January 6, 2005, The Herald-Advocate 9A


SWEARING IN


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 PHOTO BY JOAN SEAMAN
The entire staff of.the Clerk of Courts Office gathered on the Hardee County Courthouse steps early Monday for a brief swearing-
in ceremony. First to take the oath of office was B. Hugh Bradley, who is entering his third term as the county's elected clerk. Next
came his 24 employees, who renewed their oaths as; deputy clerk. The deputy clerks represent a myriad of departments: felony
and misdemeanor courts, juvenile dependency and delinquency, jury management, probate, traffic, marriages, passports, record-
ing, small claims, civil actions and even 'accounting and minutes for the County Commission. Administering the oath to the clerk
and his staff was Circuit Judge Wm. Bruce Smith (far right).


Letter to Editor .. ,: .' : .
 Model Train Show, Swap Meet Planned March 19 In Plant City


 Dear Editor:
 I. am writing this letter on
 of the H.B. Plant Historical So
 We are a model railroad cl
 Plant City. Our club is verNv
 with operating layouts in boi
 and.N Scale -
 In December 1997 in con
 tion %with The City of Plant (
 Visitor's Center and Ra
 Museum ,was opened in
 restored Historic Plant City 1
 which was built in 1909. A
 depot, visitors can learn
 Henry Bradle3 Plant for who
 town was' named after in 188
 was also one of the founders,
 Atlantic ,Coastline Rai
 Through the depot we are a
 reach people that would no
 mally visit the club and i
 them about thenimportance pi
 reading and preserving our
 itage. : ', .' .. ; : ':
 fOn March 19, 2005, xwe are
 ing our 15th annual Train Sho
 Swap Meet. We are a not for
 organization. 'We would .li
 request ,the releasing .of this
 item to your readers in your
 paper during the week/we
 closest to our event, if-possib
 ". The model train show sport
 by the: H.B. .Plant Ra
 Historical Society will be h
 'the 1914 Plant City High S
 Community Center located a
 N. Collins SLreet. Plant City.
 Come see tables filled
-'Model Railroad items for s
 trade, operating layouts in I
 HO Scale, railroad memory
 historical; building, and hisi
 railroad depot within 'walkin
 tance. Food is available in th
 ing car area at a reasonable
 Admission is $5. for' a
 Children 17 and under are free
 paying parent. The hours .


behalf
society.
lub in
active
th HO

njunc-
City. a
ilroad
i, the
Depot.
At the,
about
)m the,
5. He
of the.
ilrad.
ble to
t nor-,
nform
Af rail-
r her-
'hold-
). and
profit'
ke to
news
ne s -
ekend
le. ,
isored
ilroad
eld at
school
.4t Af'rc


show will be, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m..
 For further, information. contact
Gilbert Thomas Jr. at (863)412-
309Q. : : : 1
 If you desire to learn more about
our club, you may view our club


web site at hbplantrr.org/. If you,
have any questions, or need more
information feel free to contact me.
This past year we had over 700'
people attend our Train Show and
.Swap Meet. We are already looking


forward to a bigger and better show
in March!
 Sincerely
 Gilbert Thomas Jr.
 Club Show Chairman
 Lakeland


 SAliGUST
 The Hardee Counts Commission urged state,
 Department of Transportation representatives to
 speed up four-laning of U.S. 17 all the .ay3 through
 the count.
 Tropical Storm Charley is expected to take a
sweeping right turn and cross Hardee County some-
time after noon, on Frida,. perhaps late evening.
SAlthough he %won't be packing Category 5 power.
CharN is expected to carry huge amounts, rain atd.
\ ind
 Friday evening fore er changed Hardee County..
As early as 8 p.m. Friday, barely an hour or two after,
Hurricane Charley tore through here, rescue and.
emergency planning went into effect. Charlotte
County's Punta Gorda was hardest hit, 'but Hardee
ranked second, with .an estimated damage of $45(150
million.
 Dean Cullins died Monday at the age of 60.
Cullins' death has been ruled as storm-related and he
has been listed as Hardee County's first fatality from
Hurricane Charley.


at OU60 '
 S ", All.Hardee County youngsters, from-pre-kinder-
 with garten through community college %\ill return -to .
 ell or classes on MondaN. The return to school will be made,.
N and as simple as possible for.everyone.
abilia. The latest count is over $700 million in damages
torical in Hardee County. Hurricane Charley's victims and
g dis- property damages continue: to mount almost two
e din-, weeks after the Aug. 13 devastation.
cost. SEPTEMBER
adults.' In the Primar. Election's biggest win,.Clerk of
with Courts B., Hugh Bradley was reelected to another
of the four-year term, as' another incumbent, County.
 Commissioner Walter B. Olliff Jr., suffered one of the
 largest losses.
 Unlike Hurricane Charley, which caused exten-
 'si\e wind damage, Hurricane Frances spent ;three
 days deluging the county. Over 50 roads are either
 closed or barely passable, barricades in place to warn
 people of the danger of trade ling on them.
 Forecasters say this county will be spared a third
 round of devastating hurricanes this week, as'
 Hurricane Ivan, the third leg of a triple threat has
 turned away from this area and is racing up the Gulf-
 to make landfall elsewhere.
 A countywide special election will be held.Nov.
 30.to fill the \ a'ancy created by the deathof Elections
 Super% isor Dean Cullins. Meanwhile, Gov. Jeb Bush
 hais appointed Jeff Lissery, who was Cullins' assistant
 toserve; as supervisor of elections for the remainder
 of Cullins' term., Ussery says he will 'run for the
 office.
 Hurricane Jeanne was the third hurricane to hit
 Hardee County in six weeks, dealing a hardiblow t4.
 already badly-damaged buildings and severely flood- .
 ed areas. ,, ,
 The Hardee County School Board decided in its
 meeting Thursday night to ask the state to waive the
 FCAT tests and all missed days this year.
 .OCTOBER
 Eight 'people so far have announced their candi-
 dacy for the supervisorof elections post. The official-
 'qualifN ing period opens Monday at 8 a.m. It closes
 the next day at noon. ,
* County and Wauchula officials gave cautious
 approval for a temporary mobile home park inmsouth
 Wauchula which may have as many as 150 trailers,
 Both the city and the county stipulated that the mobile
 homes may not remain on site for more than 24
 months.
 % .. -
 Bill Muhlfeld, Hardee County Director of
 Emergency Management, received accolades nation-
 wide for his planning and leadership ,as. Hardee


 County endured three major hurricanes in Jess than.,
 two months He and his family will leave Nov. 2 for .'-
 their native Tennessee where he has several options. '.'6
 The Hardee County 'School Board's request for
 no make-up days was granted partial consideration. ';
 Of 17 days missed, only six must be made up.
 This Saturday from 10 a.m. to noon, the town of' ,,
 Zolfo Springs L% ill join together to celebrate its cen- ,
 tennial. A reception \ ill be held at the Zolfo Springs
 "' ,Cic Center
 NOVEMBER .
 Hardee County voters removed three more local
 incumbents but overwhelmingly. returned, the top
 national one by the end of balloting late Tuesday.
 night. Casualties were County Cornmissicner Bill
 Lambert and School Board members James Stallings
 ..and Donnie Autry. Voters were equally decisive in -
 their support of President George W. Bush.
 An insurance salesman who took premiums from
 customers but ne er purchased their policies has been :
 arrested on multiple felony ;counts. Jason Matthew
 Ford was taken into custody on Wednesday of last
 Week by the Haricock County Sheriff's Office in
 Indiana on a Hardee County arrest warrant.
 The Hardee County Drug Task Force once again
 Shas brought down two suspected drug traffickers, also
 taking 120 grams of methamphetamine and 23 grams
 of marijuana off the streets. Joe Rolando Leyva and
 Nancy Lane'Ramirez were tikeni into custody and:
 ; 'each charged \with trafficking in methamphetamine28
 .to 200 grams, a first-degree felony, among other
 crimes.
 Schools' Siperintendent Dennis Jones on
 Monday announced that an alternate 'site has been
 selected for graduation. The Class of 2005 will grad- 't
 uate at the Florida State Fairgiounds Expo Hall in'- *
 Tampa.on Saturday, May 21: '
 It will cost a lot less to repair Wildcat Stadium'
 than t6 replace 'it.. A preliminary report received'l4
 Friday shows. a projected cost of $678,500 to,l
 $698,500 to complete all the repairs and upgrades,,.'
 compared to $1.3 to $1.5 million for a new stadium. '
 DECEMBER t
. )- Jeff Ussery,;who had been Dean Cullins' assis-.)
 tant for nearly three years, captured aremarkable53.6-t,
 percent of the total vote in an eight-way race to'.
 replace Cullins as county .supervisor of elections. ;
 The long-awaited disaster recovery plan. for the,, *
 county will become public next Thursday, Dec; 9. -
 A man %walking his bicycle along U.S. 17 early,;
 Tuesday morning became the county's ninth fatality:-
 of 2004. According to :.Florida Highway Patrol.'
 reports, the unknown man was northbound on U.S. 17':*
 in the inside lane walking his bicycle shortly after 1,
 a.m. when a northbound pickup truck struck first the ',,
 bicycle and then the man. The driver of the 1999 Ford .
 pick-up was Antonio Cardenas and no charges were,
 issued.
 Temperatures 'were reported in the low 30s and ,
 'upper 20s Tuesday night and Wednesday morning. A
 repeat was expected for Wednesday night/Thursday
 morning as wind chill advisories continued. After a
 slight warming this weekend, Tuesday will usher in,:,
 another cold spell, with even lower temperatures. '
 As one severance tax board c6fotiiiues its work, ;,
 another is being formed to replace it. The Hardee ,
 County Commission named members to the new )
 board at its meeting last' week on a split vote. From a (
 list of 14 nominees for two at-large members of the
 new board, the commission chose. Commissioner .
 Bobby Smith and Bill Lambert.
 The new Cattlemen's Arena will have an exciting
 look. Dr: Gary Shiver presented a, plan and rough .
 sketch to the Hardee County Commission last week,
 outlining massive reconstruction following the roof (
 and bleacher damages of the recent hurricanes.


NEWSMAKERS
Continued From 1A


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