Jimmy and Debbie Bradford of the Village Pennecamp were thrown from their golf cart in an accident Thursday evening.
The pair were traveling on the golf cart path near the intersection of Buena Vista Boulevard and Stillwater Trail.
Both were were airifted to Ocala Regional Medical Center.
Jimmy Bradford was listed in critical condition with head trauma at the Ocala hospital. Debbie Bradford was listed in fair condition.
Just Mike
Katie Belle’s | 12:00 pm
Suzie Casta
Katie Belle’s | 3:30 pm
Smokin’ Torpedoes
SS Town Square | 5:00 pm
3 For the Road
LSL Market Square | 5:00 pm
The Dan Story Band
BW Paddock Square | 5:00 pm
The Villages Vettes Corvette Club Show
LSL Market Square | 5:00 pm
Tom LaVenia, Still Kickin’ Bluegrass CPM Blues and Brews Walk
SS Town Square | 6:00 pm
Cactus Jack & The Cadillacs
Katie Belle’s | 6:30 pm
The biggest names in golf have visited The Villages.
Chi Chi Rodriguez. Arnold Palmer. Greg Norman.
LPGA legend Nancy Lopez calls The Villages “home.”
But Jack Nicklaus? That’s a biggie.
The Golden Bear will headline a benefit event Monday at the Villages Polo Fields.
Doors will open at 10 a.m. with the event planned to start around 12:30 p.m. A concert will begin immediately after the main stage activities around 3:30 p.m. and lasting until 5 p.m. Villages favorite Garrett Miles will perform.
Other celebrtities particiating in the event include golfers David Duval , Jim Furyk and Michelle McGann; Charlie Rymer of the Golf Channel and Catherine Herridge of Fox News.
For the latest information on the event visit:
http://www.golfthevillages.com/
The Community Improvement Council in The Villages has distributed 3,000 flashers in the first year of the Bright At Night campaign.
Bright At Night makes flashers available to increase visibility for walkers and joggers who prefer exercising early in the morning or in the evening.
With daylight slipping away each day, the need for visibility becomes even more important.
The CIC Bright At Night campaign reaches out to residents from 5 to 7 p.m. on the third Thursday of each month at Lake Sumter Landing Market Square.
“Safety is very important,” said CIC President Paulette Graeven.
Parady Financial provides assistance to Bright At Night. Those receiving flashers are asked to make a $3 donation to the CIC. The money is used to buy more flashers.
Rocky and the Rollers jumped into the public awareness campaign for Bright At Night by donning flashers while performing Thursday evening at Market Square.
The CIC is the oldest resident group in The Villages. It was created in 1985 and Villages founder Harold Schwartz was an original member.
An individual who will play a key role as The Villages moves toward building homes in Fruitland Park was hired Thursday night by the Fruitland Park Commission.
Gary La Venia, township manager in Maple Shade, N.J. will be the new city manager in Fruitland Park.
“He is the right man for the job,” said Fruitland Park Mayor Christopher Bell. “We did our homework. He has managed a lot of growth in his career.”
The Villages plans to build 2,038 homes on the Pine Ridge Dairy Tract.
“I think The Villages are impressive,” La Venia said in a phone interview Thursday evening. “I think this development is going to be a real bonus for Fruitland Park.”
La Venia has been township manager in Maple Shade, N.J. since March 2010.
For six years prior to that, he worked in Burlington County, N.J. as director for the county improvement authority. In his resume, he described Burlington County as, “Once almost 100 percent farmland, roughly one-third of the region is now extensively developed. Growth occurred at a tremendous rate.”
He earned undergraduate and graduate degrees at Rutgers University.
La Venia will be paid $99,950 annually. He will be provided a $5,000 moving allowance. He will have a guaranteed 16-week severance package. He will start with three weeks paid vacation his first year and will have four weeks paid vacation the second year.
His start date is Jan. 6.
The Villages Drumming Circle will hold a full moon drumming event beginning at 6:45 p.m. today near The Villages Polo Club.
Participants will need to bring a chair. It is not necessary to own a drum, but good substitutes are pots and pans, buckets, rattles or plastic or metal bottles filled with pebbles or dry beans.
For information, call Jo Ward 753-7241.
To watch a video from a Full Moon Drumming Circle event in June, follow the link below:
http://villages-news.com/drumming-circle-welcomes-super-moon/
The Blonde in the House and I received some very interesting information from 23andMe. 23andMe is a place where you send some spit and they analyze it for your DNA and tell you all sorts of things about your ancestral past as well as health indicators. Our oldest son sent his spit in and suggested that we do the same. Sending spit is not as bad as it sounds since they send you a vial in which to accumulate enough.
After about eight weeks, you hear from them in many e-mails. For example, the Blonde in the House is 37.7% Irish/British with most of the rest being other European. I thought I would be up there too, since my great grandparents came over from Wales, but I am only 14.1% British. The rest of my European background includes 15.1% non-specific European. Some friends suggest that the latter is due to the fact that my ancestors were probably poachers on royal lands and were chased all over Europe.
Apparently everybody has some Neanderthal in them. Mine is 2.8% and the Blonde’s is 3.1% which makes her more of a caveman (caveperson?) than me. I could probably explore this aspect a little more, but I believe that I just may move on to another subject. For example, they can compare your DNA to famous people whose DNA is available for various reasons. The Blonde’s showed that she shares some with Ben Franklin and Bono. That is quite a combination.
In my case, the best they could come up with was Yo Yo Ma (pretty good) and Jesse James (probably not too good). However, you must remember that they do not have the DNA of anywhere near the number of people who have lived and are living. If they did, it would probably be a different situation in my case. I know I have a French connection through my mother’s side. If they had Charlemagne’s for example, there is no question that I would be in a direct line. Also how about Sir Lancelot, who was French! He probably fooled around in France before he went to England and chased Arthur’s wife around the Round Table.
23andMe also puts you in connection with other people who share chunks of your DNA. I have had some correspondence with some of them. One lady was trying to find her father who she had never met, and whose mother would not tell her who he was. All she knew was that he was a Navy man who had been stationed in San Diego. I was able to clear all my known relatives, including myself. Tune in next time, and we will calmly review the health aspects of having your DNA undergo analysis.
Barry Evans is a resident of The Villages.
By Steve Fussell
Villages-News.com
Fruitland Park has appointed veteran public administrator and former Broward deputy county administrator Esther B. Lewin-Coulson City Clerk.
Interim city manager Rick Conner said Coulson has more than 25 years of administrative experience. She began her career as Executive Secretary at Windsmoor and Planet, Plc., a British fashion house that specializes in stylish women’s coats.
From 1988 to 2008 she served as Administrative Assistant and Senior Secretary to the Broward Board of County Commissioners, where she was sworn in as deputy county administrator.
During her tenure with Broward County, Coulson also served as City Clerk in the City of West Park in Broward County. Her former positions include Town Clerk for the Town of Cutler Bay in Miami-Dade County, Assistant to the Consulate in the British Embassy in Miami, and Town Clerk and Records Administrator for the Town of Hilton Head Island in Beaufort, South Carolina.
“Esther Coulson has an impressive resume and a fascinating background and we are very pleased to have her in Fruitland Park,” Conner said.
Coulson said she left South Florida for Hilton Head Island to pursue a less hectic lifestyle but soon found the political climate in the uber-wealthy resort community even more distracting.
“I knew I wanted something in between Hilton Head Island and Miami,” Coulson said. “When I saw the Fruitland Park position advertised I thought ‘this could be it,’ and now that I have visited the area and met so many people I feel like I am at home,” she said.
Coulson’s professional credentials include Certified Municipal Clerk and Florida Certified Records Manager, which she earned at Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton. She is currently pursuing certifications as a Master Municipal Clerk and Certified Records Manager, and has completed the Parliamentary Procedures Course at the University of Hawaii.
Mayor Chris Bell said he is delighted Coulson has joined the city staff. “We have an incredible task before us and Esther Lewin-Coulson has the background and experience to help us do our best,” Bell said.
Muriel C. Reichers formerly of Port Charlotte, FL died October 15, 2013 in The Villages, FL. Born in Brooklyn, NY on July 19, 1926. Moved to Port Charlotte in 1969 from Long Island, NY. Funeral service will be held Sat., Oct. 19, 2013 11:00 AM at Hiers-Baxley Funeral Services, The Villages. She is survived by her daughters, Karen (Bill) Noel of The Villages, FL, and Lynn Reichers-Royall of Orlando, FL; grandchildren, Christopher and Curtis Peron, and Ashley Royall. Preceded in death by husband, Frederick Reichers. Sentiments may be left online at www.hiers-baxley.com
As part of Wednesday night’s deal to reopen the government and avoid the nation’s first-ever default included the creation of a special panel of lawmakers to negotiate a long-term budget compromise.
U.S. Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA) will co-chair the joint House-Senate panel with U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI). Among those Murray appointed to the panel from the Senate is Florida’s U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson. The Florida Democrat along with the other 27 members on the conference panel will be charged with crafting a budget blueprint by Dec. 13 that will be acceptable to both major political parties. The conferees will have until that date to resolve what amounts to a nearly $90 billion difference between the differing budgets as proposed by the Senate and House.
“The way I see this, every member of Congress has a responsibility to put aside partisan political differences in favor of finding common-sense solutions,” said Nelson, a political moderate who’s long advocated for more civility in public service. Nelson currently is in his third six-year term in the Senate, where he serves on both the Finance and Budget committees.
The bipartisan, bicameral conference committee was created as part of the deal the House and Senate passed late last night to end the 16-day government shutdown and avoid a U.S. financial default. Here are all the conferees:
Democrats from the Senate
Murray
Nelson
Ron Wyden (OR)
Debbie Stabenow (MI)
Sheldon Whitehouse (RI)
Mark Warner (VA)
Jeff Merkley (OR)
Chris Coons (DE)
Tammy Baldwin (WI)
Tim Kaine (VA)
Independents from the Senate
Bernie Sanders (VT)
Angus King (ME)
Republicans from the Senate
Jeff Sessions (AL)
Chuck Grassley (IA)
Mike Enzi (WY)
Mike Crapo (ID)
Lindsey Graham (SC)
Pat Toomey (PA)
Ron Johnson (WI)
Kelly Ayotte (NH)
Roger Wicker (MS)
Republicans from the House
Ryan
Reps. Tom Cole (OK)
Tom Price (GA)
Diane Black (TN)
Democrats from the House
Chris Van Hollen (MD)
James Clyburn (SC)
Nita Lowey (NY)
