Community Bloggers

The first question most people ask when they find I’ve moved to Ponce Inlet is, “Can you see the Lighthouse?”

ORMOND BEACH -- 9/11/11: Can it be only 10 years ago that I was living in Palm Beach County when a friend called just after 8:30 AM and told me to turn on the television? I watched in horror as one trade tower burned and crumbled. And then the other one was being targeted by an airliner, moments away from destruction. 

DAYTONA BEACH SHORES -- There are moments which stick in your mind, even when you wish they would go away. For the America of my youth, the most crushing of those moments was the assassination of JFK on Nov. 22, 1963. In those days, Jack Kennedy was everyone’s hero, the hope of the future, and virtually everyone over age 10 can remember where they were when they first learned that the President had been shot. For this generation that moment is 9/11.

By DARLENE VANN

EDGEWATER -- I am as touched by the events of 9/11 as everyone in this country is as I was that horrible day but I don’t think the survivors and families need to be reminded yearly with footage of that disaster and continuous news coverage.

They have never forgotten, most likely never will, but maybe the nightmares have started to diminish somewhat until they turn on a television or look at a newspaper before, during or right after 9/11 whatever year it may beat the time.

We should mark the disaster with the moment of silence of when the first plane hit the Twin Towers. Those people who were there that day should be remembered and they are in the hearts of all the citizens of this country. I personally do not want to watch people jumping from the burning towers or the towers falling ever again. That horrible sight will always be in my head. I don’t need to be reminded what happened that day 10 years ago. Does anyone?

PONCE INLET -- Anytime I move into a new home, I know to expect the unexpected. That said, despite home inspections, something is bound to go wrong the day I move in. Within the first week, the refrigerator went on the blink and the air conditioner compressor was not far behind.

NEW SMYRNA BEACH -- Mark your calendars for some great opportunities to get your business in front of consumers in Volusia County.

The day before I'm due to leave town I get a frantic call from a woman about a cat.(An everyday occurrence for me) She said a neighbor moved and left behind this beautiful pure white cat with one blue eye and one green eye. As it turned out, that neighbor did no good for the poor feline.

I heard on television where Piers Morgan of CNN was doing a show questioning if the government and media went overboard in their evacuations, warnings and media hype preceding Hurricane Irene. Now that gets my goat.

They call us the Cuda Nation; Cuda Team, Cuda Country, Cuda Spirit… a Cuda family. But this Cuda family of New Smyrna Beach High School is down one team player tonight. Frederick Fernandez, age 55, also known as Mr. Fernandez, a math teacher, has died.

For 200 years, American forces have fought in many wars: Valley Forge, Gettysburg, world War I, World War II, Korea, Vietnam, Iraq, Afghanistan, all for the cause of freedom. What is it about the United States of America, are we the only country that will fight for freedom for other countries so that their people can be free?