By Ken Jackson Staff Writer
Heres a note for residents in and around Poinciana who are trying to fit an education at Valencia College into their schedule while cutting down that long commute:
Those in charge who can put a campus in Poinciana are doing what they can to make that happen.
A Poinciana college campus, possibly a multi-building outpost making up about 20 acres, appeared high on a wish list of construction and renovation priorities that school administrators would like to take on through the end of the decade.
The college must have its proposal approved for the new campus by the schools Board of Trustees before it can officially appear before the Florida Department of Education, Osceola Campus President Kathleen Plinske said.
While funding can begin to be procured, it is not at the top of the list.
Still, that proposal will go to the trustees in July.
I feel pretty passionate about a campus nearer to Poinciana, Plinske said. Thats a trip of 30 to 45 minutes by car. Weve been offering a dozen or so classes at Liberty High School, and they always fill up. So we know that there is a need and a demand there.
She said that in Osceola County, Liberty and Poinciana high schools have the lowest rate of students continuing to college after graduation, but a closer campus could change that.
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Valencia to propose Poinciana campus
Police News Wednesday, 26 June 2013 10:05 Osceola County deputys search for a pair of missing boaters on Shingle Creek was interrupted when a green laser light was pointed at them three times.
Ryan Lucas, 20, from Asheboro, N.C., was arrested Tuesday night and charged with pointing a laser device at a driver/pilot.
The incident began around 11 p.m. Tuesday when deputies were in the middle of a search for a missing couple on Shingle Creek between Poinciana Boulevard and Bass Road. While the helicopter was searching the area, both pilot and observer reported that a green laser light blinded them three times. They located where the light was coming from and noticed several individuals in a swimming pool.
When deputies arrived at the location, a vacation rental property on Hideaway Beach Lane, Lucas went directly inside the house. Deputies were invited inside and asked to speak to Lucas. He gave deputies the laser light, saying that he messed up and should not have shined the light at the helicopter, according to Sheriffs spokesperson Twis Lizasuain, who said Lucas gave no explanation as to why he did it.
Based on his statement and evidence, deputies arrested Lucas and booked him in the Osceola County Jail.
The missing boating couple was also safely located.
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Laser light lands North Carolina man in jail
Police News Wednesday, 26 June 2013 10:06
Kissimmee police are investigating the shooting death of a 17 year-old male whose body was found along the side of North Central Avenue early this morning.
Listen to the 9-1-1 Call
Police responded to a call around 6 a.m. along Central between Columbia and Donegan Avenue, where the victim was found lying on the side of the road when they arrived, KPD spokesperson Stacie Miller said.
A witness told police that he heard a gunshot and then saw the victim on the ground. The victim was then taken to a local hospital, where he died. The incident is still under investigation.
Anyone with information about the incident is urged to contact the Kissimmee Police Departments Major Crimes Unit at 407-846-3333, by e-mail at seeitsayit@kissimmee.org or CRIMELINE at 1-800-423-TIPS (8477).
This is a breaking news story. Visit http://www.aroundosceola.com for updates.
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Kissimmee police investgated N. Central Ave. homicide
By Ken Jackson Staff Writer School is out, summer is in, and that means families are looking to slow down, take it easy and reach out to take in the areas recreation offerings. For those whose job is to offer those recreation programs, there is no slowing down now just the opposite. The summer is their crunch time. Take last week, for example. On June 18, recreation departments from Kissimmee and St. Cloud each participated in the Worlds Largest Swim Lesson. In cities all over the country, as well as in far off places like Australia and Japan, swim instructors herded children into pools simultaneously at 11 a.m. Eastern time to attempt to break a worlds record for the most individuals receiving a swim lesson at the same time. More than 100 youths participated at the Chris Lyle Aquatic Center in St. Cloud, where the Chick-fil-A Cow made an appearance. In Kissimmee, more than 400 children participated at the Makinson Aquatic Center, where groups like the Florida Guardian Ad Litem Program, Toho Water Authority and Target sponsored, gave presentations or volunteered. Mermaids from The Mernation helped pool instructions give tips on floating, breathing and some simple strokes. Officials will know next month whether the world record was indeed broken. Movie in the Park will return in July at the new Lakefront Park, with Escape from Planet Earth, a 2013 Canadian animated family film in 3-D voiced by the likes of Sarah Jessica Parker, William Shatner, Jessica Alba, Brendan Fraser and George Lopez, among others. The film will be preceded by RecFest, where ,beginning at 6 p.m., the department will have exhibitions and demonstrations about its summer offerings. Taina Toro of the Parks, Recreation and Facilities Department said the timing of it coincides with some of the departments biggest dates this summer. Well be celebrating National Parks and Recreation Month in July, she said. It will be right after our annual July 4th event, and since we had over 600 people come to our movie in May, which was a great turnout for the new park, and we want to build on that and capture that captive audience. In addition, the VIP (Volunteer in Parks) program also will resume in August or September, giving citizens an opportunity to take ownership of their parks with a day of clean-ups, spruce-ups and general upkeep of city facilities. Volunteers receive snacks, lunch and a free pass to return to facilities that are fee-based.
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Kissimmee recreation starting to heat up
Mary Schmich Tribune Media
Thoughts about fathers linger beyond the one splendid day each year when we honor them. The lessons they teach last far longer than those few sunny moments around the barbecue grill on a Sunday in June. We all learn from our fathers, from their lectures and their habits, their best qualities and their mistakes. From my father, I learned to wash the glasses before the plates and wash the plates before the pots and pans. I learned to roll my clothes instead of fold them when I packed. I learned how to fry an egg (spoon the melted butter over it as it cooks) and how to sand a cabinet door (until it feels like silk). My father taught me it was vital to clean the grooves in the stove knobs (use a toothpick); the hidden inner rim of the toilet bowl (vinegar works for everything); and the edges of a baseboard (carefully, on your hands and knees). He taught me details matter, even when you think no one will notice. Not everything my father taught me was intentional or uplifting. I learned, by observation, that more than three drinks at night makes you do and say things you wont be proud of in the morning. And yet I also learned that even when the night was hard, you get up the next day, early, and you get to work. I learned that there is no such thing as being sick, there is only goldbricking. Ive spent years unlearning that. I learned that money doesnt always correlate to effort, but that self-respect does. My father had no knack for making music, but from him I learned to snap my fingers. He taught me this skill while listening to Roger Miller records, and to this day, I will attest to the fact that King of the Road is one of the best songs ever written and is even better if you snap along. Through words and acts, my father taught me about pride, good and bad. The pride of a job well done. The pride of family. The false pride that can lead to failure and then hang around to make failure even worse. Some other things I learned from my father: Line the baseboard with masking tape before you paint the wall. Stand up straight. Speak up. Turn the lights off when you leave a room. Hank Aaron was the next best thing to God. Multiplication and division. My father taught me this as we drove around on Saturdays. Twenty divided by four? Twenty divided by five? Three times three? What he may not have known is that he was teaching me more than arithmetic; he was teaching me how much a kid likes to spend some time alone with her dad. My father also taught me how to drive, on a stick-shift Mustang. And when I failed my first drivers test I learned that I didnt know my father as well as I thought I did. I thought he would berate me for a lack of excellence. He didnt. Not that time. I learned from my father not to smoke, but only because I saw what smoking did to him. He quit the day he got the cancer diagnosis. He wondered why it had seemed so hard to quit before. I learned that if you get to live past 60, which he didnt, you should wake up every day and say, Arent I lucky? I learned that life may not turn out at all the way you hoped and planned. And I learned that a mans children may not turn out exactly the way he planned either. And when they dont, if hes a good father, hell love them anyway, which my father did. One more thing I learned from my father, though he didnt set out to teach it: The mistakes a father makes may inspire his sons to do better. My father, through the strange chemistry of what he did right and what he did wrong, raised very good fathers. Making this list for Fathers Day, I learned a little more about my father. I bet youll learn some things if you make a list about what you learned from yours.
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A dad’s lessons sometimes come in spite of himself