A recovery in home improvement and remodeling spending is on the way,
according to a newly released study from the Remodeling Futures Program at the Joint Center for Housing Studies of Harvard University. The report indicates that remodeling spending by homeowners has begun to show signs of stabilization and will begin to increase by early 2010. That is good news for exhibitors in the Ft Lauderdale Fall Home Design & Remodeling Show, who hope to see South Florida homeowners actively shopping for home improvements and décor. The show opens to the public November 20-22nd at the Broward County Convention Center.
While the housing market and home improvement industry still face obstacles, positive signs of recovery including favorable financing costs and increased home sales are evident. This is a good time to look into the home improvement projects you may have been postponing, said Steve Plotkin, Show Director of the Home Design & Remodeling Show. Home improvement experts will be on hand to offer tips and ideas on how to improve your home, customize your residence to fit your lifestyle and do it within your budget.

Home improvement professionals from the National Kitchen and Bath Association (NKBA) will be available throughout the show to talk with show goers and guide them in their kitchen and bath remodeling projects. Consumers are encouraged to bring photos, plans, and samples from their homes so that the NKBA representatives can provide individualized advice on kitchen/bath remodeling projects. The NKBA represents eleven industry Ft Lauderdale Fall Home Design & Remodeling Show segments including builders/remodelers, cabinetry, decorative plumbing and hardware, kitchen and bath designers, manufacturers and installers. As such, the professionals at the show will be able to discuss all aspects of home remodeling from the planning and budgeting stages through to installation.
The Show creates a unique marketplace environment that enables South Florida homeowners to gather ideas, comparison shop, talk with experts and see the latest trends in home improvement and design. Consumers can pre-shop the show and see the savings available during the three day event by viewing a sampling of the special show discounts offered in the exhibitor coupon section of the show web site.

Log on to www.homeshowspecials.com and click on exhibitor coupons. Valuable coupon books will be handed out at the show (while supplies last).

This is the hottest show in town.  I have been to the last 3. It is a one stop bonanza of 100’s of businesses with ideas  to help design, revamp your home, or even build a new one!

Save money here on your entrance fee. Click the picture on top!

See you there!

For more information, to make reservations or to learn about SuperClubs’ vacation package deals , visit
www.superclubs.com

Best Family Beach – Manatee County Public Beach

Most Romantic Beach – Blind Pass Beach, Sanibel

Best Snorkeling Beach – Crescent Beach, Siesta Key

Best Party Beach – Lynn Hall Memorial Park

Best Camping Beach – Cayo Costa State Park

source: http://www.beachhunter.net/bestbeaches/

1513 Juan Ponce de Leon, who first had come to the New World on the second voyage of Columbus, sights land on March 27. Between April 2 and 8, in the vicinity of present day St. Augustine, he names the land “Pascua Florida” because of its discovery “during the time of the Feast of Easter.”

1516-1561 Florida is explored by Spaniards, including Ponce de Leon, Panfilo de Navarez, and Don de Luna Y Arellano. Hernando de Soto lands in Florida on May 30, 1539, with nearly 600 men near Tampa Bay. De Luna establishes a colony on the shores of Pensacola Bay in 1559. This settlement is abandoned two years later and antedates by six years the founding of St. Augustine, which becomes known as the first attempt at permanent colonization in Florida. Fray Luis Cancer de Barbastro, a Dominican priest is killed by Indians near Tampa Bay in 1548. He is the first known churchman to die for his faith in this country.

1564 Rene oulaine de Laudonniere of France builds a fort which he names Caroline for Charles IX, on the St. John’s River, which is known to the French as the River of May.

1565 Pedro Menendez de Aviles of Spain enters a harbor which he calls San Augustin on August 28; he captures Fort Caroline which becomes San Mateo, a Spanish outpost. He also massacres the shipwrecked French forces of Admiral Jean Ribault on Anastasia Island. San Augustin will become known as St. Augustine, and will be settled continuously after Menendez leaves part of his troops there before his foray on Fort Caroline.

1566 Intensive and continuing efforts are begun by Jesuit priest to convert the Indians of the area to the Christian faith. The mission system in Florida begins soon after the establishment of St. Augustine – nearly 200 years before the first mission in upper California is built.

1567- 1568 Dominique de urgues of France launches an expedition to avenge the dead of Fort Caroline and Anastasia Island. He captures San Mateo, hangs the Spanish, and returns to France.

1575 The Franciscan friars begin their missionary work in Florida.

1586 Sir Francis Drake, a British seafarer conquers and burns St. Augustine.

1600 Throughout the 17th century, although impeded by sporadic Indian outbreaks, Spanish colonization spreads in Florida. By the 1680s, San Marcos de Apalache (St. Marks of today) is a fort and a settlement of consequence. Pensacola is permanently resettled in 1698.

1702-1704 The British raid Spanish settlements including a 52-day siege of St. Augustine. The town is captured but the fort is not. Governor James Moore of Carolina invades middle Florida forcing the Spaniards and Christianized Indians to abandon the Apalachee missions. Within a few years, the mission era of Florida comes to an end.

1719 The French capture Pensacola; however, as a result of an alliance with Spain, in order to stave off English conquests, it is soon returned to the Spanish. The French also occupy the Gulf Coast west of Pensacola.

1740 The British General James Oglethorpe invades Florida from Georgia, seizing outlying forts. He lays siege to St. Augustine for 27 days until a lack of fresh water and provisions, plus the July sun and hordes of insects, cause him to turn away. He does free the 1500 soldiers and townspeople crowded in the Castillo de San Marcos

1763 Spain ransoms Havana from the British with Florida. The British find St. Augustine to be a city with about 342 dwellings, Pensacola to have grown slightly beyond the original settlement, and the fort and town of San Marcos de Apalache at the head of the Gulf. The remainder is wilderness and efforts are made by the British to attract investors and settlers.

1781 The Spanish capture Pensacola from the British.

1783 The British return Florida to Spain. Numerous people, many of whom have fled the American Colonies during the Revolution, leave Florida for the Bahamas and the West Indies. Florida’s first newspaper, The East Florida Gazette, is published at St. Augustine by Williams Charles Wells. He rushes out an “extra” to proclaim the British defeat in the Revolutionary War.

1785-1821 Numerous Spanish-American border disputes occur. Encouraged by the Americans, a republic is proclaimed in northeastern Florida in 1812 by “patriots” who run up their own flag over Fernandina.

1813 Andrew Jackson captures Pensacola which has been used as a base of Gulf operations by the British against the Americans.

1816 A red-hot cannon ball explodes the magazine of an abandoned British fort on the Apalachicola River, occupied by free and runaway Negro slaves and kills nearly 300. This is a result of Americans seeking to stop Spanish forays upon boats supplying American troops and settlers in Spanish territory.

1817-1819 Gregor MacGregor, a Scotch soldier of fortune, captures Fernandina, menaces St. Augustine, and leaves his lieutenants to resist an attack by the Spanish and volunteer American forces on Amelia Island. MacGregor is replaced by Luis Aury, who declares himself a Mexican, annexes Amelia Island to Mexico, and flies the Mexican flag. American forces evict him in December 1817, without bloodshed, and hold the area until yellow fever causes their withdrawal in 1819.

1818 During the first Seminole War, Andrew Jackson campaigns against the Indians and outlaws Negroes from Pensacola to the Suwannee. He also executes two British citizens whom he accuses of inciting the Indians of the region against the United States.

1819 American Secretary of State John Quincy Adams and Spanish Minister Luis de Onis reach an agreement finally ratified by both nations in 1821, by which Spain gives the United States title to East and West Florida. The United States relinquishes its claims to Texas, and Spain assigns its rights in the Pacific Northwest to the U.S., leaving ownership of the Oregon Territory to be settled among the United States, Russia, and Great Britain. The United States pays about $4.1 million to Americans in Florida holding claims against Spain.

1821 Andrew Jackson receives the Floridas from Spanish authorities at Pensacola on July 17. He leaves Florida in October and resigns as U.S. Commissioner and Governor of the territories of East and West Florida in November from his home in Tennessee.

1822 The unified government of Florida is established on March 30,1822, when President James Monroe the Congressional Act providing for a Governor and a Legislative Council of 13 citizens. William P. Duval from Kentucky, a Virginian by birth, becomes the first Territorial Governor.

1824 On March 4, Governor Duval proclaims the site of present day Tallahassee to be the seat of the new territory. The Legislative Council meets there in November in a log house erected in the vicinity of today’s capitol.

1825 The Marquis de Lafayette is granted $200,000 and a township of land anywhere in the unsold public domain in recognition by Congress of his Revolutionary War services. He accepts a township adjacent to Tallahassee in the Territory of Florida. Lafayette never comes to his land, but initiates its settlement in 1831 by a short-lived colony of about 60 Norman peasants who attempt to cultivate vineyards, olive groves, and mulberry trees for feeding silk worms.

1834-1837 Florida’s first railroads begin operation. The Tallahassee-St. Marks is the first to be incorporated on April 10,1834; however, the b St. Joseph-Lake Wimico line is the first to be in service on April 14, 1836.

1835-1837 With the beginning of the Second Seminole War, Major Francis L Dade and two companies of U.S. Army troops are ambushed and massacred. In 1837 the Indian leader Osceola is imprisoned after entering an American camp under a flag of truce.

1837-1840 General Zachary Taylor, future president of the United States, commands forces against the Seminoles. His battle on the eastern shore of Lake Okeechobee on Christmas Day in 1837 is considered the last organized encounter with the Seminoles

1838 A convention held at St. Joseph drafts a Constitution in anticipation of early statehood.

1842 The Second Seminole War ends with 3,824 Indians and Negroes relocated to Arkansas. The cost of the war to the Federal government, beyond the expense of the regular army, is placed at $20 million. While 1,500 soldiers are wounded or contract disease, no estimate of civilian casualties is made.

1845 On March 3, the last day of his administration, President John Tyler signs into law the act granting statehood to Florida’s 57,921 inhabitants. William D. Moseley, a Jefferson County planter and a North Carolinian who had lived in Florida only six years, becomes the state’s first governor. David Levy Yulee, a native of St. Thomas in the West Indies and of a Portuguese Jewish family, is elected the first representative to Congress. However, before going to Washington, he is selected by the General Assembly as Florida’s first U.S. Senator, which with the exception of a four-week interruption, he continues to be until secession.

1851 Dr. John Gorrie of Apalachicola patents the process of making ice artificially, a process he had developed in 1845 to cool the rooms of his feverish patients. He dies in 1855 with little recognition; however, today his statue stands in the Capitol in Washington, D.C.

1855 The General Assembly passes the first Internal Improvement Act which uses swamp and other land ceded by the Federal movement to the state to furnish incentives for a statewide railroad and canal transportation system.

1855-1858 The Third Seminole War takes place.

1860 The Legislature, meeting after Abraham Lincoln’s election as president, passes an Act for a Constitutional Convention to meet in Tallahassee and appropriates $100,000 for outfitting state troops. The Florida Railroad, the first cross state line, links Fernandina on the East Coast with Cedar Key on the West.

1861 Florida withdraws from the Union on January 10. State troops occupy Chattahoochee Arsenal, Fort Clinch on Amelia Island, Fort Marion at St. Augustine, and Fort Barrancas at Pensacola. Federal authorities hold Fort Taylor at Key West

Fort Jefferson in the Dry Tortugas, and Fort Pickens at Pensacola.

1861-1865 Florida furnishes salt beef, and bacon to the armies of the Confederacy. The voting population of Florida is 14,374 in 1860 which gives greater significance to the fact that more than 16,000 Floridians serve in the Civil War 15,000 in the Confederate army and 1,290 in the Union forces. Of those in

the Confederate armies, 6,700 serve for the entire war or until disabled or killed. Florida troops are represented in all principal battles and more than 1,000 are killed in action. At least 5,000 Florida soldiers are dead by the spring of 1865.

1864 The Confederates defeat the Union army at Olustee and save the interior supply lines from Florida. This confines the Union troops, to the coast.

1865 Home Guards and Cadets from the West Florida Seminary save Tallahassee from capture by turning back invading Federal troops at the Battle of Natural Bridge. The war ends with Tallahassee as the only Confederate state capital east of Mississippi to escape being captured. Federal troops do occupy Tallahassee on May 10 and the American flag once more flies over the Capitol on May 20. A Constitutional Convention convenes on October 25. It annuls the Ordinance of Secession and decrees the end of slavery; however, the right to vote is restricted to “free” white male persons of 21 years old or older.

1868 A faction-torn Convention submits a new Constitution which the voters approve in May. It grants equal suffrage to all races. Civil government is resumed with an end to military rule on July 4.

1876 Florida’s electoral votes, cast amid charges of fraud, give the winning margin for the U.S. Presidency to Rutherford B. Hayes. Democrats regain control of state offices and put an end to the carpetbag rule as Federal troops are withdrawn in 1877.

1881 Hamilton Disston, Philadelphia saw industrialist, buys four million acres of the Everglades at 25 cents an acre to free the

|Internal Improvement Fund of debt and open the way for

development of much of peninsular Florida.

1884 The first train of the new Plant System, created from short-lines in south Florida by Henry B. Plant, rumbles into Tampa to produce the agricultural and industrial awakening of the West Coast.

1885 A Constitutional Convention of 56 days broaden people’s share in their government. Cabinet posts are made electives, as are those of justice of the Supreme Court and all county offices except county commissioner. A State Board of Education is created and the establishment of normal schools is authorized.

1886 Requiring a railroad adequate to serve a great hotel he has built at St. Augustine, Henry M. Flagler buys the first transportation link in the chain of railroad and hotel properties he builds down the East Coast to Key West.

1888 The first commercial shipment of phosphate is made from

the Peace River Valley, where the mineral had been discovered in 1881.

1889 A yellow fever epidemic results in the creation of the State Board of Health.

1890 The National Convention of Farmers’ Alliance, a predecessor of the Populist Party, is held in Ocala. Their radical demands include the abolition of national banks, unlimited coinage of silver, a graduated income tax and the direct election of senators.

1894-1899 Repeated frosts kill much citrus and send the industry southward.

1898 The Spanish-American War creates embarkation camps at Tampa, Miami and Jacksonville with thousands of soldiers and others who visit the state returning afterwards either as tourists or residents.

1901 A primary election law is enacted to displace the convention system of nominating candidates for public office.

1905 The Buckman Act consolidates state institutions of higher learning into three: The University of Florida at Gainesville, Florida State College for Women at Tallahassee and the Florida Agricultural and Mechanical College for Negroes at Tallahassee. The Legislature also creates the Everglades Drainage District of 7500 square miles to reclaim water-burdened land for agriculture and cattle raising. An automobile registration law is enacted with 296 registering the first two years.

1911 The first night flight in aviation history is made by Lincoln Beachey over Tampa.

1913 Governor Trammell sponsors the first corrupt practices law to reduce the legal cost of seeking public office. The law allows the expenditure of $4000 by candidates for the U.S. Senate and for governor $3500 for cabinet positions.

1914 The world’s first scheduled airline service with pilot Antony Jannus begins service from St. Petersburg to Tampa on January 1.

1915 The first legal steps are taken toward establishment of a state constructed and maintained system of highways a governmental function left previously to local agencies but requiring emergency measures because of rapid development of automobile and tourist traffic.

1917-1918 Florida is the scene of training for World War I fighting men particularly aviators as weather permits year-round activity.

1922 WDAE Tampa is licensed by the U.S. Department of Commerce on May 15 1922 to the Tampa Publishing Company and goes on the air as Florida’s first licensed broadcast radio station.

1924-1925 With a large influx of visitors many of whom remain as residents a huge land boom occurs. Inestimable sums are spent by public and private agencies for internal improvements as scores of new cities are established.

1925 The Miami Herald has the largest advertising lineage of any newspaper in the United States 42.5 million lines in contrast to 33.3 million by its nearest competitor.

1926 A hurricane devastates the Miami area taking nearly 200 lives. A constitutional amendment broadens the power of the Legislature to appropriate money for schools.

1927 The State Board of Public Welfare is created. Large-scale growing and milling of sugar begins in the Everglades at Clewiston.

1928 Water driven from Lake Okeechobee by a hurricane causes the drowning of some 1500 persons.

1929 First commercial airline flights between Key West and Havana become forerunners of Latin-American operations of Pan American World Airways from Miami.

1933 In an attempt to assassinate President-elect Roosevelt in Bayfront Park in Miami, Guiseppi Zangara fatally wounds Mayor Anton Cermak of Chicago. Zangara is put to death in Raiford Prison’s electric chair. The sale of beer is legalized. The first New Deal agency in Florida the Civilian Conservation Corps begins operation.

1934 A constitutional amendment exempts homesteads from taxation up to $5000 valuation except for payment of bonds previously issued.

1935 A storm sweeps a mid-section of the Florida Keys and kills nearly 400 persons including some 200 veterans of World War 1.

1937 The Poll Tax is abolished as a prerequisite to voting.

1939 The Highway Patrol to be financed from the sale of driver licenses is established.

1940 The ad valorem tax for state purposes is abolished.

1941-1945 Florida expands with World War II industry as it becomes a training ground for tens of thousands of men and women of the armed forces at camps like Camp Blanding and Camp Gordon Johnston and as it forges vessels and tools for the conflict. Tourist hotels and restaurants at Miami Beach, Daytona Beach, St. Petersburg and other resort centers afford quick means for accommodating numerous trainees.

1942 A constitutional amendment pledges proceeds of two cents of gasoline tax for 50 years to retirement of county road and bridge bonds.

1943 A cigarette tax is levied to replace war-lost revenue from horse and dog racing.

1945 A cigarette tax is reenacted and increased from three cents to four and taxes on beer and other alcoholic beverages are raised to finance a multimillion dollar improvement program at state institutions and to provide more money for schools. A state advertising program of $500,000 a year is instituted.

1947 The Legislature enacts the Minimum Foundation Program to assure educational opportunity for children in elementary schools of all counties ant to encourage teachers to improve their qualifications by offering better pay for better training. The Florida State College for Women changes into co-educational Florida State University and the University of Florida is opened to female students.

1949 The Legislature bans livestock from highways enacts an omnibus citrus law designed to raise marketing standards for fresh and canned fruit and overhauls election laws. In a special revenue-raising session it also enacts a three percent retail sales tax.

1950 Frozen concentrate of citrus juices becomes a major industry. Florida ranks 12th in the nation in production of beef cattle. Federal census count 2,771,305 Floridians.

1953 The Florida Agricultural and Mechanical College for Negroes becomes Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University.

1954 The first Republican since 1885 is elected to Congress. Six Republicans are elected to the State House of Representatives. The Sunshine Skyway stretching 15.2 miles across Lower Tampa Bay is opened to toll traffic.

1955 The Legislature authorizes a state-long turnpike. Lawmakers are deadlocked for months in special session over reapportionment of the State Senate.

1956 LeRoy Collins achieves two political “firsts.” Elected in 1954 to complete the term of the late Governor McCarty Collins is the first chief executive reelected to a successive term. Collins also is the first candidate for governor to win a first- primary victory, defeating five opponents for the Democratic nomination.

1957 The Legislature authorizes statewide educational television. Funds are appropriated for the University of South Florida and for the expansion of a network of community colleges.

1958 A second major federal agency the National Aeronautics and Space Administration begins operations at Cape Canaveral. From here the United States launches its first earth satellite Explorer 1.

1960 The Federal census ranks Florida 10th in the nation with a population of 4,951,560.

1961 There is a successful launch of astronauts from Cape Canaveral: Navy Commander Alan Shepard on May 5 and Air Force Capt. Virgil Grissom on July 21 for suborbital flights down the Atlantic Missile Range. The Cape is selected as the launching site for a manned lunar landing program. The Census Bureau ranks Florida ninth in population.

1962 The Space Age spreads out from Cape Canaveral’s launching base, and influences the state in many ways higher education and industry being among the most important.

1963 President Lyndon Johnson changes the name Cape Canaveral to Cape Kennedy and renames the installation the John F. Kennedy Space Center in honor of the late president. The Constitution is amended to authorize sale of state bonds to construct buildings at universities, colleges and vocational schools. Voters also approve issuance of bonds to purchase land for conservation purposes. Election of governor and Cabinet is shifted to off-year from Presidential election.

1964 First classes are held at Florida Atlantic University, Boca Raton, and the University of West Florida is the name given to the institution established at Pensacola. Hurricane Cleo causes property damage estimated at $115,320,000 but no life is lost.

1965 The Board of Regents composed of nine members with ultimate nine-year terms, takes over policy-making for the state’s institutions of higher learning from the Board of Control. The first U.S. launch of two-man spacecraft with Majors Edward H. White and James McDivitt orbits the earth 62 times.

1966 The $700 million Walt Disney World, to be built in the Orlando area is announced. Claude R. Kirk, Jr. is elected the 36th governor of Florida. Kirk is the first Republican governor since Reconstruction. GOP nominees also win three of Florida’s 12 seats in the U.S. House of Representatives. Voters approve early-start Legislature with Senate and House organizing on the Tuesday following the November general elections. Previously the Legislature organized in April.

1967 Repeated efforts by the Legislature to devise an acceptable plan of apportionment ends when a three-judge Federal court draws the boundaries of Senate and House districts and orders new elections. Republicans capture 20 of 48 Senate seats and 39 of 119 House seats.

1968 The Legislature submits and voters ratify three amendments which combine to give the state an almost new Constitution. The Republicans hold their national convention at Miami Beach the first national gathering of a major political party ever convened in Florida. The first Republican ever elected by popular ballot is sent to the U.S. Senate. There is a statewide teacher walkout.

1969 With the office reestablished by the revised Constitution the first lieutenant governor since 1889 is appointed. The Legislature reorganizes state government so that over 170 separate agencies become 22 operating departments. On July 16 Apollo 11 lifts off from Cape Kennedy to carry the first men to the moon.

1970 Democrat Reubin Askew is elected Florida’s 37th governor, defeating incumbent Republican Governor Claude Kirk in his bid for a second term. His running-mate Secretary of State Tom Adams, becomes the state’s second lieutenant governor under the revised Constitution of 1968.

1971 Apollo 14 plagued with many troubling incidents, touches down on the Moon 108 hours after blast-off from the Kennedy Space Center. Capt. Alan B. Shepard is in command. President Richard M. Nixon orders a halt to the Cross Florida Barge Canal after $50 million has been spent on the 107-mile structure. Amtrak begins operation of service into Orlando. Apollo 15 astronauts explore the Moon for three days in a record-breaking flight of 12 days originating from Kennedy Space Center. Walt Disney World opens October 1st. Estimated cost of the facility is between $500 and $600 million.

1972 Apollo 16, despite a guidance malfunction, lands on the Moon for three days of exploration and returns to Earth without further incident. Tropical storm Agnes roars out of the south Atlantic to cause heavy damage along the eastern seaboard northward from Miami. Paula Hawkins becomes the first woman elected to the Florida Public Service Commission.

1973 Despite fuel shortages in the latter part of the year, Florida sets an all-time record for influx of visitors, when 25.5 million people visit the Sunshine State. After seven and one-half years and nearly 260,000 refugees, the “freedom flights” from Cuba come to an end on April 7th. The airlifts, bringing refugees into Miami at the rate of 48,000 a year, help transform the ethnic makeup of Dade County by adding at least 100,000 Cubans to the 150,000 already there.

1974 Reubin Askew becomes the first Governor to be elected to successive four- year terms. The Legislature creates an ethics commission to oversee public officers and employees. It also enacts legislation for collective bargaining by public employees.

1975 The state jobless rate hits a 25-year high in January at 8.3 percent and eventually unemployment reaches 9.3 percent. Governor Askew appoints Joseph W. Hatchett to the Supreme Court, the first black justice in the court’s history.

1976 Former Georgia Governor Jimmy Carter tops Alabama Governor George C. Wallace and 10 other Democrats in Florida’s Presidential Preference Primary, giving Carter’s campaign impetus which leads to his party’s nomination for president. In the same primary, Florida Republicans prefer President Gerald R. Ford over former California Governor Ronald Reagan. Carter garners 51.93 percent of Florida’s general election vote.

1977 Severe cold devastates citrus and vegetable plants. This causes President Carter to proclaim 34 counties disaster areas. The U.S. Corps of Engineers recommends against resumption of construction on Cross Florida Barge Canal.

1978 Jesse J McCrary, Jr. is appointed Secretary of State by Governor Reubin Askew on July 19, the second black to serve as Secretary of State and as a member of the Cabinet. Miami businessman and former State Senator Bob Graham wins election as Florida’s 38th governor.

1979 Miami Beach reports a record resort tax collection for its fiscal year. Taxes received from hotel rooms, food and beverages reach a record high of $3,727,380. It is the twentieth anniversary of Busch Gardens in Tampa. The grand opening of the Museum of Botany and Fine Arts at the Marie Selby Botanical Gardens in Sarasota marks the first time science and art are combined in such a setting.

1980 The Miami Seaquarium celebrates its 25th Anniversary. Tampa opens its own $6.2 million water theme park, Adventure Island. A bill raising the drinking age from 18 to 19 is passed, however, all military personnel are excluded.

1981 The first manned space shuttle launches are made from Kennedy Space Center, with launch schedules to increase in the year ahead. Unmanned rockets with payloads are scheduled approximately every month by NASA from the KSC launch pads.

1982 The Florida Legislature completes a difficult reapportionment after an extended session. Gov. Bob Graham is reelected for a second term. The $800 million EPCOT Center opens at Walt Disney World.

1983 The space shuttle Challenger launches its first 5-member crew and the first American woman, Sally Ride, into space from Kennedy Space Center. Thirty-eight overseas highway bridges from Key Largo to Key West are completed under the Florida Keys Bridge Replacement Program.

1984 The Sunshine Skyway Bridge over Tampa Bay is under reconstruction. It is expected to completed in 1986 at a cost of $215 million. Donald Duck’s “50th Anniversary Celebration” is held in June at Walt Disney World. Busch Gardens celebrates its 25th anniversary. The Miami Metro Rail, the only inner city, elevated rail system in Florida, begins service in May.

1985 Florida’s state park system marks its 50th anniversary. Begun during the Depression with nine parks, the system now includes 92 park and recreation areas. DeSoto Trail was officially dedicated during May in Inverness. The Kennedy Space Center’s Visitor Center is renamed Spaceport USA. Two well-preserved, intact human brains are discovered by Glenn Doran, archaeologist at Florida State University when he uncovered the 7,000-plus-year-old skulls in the swamps near Titusville.

1986 The Kennedy Space Center witnesses America’s worst space tragedy when the space shuttle “Challenger” explodes after takeoff. All seven astronauts aboard are killed. Treasure hunter Mel Fisher continues to salvage vast amounts of gold and silver from his discovery of the Spanish galleon “Nuestra Senora de Atocha” which sank in 1622 during a hurricane off Key West. The television series “Miami Vice” continues to capture the nation’s imagination, revitalizing interest and tourism for South Florida. Walt Disney World breaks ground for a major movie and television production studio to be constructed in Orlando.

1987 Bob Martinez is the first person of Spanish ancestry to become governor of Florida. Calvin Jones, state archaeologist finds what is believed to be the site of Hernando de Soto’s 1539-40 camp in Tallahassee. U.S. Census Bureau estimates indicate that Florida has surpassed Pennsylvania to become the fourth most populous state in the nation. The ranking will not become official until the Bureau publishes its report in early 1988. It is predicted that Florida will be the third most populous state by the year 2000.

1988 Florida once again becomes the center for America’s space program. Regular space shuttle flights resume in October for the first time since the “Challenger” disaster in 1986. Two Republicans capture posts in the Florida Cabinet in the general election. Jim Smith is elected Secretary of State and Tom Gallagher takes over as State Insurance Commissioner. This is the first time since the Reconstruction Era of the 1870s that Republicans have won any statewide office other than governor. Floridians now have a state-operated lottery which gives away some of the largest prizes in the nation. An international team, using experimental technology, completes the world’s deepest cave-diving expedition at Wakulla Springs in north Florida.

1989 U.S. Representative Claude Pepper, dies in May. Genetic testing reveals that a Wauchula hospital a decade ago accidentally switched babies belonging to Sarasota and Pennsylvania couples, setting off a legal battle. Devastating cold front hits state in December, closing airports and interstates and causing statewide power outages.

1990 Panama’s governor Manuel Noriega is brought to Miami in January for trial on drug charges. Joe Robbie, Miami Dolphins founder, dies in January. Flooding Panhandle rivers in March force evacuation of 2,000 homes. Owners/players contract dispute delays spring training baseball season. St. Petersburg’s Suncoast Dome opens in March. Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait in August results in massive state National Guard and Army Reserve unit callup. Lotto in September awards record $106 million jackpot. State gasoline prices in September soar to seven-year high. Democrat Lawton Chiles soundly trounces Republican incumbent Bob Martinez in governor’s race. Outgoing Governor Martinez in November was named the nation’s drug czar. In December, Tampa is awarded franchise team in the National Hockey League.

1991 Lawton Chiles in January is sworn in as state’s 41st governor. Miami-based Eastern Airlines in January announces closing due to financial losses. Former Governor LeRoy Collins, 82, dies in March. U.S. Senator Bruce Smathers in April donates record $20 million to University of Florida library system. In May Legislature approves $29.3 billion state budget, including $164 million in new taxes. At Governor Chiles’ request Legislature in May creates new Department of Elderly Affairs. Also in May, Queen Elizabeth 11 visits Miami and Tampa, and confers honorary knighthood on Tampa resident Gen. Norman Schwarzkopf. Five Navy bombers found by treasure salvers are determined not to be the “Lost Squadron” of Bermuda Triangle fame that went down in 1945 off the coast of Florida. Miami and Denver are awarded new national major league baseball franchises. The 1990 Federal Census puts Florida’s population at 12,937,926, a 34 percent increase from 1980.

1992 Homestead and adjacent South Florida are devastated on August 24 by the costliest natural disaster in American history, Hurricane Andrew, demanding billions in aid. There were 58 deaths directly or indirectly related to Andrew. The hurricane destroyed 25,000 homes and damaged 10,000 others. Twenty-two thousand Federal troops were deployed. Shelters housed 80,000 persons.

First elections since Florida gained four additional seats in the U.S. House of Representatives saw Cubans and Afro-Americans seated. Lincoln Diaz-Balart, Cuban-born, joined lleana Ros-Lehtinen, the first Cuban, elected to the Florida House in 1982, the Florida Senate in 1986, and the U.S. House in 1989. Among Afro-Americans elected to Congress was Carrie Meek of Miami. Sixty-six in 1993, her political career saw her elected first to the Florida House of Representatives, the Florida Senate, and the U.S. House of Representatives.

1993 Janet Reno, State Attorney for Dade County (Miami) for 15 years named Attorney General of the U.S. by President Bill Clinton, the first woman to so serve in U.S. history. Although a pro-choice Democrat she managed to win reelection four times in a conservative stronghold, the last time without opposition

Does this mean that a thaw is coming? Will people change their plans with lower gas prices and come to Florida for vacation? Time will tell.

go there for more http://www.allenwestforcongress.com/

Dear Friends,

We face many challenges as a nation. From the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, to illegal immigration, to energy independence, to out of control federal spending, now more than ever we need leaders in Congress who represent our South Florida values.

My 22 years of service in the U.S. Army have taught me that America is a country unlike any other, and that our way of life is worth protecting. In Congress, I will put my experience to work for our national security and honor my oath to the US Constitution by protecting our borders and enforcing our immigration laws. I will fight to lower taxes and reduce the size of federal government. I will be an advocate for policies that spur our economy and job creation, and will protect small business by cutting senseless regulations that cost jobs and increase overhead. And I will be a champion for reducing our dependence on foreign sources of oil, promoting energy independence while preserving our coastlines and farmland.

Thank you for visiting my campaign website. I am confident that as you learn more about my background and vision, you will agree my values and leadership are what our community needs in Washington during this important time in our history. Your support means a great deal to me.

In your service,
LTC Allen B. West, U.S. Army (Ret.)