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This web site is not an official web site of the Lake Ashton HOA, CDD, Management, or the Lake Ashton community.

The purpose of this site is to fill the gap left when, on 27 January 2011, the Lake Ashton Living website took down the resident discussion areas, that, until that time, afford this outlet and venue for it residents.

If a negative statement is made against an individual etc, it MUST be supported by public and official documentation. If, however, a posting is just an attempt to marginalize, slander or otherwise attack the HOA, CDD, Management or individuals, then such posts will be deleted.

This web site does not assume responsibility for articles written or posted at this site.


Wednesday, March 30, 2011

Van Sickle and Rogers, just a couple of good ol’ boys who’s record has been that of Tax and Spend!

Mr. Van Sickle encourages us to examine his record and vote accordingly.  Well, here is a snapshot of Van Sickle’s record over the 4 years he has been on the Lake Wales Commission:


· Van Sickle (and Rogers) increased the City of Lake Wales’s Debt from $25.5 Million Dollars to over $35 Million Dollars


· Van Sickle’s plan to pay off $2 Million Dollars (from the Cities Reserve Fund), not only drains the drains the reserve fund but does little to pay the interest on the current 35 Million Dollar deficit. At the end of 9 years the City will be facing over a $50 Million dollar defict, just on interest of the $35 Million alone.


· To give you an idea how ‘fiscally conservative’ Van Sickle is, he wasted over $200,000 dollars on a project that surveyed a parking lot of which nothing could ever be built there.


· Van Sickle (and Rogers) has done NOTHING to address the failing infrastructure that includes the City’s sewer system that constantly fails and overflows into the streets and resident’s homes.


· Van Sickle (and Rogers) has done little to address the worsening economic situation that the City of Lake Wales has been facing for many years.


· Jack Van Sickle, a strong supporter of John Paul Rogers, a known Grand Dragon in the United Klan’s of America which was the most violent and largest Klan organization of its time. Van Sickle has equated John Paul Rogers’s affiliation with the Klan to that of someone having had several speeding tickets in ones past. Really? Do you know Van Sickle’s supporters cheered when he made this comparison!


· According to a St Petersburg Times article (titled, ‘Lake Wales commissioner has history in Klan’, by Susan Taylor Martin, Times Senior Correspondent, Sunday, September 6, 2009) , Mr. Rogers, along with support from Mayor Jack Van Sickle, fired long time City Manager, Tony Otte, because Mr. Otte’s efforts supported and helped minorities, and, as City Manager, allocated asphalt to repair a local school (i.e. doing his job). However, since Otte didn’t get ‘permission’, was fired, or so the story goes.


· Van Sickle stated that he has never seen such "dirty politics," but he should remember he and his buddies started it all with the firing of Tony Otte without due process. This was followed by the dismissal of Burney Hayes without the city manager's approval. (see http://www.newschief.com/article/20110328/NEWS/103285452/1014/opinion?Title=Concerns-in-Lake-Wales)


· There was great success with the Lake Wales Charter Schools initiative; unfortunately that success has been overshadowed by four years of negative action on the part of the City Commission majority (3-2) votes (two of those votes have been by Van Sickle and Rogers) on a range of issues that affect the entire community. (see http://www.newschief.com/article/20110328/NEWS/103285452/1014/opinion?Title=Concerns-in-Lake-Wales)


Vote for Betty Wojcik for commissioner and Mike Carter for Mayor

Vote "YES" to Amendments 1 through 8 and
 
Vote "NO" on Amendments 9 through 14.
Every vote counts!
 

Friday, March 25, 2011

News Chief - Letter to the Editor

Rogers - too little, too late, and a little bit convenient   By Richard Earl, Lake Wales

According to the front page story in News Chief on 25 March 2011, Mr. Rogers claims to denounce racism. While Mr. Rogers quotes Thomas Jefferson’s writings by saying ‘…all men are created equal…’ and ‘and endowed with certain inalienable rights’, the organization he belonged to, for over 25 years, did everything within its power to take those very rights away from those who didn’t share his views. 

I encourage all to read an article from a 1 ½ years ago in the St Petersburg Times titled, ‘Lake Wales commissioner has history in klan’, by Susan Taylor Martin, Times Senior Correspondent In Print: Sunday September 6, 2009.
 

Compare Mr. Rogers’s authenticity in this St Petersburg Times article to his most recent articles. Susan Taylor Marin’s article can be found at the following URL http://www.tampabay.com/news/politics/local/article1033790.ece

On the Record

Per the St Petersburg Times article, Mr. Rogers, along with support from Mayor Jack Van Sickle, fired long time City Manager, Tony Otte, because Mr. Otte’s efforts supported and helped minorities, and, as City Manager, allocated asphalt to repair a local school (i.e doing his job). However, since Otte didn’t get ‘permission’, was fired, or so the story goes.

Regarding Image

The St Petersburg Times article went on to say that Mr. Rogers’s claims that he worked to create a better ‘image’ for the Klan but an ‘image’ is something designed to present a ‘public’ perception, and does not necessarily accurately reflects what is done in private. Take Tiger Woods for example. Tiger Woods had an outstanding ‘image’ for years that fooled many people, including his family.

Mr. Rogers claims he retired and put his association with the Klan behind him but the truth is that when the Klan was sued for killing Michael Donald, a black teenager beaten to death by klan members and hanged from a tree; a $7 Million dollars verdict against the United Klans of America bankrupted and put them out of business; thus Mr. Rogers was forced to find a new profession.1

Mr. Rogers claims to have never done anyone any harm, which may be true, but as the Grand Dagon of Florida for the United Klans of America, the most violent in its history, combined with his 25 years association with the KKK whose primary purpose was to terrorize the public in effort to achieve their objectives, surely he knew the tactics and methods used. Mr. Rogers claims that such terrorist’s acts were done only by a few – yeah, right. Such methods were the primary method used to achieve the Klans objectives.2

While Mr. Rogers may now state he denounces racism, he sure hasn’t denounced the methods used by the KKK and UKA during its reign of terror.

In short, Mr. Rogers has never denounced the violent practices employed and endorsed, by the KKK and the United Klans of America.

Do you want this kind of person, and people who support this kind of character, to lead the City of Lake Wales?

Vote for Betty Wojcik for commissioner and Mike Carter for Mayor.

Vote "YES" to Amendments 1 through 8 and vote "NO" on Amendments 9 through 14.

Every vote counts!






Wednesday, March 23, 2011

Lake Wales commissioner has history in klan

A good article about Mr. John Paul Rogers in the St Petersburg Times by By Susan Taylor Martin, Times Senior Correspondent
In Print: Sunday, September 6, 2009

LAKE WALES

Earlier this summer, residents of this Polk County town were shocked by the abrupt firing of the popular city manager. Lake Wales is normally a quiet place not accustomed to controversy. Banners proclaim its "vintage charm,'' evident in the stately lakefront homes, the soaring Bok Tower, the renowned Chalet Suzanne inn and restaurant. But the firing of Tony Otte, praised for his efforts to improve race relations, seemed to refute the other part of the town's slogan: "progressive vision.'' And what disturbed many of the 12,000 residents — black and white — was that one of the commissioners who voted to oust Otte was John Paul Rogers, former grand dragon of the United Klans of Florida, a faction of the notoriously racist and anti-Semitic Ku Klux Klan. "It's embarrassing,'' says lawyer Howard Kay, one of the town's few Jewish residents. "I'm a very liberal person, but I don't think anybody would want this type of person on the City Commission.''

Rogers, a barber, gun dealer and real estate broker, was elected last year with the help of a black friend and an unusually large number of absentee ballots.

Now 68, with a bit of a paunch framed by blue suspenders, he appears far different from the hooded figure once feared by Lake Wales' black citizens. His supporters, including the mayor, say he has been a hard-working commissioner who is always polite and fair.

Even his detractors say he comes across as soft-spoken, charming, even gentlemanly.

But they also note that Rogers has never renounced his racist past. Talk of a recall has begun, fueled by concern that the last thing a Southern town needs as it struggles to attract new businesses is a city government that includes an ex-leader of the Ku Klux Klan.

"I think his background is a major issue,'' says Jessica Bray, who moved from Connecticut a few years ago to open a restaurant and bed-and-breakfast. "It tells me about someone's judgment and values, and those are not the judgments and values I want overseeing my town.''
 
New image for klan

Acquitted in 1980 of beating up a group of dissident klan members, Rogers has never been implicated in other violence. But he spent nearly 25 years in an organization that dates to the chaotic aftermath of the Civil War, when white "night riders'' in the South began killing and terrorizing newly freed blacks.

The KKK was disbanded by federal law in the 1870s, then sprang back to life after World War I as blacks and immigrants challenged Northern whites for factory jobs. The klan also flourished in Florida, where resistance to unionization and school desegregation boosted membership as high as 30,000 by 1957.

Rogers joined the klan around 1964, the year of the landmark Civil Rights Act.

 
"I don't discuss anything in the past at all,'' he now says. "I have a hard enough time keeping up with today and tomorrow.''

But a few years ago, Rogers did talk — to state agents investigating the unsolved 1951 bombing in Brevard County that killed the executive director of the Florida NAACP and his wife.

Rogers, who was 11 at the time, said he knew nothing about the case except what he had read. He acknowledged there had been "a lot of bombing and violence'' in Florida in the '40s and '50s, but blamed it largely on "some renegades'' within the klan.

"Mr. Rogers continued by saying that while he was the state head, there was a push for a more positive image of the KKK and not one of being involved in inappropriate or violent activities,'' the agents wrote in their report.

As grand dragon, Rogers traveled throughout Florida. He once spoke to a class taught by Darryl Paulson, a now-retired University of South Florida professor and an expert on the klan.

"A lot of (students) thought he'd come in and espouse some very racist views, but he didn't do that in a classroom setting,'' Paulson recalls. "He was asked a lot of tough questions and he gave very simplistic responses. It showed through — at least to the better students — that a lot was missing.''

In researching the klan, Paulson attended a few meetings. There, Rogers' rhetoric was very different.

"He frequently spoke of "n------'' and made reference to people with thick lips and watermelons,'' Paulson says. "As far as I know, he didn't engage in violent behavior, but I know they had a number of rallies throughout Central Florida, including over to the Tampa Bay area.''

In 1983, Rogers incorporated a sportsmen's club whose directors included "Bob Shelton of Tuscaloosa, Ala.'' To outsiders he was better known as Robert Shelton, grand wizard of the United Klans of America, the nation's largest and most violent Klan faction.

"I think he was a truly evil man,'' Morris Dees, founder of the Southern Poverty Law Center, said in Shelton's New York Times obituary six years ago.

The center represented the mother of Michael Donald, a black teenager beaten to death by klan members and hanged from a tree in Mobile, Ala. In 1987, a federal jury awarded her a $7 million judgment against the United Klans of America.

The verdict bankrupted the organization and ended Shelton's klan activism. Rogers', too.

"I retired,'' he told the Lakeland Ledger.
 
'People got snookered'

In the '90s, Rogers ran unsuccessfully for secretary of state and the state House. More recently, he served on Lake Wales' zoning appeals board, positioning himself to run for City Commission on a platform of fiscal prudence.

Many newcomers were unaware of Rogers' klan history. He didn't mention it. And some of those who knew didn't bring it up because they never thought he would win.

"I went to a candidate forum and I feel I let myself down by not asking: Do you still have the same racist views? Will you tell the black community you're sorry?'' says Kay, the Jewish lawyer.

"But nobody raised that as a question. It's embarrassing to those of us who care that we didn't make it known.''

In regular balloting, Rogers' 179 votes put him third in a field of four. But he got 282 absentee votes — 43 percent of the total and far more than any other candidate. Word had it that he was helped by a black friend, 79-year-old Booker Young, who purportedly encouraged many elderly blacks to request absentee ballots and vote for Rogers.

"Half of them don't read or write that well,'' says Clinton Horne, a black community activist. "People got snookered.''

Rogers denies talk that he paid Young to round up votes. (Young didn't return calls for comment.) And Paulson notes that other staunch segregationists, including the late U.S. Sen. Strom Thurmond, successfully curried support from blacks.

"You had these political opportunists who clearly saw the winds of change blowing and knew they either had to adjust or be out.''
 
A controversial firing

Tony Otte had been Lake Wales city manager since 2001. He pushed for redevelopment of Lincoln Avenue, the once vibrant black business district now reduced to a few struggling stores. He also arranged to have part of Walker Street renamed after Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., a move that didn't sit well with Bill Walker, owner of the barber shop where Rogers works.

"It bothered me and a lot of people in town,'' says Walker, whose family has been in Lake Wales for generations. "I had one commissioner say, 'Well, Bill, you've got to forget them old people, they're all dead and gone.' I said, 'Martin Luther is dead and gone.' ''

In June, Mayor Jack Van Sickle introduced a resolution to fire Otte. It said the commission had "lost faith'' in him even though he had received good evaluations from everyone but the mayor.

"I was blind-sided,'' Otte says.

At a packed public hearing July 29, Rogers insisted he didn't have a "personal vendetta'' against the city manager. But, he said, he was concerned that Otte hadn't gotten the commission's okay before using some leftover, city-owned asphalt to repave the parking lot of a local public school.

Eight members of the audience spoke in favor of firing, claiming employee morale was bad and that Otte had mismanaged some projects. But nearly three times as many spoke in support of the city manager, praising his community involvement, his integrity and his hard work.

The last to rise was Narvel Peterson, a black Polk County sheriff's deputy. As a boy he had seen crosses burning in black neighborhoods. As a deputy, he had warned black youth to stay away from klan rallies for fear of fights — or worse. As a voter, he had been sorely disappointed by Rogers' election.

Now Peterson looked straight at him.

"Since I was a small kid, I feared what you stood for,'' Peterson said. "It's a new day and I plan to be involved here.''
 
Victim of bigotry?

It is a Monday afternoon at the City Barber Shop, where Rogers is running his clippers up the thick neck of an alligator trapper.

The TV is tuned to Fox News. In one corner is a stack of Civil War Times, in another a few pistols and rifles for sale. They're harder to get now, Rogers says, because demand shot up after the 2008 election on fears that an Obama presidency would lead to stricter gun control.

Black residents don't come in here for haircuts. Neither did the city manager.

"He was a very nice fellow,'' Rogers says, "but it was time for a change.''

A month after the 3-2 vote to fire Otte, Rogers is aware of the controversy and the fact that critics will be scrutinizing his every move. He shrugs it off.

"You have a lot of bigots maybe prejudiced against me, very liberal-type people that think anybody who doesn't agree with them shouldn't hold public office. I just stand on my record, six years on the board of appeal, a year and a half on the commission. Nobody can say I mistreated anyone.''

Does he have any regrets about his past?

"I think I'd rather have been born rich rather than pretty.''
 
Susan Taylor Martin can be contacted at susan@sptimes.com.

Tuesday, March 22, 2011

Jack Van Sickle - PROUD of his accomplishments?

LETTER TO THE EDITOR

Jack Van Sickle - PROUD of his accomplishments?
Richard Earl, Major, USMC (Ret.), Lake Wales

In his letter to the New Chief Editor on 22 March 2011, Mayor Jack Van Sickle stated that he is proud of his accomplishments over his past 4 years in office.  Let’s examine these so called ‘successes’ Jack Van Sickle has ‘done’ for the City of Lake Wales.

If you attended any of the Commissioner meetings, you would have witnessed firsthand just how “…a person’s actions speak louder than words…”. 

Mr Van Sickle is very hostile and dismissive towards anyone who shares a different point of view than his.   

You’d hear him state that he wants to ‘filter’ the audience’s questions and comments to only those who are in favor of his point of view.  Van Sickle has been seen with arms crossed and ignoring those who speak in opposition and then moving quickly to vote on issues without allowing time to consider other points of view.

Over the past 4 years that Jack Van Sickle has served on the Commission, what exactly has he REALLY done for the City? 

Well, Van Sickle wasted over $200,000 dollars on a project that surveyed a parking lot of which nothing could ever be built there.

Van Sickle has done NOTHING to address the failing infrastructure that includes the City’s sewer system that constantly fails and overflows into the streets and resident’s homes.

Van Sickle has done little to address the worsening economic situation that the City of Lake Wales has been facing for many years.

To exacerbate the economic problems Lake Wales faces, Van Sickle ADDED over $15 Million dollars in additional debt to the City of Lake Wales such that now the City is in debt in the amount of over $35 Million Dollars and growing.

In terms of ‘…the water interconnects to improve water pressure …’ Jack Van Sickle, a supporter of Developer Larry Maxwell and a Resident of Lake Ashton, worked this issue since the Developer failed to properly resolve this issue prior to building the Lake Ashton Community.  And who do you think primarily benefited; the Residents of Lake Ashton and Jack Van Sickle personally

Van Sickle has introduce Amendments 9 through 14 which basically eliminates the Commissioner System Lake Wales currently has into a formal Mayoral structure, thereby giving one person total control over governance of the City of Lake Wales. This is NOT in the best interest of the City or what the City of Lake Wales needs.

Jack Van Sickle, a supporter of John Paul Rogers a known Grand Dragon in the United Klans of America which was the most violent and largest Klan organization of its time.  Van Sickle has equated John Paul Rogers’s affiliation with the Klan to that of someone having had several speeding tickets in ones past. 

Finally, and notwithstanding, Van Sickle is a co-conspirator of an illegally run Bingo Operation at Lake Ashton that is currently under criminal investigation.

So please, follow Jack Van Sickle suggestion and vote for those who will make decisions based on what is best for all in Lake Wales.  Isn’t it time to oust the Good Ol Boy method of governance and replace it with people who have the credentials worthy of leading the City?

Vote for Betty Wojcik for Commissioner and Mike Carter for MayorVote YES to Amendments 1 through 8 and vote NO on Amendments 9 through 14.  EVERY vote counts!

Sunday, March 20, 2011

Channel 10 News Report Regarding Lake Wales Mayoral Race

Click the above link (title) and see what Channel 10 News reported regarding John Paul Rogers and his association with the KKK and the United Klans of America.


It seems that Jack Van Sickle, and supporters of Van Sickle and Rogers, embrace the radical and violent views and methods that Mr. Rogers refuses to denounce or talk about. 

Isn't it time for a change within our City Government?

Vote for Mike Carter for Mayor and Betty Wojcik for City Commissioner YES to Amendments 1 through 8 and NO on Amendments 9 through 14,  on 5 April 2011






Friday, March 18, 2011

Is comparing a member of the Klan to that of someone who got traffic tickets a valid comparison?

It appears that many have forgotten the history of the United Klans of America (UKA). 

According to Wikipeda   …”United Klans of America Inc. a Ku Klux Klan organization in the United States … UKA peaked in popularity in the late 1960s and 1970s, and was the most violent and largest Klan organization of its time…”
 
Mr Rogers proudly proclaims he was a Grand Dragon in the UKA.


Wikipeda states that “…A "Grand Dragon", for example, was the highest ranking Klansman in a given state….”

Mr Rogers claims to have left the UKA nearly 25 years ago, which would be around the 1976 time frame.  The following are a few nationally known events in history that took place during Mr. Rogers affiliation with the UKA:

·         The 1963 16th Street Bombing that killed 4 young girls  

·         The 1965 murder of Viola Liuzzo, a white woman from the North, decided to go help support racial equality in the South. 

·         During “…1960s, the Klans functioned as a clandestine movement that spearheaded the resistance to a national trend toward equality for all Americans. Like their predecessors, the `60s Klans employed terrorism and a form of guerrilla race warfare to carry out their purposes. The Klans and their allies were responsible for a major portion of the assaults, killings, bombings, floggings, and other acts of racial intimidation that swept the South in the first years of the 1960s..” 

Mr Rogers states that if by being against communism, against drugs, and in favor of States rights was wrong, then he was wrong.

However, Mr Rogers refusal to address the violent history of the UKA, an organization that he not only belonged but held its highest office, surmounts to nothing more but a strong tacit endorsement and support of the violent nature of the UKA and how it used violence to promote the UKA's goals and objectives.

How can one compare a speeding ticket to that of someone who held the highest office in the UKA, an organization that endorsed terrorism, assaults, killings, bombings, floggings and other acts of racial intimidation and then applaud?

It seems that Jack Van Sickle, and supporters of Van Sickle and Rogers, embrace the radical and violent views and methods that Mr. Rogers refuses to denounce or talk about.
Isn't it time for a change within our City Government?

Vote for
Mike Carter for Mayor and Betty Wojcik for City Commissioner YES to Amendments 1 through 8 and NO on Amendments 9 through 14,  on 5 April 2011









Frustrated when the HOA BOD and their lawyer feel they are above the law?


Click the title of this posting and read this important article which startes off by saying...

     "... Are you living as well in one of these fancy Homeowners' 
Association, where the Board and their Attorney feel that they are above the Florida Statutes and don't have to obey them? Or they tell you in a public board meeting that you should sue them, if you don't like the way they are doing business?


Don't feel alone! It happens on a daily basis all over Florida. And you're in pretty good company. Even the General Attorney's office was rebuked by a HOA attorney in a recent legal challenge. Quote:  "Association attorney Donald Peyton responded with a letter dated Oct. 14 in which he questioned the 'legal authority' of the Attorney General's Office to demand the records..."

This is a must read for anyone who lives in a community that is governed by an out of control HOA BOD.



Sunday, March 6, 2011

$508,940.75 still remains unaccounted for by the CDD

Click the title to read a copy of an email sent to Jan Carpenter and George Flint regarding Half a Million dollars that remains unaccounted for. 
At the heart of this request is accountability in terms of the following:
  1. Minutes of the CDD board meetings that approved all actions taken by them regarding this claim. 
  2. Copies of all Checks paid along with canceled checks received by any service provider named in the attached claim
BackgroundLake Ashton CDD received $508,940.75  (paid on 12-28-04) as a result of a damage to the Club House sustained during Hurricane Charlie on 8-13-04.  Damage that the Club House sustained was:
  1. roofing needed to be totally replaced and various leaks needed to be fixed
  2. the swimming pool needed to be drained and cleaned as a result of all the debris it collected
  3. club house foundation - it was discovered that the clubhouse foundation had not been built up the several additional feet required and stated as per building plans, since the area has a very high water table, thus the requirement for additional elevation needed for the foundation PLUS a specially designed sump pump system that would prevent the water table of entering the building, had never been done. 
  4. The insurance claim monies were supposed to pay for these need repairs, yet, to date, these repairs had not been done - so where did the money go?  



Saturday, March 5, 2011

17th Response to the HOA BOD 8 Feb 2011 Official Statement

All of the statements made in the HOA BOD email of 8 February 2011 (click this link for the official HOA statement) will be addressed one at a time over the coming days.

Following is the 17th statement made in the HOA BOD 8 Feb 2011 email:

·   The Discussion Areas of Association Website Terminated for Abuse by a Few Members

REPLY -
o   FALSE:   the discussion area(s) were canceled for fear that the HOA would be exposed for their incompetence and for fear that documentation would be posted that clearly indicated what they say public does not match to what they know and said in private.  

RC Ralls

 



Friday, March 4, 2011

16th Response to the HOA BOD 8 Feb 2011 Official Statement

All of the statements made in the HOA BOD email of 8 February 2011 (click this link for the official HOA statement) will be addressed one at a time over the coming days.

Following is the 16th statement made in the HOA BOD 8 Feb 2011 email:

·   January 10, 2010 - Polk County Sheriff: "Egregious Mistakes" (Not Crimes); Association Not Involved And Taking Community In Correct Direction; No Arrests to Be made

REPLY -
o   FALSE.  Even though the term “egregious mistakes” was used, the statement that “NUMEROUS Crimes had been committed” was stated many, many times in front of the entire audience.  
o   No arrests are to be made as of yet.

RC Ralls




Wednesday, March 2, 2011

Meet Lake Wales Next City Commissioner, Seat 4, District 27N -- Betty Wojcik

Betty, who is a Lake Ashton Resident Believes..... the following issues are important to the future of Lake Wales:
  • Nationwide Search for New City Manager
  • Business-Friendly Climate
  • Community Appearance & Promotion
  • Community Cooperation
  • Economic Vitality
  • Jobs...Jobs...Jobs...
  • Infrastructure
  • Capital Improvements Budget
  • Fiscal Responsibility
Betty's Many Qualifications Include:
  • Executive Director of the Lake Wales Area Chamber of Commerce 
  • More than 35 years experience managing chambers of commerce and community  delvelopment organizations
  • Worked closely with many city, county and state governments in Georgia, Illinois and Florida
  • Earned the designation 'Certified Economic Developer' from the International Economic Development Council (IEDC)
  • Graduate of DePaul University, BA in Economic Development Management
  • Leadership Lake Wales Alumni
  • President of the Rotary Club of Lake Wales
  • Serves on the Unity-in-Community Boards of Directors
  • Serves on the Lake Wales Main Street Board of Directors
  • Serves on the Lake Wales Family Literacy Coalition
  • Member of the Lake Wales Economic Development Partnership
  • Board member, East Polk Committee of 100
  • Member of the Leadership Polk Advisory Committee
  • Member of the Florida Association of Chamber Professionals, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the Florida Chamber of Commerce, Visit Florida and Florida Economic Development Council

On 5 April 2011 VOTE for Betty Wojcik

Meet Lake Wales Next Mayor - Mike Carter

Mike Carter:  "I want to lead Lake Wales into the future with a progressive vision of all citizens working together in a community that has a responsible and sustainable plan for economic development; a community that respects diversity, and where community leaders respect and welcome citizen input.  I will provide the leadership that will make these things happen.  I understand the issues important to our citizens and businesses.  Please support me with your vote on April 5."

Mike Carter has lived in Lake Wales for ten years and has served as a City Commissioner since May of 2010.  He has served as Chairman of the Lake Wales Airport Authority and was on the Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Board.  Mike will bring a style of leadership to the Mayor's office that will lead our city through the challenging economic time ahead and keep Lake Wales moving forward.  To reach our goals we need positive leadership and a willingness to all work together.  Mike will listen, learn, and act in the best interest of all of Lake Wales.


Economic Development:
The Lake Wales Chamber of Commerce and the City of Lake Wales have taken the lead in developing an economic plan which establishes short term, mid-term and long term strategies to create jobs for our community.  The City Commission of Lake Wales needs to fully support the efforts of this team of business leaders and citizens and encourage an early completion.

Code of Ethics:
The City needs a strong Code of Ethics for City Commissioners, but not one that restricts or prohibits involvement in local civic organizations.  Involvement in these organizations is an excellent way for Commissioners to gain knowledge of community needs and to stay connected with community concerns.

Safe and secure neighborhoods:
The safety and security of our neighborhoods is vital to the quality of life in Lake Wales.  I will continue to support our Lake Wales Police and Fire Departments by providing them with the resources they need t protect us and do their job consistent with the budget constraints we all must live with.

15th Response to the HOA BOD 8 Feb 2011 Official Statement

All of the statements made in the HOA BOD email of 8 February 2011 (click this link for the official HOA statement) will be addressed one at a time over the coming days.

Following is the 15th statement made in the HOA BOD 8 Feb 2011 email:

·   The Board Renewed Support for Bingo Conditioned Upon Pontious' Resignation

REPLY -
o   The Board has had total control and complete responsibility over Bingo Operations, regardless if Pontious was involved or not

RC Ralls

14th Response to the HOA BOD 8 Feb 2011 Official Statement

All of the statements made in the HOA BOD email of 8 February 2011 (click this link for the official HOA statement) will be addressed one at a time over the coming days.

Following is the 14th statement made in the HOA BOD 8 Feb 2011 email:

·   Our Lawyer Correctly Advised the Board to Stand Firm on Resolution

REPLY -
o   It is our belief that Mr. Perry has never advised the board correctly and is compiling more billable hours then that the board members can personally afford.
o   Since Mr. Perry appears to serve ONLY the HOA BOD vice the (best) interest of the Residents, then the HOA BOD should personally pay Mr. Perry’s fees.

RC Ralls



Tuesday, March 1, 2011

13th Response to the HOA BOD 8 Feb 2011 Official Statement

All of the statements made in the HOA BOD email of 8 February 2011 (click this link for the official HOA statement) will be addressed one at a time over the coming days.

Following is the 13th statement made in the HOA BOD 8 Feb 2011 email:

·   There Was No Reason to Sabotage Candidate Pontious

REPLY - 

o   The Board was never asked to sabotage candidate Pontious. However, all the Board was ever asked to do was to honor the fiduciary responsibility to the residents, which you have failed miserably. 

o   To conspire to conceal the fact from the Residents, that there was an on-going investigation prior to a HOA election, of which, by doing so, ensured a resident was elected, is just flat wrong and by doing so, it did not serve in the best interest of the Residents.

RC Ralls