Too much money for judicial campaigns and not enough for court operations are causing a serious crisis in the nation’s court systems, according to a Miami federal judge. U.S. District Judge Alan Gold, who has served since 1997, told members of the Villages Civil Discourse Club Monday that campaign contributions for elected judges undermine independence […]

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Sexual freedom is abundant these days and sex-related crimes are declining, said Mike Enright, who made a presentation Monday on the history of sex to members of the Villages Civil Discourse Club at Colony Cottage Recreation Center. “You can have sex just about anywhere – on the town square, on a power transformer, on a […]

The post Villages Civil Discourse Club tackles issue of sexual freedom appeared first on Villages News: News in The Villages, FL and surrounding communities.

Three constitutional amendments dealing with land conservation, medical marijuana and judicial appointments are on the Nov. 4 election ballot. Attorney Richard Coen and his wife, Joanne, president of the local chapter of the League of Women Voters, discussed the amendments Monday during a meeting of The Villages Civil Discourse Club at Colony Cottage Recreation Center. […]

The post League of Women Voters offers insight into amendments on ballot appeared first on Villages News: News in The Villages, FL and surrounding communities.

Despite several power plant accidents over the years, author George Erickson said generating nuclear power is safer than using coal or oil. Erickson, a member of the Union of Concerned Scientists who rents each year in The Villages, spoke Monday to members of the Civil Discourse Club. His talk will be repeated at 10 a.m. […]

The post Speaker tells Villages group nuclear power safer than relying on coal, oil appeared first on Villages News: News in The Villages, FL and surrounding communities.

Unless Islam undergoes a reformation similar to the Christian reformation begun by Martin Luther, it’s unlikely that Muslims and Christians will resolve their longtime culture war. That was the conclusion of Villager Carmen Casellas-DeMoss, who made a presentation Monday to members of The Villages Civil Discourse Club on Islam and the cultural conflict. About a […]

The post Speaker says Muslims, Christians unlikely to resolve differences appeared first on Villages News: Real News, Right Now for The Villages, Florida..

In the wake of an election where one presidential candidate won the popular vote while the other captured a electoral vote majority and the election, some people are questioning the value of the Electoral College.

That was the focus of a presentation Monday by Villager Doug Hughes to members of the Civil Discourse Club meeting at the Savannah Center.

Electoral votes normally are based on the popular vote in each state. But Hillary Clinton received over 2 million more votes that Donald Trump, who won the electoral vote majority by unexpectedly capturing Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania.

The 535 electors of the Electoral College will meet Dec. 19 in each state to cast ballots for President. The results are forwarded to Congress, which will open them Jan. 6 in a joint session. To be elected, a candidate must receive at least half or 270 votes.

If no candidate receives at least half of the votes, the House of Representatives decides the election with one vote per state.

Hughes, who teaches courses on the U.S. Constitution at The Villages Lifelong Learning College, said the Founding Fathers decided toward the end of the three-month constitutional convention that the President should be selected by a separate body from Congress so he would not be obligated to Congress for the job.

“The procedures were fairly straight-forward,” he said. “The (state) legislatures would determine who the electors would be.”

In the 1800 election, Hughes said, the House cast 36 ballots before electing Thomas Jefferson as the nation’s third president. John Quincy Adams was selected by the House in the 1824 election.

When the nation began, states did not tally popular votes.

“By (1824), popular voting was gaining popularity,” he said. “Of 24 states, 18 had popular votes.”

In a half dozen elections over the past six decades, the winner got less than half of the popular vote. Winners in those elections were John F. Kennedy in 1960, Richard Nixon in 1968, Bill Clinton in 1992 and 1996, George W. Bush in 2000 and Donald Trump in 2016.

After the 1968 election, Hughes said, a movement began to abolish the Electoral College. The measure was passed by the House, but lost in the Senate.

“It was filibustered to death by southern states that felt their power would somehow be diminished,” Hughes said.

He said the Electoral College is the reason candidates focus their efforts on toss-up states.

“The existence of the Electoral College impacts the process approaching the election and during the election,” he said.

Hughes said there are three options to change the Electoral College.

The first is a constitutional amendment to abolish it, like the one proposed in 1969, but he said that might be difficult.

“Those 1969 attitudes are still there,” he said, and smaller states would likely oppose it.

A second change would be to follow the lead of Maine and Nebraska, which select presidential electors according to the popular vote in each congressional district instead of statewide.

“You would get a better distribution of the vote,” Hughes said, although it could closely follow the political makeup of Congress.

The third option for circumventing the Electoral College would be for states to pledge to cast their electoral votes for the winner of the national popular vote regardless of the outcome in their states.

Ten states, including California, Illinois, Maryland and New York, with 165 electoral votes have taken the pledge, joining the National Popular Vote Initiative. The pledges would take effect when enough states join to amass 270 electoral votes.

Except for a few constitutional amendments, such as giving voting rights to women, most election law is left to the states, Hughes said. Some states, for example, allow felons to vote after they have completed their prison sentences while others do not.

“Perhaps you want to change it so it’s uniform throughout the country,” he said. “But shouldn’t the states have some control over how the process (works)?”

During the audience discussion, some speakers favored abolishing the Electoral College, while others said it serves a critical function.

“We should be counting all the votes,” said Mary Ann Swisher of the Village of Rio Grande. “We should definitely get rid of the Electoral College.”

But Jim Addington of the Village of Tamarind Grove said our electoral system as created by the Founding Fathers is the envy of the world and should not be changed.

“They could not know everything that’s going to happen, but it went very well,” he said. “They wanted proportional representation.”

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The effects of macular degeneration, which damages the eyesight of many Villagers as they age, can be delayed with early diagnosis and treatment, according to Jim Stickel, a Villager who suffers from it.

Jim Stickel

Stickel, who spoke Monday to the Civil Discourse Club, also said people who are blind or visually impaired still can enjoy the benefits of a Villages lifestyle.

His presentation included videos of interviews with doctors and people with the condition conducted by Villager Frank Lancione and produced by Evergreen Wellness.

Macular degeneration is the leading cause of blindness in The Villages and developed countries, Stickel said.

He discovered that he suffered from macular degeneration when he went to the doctor in December 2013 for an occlusion in his eye. After treatment, he woke up blind the following day. A doctor said he always would be blind in his right eye, but sight was restored in his left eye.

Stickel became president of the Visually Impaired People of The Villages, a social club for residents with vision problems.

“It’s been a joy,” he said. “It’s also been a lot of hardship.”

The group helps visually impaired people lead active lives despite their issues, Stickel said.

The Amsler Grid, which consists of a a dot in the middle of crossword-like squares on a piece of paper, is a way to test for macular degeneration. Staring at the grid separately with each eye from about a foot away should show the grid clearly. If the lines are blurry, wavy or covered by black spots, it could be a sign of the disease.

Many people have dry macular degeneration, which does not damage their sight. But the wet form of the disease, which has fluid in the eye, is more dangerous. One in seven people with the dry form eventually will develop the wet one.

The condition affects white people more than minorities and women more than men.

“If you do nothing, it can lead to blindness,” Stickel said. “Can we cure it? No. Can we delay it? Yes.”

He said some common practices can be changed to accommodate people with vision problems. Many slide presentations, for example, use 24-point type, which is too small for the visually impaired to read unless they are close to the screen. But 54-point yellow type on a black background is easier to read.

Stickel defended the deaf group that sued the Lifelong Learning College, which closed earlier this year. He said  the group was just trying to get the college to follow the law in accommodating their handicap and should not be blamed for its closure.

One video featured interviews with people who remain active despite their vision problems. One operates a business, another does craft projects while a third builds cabinetry. Others continue to bowl and golf, although the golfers need someone else to watch where the ball goes.

Stickel said it’s important to remain positive despite the condition.

“Depression is one of the worst parts of this disease,” he said.

This post Villager suffering from macular degeneration discusses diagnosis, treatment options was published originally on Villages-News: News, events, classifieds in The Villages, FL. Any use of this post without prior consent from Villages-news.com will constitute a breach of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.

Too much money for judicial campaigns and not enough for court operations are causing a serious crisis in the nation’s court systems, according to a Miami federal judge.

U.S. District Judge Alan Gold, who has served since 1997, told members of the Villages Civil Discourse Club Monday that campaign contributions for elected judges undermine independence while funding cuts for court operations have spawned ballooning caseloads.

“I think it’s a threat to our essential democratic system of government,” said Gold, who lives in the Village of Gilchrist. “Judicial independence guarantees the rule of law.”

He said a fictional scenario from John Grisham’s novel The Appeal has played out in real life. In the novel, a billionaire funds the defeat of a dissenting judge to win a toxic waste lawsuit. In West Virginia, a coal company paid for more than half the campaign of a judge to overturn a $50 million judgment. In Wisconsin, business groups contributed heavily to a judicial campaign to thwart a challenge against a law that restricted collective bargaining.

Gold said campaign money has become a major problem in judicial elections. In Iowa, three judges were out-spent and ousted in 2010 after they upheld a ruling that allowed same-sex marriages. Last year, three Florida judges spent $4 million on their campaigns to retain their seats on the bench.

While state judges often are elected, federal judges are somewhat protected from politics because they are appointed for life.

But Gold said the appointments themselves have become a hot political issue. In August, the federal system had 90 judicial vacancies and 44 appointments awaiting congressional action.

The 2010 U.S. Supreme Court decision known as Citizens United lifted restrictions on spending by political action committees and a current Supreme Court case could abolish limits on individual campaign contributions. If judicial campaign money becomes less restricted, Gold said voters at least should know who makes donations.

“For me, transparency is the only present answer,” he said, adding that New Mexico and North Carolina have merit selection of state judges instead of elections.

While there’s too much special interest money for judicial campaigns, Gold said funding has tightened for court operations at both the state and federal levels. Sequestration cut $350 million this year from the federal judicial budget and another 10 percent cut is scheduled in January.

A hiring freeze prevents replacement of district attorneys and public defenders and FBI training classes have been discontinued. The last pay increase for federal judges was in 1987.

He said the budget crunch hurts law enforcement.

“There are great risks of unsolved federal crimes,” Gold said, adding that tax money will be lost because of the inability to prosecute Internal Revenue Service and Medicare fraud cases.

At a state level, he said, some Miami judges had loads of 5,000 cases due to the foreclosure crisis.

Gold also commented on two other judicial issues.

On activist judges: “That’s a label that’s used by one side or another depending on who’s losing.”

On frivolous lawsuits: “I’d rather see people fight it out in court than on the streets. Are there abuses? Yes.”

This post Federal judge tells Villages group money threatens judicial independence was published originally on Villages-News: News, events, classifieds in The Villages, FL. Any use of this post without prior consent from Villages-news.com will constitute a breach of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.

Sexual freedom is abundant these days and sex-related crimes are declining, said Mike Enright, who made a presentation Monday on the history of sex to members of the Villages Civil Discourse Club at Colony Cottage Recreation Center.

“You can have sex just about anywhere – on the town square, on a power transformer, on a airplane,” said Enright, a retired teacher who teaches several courses at the Villages Lifelong Learning College.

He referred to two recent local cases where people were arrested for having sex at the Lake Sumter Landing Market Square and last week on an electrical utility box at Morse Boulevard and El Camino Real. His talk will be repeated at 10 a.m. next Monday at the Savannah Center.

Enright said his research showed that even with more freedom, sex-related crime is declining in our country. Sexual abuse cases dropped 53 percent between 1992 and 2006; teen sexual activity is down 52 percent; and sexual assault cases declined 44 percent since 1995.

“We shouldn’t be satisfied until every child can be safe,” he said.

Divorce also is down 23 percent since 1990 and Enright said family stability is critical for emotionally and physically healthy children. Still, he said, 44 percent of all children are born to unmarried parents.

“There is a strong connection between that and crime,” he said, citing his teaching experience.

Enright offered a couple theories for the decreases. He said one article speculated that the increase in pornography, now just a couple clicks away on a computer, satisfies urges of some people who might otherwise commit sex crimes.

Another theory is that legal abortion since the 1960s reduced the number of unwanted children, which caused overall crime to decline.

Puritanical attitudes about sex, some of which persist today, originated in the Middle Ages and were promoted by the Roman Catholic Church, Enright said.

All forms of pleasure were considered sinful,” he said. “Women were considered the source of evil since Eve.”

Even kissing was not permitted and sex was viewed as wrong except for procreation among Christians. Sex was restricted to certain days of the week and prohibited during Lent.

“If you have to give up candy or something for Lent, stop complaining,” Enright said.

This post Villages Civil Discourse Club tackles issue of sexual freedom was published originally on Villages-News: News, events, classifieds in The Villages, FL. Any use of this post without prior consent from Villages-news.com will constitute a breach of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.

Three constitutional amendments dealing with land conservation, medical marijuana and judicial appointments are on the Nov. 4 election ballot.
Attorney Richard Coen and his wife, Joanne, president of the local chapter of the League of Women Voters, discussed the amendments Monday during a meeting of The Villages Civil Discourse Club at Colony Cottage Recreation Center. The presentation will be repeated at 10 a.m. next Monday at the Savannah Center.
The amendments are:
• A requirement that 33 percent of the documentary stamp tax from real estate transactions be used for the Land Acquisition Trust Fund to acquire and maintain natural areas.

• Allowing individuals with debilitating diseases or conditions to use medical marijuana;

• Allowing an outgoing governor instead of an incoming governor to make judicial appointments.

Richard Coen said the League of Women Voters, a non-partisan organization, supports the land conservation amendment, opposes the judicial appointment amendment and has not taken a position on medical marijuana. A 60 percent majority of participating voters is required for approval of each measure.
Coen said the land conservation amendment would restore funding to the trust that was removed in 2009 due to the economic downturn. It would set aside $648 million the first year and an estimated $1.2 billion in 20 years, when it expires.
He said the judicial appointment amendment could affect Gov. Rick Scott, if he is re-elected. Three Florida Supreme Court justices are expected to retire in 2019 and it would mean that Scott, who cannot seek re-election in 2018 due to term limits, could appoint their replacements at the end of his term instead of a new governor.
Coen said the Legislature has been dissatisfied with several Supreme Court decisions, including tossing out that its  legislative redistricting plan.
The medical marijuana amendment has stirred the most controversy, Coen said. He said the Florida Department of Health would be charged with developing specific regulations if the amendment passes.
The state already has approved medical use for a strain of non-psychoactive cannabis called Charlotte’s Web, which is used to treat child seizures. That will take effect next year.
A total of 23 states and the District of Columbia currently have laws regulating medical marijuana.
During the discussion period, speakers sharply disagreed on the benefits of the amendment.
Dr. Paul Cirlin, a pediatrician, said the amendment would provide a “wide open door” for marijuana use in the state because its application is so broad.
“This stuff has not been studied by the FDA (U.S. Food & Drug Administration),” said Dr. Bob Athanasiou, a practicing physician for 35 years in Florida and upstate New York. “How are they going to set the price for medical marijuana?”
But villager Peter O’Connell said there are few marijuana studies because it remains classified as a narcotic and studying it is illegal. Linda Hobbs said marijuana doesn’t cause nearly as many problems as alcohol, a legal substance

This post League of Women Voters offers insight into amendments on ballot was published originally on Villages-News: News, events, classifieds in The Villages, FL. Any use of this post without prior consent from Villages-news.com will constitute a breach of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.

Despite several power plant accidents over the years, author George Erickson said generating nuclear power is safer than using coal or oil.

Erickson, a member of the Union of Concerned Scientists who rents each year in The Villages, spoke Monday to members of the Civil Discourse Club. His talk will be repeated at 10 a.m. next Monday at the Savannah Center. His books include Truth North: Exploring the Great Wilderness by Bush Plane and Time Traveling with Science & the Saints.

He said misconceptions about radiation dangers and nuclear safety have held back development of more nuclear power plants, including those that use safer technologies such as thorium or molten salt.

More radiation comes from natural sources than from nuclear power plants, according to Erickson.

“Eating one banana a week per year is like living next to a nuclear power plant for a year,” he said.

The misconception that all radiation is harmful stems from studies by Herman Muller, who subjected fruit flies to large doses of x-rays, Erickson said.

Popular culture, including monsters of 1950s movies created by radiation and later movies such as “The China Syndrome,” also have fed the perception that all radiation is harmful.

But he said small doses of radiation have been shown to have a protective effect from larger doses. People exposed to lower doses of radiation during the Chernobyl nuclear accident in Russia, for example, had a lower incidence of cancer than people who were never exposed.

He said the only people who died during the more recent nuclear accident in Japan both drowned, adding that an inadequate sea wall and emergency generators located in the basement were to blame.

“It wasn’t the fault of the design,” Erickson said. “It wasn’t the fault of the plant. It was greedy people who did not want to spend the money to do it right.”

He said France has led the way in nuclear power development with 80 percent of its electricity generated by nuclear.

“Unlike coal and oil, nuclear energy emits no carbon dioxide and may be the best way to combat climate change,” Erickson said.

This post Speaker tells Villages group nuclear power safer than relying on coal, oil was published originally on Villages-News: News, events, classifieds in The Villages, FL. Any use of this post without prior consent from Villages-news.com will constitute a breach of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.

Unless Islam undergoes a reformation similar to the Christian reformation begun by Martin Luther, it’s unlikely that Muslims and Christians will resolve their longtime culture war.

That was the conclusion of Villager Carmen Casellas-DeMoss, who made a presentation Monday to members of The Villages Civil Discourse Club on Islam and the cultural conflict.

About a quarter of the world’s population, or 2.6 billion people, are Muslim.

asellas-DeMoss, a native of Puerto Rico who spent four months studying the religion, said the radicals in Islam come from a Puritanical strain and believe in a literal interpretation of the Koran and the way the religion evolved in the 7^th Century. They believe, for example, in stoning and extreme subjugation of women.

“The Koran is a very troubling document for westerners,” she said. “It reads like a stream of consciousness. There’s no chronological sequence.”

The first part of the Koran, which talks about care, charity and neighborly love, was written while the prophet Mohammed was in Mecca. He was mono-theistic and Casellas-deMoss said he was driven from Mecca by merchants who made money from selling images of the many gods worshiped at the time.

After Mohammed settled in Medina, the Koran turned more hard-edged and violent, she said, endorsing battles to gain converts.

“Mohammed was not only a prophet,” she said. “He also was a head of state and a very good general.”

When Mohammed died in the year 632, Islam was practiced only on the Arabian peninsula. In two centuries after his death, the religion spread from Spain to Asia and into northern Africa.

Casellas-deMoss said Islam flourished during this period while Europe was mired in the Dark Ages and the cities of Damascus and Baghdad became centers of learning.

“This was an enormous amount of territory,” she said. “Once they conquered these areas, they became very savvy rulers.”

Non-Muslims were allowed to keep their religions, but became second-class citizens required to pay higher taxes.

The five pillars of Islam are: That there is no god but Allah and Mohammed is his prophet; that prayer is required five times daily; that believers should be kind to their fellow man; that fasting is required during Ramadan; and all Muslims should make a pilgrimage to Mecca.

Shariah law used to be interpreted by jurists, but Casellas-DeMoss said a problem today is that everyone can appoint themselves as jurists so there are many alternative interpretations.

“There is something paralyzing in Islam,” she said. “This absolute adherence to the word of God tends to diminish critical thinking and asking questions.”

Democracy means nothing to most Muslim countries because our values have not grown out of their culture, she said.

The best hope for the West to develop a better relationship with Muslim is for leaders of moderate groups to arise, Casellas-DeMoss said. Moderates recognize the need to adapt Isam to today’s world, but today the most recognized and charismatic leaders are from the Puritanical wing.

“The moderate side of Islam does not have a leader,” she said. “We have an ideology and a religion that is not able to evolve.”

This post Speaker says Muslims, Christians unlikely to resolve differences was published originally on Villages-News: News, events, classifieds in The Villages, FL. Any use of this post without prior consent from Villages-news.com will constitute a breach of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.

In the wake of an election where one presidential candidate won the popular vote while the other captured a electoral vote majority and the election, some people are questioning the value of the Electoral College.

That was the focus of a presentation Monday by Villager Doug Hughes to members of the Civil Discourse Club meeting at the Savannah Center.

Electoral votes normally are based on the popular vote in each state. But Hillary Clinton received over 2 million more votes that Donald Trump, who won the electoral vote majority by unexpectedly capturing Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania.

The 535 electors of the Electoral College will meet Dec. 19 in each state to cast ballots for President. The results are forwarded to Congress, which will open them Jan. 6 in a joint session. To be elected, a candidate must receive at least half or 270 votes.

If no candidate receives at least half of the votes, the House of Representatives decides the election with one vote per state.

Hughes, who teaches courses on the U.S. Constitution at The Villages Lifelong Learning College, said the Founding Fathers decided toward the end of the three-month constitutional convention that the President should be selected by a separate body from Congress so he would not be obligated to Congress for the job.

“The procedures were fairly straight-forward,” he said. “The (state) legislatures would determine who the electors would be.”

In the 1800 election, Hughes said, the House cast 36 ballots before electing Thomas Jefferson as the nation’s third president. John Quincy Adams was selected by the House in the 1824 election.

When the nation began, states did not tally popular votes.

“By (1824), popular voting was gaining popularity,” he said. “Of 24 states, 18 had popular votes.”

In a half dozen elections over the past six decades, the winner got less than half of the popular vote. Winners in those elections were John F. Kennedy in 1960, Richard Nixon in 1968, Bill Clinton in 1992 and 1996, George W. Bush in 2000 and Donald Trump in 2016.

After the 1968 election, Hughes said, a movement began to abolish the Electoral College. The measure was passed by the House, but lost in the Senate.

“It was filibustered to death by southern states that felt their power would somehow be diminished,” Hughes said.

He said the Electoral College is the reason candidates focus their efforts on toss-up states.

“The existence of the Electoral College impacts the process approaching the election and during the election,” he said.

Hughes said there are three options to change the Electoral College.

The first is a constitutional amendment to abolish it, like the one proposed in 1969, but he said that might be difficult.

“Those 1969 attitudes are still there,” he said, and smaller states would likely oppose it.

A second change would be to follow the lead of Maine and Nebraska, which select presidential electors according to the popular vote in each congressional district instead of statewide.

“You would get a better distribution of the vote,” Hughes said, although it could closely follow the political makeup of Congress.

The third option for circumventing the Electoral College would be for states to pledge to cast their electoral votes for the winner of the national popular vote regardless of the outcome in their states.

Ten states, including California, Illinois, Maryland and New York, with 165 electoral votes have taken the pledge, joining the National Popular Vote Initiative. The pledges would take effect when enough states join to amass 270 electoral votes.

Except for a few constitutional amendments, such as giving voting rights to women, most election law is left to the states, Hughes said. Some states, for example, allow felons to vote after they have completed their prison sentences while others do not.

“Perhaps you want to change it so it’s uniform throughout the country,” he said. “But shouldn’t the states have some control over how the process (works)?”

During the audience discussion, some speakers favored abolishing the Electoral College, while others said it serves a critical function.

“We should be counting all the votes,” said Mary Ann Swisher of the Village of Rio Grande. “We should definitely get rid of the Electoral College.”

But Jim Addington of the Village of Tamarind Grove said our electoral system as created by the Founding Fathers is the envy of the world and should not be changed.

“They could not know everything that’s going to happen, but it went very well,” he said. “They wanted proportional representation.”

This post Villager offers brush up on Electoral College in wake of polarizing presidential contest was published originally on Villages-News: News, events, classifieds in The Villages, FL. Any use of this post without prior consent from Villages-news.com will constitute a breach of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.

The effects of macular degeneration, which damages the eyesight of many Villagers as they age, can be delayed with early diagnosis and treatment, according to Jim Stickel, a Villager who suffers from it.

Stickel, who spoke Monday to the Civil Discourse Club, also said people who are blind or visually impaired still can enjoy the benefits of a Villages lifestyle.

His presentation included videos of interviews with doctors and people with the condition conducted by Villager Frank Lancione and produced by Evergreen Wellness.

Macular degeneration is the leading cause of blindness in The Villages and developed countries, Stickel said.

He discovered that he suffered from macular degeneration when he went to the doctor in December 2013 for an occlusion in his eye. After treatment, he woke up blind the following day. A doctor said he always would be blind in his right eye, but sight was restored in his left eye.

Stickel became president of the Visually Impaired People of The Villages, a social club for residents with vision problems.

“It’s been a joy,” he said. “It’s also been a lot of hardship.”

The group helps visually impaired people lead active lives despite their issues, Stickel said.

The Amsler Grid, which consists of a a dot in the middle of crossword-like squares on a piece of paper, is a way to test for macular degeneration. Staring at the grid separately with each eye from about a foot away should show the grid clearly. If the lines are blurry, wavy or covered by black spots, it could be a sign of the disease.

Many people have dry macular degeneration, which does not damage their sight. But the wet form of the disease, which has fluid in the eye, is more dangerous. One in seven people with the dry form eventually will develop the wet one.

The condition affects white people more than minorities and women more than men.

“If you do nothing, it can lead to blindness,” Stickel said. “Can we cure it? No. Can we delay it? Yes.”

He said some common practices can be changed to accommodate people with vision problems. Many slide presentations, for example, use 24-point type, which is too small for the visually impaired to read unless they are close to the screen. But 54-point yellow type on a black background is easier to read.

Stickel defended the deaf group that sued the Lifelong Learning College, which closed earlier this year. He said  the group was just trying to get the college to follow the law in accommodating their handicap and should not be blamed for its closure.

One video featured interviews with people who remain active despite their vision problems. One operates a business, another does craft projects while a third builds cabinetry. Others continue to bowl and golf, although the golfers need someone else to watch where the ball goes.

Stickel said it’s important to remain positive despite the condition.

“Depression is one of the worst parts of this disease,” he said.

This post Villager suffering from macular degeneration discusses diagnosis, treatment options was published originally on Villages-News: News, events, classifieds in The Villages, FL. Any use of this post without prior consent from Villages-news.com will constitute a breach of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.

When Frank A. Lancione decided to run for a seat on Community Development District 10, he looked back on his career as a senior vice president of operations in information technology.

In those days, when his company was trying to secure high-dollar contracts, it was about being all in, playing to win and knowing the subject matter inside and out.

Four years after moving to the Village of Antrim Dells, it’s quite clear that the 70-year-old Lancione entered the race for Seat 5 on CDD 10 with that same philosophy and drive in mind.

In fact, he’s spent so much time learning about the CDD form of government that’s he produced a presentation in cooperation with the Civil Discourse Club titled “The ABCs of CDDs” and has been asked to speak at several locations in the community, including a recent Villages Homeowners Advocates (VHA) meeting. And he’s put together a series of podcasts that he readily admits “aren’t perfect” but are designed to examine various topics of interest, such how CDDs start, amenity fees and quality of life, to name a few.

“What I realized is that most people don’t have any idea how The Villages actually works,” he said.

Lancione said he hears the old adage, “The Developer would never allow that” when residents are talking about things that actually fall under the purview of the various CDDs. In fact, he added, the average resident probably doesn’t understand that CDD supervisors set annual maintenance fees, oversee millions of dollars in reserves and are responsible for multi-million-dollar operating budgets on an annual basis.

“Those are residents elected by residents overseeing those things,” he said.

The same goes for the CDD boards’ responsibilities when it comes to enforcing architectural guidelines, he said.

“If you get turned down by the Architectural Review Committee, you appeal to the board of supervisors,” he said. “If you think the guidelines should be changed to allow some new things, you appeal to the supervisors. And if you defy a request to change or conform, you get penalized by the board of supervisors.”

If elected, Lancione said, his experiences of managing hundreds of employees and contracts through metrics and trends will prove to be beneficial. In fact, he added, he’d like to see CDDs operate with somewhat of a corporate mentality by looking at trends, exceptions and key performance indicators on major initiatives.

“I think it would be much better because if a constituent comes up, you’re not complaining about somebody’s personality. You’re not complaining about the Developer,” he said. “You’re saying, ‘OK, we’re working on it. Here’s the status.’ And you can actually say, ‘I’m on top of it.’”

Lancione, who is running against Steven Bova and Christine Bradshaw for a seat currently held by Joyce Edmonds, said CDD 10 voters also should know that he’s not afraid to get involved. In addition to overseeing his community’s resident lifestyle club, he cited several examples where’s he’s taken actions that have benefitted his neighbors:

• When Antrim Dells went through a “disastrous” curb replacement program two and a half years ago that left ripped-up landscaping and ditches full of water, Lancione said he got a petition signed by close to a hundred residents, worked closely with senior staff at District Property Management and “stayed engaged” until the issue was resolved.
• Following Hurricane Irma last year, he organized a meeting at Eisenhower Recreation Center for Antrim Dells residents to share information about their damage and the contractors they’d hired to make repairs.
• In August, he took measurements and photos of a variety of issues – 9-inch-high grass, weeds a foot high, big paint peels and rust – at his neighborhood’s postal station. He said he spoke directly with the person in charge of the landscaping contract and got the grass mowed the same day. And when there were issues with getting areas repaired and painted, he elevated it to the CDD 10 board.

“It was disgusting, very shabby and shoddy,” he said. “It was definitely not what we’re paying for.”

As a CDD supervisor, Lancione said he’ll focus on key initiatives, operate with a positive outlook and work hard to maintain the high standards residents of The Villages expect. And he promised that he’ll be engaged and well-informed during meetings – something he’s found lacking in the past at some meetings across the community.

“Sometimes, when you to go these meetings, the people at the front look like they’ve been invited to a dinner to sit at the front table instead of people who are there to work,” he said. “Sometimes, it looks like they’re reading the thing that’s under consideration at the meeting instead of having done their homework.”

Lancione, who said he’s been endorsed by the Property Owners’ Association and carries the support of the VHA, added that he hopes residents who have seen his presentations will become more involved in the community.

“I really think I have something to contribute when and if I get elected,” he said. “People don’t know much control CDDs really have. If they did, they would be more interested in how things work and they would take more of an active role and want to get involved.”

To learn more, visit frankalancione.com. Those interested in seeing Lancione make a presentation titled “What CDDs Can Do For You” are invited to attend the Philosophy Club meeting on Nov. 2 at 4 p.m. at Lake Miona Recreation Center.

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