Monday Faith Links: Church Marketing, Death, and Burning the Qur’an

Posted on April 18, 2011 by bwmerritt

This is my first attempt at what I intend to be a weekly feature, aggregating some of the more interesting faith-related links that I have found while either surfing the Web, keeping watch on Twitter, in emails, etc., etc.

These are meant to be relevant, thought-provoking links and don’t necessarily represent how I view things. If I have an opinion on something, I’ll clearly state it here or in the introduction to each link. So, hopefully you find these links interesting, and feel free to post links to other stories in the comments section. Continue reading →

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How Bad Was Tampa Bay Rays’ Attendance on Thursday?

Posted on April 15, 2011 by bwmerritt

We’re already in the midst of an attendance battle with the Tampa Bay Rays again, as they drew their smallest crowd since 2007 on Thursday night against the Minnesota Twins.

It seems we go through this every year, and I think we probably will until a new stadium is built or the team moves away (I like the Fairgrounds idea personally). But just how bad was the Rays’ attendance on Thursday? Well, let’s look at the numbers from the other games on the schedule that day: Continue reading →

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What the 540A Corridor Should Look Like, and Other Recent News

Posted on April 12, 2011 by bwmerritt

When I first saw Tom Palmer of The Ledger post that the county was going to being considering a plan for the future development of County Road 540A about a week ago, I was intrigued.

He fleshed out that original post on his blog in a story in the paper today, which you can read here.

As a South Lakeland resident who travels on 540A every day, I’m going to be very interested in how the county handles this. I understand the idea that the road was widened in part to eventually handle more development, and there is obviously much more growth potential left in that area. But I also don’t want to lose the somewhat rural atmosphere we have. Continue reading →

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Lakeland Keeps FHSAA Basketball Finals Until 2014

Posted on April 5, 2011 by bwmerritt

Lakeland is still home for the state basketball finals.

The Florida High School Athletics Association on Tuesday selected The Lakeland Center as the site for the boys and girls state tournaments for the next three years (2012-14). Executive Director Mike Lapan of The Lakeland Center made the announcement this afternoon.

Lakeland beat out Orlando and Kissimmee to host the finals. The girls basketball finals have been here since 1994, while the boys have been here since 1996 and for 28 of the past 33 years.

Lakeland also has been awarded the state wrestling finals again, but lost the state volleyball finals to Kissimmee.

For more, check out Lakeland Local.

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FHSAA’s Announcement on Host Site for State Basketball Postponed

Posted on April 1, 2011 by bwmerritt

We’ll have to wait a few more days to find out if Lakeland is keeping the state basketball finals.

The FHSAA has pushed back its announcement expected to be today until Tuesday, according to spokesman Seth Polansky.

Executive Director Roger Dearing had told The Ledger earlier this week that the announcement would come today. Lakeland is competing with Orlando and Kissimmee to host the finals, which have been in Lakeland for more than 20 years.

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No Surprise That State Wrestling Stays in Lakeland; Basketball Still in Limbo

Posted on March 29, 2011 by bwmerritt

I was definitely glad to see that The Lakeland Center was given the exclusive rights to negotiate for the state wrestling finals by the FHSAA, as reported by The Ledger earlier today.

But really, this one was in the bag. Apparently the FHSAA wants a couple of tweaks like another hotel for VIPs, but the wrestling tournament was going to stay in Lakeland pretty much from the beginning of this, as I reported earlier this year.

The real prize is basketball, and it’s still up in the air. Continue reading →

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Polk County Commissioners Forget For Whom They Work in Term Limit Challenge

Posted on March 24, 2011 by bwmerritt

In some ways, I’m admiring the stand that the Polk County Commission is making regarding term limits.

If you haven’t seen the story from this week’s meeting, you can check them out here from The Ledger.

Without notice, Commissioner Bob English brought up the issue of term limits and salary reductions imposed on commissioners from a countywide vote in 2000. Residents that year decided by a wide margin of more than 70 percent to impose a two-term limit on commissioners and cut their salary in half. Continue reading →

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Redistricting Could Be Interesting for Polk

Posted on March 20, 2011 by bwmerritt

There have been quite a few stories in the past day or two about the redistricting process that will take place over the next year.

With the analysis of much of the 2010 Census data now completed, the picture is becoming clearer as to which parts of the state could get one of the expected two new Congressional seats. Continue reading →

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Photos and Videos from President Bush’s and Condoleezza Rice’s Visit to SEU

Posted on March 11, 2011 by bwmerritt

To see videos from President George W. Bush’s and Condoleezza Rice’s visit to Southeastern, check out the Polk Perspectives Facebook page.

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Polk County’s Top 10 High School Football Coaches

Posted on March 7, 2011 by bwmerritt

It’s only two months before spring football practice begins around the state for high schools, and I thought it would be fun to give fans a little teaser to debate.

Covering high school football for three years, I got to know the area’s coaches pretty well. I have to say that I honestly like all of the ones I got to work with, and the county is blessed to have these men around.

But everyone likes lists, so using my experience and insight, here are my top 10 high school football coaches in Polk County. I can’t say there was a formula for this, though I considered on-field success to be very important. I had to get more subjective toward the bottom, factoring in potential a little bit and also understanding that some teams have had pretty tough district assignments the past couple of years. Continue reading →

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