The Florida Fruit and Vegetable Growers Association wrapped up its annual conference yesterday in Naples. As W-G-C-U’s Valerie Alker reports the industry is preparing a new marketing campaign.

It’s called “Fruits and Veggies, More Matters” and the campaign targets Generation X Moms. Ray Gilmer of the Fruit and Vegetable Growers Association says parents already know they’re an important part of a healthy diet. The ad campaign serves up strategies for getting the healthy foods on the daily menu.

“Fruits and vegetables in their fresh form certainly is the first choice, but all forms matter, fresh frozen canned even juice can be an excellent way of reaching those recommended goals of eating more fruits and vegetables every day”.

The marketing campaign will be launched in March. While in Naples the fruit and vegetable growers also talked about how to make the Federal Farm Bill friendlier to Florida Agriculture and how to deal with a looming labor shortage.

-----

Florida is NOT one of the states that has confirmed cases of E-coli from bagged spinach. And the outbreak poses no immediate problem to the state’s growers. But it was a topic of conversation at the week’s annual meeting of the Florida Fruit and Vegetable growers association in Naples. Roy Gilmer is the Association’s director. He says right now there’s no harvesting going on.

“We don’t have any product. but we’re working with the fda to make sure what ever systems they say may see necessary to keep this from happening again can be put into place.”

Most of the bagged spinach comes from California, but Gilmer says during the winter season the Belle Glade area in South Florida is also a producer. Florida leads the nation in citrus production. It’s also a leading grower of tomatoes, green peppers, snap beans, potatoes and sweet corn.

Backers of a ballot initiative to purchase environmentally sensitive land in Charlotte County meet this evening. They’ll discuss ways to the sell the public on the new tax. On November 7th Charlotte voters will be asked to approve a small property tax increase to fund “Conservation Charlotte”. The money would be earmarked to buy land to preserve and protect it. Conservation Biologist Ed Freeman of the nonprofit group PEER – Protecting the Environment through Ecological Research is one of the referendum’s sponsors.

“Right now there’s no dedicated funding source for protect lands in charlotte county …this will give the county a 77 million dollar bonding authority so they can bond and protect lands quickly when the opportunity arises.”

Voters in neighboring Sarasota and Lee Counties have approved similar referendums. Freeman says the millage increase would add about 40 dollars a year in taxes on a 200 thousand dollar home. Supporters meet at 5:30 tonight at the SunTrust Bank in Murdock.

----

Charlotte County voters will be asked to follow the example set by neighboring Lee and Sarasota counties this November 7th. They’ll decide whether to tax themselves to purchase environmentally-sensitive land. Environmentalist Ed Freeman says it’s a quality-of-life vote.

“This would provide a means for the residents of charlotte county to protect the areas special to charlotte county residents themselves on a local basis – it would provide a local program to protect smaller parcels and linkage parcels – that are important to the people of charlotte county.”

The referendum would add about 20 dollars for each 100 thousand dollars of taxable property. It has the support of the Charlotte County Commission. Right now the commission has no dedicated funding source for environmental land acquisition.

The Florida Fruit and Vegetable Growers Association wrapped up its annual conference yesterday in Naples. As W-G-C-U’s Valerie Alker reports the industry is preparing a new marketing campaign.

It’s called “Fruits and Veggies, More Matters” and the campaign targets Generation X Moms. Ray Gilmer of the Fruit and Vegetable Growers Association says parents already know they’re an important part of a healthy diet. The ad campaign serves up strategies for getting the healthy foods on the daily menu.

“Fruits and vegetables in their fresh form certainly is the first choice, but all forms matter, fresh frozen canned even juice can be an excellent way of reaching those recommended goals of eating more fruits and vegetables every day”.

The marketing campaign will be launched in March. While in Naples the fruit and vegetable growers also talked about how to make the Federal Farm Bill friendlier to Florida Agriculture and how to deal with a looming labor shortage.

-----

Florida is NOT one of the states that has confirmed cases of E-coli from bagged spinach. And the outbreak poses no immediate problem to the state’s growers. But it was a topic of conversation at the week’s annual meeting of the Florida Fruit and Vegetable growers association in Naples. Roy Gilmer is the Association’s director. He says right now there’s no harvesting going on.

“We don’t have any product. but we’re working with the fda to make sure what ever systems they say may see necessary to keep this from happening again can be put into place.”

Most of the bagged spinach comes from California, but Gilmer says during the winter season the Belle Glade area in South Florida is also a producer. Florida leads the nation in citrus production. It’s also a leading grower of tomatoes, green peppers, snap beans, potatoes and sweet corn.

The city of North Port’s police chief says he’s awaiting autopsy results before revealing how six year old Coralrose Fullwood died. The child’s body was discovered Sunday around noon – about six hours after her parents reported her missing.

Police Chief Terry Lewis says about 30 officers are working around the clock to find out who killed Coralrose Fullwood. He says they’ve received about 20 leads –but no arrest in imminent. Until an arrest is made, he urges caution.

“So, we’re telling parents please be diligent in what you do. Use an abundance of caution, which you should be doing every day.

Coralrose Fullwood was a student at Toledo Blade Elementary School. Counselors were on hand to help students and teachers deal with her death. About 100 of the school’s 14 hundred students stayed home on Monday. The school was operating under partial lockdown – mostly officials said - to assure students they were safe. WGCU's Valerie Alker has more.

Florida’s unemployment rate stayed the same last month. But the state’s jobless rate remains one of the best in the nation. The unemployment rate in August was 3-point-3 percent and has been below the national average for four years now. All of Florida’s major employment sectors have added jobs over the year except manufacturing. Warren May is with Agency for Workforce Innovation. He says Florida leads the nation in new job creation. But it’s slowing down.

“We’re kind of leveling off, I think, in the job market and we see nationally sort of the same picture emerges. Although I have to say we still have pretty strong job growth in Florida. [We] added 243,000 jobs since a year ago. But the unemployment rate stayed the same this month.”

Lee County’s unemployment rate in August was a microscopic 2-point-8 percent. Collier increased to 3-point-6 percent. Charlotte: 3-point-5. Hendry County had the highest unemployment rate in Florida at 9-percent, a typical level for this point of the agricultural season.

----
The latest monthly unemployment report shows Southwest Florida continues to power the state. Lee County had one of the lowest unemployment rates at 2-point-8 percent. Collier, Charlotte and Sarasota Counties also were below the state average of 3-point-3 percent. Agency for Workforce Innovation spokesman Warren May says the state added a quarter-million jobs over the year...powered by the construction industry.

“If you look at the ability to go and advance in that industry, you can start at basic carpentry and go through specialty trades. And those jobs pay extremely well. So we think there are a lot of opportunities in the construction industry that are good for people who don’t want to go on to college and also it’s good for our economy.”

Trish Duffy will be briefed today on her upcoming duties as Charlotte County’s newest commissioner. Governor Jeb Bush selected Trish Duffy from a pool of 11 applicants to replace Commissioner Sara Devos who resigned. Duffy has lived in Charlotte County for 27 years. Her husband Barney is principal of Charlotte High School. Her three children are grown – and now says Duffy she has the time to serve the community that’s given her so much.


“I took care of my parents many years ago and I understand the needs of our seniors and I raised children here and I’ve worked as a business person in the community in health care for many years and most recently with Comcast where I deal with business owners on a daily basis. So I understand their needs and issues.”

Duffy says she’s closely followed local politics. She says she’ll be advocate for planned growth. She anxious to see Florida Gulf Coast University build a campus in Charlotte County. Trish Duffy will attend her first County Commission meeting, as a board member, Tuesday, September 26th.

------

Charlotte County’s newest commissioner says she’s excited and honored by her appointment to the position by Governor Jeb Bush. Trish Duffy replaces Sara Devos who resigned with two years left in her term. Duffy is 27 year resident of Charlotte County and says she’s closely followed local politics. She has gearing up to provide her input – and vote – a number of issues.

“I think one particular concern right now is the budget which I know the county commissioners have been working diligently on. Growth management is a big issue with new developments like Murdoch village and Babcock Ranch those are two really important issues. Water is another issue, water management.”


Trish Duffy raised three children in Charlotte County. Her husband Barney is principal of Charlotte high. She will attend her first commission meeting, as a board member, Tuesday September 26th.

Representatives from the Army Corps of Engineers were in Ft. Myers last night to get public input on their proposed schedule for water releases from Lake Okeechobee. Hundreds of people showed up.
Releases of nutrient laden fresh water from Lake Okeechobee down the Caloosahatchee River have wreaked environmental havoc with the estuary. Environmental officials and others in Lee County want the releases cut back, but under the proposed new plan they could increase. Kurt Harclerode is Operations Manager for Lee County Natural Resources.

“the new schedule calls for a limit on the elevation of lake Okeechobee – now a lower elevation – which is a constraint – and that’s to protect people around lake Okeechobee and the Herbert Hoover dyke, but what that means is that water needs to be removed sooner and more rapidly and unfortunately that water is in most cases coming our way.”

Harclerode says the Corps of Engineers needs to explore other options to lower the lake level, including sending water south from the lake and adding more storage to the north.

Hundreds of people turned out in Ft. Myers last night for a public hearing hosted by the Army Corps of Engineers. The Corps is taking public comment on its “tentative selected plan” for managing Lake Okeechobee. All of the comments about the plan were critical.
W-G-C-U’s Valerie Alker reports.

In Naples today, a leading national real estate expert said the ‘run is not over yet’. The president of Coldwell Banker and other top leaders were attending a conference to discuss the industry. The real estate meeting comes amid a sluggish market and declining home sales over the past year. Charles Richardson is a regional manager of Coldwell Banker in Southwest Florida. He says from a buyer’s point-of-view, the slowdown is good because realtor customer service is much better now than in the past.

“The communication skills, the information the research, the marketing skills. Those are demands that are upon us that truly in a super-hot market, they aren’t demands at all. We’re in a very tight market and the good people are surviving.”

Coldwell Banker national president Jim Gillespie says this year is ‘off’ compared to last year. But nationally, 2006 is on-track to be the third-best ever in terms of home sales. He says mortgage rates are at near-record lows and demand is expected to be brisk.

----
Mortgage giant Freddie Mac announced Thursday that mortgage rates have dropped to five-month lows. It comes as real estate experts are meeting in Naples to discuss the status of their industry. Home sales across Southwest Florida have seen steep declines this year after last year’s phenomenal run. But prices still remain at near-record levels. Coldwell Banker Southwest Florida manager Charles Richardson says this region’s real estate market is a complicated one because there are many ‘northern’ factors that can impact it.

“The cost of fuel oil, the amount of snow they get and how many stories Katrina can actually generate for the evening news, are all factors that play into the psychology of our buyers. It’s not just as simple as, ‘hey how many speculators were there last year and pulled out this last year?’ probably 20-25% of our market was investors and speculators. They’re on the sideline now.”

Speaking during a news conference sponsored by the Naples Press Club, national Coldwell Banker president Jim Gillespie said the real estate “run is not over yet” and he believes housing demand will outstrip supply in the long-run.

Republican gubernatorial candidate Charlie Crist has named his running mate. State Representative Jeff Kottkamp of Cape Coral will join him on the ticket. The pair made the announcement Wednesday morning at a hastily improvised press conference in the front yard of Kottkamp’s home. W-G-C-U’s Valerie Alker reports.