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Bill Nelson's Office, in Apalach on Thursday

In a press release submitted ealier today, U.S. Senator Bill Nelson announced that a representative from his Senate office will be in town tomorrow March 11, 2010, from 10:00AM to 11:00AM at the Franklin County Courthouse Annex at 34 Forbes Street, Suite 3 in Historic Apalachicola.

Nelson representative will be on hand to meet with all residents, including those with a Federal issue to discuss.

For more information, please contact Lynn Bannister, Director of Outreach/Regional Director for Senator Nelson's office at (850) 942-8415.

A Day of Hope

What started out as one community’s show of love and support towards a young woman stricken with cancer has ended up as a county sanctioned day of hope.

It all began in 2007, when Kathy Ingersoll a member of the American Legion Auxiliary Unit 82 in Lanark Village received word that a young woman in her neighborhood named Tonya Bridges was battling terminal cancer and needed help with her bills.

Ingersoll quickly went to work soliciting the membership of the Auxiliary to host a yard sale and pig roast as a fundraiser to provide financial assistance to Bridges during her extreme time of need.

During her final month, members of the Auxiliary asked and received permission from both Bridges and her family to continue using her name and image to benefit other residents of Lanark Village.

However, is was during the planning of last year’s benefit fundraiser that the Auxiliary decided to expand the event to include providing financial assistance to the residents of Carrabelle that needed their help.

This year the group went before the Franklin County Board of County Commissioners to spread out the benefit to include all of Franklin County and obtained county approval to declare April 3, 2010 as Tonya’s Hope Day throughout the entire Franklin County community.

Proceeds raised through the Auxiliary’s efforts, will now go toward providing financial assistance to the families of Franklin County residents who have loved ones stricken with cancer. Items that monies raised from the benefit will cover include the cost of gasoline, tires, groceries, utilities, rent, babysitting, and housecleaning.

The Auxiliary is asking all residents of the county to come out and "HELP US HELP EACH OTHER" at the Fourth Annual Tonya’s Hope Day. The group has scheduled the event for April 3, 2010, at the American Legion Post 82 in Lanark Village starting with a huge yard sale at 9:00AM, the blessing at 12:00PM followed by a roast pig dinner for a $10.00 donation, an auction at 3:00PM and wrapping up with a Carnival Cruise drawing promptly at 6:00PM.

For more information or questions concerning Tonya’s Hope Day, please contact Kathy Ingersoll, Chairperson at (850) 697-9533.

Neighborhood Watch Meeting

To help you help yourself, and your community, the Apalachicola Police Department has been trying for the past several months with minimum citizen participation to establish a Neighborhood Watch Program in the City of Apalachicola.

Neighborhood Watch Programs are nationally recognized as first step programs to help make your home, your neighborhood, and your community a safer place to live. In addition, the police department really needs the eyes and ears of the whole community to help combat crime.

Therefore, come join us at 6:00PM this Tuesday, March 9, 2010 at the 6th Street Recreation Center to learn what you can do to help fight crime and how to reduce your chances of becoming a crime victim.

Summerhill Designated Certified Municipal Clerk

At the Apalachicola City Commission March 2 meeting, City Clerk Lee Mathes presented Deputy City Clerk Cindy Summerhill with the prestigious designation of Certified Municipal Clerk (CMC).

The CMC designation program has been in existence for 40 years, started in 1970 by the Florida Association of City Clerks (FACC) along with the International Institute of Municipal Clerks (IIMC) as a means to assist municipal clerks increase their proficiency in areas related to their work, and their professional and personal growth.

The program prepares the participants to meet the challenges of the complex role of the Municipal Clerks by providing them with quality education in partnership with 47 institutions of higher learning. To earn the CMC designation, a Municipal Clerk must attend and successfully complete an extensive curriculum provided by the association and its partners.

Mathes told commissioners during the presentation that Summerhill had successfully completed over a three-year period 100 hours of arduous educational and training courses and that she had met the requirements to become a Certified Municipal Clerk in the State of Florida.

The FACC has a statewide membership of 575 members, with 303 currently holding CMC designations and 60 holding the designation of a Master Municipal Clerk (MMC).

Mathes also holds the CMC designation and currently serves as the District Director over the Florida Association of City Clerks (FACC) Northwest District, which includes the counties of Bay, Calhoun, Escambia, Franklin, Gadsden, Gulf, Holmes, Jackson, Jefferson, Leon, Liberty, Okaloosa, Santa Rosa, Wakulla, Walton, and Washington.