News Archive

ORMOND BEACH — City commissioners will consider whether to move forward with a referendum that would decide the fate of the city’s fluoridation program. “Personally, I’m tired of hearing about it at every meeting,” said Mayor Ed Kelley. “We’ve spent so much time on it.” The city could begin the process Tuesday night that would […]

The Pinellas County Commission’s fluoride fiasco could be studied in high school civics classes for lessons about how government works. Or, how it doesn’t work. But then it does again. Those particular Pinellas politicians have traditionally been a steady, nuts-and-bolts, in-the-middle sort of board — especially compared with their commission counterparts in Hillsborough County, pretty […]

A fight over fluoride in Lee County. Pine Island residents are divided over how much of it should go into your water. The issue will ultimately be decided by water customers who are voting on it right now. Pine Island residents have to turn in their ballots on the issue by December 6th. On any […]

CLEARWATER — Moderate. Sensible. Sober. That is how Pinellas County has preferred to think of its local government for decades. But many say that image cracked a year ago, when the commission voted to end fluoridation, making it the largest county in Florida to reject the practice, and drawing national ridicule. One year later, the […]

It took nearly 14 months, an election and the clarion voice of Pinellas County voters to persuade county commissioners to correct a serious error in judgment. It will take until March to carry out the commission’s order to resume adding fluoride to the drinking water. For 700,000 water customers, the benefits should last a lifetime. […]

CLEARWATER — One of the largest counties in Florida voted today to add fluoride back into the water supply, capping a lengthy debate over whether adding the chemical is beneficial for fighting tooth decay or toxic and an affront to personal liberty. The Pinellas County Commission voted 6-1 to return fluoride to the water. It […]

CLEARWATER – As promised, Pinellas County Commissioners discussed putting fluoride back in the drinking water at their Nov. 20 meeting. With two new commissioners, the board seems poised to return the additive back after nearly a year’s hiatus. Fluoride was removed from Pinellas County’s drinking water Jan. 1, after a 4-3 decision to remove it. […]

Meeting for the first time since Election Day, when Pinellas County voters ousted two Republican commissioners from office, the County Commission set about undoing the work of the old. Next week, commissioners said, they want to reverse a policy decision made more than a year ago that ended the practice of adding fluoride to the […]

The board of directors of the Greater Pine Island Water Association sent out 5,840 ballots in the mail Friday to provide the members with an opportunity to vote whether or not they want to increase the fluoride level to 0.7 ppm. The ballot, which contains three pages – two letters and the ballot, must be […]

Should newspapers be in the business of endorsing candidates? And is there really an editorial firewall between the reporters and the editorial page of newspapers? Yes, and yes, says Kelly McBride of the Poynter Institute’s Sense-making Project. Case in point: the recent coverage and editorial campaign about fluoride in the Tampa Bay Times. It started […]