Today's Features

Ellas McDaniel Jr. was just a year old when his father went from relative obscurity, driving an asphalt truck and playing rhythm and blues on the street corners of Chicago, to worldwide fame.
“He was trying to put diapers on me and my sister. That’s what led him to play on street corners,” McDaniel said last week from the home of Chiefland friend Duane Schwingel. “My mother (Ethel) worked for the Polo Meat Co., cuttin’ up chickens.”

Toni Collins isn’t shy about her beliefs, especially when it comes to history.

“I’ve always been distressed that our young people are not learning about the history of this county,” she said Friday from the living room of her Chiefland home.

Collins, who used to work for the county, was largely responsible for organizing the county’s historical archives and started the county’s historical board.

Nicole and Bruce Kosch had it all: a love that had blossomed since their high school days in Port Charlotte, good educations, great jobs, an adventure that took them to Wisconsin for a year and a warm, comfortable home in Morriston.

The time was right to add to their number and so they began preparations to welcome a third into their fold.

But after a year of unsuccessful attempts to conceive, the couple sought medical advice and testing.

Bruce was up first, because male testing is less invasive.

Over 75 people braved threatening skies to attend Williston's National Day of Prayer ceremony at noon last Thursday.

Speakers, representing more than a half dozen churches, took turns praying for the country, state, leaders and families during the hour-long service held at the gazebo in Heritage Park.

The ceremony marks the 62nd year for the National Day of Prayer, said Williston organizer Mayor R. Gerald Hethcoat. The theme for this year’s commemoration is “Pray for America” , Hethcoat said.