LET'S TAKE A MINUTE OUT OF OUR BUSY SCHEDULE...

...to tell y'all what's going on.

First of all, all of y'all are asking about Veronews.com and what exactly is happening with the launch. Honestly children, Miss Vero just does not know. Thank you, "SandCrab" for the additional link in the comment section. What we do know, is that it takes tremendous time and effort to start up any kind of new endeavor and so we are just being as patient as y'all. Miss Vero was asked to write a weekly contribution that will be called "BEYOND THE BEACH HOUSE" for Veronews.com and we did submit our article last week, but for whatever reason (and hunnies, we are dang sure they are good reasons), the launch did not go off as planned. Heck, even NASA has these problems. Not to worry, since our little contribution was a bit "time sensitive", we've decided to post an excerpt here for y'all. We'll send Veronews.com another article tomorrow and hope that the launch is soon.

Now y'all have probably noticed that Miss Vero hasn't been around much this summer, but hunnies we have been a travelin fool. Monday we have to go all the way out to Californy for a sad event - a dear friend passed away and we must attend a funeral. Perhaps you may have seen it in the news?

Anyhoo, as y'all probably know by now, we are not one to dwell on sad affairs and so before we skidaddle off to the Hills of Beverly, y'all need to know that as of September 1st, we will be back on a regular basis. Yessiree, the Beach House will be in full swing again, with special surprises and more fun! So keep that in mind and enjoy the summer!

Miss Vero – Beyond the Beach House! - A little Preview for y'all...





Miss Vero is so honored that we were asked by the lovely folks at Veronews.com to write a little something for y’all. Now we know that everyone thinks that nothing goes on here in the summer, but y’all just have to look in the right places.

On Friday evening (June 27th), we attended the grand opening party of the new Café Mojo, located in the sometimes seemingly vibrant downtown. Y’all would not have known it’s a slow summer judging by the standing room only party and the crowd directly next door at Undertow, otherwise known as “the epicenter of cool”. We didn’t know that the owner of Café Mojo, Caroline Collins, was a big fan of Miss Vero, so when we introduced ourselves she shrieked with recognition and delight! Caroline and her husband Billy have been open a few weeks but the party Friday night was so jammed packed, that the crowd was spilling into the street. We hear Friday night music and fun will be a regular thing, but y’all can give them a call for details -772-567-6900 (no web site just yet).


Caroline and Billy Collins
Cafe Mojo Proprietors



















Miss Vero spotted good ole Charlie Wilson of The Indian River County Report (and Rhett Palmer show regular), with a very attractive date that he met at the recount of his run for school board. Charlie lost that election to Claudia Jimenez but things have apparently worked out to his liking, never the less. And speaking of political locals, Mr. Ken Daige and his lovely wife Deborah were also in attendance. Mr. Daige is very vigilant about the goings on at the City Council, even though he also lost his bid in the last election. However, we do expect Mr. Daige to make a come back. Also out and about, young Mr. Kevin Sawnick, freshman City Council member was spotted. We love to see our city council members actually out in the city! Everyone seemed to enjoy the festivities and we were all impressed by the talent of Jesse Kahle, singin’ and a strumming his six string. What!!??Another local boy, singing sensation like Jake Owens? Only time will tell…

Here's a a few snapshots of downtown fun and folks we expect big things from:


Vero's next Singin sensation, the adorable Jesse Kahle!


Fabulous, young and fun, she always makes us laugh - Miss Mallory Matesic!









Mr.Ken Daige and his lovely wife, Deborah.

The weekend went way too fast, like a single bowl of ambrosia at a church social. Before we knew it, it was Sunday afternoon and we decide to pass the time visiting folks and seeing what was going on in the daylight. We stopped by the Undertow to wish Miss Kitty Wagner a Bon Voyage, as she is closing the restaurant for six weeks and she is off to gay Paris to visit our good friend “Muse of the World”, who just happens to have a little summer apartment there. Are we jealous? Y’all can bet we are!

What better way to cure our summer time blues than with a little shopping. We had heard that the little shop next to the new Patio Restaurant had some cute and artsy things so we took ourselves over there only to find that it had closed! Closed for good last week and completely cleaned out and we heard a rumor that it will be turned into a barbershop! That didn’t brighten our mood any.




Could there possible be anything on the Beach on a Sunday afternoon? Well it seems that the retail gods smiled on us, because as we headed toward Ocean Drive we just happened to see that the Stephen Bonanno Sandal shop was open!

For those of y’all that read our blog, we had mentioned about a month ago that we were just dying to get some shoes. Not just any shoes, but these particular shoes. The original Stephen Bonanno Sandals. The last pair we had, we wore right into the ground. Hunnies, Miss Vero just loves, loves, loves, these shoes! These are the original hand crafted sandals that were made in Palm Beach for Mrs. Jacqueline Kennedy.
http://www.bonannofactory.com/THE%20HISTORY.htm
While some of y’all may care about that sort of thing, Miss Vero just loves these shoes because they are the most comfortable things we’ve ever had on our feet and they last forever. Fore-ev-ahh. If y’all do happen to wear them into the ground, they can be repaired. When we found the store unexpectedly open, we got to meet the owner Rob. He said he was just plum bored out of his mind, sitting at home on a Sunday while his wife Cathy was up north, doing a trunk show, so he decide to open up. Lucky us.

Now y’all know we walked out of there pleased as punch with our sandal purchase and y’all can bet we’ll be going back real soon. If y’all need any more info check out their website: http://www.verobonannosandals.com - but go visit Rob, any man that’s willing to open up his shop on a Sunday and talk shoes, is our hero.


Here's a picture of Rob at the factory in Stuart, taken from Miss Vivian's Blog - http://bonannosandals.blogspot.com/

We suppose we’ve taken enough of y’all’s time by now. We’ll be checking back soon and of course we’d love to hear from everyone. Don’t forget to check out our myspace page for, umm, how shall we say it? …interesting and fun events! Miss Vero especially loves invitations to cocktail parties or any other form of fabulocity that y’all might have. Just let us know!

MWAH!

missvero@live.com

Oh Lawdy it's almost time! Y'all didn't forget did ya? Veronews.com countdown! ....

http://www.veronews.com

THINKING OF Y'ALL AND WE'LL BE...

The secret squirrel sent us a message that our friend, Mr. Ken Daige, needed some help. Since Miss Vero will always oblige our friends, we are posting a letter that the PJ could not (due to their deadlines or some such thing). Mr. Daige is always vigilant about the goings on in the city and this is the least we can do to help him. We appreciate his dedication to help folks in Vero.
So here it is:


Another Vero Beach City Council Special Call Meeting is being held Monday, June 22 at City Hall at 9:30 A.M. Even if it is posted in the newspaper, it is usually so small and uninformative that it does not attract the attention of the taxpayer. The City Website does not indicate what the meeting is about.

Previous newspaper notices from Sebastian and Fellsmere have larger more informative notices for the public.

Vero Beach City Council has held a series of meetings where public input has been severely restricted or not allowed.

Numerous resolutions have come across the Council dais that will financially strain the taxpayer.

More often than not the taxpayer does not know how much money is spent or specifically for what purpose. ‘One has to know the correct question.’

The taxpayer needs to ask why is 7 million dollars needed for the electric plant and 7 million for the water and sewer system.

And why is it needed now?

What immediate expenses does the City of Vero Beach expect to incur that necessitates advanced internal funds?

What revenue streams will be used to reimburse these funds?

What will cause the Mayor, City Manager, Finance Director, City Clerk
AND THEIR DESIGNEES to take action without conferring with Council
at the dais?

The Vero Beach City Charter affords equal duty and responsibility to all Council members.

With these two resolutions the City Council will relinquish its financial responsibility and without referendum the Vero Beach City Charter will be changed to a Strong Mayor, City Manager form of government.

The taxpayer has no time afforded to them to contact City Council before this meeting.

Ken Daige
Vero Beach



This is the first time Miss Vero has had access to the internet in a while, so we'll have to be brief. We should be able to catch up with y'all by the end of the week.

Try to stay cool,

MWAH!

missvero@live.com

GREETINGS FROM FARAWAY PLACES!

We see y'all have have more than enough bitter Lemmon around town -
if Miss Vero could take it all away, we would!

When one travels to faraway places and occasionally checks in on the local news and we see the same story over and over and well, beat so far into the ground that it starts pokin China, isn't that enough? Just tell us when it's over OK?

We did happen to be in town momentarily to repack, readjust and regroup before takin off to our next locale and that was last Tuesday. We also happened to watch the County Commission meeting that day, where poor ole Wesley Davis wiped his worried brow and prayed to jumpin jee-ha-zus, that the folks who turned up to asked about Mr. Joe Baird's sitch-e-ation, would not turn into a pack of wild dogs fightin over a scrap of meat. Praise the Lawd, ole Wes kept the room cooler than the other side of your pillow on a humid, breezless Florida night!

If the folks who comment on TCPalm regarding this matter would have taken the time to listen to the meeting, UNDERSTAND IT and read the pretty darn accurate articles written by Mr. Henry Stephens and Mr. Elliott Jones, perhaps the issue would become clear for them. But someone named gubmintcheese already pointed that out in the Lemmon circus :

http://www.tcpalm.com/news/2009/jun/15/one-year-drivers-license-suspension-for-indian/

http://www.tcpalm.com/news/2009/jun/09/county-will-wait-until-court-rules-making-any-deci/


Maybe because everyone was so ready to play a Vero version of "The Lottery", they missed, what we feel was a more important event that day - the renaming of State Road 60. Only one Commissioner - Mr. Gary Wheeler had the ball... uh, courage to pipe up and ask "Why should we memorialize someone for doing their job?". We say yeah! Mr. Wheeler, because we will not be giving anyone directions by saying - "Oh, y'all just go west on the Stan Mayfield Memorial Highway about four miles, till y'all get to the dirt road... No! we are not doin that!

Another thing that we picked up Tuesday, was our mail and periodicals, one of which is The Hometown News. We like the Hometown News, it has a habit of not wasting our time. Oh yeah, and it's free.

Maybe y'all missed this interesting editorial from the publisher, Mr. Steve Erlanger, we are printin the whole dang thing just in case the link doesn't work and Miss Vero wants y'all to read it anyway:

http://www.myhometownnews.net/index.php?id=58503

By Steve Erlanger

Hello, friends. Imagine that you're working at the local corporate-owned, Cincinnati-headquartered daily. You have "stressed to the max" managers hammering you every day to do more. Sales are down, morale is even lower and the competition is driving you nuts. The bean-counters in Cincinnati are trying to tell you what to do from 1,200 miles away, your circulation is dropping every week, you have shipped a lot of your graphics jobs out to India, you've had layoffs, buyouts and cutbacks and freezes. What do you do?

Well, it appears that some genius over at the daily came up with the brainstorm of an idea to start spreading the rumor around Vero that their nemesis, the competition, Hometown News, is shutting down. What a great plan. They could go out and tell the businesspeople and anyone else who would listen that Hometown News is going to be closing in July. That would take the heat off of their own precarious situation. Maybe all of the readers of HTN would go back to the daily. Maybe the hundreds of readers, who are deciding weekly to save the money that they have been wasting on a subscription to the daily and get a free subscription to HTN instead, would come back to them.

That maybe the hundreds of local business owners, who have been pleased with, and doing business with Hometown News for years, would now go back to them.

Sorry, guys. The gig is up.

First of all, let me assure all of you that Hometown News is alive and well. We have actually been on a growth streak for all of 2009. We have no intention of closing, in July or anytime. The rumors that our "friends" over at the daily are spreading are just that: rumors.

Even after 28 years in this business, it never ceases to amaze me to what low levels our "friends" will sink. Now, this is not meant to disparage everyone over at the daily. There are some great folks who work there. Some I would even consider as my friends. I don't know if they would, but I do. But there is an element over there unlike any I have ever come across in my travels around the country during my career.

It started from the very first month, when they made copies of our sales pieces, along with a copy of an employment ad we had run with them, and they went around to the businesses and told them we were lying about our circulation, and that if (Hometown News) was so good, why did we have to run an employment ad with them?

(We never have since.)

It continued a couple of years ago, when they found out that a major appliance dealer on the Treasure Coast was going to run some ads with us and one of their head guys went over and told the owner that if they ran with us, then the daily might "have to revisit their rate structure," essentially telling appliance dealer that his rates would go up if he did business with us.

It continued with their attempts to strong-arm the area's nonprofit groups into giving them "exclusive rights" to the groups' events and fundraisers, thereby hurting the groups' efforts to raise much-needed funds. (Fortunately, most of the nonprofit groups have told them to go take a flying leap.)

And now this. Have they no shame? Have they no ethics?

Friends, there is no denying that the past year and a half has been the toughest I have ever experienced, as it has been for everyone. I am not fortune-teller and I can't predict the future. But I can tell you this. Hometown News will continue to give you the most and best local news coverage. We will continue to fight through this trying time, with your help and support. We will come out of this stronger, smarter and better then we went into it. And, heaven forbid, but if anything bad was going to happen to our Hometown News family, I promise you, you will hear it from us first.

Steve Erlanger is publisher and chief operating officer of Hometown News. He can be reached at erlanger@hometownnewsol.com.



Well, that certainly was interesting.

It really makes a person sit down and wonder, just why this daily local newspaper of ours is so darn hateful and just why we continue to allow it.

Could it be that we are a harbor of hate? Our friend Jose Lambiet of the Palm Beach Post sent us this:

http://www.page2live.com/2009/06/11/the-cnn-express-takes-wrong-turnpike-exit/



Miss Vero just wanted to check in and let y'all know that we are still alive and kicking. We will be in and around town, off and on, if that isn't too vague.

We are absolutely looking forward to the launch of VeroNews.com!

And...we have many surprises for y'all this fall.

Did any of y'all happen to catch Miss Vero on The Rhett Palmer Show for an entire hour and a half on a Monday morning (June 1st)? Ole Rhett was off in Europe and Miss Vero sat in with Mr. Charlie Wilson. It was the most grueling experience ev-ahh! As y'all know, we are not a morning person and Charlie lured us in with promises of bloody marys and fun. We don't know what we were thinking.


Well, take care hunnies! We'll be seein y'all real soon...and a big thank y'all and shout out to our many blog followers, fans and friends on myspace and facebook!

The funniest comment on our myspace page? -"What a fun profile, for Vero! Is that really allowed there?"

MWAH!

missvero@live.com