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

OPEN THE WINDOW, STICK YOUR HEAD OUT AND YELL...!

"I don't have to tell you things are bad. Everybody knows things are bad. It's a depression. Everybody's out of work or scared of losing their job. The dollar buys a nickel's work, banks are going bust, shopkeepers keep a gun under the counter. Punks are running wild in the street and there's nobody anywhere who seems to know what to do, and there's no end to it. We know the air is unfit to breathe and our food is unfit to eat, and we sit watching our TV's while some local newscaster tells us that today we had fifteen homicides and sixty-three violent crimes, as if that's the way it's supposed to be. We know things are bad - worse than bad. They're crazy. It's like everything everywhere is going crazy, so we don't go out anymore. We sit in the house, and slowly the world we are living in is getting smaller, and all we say is, 'Please, at least leave us alone in our living rooms. Let me have my toaster and my TV and my steel-belted radials and I won't say anything. Just leave us alone.' Well, I'm not gonna leave you alone. I want you to get mad! I don't want you to protest. I don't want you to riot - I don't want you to write to your congressman because I wouldn't know what to tell you to write. I don't know what to do about the depression and the inflation and the Russians and the crime in the street. All I know is that first you've got to get mad. You've got to say, 'I'm a HUMAN BEING, Goddamnit! My life has VALUE!' So I want you to get up now. I want all of you to get up out of your chairs. I want you to get up right now and go to the window. Open it, and stick your head out, and yell, 'I'M AS MAD AS HELL, AND I'M NOT GOING TO TAKE THIS ANYMORE!' I want you to get up right now, sit up, go to your windows, open them and stick your head out and yell - 'I'm as mad as hell and I'm not going to take this anymore!' Things have got to change. But first, you've gotta get mad!... You've got to say, 'I'm as mad as hell, and I'm not going to take this anymore!' Then we'll figure out what to do about the depression and the inflation and the oil crisis. But first get up out of your chairs, open the window, stick your head out, and yell, and say it:"

"I'M AS MAD AS HELL, AND I'M NOT GOING TO TAKE THIS ANYMORE!"

Ok, we feel better now.

While all that is true and "Network" is a brilliant movie: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Network_(film)

Miss Vero must confine our self to little ole Vero Beach. However, we must confess, it was initially the sentiment of the character Howard Beale that got us bloggin along in the first place. And so, that is exactly what we did, we got up and stuck our head out of the cyberspace window and started shoutin about all the things in Vero and Indian River County that made us mad, glad but never indifferent.

And along the way, we found others who were happy to stick their heads out and do a little shout out with us. Then there are the folks who read us silently every day, the people obsessed with finding out the identity of Miss Vero and the small, yet highly paranoid, percentage who think we have some kind of diabolical agenda.

We did have some fun in 2008. Hearing that PJ Editors and Russ Lemmon sat around in a serious conference trying to figure out little ole Miss Vero was high-larious. Surely a big time newspaper wouldn't be frettin over a silly ole blog. Would they?

But, as an example, our post about our time on the set of a Paul Newman movie (Oct. 1st, "While We Were Out") and our picture with Mr. Newman, sure was a whole lot better than the story the PJ ran: http://www.tcpalm.com/news/2008/sep/30/woman-recalls-newmans-inlet-03/

And we were especially amused by Diana Foote, the so called, food critic of the PJ, who had us squeal with laughter when she considered wearing a fur to lunch in Vero. It didn't take too much time for our giggles to turn to disgust when we realized that this person would actually own a fur, that we caught her "lifting liberally" from another writer (May 22nd "Paid to Plagiarize?"), that she considered "eating Eeyore" in her imagination and then saw fit to share that thought. In print: http://missverosbeachhouse.blogspot.com/search?q=my+misery And that her editors see nothing wrong with sending her to the Olive Garden and allowing her children to tag along on the dining dime, is equally unforgivable.

If the PJ wants to slap their ubiquitous "we're looking out for you" sticker on something, why not let the food critic budget go to groceries for a deserving family for a week? One of the nicest thing a loyal Beach House fan did for Miss Vero was to create a widget for verobeachrestaurants.com, so that we could get a glance of many opinions of all the great restaurants in town. Brilliant - and thank y'all so much, Mr.Mark Landry.

So yes, we had our issues with the Press Journal, especially Mr. Russ Lemmon as the designated driver of Indian River County opinion. Poor Russ, with no sense of humor, it's like asking the nerd hall monitor to be in charge of the Prom night after party. But thankfully, we have our own Mr. Max Newport, who y'all know had a varsity letter and was captain of the debate team, to antagonize Russ. See? It's true, sometimes high school never ends.

Along the way, we did find those who kept their sense of humor. Our big surprise includes Mr. Milton R. Benjamin of verobeach32963, an inspiration as well as a gentleman. And, Mr. Rhett Palmer, who we totally disagree with, on oh so many levels, yet the man makes us laugh (again, on oh so many levels). Besides, what Southern belle could ever resist a man named "Rhett"?

Of course, this was a political year and local politics gave us a heck of a lot of material. Let's not forget, that the PJ picked and chose which stories to tell us, about which candidates they were influenced by. Yup, the tradition of good ole bubba politics was well honored in our local races. Just ask Kay Clem. Oh and Tom White. Did I forget Bob Solari? Did Debbie Mayfield resign yet? Is Jeff Barton retired? How Claudia Jimenez and Kevin Sawnick squeaked in, we'll never know. We suppose Charlie Wilson is not the political powerhouse he professes to be and all that posturing in Paladin's Hummer, was just a good ole boy's joy ride after all. We also suspect, that the PJ's unjust treatment and reports of Mr. Ken Daige, lead to the continued installation of the scissor toting Mr. Tom White (said scissors recently relinquished to the new mayor, Mr. Sabe Abell).

Were we surprised to see the Dodgers pack up and go, not to be replaced? Nope. In fact we got word from an incredibly reliable source and told y'all in our Nov. 9th post "Would Y'all Like Another Scoop?".

Piper laying off workers? If you've lived in Vero Beach longer than Russ Lemmon or for that matter, longer than some politicians, you'd know that this was inevitable. In fact we mention this in our very first post April 30th, "A Blog is Born".

So yes, we could continue on and on about the past, but that is not to our liking. No hunnies, Miss Vero never looks back, as fun as it may be and as much as we luuuuuvvvvvvv to say "we told y'all so!", Miss Vero would like to focus on the future, so here it is...

Miss Vero's Beach House will continue to let folks speak about what is on their minds and will initiate conversations that our local newspaper seems to overlook. It is Miss Vero's sincere belief that we are not "bullying" the local media, (as, we can only assume, we are being referred to in comments on Mr. Lemmon's ironically titled column "Crystal Ball Sees Mundane 2009), rather we are proddin them to actually do their job. http://www.tcpalm.com/news/2009/jan/01/crystal-ball-sees-mundane-2009/?feedback=1#comments

We do want the Press Journal to do well, that's the point, we want to be proud of our local paper, as we once were. We want to talk "over the fence" with our neighbors, we want to reminisce about old Vero and give newcomers an appreciation and welcome to everything we love here, so that they may feel a connection and ownership, so that they understand the local politics, so that they are informed about their own futures, so that they value the fragile nature of our environment (AND HERE IS WHERE WE GIVE A HUGE THANK YOU TO LDOUGLAS). But without discussion, without presentation of factual information, without inclusion, it cannot be done.

Oh, and by the way, if y'all are newcomers, please leave that "when we lived back in blah, blah, it was better than Florida..." attitude at the door. Y'all wake up, cause Y'ALL LIVE HERE NOW, ADAPT.

Instead of trying to predict the future, Miss Vero would like to have hope for the future of our local newspaper. We'd like to work toward the future of citizen journalism and we'd like to have a goal for the future of more diverse contributors and guests at the Beach House. Because we realize (and we are constantly being told), that our little blog is a big thing around town and gettin bigger - folks now look for us everyday, cheer us on and support us in many ways. We feel that we now have a responsibility. It isn't about selling advertising or building a business, it's about sayin what what needs to be said, reporting things that wouldn't make it near the main stream (Like our personal favorite - Drag Queens!) and in a more serious vein, asking questions that should be answered by our local media and government.

Perhaps, somewhere along the line the "news" turned into police reports and advertising editorials, but when people of any community allow this to happen, they are silencing themselves. Instead of standing up and going to the window as it was done back in 1976 (and, we have to admit, that speech is still timely), it's time to sit down at the computer, open "Windows" and shout out, "WE'RE MAD AS HELL AND WE'RE NOT GOING TO TAKE THIS ANYMORE!"

Miss Vero did, and it feels real good. So let's build a bigger Beach House in 2009! Everyone's welcome, even Mr. Lemmon.

Come on in, sit and stay awhile, pour yourself a cocktail, but don't take yourself too seriously...
MWAH!

missvero@live.com

P.S. Our #1 New Year's resolution is to answer our emails in a more timely manner. So if any of y'all wrote to Miss Vero in the past month or so (yes, we know how bad that sounds), expect some correspondence this weekend. Really.

HOLD THAT ELEPHANT

Yesterday, our friend Mr. Max Newport, who described himself as "...somewhat conservative and a Republican" graciously gave us his thoughts and predictions for today's election. Well buckle up today kids, cause Miss Vero will be takin y'all on a little trip to Liberal Land!

Miss Vero's Predictions and More! (mostly More!)

Let's start at the top, the race for President. This race might turn out to be closer than we think. Our first prediction is that there will be election discrepancies, although we sincerely hope none as monumental as in 2000.


Mr. Obama has been steady and cool throughout his campaign and will "hopefully" win. Most folks who have taken their blinders off are a little tired of the current regime of the Greedy Ole Party and wished they could have put the brakes on this train before it became the embarrassing wreck that it is.

It is sad to see the one time independent and respected Mr. McCain turn into a pandering, feisty ole gramps character. We believe his downfall began with his ill advised choice of running mate who definitely put the "ick" in his maverick.

This election really got everyone motivated. Finally. And there sure are a lot of passionate people out there, some in a good way, some not so good. Take, for example, our own little county. The TCPalm has a video showing a group of folks enthusiastically cloggin up the intersection of 58th and 60 this past weekend, which Miss Vero happened to pass through on our way to purchase alkeehol and other supplies.

Here is a photo of the hate fest of rumor mongers, that somehow didn't make the little TCPalm video:

So here's the thing, the crazy Christians - and y'all know who you are - need to knock off the very un-Christian way of hating anyone that doesn't agree with you. We are pretty darn sure that Mr. Obama is not a Muslim, but even if he were, he would have just as much right to be president.

According to the United States Constitution;
Section 1 of Article 2 states that a President must:
Be a natural born citizen of the United States.
Be at least 35 years old.
Have lived in the U.S. for at least 14 years.

Nothing about gender, sexual orientation, race or religion, so that means that Jews, Atheists, Homosexuals, Scientologists, Women, Lesbian woman, Transvestites, Hindus and yes even a Muslim could be President! Hard to imagine since we all just hate those Muslims so much! Maybe even a little more than we used to hate those Japanese who bombed us, so we rounded them all up and put then in confinement camps, till it was safe to let them out. Now they sell us really great SONY products.

Not all Muslims are bad, not all Christians are good.

Another fine example of the hate fest is amendment #2, y'all know that bull about protectin marriage, which by the way, doesn't need any protection? This is just a hateful agenda to deny people basic human rights.

Why is it, that any heterosexual person can run off to Las Vegas, pick up a stranger in a bar and within a few hours be married and have every right associated with that contract, but two people of the same sex who live together for decades are denied a civil union? Marriage is a contract between two people. Period. If y'all want to add some magical, your God approved, happily ever after addendum to that contract, fine. But don't deny other people the right to be as happy or as miserable as y'all are.

Let's hope that Mr. Charlie Wilson who lined himself up with conservative values and unfairly labelled and attacked Miss Claudia Jimenez in the race for School Board, will not be celebrating his victory tomorrow. Let's also take a moment to remember the success of conservative abstinence programs:

Of course the Republicans in Indian River County will have a lot to celebrate. It's not even worth mentioning the County Commission race, which was pretty much settled in the primary election. But we gotta say, watchin ole Gary Wheeler try to get behind Brian Heady is like watchin somebody tryin to tame a squirrel.

As far as the City of Vero goes, we believe young Mr. Kevin Sawnick is well on his way to grabbin a seat and Mayor Tom White might not make it this time around. Especially since the top story on the VeroBeach32963 web site for the past month is an announcement of Mayor White's demise. And what's with VB32963's site anyway? We had hoped for a little more web presence by now and not the random infrequent offerings that have left us disappointed. Also, we would like to see the online edition updated. More VB32963, please.

Our one prediction to watch out for - After Mrs. Mayfeild receives her compensation package, um, we mean wins the State representative race, look for an early exit. Perhaps "personal" reasons will require that she step down and who better to come to the rescue than good ole Charlie Sembler.

And of course, no local election comments would be complete without the mentioning the Miss Kay Clem and Mr. Coleman Stewart race for Supervisor of Elections.

Here's the big question - Who gets the Pulitzer Prize for investigative journalism? That's right, who at the PJ was savy enough to dig up those records of Mr. Stewart for Miss Clem to air out on her clothes line? Since nobody at the PJ is claimin any credit, how much did it cost to hire the investigator (and where did the money come from) to put together that package? Now, Miss Vero is not sayin that Mr. Stewart's financial records are not somethin to be concerned about, but given that, should we also not be concerned with the many discrepancies of Miss Clem's record in office and the win at all costs way that her campaign was conducted? And somebody please kill that rumor right now that Miss Vero is dating someone from Mr. Stewart's campaign just because we supported this candidate.

The only thing that we really care about concerning the Supervisor of Elections is that they don't screw up the voting process. Again.

And finally...

The biggest question of all - Where's the party? Any election parties that Miss Vero should know about? And yes, we know we'll have to crash it, since we've just succeed in thoroughly annoying 90% of the population of Indian River County. Oh well...

MWAH!

missvero@live.com

P.S. Y'all will notice that we took down ole Rhett Palmer's video on election day and replaced it with the NYT crossword puzzle. Dr. John said if he could get a crossword puzzle online, he'd cancel his subscribtion to the PJ and as always, we're happy to help!

MAX ON MONDAY!

Political lip sparring in Indian River County goes way back, just take a look at this vintage postcard from McKee, that Miss Vero dug up. And speaking of going way back, we are turning over today's post to someone who has been in town long enough to know ( not like someone who just blew into town and collects drops of wisdom from a Midwestern coffee chain restaurant). Yes that's right kids, Miss Vero is delighted, once again, to post favorite Beach House guest, Mr. Max Newport, who has been kind enough to put together his predictions for tomorrow's election.


DOWN TO THE WIRE - NOVEMBER 3RD, 2008
Max Newport

Here are a couple of Newports to puff on while we are waiting for . . . whoa!!! Just kidding folks. Only a moron would advocate taking up such a nasty habit. Max Newport is not a moron.

I want to thank Miss Vero for publishing my ramblings last week. It was nice to dust off the old Underwood typewriter and do some writing for the hippest site on the triple W.

As a lifelong resident of Vero Beach, Miss Vero has asked me to analyze the election and give my impression of the possible outcome. It should be no mystery at this point that I am somewhat conservative and a Republican. With those cards on the table, let’s take a look at the ballot.

PRESIDENT: There are quite a few folks on the ballot for this race that I have never heard of. Chuck Baldwin, for instance. I don’t see a lot of votes going Chuck’s way, although that is a pretty cool name for a candidate or a college quarterback. Is he one of the Baldwin brothers? Indian River is consistently a red county in presidential elections. Obama will get a good showing but the county will go for McCain.

CONGRESS: Bill Posey will win. It was pretty clear that he had strong support when very viable Republicans chose not to run against him in the primary. I’ve seen a couple of signs on the road for Stephen Blythe but I don’t see a Democrat replacing Dave Weldon, who was one of the most conservative members of Congress.

PUBLIC DEFENDER: This would have been a good race to put under the microscope because there are some real issues. Ms. Litty has had some problems with two lawsuits involving sexual harassment and the sudden disappearance of Edward J. Abare, who was in charge of the Vero Beach office and also the alleged harasser. She is married to Judge Tom Walsh in Fort Pierce and has received some criticism for seeking jail expansion rather than trying to work out deals for her clients. Chinquina is a relatively new attorney but is professional and competent. He has run a rather limited campaign. It is difficult to focus on the complexities of the issues in a 30 second television spot. Someone might be able to beat Diamond Litty, but it won’t be Don Chinquina in spite of a strong endorsement from the Palm Beach Post. Diamond should win handily.

STATE REPRESENTATIVE: Debbie Mayfield has a lock on this. She has no experience but has the support and respect of the backers of her late husband, Stan. Neal Abarbanell is a total unknown. Mayfield should win on name recognition alone. Ralph Poppell is doing a good job. The fact that I think he is a good guy and I didn’t know he had opposition until I saw the ballot, makes him the logical choice to win, although, a good portion of his district is in Brevard County and that is a different world up there.

CLERK OF COURT: Brian Burkeen is a good person and would probably do a good job as clerk, however he cannot articulate anything Jeff Barton is doing or not doing that he would do differently. Brian has served as mayor of Sebastian and has been very effective supervising emergency medical services. His only chip is that it is time for a change. Although Jeff Barton has held the job for 20 years, he is doing a good job. It is doubtful the voters will want change simply for the sake of change.

SHERIFF: Deryl Loar will win easily. I don’t recall the state attorney, Bruce Colton, ever endorsing a candidate in any previous election. That has to help, even though I think it was a lock before the endorsement. David Snell is a former Indian River County deputy. He was either the pilot of the helicopter or the guy that rode with the pilot. Either way, he always wore a flight suit. After talking to him, I don’t know why he wants to be sheriff. He should pick up some votes based upon the expected heavy Democrat turnout. Tony Consalo is a very earnest, hardworking and honest officer and an ear to ground indicates some support for him from current department personnel who are hesitant to endorse change, but that will not be enough. Loar in a landslide.

COUNTY COMMISSION: There is no need to waste words here. Bob Solari will pound Brian Heady. Wesley Davis will get 99.9 percent of the vote if the voters can remember the name of his write-in opponent. 100 percent if they don’t. Memo to Sandra Bowden . . .you have done an excellent job as a commissioner. You killed your political career with the Gloria Estefan thing. But for that faux pas, you would be beating Brian Heady.

APPELLATE JUDGES: They are always retained no matter what. Justice Charles Wells actually made the Florida Supreme Court look somewhat sane during the 2000 presidential election. He even came across well as portrayed in the movie “Recount”. It doesn’t matter how you vote, appellate judges are always retained. In order to be an informed voter, one would have to actually read some of their legal opinions and most folks just don’t have time for that.

CIRCUIT JUDGE: Judge Geiger has been an excellent judge and has been on the bench since Jimmy Carter was in the White House. For some reason he thought it would be cool to retire and grow coffee in Hawaii. He changed his mind and decided he wanted to be a judge again. He has been one of our better judges. His only negative is that his is 64 years old. Fran Ross has been a criminal defense attorney for 20 years. I just don’t think she would be a good judge. She is far too liberal and tends to sympathize with the criminals, but that is a common trait for defense attorneys. Sorry Fran, but Max picks Judge Geiger to get back on the bench. Geiger will sweep Martin and Okeechobee counties. Fran will do well in Indian River and St. Lucie but at the end of the day, Geiger will have more votes.

SCHOOL BOARD: Max does not know either Claudia Jiminez or Charlie Wilson and will admit ignorance when it exists. I guess I can toss a coin, but then again, so can you. I have no idea who will win this race.

SUPERVISOR OF ELECTIONS: I saved this one for last because it seems to have the most local interest. There are so many variables in this race that it is impossible to predict what will happen. In all candor, Max has known Kay Clem for a while and I will admit a bias in her favor. Max does not know Colman Stewart but has had some contact with Cathy Hart over the years. If the race were strictly between Clem and Stewart, Clem would win easily. Stewart has emerged in the past few weeks as a possible shady character with a distorted past with name changes and false official documents. The false information on the financial disclosure form could warrant criminal charges. U.S. Senator Ted Stevens of Alaska was convicted last week for providing false information on his financial disclosure form. The main thing Stewart has going for him is that he is not Kay Clem. Clem has made some mistakes, which she has owned up to. People that actually do work, make mistakes. A good worker can do 100 things a day and get 95 of them right, yet all you will hear about are the five that were flubbed. She has been attacked viciously by the Cathy Hart fan club on things that would ordinarily be ignored. I am not going to try and defend the lip gloss. The bottom line is that she has consistently provided the proper vote totals to the right state officials at the right time. None of the elections on her watch have been challenged. So basically, she has done her job.

There is an unknown variable in this race that makes it impossible to predict and that is Cathy Hart, who was fired by Clem earlier this year. The key question is how many Republican voters will sway to Stewart so that Hart can have her old job back. This is the key to the election. Even if Stewart wins, he loses, knowing that on day one the person who helped him get elected is beginning her campaign to take his job. He will be the Supervisor of Elections in name only and will constantly be looking over his shoulder for worry of a possible stab in the back. This will not provide a pleasant working environment for anyone in the elections office. It will likely be ugly and inefficient. Clem v. Stewart? Clem. Clem v. Stewart/Hart? Who knows.

Well, there you have it. Max Newport’s take on most of the local elections. I don’t know enough about the hospital board, mosquito control or land district to make any kind of prediction. As far as the Vero Beach City Council is concerned, it could be a long night for Tom White. I am not big on amending the constitution. Most, if not all, of the proposed changes can be made legislatively if they are that important. If the legislators are afraid to take a stand on controversial issues, they should not take it to the voters to change the constitution. Six proposed amendments is absurd. Amendments to the constitution should be few and far between less they lose significance. If they keep it up, the Florida Constitution will take on the heft of a statute book.

If you haven’t voted yet, do it so that you can rightfully be as cynical as Max. To all the candidates . . . Max wishes you all the best of luck.


Now, where is my lighter?






Of course y'all know Miss Vero will be adding our two cents tomorrow. Ok, that's right, much more than just two cents, so stay tuned.

MWAH!


missvero@live.com

A PERSONAL TROPICAL DEPRESSION

WELCOME TO INDIAN RIVER COUNTY,

WHERE NOTHIN EVER CHANGES AND WE LIKE IT THAT WAY!

There's a few things that Miss Vero's gin soaked brain just doesn't quite understand...

Like, how does a candidate with what seems like a gazillion very vocal supporters on every street corner waving signs come in dead last? (Kent Campbell with only 16% of the vote)

And, how can we ever take anyone serious named Duuurrrl? Oh never mind, he's got a gun.

And, what ever happened to that huge group of people that were gonna chase ole Gary Wheeler outa town?

Ya'll reckon they just took it out on Miss Sandra Bowden instead?

And will the run off between Miss Claudia Jimenez and Charlie Wilson be like a local production of "Inherit the Wind"? (and how do we get tickets?)

And finally who in the H.E. double toothpicks voted for Stan Mayfield? If there was ever a corruption, er, election that reeked of good ole boy politics, it was this one.

Should we be a conspiracy theorist? How do all of the PJ picks manage to get elected? Ahh, the most read newspaper on the treasure coast, and the only newspaper on the treasure coast.

Move over Russ, looks like we'll have the humble pie today.

A Sincere Thank You...

... is in order, for the wonderful and kind words from Captain Bill McMullen, who sent Miss Vero a very personal e mail expressing his thanks for what little support we gave him.

And now, to cure our election depression, we must drink many cocktails and go shopping, although not in that order.

MWAH!

missvero@live.com