Ocala News

Today’s Star Banner offers an article titled “Does level of education matter with superintendent candidates?” and it asks this question because Jackie Porter is running for Superintendent of Marion County Schools but she has no degree while all of her opponents do. I choose the title of this article because I think it more accurately reflects what the [...]

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I read this story yesterday and was shocked when I realized that our autistic son went to the very same school just two years back thankfully without incident. I certainly agree that the teachers should be removed from their jobs with disabled students and even possibly all students. A teacher should have the training and [...]

Yet another sex offender in Ocala has been arrested and once again this man works in a house of worship. Why so many sex offenders are people who work directly with children remains amystery to us but it is yet more proof that children should be extra careful around persons whom they are supposed to [...]

The doors are shut on Kingdom Kidz formerlly known as Kids Zone USA after what has been a lenghty and drawn out battle by a myriad of officials and agents including the mortgage holder and county school officials. the linked article below states parents are forced to scramble to find new day care arrangements for [...]

The Melinda Duckett trial against television personality Nancy Grace has been postponed so that one of the attorneys in the case can recuperate from knee surgery. I think it’s odd such a personal reason for an attorney to take leave and I ask myself why they need time off or why they can’t find a replacement attorney to push things through but I assume all parties wanted the extra time to better prepare a case in what is sure to be a volatile trial by jury.

I will refrain from injecting my personal opinion on this case for the simple fact I have a predisposed hatred of Nancy Grace and anything she does on television. I think her sensationalist news reporting and “hard hitting style” are disgusting and she has been wrong on more than one occasion with her slanted opinions and judgemental review of every non case in the world.

In my darkest days I have never once considered taking my own life. It's odd to me that a person would be so distraught and unhappy that they would chose death over the reality of life. This couple made the decision to end their own lives rather than face the difficult times ahead of them related to health problems and financial issues.

Sadly it appears to me that we will begin to see more and more of these types of cases as the economy gets worse and peoples health declines because of a lack of support and options for sick and poor people. It's sad they had no money for things but they did own a total of three guns and even chose to use one on the family dog of 14 years as well.

My oldest son is autistic and to be honest we had real problems brushing his teeth when he was younger. At one point he had about 5 cavities in his mouth and we were forced to find a dentist who would do surgery in his mouth with sedation because there was no way he would allow a dentist, or anyone for that matter, to touch him.

We had to take him to the University of Florida in Gainesville to have his mouth fixed and that was about 5 years ago. Wehad very limited choices and if I am not mistaking the UF dentist was the only one who would even take our son. In total it cost me about $2500 cash to have his teeth fixed and they implanted 3 steel replacements for his baby teeth. Now today he has been taught to brush better and he remebers how painful and difficult the dentist was so he takes better care of his teeth.

We try to read as much as we can but to be very honest we lack when compared to many other parents and I really want to make sure that my children can read as well as I do. Over  the years I have come to realize that my grasp of the English language has been a valued asset in life and I want to transfer this knowledge to my progeny.

We have always read used books we picked up from flea markets, thrift stores and other places and at one point we had a respectable library of our own books. When we took to traveling and sold our home in Florida we moved a lot of things to storage and purged a number of items. Books were the first thing to go because  they are so heavy and take up so much space and the logic was that computers and the internet would cover the missing books with webpages.

Something sick is happening in Ocala and I must confess it has me more worried about anything else I can think of and especially so since the birth of my daughter some weeks back. As I ponder the future for myself and my family I worry often about a number of issues but sex crimes on children are by far my greatest concern.

Living here in Ocala has always felt safe and far away from these things but recent news and a closer look at available information makes you wonder just how safe we are from sexual predators in Ocala and Marion County. In the past week alone two old men were caught and have seemingly confessed to child rape on children as young as 5 years old. What kind of person can imagine sexual relation with a child? How sick are we as a society cannot even respect the sanctity of childhood and let them grow up before we corrupt them with our evil ways?

The Jervey Gantt Family Aquatic Center is a Water Theme Park located in Ocala Florida which offers affordable water park activities for families and children of Ocala and Marion County Florida. In comparison to the major commercial water park at Wild Waters it is much smaller but the ease of access and ability to control your kids plus the smaller crowds and shallow water pools makes this an excellent choice for budget oriented families seeking to cut costs for summer and spring time water park activities.

For less than $2 per child you can spend hours at this Ocala water park and the kids will be so tired they'll probably go home and head straight to bed as my children do so often. A day at the Jervey Gantt park is a wonderful way to waste a day away from the hot sun in the cool splash pools so inviting to parents and kids alike.