“God will never give you more than you can handle!” The woman before me proudly proclaimed this truism with great confidence, knowing that her wisdom had been derived directly from the Bible. One problem: It’s not in the Bible. More than that, I would submit it is contradictory to the Bible, and, I would suggest, […]
Continue ReadingLETTER: WLCA running low on mulligans
Dear Editor: Six months ago, the Walden Lake Community Association board was called out for a lack of transparency, consistency and objectivity regarding meetings between WLCA directors and Visions Golf LLC to discuss Visions development plans (see “Is WLCA out of bounds?” in the Sept. 18, 2013 edition of the Plant City Times & Observer. […]
Continue ReadingLETTER: Fireworks frighten animals, residents
Dear Editor: New Years Eve and the Fourth of July are two very terrifying days/nights of the year. Why? Because of general citizen use of fireworks. It used to be in this county and city that you traveled to a central location to watch a civic display of fireworks. Now, aerial fireworks are in every corner of the […]
Continue ReadingBREAKING: Tanker fire closes Interstate 4
SEFFNER — Authorities closed both directions of Interstate 4 in east Hillsborough County Friday morning after a tanker truck caught fire. The fire began about 10:30 a.m. near mile marker 9 in Seffner. The truck was carrying a chemical known as “Orange Essence,” according to the Florida Highway Patrol. Hillsborough County hazardous materials units were […]
Continue ReadingLETTER: Cone Ranch development will damage small-town feel
Dear Editor: We are Plant City. We’ve chosen — not an accident but chosen — to raise our families here. Why? Because there are few rural small towns left, and it is a beautiful land. Real Floridians have seen the rape and loss of our natural landscape by this exact thing all over the state. […]
Continue ReadingLETTER: Search should be national for city manager
Dear Editor: I trust a good search committee and a recruiter will be put on this to locate a solid replacement (for City Manager Greg Horwedel). With the interconnectivity of the Internet, a suitable replacement need not come from Florida but could be found virtually anywhere in the United States. Best wishes to the search […]
Continue ReadingLETTER: Lack of transparency concerns Plant City mom
Dear Editor: As a mother, I am concerned with the lack of transparency that is going on with Common Core being implemented in Hillsborough County and the state. While doing my Kindergarten Round Up, I was told by an assistant principal that the school (Shiloh Charter) is field-testing Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College […]
Continue ReadingFAITH MATTERS: Lent: ‘Spring Cleaning’ for Christians
“Do not remember the former things, or consider the things of old. I am about to do a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert.” — Isaiah 43: 18-19 On March 5, the Christian church began her Lenten […]
Continue ReadingA note from the Festival General Manager Paul Davis
The Florida Strawberry Festival is a special occasion during which Plant City shines. The entire town pauses for 11 days to celebrate our bountiful agricultural harvest. On behalf of our more than 2,000 volunteers, our staff members and our board of directors, I welcome you to the 2014 Florida Strawberry Festival. Here is a sneak […]
Continue ReadingLETTER: Remembering Gerald Hooker
Dear Editor: When I read in the Plant City Times & Observer that former Plant City Mayor Gerald Hooker died, I started remembering him as someone who meant a lot to people here. He was a friend of my late father’s and mine, and he ran Hooker’s Department Store, in downtown Plant City. The store […]
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