Happy Anniversary Column

 
            Hi everybody! First and foremost, I would like to wish the Hometown News a very happy fifth anniversary! It seems like just yesterday that the first edition ran off the presses to the delight of Martin and St. Lucie County residents. I am proud to have been a part of this for the past five years.

            Most of the readers know me as the writer of the Garden Nook but prior to that I did a weather column known as Joe’s DiscoWeather Central Time Capsule. (Say that three times fast!)  Again, it seems like just yesterday when I wrote my first column for the paper.

 Let me rewind just a bit. As a kid, I always had an intense interest in the weather. I was never satisfied to watch the weather report and see what it was going to do. I wanted to know why it was going to rain or snow. I started to read and study about weather systems, fronts and above all hurricanes. To make the story a little shorter, actually a lot shorter, all this led me to the creation of Joe’s Disco Weather Central (Now hometownweather.net) in 1999.

Although the website was a great outlet, I still wanted to share my interest even further. My opportunity came when Carol, my wife, was just starting with the Hometown News and she suggested that I do their weather. I thought about it and eventually decided to take the challenge. Carol then set up an appointment with Tammy Raits, the managing editor of the Hometown News. When we had our first meeting, we tossed around different ideas and we came up with the idea of talking about past weather events along with current forecasts. The main idea was to have the weather done from a local standpoint.  I must add that Tammy was my inspiration. It was her inspiration that made the column a success. In 2005, we decided to shift gears and that led me to a new challenge to proudly write the garden column, now called The Garden Nook, for the paper. Since I had 27 years of horticulture experience under my belt, it was an exciting transition. I also want to thank Steve Erlanger for allowing me the opportunity to express myself through the power of media. Because of the opportunity that Steve and Tammy gave me, I am doing something that I always dreamed about!

Happy Anniversary!