A1A South

Burglars Ransack House, Kill Family Dog

Woman Shot at Talleyrand Terminal

Sadly, this was a domestic violence case. She had a restraining order against her abusive boyfriend. Yep, those restraining orders work wonders.

Update: Boyfriend shot and killed himself after SWAT team surrounded house.

Man Robbed by Gunman Outside Mall

14-Year-Old Girl Shot Returning from Shopping Trip with Friends Speaks Out

This is still pretty shocking for those of us that knew Jacksonville as a peaceful place.

JACKSONVILLE, FL — David Nicholas works in the airline industry and pays close attention to safety issues.

“This is serious and this is a known problem,” says Nicholas. Nicholas knows first hand the gravity of the problem. He says, “You’re not believing it, you expect your tires to stay inflated.” Recently, Nicholas was driving his Ford F-150 on Highway US-1 when two of his tires failed. “The vehicle turned to left and I was able to control it but what if I had a load on my truck it would have been hard to keep control of the vehicle,” says Nicholas.

The problem was not a blowout, the problem was two defective tire valve stems.

“One of those things that’s a sleeper and it is hard to notice,” says Nicholas.

Nicholas had his wheels inspected and discovered that the tire valve stems were cracked and that they were part of a nationwide recall.

He was never notified of the recall.

“So if you bought tires between 2006 and 2008, there’s a possibility that these stems could be on your tires,” says Nicholas.

The stems were made in China and distributed by Tech International to car care centers worldwide.

Nicholas says “The cracks are very visible if you bend the stem at the base of the stem.” Even if there are no visible cracks, a tire repair shop should inspect the valve stems to see if they’re among the recalled valves.

“If there are 30 million of these in the marketplace the word needs to get out and they need to be inspected and replaced,”says Nicholas.

He replaced the stems on his vehicle at his expense and would like Tech International or his tire retailer to replace his damaged tire. For more information on the valve stem recall, contact the National Highway Traffic Safety Adminstration’s hotline at 1-888-327-4236.

Source:  FirstCoastNews.com

Check your valve stems, people.  The companies that used them sure as hell aren’t going to notify you.

IMMOKALEE, FL - The Sunshine State has seen rapid growth in population during the last 50 years. The 1997 U.S. Census showed that the population of Florida increased more than five-and-a-half times from 1950 to 2000. Naturally, along with population increases, Florida is experiencing an increase in the amount of municipal waste. Studies confirm that the amount of wastewater generated by cities in Florida has increased more than fivefold since 1950.

Environmental concerns about pollution of surface waters by treated wastewater have caused many communities to consider alternate ways to use secondary-treated, or reclaimed, wastewater. Before 1986, the city of Orlando and Orange County were discharging wastewater into a creek that flows into Lake Tohopekaliga in central Florida. To address concerns that the process would affect the quality water in the lake, city and county officials, along with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, devised a plan to use the wastewater for agricultural irrigation.

According to a 2005 report by the Florida Department of Environmental Protection, there are currently 440 “reclaimed water reuse systems” in Florida, irrigating thousands of acres of golf courses, public land, and residential landscapes with 2,385 million liters of reclaimed water per day. Reclaimed wastewater is also being used to irrigate some of Florida’s world-renowned citrus orchards. Because yearly rainfall in Florida is seasonal, with 75% of annual rainfall usually occurring between June and September, citrus growers rely on supplemental irrigation for healthy citrus crops.

In a study supported by the City of Orlando and Orange County (FL), researchers set out to determine whether long-term irrigation with treated municipal wastewater reduced citrus tree health, (appearance and leaf nutrient content), decreased fruit loads, impacted fruit quality, or created increases in soil contaminants. Dr. Kelly T. Morgan, a scientist at the University of Florida’s, Southwest Florida Research and Education Center, published the study report in the April, 2008 issue of HortScience.

Dr. Morgan explained, “Increased water use by the growing population and localized water shortages during low rainfall years have resulted in the development of water use restrictions and decreases in permitted water use for agriculture. Increased use of reclaimed water for agricultural irrigation would not only reduce the wastewater disposal problem for urban areas, but could also reduce the amount of water withdrawn from Florida’s aquifers used for irrigation.”

The yearly monitoring project, which began in the 1990s and ended in 2004, concluded that using reclaimed water for irrigation of citrus orchards showed few detrimental effects on the orchards. Morgan commented, “Appearance of trees irrigated with reclaimed water was usually better, with higher canopy, leaf color, and fruit crop ratings than orchards irrigated with groundwater. Although there was higher weed growth in reclaimed water-irrigated orchards due to higher soil water content, growers apparently have made adequate adjustments to their herbicide practices.”

Researchers concluded that long-term citrus irrigation with high-quality reclaimed water on well-drained sandy soils did not significantly reduce tree viability or yield and required relatively little adjustment in crop production practices: good news for the environment and citrus producers alike.

The complete study and abstract are available on the ASHS HortScience electronic journal web site: http://hortsci.ashspublications.org/cgi/content/abstract/43/2/459

Founded in 1903, the American Society for Horticultural Science (ASHS) is the largest organization dedicated to advancing all facets of horticultural research, education, and application. More information at ashs.org.

Source:  Eurekalert

Using reclaimed wastewater for agricultural irrigation seems like a good idea to me, balancing the needs of the population for fresh water with the needs of the agricultural community for irrigation water.

Corn: Corn at or beyond silking reached 13 percent complete, 37 points behind last year and 23 points behind the 5-year average. Developmental delays continued in the Corn Belt, where many areas received more than 4 inches of rain during the week. Outside of the Corn Belt, silking progress was ahead of the normal pace in Colorado, North Carolina, and Pennsylvania. Despite the developmental delays, the condition of the crop continued to improve. By week’s end, 64 percent of the crop was rated in good to excellent condition, 2 percentage points better than a week earlier.

Soybeans: Twenty-six percent of the soybean acres were at or beyond the blooming stage, 28 points behind last year and 19 points behind the 5-year average. Progress was lagging in all States except Michigan and Mississippi, where ideal weather conditions have allowed the crop to bloom ahead of the 5-year average pace. In Iowa and the Dakotas, one-fifth or more of the crop reached blooming during the week. Soybean condition ratings remained at 59 percent good to excellent, unchanged from last week.

Winter Wheat: Producers had reaped 62 percent of the Nation’s wheat acreage by week’s end, 5 points behind last year and 8 points behind the 5-year average. Harvest progress trailed the average pace in most States, most significantly in Colorado and Nebraska. When compared with last year, harvest progress in Ohio was behind by 51 percentage points. In contrast, harvest was complete in Arkansas and North Carolina, and neared completion in California, Kansas, Oklahoma, and Texas.

Cotton: Seventy-one percent of the cotton acreage was at or beyond squaring, 3 points behind last year and 4 points behind the 5-year average. Acreage setting bolls, at 27 percent, was 3 points behind last year and 4 points behind the 5-year average. Boll-setting progress was delayed in most cotton-producing States, but remained within 15 points of normal. However, when compared with last year’s rapid development, acreage in California was 22 points behind. Boll setting was underway in all States except Kansas. Cotton condition ratings improved during the week, reaching 46 percent good to excellent.

Sorghum: The Nation’s sorghum acreage was 28 percent headed, 13 points behind last year and 3 points behind the 5-year average. One-fifth of the acreage was coloring by week’s end, 8 points behind last year but the same as normal. Sorghum was heading in most States. Rapid development occurred in Arkansas, where 20 percent of the crop reached the heading stage during the week. Half of the crop was coloring in Texas, 21 points behind last year’s rapid pace but  equal to the 5-year average. Fifty percent of the sorghum crop was rated in good to excellent condition, 1 point below the previous week.

Rice:  Twelve percent of the rice crop had reached the heading stage, 5 points behind last year and 4 points behind average. Heading was occurring in all States except California and Missouri, but trailed the average pace in all States. Rice condition was rated 72 percent good toexcellent, an increase of 3 points from the previous week.

Small Grains:  Spring wheat heading reached 84 percent, 6 points behind last year and 2 points behind the 5-year average. Heading progress was within 5 points of normal in all States except Idaho and Minnesota, where progress trailed the average by 17 and 18 points, respectively. Heading was nearly complete in South Dakota. Progress was rapid in Montana, where 43 percent of the crop reached the heading stage during the week. Condition ratings declined to 61 percent good to excellent, 8 points below a week earlier. Seventy-eight percent of the barley acreage was heading, 14 points behind last year and 6 points behind the 5-year average. Progress was behind last year and normal in all States, except North Dakota. Sixty-seven percent of the barley acreage was rated in good to excellent condition, compared with 69 percent last week. Oat acreage was 93 percent headed, 5 points behind last year and 2 points behind the 5-year average. Ten percent of the crop was harvested by week’s end, 3 points behind last year and 2 points behind the 5-year average. Heading was complete in Ohio and Texas, and harvest was complete in Texas. Condition of the crop was rated 61 percent good to excellent, a 5-point decline from the previous week’s rating.

Other Crops:  Peanut pegging, at 57 percent, was 17 points ahead of last year’s progress and the same as the 5- year average pace. In the Southeast and Oklahoma, peanuts were pegging slower than average. However, when compared with last year’s pegging pace, only Oklahoma and South Carolina were behind. Peanut condition, rated 60 percent good to excellent, improved 4 points from last week.

Source:  USDA

Ain’t that the truth!

The idea for Chris Gosnell’s new business used to stare him in the face during his career in telecommunications.

The male technology workers around him didn’t like to shop for clothes — and it showed.

The idea for the OutfitEZ Inc. business he launched in April with his wife, Michele Page, came to him when his desire to update his wardrobe clashed with his dislike for shopping, especially for clothes.

Source: Jacksonville Business Journal

What a great idea! SwampMan only gets new clothes when his T-shirts and jeans are too raggedy to wear, and he would get shirts all in the same style and color if I didn’t object so loudly. He really should have stayed in the military.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — As police investigate Tuesday’s death of a 35-year-old mother of two found shot inside a Westside home, a man who witnesses heard last week threatening to shoot up that same house was arrested.

Investigators said they believe Angela Knight was killed when bullets flew through the windows of her mother’s home on First Street, near Prospect Road.

Source: News4Jax.com

A woman was killed because her mother asked a trespasser to leave, so he came back later to kill the mother, shot up the house, and killed the wrong person. Not that he cares about that.

I talked to her about moving several years ago, but that is her home. That is where she raised her daughters. That is her neighborhood. She is not going anywhere.

NASSAU COUNTY, Fla. — After months of investigation, deputies in Nassau County said they have finally cracked down on two illegal gaming businesses that were allegedly operating right under their noses.

Teams of Nassau County deputies raided on Wednesday what they said were illegal casinos.

Piles of cash, stacks of debit cards and the machines on which police said people were gambling to trying to win illegal prizes were seized from Cabana Gold Vegas Games in Callahan and Treasure Bay in Fernandina Beach.

Source: News4Jax.com

Sheriff Seagraves says that investigations are continuing, so I expect that more of the rash of “games” that have shown up in our county will be closed.

I suppose I’ve been remiss by not taking the grocery money and checking those places out, but I’m one of those odd people that like the odds stacked in my favor. The only thing I went to Vegas for are the restaurants.

I was trying to set up for a dry run of an idea that I had of teaching people how to make their own concrete planters, stepping stones, etc. I moved (with SwampMan’s grudging help) the big cypress picnic table onto the back covered patio to hold the heavier materials and concrete mixing tub. As usual, I was not allowed to do anything unsupervised by my 4-pawed masters.

While covering the picnic table with a vinyl tablecloth, Princess, the former momma cat, decided to supervise. She walked back and forth, effectively impeding my moving the vinyl table covering. I finally picked her up and put her down as she was impervious to pointed hints such as “damnit, cat! Get off the table!” Meanwhile Odie, the deaf one-eyed dog who is developing a cataract on his remaining eye, was in his usual place by my side, rubbing his eye on my knee in the apparent hope that touching his Saviour with the afflicted eye would heal the cataract. Hope, apparently, springs eternal, and he was giving me another chance to perform the healing as it hadn’t worked the last three million times he’d done it. After stumbling over Odie (again) and genially cursing (which was pointless as he couldn’t hear me anyway), I tried to put out my various carving tools, pigments, and molds, coming inside for a medicinal chocolate-covered peanut cluster or three, a superb stress reducer. Back outside to the table, where I had to pick a tree frog out of my concrete mixing tub. At this point Don Bruce, the former big studly cat, decided to march imperiously down the table and waved his tail in my eyes. Did I mention that I’ve developed an allergy to cats? As my eyes started to swell shut, I ran back inside (stumbling over Odie yet again) to wash out the eyes and pop a Benadryl (and some more of those chocolate peanut clusters). Hey, wait….how did this bag get so empty?

After eating about 1,000 calories in chocolate-covered peanuts, I’m about to go back outside and make….something. I think I can rule out giving classes in decorative concrete here as a money-making venture.

When I worked construction and was back and forth in Jacksonville all the time, I often tried to stop by the Oasis on Edgwood Ave. to pick up a camel rider or tuna rider for lunch.

We were in the area since we needed to go to Grainger Supply, so we decided to fulfill a long-denied rider fix. The price of the sandwiches has gone up since the last time I was there (but so has everything else). The sandwiches are just as delicious and filling, and the sweet tea is just as sweet as I remember. I wonder if there’s anything else from over in that area we can order just so we can make the excuse to get another rider next week.

Picture found here. While it isn’t the exact same sandwich, you get the idea.

Here’s some more information on the origin of the pita sandwiches.