Thursday, January 29, 2009

TRY TO KEEP UP SUGAH...


Literature, Art, Cocktails!







What are we doing y'all ask, where will we be? Well, Miss Vero's gin soaked brain isn't that pickled yet hunnies. We done told y'all last week what was on the Beach House social calendar, but since y'all need some reminding and since some new items have popped upped, here's a little refresher course.



TONIGHT 7pm at the Emerson Center

Mr. Eliot Kleinberg, author of "Weird Florida" and a whole mess of other, more academic type books, will be speaking. FREE!






















http://www.eliotkleinberg.com/index.html



TOMORROW NIGHT - FRIDAY, JANUARY 30th, DOWNTOWN at 1875 14th Avenue

Fine Art and Antiques gallery opening presented by Ron and Christine Hughes of Dale Sorensen Real Estate and featuring the Artist Mr. Ron Van Sweringen, here's a sample of his work:
http://grantantiquemall.com/ronvansweringen.html
Call for details: 772-532-8894


MONDAY NIGHT - FEBRUARY 2nd, also Downtown, POETRY SLAM!
http://perfectedpenpoetry.com/
No, we don't have any idea what this is all about but we are just going to put it in our "try somethin new category" for this week.


TUESDAY NIGHT - MR. TIM DORSEY!!!!!!!!!!!!! at the Vero Beach Book Center!

http://www.timdorsey.com/tour.html


Did we tell y'all how much we loves our Mr. Tim Dorsey, did we, huh? Did we?
Oh my goodness, we are fanning ourselves as we type!

Well, truth be told, it's really not about Mr. Dorsey, it's all Serge. Oh hunnies how can Miss Vero ever express the the feelings we have for our beloved Serge? It all happened one... long... cocktailin... weekend that lasted thirty seven days and let's just say that Miss Vero is proud to be one of the only admirers alive that can actually vaguely remember the unbelievable and fabulous time spent with Serge! Or maybe it was Coleman? Oh well it was a long time ago and it was dark and ...

Just get the book!



Ohhh, here's Serge's blog, maybe he mentioned Miss Vero, we can only hope!
http://sergesfloridaexperience.blogspot.com/




Must go, feelin faint, memories of Serge resurfacing....


MWAH!

missvero@live.com


AND A BIG P.S.!

A comment posted just too good to be buried in the back pages. Ah yes, the Treasure Coast Wine Festival, y'all were wonderin why we didn't mention it right? Well hunnies we couldn't have said it better ourselves...



Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "ROAD TRIP AND MORE!": Got a kick out of your *Snark Alert* about the exclusionary Treasure Coast Wine Festival. Even the folks on Rodeo Drive these days put their goodies put into label-less bags to avoid the appearance of extravagance. And yet Susi and his pals think nothing about throwing themselves a lavish party where they can show off by paying more for single bottles of wine than most of us pay for a case or two or three.... Does anyone actually drink them or do they just recycle them as tax write-offs? And what’s up with bringing in a florist from Miami? How does that support our local economy? Actually, a good part of the festival’s expenses went to out of towners. There’s just something truly wrong when you spend as much money on a fundraiser as you make. OK, they now throw a couple of bones to one or two smaller charities to make it appear that it’s not a completely selfish, exclusive, affair, but are they really fooling anyone? And speaking of exclusive, Vero Beach Magazine apparently bought the rights to exclusive magazine coverage. This despite the knuckle rapping they received from Milt Benjamin’s “Devil’s Bargain” editorial. Please, unless it’s their own, who remembers what photos were in which publication? Only in Vero...

Wednesday, January 28, 2009

GREETINGS FROM GREEN ACRES!


The good, the not so good, and the indifferent

Here’s some news for people who care about Florida's environmental future. The good news is on Jan. 8th the Public Service Commission voted for a mandate that Florida has to get 20% of it's electricity from solar, hydropower, biomass, or wind, by 2020. The PSC even stuck to their guns by not allowing nuclear energy as part of the mandate.

David Guest of Earthjustice says the PSC's vote is mostly due to Governor Crist's executive order requiring the state to lower carbon dioxide emissions to 1990 levels by 2025. So "20 by 20" is a step towards thwarting climate change but as usual, it's a step worth taking on its own because it'll reduce our dependence on fossil fuels and would ultimately save us money on our energy costs. It would also save us on health care costs due to less pollution.

Of course the PSC vote doesn't make it a done deal. The "20 by 20" recommendation still has to be approved by the Florida Legislature. You can send a pre-written letter through Audubon to your Representative and Senator in support. The letter is also in support of better emissions standards for autos. As with most pre-written letters, you’re free to edit it as you wish. http://audubonaction.org/campaign/20_by_2020

The not so good news is the Legislature in order to balance the budget "froze" the funding for Florida Forever due to our economic crisis. Florida Forever has enabled us to purchase and conserve wildlife habitat, greenways, floodplains, beaches, wetlands, and forests throughout Florida. I know we're facing hard times but hard times happen to be a good time to buy real estate. (Funding has also been cut for the Water Management Lands Trust Fund and the Land Acquisition Trust Fund and from what I heard those cuts are permanent.) Representative Poppell said we have other priorities. I don't doubt that but buying land isn't quite the same as spending money. It's an investment. Besides, shouldn't clean water and working eco-systems be a priority?

Governor Crist said he might veto the cuts to Florida Forever because he's afraid they would become permanent. He has until Jan. 29th to sign or veto. There may be time to send a letter. Audubon also has one ready to go. You can find that one here: http://audubonaction.org/campaign/urge_gov_crist_to_veto_florida_forever_cuts


The indifferent news is about the Florida Marine Fisheries Enhancement Initiative. In my first blog on Green Acres I talked about the fish hatcheries they were trying to get going. Instead of going through the usual channels of raising money for them, they're going for the gold- the President Obama stimulus gold.

"Saltwater hatcheries seek part of stimulus package":
http://www.tcpalm.com/news/2009/jan/22/saltwater-hatcheries-seek-part-stimulus-package/

Again, I know we're facing hard times but a healthy fishery is more than a source of recreation, it also provides jobs. But more importantly, healthy fisheries are a renewable source of food. A pre-written letter from the Coastal Conservation association in support can be found here:
http://www.votervoice.net/Core.aspx?Screen=compose2&SessionID=%24RETUSERID%3d%3aTARGET%3dtrue%3aATID%3d12802%3aAUTOFILL%3dtrue%3aISSUEID%3d15991%3aRETUSERTYPE%3d%3aSITEID%3d0%3aAPP%3dGAC%3aTARGETID%3d27986315%3aVV_CULTURE%3den-us%3aAID%3d767%24


"Coast to coast from LA to Chicago". Is it just me or has anybody else been humming that song this week?
"No need to ask.He's a smooth operator,smooth operator"...

TTFN, LDouglas






MWAH!

Tuesday, January 27, 2009

HOSPITAL HOTBED



The most astute comment made on the TC Palm last week, concerning the impending strike by Indian River Medical Center nurses, we gladly quote today;


"Food for thought...Where do the unemployed, depressed, uninsured turn for medical care? The local emergency room. In these bad times there is no other alternative for most. This means people will prioritize their needs and many times medicines, and routine medical care will have to come last. The result is larger numbers of very sick people and congested ER's. Do you think the hospital hires more staff to handle the inevitable? No, hospital motto is "Do more with less" All the while the administration earns more than anyone realized. Visit your local ER sometime, especially during "season" and witness for yourself the very sick, emotionally disturbed, and violent patients. See how many patients are "holding" for inpatient beds. Why does any citizen in the county stand for this? We need to demand a GREAT community hospital. We need to appreciate the REAL staff that are in the "trenches" everyday. Do we need a union? YOU BET! It's the only way staff will ever be "heard" by those that control the dollars in the hospital."
Posted by mcma5652 on January 23, 2009 at 8:45 p.m.




We also must bring to light the fact that in today's South Florida Business Journal, Indian River Medical Center did not make the grade for any type of specialty excellence in Florida:



Oh my, we were lead to believe that the Duke association would benefit our community and give us a cutting edge, so to speak, in cardiac surgery, but further examination shows that we have not made the grade at all:




Oh and somehow, Miss Vero has become in possession of a copy of the infamous desk invoice. honestly $90,739 for a desk? Not on our dime.
Click on the invoice to enlarge it:






The official Beach House position? we hope y'all will agree with Miss Vero and...

SUPPORT OUR NURSES!



MWAH!


missvero@live.com

Monday, January 26, 2009

MAX ON MONDAY!

AND GUNG HAY FAT CHOY!


We just thought we'd give y'all a little present on this fine Chinese New Year Monday, before we get to Max. If there's one thing y'all might have missed from last week's inaugural coverage it might have been Diane Sawyer on Good Morning American who appeared slightly "intoxicated" after all the celebrating Tuesday night. High-larious? Yes. Why? Because, been there, done that and this time it's not us!
http://gawker.com/5136396/diane-sawyer-still-obviously-intoxicated


Our own in house Republican, Max Newport shares his inaugural thoughts from last week in a piece we'd like to call (in yet one more nod to miss Aretha's hat), "Change, Change, Change, A Change From Fools", but Max calls it;



SO GENTLY SWAYING THROUGH THE FAIRYLAND OF LOVE
Max Newport

Tuesday afternoon. A one of those “where were you” moments. I know where I was. In my car, on the way back to my office. The radio signaled the oath of office and I made it back to watch most of the inaugural speech, but I was thinking of the Grover Cleveland trivial pursuit moment while riding in the elevator, thanks to my eighth grade civics teacher, Miss Gonyers.

Maybe I missed the best part of the speech while riding the Otis, but I was expecting something a lot better. Maybe Obama’s 27 year old speechwriter was having an off day but later I heard that the new president actually wrote the speech himself. There was a lot I was hoping to hear but not much was said, but when you have great expectations there can be a likelihood of great disappointment.

Through the magic of constant replays and commentary, I was able to see Sister Aretha and the hat. Helluva hat and she sang “America” as good as it has been sung. Max is more of cap kind of guy but if some of the ladies want to emulate the Queen of Soul’s stunning headgear, this is where she got it.
http://www.mrsongmillinery.com/


Later I found out the original John Williams inaugural music was prerecorded and that Obama had taken the oath of office again later in the day (does this make him the 45th president now?). The press was upset that they weren’t allowed to videotape the second swearing in and I was upset that I wasn’t in my car and able to listen to it. President Obama, as a constitutional scholar, knew the first oath, although muffed by the chief justice, covered the legal grounds and was sufficient. The press is starting to lose their idolatry of Obama but the real question is whether or not Chris Matthews’s leg is still tingling. Which leg was it anyway? The words “left” and “right” have so much significance in this country, the identification of the tingling leg could be an important omen of things to come.

I did not appreciate the pure bad manners displayed at the introduction of the two former presidents Bush and their families. When George W. Bush took the platform, he was the president. To boo and jeer a sitting president in the last moment of his term is simply low class. Is this the kind of “change” we can look forward to? When Nancy Pelosi said that Bush leaving “felt like a ten pound anvil was being lifted off my head”, my first thought was that anvil was probably the only thing keeping her vacuous head from floating into the hemisphere.

Like many Republicans, I woke up Tuesday morning thinking “Thank God it’s not Hillary”. Now Hillary is Secretary of State and may have to curb some of her husband’s financial dealings with rogue nations to avoid any appearance of impropriety. Since when has this been a concern to the Clinton’s? The mere appearance of propriety for that crew is a novel concept. Bill Richardson had to withdraw his nomination as Secretary of Commerce due to a grand jury probe into possible corruption regarding political glad handing to his financial supporters. The proposed Secretary of the Treasury is a tax cheat. The only qualification Leon Panetta has as C.I.A. director is that he looks like Inspector Clouseau.

Rewind to Sunday afternoon. We watched the concert at the mall on HBO. The music was great, except for Herbie Hancock, who appeared to be playing a different song on the keyboard than Sheryl Crow and Will.i.am were singing. Maybe they should have pre-recorded that little number. Why was Jack Black there? He should have been singing with his “Tenacious D” buddy. Pete Seeger was trying a sing-along that was just plain embarrassing, but I guess it looked good on paper. It was great to hear Stevie Wonder. Garth Brooks did a good job of belting out “American Pie”, which I never thought of as a patriotic song since Don McLean wrote it as a tribute to Buddy Holly. Where was Bob Dylan? He wrote the civil rights anthem “Blowin’ In The Wind” and made it clear he was a supporter of our new president.
http://www.rollingstone.com/rockdaily/index.php/2008/06/06/now-its-serious-bob-dylan-endorses-barack-obama/

Within 48 hours of the inauguration, President Obama announced the closing of Gitmo, a symbol of everything evil associated with Bush and the ongoing war on terrorism. By announcing the closing of the prison in a year, Obama gave the impression of doing something, when in effect he was doing nothing. If this prison is such a travesty, close it now damn it! At least make it one of those first 100 day projects. The folks in our county jail would trade those facilities in a heart beat (take a tour of our local jail and you will agree). Does Obama want to be the president that actually brings known terrorists into the United States? How about that nutjob John Murtha suggesting that he would be comfortable putting the Gitmo prisoners in a prison in his district?
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09024/944268-48.stm

Would we be applauding our local congressman for suggesting that we relocate 245 known terrorists to our local prison? Not bloody likely.

President Obama also made a symbolic nod to abolish torture by reverting to the “Army Field Manual” which has enough “interrogation” loopholes to accommodate almost any situation. These symbolic gestures give his base the appearance that he is making “change”, when in essence, he is doing nothing.
Based upon the editors of the National Review; “So to summarize (Obama’s position): We’d love to close Guantanamo, but we can’t right now; we’d love to transfer detainees out of Guantanamo, but other countries don’t want them; we’d love to give every detainee a civilian trial, but we don’t have enough evidence; we’d love to release the detainees we can’t charge with crimes, but our intelligence tells us they’re dangerous, so doing so would be irresponsible; and we’d love to stick to the highly civilized, detainee-friendly interrogation practices approved by the Army Field Manual, but every now and then there may be an emergency when something more severe is warranted.”
http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=NTNiMjQzODZiNWIwMDk2MjkwZmEyNmU5ZjYxYmYzNWY=&w=MQ

Once again, the appearance of change to placate the easily impressed but in reality no change at all. I am glad that he is taking this approach since the easily fooled are in fact, easily fooled. If Obama thinks he can play patty-cake with the likes of those terrorists who beheaded Daniel Pearl, he is simply wrong, but I hopefully believe that he knows that. (I was going to link the Daniel Pearl murder link here but it is just too disturbing. You can do a Google search if you really want to see how terrorists treat our citizens).

As an American, I have high hopes for the Obama presidency. I want him to succeed because I want our nation to succeed. Soon he will present an agenda that is more than mere symbolic hyperbole shown during the first few days. It is then that we will see what he is made of.

Until then my prayers are with you, Mr. President, and the people of this great nation of ours.




MWAH!
missvero@live.com

Friday, January 23, 2009

THE LOVELY MISS DEO

Sad news today as we report the passing of Delores Fisher, affectionately known to her friends and family as "Deo". What can Miss Vero say? Miss Deo was one of the most inspirational and sweetest ladies we have ever had the pleasure of knowing. Not to mention, amazing in her accomplishments and grace. We send all our love and heartfelt wishes to the Fisher family.

http://www.melfisher.org/deofisheraward.htm


http://keysnews.com/node/9291






MWAH!

missvero@live.com

Thursday, January 22, 2009

AND THE NOMINEES ARE...

Young people! They're everywhere! Even in Vero! To prove this claim we submit the following evidence:





Miss Vero has no idea who this young man is, other than he obviously skipped the editing course at his film school, but he's got a sense of humor, so we like him.

Another young Veroite, who we do know and absolutely adore, is Miss Charlotte Tripson, who makes her video debut on planetvero.com (Finally somethin new on that site!). Take a look: http://planetvero.com/home.htm


Enjoy and...


MWAH!
missvero@live.com

Wednesday, January 21, 2009

HEPCAT IN THE HAT



http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/alltherage/2009/01/inaugural-hat-t.html

Everybody's all about the hat. Yesterday, it was all about Miss Aretha's hat as it should be, but last week it was all about the hat at the Indian River County Taxpayers meeting. Miss Vero has received more emails about the hat than we ever could imagine. Oh! and by the way - why is it, that y'all want a private audience With Miss Vero via email, but y'all are not hitting the comments? Hmmmm? C'mon y'all, yes you liberals, dissidents and artistic types, come out, come out wherever y'all have been hiding for the last eight years! Oh my, we are suddenly channeling Glinda, the Good Witch of the North, explainin to the Munchkins that the wicked ole witch is dead. Now hunnies, that was a hat!



Hold on, it'll pass...too much inaugural champagne last night.


Where were we? The hat! THE HAT! "Is there a picture of the hat?" "Who was wearing the hat?" "I was there, I saw the hat too!" and on and on. The only thing this enthusiasm indicates to Miss Vero, is that it takes only a smidgen of fabulous fashion in town to make everybody sit up and take notice. So here's a little puzzle for y'all to put together regarding THE HAT.

Take one hat, very similar to this (not as fabulous) example:


And add it to the very fashionable, Miss Dianne Lininger, who wrote us this very lovely email explaining and ending, THE HAT mystery.


Dear Miss Vero,
I am the lady under the most fabulous hat ever to be seen in Vero at the Jan. 14 Taxpayer's Luncheon. The hat was a gift from Rose Spytek. After what you wrote, it has become my favorite. Now all my other hats are jealous!


Dianne Lininger



And here is some info and a photo of the very fashionable Miss Dianne: http://tc.yourhub.com/User.aspx?UserID=65165


Now, imagine the above hat (yet more fabulous) on the crown of (more beautiful in person) Miss Dianne and wha-la! There y'all have it, fabulous fashion in Vero exists!


Well, now that we have that all cleared up, let's continue, shall we kids? As we awoke at the crack of noon from our post inaugural party slumber and mixed our morning bloody marys, Miss Vero pleasantly remembers the crowds at the Epicenter of Cool - Undertow, last night. We see that the TCPalm sent some one out in the light of day to capture the actual inauguration, but the real party began after dark and went till closing, to put it as we heard it, "Don't everybody don't know that."


And what a gathering! Most of the Miss Vero gang was on hand, although we were feeling sorry for Miss B.Havior, who had to leave early due to the Du Roseland's inconsiderate scheduling of high colonics this morning.


We met some interesting new people and had a wonderful time. Artists and activists abound! And we were especially happy to see Mr. Ken Daige arrive after the City Council meeting with his lovely wife and applaud him for continuing to be vigilant of the political process in town.


Lots of conversation last night was political, however Miss Vero's fine tuned big ear picked up only local political patter and the big topic was in support of Mr. Kenric Ward's column on Sunday, suggesting we get to know a local developer a little better:
http://www.tcpalm.com/news/2009/jan/18/kenric-ward-palm-beach-corruption-laps-treasure-co/?feedback=1#comments


Of course now, this explains the fashion choices of Mr. Charlie Wilson and his affection for badly tailored pin stripe suits! (Because with us, it's all about fashion and as y'all know perception is reality.) Not only have we surmised that Mr. Charlie Wilson is indeed straight and single but on further examination of his fashion sense, we must also surmise that his attempt to appear "connected" is somewhat lacking and this entire pointless paragraph is only being used as as segue to our review of "Breaking Legs" at the Riverside Theater.


Keepin up with Miss Vero? Good. Because honestly we think we're still giddy about the election and all.


Ok where were we again?


Hmmm, "Breaking Legs" at The Riverside Theater. Ok, did y'all ever try to make Jello and it didn't well, gel? Y'all have a perfectly good package of Jello, just the right amount and temperature of cold and hot water, perfectly good working fridge and the timing is just right, but somehow it just doesn't make Jello? Did that ever happen to y'all? Well that's what "Breaking Legs" was like for us when we attended last week at Riverside. There was absolutely nothing wrong with any of the components of this production. From the amazing cast, who were flawless, to the timing, pace and production design (real Italian restaurants look less authentic than this set). Every detail was in place including the intermission music and the end of the first act was high-larious! We can't think of any reason not to see this production before it ends on February 1st. Sometimes when you expect Jello you get Kool-Aid, or in this case a nice Chianti.

Perhaps a nap is order for Miss Vero today.



MWAH!



missvero@live.com


OH! Almost forgot, my goodness Miss Vero's brain is ceratinly pickled today, we forgot to tell y'all to fear not! Green Acres will return!

Tuesday, January 20, 2009

FILL IN THE BLANK...



It's a day to celebrate! We almost feel like we've just been let out of a dingy, dank, Cheney-inspired torture prison into the shining sun after eight long years, so let's have some fun!

If you've never commented at the Beach House, today's the day. Let's see who can come up with the best caption for the following photos, we've already tried but maybe y'all have something better. See? Democracy is back!




"...Heckuva job ya did there Bushy...now I get to clean up your mess"




"Finally... I can remove this itchy human mask..."




And this photo, taken just hours ago in D.C. by Steve Thorton:

http://gawker.com/5135244/inauguration-morning

"Peace!...It's what's for dinner..."





Now don't forget y'all, there will be festivities tonight at the Epicenter of Cool - Undertow, so come on out and celebrate! We'll see y'all there!

MWAH! MWAH! MWAH!

Miss Vero is feelin the Luv!

missvero@live.com

Monday, January 19, 2009

MAX HAS SEEN OUR OLD FRIEND MARTIN


THE ORDER IS RAPIDLY FADING
Max Newport

Today we celebrate the birthday of Martin Luther King Jr. Tomorrow we celebrate the inauguration of the first African-American President of the United States. If I had been told as a child that we would have a black president in my lifetime, I would have looked around the room for Rod Serling, smoking a cigarette and saying that ‘you have entered a new dimension.” This was the stuff of “The Twilight Zone”. We have entered a new dimension and I do not believe we would be here without the tireless and controversial work toward equal rights done by Dr. King. I wish he were still with us today as a now 80 year old man to appreciate the strides that have been made and the work that is yet to be done.

My original intent with this article was to share some childhood recollections of growing up in a segregated Vero Beach, but after writing a few paragraphs I decided to highlight and delete. As I read the now deleted paragraphs, I realized that I am not the one to share those memories and they would go, at least in print, to the place words go when you hit “delete”. During those years I was a child and lived in a very limited universe. There was family, school and church and it was all white. As a child, I was not aware of any social policies or segregation laws or the spirit of such laws in Vero Beach. It’s just the way things are . . . at least that was the only explanation I remember.

Things have changed and rightfully so. Much of that change goes to reflections on the words of Dr. King and the resulting thoughts resulting in a loss of ignorance and a correction of attitudes. We were shocked when Dr. King was murdered. Most of us were still reeling from the death of President Kennedy and little did we know that Robert Kennedy would be murdered a few short weeks after the assassination of Dr. King. It was a strange time to be growing up. My recollections are truly trivial compared to the significant events surrounding the civil rights movement.

Rather than blather about my recollections, I choose to honor the man with his own words in probably one of the most significant speeches ever made. This historic speech was made on August 28, 1963 from the Lincoln Memorial in our nation’s capitol:

“I am happy to join with you today in what will go down in history as the greatest demonstration for freedom in the history of our nation.

Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand today, signed the Emancipation Proclamation. This momentous decree came as a great beacon light of hope to millions of Negro slaves who had been seared in the flames of withering injustice. It came as a joyous daybreak to end the long night of their captivity.

But one hundred years later, the Negro still is not free. One hundred years later, the life of the Negro is still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination. One hundred years later, the Negro lives on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity. One hundred years later, the Negro is still languishing in the corners of American society and finds himself an exile in his own land. So we have come here today to dramatize a shameful condition.

In a sense we have come to our nation's capital to cash a check. When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir. This note was a promise that all men, yes, black men as well as white men, would be guaranteed the unalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

It is obvious today that America has defaulted on this promissory note insofar as her citizens of color are concerned. Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, America has given the Negro people a bad check, a check which has come back marked "insufficient funds." But we refuse to believe that the bank of justice is bankrupt. We refuse to believe that there are insufficient funds in the great vaults of opportunity of this nation. So we have come to cash this check — a check that will give us upon demand the riches of freedom and the security of justice. We have also come to this hallowed spot to remind America of the fierce urgency of now. This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism. Now is the time to make real the promises of democracy. Now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice. Now is the time to lift our nation from the quick sands of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood. Now is the time to make justice a reality for all of God's children.

It would be fatal for the nation to overlook the urgency of the moment. This sweltering summer of the Negro's legitimate discontent will not pass until there is an invigorating autumn of freedom and equality. Nineteen sixty-three is not an end, but a beginning. Those who hope that the Negro needed to blow off steam and will now be content will have a rude awakening if the nation returns to business as usual. There will be neither rest nor tranquility in America until the Negro is granted his citizenship rights. The whirlwinds of revolt will continue to shake the foundations of our nation until the bright day of justice emerges.

But there is something that I must say to my people who stand on the warm threshold which leads into the palace of justice. In the process of gaining our rightful place we must not be guilty of wrongful deeds. Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred.
We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline. We must not allow our creative protest to degenerate into physical violence. Again and again we must rise to the majestic heights of meeting physical force with soul force. The marvelous new militancy which has engulfed the Negro community must not lead us to a distrust of all white people, for many of our white brothers, as evidenced by their presence here today, have come to realize that their destiny is tied up with our destiny. They have come to realize that their freedom is inextricably bound to our freedom. We cannot walk alone.

As we walk, we must make the pledge that we shall always march ahead. We cannot turn back. There are those who are asking the devotees of civil rights, "When will you be satisfied?" We can never be satisfied as long as the Negro is the victim of the unspeakable horrors of police brutality. We can never be satisfied, as long as our bodies, heavy with the fatigue of travel, cannot gain lodging in the motels of the highways and the hotels of the cities. We cannot be satisfied as long as the Negro's basic mobility is from a smaller ghetto to a larger one. We can never be satisfied as long as our children are stripped of their selfhood and robbed of their dignity by signs stating "For Whites Only". We cannot be satisfied as long as a Negro in Mississippi cannot vote and a Negro in New York believes he has nothing for which to vote. No, no, we are not satisfied, and we will not be satisfied until justice rolls down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream.

I am not unmindful that some of you have come here out of great trials and tribulations. Some of you have come fresh from narrow jail cells. Some of you have come from areas where your quest for freedom left you battered by the storms of persecution and staggered by the winds of police brutality. You have been the veterans of creative suffering. Continue to work with the faith that unearned suffering is redemptive.

Go back to Mississippi, go back to Alabama, go back to South Carolina, go back to Georgia, go back to Louisiana, go back to the slums and ghettos of our northern cities, knowing that somehow this situation can and will be changed. Let us not wallow in the valley of despair.

I say to you today, my friends, so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.

I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal."

I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.

I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.

I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.

I have a dream today.

I have a dream that one day, down in Alabama, with its vicious racists, with its governor having his lips dripping with the words of interposition and nullification; one day right there in Alabama, little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers.

I have a dream today.

I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight, and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together.

This is our hope. This is the faith that I go back to the South with. With this faith we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day.

This will be the day when all of God's children will be able to sing with a new meaning, "My country, 'tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing. Land where my fathers died, land of the pilgrim's pride, from every mountainside, let freedom ring."

And if America is to be a great nation this must become true. So let freedom ring from the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire. Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of New York. Let freedom ring from the heightening Alleghenies of Pennsylvania!

Let freedom ring from the snowcapped Rockies of Colorado!

Let freedom ring from the curvaceous slopes of California!

But not only that; let freedom ring from Stone Mountain of Georgia!

Let freedom ring from Lookout Mountain of Tennessee!

Let freedom ring from every hill and molehill of Mississippi. From every mountainside, let freedom ring.

And when this happens, when we allow freedom to ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual, "Free at last! free at last! thank God Almighty, we are free at last!"

There are no words I could write to further signify the historical impact of this speech so I won’t. Tomorrow we begin another era. I wish Dr. King were here to see it.

Happy Birthday.












MWAH!
missvero@live.com

Friday, January 16, 2009

POINTE WEST POLO







Click on this link for the entire Pointe West season schedule.


Polo season starts this weekend at Pointe West! The type of tailgating we understand, Miss Vero and friends loves to watch the ponies while wearing silly hats and drinking champagne, this is one sport that makes sense.


Did we mention that there's also an outdoor family movie on Saturday night?Bring your blankets and lawn chairs and if y'all need a snack, there's a concession stand during the movie.


Everything you need for a great weekend.


Did we also mention that we absolutely love Pointe West for being so friendly and accessible. We do.


MWAH!





Thursday, January 15, 2009

THE SECRET SQUIRREL RETURNS!

Yessiree, the Secret squirrel is back with a report from the Indian River Taxpayer's luncheon on Wednesday, where Mr. Jeff Susi was the guest speaker. Here's what we've learned:

1. Jeff Susi is not evil in the same way as Darth-Vader-Dick-Cheney evil, he's just not well liked by some.

2. Jeff Susi is actually a well spoken man who seems to know his stuff, never failing to have an answer to any of the questions that came his way and was quick to correct the record that he makes $410,000 and not the $389,000 reported in the PJ. And he didn't flinch, not once.

3. The question about his salary was asked by former County Commission Candidate Miss Bea Gardner, who still keeps up with county business and gets in your face regardless of losing the election. You go Bea!

4. Speaking of the County Commissioners, uh, where were they? Sure saw those guys a whole lot before election time but now? Seriously, if the CEO from the hospital could make time for lunch, how hard could it be to get some newly elected officials to show. Bob, Wesley, Gary?

5. Other no shows include anyone who seems to be posting serious stuff against the hospital and it's administration. If half the people who post the negative comments on the TCPalm showed up, they could have filled the 40 or so empty seats. As it was, we counted only 38 people in attendance - and that's including Mr. Susi and his entourage.

6. Kenric Ward was there representing.

7. Mr. Charlie Wilson is indeed a straight and single man who is need of a stylist. Please Charlie, get a girlfriend or a gay friend soon. Or just let Miss Vero come over and give you some fashion tips.

8. The most fabulous hat ever to be seen in Vero beach was in attendance. Yes, that's right. A hat.

9. Never give a squirrel coffee.

Wednesday, January 14, 2009

GREETINGS FROM GREEN ACRES!


Shmeat: It's What's for Dinner!

Have you heard about Peta's offer of a million dollar X prize to anyone who develops an "in vitro" chicken-meat product that has a taste and texture indistinguishable from real chicken and be able to manufacture it in large enough quantities to be sold commercially, and successfully at a competitive price in at least 10 states?

It caused some controversy in their organization because some Peta members are not only opposed to eating meat from living animals but they're opposed to eating any meat even if it comes from a test tube.

Scientists are already working on "in-vitro" meat also known as, vat-grown meat, hydroponic meat, test-tube meat, cultured meat, victimless meat, and finally, for regular folks, shmeat.

The meat is grown from a cell culture and not from a live animal. They harvest the cells from an animal, such as a pig, and place it in a "nutrient-rich medium that mimics blood. Once the cells multiply they are attached to a spongy scaffold or sheet (sheet + meat = shmeat) that has been soaked with nutrients and stretched to increase cell size and protein content". It doesn't grow into the shape of an animal and it can't grow bones. It's basically just a lump of shmeat.

Proponents say it's a good way to meet the protein needs of a growing population. It would end not just the growth of factory farms to feed that population but would end all factory farming. And unlike factory farming it wouldn't hurt the environment. It would be healthier for us because they could manipulate fat content and nutrients. And it would be free of hormones, chemicals and diseases. They also claim it's no less natural than raising farm animals in "intensive confinement systems, injecting them with synthetic hormones, and feeding them artificial diets made up of antibiotics and animal wastes."

Opponents say it's "too yucky". That there could be safety risks because we just don't know what unintended consequences there are when fooling with nature. They say it's more energy intensive than raising meat in a natural setting. That the nutrient-rich medium has to come from an animal’s blood or a more expensive process of genetically altering a bacterium. That it'll create even more distance between humans and nature. They also say it won't qualify as healthy because it'll need additives and flavor enhancers to make it palatable.

I've already pointed out how our agricultural system isn't really prepared or capable at this time to handle a population bubble. I've also pointed out the interconnectedness of our health, our environment and the way we grow our food. One way that is apparent and can be magnified is when looking at factory farms which are the way a majority of our meat is raised. I won't tell you the horror stories but you should know there are plenty and they're real. For the animal, for our health and for our environment. It also requires much of the Midwest's best farmland to be used to grow cattle and pig food rather than people food. And raising meat is water intensive. It takes 2,500 gallons of water to produce 1 pound of meat whereas a pound of wheat requires 25.

Shmeat sounds like the answer to all that. But somehow I find the thought of eating it more objectionable than factory farmed animals. I don't know what it is but it's more than the yuck factor. If it were available right now I wouldn't buy it or eat it. How about you? Up for a shmeatroast, shmeatburger, shmeatwings, or a shmeatdog? How about a shspam sandwich?

Here's the article I quoted from above:
http://gristmill.grist.org/story/2008/12/4/101038/688?source=food

BTW, I'm not the Lisa who asked the question but I felt the same as she did when I first heard about "in-vitro" meat. "....I can't tell if the prospect of test-tube meat should make me feel relieved or horrified".

TTFN, LDouglas




Hey! Did y'all know? Alkeehaul is completely vegan - just sayin.
MWAH!

Tuesday, January 13, 2009

ROAD TRIP AND MORE!



Ahhright hunnies, get out your calendars or your i-somethings or your chisel and hammer or whatever it is y'all use to save the date, here's some good times in the next few weeks to look forward to and although we love Fellsmere, that ole frog leg festival that Max was talking about yesterday, just isn't anywhere on our list.


Miss Vero is tired of everyone telling us that they are bored to tears with the same ole stuff (yet, we completely understand), so we've come up with a few suggestions that y'all might not see anywhere else. Of course we'll be attending most of the events (or sendin a designated socialite) and disscussin 'em all at length when they happen, so just consider this a sneak peek into our social calendar.


First of all, don't forget the Indian River Taxpayer's luncheon tomorrow, where the guest speaker will be Mr. Jeff Susi, CEO of the Indian River Medical Center. We're sure he'll be thrilled to see y'all and answer any question y'all may have.


At a dinner party last weekend, Miss Vero listened eagerly to the story of a very well to do beachie woman, who upon entering the ER informed the staff that she was a member of the "Golden Eagles" and should be whisked away to her private accommodations immediately! The attending RN (who related the tale), explained quite patiently that she would have to wait in the same designated area as everyone else and that it didn't matter how much money she gave to who, because no matter what she was told, this was indeed a myth to perpetuate donor dollars. Needless to say, Miss beachie's subsequent attitude was not helpful in the healing process.


So don't forget, go and see Mr. Susi squirm, uhmm, speak tomorrow.



And while you're in the mood, why not attend the appropriately named "Breaking Legs" at The Riverside Theater, opening tomorrow night?



Also, y'all might want to consider seeing Mr. Garrison Keillor, who will be visiting next Monday, January 19th, but if y'all have made plans for celebratin the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Day, once again, we completely understand.


In fact, next week we should all be celebratin the inauguration of our new President, Mr. Barack Obama. Can we get a hoooray and an amen and a hallelujah?!!! Yes indeed. There will be a party, of course! Tuesday night, January 20th at the Epicenter of Cool, Undertow, to watch and celebrate this historic event.


Miss Nancy Richards, of the Indian River county Democratic Party, sent us a great email over the holidays, "The Election Party You Missed", which grabbed our attention immediately;


The local DEC (Democratic Executive Committee) rented the Executive Courthouse Center and along with the help of volunteers, put on the election night party which attracted about 350 people; including Republicans, Democrats, Independents., homeless people, about to be homeless people, very wealthy people, very very wealthy people with multiple homes they could lend to the homeless people, black, white, and yellow people--maybe a few red ones too--old, young, and all in between------it was spectacular; great band (The Coffee Beans), good eats and drinks---------we blew the roof off------wished you'd have known; or maybe you did and just couldn't make it?????

P.S. just became aware of your site; so answered your question about where the party was------sorry over 7 weeks late!


Hmmm, we don't remember seeing that party covered in our local paper.


Have y'all finished gigglin yet?


That's Ok, Miss Nancy, just keep us on the mailin list and let us know what's happening.


*SNARK ALERT*
We hear that sales of tickets to the Treasure Coast Wine Festival next week, benefiting IR Medical Center and the VNA, are a bit sluggish. Don't blame it on the economy. Let's just ask, what happens when you take a great concept and turn it into a semi private, beachie, charity event? It becomes exclusionary and as of January 20th, that is no longer fashionable.




Thursday, January 29th, Mr. Eliot Kleinberg, the author of "Weird Florida", will be speaking at the Emerson Center. This event starts at 7pm and the best part is that it's FREE!
http://www.theemersoncenter.org/humanities.html





FIRST WEEK IN FEB. - BUSY, BUSY, BUSY!


Monday, February 2nd, Poetry Slam in Vero! Sound interesting? We thought so too. Here's the details and a link to the new Cafe 1901. We love anything goin down in downtown, so we'll be curious to check out somethin new.

http://perfectedpenpoetry.com/

http://www.cafe1901.com/

Tuesday, February 3rd, The Vero Beach Book Center welcomes back our favorite Florida hero SERGE! Ok, how 'bout Serge's alter ego, our favorite, Mr. Tim Dorsey? Y'all know we love us some Tim Dorsey! In fact, here's a picture of Miss Vero attending a previous event for Mr. Dorsey at the Vero Beach Book Center, can y'all spot us? http://www.timdorsey.com/vero%2006.jpg

http://www.timdorsey.com/home.html

http://theverobeachbookcenter.com/


After getting our paws on a new Tim Dorsey book, by the end of the week we'll be in the mood for a little Florida road trip and what could be better than the 2009 Floridiana Festival?
http://www.hulahula.biz/2009floridianafestival.html

Miss Vero has waited all year for what promises to be a fun event, but we'll have to rush back on Sunday, because on February 8th at The Club House Bar and Grill, located at 4000 Atlantic Blvd, THERE WILL BE DRAG QUEENS!

Got that? All of it? Good, we guess we'll be seeing y'all around then...


MWAH!


missvero@live.com


Monday, January 12, 2009

MAX HOPS IN ON MONDAY!


IT’S NOT EASY BEING GREEN
Max Newport


Especially if you are a frog.

In Fellsmere.

In January.

Sorry folks. I just read an article by Ray McNulty in the Press Journal.

And his style of writing.

Has grown.

Really grown.

On me.

But not enough for me to appreciate it to the extent that I want to pursue it any further. Between McNulty’s bi-polar attitude toward the Florida Gators and Russ Lemmon’s sheer laziness in offering himself as a Youtube exchange center, it is easy to understand the downward spiral of newspaper circulation. Yesterday, Russ offered to send out a “brainteaser” via email to those bored enough to do such a thing and mean old Russ only gives his victims two hours to complete this puzzle. McNulty’s article last Friday poor mouthing the Gators for winning the national championship game was downright embarrassing.

These guys are bad.

Really bad.

Really.

Bad.

But I digress. I wish that I was in a position where I could join Laura Guttridge in her protest at the Fellsmere Frog Leg Festival. Think what you will about Laura, but she is the real deal when it comes to caring for animals and doesn’t play both sides of the field. She definitely walks the walk and I admire her tenacity for standing up for her beliefs even though it makes her the subject of frequent ridicule from the ever so brilliant posters on TCPalm. I don’t necessarily agree with her on everything. Max will eat the burger but not kill the cow. We are a better community with the likes of Laura speaking her mind.

I have eaten frog legs several times at Mrs. B’s now defunct restaurant and they were okay. They were more of a novelty; something to try when the kids were younger. We have loaded up the Newportmobile and attended the frog leg festival a couple of times. The frog legs were awful. The meal was served cold. The legs were chewier than a pack of Trident, the grits were an insult to anyone who was raised in the South and the cole slaw was well, cole slaw. Publix serves better cole slaw at their deli. And the hush puppies? Go to Pineapple Joe’s for some good hush puppies. Maybe I just got a bad plate or maybe the county commissioner who slopped it on recognized me or maybe, just maybe, the food at the Fellsmere Frog Leg Festival simply sucks.
There is a basic contradiction in this celebration in that the basis of the festival is the gruesome death of the guest of honor. There are posters and shirts celebrating the frog in a comic fashion. Frogs dancing. Frogs playing banjos. “Kiss My Frog” t-shirts.

http://www.froglegfestival.com/gallery.html

There is a t-shirt I would like to see. A few decades ago, there was not an issue of National Lampoon that I would not buy. The cartoon above was so memorable, that they kind of made it their official logo. It showed a couple in a restaurant with a sign above the kitchen door saying “Try our frog legs”. Leaving the kitchen was a legless frog on a board with wheels with an old timey metal iron in each hand. If I had some of those shirts, I would pass them out for free at our renowned festival of the frog.

I must confess at this point, as a lifelong resident of Indian River County, I have never been out in the marsh gigging, or more likely in my case, attempting to gig a frog. It is not an ethical thing since I do hunt and fish. In the case of frogs, the end just didn’t justify the means. I spent many a night with a Coleman lantern and a net catching shrimp because we like to eat shrimp and there is very little of the feisty beast that is not eaten. My understanding from talking to veteran giggers is that there are two basic methods of dealing with the post-gigged frog. One is cutting off the legs in the boat and tossing the still living frog back into the brink. The other is throwing the wounded frog into a cloth sack and let them flop around until they die. Either way seems like a pretty nasty demise for the purpose of harvesting a miniscule amount of meat.

We are told not to fret about the local frog population because this year, the frog legs are being imported from a farming operation in Asia. That sounds really healthy since Chinese dog food nearly killed some of our pets a few years ago. Keep the paramedics on standby.

It’s not that this festival is entrenched in tradition or making tons of money to benefit the community. This thing started in 1990 by Fran Adams, now the widow of former Lieutenant Governor Tom Adams, but who is a local politico in her own right and a nice lady. According to the Sebastian Sun, “Over the past 18 years, more than $60,000 has been raised through the Frog Leg festival”. That comes out to about $3,300 a year.

http://www.tcpalm.com/news/2009/jan/02/frog-leg-festival-hops-into-fellsmere/

They could make more money with a bake sale.

Fellsmere has a tremendous history to celebrate other than a pile of legless dead frogs. In 1976, Charlotte Lockwood published a book entitled “Florida’s Historic Indian River County”. A good portion of the book is dedicated to the “City of Kings”. They had two newspapers in the early 1900’s, The Fellsmere Farmer and the Fellsmere Tribune. They had a baseball team, a movie theater and a 14 mile railroad track to transport their main crop, sugar to Sebastian for shipment. Sugar was a big deal. They grew, refined and packaged sugar and sold it as “Florida Crystals”. Sugar was big in Fellsmere well into the 1950’s. I’m sure the library has a copy of this great book. In my copy, there is nary a word about frogs as an industry but I do know that hunting frogs in the marshes of the western part of the county has been going on for ages and I am not going to suggest that it is not part of Fellsmere’s history. I was able to find that 20 thousand pounds of frog legs were shipped from Sebastian to Chicago in 1947 and I am going to guess that some of those frogs rode the rail from Fellsmere.

http://www4.tcpalm.com/news/2007/aug/05/30oscar-gaffney-home/?printer=1/

The town of Fellsmere has so much more to celebrate than frog amputees. Fellsmere was way ahead of the nation in the area of women’s suffrage. In 1912 women were voting in Fellsmere elections. The 19th Amendment was not ratified until 1920. Why not celebrate Fellsmere being eight years ahead of the curve in allowing women to vote instead of chewing (and chewing) on rancid frog legs from China? If you want to celebrate the frog without killing it, here are a couple of ideas:

http://www.froglegstilts.com/

http://www.ehow.com/video_4434072_origami-jumping-frog-legs.html

http://www.froglegsinc.com/index.html

I am looking forward to the day where technology will be there for a video t-shirt so that I can join Laura at the festival sporting a video of a living, breathing frog with his lower legs crudely hacked off. Until then, we can all just be thankful that Fellsmere doesn’t consider French poodles a part of their heritage.

Bon Appétit.





MWAH!
misvero@live.com

Thursday, January 8, 2009

WE'RE SORRY...

...but the blogger you have reached is not in service, please check your blogger and click again...

Miss Vero is so perplexed hunnies, the thing-a-ma-jig on the picture do-hickey is not working, and we do believe that is the proper technical term. We are tired of messin with it, so here's a couple sumthin-sumthins (again, more technical jargon) to keep y'all happy for the content y'all crave.

Or perhaps we'll just call it a little cocktail chatter....

Just to get us in the proper frame of mind, here's a quote attributed to our favorite person of history, Miss Dorothy Parker;

"Martinis are lovely, but two at the most, three, I'm under the table, four, I'm under the host."


Which begs the question "Where is the Algonquin Round Table of Vero Beach?" And of course, Miss Vero will proudly answer, "Why, it's here at the Beach House!"

We sure did get a lot of mail after yesterdays post about the Indian River County Medical Center. A little birdie reminded us of the Indian River Taxpayers meeting next Wednesday, when the featured speaker will be none other that Mr. Jeff Susi! Here's the details, in case any of y'all want to attend. This sounds like a job for the Secret Squirrel:


Hey! What happened to Mr. Ira Hatch and Mr. Damien Gilliams yesterday? They were both scheduled to appear in court (on separate issues). We thought the PJ would be all over those stories. Guess the wacky weed smokin Tater comedian got the courthouse beat ink instead.

Interesting tid bit out of Palm Beach today:

If y'all fail to remember just how this relates to Vero Beach, here's a little reminder:


Sorry kids, but the technical difficulties got the best of us today, we'll try to sort it all out and get back to y'all tomorrow.

MWAH!

Wednesday, January 7, 2009

WHERE THERE'S SMOKE...

...there's fire. Or so the sayin goes.



Miss Vero has received several emails concerning the going ons at the Indian River County Medical Center, otherwise known as the County Hospital. Yeah that's right County Hospital, y'all remember where they send the indigent folks? Only before we get to that email here's a little something that'll remind you that they really do care about you (and your finances):
http://www.wealthengine.com/pub/successStories/indianRiver.jsp

It just warms my heart to know that our little ole county hospital is assessing my health and wealth as I lay there in the ER!

So we sent this one particular email to a good friend of ours who is experienced in the hospital business, in fact he's got one of those MBA's in Hospital Administration, so we thought that he'd give us a fair assessment of some of the talking points made in the email.



"Well, where's thars smoke thars fire, darlin." (He's originally from deep Bubba country) "but don't be frettin, cause that's just how it is in about every hospital."

Hmm, that was reassuring.

Anyhoo, here's the email in question and just so y'all can't say we didn't warn you:

WARNING THIS EMAIL HAS NOT BEEN RESEARCHED AS TO IT'S CLAIMS AND YES,THERE IS PROFANITY!

Miss Vero hates censorship, as y'all know, so we are posting the email as we received it. We think that anyone who took the time to write such an extensive list deserves at least a post from Miss Vero. We asked y'all to contribute and y'all did.






"Not sure how to add a article to your web site but I do have a story for you: Points to ponder about Indian River.

Note all this is true.

1), In November of 2001 the hospital had over $150,000,000.00 in its long range portfolio's. This is per Nick Samilo the CFO that Jeff Fired, That money is no where to be found today?

2). Jeff Susie took money to the Islands and started a Malpractice insurance company. No mention of that any where they all go a few times a year and party ...

3). John Walker the Director of Materials Management at the hospital a guy that worked there for over 7 years was fired because He found where Dr. Rose was being paid over $45,000.00 per month. Through a company called CRT leasing they were acting like the hospital was renting equipment. Per Walker the stuff could have been purchased for two months rent. He went to Greg Gardner the CFO and nothing was done. When Val the new lawyer was brought in and she was made a VP he turned it into her as Medicare Fraud. Rose told Gardner if they stopped payments he would stop bringing patients to IRMC and he demanded Walker's Job less than a month later Walker was laid off.Walker did a great job and saved the hospital Millions in the time he was there. I know he is yet to locate a job.

4). All folks laid off were over 40, 95% were over 50.

5) Jerry Herrin was 62, he did not want to be laid off instead wanted to go ahead and retire. They told him NO!!!!and fired him.

6). The hospital signed a 10 year deal paying Duke 1 million dollars a year to use there name on the heart sign. Note no one in IRMC is from Duke the heart team came from Orlando? Rumors are Jeff Susie got 2 million back into his wallet?

7.) Barb Horn RN, Vice President, Barb has something on Jeff,. she ran CEBH into the ground loosing 3 million dollars per year for a few years until Jeff moved her to the main hospital he got rid of Judy Schanel, VP of Nursing. she left to a great job at Mosses Cone in N.C., Susie fired her a reason, she didn't get rid of the teamsters. They hired Dale Grinstead to run CEBH he turned the place around in 1 year it made 3 million dollars, Barb Horn was so mad that people were talking that she had Carl Fire Grinstead. Back to Barb, so she is over budget the last 5 years in a roll by over 3 million in Nurses wages., etc., so Jeff Fired Bob Zomok to make a spot for Barb and moved her in there. Bob was just a Director, Jeff gave Barb a $62,000.00 raise to move from the Nursing VP spot to the VP of Human resources. Something she knows nothing about.first tasks ....eliminated staff retirement, tripled the co-pays and the costs of insurance to staff. Bob left very quietly because they went ahead and paid off his retirement so he gets his couple thousand a month until he dies, so he is content and has never said a word and he won't he is one of them.

8.) Note the executive team did not take a hit., and they receive over $300,000.00 each into there plans each year. You know about the $800K they pay Jeff. cutting the benefits to staff saved the hospital $3.5 million dollars where did that money go?

9.) Barb hires the heart team, Dr. Stowe his salary is 1.2 million., they pay his staff, (11 people), double what they were making in Orlando to move here and they pay there rent on the beach for 1 year. They also pay the each $45,000.00 per year just for being on call and carry a cell phone that they provide? Scrub techs are making $110,000.00 a year on the heart team, a job that pays $40 at best? The heart team LPN made $88,000.00 working part time. A RN in the rest of the hospital makes $63K working full time. The purfusionist was paid $215,000.00 most make $70,000.00, the PA $210,000.00, average wage around 100,000.00, and so on, everyone was way over paid and they all bragged about it which made a lot of people mad.

10.)The heart team only does hearts they sit around waiting for heart cases doing nothing? There was two teams I heard they got rid of some? Susie spent millions more than the hospital had on the heart staff and supplies, they had a open check book, they ordered over $150,000.00 worth of supplies with out going through Walker and the purchasing department. Supplies were hitting the dock and no one knew where it went they created a monster of a mess. Doctor Stowe spent $96,000.00 on a desk and $13,000.00 on a stereo for his office. Walker refused to cut a PO with out receipts., Dr. Stowe never produced receipts Greg Gardner just cut him the checks back. No proof., how on earth can you spend that much on a desk?

11.) This past July $144,000.00 worth of supplies were thrown in the garbage because they had expired and could not be used. The team had bought way more stuff than they used and they never rotated anything thus wasted it., Central supply did not even know the stuff was there. Once they did know and tried to control it the items were outdated already. They found the stuff. The heart team told Purchasing what they did was none of there business, the purfusionist was a real ass his name is Ed, he spent money like he was printing it. They were buying from there friends and Walker found later that many things they were paying list price. Also the samething happened with the Vascular supplies and that new department, everything was out of control and Jeff Susie and Carl Martin allowed it. Supply responsibility was removed from Walker and he was told to stay out of Surgery? It was a joke. He was signing contracts based on finding what they were buying, behind there backs. Supply costs went up millions, Greg Gardner quit over it (CFO).

12.) To recover the losses from the year Susie lays off 44 people., all lower level people except for Walker, and the 3 other Directors that worked for Gardner. The above is all true. I have copies of the expensive desk check, the CRT leasing PO for $45,000 to Dr. Rose.

13.) A hospital bill that was a friend of Jeff Susies that was in the hospital., he told billing to throw the bill away., $17,000.00 thrown in the trash. So if your Susies friend you don't have to pay?

I could go on and on but whats the point no one is going to do anything about any of it. Like the wireless system They bought for $600,000.00 that never worked. Carl Martin bought it from his buddy then had to buy something else. we never got a penny back., Carl had also hired is cousin and had him working at the hospital for better than a year as a consultant, his name was Paul. Carl made one mistake after another he is not a smart man.

Dr. Greenberg was a complete story in himself the hospital put everyone in harms way with that guy and they knew it he was a nut., screaming and cussing in peoples faces, he more than 10 times screamed in staffs faces, he called Walker in Purchasing a Mother Fucker because he had ordered something that was not there, he ordered it that morning and expected it the same day? He did this in front of the patients he didn't care. He was finely let go because he told the Cath lab Manager Debbie Rose to suck his dick in front of the entire department at a department meeting? In short the behavior of Stowe and Company is not much better they belittle people and have gotten at least 10 nurses fired, many areas have had a total turn over since they came to town. So they do this lay off....but they hired two more Vice Presidents and Barb Horn hired her friend to be the Director of Human Resources???? She was a GYM teacher now she is a Director? Perfect ending to this note."




Sorry, no great picture today and we did have one. Blogger is not behaving in the usual way, maybe we're being hacked? Nah, who'd wanna shut down the Beach House? It's not like we have an open forum or anything...

MWAH!

missvero@live.com

Tuesday, January 6, 2009

WE INTERUPT THIS GOSSIP WITH AN IMPORTANT GREEN MESSAGE...


Miss Vero is still plowin through emails and checkin out all the new gossip, but...we can save it till tomorrow for y'all. After wakin up bleary eyed at 8am (very unusual for Miss Vero indeed), we noticed LDouglas' comment on the TCPalm - http://www.tcpalm.com/news/2009/jan/06/solaris-goal-change-local-anti-03/?feedback=1#comments -and thought it would be more appropriate to post "Greetings from Green Acres" today in response to Mr. Lemmons article about our new County Commissioner, Mr. Bob Solari. Is it Miss Vero hunnies, or does it seem that there's nothin new about Mr. Solari at all? Maybe he's just grandstanding a little and puffin up to all those he made promises to in the campaign, we're sure it'll pass.



Oh! and here's a link to the Indian River County Medical Center's tax returns - especially for our reader SilentMartian. We would love to welcome jsteel or anyone else who is interested and somehow connected to this story, to do a guest article at the Beach House. We think such an important topic should be thoroughly discussed and we know we'll never see it in the PJ, so all of y'all are welcome here. MWAH! missvero@live.com




The link was provided in our original post from October 14th "Your Dollars Make No Sense":




And now...

GREETINGS FROM GREEN ACRES!
Someone asked what green collar jobs are and what a green collar economy is so before I move on, I thought I'd explain it as far as I know it.

The book by Van Jones, "The Green Collar Economy, How one solution can fix our two biggest problems" defines green-collar jobs as:

"blue collar employment that has been upgraded to better respect the environment"

"family supporting, career-track, vocational, or trade-level employment in environmentally-friendly fields"

"examples: electricians who install solar panels; plumbers who install solar water heaters; farmers engaged in organic agriculture and some bio-fuel production; and construction workers who build energy-efficient green buildings, wind power farms, solar farms, and wave energy farms"

My favorite explanation for green collar jobs is from the "Green for All" website. They list them as jobs that "protect our health and the health of the planet".

A green collar economy is a little more in depth. While Van Jones does a good job of going into detail without overwhelming you, the premise of his book is fixing "our two biggest problems". Problem one is socioeconomic inequality and problem two is environmental destruction. Basically, problem one is we have too many poor people with no employable skills, too many unemployable because they went through the criminal justice system, the most polluting factories etc. located in poor neighborhoods and lack of a stake in the environment in those neighborhoods.

Problem two in the book is listed as environmental destruction and the resultant effect of climate change. I wholeheartedly agree with "fixing" our socioeconomic inequalities. We can't expect to experience economic growth if there's no growth from the bottom. That would be much like expecting a corn stalk to grow and support tree branches. In other words, what good is economic growth if all it achieves is people with plenty of money already in the bank to have more of it to put there?

I also wholeheartedly agree with "fixing" our environmental destruction. I just see plenty of reasons just as worthy as climate change alone. We all know that environmental destruction comes with huge cleanup costs, almost always borne by the taxpayer. Maybe you know about the billions in subsidies (again paid by taxpayers) to polluting industries like coal and oil. But there are many hidden costs. I'll give you an example later.

Right now our economic woes have caused gas prices to go down. But they'll rise again and there will be a point where they'll not go back down unless we come up with good alternatives in the meantime. Putting investment into alternatives is a big component of a green economy. And it's very necessary for our economic recovery. High energy prices causes stagflation. The book explains stagflation as happening when prices go up while the number of jobs goes down. We're feeling it at the grocery store despite their best efforts to hide it with smaller size packages.

Retrofitting buildings to conserve energy and produce energy is also a big component and where a lot of green collar jobs come in. The federal government itself owns about 500,000 buildings. Each year it's us taxpayers who spend more than $3 billion to heat, cool, light, and power them. Using taxpayer money to outfit those buildings with solar would create jobs in the private sector and would be an investment rather than a hand out. It would eventually pay us back with interest too. Just think what across the board conservation and in house generated energy would do for reducing costs for businesses, hospitals, and the people who need their goods or use their services. Not to mention, the savings to individual homeowners.

Organic agriculture and "some bio-fuels" are the third big component of a green economy. Organic agriculture because conventional agriculture requires more oil use and is quite polluting. Organically grown is not only proven better nutritionally but yields are proving to be better than conventional, even when conventional is using genetically engineered crops. And organic doesn't come with the unknowns and health hazards showing up with GE. As for bio-fuels, it's "some bio-fuels" because the fuel from ethanol made with corn is not worth its negatives. It's so energy intensive some say it uses more oil than it produces. It does cause food prices to rise. It's highly polluting adding to the dead zone in the Gulf of Mexico. Our mandate to require a bigger percentage in the coming years is leading to the destruction of forests. And we're subsidizing all that at about 50 cents a gallon. But there are other promising bio-fuels on the horizon made from switch grasses and algae for example.

Maybe Mr. Obama's stimulus plan won't be the magic bullet we're all hoping for. But the money put towards green jobs and a green economy at least mostly won't be wasted. As Van Jones said in his book, "It is true that we cannot drill and burn our way out of our present economic and energy problems. We can, however, invent and invest our way out”.

Another good quote from the book, "we in America are about to break up with oil. Why not break up with poverty and discrimination too?" A good part of the book offers solutions and ways to go about that. It's an easy read if you'd like to learn more.

Otherwise, you can also learn more at the "Green for All" website:
http://www.greenforall.org/?gfa_splash=1

Or here. Lester Brown from the "Earth Policy Institute" has been advocating for an "eco-economy" for a long time and has written a book about it. That's an economy similar to the green economy but it tells the truth- especially ecologically.
http://www.earth-policy.org/Books/Eco/index.htm


Here's an interview of Lester Brown from "Grist". He believes the green economy is “the great growth industry of the 21st century" topping the technology industry of the 90's. That makes me think bubble economy. But it's okay because it's hopefully going to buy us some time to figure out our new place in the global economy and help make us more competitive.
http://gristmill.grist.org/story/2008/10/16/11328/229?source=weekly

Here's a Plan B update, a small portion of another book Lester Brown wrote on the current job creation from renewable energy.
http://www.earthpolicy.org/Updates/2008/Update80.htm

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So what about all the other hidden costs? I'm glad you asked. :-) I'll give you one instance, coal powered plants. We know how much the subsidies cost us. But we don't know the total tab because we don't add up all the hidden costs. We know mining for coal pollutes water sources. We know it sickens and kills miners. We know it leaves pollution behind forever. We know it destroys natural beauty. We know coal plants spew mercury. We know that pollution damages buildings. We know it kills forests and lakes and the fish that live in them. We know it lands in the ocean requiring tuna and other fish to be labeled with warnings because it's unfit to eat at will. We know it causes birth defects. And there's a pretty convincing study linking autism to mercury. We know 1 in 150 children (if not more) have autism or an autism spectrum disorder. We know Florida just passed a law requiring insurance to cover treatment up to $38,000 a year. What we don't know, is the tally of all those costs added up.

There are 200 diseases linked to pollution. Choosing to invest in the current economy with all its many hidden costs seems ridiculous when it's quite evident investing in a green economy comes with so many hidden benefits.

TTFN, LDouglas