Fiscal Rangers

Local Lake County Water Levels to Be Discussed tomorrow, May 31 in Leesburg

Updated: To add longer letter from Diane Heitman about water level issues in the Superpond. vj If you are concerned about the water levels in the "SuperPond" of Lake County, which are Lake Dora, Lake Harris, Lake Eustis, etc. then attend this 6pm Leesburg Meeting tomorrow night, May 31. As you may know, Lake water levels have been dropping, partly because the St. John's River Water Management District turned off the water flow from Lake Apopka. At the same time, until recently, dredging of Lake Beauclaire was also removing another 10 cubic feet per second (CFS) from the lakes. Here is the info from Diane Heitman, who has been monitoring this - below the initial notice is an attachment for the meeting agenda, followed by a longer letter by Diane on the water issues in the Superpond. vj ====================================================================== Harris Chain lake level management public meeting May 31 in Leesburg The St. Johns River Water Management District will hold a public meeting May 31 in Leesburg to discuss potential water level management options for the Harris Chain of Lakes. The meeting will include an update on minimum flows and levels development, and will be an opportunity for the public to... Read more →

Lake County Republican "Listening Tour" Set for 5 Locations - BE there to provide input

May 22, 2012 - Tavares, FL This is the official press release from the Lake County Republican Executive Committee ============================================================ FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE May 17, 2012 Contact: Alan Winslow, Chairman 352-742-9953 [email protected] Lake County Republicans Get Innovative, Host Five “Listening Tours” Reaffirming the Importance of Grassroots Involvement, a Series of Town Hall Meetings is Scheduled Across Lake County. In preparation for the upcoming elections, the Lake County Republican Party is seeking to increase the involvement of Republicans across the county. Alan Winslow, Chair of the Lake County Republican Executive Committee, stated “Our party is already actively engaged in the 2012 Election Campaign, but our Lake County Executive Committee wants to ensure that we are addressing the vision and the expectations local Republicans have for their Party. Valuing the experiences and insight of our local supporters, we are confident that enlarging the input of local citizens can only strengthen our Party and positively contribute to a successful campaign in 2012.” As our nation stands at a crossroads, so does Lake County. “Over the past three years, we have seen an explosion of citizen interest in how we are being governed”, said newly elected Lake County Republican State Committeewoma n, Patricia Sullivan.... Read more →

Will Tomorrow's Lake County Board meeting be a Battle, Snoozer or Doozer?

Tavares, FL - Monday, May 21, 2012 by Vance Jochim Tomorrow's 9am May 22 meeting of the Lake County Board meeting could be boring, or outrageous? It is a combined meeting, with the regular Board meeting agenda HERE, and a separate Zoning meeting in the middle of it, which has it's own Zoning issues agenda HERE. But, here is our analysis of some agenda items that might need more research or be contentious: Tab 3 - Naming of a Dept. of Justice Grant Coordinator - A skim of the initial "consent agenda" items didn't provide any major surprises, although consent agenda item Tab 3 is about a grant, and any grant makes me nervous, because it could include requirements that affect private property rights, long term spending problems, etc. We would NOT even know about this grant except the Florida FDLE requires the County assign a coordinator for it via the County administration. In this case, the issue is to authorize a PROBATION specialist to be a GRANT coordinator for a "Justice Assistance Grant". The Board is not approving a grant yet, just a coordinator to get ideas and then submit a grant application which would be approved later. Anytime... Read more →

Lessons for Lake County? Georgia City of 100,000 Outsources EVERYthing and is NOT broke.

Tavares, FL - May 21, 2012 by Vance Jochim Here is a great video from the Florida Tea party network about Sandy Springs, GA, population 100,000 (bigger than the Villages), which started outsourcing all their programs in 2005 after incorporating as a new city in Fulton County, GA, and now has NO debt. Watch the EIGHT minute video first, then return for my comments. The video was created by Reason.org which is a Libertarian think tank in California. Then ask your Lake County officials why they are not examining outsourcing services, and why unincorporated Sorrento - Mt. Plymouth is not incorporating as a city and outsourcing services? http://theteapartynetwork.org/2012/05/a-great-vision-of-municipal-government/ This city was initially a large unincorporated area in Fulton County, GA, and was taxed by the County for funds spent elsewherein the County. The County rarely paved or repaired roads. Democrats controlled the legislature and prevented Sandy Springs from incorporating as a city until 2005 when Republicans took control and allowed the City of Sandy Springs to be established. So, this was all done since 2005. "Companies are better than managing projects than government, and one contractor provided services for $25-million vs $50-million if run by the county government." Sandy Springs... Read more →

How Socialists use Agenda 21 & "Endangered Species" Designations to Increase Energy & Other Costs

Monday, May 21, 2012 - Tavares, FL by Vance Jochim A lizard in New Mexico and Texas could increase US gasoline costs if the EPA had their way, and Lake County elected officials and voters could learn a lesson from the fight with the EPA there. Here in Lake County, we have a Comprehensive Land Use Plan that has been modified somewhat, but not enough. It was developed when Florida had adopted "Growth" plans derived from legislative guides produced by the American Planner's Association (APA) which were created using funds from numerous Federal Agencies directed to implement the United Nations Agenda 21 by Bill Clinton's Presidential Council on Sustainable Development. For more background on Agenda 21, see our info page at tinyurl.com/HaltAgenda21 . Now, we have a good example in the following article about the stealth method used nationally by the EPA to implement Agenda 21 objectives of using enviornmentalism as a cover to increasing energy costs, reducing values of private property, etc. http://epaabuse.com/3424/editorials/proposed-listing-of-sagebrush-lizard-as-endangered-species-threatens-energy-production/ The article explains how the EPA can define an "endangered species" such as a lizard, then prevent landholders from developing or building on their land to "protect" the lizard. I don't know about you, but my... Read more →

Ronald Reagan Famous Speeches - Some Lessons Learned

Tavares, FL - May 12, 2012 by Vance Jochim In 1981, Ronald Reagan took office for eight years as US President, and Netflix has a DVD "President Ronald Reagan: The Great Speeches" which I just watched. - He took over from Jimmy Carter when interest rates had gone up to 21% due to Carter's liberal spending programs (Gee, sounds like Owebama, doesn't it). We still had the huge welfare program that continued to pay funds to low income, non-working citizens for LIFE. - At the time, we still had a "cold war" with the Communists in Russia, and there was a wall between East & West Berlin. Carter had launched a botched rescue of people in Cuba which failed. - In an early April 18 speech, Reagan says "Our Government is too big, & spends too much". - One 1982 speech talks how Reagan's administration has transferred liberal social programs down to State governments and how interest rates have dropped to 15%, and inflation has dropped from 12.4% to 8.9%. - Reagan discusses the harmful ideas of communists, class war and Stalin's schemes to implement Soviet doctrine and "totalitarian power". - Reagan talks to a national organization of "Evangelicals" and... Read more →

Update on Voter Fraud in Florida - State finds 1251 Voters who are "Non-Citizens"

Tavares, FL - May 8, 2012 by Vance Jochim Florida Voter Fraud Update: Awhile back, on April 4th, we told you about an NBC investigation in Lee and Collier County where they found over 100 local voters who VOTED, but then were discovered not to be legal citizens.' In Florida, at least, you are supposed to be a US citizen to vote. But weaknesses in the voter registration system in Florida allow people to register to vote without confirmation they are actually a citizen. The NBC investigation compared jury records, using a list of voters who got out of jury duty by saying they were not citizens. Then they checked public voter records and found 100 of them who had voted, some for many years, while not being a citizen. (This is not about illegal aliens, but about people that could be legally, or illegally here, but not a citizen). NOW, the Division of Elections of the State of Florida, embarrassed by the investigation, expanded the investigation, and found non-citizens who had obtained drivers licenses. They matched that list with people registered to vote in Florida, and found 1,250 of them. A newly appointed Secretary of State, Ken Detzner, is... Read more →

FiscalRangers.com Update on Lake County School Board & Tomorrow's Lake County Board Meeting

Tavares, FL - May 7, 2012 (This is a duplicate of an email sent out today to our FiscalRangers.com email list.) First, an overview of an issue at today’s Lake County School Board meeting which might save taxpayers $400,000, and then read items I have selected from the agenda for tomorrow’s Lake County Board meeting, and finally “other news” about local candidate forum events and an upcoming meeting of the North Lake County Hospital District. In my opinion, the item under Lake County's Agenda (belows) tab 24 needs Board attention. Once again, the Board is asked to approve the annual CDBG Federal grant programs, and little details are provided for early analysis, and we point out some issues from last year’s CDBG discussions. Lake County School Board today – Cutting FREE transportation to Orange County Charter School Could Save $400,000 - At today's Board meeting, the School District staff requested Board approval to turn off paying for transportation to Princeton school in Orange County for about 32 autistic kids in order to save about $400,000. They want the kids to go to Lake County facilities and services, which were not available 7 years ago when the students were sent out... Read more →

Petition Card Counts & Status for Candidates for Lake County, FL Offices

2012 Local Lake County, FL Election Candidates and Petition Card Counts as of Friday, May 4 As of Friday, May 4, 2012 by Vance Jochim [email protected] Most candidates for elected office in Lake County have turned in the required number of election petition cards exept Jim Miller and Paul Richardson, who are very nearly there. Additionally, four candidates are not turning in the required 1951 cards, and apparently plan to pay required fees in June. This report doesn't cover Judges or State elected positions like a State Rep. That information would be on the State Elections website, while Lake County specific candidates are listed on the local Lake County Elections Superintendent website (see link below). Candidates running for major elected positions in Lake County are required to turn in 1951 validated petition cards signed by registered voters, or pay a fee ranging from about $1500 to $8000. We visited the Lake County, FL Elections Dept. today, May 4th, to examine the progress of announced candidates in collecting petition cards. You can find the official, updated list of candidates at the link below. The Excel version has more data, but neither list provides petition card status like we furnish below. http://elections.lakecountyfl.gov/candidate_information/index.asp... Read more →

Lake County, FL Sheriff IT System HACKED and data stolen

The Lake County Sheriff's Dept was hacked by people who downloaded about 40gb of files from the Sheriff's servers. That is not a good indicator of their knowledge about computer security. As a former corporate internal auditor and certified information systems auditor, my observation is most law enforcement departments (Police & Sheriff) are still stuck in focusing on physical crimes using kinesthetic staff, and not focusing on intellectual crimes requiring people with technical degrees. This is the result. I would recommend the Sheriff create an anti-hacking & IT Controls committee of volunteers, much like the County Board and School Board have committees, and have them review both internal IT practices and ability to act when local IT crimes are reported. I tried contacting the Sheriff's public information officer, but no one answered either phone. However, the articles below give a good overview of the incident. http://www.dailycommercial.com/News/LakeCounty/050212hacking http://www.cfnews13.com/content/news/cfnews13/news/article.html/content/news/articles/cfn/2012/4/30/hackers_target_lake_.html http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/breakingnews/os-lk-sheriff-office-hacked-20120430,0,1956813.story Read more →