Features

Williston Mayor Gerald Hethcoat presented the Williston Junior Woman’s Club with a framed proclamation honoring the group for its distinction of receiving the Mary Clark Award for being the best Junior Woman’s Club in Florida. “This makes the town shine,” Hethcoat said last week, “because of the good they do. They train young women to be leaders.”

Cross Brand Cowboy Church held its First Kids Ranch Rodeo Series on June 6 at the Williston Horseman’s Park.

There were 38 contestants ages 12 and under.

The events included Clover Leaf Barrels, Goat Roping Flipping and Branding, Mutton Bustin, Goat Tying, Calf Roping, Flipping and Branding and Shoot Doggin. The age groups were 8-12-year olds and 7 and under.

Webster defines them as “the period between early July and early September when the hot sultry weather of summer usually occurs in the northern hemisphere.”

Some rescued dogs find these days to be quite satisfactory, thank you. They are housed in the new Williston Animal Group (WAG) facility adjacent to the airport, on SW 18th Street, and life is pretty good.

They live in large kennels, comfortable beds, lots of food and water, and are treated to human contact at least twice a day.

About eight months ago, 45-year-old Polly “P.J.” Jensen noticed a lump under her left arm.

She was unable to afford health insurance and ineligible for Medicaid.

“So I kind of set it aside at the time – something I should have never done,” P.J. said. “Something every women should never do.”

After a while, the mild discomfort became painful tenderness. “It got to the point that I couldn’t wear anything tight around that area.”

She finally went to the doctor early this month.

Joseph E. Smith, a normally relaxed person, was positively ebullient as he welcomed the visitor to his office.

The room reflects his persona with Florida State University memorabilia always in view. The judge is known for his devotion to the garnet and gold, so much so a daughter is named Garnet.

And why not be faithful to the school that launched the love story of his life? Smith met his wife Bobbie when the two attended FSU. They have two children, Garnet and a son, Scott, a Methodist minister, and six grandchildren.

It’s been almost 30 years since Pat Wilson graduated from Williston High School, but the boy who became the man Jim Pitt has never forgotten the town, community, school and friends that helped shape his character.

Pitt, an actor who plays a space shuttle captain in James Cameron’s Avatar that opens Friday, dropped in last week to catch up with old friends and remind people he is still the person they knew.

Since 1969 Ethel Penny has been feeding the patients and staff at Nature Coast Hospital.

Last week the tables turned and someone provided refreshments for her to honor her 40 years of service and dedication.

Penny, a Raleigh resident, heard of the job opening from a friend, and since she had some restaurant experience, she applied.

The rest is, as they say, history, as she worked her way up from an aide to a cook and even a manager–a position she held for 10 years.

It’s a rare person who reaches the age of 60 without having experienced at least one life-altering misfortune. Even though he doesn’t say as much, 61- year-old Luigi Piccola seems to bear this reality in mind as he considers his own difficult circumstances.

In a fall a year ago, Luigi broke his hip and damaged his knee.

After leaving the hospital, he went first to Parklands Rehab & Nursing Center in Gainesville, then transferred here to Williston Rehab.

Three miles from Williston off a bumpy hilly road, a passage through scrub and pasture leads the unsuspecting traveler to the utopian sanctuary that Dr. Raymond Webber calls home.

More than 400 species of plants thrive on his 100-acre bit of paradise that has been more than 16 years in the making.

“Not many people in Florida have their house built into the side of a cliff,” Webber, an endodonist by trade, explains as he begins his trek through the assorted gardens that he has designed.

Indeed, the vista from this porch is breathtakingly beautiful.