THERAPY FROM PAST LIFE MEMORIES




A LITTLE GIRL’S VOICE FILLED THE AIR WITH SOFT SOBS. AHEAD OF THE clearing, the menacing woods loomed. The child feared her dog Scooter had run into the woods and was missing. But then a calm, older woman’s voice could be heard. She guided and soothed the young girl as she fretted about heading into the woods. After a motherly […]

Hank Lytle: Not your stereotypical septuagenarian




Hank Lytle knows the drill by now when people hear he’s a sprinter. A 71-year-old sprinter, a sprinter who hurtles through 50-, 100- and 200- meter dashes in track meets. “At your age?” Mr. Lytle said, repeating the question he’s heard countless times since he started doing this in 2006. The Punta Gorda resident, who turns 72 on May 1, […]

COMMENTARY

Our own American tune

Politics in America has always been a parade of spectacle and entertainment. Of gifts or promises that amount to gifts, of principles and principal characters, of brass bands and brass knuckles. It doesn’t matter if the parade knocks on your door, drops into your mailbox, marches past on Main Street or steps out on a bandstand in the park. It […]

The First Amendment is such a nuisance



Every time the Supreme Court rules in favor of the First Amendment in a campaign-finance case, the left recoils in disgust. The court’s 5-4 decision in McCutcheon v. FEC is the latest occasion for the rending of garments and gnashing of teeth. The court struck down the limit on the aggregate amount a donor can give to candidates and political-party […]

From Kabul to Cairo, the killing and jailing of journalists continues



Journalism is not a crime. This is the rallying cry in demanding the release of four Al-Jazeera journalists imprisoned in Egypt. Three of them — Peter Greste, Mohamed Fahmy and Baher Mohamed — have just passed their hundredth day of incarceration. The fourth, Abdullah al-Shami, has been in jail for more than six months. They have been charged with “spreading […]

Free and wild: Finding food in the great outdoors



Many middle aged and older folks may recognize the name Euell Gibbons. In the 1960s, he was a leader in the natural food movement. Being an avid outdoorsman and proponent of the natural food diets, his claim to fame was the book “Stalking the Wild Asparagus,” printed in 1962. This book expounded the recognition, gathering and preparations of wild growing […]

Mental Health Awareness walk set for May 3 at Gilchrist Park



In recognition of Mental Health Awareness Month in May, people in the Charlotte County community will be raising awareness of mental health as they walk in the Healthy Minds Healthy Community Mental Health Awareness Walk presented by the Criminal Justice Behavioral Health Advisory Council. Charlotte Behavioral Health Care is asking the community to help the one in four American adults […]

What’s your canine IQ?

Think you know dogs? Test your knowledge of their behavior, health and anatomy


How much do you know about dogs? Take this quiz and find out. The answers are at the end. Feel free to consult your dog if you’re not sure of the answers. 1. Chasing cars and fast-moving objects is a form of what type of behavior? a. social b. predatory c. territorial d. both b and c 2. Dogs wag […]

Pets of the Week



REMEMBERING JIM REIF

‘When the weather was at its worst, he was at his best’


When Jim Reif, 61, died April 6 after a bicycle accident in South Fort Myers, he was a few months shy of marrying Jane Hess. They’d waited almost 40 years. She first laid eyes on him in the radio station at Pennsylvania State University in the early 1970s. “He wanted to see how it worked because he wanted to set […]