled Lake County School District Superintendent

Last year, Lake County taxpayers elected former Florida Senator Anna Cowin on a platform of fiscal responsibility.  However, by recently hiring some of her close political friends into some high paying positions, Anna Cowin has outraged Lake County residents.  What makes this worse is that none of these political friends of Anna Cowin have ANY experience in education!

In fact, residents have voiced their anger to the Lake County School Board and swift actions will be taken, including eliminating two jobs that Anna Cowin filled with her prior staffers.  Just take a look at who these two people are:

• Elaine Merrit, who has no college degree or prior experience in education, yet Anna Cowin hired her as the Deputy Superintendent, a position that pays $66,300 per year.
• Jeremiah "J.J." Whitson, who is paid $30,000 a year to apparently drive Anna Cowin around to different meetings in a Lake County owned SUV.  Whitson has no prior experience in education.

Cowin has hired several other political cronies into Lake County jobs, paying them as much as $88,000 per year even though they don't have experience in education.  The school board is also working to improve upon some mistakes Anna Cowin has made with the many school volunteers, such as canceling an expected recognition ceremony.

There are many, many issues with Anna Cowin.  For a complete listing of complaints against Cowin, I recommend Lake County Property Appraiser Ed Havill's website, RemoveCowin.com.  Havill has also collected dozens of news stories about Cowin.  Cowin is still over 3 years away from re-election, but people like Ed Havill and many current Lake County educators may are trying to force Cowin to step down.  At the same time, the Lake County School Board is doing their part by removing Cowin's inexperienced cronies from office one by one, making sure money is diverted to the schools where it belongs.

Thanks Lake County School Board for looking out for us!

Origin of Minneola name

For residents of the city of Minneola, you may be wondering what the name "Minneola" means.  If you're like me, you might have seen references to Minneola tangerines or oranges (so-called tangelos).  However, this is not correct.

Minneola turns out to also be Dakota Indian word meaning "many waters". 

List of Blogs in Clermont, Minneola and elsewhere in Lake County

I just completed an exhaustive web search of other *REAL* blogs in Lake County, including the cities of Clermont and Minneola.  Besides this Lake County, Florida blog you are currently reading, I found only two:

• Fred Sommer of Sommer Sports in Clermont has a blog called Fred's Blog, "Commentary by Fred Sommer on the sport and business of Triathlon"
• Clermont resident Jayme has a blog called My Crochet Blog

Now, there are lots of blogs are mostly real estate spam.  I'm sure you've run across some of these worthless sites before while searching for relevant Clermont, Minneola and Lake County sites.

Interestingly, there are as many blogs that mention Clermont triathlons as there are blogs in Lake County, Florida:

• A blog called TomTrout Multisport Coach includes a posting on the Great Clermont Triathlon Report
• Karl's Deck is a blog about a visitor (from Kirkland, Washington) who writes about his Great Floridian triathlon
• Yet another blog about a Great Florida triathlon participant in a blog called search: empathy

Proposed Clermont Movie Theaters

There are currently 3 movie theaters under consideration for Clermont, Minneola and the rest of nearby Lake County.  They are:

1. Epic Theatres:  About 1.5 miles south of US 27 and CR 50 (near Lake Minnehaha)
2. Tuscany Village / Debartolo:  About 1.5 miles north of US 27 and CR 50 (near Minneola)
3. Plaza Collina:  Near the Lake-Orange border on CR 50

Please see map to the right for the approximate locations where these Clermont movie theaters could be located.  (Click on map for a larger version)

I've found that details on these theaters are scarce.  I'm a movie buff and would love to know more concrete details.  But any web search turns up very little concrete info.  In fact, the more you search, the more you'd likely be confused.

Hopefully we'll get some more details soon.  There is some discussion about opening up a theater in the Spring of 2006.  That would be nice.