WHILE WE WERE OUT...

Now hunnies, Miss Vero knows y'all were expecting some new fangled web site with a lot of bells and whistles and we sure did try on a whole mess of "dresses" to pretty this thing up, but honestly, we didn't like anything at all. Yup, some poor ole IT guys really tried to show us a bunch of stuff, but we decided to just be our plain old Miss Vero self - but with a little bit more.


Besides that, we have to be honest ( as we always are) and tell you that Miss Vero had a little health scare that, thank the Lawd, turned out to be OK . We just had to take care of that sit-chi-ation and we know y'all understand. We didn't want to cause a ruckus, but like we just said, everything turned out all right.

So, for being so patient, we've decided that we're gonna give y'all a little gift today and come on out for y'all to see.

That's right kids, a real true and honest photograph of Miss Vero!

Now if y'all are wondering just how this happened, well Miss Vero has always been in the limelight and as we've mentioned before, we once were livin in the hills of Beverly, working in the business of show. But it just so happens that one of our very first jobs started right here in Florida, down in Fort Lauderdale for a movie called "Harry and Son" starring none other than Mr. Paul Newman.

The PJ ran a story yesterday, about a woman who worked as an extra in the film when they did a remote shoot at the Sebastian Inlet, but your own Miss Vero was a "runner" for the actual production in Fort Lauderdale.

We decided to post this picture, because when we pulled this photo out of our scrapbook and showed it to our own family, nobody recognized us. We thought for sure that the holding of the cocktail glass was a dead give away, but no.

That can only mean two things, that one, we are now older and fatter than we thought, or two, that the sex change operation was a complete success or maybe both. Either way it's a pretty good bet that nobody will recognize us.

Mr. Newman has the same shirt on as in the PJ photo (that was his primary costume in the movie) and Miss Vero still has the necklace we were wearing at the time. Y'all can click on the above picture to get a closer look. and y'all can see our necklace below with yesterday's story.

Now speaking of celebrities....

Seems we have Miss Megan Fox, who was just named one of the 25 hottest stars under 25, with her Moma livin right here in Vero Beach.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26961053?gt1=43001
Her Moma did a little interview with the Palm Beach Post, which we sent out to our friend Perez Hilton, who loves this gossip sort of thing enough to send us a little love in return:


Re: Megan Fox's Mom‏
From:
Perez Hilton (perez@perezhilton.com)
Sent:
Tue 9/23/08 9:37 AM
To:
Miss Vero (missvero@live.com)
Thanks Miz Vero!xoxP
On Tue, Sep 23, 2008 at 9:34 AM, Miss Vero <missvero@live.com> wrote:
So Perezito, I am sending you another tip from lame old Vero Beach.


So don't be surprised when Perez Hilton comes to town as Miss Vero's guest, just saying...

And if y'all are really interested in this sort of thing there's a lot more local-girl-turns-celebrity story (apparently folks in England love her too): http://www.newsoftheworld.co.uk/showbiz/article34662.ece




BUT ENOUGH ABOUT HOLLYWOOD! WHAT'S HAPPENING IN VERO?


Umm, well, not a whole heck of a lot apparently and when things do happen it's embarrassing.

Miss Vero got an email last week from a concerned mom who is heartbroken over the Sebastian Middle School Incident and the treatment of the story by the Press Journal.

Miss Vero,
I beg you please to write about Russ Lemmon's latest article http://www.tcpalm.com/news/2008/sep/23/canceled-season-was-lost-chance/
How can he condone this brutality on this young boy? When will this paper get rid of this gawd-awful man! Please do alert your readers of how heartless Russ truly is. I am sure if this was his child he would have a different view.
How long is depressed urinal going to keep this buffoon? Don't they realize that he makes me feel stupid when I read him! And by the way, none of my letters that I sent to him about him have ever run in the paper. Is there some kind of cover-up going on there that they don't want negative letters to the editors to appear about Russ? What kind of power does this guy have around there? Sometimes I wonder if he's ever submitted my letters to the editor to the editorial board.
Thank you for your time and please consider writing just something short about this,
A concerned parent


Miss Vero replied:
Thank you for trusting Miss Vero with your request. Since this is an extremely serious situation, I will talk to you directly and in a serious manner, dropping the "y'all's" and comedic character, which is the first and I hope last time I have to address an issue in this manner.
To answer your question, yes, Mr. Lemmon's wife is indeed the editor of the St. Lucie Scripps Treasure Coast newspaper, he arrived with his wife in late 2006. It's unfortunate that Mr. Lemmon seldom gets beyond Bob Evans to do any research or to even read his own paper, I'm not surprised at all that he formed an opinion and published it before all the facts in the case were reveled. I cannot even express in words the outrage that I feel for this incident and the way that I know this child will carry this trauma in his life.
It is because of the likes of Mr. Lemmon and the sorry excuse for a "newspaper" that I started blogging, I have found so many people like yourself who are demanding to be heard and I hope to provide a forum for us in Indian River County to do so. I will be launching the new web site next week with interactive features and more of a news format and a little less of Miss Vero. Until then, I'm with you on this, but let's just hold back and see the backlash Mr. Lemmon will undoubtedly get from his rash opinion. Believe me, this is in my radar scope, I'm watching very carefully. Thank you so much for taking the time to write. Miss Vero


Hi Miss Vero,
Thank you much for your kind response and for taking the time to write such a heartfelt e-mail. I don't know if you have children, but it just tugs at my heart every time I think about what that poor child endured. And then to have some pompous writer spew his unconscionable bias "why don't you take it like a man" opinion just sickens me to my stomach. Is that what he would tell his 11 year old son?
I will be a loyal reader of your new site. I hope someone will realize that he is such a waste of paper. The depressed urinal would be better served selling his article space for ads.
Looking forward to the new format Miss Vero and more power to you!
A fan forever


Now y'all know we don't usually print our emails, but we thought that this exchange pretty much summed up the whole mess that the PJ and Mr. Lemmon made out of the tragedy.

And y'all know Russ Lemmon never apologized for his cruel words. In fact we were sure that our hero Mr. Max Newport would let him have "what for" and sure nuf ole Max went in there and posted an extraordinary comment that did not contain any profanity and met with the standards of the PJ guide lines, only to have his comment deleted and be censored by the site!

If there's one thing Miss Vero cannot stand, it's censorship!

And it seems that our local newspaper does a lot of that. Another story we're following (because of all the e mails we get ) is what the heck is goin on at the hospital? Hmm, we've been askin around and we think it's just a matter of time till we get that turnup outa the patch.

In fact, Miss Vero would like to provide a forum for anyone who's been ignored or misrepresented by the PJ, so keep sending in your material and feel free to comment.



THERE'S A LOT MORE STILL...

Yup kids, we sure do have a lot more to tell y'all but we are dog tired now as we write this at 3:00am, after catchin up with all our favorite people at our local waterin holes.

Y'all know of course, we stopped in at Undertow to catch up with Miss Kitty and the Cutest Boy in Vero. Seems like they had themselves a wild time coming back from a wine tastin in Palm Beach. Anybody workin at Starbucks on Monday night see a carload of nekid folks? And y'all think nothing really happens in this town.

Miss Vero was also "outed" at the Oriente Lounge at the Costa D'Este. At least it was by the very smart and savvy manager JG. We met up with an old friend and also a new one, it was actually very relaxing there on a Tuesday night and the food is still fabulous.



Now don't worry kids, we'll get back up to speed this week and let y'all know what's going on and we'll be fixin this old blog so don't get too ruffled if the changes are slow comin.


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.