Middle County engineer Squire Whipple announced that the State Department of Transportation is granting 200 - thousand dollars for the rehabilitation and repairs of the deteriorating Middle County Salt Creek bridge on Old Route 9. The bridge which spans about 300 feet was built in 1834 and had to be closed in 2005 due to the hazards that were present which worried local preservationists and commuters in the county. The 200 thousand dollar grant will be enough to cover the hefty 2M dollar estimate of total repairs.
-30-
Wednesday, May 27, 2009
Thursday, May 21, 2009
Message Sent
SEXTING-(St. Augustine)- Sexting, as defined in the website urbandictionary.com, is "the act of text messaging someone in the hopes of having a sexual encounter with them later." Think: Sweet little Miley Cyrus aka Hannah Montana in a wet tee shirt complete with erect pre-tween um... let's just say that it did not just land in her ex-boyfriend Nick Jonas' phone inbox.
Had 16 year old little Ms. Cyrus been in the state of Vermont, Sen. John Campbell would have given her a serious reprimanding.
In a recent article found in collegenews.com, Vermont lawmakers are trying to propose a bill that exempts "sextually active" kids aged 13-18 yrs from prosecution, but would still impose laws against "lewd and lascivious conduct." Sen. John Campbell was quoted on The Today Show saying that "We have to understand that there is certainly a difference between bad behavior and bad decision-making and criminal behavior."
For more of the story, check out http://www.collegenews.com/index.php?/dating/sexting_criminal_or_childish.
Monday, May 18, 2009
It's High Time, Dude
LEGALIZATION DEBATE - (St. Augustine, FL)- Republican California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger wants to debate the legalization of Marijuana not just for medicinal advantages but for recreational purposes in the Golden State.
According to an online San Francisco Chronicle article, “California's projected budget deficit has grown as large as $21.3 billion”
Gov. Schwarzenegger has stated in a press conference that “ ideas of creating extra revenues (are worth considering) … I think we ought to study very carefully what other countries are doing that have legalised marijuana and other drugs." The benefit to California if marijuana is legalized is that they can tax sales of the illegal substance. According to a recent public opinion poll of California voters, a majority of 56 percent favor legalization of marijuana. If the legalization were to be implemented, this California trend is likely to meet with some favoring along with plenty of resistance in many other parts of the country.
St. Augustine locals have a very mixed view of the situation.
Flagler College Bugg’s Bistro employee Patrick Graham, 22 says that “I think that if the entire nation did that (legalize recreational Marijuana), the entire country would greatly benefit and reduce its deficit considerably and I would be more than happy to buy my weed at a highly taxed rate.”
Flagler College Assistant Dean of Academic Affairs Yvan Kelly has a totally different opinion when it comes to the legalization of pot. “Just think, if marijuana was legalized all of you kids would not even find logic in anything anymore- you would just stop attending school to get high, not come in to work because you’re probably too high or sleeping in, and probably use up all your parents hard earned money in order to get a hold of marijuana. You think that’s a fair system? I most certainly do not think so.”
Claire Lawrance, 56 currently unemployed and mother of 3 teenagers aged 13, 15, and 19 is all for it. “If booze, cigarettes and prescription medicines are okay with the government- all of which are heavily abused and can kill a human being, I don’t get why marijuana is such a big issue here.”
Here's the thing. If marijuana is not legalized people who smoke the stuff will continue, people who don't will not. Criminals will continue to profit from the production, distribution, and sale of marijuana. Drug lords will continue to decapitate rivals and hurt innocent folks. Prisons will remain overcrowded with new recruits for harder crimes with no chance for a real life. Taxpayers will continue to dump $$$ billions to enforce marijuana laws. The failed war on drugs will rage on. But if Marijuana is legalized for casual use costly prison overcrowding goes away. Costly public safety budgets are reduced. Police can focus on real crime. A new economic market is opened for growth and jobs. Drug king pins lose. Safety of use is assured. Tax revenues increase without raising taxes on anything else. So where is the debate? It's a true win-win to legalize marijuana.
According to an online San Francisco Chronicle article, “California's projected budget deficit has grown as large as $21.3 billion”
Gov. Schwarzenegger has stated in a press conference that “ ideas of creating extra revenues (are worth considering) … I think we ought to study very carefully what other countries are doing that have legalised marijuana and other drugs." The benefit to California if marijuana is legalized is that they can tax sales of the illegal substance. According to a recent public opinion poll of California voters, a majority of 56 percent favor legalization of marijuana. If the legalization were to be implemented, this California trend is likely to meet with some favoring along with plenty of resistance in many other parts of the country.
St. Augustine locals have a very mixed view of the situation.
Flagler College Bugg’s Bistro employee Patrick Graham, 22 says that “I think that if the entire nation did that (legalize recreational Marijuana), the entire country would greatly benefit and reduce its deficit considerably and I would be more than happy to buy my weed at a highly taxed rate.”
Flagler College Assistant Dean of Academic Affairs Yvan Kelly has a totally different opinion when it comes to the legalization of pot. “Just think, if marijuana was legalized all of you kids would not even find logic in anything anymore- you would just stop attending school to get high, not come in to work because you’re probably too high or sleeping in, and probably use up all your parents hard earned money in order to get a hold of marijuana. You think that’s a fair system? I most certainly do not think so.”
Claire Lawrance, 56 currently unemployed and mother of 3 teenagers aged 13, 15, and 19 is all for it. “If booze, cigarettes and prescription medicines are okay with the government- all of which are heavily abused and can kill a human being, I don’t get why marijuana is such a big issue here.”
Here's the thing. If marijuana is not legalized people who smoke the stuff will continue, people who don't will not. Criminals will continue to profit from the production, distribution, and sale of marijuana. Drug lords will continue to decapitate rivals and hurt innocent folks. Prisons will remain overcrowded with new recruits for harder crimes with no chance for a real life. Taxpayers will continue to dump $$$ billions to enforce marijuana laws. The failed war on drugs will rage on. But if Marijuana is legalized for casual use costly prison overcrowding goes away. Costly public safety budgets are reduced. Police can focus on real crime. A new economic market is opened for growth and jobs. Drug king pins lose. Safety of use is assured. Tax revenues increase without raising taxes on anything else. So where is the debate? It's a true win-win to legalize marijuana.
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
Story Pitch
SWINE FLU PARANOIA - (St. Augustine) - The Swine Flu outbreak that has been making headlines across the nation since late April is unfortunately way too sensationalized. People do not get their facts right and assume right away that a single sneeze would probably kill them. Locals as well as health officials need to be properly informed on what Swine Flu/H1N1 really is and what should be done in order to prevent it from spreading while at the same time treat patients who actually have not been diagnosed with the actual virus like actual human beings and not shun them away just because of a really bad cold, which is the sad thing that is actually going on right now.
Tuesday, May 5, 2009
Le Sigh
Writing extinguishes the fire in my brain. I have always been an avid writer, it's just that lately I haven't been doing it as much as I used to. I am a pretty opinionated individual and I refuse to let things go without having something crazy to say. My writing has definitely gotten me places, I have written for my high school paper since freshman year, garnered a perfect score in the essay portion of my SATs and got admitted to three top universities in the West Coast. I also got into serious trouble my junior year in high school because of a blog I posted online which eventually led to my dismissal from my prep school in Guam and prompted me to transfer during my senior year to another high school and start over. My mother always warned me about the kind of material that I write about and to just refrain from using too much explicit content, eheh, well say what again, ma? I attended the University of California-Riverside my freshman year and transferred to the University of California Los Angeles my sophomore year and was part of the Arts and Entertainment Staff of my campus publication. It was a fun job and got to write concert/cd/movie and book reviews which I ultimately loved, but I wanted to change things a bit. I had an issue with the UC administration and wrote an open letter to the President of the University of California, which addressed not only my concern but others' as well. Administration wasn't too happy with it and had me out of the newspaper staff. Le sigh. Next stop: Flagler College? The Gargoyle? ahah no thanks.
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