'Freedom Trail to Boston' begins in Brevard

Accompanied by Florida Senators Bob Graham and Bill Nelson, and former Ohio Senator and astronaut John Glenn (seated, L to R), Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry explains key elements of platform with guests of Town Hall Meeting at Kennedy Space Center.

Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry discusses plan to make U.S. stronger

By SARA ANN CONKLING

      Senator John Kerry's handshake was still pressed into memory three days later as he was viewed on television accepting the Democratic nomination for President of the United States. Kerry's is a strong handshake-a confident, calm, holding handshake. And Kerry meets the eye with equally strong intention, as if he is trying to read something important before it vanishes from view. Likewise, it's an intense experience to be a recurring target of Kerry's gaze-and also an unavoidable experience if one is perched underneath national television cameras with pen and paper.
      As John Kerry was preparing to accept the Democratic party's nomination for president, he returned to Florida on July 26 to outline his plan to make quality, affordable health care a right for all Americans. At the site of one of America's symbols of innovation, the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Kerry held a town hall meeting with health care providers, workers and others to discuss the need to reform health care, a key component of his plan to make America stronger at home.
      After shaking hands with several of the 184 hand-picked guests on the way into a packed conference room at the Kennedy Space Center Visitors Center, Kerry couldn't wait to take his jacket off and roll up his sleeves. Before saying a word about himself, Kerry spent many minutes citing numerous specific achievements of Florida Senators Bob Graham and Bill Nelson, and former Ohio Senator and astronaut John Glenn, all of whom accompanied him. If one didn't know that the town meeting was about John Kerry's bid for the United States presidency, one would have sworn during those first minutes that the purpose of the gathering was to honor Graham and Nelson and Glenn.
      After a journalistic eternity, Kerry finally began to talk about Kerry: "The Democratic Convention starts todayŠand I am here in Florida, with all of you...I can't think of a better place to launch something than Cape Canaveral," he continued.
      The tone of the meeting was set when Kerry stated, "We have to lower our voices and start listening to each other, and start solving problems that don't have a Democrat or Republican label, but an American label."
      Kerry gave a short introduction, and then artfully used questions from the attendees as springboards for discussing several key elements of his plans. In education, Kerry intends to "...make class size small enough so that each child can receive individual attention." In economics, Kerry wants to cut the deficit in half, stating that, "There is nothing conservative about driving the deficit up." Kerry, likewise, reminded the attendees that he broke with his own party to vote for balanced budgets under Republican presidents and also under President Bill Clinton, who actually succeeded in balancing the federal budget and creating a federal surplus. Kerry also stated his intention to "stop government from providing incentives and rewarding companies for going overseas" and to instead reward companies who provide good jobs in the United States.
      Kerry believes that "America needs a president who believes in science and is willing to invest in research"-including stem cell research and research into alternative energy technologies that will make the United States less dependent on foreign oil.
      With regard to the War on Terror, Kerry asserted, "I can run a war that is more thoughtful and more effective, and I can rebuild alliances....Bringing other countries to our side is not a sign of weakness; it's a sign of strength," he continued. Senator Bob Graham added, "If Americans ratify what George Bush has done (by re-electing Bush), we can no longer escape censure; we will become part of the actions that have brought us such disrespect."
      Kerry stated his intentions to take care of veterans' health care needs, and to provide health insurance for 27 million uninsured Americans, including every American child. He described additional elements of his health care plan: "Reducing health care premiums by $1,000 per year for families by cutting waste, fraud and greed...allowing Medicare to bulk purchase prescription drugs...providing federal reimbursement for additional long-term care options," and "allowing importation of drugs from other countries to save costs."
      Kerry was clear about how he will fund his health care initiatives: "I will roll back the tax cut for the wealthiest two percent of Americans." In the next breath, Kerry also pledged to not raise taxes for the middle class or for small business.
      Kerry pledged to introduce his health care legislation to Congress "within hours of taking the oath of office."
      With regard to environmental issues, Kerry reminded the meeting that he "led the fight" for clean air and clean water, and to prevent drilling in the arctic wildlife refuge.
      When addressing issues, Kerry's tone is serious, bordering at times on funereal. When conversing one-on-one Kerry is contained, composed, and thoughtful. While it's clear from his wealth and social background that Kerry has frequented a country club (or ten), it's also clear from his ideology that he has had serious conversations with people who wash dishes at country clubs.
      The room at Kennedy Space Center was arranged in such a way that most of the guests were on risers looking down at Kerry, who stood at floor level. The arrangement seemed to give guests courage to ask questions. After a guest would ask a question, Kerry would ask the guest a few questions about who they were, where they worked, etc. After the mini-conversation, Kerry would answer the guest's question at length. Some answers were more palatable than others. Kerry seemed committed to truthfully identifying which problems can be fixed relatively easily, which problems can be fixed-but not easily, and which problems may not be able to be fixed at all. His many years in the Senate seem to have given him a pragmatic view of what can be done with the current Congress, and what can't be done. His promises, thus, sometimes lacked the grandiosity that is customary of a national presidential candidate. Instead, he spoke about what he can and will do, with conviction that would undoubtedly turn to abject shame if he fails.
      Kerry demonstrated that he is serious about what he perceives to be his responsibilities to the American people. And, he gave every indication that he is unrelentingly hard on himself.
      Many members of the local, not-so-local, and national press did convincing zombie imitations as they scribbled and shot pictures furiously on very few hours' sleep. John Kerry himself could not have had more than 4 or 5 hours sleep as he began the meeting. He landed in Titusville just before 3 a.m., and began speaking at about 10:30 a.m. Kerry should have shown the fatigue evident in certain members of the zombie corps. He didn't.
      Aside from the press, who received an e-mail invitation from the Kerry campaign to attend, it was not obvious how the other guests were invited. Many unions were represented, and wore t-shirts with their union insignia. About 20 official Kerry volunteers from Brevard were, likewise, identified by t-shirts. The attendees were ethnically diverse, and seemed to be economically diverse as well. Other than that, it remains a mystery how 184 local Democrats were invited, and the rest were not.
      None of the press was permitted to ask questions; this meeting was solely about the concerns of citizen attendees.

City Council adopts growth study

From STAFF REPORTS

      Managing growth is a topic as old as Florida itself. Just what is manageable growth? Can we stop growth? Should we stop growth altogether? Or do we accept that there is only so much land, and that as the population of the country grows, demands for homes will always increase, and then ask ourselves how to provide services to all our current and future citizens at an acceptable level?
      As a community grows, so do demands for services. Planning for that increase in services, and planning for the financing of those services is sometimes a challenge.
      At the July 27 meeting of the Titusville City Council, a Growth Impact Study, that was commissioned last year, was accepted as a guiding document for the current budget process, and for the future.
      Prepared by PMG Associates, an economic management consulting firm, the report examined levels of service (LOS) of Police, Fire/Rescue, Water and Sewer, Roads, Storm Water and Recreation Departments, and compared Titusville with 16 other municipalities of similar size, and that offer similar services.
      PMG projected Titusville's growth at 3.5% per year for the next 5 to 8 years, based on every development on the boards now, and on the City Council's record of approval in the past. The current population of 41,475 should reach 48,875 by 2008, they say.
      The report addressed future service needs, estimated the costs associated with those needs, as well as the increased revenues that should accompany that growth, which, in theory, at least, will pay for those services. PMG then made suggestions on increased staffing of several departments.
      Some of the major cost increases will be in the following areas:

• Police - 11 new personnel and 7 vehicles.
  
• Fire/Rescue - A new station, 2 vehicles for it, and 15 Firefighters and 1 Inspector to man it.
• Public Works - 10 positions and 4 vehicles to cover right-of-way maintenance, solid waste and fleet maintenance.
• Community Development - 3 new staff members.
• City Hall - Expansion and operating costs.
• The planning for the new Fire station and response zone is recommended to establish a response time of "5 minutes, 80% of the time," as a level of service.

      By accepting the Growth Impact Study the Titusville City Council now gives the City Manager and staff a sensible, concrete plan to use for the current budget allocations as well as for the city's projected needs.
      Anyone wishing to read the entire report can obtain a copy at City Hall.

EDITORIAL

From My Notebook: Waiting for Kerry

By SARA ANN CONKLING

      The first clue that something was terribly wrong was the half-empty parking lot at Space Coast Regional Airport, and the unimpeded walk into the terminal. Always conscious of the possibility of an over-40 brain skip, I rechecked my e-mail from Matt Miller of the John Kerry campaign, who was coordinating the local press for Kerry's trip to Titusville: Press was to arrive by 6 p.m.; Kerry was to arrive by 6:45.
      Grey hair beat blond this time. I was on time-and in the right place.
      But Kerry was not. A few of his "advance team" (young, thin, attractive people who survive on very little sleep) wandered the terminal, trying to avoid reporters with whom they are expected not to converse. Lonely, portable stairs borrowed from Sanford Airport pined on the tarmac for Kerry's Boeing 757. The Secret Service was nowhere to be seen. For a second, I contemplated that I might be the target of an elaborate practical joke, but then I looked around and saw my colleagues from Fox 35 News, ABC News, CBS News, NBC News, Channel 13 News, and "That Other Local Newspaper." If this was a joke, it was a joke with many targets.
      About 7 p.m., one of the advance team offered to take cell phone numbers and call each of us two hours before Kerry arrived. None of us journalists, to my knowledge, accepted the offer. Fool us once, shame on you; fool us twiceŠnope, we're not going to risk that. We didn't know what was happening with Kerry, but we weren't about to miss anything that might happen at the terminal, either. Someone suggested that Kerry had added an additional campaign stop. I joked, "maybe he forgot his toothbrush and had to go home to get it."
      Geographically, I wasn't too far from the truth. An important mystery started to unravel when Christie Hyde of Patterson Bach Communications in Winter Park announced at 7:55 p.m. that..."we might want to watch the baseball game on the terminal television, because someone we might be expecting to see might be throwing the first pitch at the Red Sox game." By that time, Hyde had already shown outstanding hospitality by providing an array of tasty junk food that credibly resembled dinner. Hyde says, "Rule number one is always feed the press." Hyde is an insightful person.
      At about 8:02 p.m., John Kerry, who by the printed, pizza-stained schedule in my hand could have been tucked safely into a Titusville hotel, was, instead, spotted on ESPN throwing out the first pitch at the Red Sox/Yankees game.
      This was the first tangible clue that my esteemed colleagues and I had been elaborately duped.
      Still, we hoped that Kerry would toss that pitch, and then board his plane. Over the next few hours that hope was repetitively dashed as Kerry was repetitively spotted in the owner's box, giving home run hitters a "high five," cheering, and conversing with his box-mates.
      At about 9:45 p.m., the TIX Jet Center suddenly showed signs of life. The advance team traded their flip-flops for expensive leather shoes pulled from plastic bags. Vehicles started to move onto the tarmac. A plane could be seen approaching the terminal. Kerry was either still in the owner's box in Fenway Park, as ESPN was indicating, or the hoax was a lot more elaborate than we originally imagined. Regardless, we were about to have a "Truly Weird Moment." Someone was arriving, but the best bet was that it wasn't the Democratic presidential nominee.
      As wheels touched the runway, we were informed that the Gulfstream jet was carrying the middle-feeding press-those who travel with Kerry, but aren't important enough to be on Kerry's plane. The top-feeding press would be arriving with Kerry. Let's see, that made us local press at Camp TerminalŠno, I refuse to think that.
      At 11:24 p.m., Kerry was last spotted on ESPN, in the owner's box at Fenway Park.
      As midnight approached, television night crews were replaced by morning crews. This was a sad interruption of a bonding experience with colleagues who rarely have time or opportunity to speak to each other. We had broken pizza and shared greasy hot chicken wings together. We had shared stories-our own stories.
      About half past midnight, the Secret Service and our local law enforcement officers arrived. We were lined up, patted down, and driven from our air-conditioned cocoon into the dark night. It was very hot, and very buggy outside, and within minutes I was missing TIX Jet Center owner Patrick Corr's comfy leather couches.
      Nature called and I ended my exile. A very interesting conversation followed with one of the Secret Service guys (name omitted because I didn't ask for it). "This guy (Kerry) is not your normal politician," said Mr. Secret Service. "Isn't normal politician an oxymoron anyway?" I thought, but held my tongue. I wanted to see what Mr. Secret Service had to say next. "This guy is into serious leisure, like last week we had to go windsurfing with him," Mr. Secret Service continued. "And before that, there was a 35-mile bike ride." "And, he plays ice hockey." I got tired just listening to the list of what John Kerry does for fun, which is what Mr. Secret Service now has to do as part of his job. Mr. Secret Service gained my sympathy, and then began to interview me about the finer features of Titusville. By the time we finished talking, he was asking me where he could find real estate magazines.
      About 1:30 a.m., donuts and pretzels appeared, courtesy of the advance team. I asked my digestive system to forgive me and had a donut.
      By 2:00 a.m., my colleagues and I were past tired. It was past the time that I normally take the night dose of the medicine for my spine injury, and I was hurting. One of my colleagues summed up the sentiment of the entire group by saying, "I feel like chopped liver." Another added, "Our deadline is past; I am here just in case he's dead." I did a calculation out loud of how many minutes and inches of local coverage Kerry would have had had he arrived on time, and given each of the six local media survivors 10 minutes for a one-on-one interview. My colleagues agreed that Kerry had missed a golden opportunity.
      At about 2:30 a.m. we were told that Kerry's arrival was imminent. It was going to be a photo opportunity only: after almost nine hours of waiting, we would be escorted under the plane's wing to film Kerry, Senator John Glenn, and the top-feeding press descending from the plane into the motorcade. The whole episode would last about 10 seconds.
      As the plane touched down, an ill-informed advance team member miscounted the number of us that were carrying cameras and left two of us behind. The two included-you guessed it-yours truly. The other member left behind was a newspaper reporter who was going to take a picture with the personal digital camera of one of the TV crew. My TV colleague takes the pictures home to show her daughter what's happening when Mommy works so late.
      Anger set in. "This is really bad," I said to Mr. Also Secret Service, who was standing by, perhaps in case any of us dropped from exhaustion. He replied, "It could be worse." To make his point, Mr. Also Secret Service added, "Last week, there were people who had paid $10,000 and waited four hours for a picture-and he (Kerry) didn't get to all of them."
      I left the airport convinced John Kerry didn't care at all about Titusville, about Florida, or about local press who could influence a potentially close and critical election.
      Guilt was added to anger when my very late arrival to pick up my dog awakened my 80-year-old mom, who was taking care of Ms. Mailbox for me. I informed Mom that I was going to write in "Ms. Mailbox" on my ballot in November. In a sleep-deprived and spine-pain-uncontrolled state this made perfect sense. Mailbox is cuter than any of the frontrunners in this year's presidential election, and she has a good foreign relations strategy: "Try to love everyone, and love people who give you a belly rub or a cookie more." She also has true effectiveness with potential terrorists ("bark loudly and like a big dog, so you don't have to bite").
      And, Ms. Mailbox would never, ever strand me on a tarmac at 2:48 a.m.
      Hopefully Kerry will return to Brevard before the election in November and field a few questions from our county's sleep-deprived and dedicated journalists.
      Many of them don't bite...

IT'S MY TURN

By BOB SOCKS

      Gambling seems to be everywhere.
      In the United States, 37 states already have authorized the operation of slot machines-in casinos on Indian reservations, in state- licensed commercial casinos, racetracks, or other non-tribal locations, or in tribal and state-licensed commercial casinos, racetracks or other locations.
      Here in Florida, we have Indian casinos with slots, poker, and high stakes bingo. We have the horses, dogs, jai alai, bingo all over, and casino boats which offer Las Vegas style gambling.
      Billions are gambled in Florida, with just a small percentage of the wager going to taxes. And, the off-shore gambling boats pay no taxes at all.
      Don't you think it's time we follow the lead of many other states and begin to realize some tax money on all this gambling taking place around us?
      What's interesting is that the gambling boat owners have said they would be more than happy to be taxed a percentage of their take. It would amount to hundreds of millions of dollars-and maybe more.
      We Americans love to gamble. It's a national pastime. Why are we not taking advantage of the revenue stream here in Florida? Maybe our sales tax, gas tax, etc. could go down with additional tax income from gambling.
      Do your research and let me know how you feel about legalized gambling in Florida.

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Rollin', rollin', rollin'...

      In the July 21 edition of The Beacon there was an item that quoted Brevard County Tax Appraiser Jim Ford. I agree with statement that, "Property owners should make taxing authorities aware of their concerns by attending budget hearings prior to final budget approval to prevent the levy and collection of windfall tax revenue increases."
      What I do not agree with is his description of the rolled-back rate as "...the rate that would produce the same revenue as last year," and I would like to explain why.
      Before computing the roll-back rate, one must subtract the property values of new building and property enhancements that are already on the tax roll ($47,732,667 this tax year). If the rollback rate produced the same amount of taxes as last year, the $47,732,667 would be included in the computation, because it is going to be taxed, too.
      The Formula for figuring the rollback rate is: "Revenue" (last year) divided by the "Adjusted Property Value" (this year).
      Revenue produced for 2003 taxes was $7,531,159. Property values for 2004 are $1,375,171,945; minus the property values of new building and property enhancements of $47,732,667, and you get the "Adjusted Property Value" of $1,327,439,278.
      When you do the arithmetic, the rolled-back rate for Titusville this year is 5.6734 for every thousand dollars of taxable property.
      On July 27, City Council voted to limit the tax increase to 5% over the rolled-back rate. Five percent of the rolled-back rate is .28367. When you add this number to the rolled-back rate of 5.6734...Voila! City Council has limited the millage to 5.95707, rounded to 5.9571 mills.
      This new rate of $5.9571 per thousand dollars of taxable properties will produce $8,211,152 in revenue-$679,993 more than last year!
      I believe that Titusville City Council has a responsibility to the citizens to be accountable for the money it demands from us. The tax rate should not be based on how much the they take away from the taxpayers, but on how much is needed to run the City-not next year, but this year. That is the information the millage should be based on.
      Titusville City Council has "positioned the City for growth," and Titusville's "financial wellness" impacts its taxpayers. But, the citizens of Titusville will never have their taxes lowered as long as the City continues to hand out 4% across-the-board raises every year. It seems "Truth in Taxation" is like the old shell game, and the City will need at least half a million dollars more every year just to pay its employees.
      Let us remember that City Council has the power to lower the millage, but not to increase it more than 5%.
      Joan G. Wheeler, Titusville

Tirades and toutings aren't teaching

      Fred Krupski's opinion editorials will never win an Occam's Razor Award.
      I grudgingly spent $5 to view "Fahrenheit 9/11" because I couldn't form an objective opinion without seeing it for myself. In addition, I read Mr. Moore's book, Dude, Where's My Country?, and it was more entertaining than his dubious documentary. However, instead of Krupski's tirade against the president and touting the propagandist Michael Moore, why doesn't he encourage people to register to vote?
      I taught Comparative Political Systems years ago and learned from teaching the course that there is little difference in our country's major political parties. The people in the party and candidates are what make the difference. No matter how one registers, one should vote one's conscience.
      Bob Woodward's Plan of Attack was excellent and nonpartisan, which is more than I can say for the other books and newspapers Krupski mentioned. I read most of them, and may I recommend to him The Iraq War by noted historian John Keegan. In it he wrote: "The reality of the Iraq campaign of March-April 2003 is, however, a better guide to what needs to be done to secure the safety of our world than any amount of law-making or treaty-writing can offer."
      In October 1995, my husband and I, and our children and their families, visited the Arizona Memorial on Oahu, Hawaii. Oahu was formerly our home, and our front yard overlooked a lagoon at the West Loch of Pearl Harbor. It was the 1960s, and every day I saw the U.S.S. Utah lying on her side-a sad reminder of that "day in infamy," December 7, 1941.
      When we exercise the privilege of voting November 2, 2004, we need to remember how we felt on September 11, 2001, and then decide who can best lead and protect our nation. There are no guarantees against the threat of terrorism, but I am damn glad that George W. Bush was our president on 9/11...and I hope he will be reelected.
      Margaret Duarte Reichle, Mims

Who are these people?

      When reading Ilene Davis' column, "Focus on Fairness" (or is it Foolishness?), in the July 21 issue, I read only the first two sentences thereof, when I came to this:
      "If both God and the Mafia are willing to provide salvation and protection, respectively, for just 10% of our income..."
      At that point, I, and imagine many of your readers, decided to move on to something else in The Beacon.
      So, I go to the "Kaleidoscope" column by Krupski, and his position that our Declaration of Independence's reference to God should be spelled with a small "g," because that's the way Tom Jefferson wrote it in his draft-not "God" with a capital "G" as it appears in the final version, approved and voted for by the signers (and that includes Tom).
      So, I must ask, who are these un-godly writers? And, I wish them both:
      May your god bless you!
      If that fails, try ours...
      William J. Horner, Titusville

BUSINESS BRIEFS

By BOB SOCKS

Titusville Business License Report-July 2004

      Total licenses issued-29
      Breakdown as follows:

• Home based businesses - 19
• Hotel (86 rooms) - 1
• Restaurants (114 seats) - 1
• Retail - 1
• Plastering - 1
• Real Estate Broker - 1
• Commercial Janitorial - 1
• Communications - 1
• Appliance Repair - 1
• Computer Services - 1
• SPC Carpentry - 1

Port Canaveral News

      Attention Boaters! The Canaveral Lock will close for dewatering (tentatively) October 20 through December 10, 2004, will then open for 23 days, and then close again (tentatively) January 3 through February 23, 2005. This closure will also include the visitor areas.
      For Your Information...

• Cement ships docked at North Cargo Pier 4 (by Rinker) can only offload when the wind is blowing away from The Cove area.
• Each of the large green fuel storage containers located near The Cove area holds 200,000 barrels of oil.
• Freddie Patrick Park offers use of their boat washing stations free to the public.
• Jetty Park offers fishing gear and beach toy rentals at their bait shop located near the fishing pier.

      Security Plans Approved...
      The Port Canaveral maritime community security plans have received the approval of the U.S. Coast Guard, bringing the world's second busiest cruise port into compliance with the Maritime Transportation Security Act (MTSA). The regulations were effective July 1.

Sanford Airport sets record!

      A record number of passengers used Orlando Sanford International Airport in June. Total passenger traffic rose to 194,981, an increase of 60 percent compared with June 2003. That breaks the airport's previous record of 181,790 passengers set in August 2003.
      With July and August traditionally being the busiest months of the year, the airport expects to see even more growth during the rest of the summer.
      The number of domestic passengers rose 105 percent in June, while international passengers rose 36 percent. Cargo rose 38 percent to 694 tons.

History making at the Hampton Inn

      Friday morning, July 23, was an historic moment in Titusville's history, as the brand new Hampton Inn had its official ribbon cutting and grand welcome by the general manager of this fine hotel, Dominic Fraticelli (pictured in front of the crowd). Many members of the Titusville Chamber of Commerce were present, as well as the executives of the hotel. Lunch was served immediately after the ribbon cutting, with tours of the hotel after that.
      Four stories tall, with 86 rooms, meeting rooms, pool, workout facility and free breakfast, this Hampton Inn is going to be very successful from the beginning. They are presently running near 100% occupancy.
      One of the bonuses to staying at this new hotel is the natural surroundings on three sides. Looking to the north and west, the natural terrain hasn't changed in thousands of years, and the wildlife in the evenings is incredible. It's a true nature watcher's paradise.
      What makes this day so historical in Titusville's history is the fact that its been almost 30 years since a new hotel was built in Titusville; the last one to be built was the Ramada Inn in 1975.
      Welcome to Titusville!

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