Posted on 11/22/2022 12:04:54 PM PST by Tolerance Sucks Rocks
GAINESVILLE, Fla. (WFLA) — A Gainesville man is in jail after being accused of stealing from a Walmart store that he claimed he owned.
According to Gainesville Police Department records obtained by WCJB, Steven Francis, 51, was caught stealing clothes from the Walmart located behind Butler Plaza in Gainesville.
Upon arrival, officers said Francis told them he was the owner of the store after a “hostile takeover.” Francis said he had no remorse for taking the clothes because he already owned the store.
According to WCJB, the items taken are estimated to be worth over $200.
Francis is currently behind held at the Alachua County Jail.
I would go visit for a week every month to help help take care of Mom for her last two years. The driving around town was always the one thing that bothered me, and that I was happy to leave behind each month. When they first starting putting in bike lanes ( a LONG time ago), I had a hard time getting used to that. I’m so happy to live in my tiny little Midwest town now. It’s like Mayberry but slightly modernized. No need for bike lanes around here.
Gatorade became a major success and founded the sports drink line of products because the University of Florida football team needed a better refreshment during hot summer practices, and Tom Petty was a hard drinking traveling salesman's unaccountably artistic son who found his calling when he briefly met Elvis in Ocala and took up rock music. Fans singing Petty's “I Won't Back Down” is now a staple of Florida Gator games.
Orlando. My grandfather, by then a single parent, moved here with his four boys from New Jersey in the late 30s.
LOL or is it ROR
You may say this on a Tuesday night but come back on the weekend and you'll see many disparaging remarks about American gals
The Plaza was always entertaining, free lunch with the Krishnas, Brother Jed tag team preaching, Iranian students chanting “death to puppet Shah”, te last on campus Halloween Ball was on the Plaza in ‘77, the New Riders of the Purple Sage opened with Panama Red.
Gainesville is still a great town, but back then it rocked; indoor concerts at the Great Southern Music Hall or free ones at Lake Alice near my dorm at Graham Area.
Lived in the Student Ghetto at one point on SW 2nd I think, down the street from a holy roller church and What-a-Burger, in a boarding house we called the Mars Hotel, lol.
Pizza at Leonardo’s, lunch at Mama Lowe’s near the police station, across from the feed store
Yes, to all you said. I don’t know if Tom ever knew that Earl was proud of him, but he was, at least in his later years. I hope Tom and his dad ended up in a “good enough” place in their relationship before his dad passed.
TP and the HB’s songs are so special to me. I feel fortunate that I can still hear his voice on XM 31, listening to him talk on his “Buried Treasure” show. Almost seems like he’s still still with us.
You can imagine I grew up drinking Gatorade. It probably put GVL on the map in a way. They added a Cade Museum to GVL near where I grew up. That area by Depot Ave has changed dramatically since I was there. Dramatically.
Oh, yeah. I remember all that and more. Contrary to the saying though, the past is a country that we cannot visit.
Ah, another place I lived as a kid! For a time we lived on Lake Lovely, then moved to Maitland/Goldenrod to Lake Georgia. I went back as an adult, and had a hard time reconciling what that all looked like 20 years later. Night and day. I can’t even imagine it now when it would be 50+ years later. I still prefer what I call “Old Florida.” It only exists in a few spots that I know of.
Yeah, I hear the remarks. I insist that since women are always at least 4 crazy, men are at the very least 5 horny. I try to forgive them if I can figure out how to do that.
Leonardo’s by the university was one of my favorite places. They closed that location, but still have the one out by Millhopper. I try to get there every once in a while, just cause it reminds me of the good ole days.
Don’t get me started on how good Krispy Kreme donuts are, right outta the oven, especially really late after a movie.
My father went to the old Orlando High School on Robinson just east of Lake Eola. It was the only white high school in the county at the time, and as a poor, scrawny Catholic kid from Up North with a Polish last name in a town run by WASP Baptists and Presbyterians tolerant of the Klan, he was ignored by most classmates and scorned by the school principal as a frequent truant with a fondness for the pool hall behind the high school.
Nevertheless, my father won an academic scholarship to the Merchant Marine Academy, went to sea as a deck officer, was in the US Navy, became a lawyer, and then a circuit judge. The defining opportunity though of my father's life -- the Merchant Marine Academy -- required that he leave Florida before eventually returning.
Now though, a kid in Orlando can dream of going into space, get the necessary education all the way through university, then drive over to Cape Canaveral and apply at NASA -- all without being dissed because of their background and having to leave Florida to find opportunity. And if they are lucky, they might get to suit up to ride one of the big candles, with half the state able to see it on a clear day.
LOL There are a few crazy guys around too, it’s not just the gals.
I had the pleasure of meeting Earl in his later years. He played cards with my father for a few years there. He was very nice, and was so very proud of Tom and the boys. This would’ve been throughout the 90’s and early 2000’s.
I e never made Mr. Cade, but I have no doubt that my siblings who are still there have. I think they know just about everyone in Gainesville.
*** Old Florida had its charms, but it was poor and often narrow minded and with limited opportunities.***
You sized that up nicely. I hint that’s why some of us became bigger dreamers.
Was the kid with the NASA dreams you? Did you ever get to ride one of the big candles?
Funny you mentioned that. I wanted to be an astronaut when I was a kid. Loved the space program. Turns out I don’t like roller coasters much, and a fear of heights. Don’t think I’d be a good candidate.
Oh, I agree.
Like most boys during the space race, I wanted to be an astronaut or at least a fighter pilot, but soon enough realized that bad eyesight made that impossible. And when young, I was the same way about heights.
Not just boys! Girls sometimes wanted to be astronauts, too! Of course, I also wanted to be Mary Poppins. ;) I would take an umbrella outside on windy days and jump off of the top of the doghouse, and hope that I would get to fly like her.
I absolutely love watching jets. Never gets old.
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