This week, Florida lost a law enforcement hero. Highlands County Sheriff’s Deputy William Gentry was shot while responding to a dispute between neighbors. He was rushed to the hospital where, the next day, he passed.

Deputy Gentry died a hero, and our entire law enforcement community is mourning his loss. Please pray for his family, friends and members of the Highlands County Sheriff’s Office during this difficult time.

Sadly, Deputy Gentry is the fourth law enforcement officer Florida lost this year. [Read more…]

 Every year Ocala DownTown newspaper supports a class in the Dog Show at the Youth Fair. The young lady that won that class was Hannah McCallum, a tenth grader at North Marion High School. She sent me a letter thanking me for being a sponsor.  She says by doing what I did I help her do what she loves, working with animals. That it means so much to her. Hannah, if your reading this “Thank You for the nice letter”.  TomL

The City of Ocala Recreation and Parks Department will host the annual Cattle Drive and Cowboy Round-Up event Saturday, Feb. 10 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Tuscawilla Park, 500 NE Sanchez Ave.

OCALA, Fla. (Feb. 2, 2018) – The City of Ocala Recreation and Parks Department will host the annual Cattle Drive and Cowboy Round-Up event Saturday, Feb. 10 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Tuscawilla Park, 500 NE Sanchez Ave. This annual event is presented by the Rotary Clubs of Marion County.

A cattle drive will kick off the event in downtown Ocala and will end at Tuscawilla Park where the real festivities will begin. The cattle drive will begin at 10 a.m. near Jesse’s Computers and Repair located at 300 SE Eighth St. The public is invited to walk behind the cattle drive to Tuscawilla Park. [Read more…]

A large crowd of business people attending the Ocala Business Leaders weekly breakfast had the pleasure of listening to an update by Tom Ingram and April Savarese of what used to be Gateway Bank and now is Center State Bank and how the transition is going.

The Florida FAIRtax Educational Association is an all volunteer, non-profit, educational organization dedicated to teaching people about the only REAL federal tax reform program, the FAIRtax which would replace the federal income tax with a consumption tax. Mark Gupton has been the Managing Director of FFTEA for more than a decade and has decided to retire from FFTEA effective July 1 of this year.  The Board of Directors of FFTEA has decided to transform the role of Managing Director into the positions of President, Vice President, Treasurer and Secretary.  At their recent annual Board meeting in Ocala, the members of the Board elected Ron Maiellaro of Ocala as President, Dr. Karen Walby of Clearwater as Treasurer and Elaine Maiellaro of Ocala as Secretary. As of this writing, the position of Vice President is open. Ron & Elaine Maiellaro have been volunteers with FFTEA for eight years and are dedicated to informing as many Floridians as possible of the great value of the FAIRtax for our country. They are both humbled and excited to lead this valuable organization toward the final goal of eliminating the federal income tax and the IRS and implementing the FAIRtax across the United States.