AS PROMISED...

...Sunday did "Pick-Up"! Check out our morning with Mayor Kevin Sawnick!

SUNDAY SHOULD PICK UP...

That's right kids, the weather should be sunny and it'll be a great day to help Mayor Kevin Sawnick clean up the beach. Also, a little after party at Mulligan's sounds like fun!

check out the event page and let them know y'all are attending:

facebook/mulligans


"Join Vero Beach's Mayor, Kevin Sawnick and the community for the 2nd Mayor's Beach Clean up. The event will start at Mulligan's Beach House. Meet at 11am, clean the beach for about an hr. and meet back at Mulligan's for food, refreshments, and a mingle with the Mayor.
The last one was allot of fun and we cleaned about 175 lbs of trash off the beach!"



MWAH!

missvero@live.com

HAS IT BEEN THIS LONG?

Oh hunnies! Has it really been this long since Miss Vero visited with y'all? A whole, entire month since we posted at VeroNews.com? What in tarnation has our gin soaked brain been up to? Well, y'all might say we've been in hibernation mode or y'all might say we've been in hyper-nation mode depending on how y'all look at these things.

Yes, Miss Vero has been out and about around town but we've also been busy on a top secret project out of town - a little sumthin we like to call "refillin' the coffers" if y'all know what we mean...

So let's back track a little bit and just as excitin' as watchin' your neighbors vacation video, let us tell y'all what we did during the Great Winter of Vero 2009 ('cause today it's back in the 70's and the Great winter of Vero is officially over).

Let's see... where did we leave off? Oh yes, Vegas. What happens in Vegas usually stays in Vegas but we did manage to bring back a photo of our Bonanno sandals in front of the Fabulous Las Vegas sign. Y'all know that Miss Vero is not as limber as we once were so getting our ole leg up that high was quite a accomplishment! While we did hobnob with celebrity friends and attend some rockin' parties, our biggest thrill was meeting the "Old Man" from the History channel show "Pawn Stars". We just walked right into the Famous Gold and Silver Pawn shop and there they were, all three generations, just like on TV! What can we say? It's the peculiar things in life that make us happy hunnies.

But back in Vero there were a quite few Christmas parties that needed attending and our favorite soiree was at the lovely home of Miss Michelle Genz, who, by the way, is a fabulous hostess with an exceptional local to entertain. We bumped into our pal Jose Lambiet, Gossip God at the Palm Beach Post and caught up with all the celebrity goin's on. Then, a few rowdy Miss Vero fans literally dragged us to an after party at Miss Fran Love's Clubhouse, where there just happened to be a Drag Show and other such debauchery. All we can say is that a certain Miss Claudia is an instigator who will get y'all in trouble every time. HA! Just kidding kids, y'all know the truth is that Miss Vero enjoys every minute of fun and is truly the spark that ignites that troublemakin' fire! A big ole MWAH! to Miss Claudia for being so much fun and to Miss Fran for givin' us so much Love!

On Christmas eve we were back in town (somewhat unusual for us) and went out looking for a party. It felt like Vero had become the Island of Misfit Toys, stragglers wandering around like olives without martinis, just looking for a leader and so we found our niche and prepared to fill it. Joey's had a quiet grand opening party that night and we enjoyed the hospitality of Mr. John Bono and his fabulous brick oven pizzas. We met up with Mr. Bob Moulder from the new Citrus Grillhouse as he was enjoying the quiet time before his grand opening next month. By now the word is out and last weekend when we got to Joey's again the place was PACKED!!! It is by far the hottest thing that has hit Vero since....well, since us! we don't have to wish them luck, only offer congratulations because they've hit it big hunnies. Mr. Bono promises that they will be open each and every night, kitchen open till 12:30 and bar open till 1am. Finally... a real night club in Vero.




And then it was out of town again, feeling like a pinball bouncin' around and the one thing we regret is missing Miss JJ's New Year's Day party. Howevah, we were so pleased to see Miss JJ honored on the front page of verobeach32963's January 7th edition with a wonderful story that y'all MUST read. Y'all might remember back last spring, (March 3rd, to be exact) we did a little post about a party we did attend at Miss JJ's home where she greeted everyone with a huge silver bowl full of mint juleps! Now y'all can understand why we are so sorry we missed the New Years Day party!

The saga of Good Ole Charlie Wilson and Mr. Ken Daige. Hmmm, what to say about that? Those were our choices for City Council back when the election was on. Funny how things work out. We wish Mr. Daige the very best and are genuinely happy for his appointment. We know how much this means to him and how hard he is willing to work for his community and as we have said before, we also know that his hiatus has given him a new perspective and we expect him to not be the same Ken Daige this time around. As for Charlie...somehow we think he'll be all right. He's weathered this storm and everything serves a purpose. Given his short time in office and the excellent coverage by Lisa Zahner on local politics, perhaps the citizens of Vero Beach will now demand better representation and more transparency of their elected officials. One thing we love, the look of utter frustration and impending heartburn on Tom White's face every time Vero Beach City Councilman Brian Heady (Ha!) begins a sentence. Every. Single. Time.

As always the fun continues downtown, emanating out from the Epicenter of Cool - Undertow and rippling over Cafe Mojo and Bodega Blue. Last Friday night was a trifecta of fun with all three hotspots offering live music to cool and curious crowds. One of Miss Vero's favorite blues boys, Ben Prestage, gave a standing room only performance at Bodega. We also ran into our favorite Mayor Kevin Sawnick (who has his own website!) and we just love to see out and about. This weekend should be no slacker and expect to see these three establishment hummin along once again. and the best thing is y'all can find a central place to park downtown and WALK to all three.

Times up! Y'all don't have the attention span for more of our bablin' do you? Didn't think so, but hunnies there is so much more...Please click on all the highlighted fabulous links and oh, we almost forgot - THE SHOW! Yes, some of the children who house sit for us thought it would be fun to turn on a camera and record their antics in Miss Vero's absence. Well we expected them to raid the alkeehaul of course, but who knew they could be entertaining to boot? Who know what may come of it? Yes, indeed.


MWAH!

missvero@live.com

THE GREEN PARTY TAKES OVER VERO

Well at least at the new GreenHouse Cafe. The crowd was estimated at over 500 folks and with an open bar and free fabulous food, y'all know Miss Vero was in attendance! One of the more interesting things on the American menu was the mashed potato pizza, a savory combination with onion and rosemary. We did manage to get a copy of the new menu and prices and we think y'all will be pleasantly pleased. Appetizers from $3.95 -Deep Fried Pickles! to $11.95 for Lobster Mac and Cheese. Entrees start out at $12.95 for old Fashioned Chicken Pot Pie to $28.95 for a 16oz. Angus Rib eye. Looks good kids, plenty of open space, wonderful staff, full bar ( y'all know we like that) and beautiful courtyard. Oh, and gracious hosts and owners who obviously know how to throw a party. Congratulations Olske Forbes and partners, on a wonderful addition to downtown!


Miss Bea Gardner had the best quip of the evening when she observed that it would be nice to get this many people out to vote in local elections. Local politicians on the scene included the ever present County Commissioner and Mrs. Peter O'Bryan (who we now believe can give Miss Vero a run for the money in party attendance) and Mayor Kevin Sawnick. Y'all know Kevin Sawnick, right?






He's the mayor of Vero Beach. Perhaps we should call Mr. Sabe Abell and remind him of that fact. Here's his phone number - 772-978-4700 office, or 772-231-2258 at home. Miss Vero wants everyone to read "The Political Junkie" and then call Sabe Abell. Call Now, he would love to hear from y'all, call and tell him that Mr. Kevin Sawnick is the mayor because apparently he didn't get the memo and it's always good to help our elected officials, especially when they forget who they work for. Oh wait, who does he work for?

MR CHARLIE WILSON HAS BEEN SERVED WITH A FRIVOLOUS LAWSUIT

Newly elected City Councilman Wilson has been served with a time and money wasting, court cloggin', somebody got a burr in their britches, lawsuit. Why? Because good Ole Charlie Wilson has the potential to uncover some dirty deeds at City Hall and a few folks are just not havin' that. Notice how the City of Vero Beach (covb.org) has NOT updated their website with a new picture of the city council? Apparently the photos they took on swearin' in day were for posterity. Mr. Tom White and Mr. Sabe Abell need to stop their childish behavior now! This is about a transfer of power all right and not the power plant. And just so y'all know, Mr. Ken Daige has informed Miss Vero that he is in no way a part of this suit. Let's face it folks, the status quo has got to go!


POLITICS, POLITICS AND MORE POLITICS! THE STAN MAYFIELD MEMORIAL HIGHWAY AND CHINESE DRYWALL DILEMMA

The big guns were out and about Wednesday when State Road 60 was dedicated and renamed "The Stan Mayfield Memorial Highway". Y'all couldn't swing a cat and not hit a major Florida politician. Noticeably absent, Mr. Gary Wheeler, the lone dissenting vote on the proposal to rename the highway. Funniest faux pas? When big ole Bob Solari sat in Mrs. Mayfield's front row reserved seat. Musta been the glare of that mouth metal, blinded his sight for a minute. Are those braces or a jaw wirin' to lose weight? Just wonderin'. These are the thoughts that pass through our gin soaked brain, should we say them out loud? Let's face it hunnies, y'all wouldn't be here if we didn't.

In all seriousness, Mrs Mayfield was very dignified and lovely and it was heart wrenching to learn that it was her late husbands birthday that day. We can't tell y'all how much we actually do appreciate that road, every time we are driving to the turnpike, over to Tampa and especially comin' in to town late at night from one of our many road trips. Learning that the project came in five years ahead of schedule and the genuine emotions displayed at that ceremony melted Miss Vero's heart and we have cottoned to this issue, so let's give credit where credit is due and appreciate Mr. Mayfield for a job well done.

Did y'all see the video on Veronews.com and read the article of our Congressman, Mr. Bill Posey touring homes in Vero with Chinese Drywall?

"Rep. Posey said that not much has been done on the various government levels since complaints started pouring in regarding the material..."There's so much unknown," the congressman said....Rep. Posey said that President Barack Obama would be traveling to China soon and is expected to discuss the drywall issue with officials there.... What might come out of that discussion remains to be..."It leaves us with a lot of balls up in the air," the congressman said."

Let's just say if Miss Vero lived in a house with Chinese Drywall and Mr. Posey came a callin' and had so little to say about how to remedy this situation... Hunnies, y'all know we would have lured him into a closet with the promise of an Obama Kenyan birth certificate and kept him captive until he could come up with a decent answer. Pussyfootin' around award to you Mr. Posey, now get to work on a real issue and give these folks some peace of mind.


Who can turn a restaurant review into a political rant and make you laugh along the way? Only Miss Vero kids. Remember keep your arms inside the vehicle at all times and enjoy the ride!

MWAH!
missvero@ live.com

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

I'LL TAKE "PEOPLE I KNOW ON JEOPARDY" FOR A 1000, ALEX!

As y'all know by now, Miss Vero is ancient and has met just about everyone worth drinkin with in Vero and in many other parts of this little ole planet. So, of course we had friends who were on the popular game show Jeopardy out in Cali-forny (We especially loved sharing their life time supply of Klondike Bars!). But who would figure that of the three known Veroites that have been on the stage with Alex Trebeck, that Miss Vero would be having dinner with two of them this evening? Can y'all guess who?

WE STAND TO BE CORRECTED

On Saint Patrick's Day, we asked if there were any other Irish Pubs in Vero Beach and we were reminded that Bobby McCarthy from the legendary "Bobby's", was indeed Irish enough to have his establishment qualify as an Irish Pub. So there.


STUFF WE MISSED
Last weekend- The St. Pat's Parade on Ocean Drive and the Pelican Island Wildlife Festival in Sebastian:
http://www.myhometownnews.net/index.php?tim=&cat_id=News~Indian+River+County
We are currently workin out just how to get a calendar widget for events posted to the site. So of course, we're lookin for any big, strong, strappin, tech boys out there, who would be willin to help.


KEVIN SAWNICK AND PETER O'BRYAN
We made another comment a while back, that City Council member, Mr. Kevin Sawnick ,was out and about in the public and quite accessible to his constituents (a quality that we certainly admire in a politician). We did receive an email from County Commissioner, Mr. Peter O'Bryan on this subject.

Miss Vero,

Please see the notice below. I have been meeting with the public on a monthly basis since I took office in November 2006. It is normally held at the Vero Highlands community center on Highlands Drive, but for March the residents of Indian River Club invited us to their clubhouse.

Cheers,
Peter


Wow, Miss Vero appreciates the correction and apologies to to Mr. O'Bryan for the oversight of not getting the notification out on time for the March meeting. Perhaps his office would be so kind as to continue to send Mr. O'Bryan's meet and greet schedule, so that we may share it with y'all. And, we especially like that he signed it "Cheers"!

As for the technologically unchallenged, Mr. Kevin Sawnick, we know we can always find him on twitter:
http://twitter.com/KevinSawnick


Well have to get goin kids, Viv is MIA again this morning (um, afternoon to most of y'all and we're gonna hafta go hunt her down. Poor thing, she tries so hard to keep up with Miss Vero, but this is not a job for the faint of heart (or liver).


MWAH!


missvero@live.com

Oh! And one more thing, Lawdy Mama - with her two medium sized children- reminded us to tell y'all that this is the last weekend for "Screen on the Green " out at Pointe West. Here's a ticket!
(Click on it hunnies, to make it big enough to read)

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.

BEEP..., BEEP..., BEEP..., FLATLINE --------

Well, we've just finished reading our mail from the past month. Now, while some of y'all might think it's crazy to only read your mail once a month, Miss Vero somehow finds it liberatin that we are not a slave to most correspondence, which mostly, just wastes our precious time. Did we mention that we pay all our bills online?

Among the satellite tv offers, coupons for useless things and a Christmas card from President and Mrs. Carter, there were a stack of Verobeach32963, that we took the time to sit down and read.

Let's see what we found...Beautiful Beachies doin the Beautiful Beachie things that they do...Real Estate ads...Very good restaurant reviews that don't make us gag...Real Estate ads...Michelle Genz does a profile of our favorite Jose Lambiet, hmmmm, interesting....Real Estate Ads...Oh, and here's our favorite part - the Editorial.

We especially liked that an entire page, in the December 4th issue,was given to remedy the shameful way that Mr. Ken Daige was treated by the Press Journal, which could possible have lost him the election. We would have preferred to see Mr. Daige and the young fresh Mr. Kevin Sawnick, both able to serve Vero while Mr. Tom "running with scissors" White, got the boot.

Yet, the most interesting for us, was the November 13th editorial, "The Incredible Shrinking Press Journal", which Miss Vero found "ink spot on". Last Sunday, after we had emptied the PJ of all it's annoying advertising fliers, we noticed that the paper was tissue thin, hardly any bigger than the Hometown News. And yes, it seems to get smaller and weaker in physically size and journalistic content as each week goes by.

Perhaps the powers that be, at the parent company, E. W. Scripps, are just planning for the future by economizing on ink and paper. After all, way back in January of 2007, this idea was presented.

"...the company's management "spoke much more positively on the possibility of reducing its exposure to the newspaper industry" http://www.forbes.com/2007/01/10/scripps-newspapers-goldman-markets-equity-cx_rs_0110markets14.html


Just this week, E. W. Scripps has put a Pulitzer winning paper on the market, with little chance of finding a buyer:
http://www.westword.com/2008-12-11/news/the-rocky-mountain-news-is-going-down/

And more newspaper trouble a little closer to home, with news of the Miami Herald for sale: http://www.mediaweek.com/mw/content_display/news/magazines-newspapers/e3i686368ba4cd6a88c345fe88fd6cac2e9

We especially like the little blurb in Gawker that gives the Miami Herald -"Odds of survival: 2-1. If you do not consider a two-page weekly digest of Dave Barry and Carl Hiaasen columns to be "survival," we lower its odds to 3-1.":
http://gawker.com/5104434/the-official-newspaper-survival-odds
(See? We told y'all that Mr. Hiaasen had lost his humor mojo)

And here's a final nail in the coffin from Editor&Publisher, "America's oldest journal covering the newspaper industry", who proclaim this week that -"'Several Cities' Could Have No Daily Paper As Soon As 2010...":
http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003918781


While the VB332963 politely offers helpful suggestions to the PJ -"Hire some real reporters and editors.", but concludes that "we confess to doubts that it is going to happen in this difficult economy" and continues with the promise "we intend to continue our news coverage of the local area, particularly as it impacts the Vero Beach barrier island." (yes, we know y'all have to justify those Real Estate ads), we think the future of news is right in front of y'all.

Now of course, at this point we would give y'all a link to the VB32963 article, but we can't and here's where Miss Vero would like to offer a little suggestion to the VB32963. Update your online edition!

And while the VB32963 acknowledges their neglect of this, they counter that they are "focused on getting our print edition into your mailbox each Thursday." Because, guess what? Those Real Estate ads have got to get to you!

The unfortunate truth is that relying on advertising for print media is not a good idea and that if someone doesn't figure out how to make some muhlah on this internet thing (and believe me, Miss Vero hasn't figured it out yet, but we believe that Mr. Milton R. Benjamin is smart enough to), the future of news will be akin to neighbors talkin over a fence, better known as "blogging".

Cocktail in hand, we've got that covered!

MWAH!

missvero@live.com

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!