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Features

  •
    Exceeding Expectations

    By Paul Jones

    Contributing Writer

    When you or I hold an expectation for something it tends to fall in one of three basic categories. An expectation can go unfulfilled, it can be met, or an expectation can be exceeded.

    Upon walking into Country Boy Cutz for the first time, it could certainly be said that the environment there well exceeded my expectations.

  •
    Saved by a rock

    There were days and nights when Linda Buonomo wasn't sure she was going to pull through.

    Her husband had died from a fierce battle with bladder cancer. Her family was in South Florida. She lost the home that she and her husband lived in.

    It was dire times.

    "I was ready to give up on everything," Linda said, from her Bronson apartment last week. "A little rock literally saved my life."

  •
    'Florida natives' visit...

    Instead of “Lions and tigers and bears, O my!” it was “Turtle and snake and gator, O Wow!”

    Three representatives from the Santa Fe Zoo, which is on the campus of Santa Fe College in Gainesville, made it (finally!) to Williston on Saturday afternoon, Sept. 30, after Irma postponed their Sept. 9 visit to present “Florida Natives,” an educational presentation about the importance of Florida native species.

  •
    ZTA honors Mary Gene Bailey French

    College can be such a daunting experience…living away from home for the first time, trying to figure out where you fit in, learning to adapt to such a totally different environment. For local retired teacher Mary Gene Bailey French, joining a sorority was a real life saver! And recently, she received a certificate and white violet charm, recognizing her almost-75 years of membership in Zeta Tau Alpha.

  •
    The Florida cowboy pilot (who also...

     

    By BN Heard

    Special to the Pioneer

  •
    Faith Bigger Than Fear

     

    If it weren’t for the gauze pressure bandage around her knee, you’d never know that Morriston’s Paige Douglas is in a fight for her life.

  •
    After 26+ years, they’re shelving...

    It is said that when people are married for a number of years they develop the ability to finish each other’s sentences–and sometimes thoughts.

  •
    Man with a big heart

    Karon Johnson’s smile is the first thing that greets you when he enters a room and it never leaves his face, even when sharing the adversity that plagues his life.

    While he is an imposing figure of a man, his voice is soft much like his demeanor. However, it is that smile that speaks loudly and proudly of who he is. 

    Reared in Dunnellon,  Johnson graduated with honors in 1997 and set out to work in his chosen career of juvenile corrections.

  •
    If it’s Simply Southern, it has to...

    I was born and reared in Kentucky, resided in Georgia for 17 years and now Florida for eight. There’s no question I am a Southern girl through and through.

    That fact has always been obvious, especially when I was with  family and friends who lived in the North. They laughed at my accent and marveled at the way we did things in the South.

  •
    Clowning Around

    People around the world are a little happier thanks to Rusty the Clown. 

  •
    Music: It’s in his blood

     

    Donald Moore Jr. doesn’t remember a time when music wasn’t an integral part of his life.

    Born into a musical family that included his father and brother, it was only natural that like a moth to flame he would migrate to music.

    And for the last 40 plus years, he’s stayed there.

    Inspired by Merle Haggard, Waylon Jennings and so many who are now considered classic artists, Moore picked up the 

       guitar in one hand and pen in the other and proceeded   

  • Music: It’s in his blood

    Story and Photo By Carolyn Ten Broeck

    Editor

    Donald Moore Jr. doesn’t remember a time when music wasn’t an integral part of his life.

    Born into a musical family that included his father and brother, it was only natural that like a moth to flame he would migrate to music.

    And for the last 40 plus years, he’s stayed there.

  •
    Christmas in Peru

    By Keith Stewart

    Special to the Pioneer

    Some of Morriston Baptist Church’s members recently went on mission to Lima and Cusco, Peru. 

    Working with Buckner International, Pastor Keith Stewart, his wife Margarette and three of his parishioners–Kelly and Vivian Culbertson, and Janet Colley–traveled more than 10 hours by car and air to minister in South America. 

    They spent eight days visiting various orphanages, youth and single mother homes throughout Lima and Cusco.

  •
    Lucky Penny

    It was a feat that ends up on morning TV talk shows.
    Monday, an 8-year-old Jack Russell out on her afternoon bathroom break disappeared.
    “I’d seen a turtle the day before,” said the dog’s owner, Patty Hatch, “and thought she was following it.”
    Indeed she had.
    Penny, the curious Jack Russell, had wandered the way of the turtle and somehow became trapped in the turtle/gopher hole.

  •
    Son wants to tell Bo Diddley’s story

    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.”

  •
    Bo Dallas: Secret to long life is...

    While others are still trying to wake up, cook their breakfast and get their children dressed, Bo Dallas is already at the church with a song not only on his heart, but also his lips as he prepares for another day of worship.
    While that’s not too extraordinary for most people, what is unusual is that Dallas had prepared his own breakfast and gotten to Allen Chapel AME Church on his trusty scooter. That’s pretty good for someone who turned 105 years old Sept. 2.

  •
    Former Williston resident pens book

    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.

  • The Greenest Gardener

    By ADA LANG

    news@cedarkeybeacon.com

    This week’s Conservation Corner suggests composting as another way to reduce the amount of trash you put into your garbage can and eventually, the landfill. 

  •
    Zumba

    Eleven months ago, Lisa Berrios was on medications for both diabetes and high blood pressure.
    Her weight had topped at 287 pounds, and as a nurse at the VA hospital in Gainesville, she knew something had to give soon.
    Because in addition to the physical complications that accompany obesity, the usually upbeat Lisa found herself combatting depression,
    “Let’s go to Zumba,” someone recommended.
    It was the beginning of a new life for her–one that is healthy and fun.

  •
    Heaven Sent

    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.