Company Now Generating Its Product
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In Memory Of Jacksonville WPD Nabs Teacher Landing Shooting Victims On Drug Counts A3 Herald-THE Advocate HARDEE COUNTY’S HOMETOWN COVERAGE 118th Year No. 40 2 Sections www.TheHeraldAdvocate.com 93¢ Plus 7¢ Sales Tax Thursday, August 30, 2018 It’s Flores; Evers Vs. Horton By CYNTHIA KRAHL the Republican Party’s nomina- was 44 percent to 39.6. chance to go on to November. the November election,” he ily captured Hardee, with 1,885 Of The Herald-Advocate tion with 1,440 votes to Birge’s The third contender, James F. “I would like to thank every- said. votes to Stephen Pincket’s With little more than 31 per- 1,012. Pyle, took 601 of the ballots, or body for their support,” he said In regional races, Hardee 1,295. cent of Hardee County’s regis- And in the battle for the 16.3 percent of the votes. Tuesday night. “This was very County voters favored Melissa Circuit-wide results were not tered voters casting ballots in bench, Ken Evers took an early Flores will go on to fight De- humbling. We still have lots of Gravitt for Group 10 circuit in at press time. the Primary Election, an in- lead, which slipped as returns mocrat Ralph Arce in the Gen- work to do. I hope voters will judge for the 10th Judicial Cir- State races brought some un- cumbent county commissioner continued to come in but held eral Election on Nov. 6, with continue to support me in the cuit, which includes Hardee, expected upsets for Hardee was ousted and a runoff was long enough to put him into a the winner taking the District 2 General Election.” Highlands and Polk counties. Countians, whose overwhelm- forced for county judge. runoff with David Horton. County Commission seat. Evers expressed similar sen- Candidates Lee Cohen and ing favorites succumbed to the As final tabulations came in It would have taken 1,900 Evers and Horton will face timents. Keith Merritt nearly split the statewide polls. Tuesday night, two-term votes to emerge a clear winner. off in the General Election, “I would like to thank all remaining ballots equally, 970 In the race for governor, County Commissioner Sue Evers garnered 1,620 votes and with the top vote-getter becom- those who supported me in the to 981, respectively. Adam Putnam stole local Re- Birge fell to political new- Horton 1,458 – a 162-vote dif- ing Hardee’s new county judge. election and hope to earn the For the Group 11 circuit publican hearts, amassing comer Noey Flores, who won ference. Percentage-wise, it Flores was grateful for the votes of those who didn’t for judgeship, Dana Moore hand- See ELECTION A3 ROUSING REACTIONS Company Now Generating Its Product PFMan Seeking Military Contracts By MICHAEL KELLY occupy the building, but con- Of The Herald-Advocate sistently cited numerous rea- An upstart generator com- sons for delays in getting into pany that has occupied a build- production. ing from the Hardee County He was never able to pro- Industrial Development Au- duce a working prototype. thority in its Commerce Park After his death, Kevin since 2014 now has a working Minds was appointed to run the prototype and is looking to se- company by Okun’s wife, who cure military contracts for its is the controlling shareholder product. of the company. PFMan is hoping its 15- Skip Durbin was hired as the pound, 500-watt unit will be business manager, and showed utilized by military personnel The Herald-Advocate one of to power communication the working prototypes during equipment in the field as well a tour of the facility last week. as to recharge various equip- The 2.5-horsepower engine ment used by soldiers carrying can run on a number of fuel out their missions. types including gasoline, In February, the IDA board diesel, jet fuel or even high-al- agreed to provide the company cohol liquors, Durbin said. with a $500,000 line of credit He said the motor being able following the death of former to run on a wide-variety of CEO and founder Shaun Okun fuels without changing parts or COURTESY PHOTO late last year. filters was a big advantage over Alexandre Bulinsky and Mira Ahir, fourth graders in Mary Ann Duncan and Laura Carter's class at North Okun had said he was ready competitors when trying to se- Wauchula Elementary School, react to the chemical reaction they just created. A mix of baking soda and vine- to begin manufacturing the cure military contracts. gar resulted in a gas which expanded and filled the balloon, proving the theory that the study of science can generators once he was able to be fun. See COMPANY A3 ZS Cancels Election As Incumbents Return By JENNIFER McCONKEY missioners since no one else Herald-Advocate Intern Buffest Bod ran against them. For the second year in a row, Rod Cannon will continue the town of Zolfo Springs auto- serving the town in Seat 1 and By TOM STAIK matically re-elected its com- Virginia Irby will continue Of The Herald-Advocate serving in Seat 3. Christopher Thompson was a lanky teen. Since commission terms are Caught up in a world “doing what teenagers do,” WEATHER four years and the other three Thompson wandered aimlessly until an acquaintance commissioners were all re- encouraged him to join a gym. DATE HIGH LOW RAIN elected last year, there won’t be 08/21 94 71 0.01 “It changed my life,” Thompson said. 08/22 90 73 0.00 another Zolfo Springs Town Thompson weighed 165 pounds when he Commission election until 08/23 89 74 0.01 started lifting weights. 08/24 92 73 0.57 2021 unless one of the current 08/25 93 71 0.47 commissioners resigns. Within six months of lifting his first barbell, the 08/26 91 72 0.44 Irby has been a town com- Hardee County native had gained 30 pounds of 08/27 93 72 0.04 missioner since 2012, when she muscle and tipped the scales at 195 pounds. Rainfall to 08/27/2018 - 39.03 stepped up to fill the vacancy Same period last year - 29.97 “As a stress reliever, it helped a lot,” Thompson Ten Year Average - 49.17 after Rhonda Long’s resigna- said. “It gave me purpose.” Source: Univ. of Fla. Ona Research Center tion. She is currently the town’s After years of work, Thompson, 32, has the body of a vice mayor. champion. INDEX Cannon took his place at the commissioners’ table last year The Wauchula resident, who grew up in Zolfo Springs, Classifieds . .B2 after commissioner and mayor took first place Saturday in the U.S. Bodybuilding & Fitness As- Courthouse Report . .A13 Crime Blotter . .B13 Juan Otero resigned. Commis- sociation’s Florida Classic. Hardee Living . .A6 sioner Dierdre “DiDi” White is The honor also included an official invitation to compete over- Obituaries . .A5 currently mayor. seas in an international physique challenge in Birmingham, Puzzles . .B4 The qualifying period and England. instructions were announced in Save The Date . .A2 The impressive finish was only Thompson’s second com- School Lunch Menus . .A6 the last two issues of The Her- Solunar Forecast . .A5 ald Advocate in addition to ad- petition. His foray into fitness competition was last month, vertisements about the where he finished fourth. qualifying period. No oppo- “I wasn’t going to give up,” Thompson said. “I came into nents applied. (Saturday’s) show looking a lot better.” Since Irby and Cannon were Most of Thompson’s training heading into the challenge the only two to submit their See BOD A2 See ZS A2 A2 The Herald-Advocate, August 30, 2018 THE Bring Back The Bleep For Cursing There is one word in the routine use of terms on televi- circles, while cursing is the erald- dvocate American lexicon that is con- sion that would be met by taking of God’s name in vain. H HARDEE COUNTY’SAHOMETOWN COVERAGE SAVE sidered so vile that it is re- parental discipline in most The latter is specifically MICHAEL R. KELLY ferred to only by its code homes and serious sanctions prohibited by one of the Ten Co-Publisher and Editor name, “the N-word.” in the workplace. Commandments. It is in a THE JAMES R. KELLY A commonly used pejora- Donald Trump’s widely re- class by itself when it comes Co-Publisher to unacceptable language. It comes under the broad head- CYNTHIA M. KRAHL ing of blasphemy. DATE Managing Editor Broadcasters still bleep out NOEY DeSANTIAGO an occasional cuss word, but Production Manager routinely broadcast blasphemy AUGUST TOM STAIK without restraint. Sports Editor DARLENE WILLIAMS One of the most recent in- 31 – Friday Night Magic/ Assistant stances, which was repeated Sanctuary Gaming Production Manager tive for racial minorities until peated misogynistic remarks numerous times on CNN and Club/1321 E. Main a few decades ago, it is now about women, picked up by a several times on the other net- St., Wauchula/ 115 S. Seventh Ave. • P.O. Box 338 6:30 pm Wauchula, FL 33873 widely considered to be too live microphone, were re- works, was President Trump’s Phone: (863) 773-3255 • Fax: (863) 773-0657 offensive for use under any broadcast ad nauseam during cursing in a surreptitiously circumstances. It is widely his campaign, without the recorded conversation with SEPTEMBER [email protected] banned from our language, to bleeping that once was com- Omarosa. 4 – Money Smart for [email protected] which I say good riddance. monly used to screen out It’s not as if the entire con- Families/Hardee [email protected] Of the many criticisms that crude language.