Category — Updates

Twenty-five years ago on September 11th I was working at Harley-Davidson in the company’s historic headquarters building at 3700 W. Juneau Ave. in Milwaukee.

It was a little before 8 a.m. Central Time — We started our days early in those days — when someone from the H.O.G. group across the hall came into our office and told us to turn on the television.

We did.

And we couldn’t believe what we were seeing.

A jet had crashed into the World Trade Center’s North Tower. I called home to tell my wife to turn on the TV and turned to my staff.

We watched in stunned silence as a second plane hit the South Tower.

Like millions of Americans, we were trying to make sense of something that seemed impossible.

HARLEY-DAVIDSON PRESIDENT CALLS A TEAM MEETING:

My memory isn’t great all these years later, but I recall Jim McCaslin, Harley-Davidson’s president and COO, called a meeting of company leadership. The question was simple:

What can we do?

The ideas started coming almost faster than we could write them down.

Donate a million dollars to help with the recovery.

Encourage Harley-Davidson dealers in the United States and around the world to sponsor rides and events to raise money.

Ask our employees to do the same.

I was sitting with Benny Suggs, head of Harley-Davidson University and a retired Navy Admiral and we said to each other – Donate Motorcycles. And then I remember making that suggestion at the time, seemed pretty simple:

Maybe we could donate police motorcycles. Others agreed.

DONATE POLICE MOTORCYCLES:

We knew that dozens of police motorcycles and other first-responder vehicles had been destroyed when the Twin Towers collapsed. My thought was that Harley-Davidson could provide police motorcycles to New York so officers could use them to navigate the scene and the surrounding streets.

Jim liked the idea. He liked several of the ideas.

What I didn’t know at that moment was how quickly that simple suggestion would become a reality.

Harley-Davidson immediately donated $1 million to the American Red Cross, and the Harley Owner’s Group (H.O.G.) and our sales organization went to work with dealers around the world organizing rides and other fundraising efforts.

The motorcycle donation was a little more complicated.

Jon Syverson, who was in charge of police motorcycle sales and delivery, got on the phone. He started calling his contacts at police departments around the country, looking for motorcycles that could be redirected immediately.

He was able to divert 10 motorcycles that were either waiting for shipment or nearing completion.

These weren’t just regular Harley-Davidsons. They were police motorcycles, including Electra Glide Police, Road King Police and Dyna Defender Police models, equipped for law-enforcement use. Whelen Engineering also donated the emergency equipment for the bikes.

THE RIDE TO NEW YORK:

Then the idea became a ride.

As the sun was coming up on (I think) Friday, September 14, Harley riders, some Harley-Davidson employees and several law-enforcement officers headed east from Milwaukee on those 10 motorcycles. Ken Ostermann and Steve Piehl from the marketing communications team were among that group and Ken has posted several photos on his Facebook account detailing the send off and ride.

We were sending them to New York.

The ride was almost 900 miles.

Syverson and Milwaukee County law enforcement helped coordinate the trip, contacting first responders along the route and letting them know that the group of 10 motorcycles was coming.

And something pretty remarkable happened.

The riders were met and escorted by police departments and first responders along the way.

It became much more than 10 motorcycles riding from Milwaukee to New York. Everywhere they went, law-enforcement officers seemed to understand exactly what the ride represented.

The country was still in shock. The highways and local roads were largely empty. There was very little traffic, and the group made its way east through a country that suddenly felt very different.

I wasn’t on that ride, but I remember following what was happening and hearing about the reception the riders received along the way. It was one of those moments when the Harley-Davidson community and the law-enforcement community came together in a very tangible way.

LOMBARDI’S HARLEY-DAVIDSON:

The group arrived at Lombardi’s Harley-Davidson on Sunday, September 16 I think.

Lombardi’s was on Bay Street in Staten Island near New York’s Upper Bay. Its T-shirts and other memorabilia featured the Twin Towers and the New York City skyline. It was a Harley-Davidson institution, selling motorcycles since 1905.

There was something especially poignant about bringing those motorcycles to New York at that particular moment and arriving at a dealership that was almost 100 years old at the time.

And then there was the trip home. How were the riders going to get home with airports shut down around the country?

The riders had to carpool back to Milwaukee.

They had ridden those motorcycles nearly 900 miles to New York because the bikes were needed there.

They weren’t riding them home.

Harley-Davidson also committed another 20 motorcycles to the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey for delivery as quickly as possible. Ultimately, the company dedicated 37 motorcycles to New York-area law-enforcement communities, including the NYPD, the Port Authority and the New York State Police.

LOOKING BACK: 

Looking back 25 years later, what I remember most isn’t a corporate initiative or a press release.

I remember being in that building on Juneau Avenue that morning.

I remember somebody telling us to turn on the TV.

I remember everyone standing there watching in disbelief.

And I remember sitting in that leadership meeting and saying, “Maybe we could donate motorcycles.”

I never imagined that a comment made in a meeting that morning would lead to police motorcycles being ridden nearly 900 miles from Milwaukee to New York just days later—and ultimately to 37 motorcycles being provided to New York-area law enforcement.

At Harley-Davidson, the answer to “What can we do?” became motorcycles, money, riders, employees, dealers and law-enforcement officers all pitching in. At that time I believe we provided a powerful symbol of resilience, rescue, and remembrance following 9/11.

That 900-mile ride from Milwaukee to New York was only one small piece of the enormous response to September 11. But it is a piece I will never forget.

Twenty-five years have passed, but I can still picture that television screen in the Harley-Davidson headquarters building and remember the pride and love for our country we all felt as those bikes headed east.

September 11, 2001, changed all of us.

I will never forget where I was that morning.

A couple brought together by the news gives to support WUSF interns

Nov. 30, 2023

Their love blossomed in a newsroom. During the late 1970s, Joe Hice worked as a reporter and later as the business editor at the Tampa Times, where Sandy Caswell was an editorial news artist. They married in 1981 and both enjoyed long, successful careers in journalism, marketing and public relations — united by another passion every step of their shared journey: WUSF Public Media.

Sandy, a Miami native, frequently listened to the station while attending USF on a scholarship, graduating with a fine arts degree. Joe, born in Savannah, Georgia, and raised in Miami, majored in journalism and communications at the University of Florida and began tuning in regularly when he became a reporter for the Tampa Times.

He went on to work as a staff writer for Florida Trend business magazine, while Sandy eventually moved into public relations with Ringling College of Art and Design and the Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center (now called the Straz Center). All the while, the flow of news and information from WUSF provided a constant soundtrack to the Hices’ lives.

“We both have been big fans of the station for about 50 years now,” says Joe, who collaborated on many WUSF projects during his time as USF’s chief marketing officer from 2017-2021. “I was so impressed with the work they did as well as the internships they offered to give talented students firsthand experience in journalism.”

That planted a seed, which has taken root as a gift from their trust to provide more internships at the station through the Sandra C. Hice and Joseph S. Hice Journalism Enhancement Fund.

“We thought, ‘Here’s a public broadcast station that means a lot to both of us,’ and we wanted to do something to help it continue to thrive,” Joe says. 

The couple has made small gifts to WUSF since the 1980s, then monthly donations and some cornerstone level gifts several years ago. Their most recent gift was inspired by generous donors like alumni Les and Pam Muma. 

“We’re passionate about USF, passionate about journalism and this is an opportunity to make a difference in something we care about deeply,” Joe says.

They reached out to the USF Foundation, speaking with WUSF’s Scott Nolan, senior director of development, and Marion Yongue, associate vice president of development. “We just said, ‘We’d like to do something — we’re not wealthy, but we want to make a meaningful gift,’” Joe recalls. 

The Sandra C. Hice and Joseph S. Hice Journalism Enhancement Fund will give special preference to USF students, though neither attending USF nor majoring in journalism is required for an applicant to be considered. 

 “It could be a marketing student or even an art student — that’s what I was and it helped me greatly when I worked for the newspaper,” Sandy says. “In the different jobs I’ve had in my career, it was beneficial to have a journalism foundation — whether it was marketing or public relations. It gave me a better perspective into what newspapers need and allowed me to deal with journalists more effectively.”

Sandy’s career has been varied, indeed. After leaving the Straz Center in 1992, she worked as a public affairs coordinator on the USF Sarasota-Manatee campus; moved into public relations and marketing for Haven Hospice; was a system communications coordinator for BayCare Health Systems; took a sales and marketing administrative position with WellCare Health Plans; and stays busy these days with marketing consulting jobs and working as a freelance writer.

She’s also the No. 1 copy editor on Joe’s many writing and marketing endeavors. His career has been filled with numerous chapters as well. After leaving Florida Trend in 1982, he shifted into marketing and public relations — making an initial mark as vice president and co-founder of Roberts & Hice Communications, which later became the ChappellRoberts ad agency. 

He’s also served as vice president of what is now Hill+Knowlton Strategies, and director of communications for Wellcraft and Donzi Marine. He was director of marketing and communications with Sea-Doo Watercraft, then for the Harley-Davidson Motor Co. 

He later worked as chief marketing officer at Segway LLC before being recruited by the University of Florida to serve as associate vice president of marketing and public relations. There, he oversaw the team behind the “The Gator Nation” campaign.

So began his path into education and nonprofit work. Joe went on to serve as chief communications officer and associate vice chancellor at North Carolina State University; vice president of public relations and marketing at Moffitt Cancer Center; senior vice president and chief marketing officer for Enterprise Florida; and, finally, USF.

Even in retirement, neither Joe nor Sandy are slowing down. Joe does frequent consulting work in marketing and communications in a wide array of fields. Of course, their lives also include the joys of family. Their two daughters are carrying on the family marketing and journalism tradition — Mary works in advertising; Laurie is on the faculty at Kennesaw State University teaching digital marketing and communications and has her own marketing company, where Sandy serves as director of public relations and senior editor. 

Now, their children aren’t the only ones whose communications careers will benefit from the support of two masters of the craft: Joe and Sandy. 

Today was a sad day for Enterprise Florida; the last Board of Directors meeting. The Florida Legislature thought it best to eliminate the organization and its meager $12 million budget because they thought the government could do it better. Let’s just say, “I’m skeptical.”

During the past year alone, EFI has handled more than 50 projects, bringing 13,000 high-paying jobs to Florida and generating more than $3 billion in capital expenditures. And the Legislature thinks they are going to do it better?

So here’s a fond farewell to a public/private organization that has served Florida well for the past 27 years and to the amazing people who truly helped Florida excel. Florida, the Future is Here . . . just not for Enterprise Florida.

One of Many

Passion Rules!

WUSF Public Media is proud to announce that journalists in the station’s newsroom received 16 awards in the Society of Professional Journalists Sunshine State Awards, including first place in eight categories for coverage of COVID, best newscasts, phosphate dangers, lost migrant children, the Florida panther comeback and more.

Winning 16 awards stands as a station record, topping last year’s total of 12, and well above prior years. Ten members of the staff were honored during a ceremony in Fort Lauderdale for their work in the calendar year of 2021

“I am immensely proud of the WUSF team for their wonderful coverage of vital issues to our state,” said WUSF General Manager JoAnn Urofsky. “Their body of work is a tremendous testament to the commitment these journalists have to delving into interesting and important stories to keep our residents informed.”

In a COVID-19 non-deadline news reporting category that featured entries from digital, print, television and radio from around the state, WUSF placed third for its Unequal Shots series on inequities in the distribution of coronavirus vaccines. Unequal Shots, which was produced by reporters Stephanie Colombini and Kerry Sheridan and edited by Julio Ochoa, also won first place in the radio health reporting category.

In the general coverage category, Steve Newborn received first place for his coverage on the dangers of Florida’s phosphate mines. Newborn also received a first-place award in the serious reporting category for “What Mosaic Is Doing With Its ‘Gypstack’ To Prevent Another Piney Point Disaster.” Newborn won a second-place award in the category of best use of sound for his story “Once Nearly Extinct, The Florida Panther Is Making A Comeback.”

Jessica Meszaros won first place for her story “Toxic Bus Tour Highlights Energy Inequality” in the environment, science and technology reporting category.

Sheridan took first place in education reporting for her story “A Florida Farmworker Talks About Why He Took His Teen Daughter To Work In Fields” and third place in the investigative reporting category for “Finding the Lost Children of Migrant Farmworkers.” Those pieces were part of Florida Public Media’s Class of COVID-19 series, which received first-place awards in the categories of continuing coverage and news website and a second-place award in the public affairs category.

Colombini also placed third in the continuing coverage category for her COVID-19 Vaccine Rollout stories. WUSF host Lisa Peakes and Assistant News Director Mark Schreiner placed first for best newscast for their entry All Things Considered Newscast, Aug. 6, 2021.

Reporter Cathy Carter received a second-place award in the light feature reporting category for her story, “Preserving Coastal Habitats Can Mitigate The Impacts Of Climate Change.” And The Zest podcast host Dalia Colon and producer Andrew Lucas won third place in the podcast category.

WUSF Public Media is a comprehensive media organization that serves the community and businesses through public broadcasting, digital resources and multi-media production services. Licensed to the University of South Florida, WUSF Public Media has been serving the public interest through programming, educational engagement and community partnerships for 58 years. For more information, visit www.wusf.org

Passion Rules!

Col. Joseph S. Hice, USAF (RET), was born in Cherry Log, GA on February 28, 1928. While times weren’t always easy – growing up in Cherry log could never be easy – he led a good life.

He would proudly tell everyone he met about the family farm and sawmill, the apple orchard and the railroad. If you knew dad for a day you knew he held the record for the 100-yard dash at Ellijay High School and Drove a school bus along North Georgia’s mountain roads when he was just 15.
That was about the time he began to dream of a life in the sky; being a pilot.

Dad joined the Army Air Corp when he was just 17. He tried to join earlier, but Mama Hice found out. That was not about to happen to her little boy.

Even though he wasn’t the youngest of the kids – that claim goes to Uncle Searcy – he was the smallest, but aviation fit him like a glove.

He became an officer candidate a little more than a year after he enlisted and entered flight school, the youngest in his class. And that was a big deal back then. He graduated, at the top of his class…

He also met our Mom, Phil, in Washington, after he completed his combat flight training. A friend had set him up with a blind and when my mom walked into the room – even before he met her – he said he was going to marry THAT girl. They were married for almost 60 years.

When they were dating he used to fly from Barksdale Air Force Base in Louisiana to Washington, D. C. on weekends just to see her.
From time to time he was known to do a flyover and Wing Wave down the valley in Cherry Log on his way back.

He went on to fly the T-3, Stearman, P-51 (his favorite), B-25, F-84, F-86, F-100, F-104, KC 135, B-52 and more.

He led the first flight to circumnavigate the globe without landing. 49 hours in the air. Can you even imagine. He retired after a magnificent 21-year career as a Colonel.

Dad was smart and good with people and that’s probably why the Air Force General Staff adopted him. He spent most of his time flying with Generals, Heads of State and other military leaders. He contributed his thoughts and ideas to running the Strategic Air Command.

He helped create the Looking Glass program which put aircraft in the sky 24 hours a day, 365 days a year during the Cold War. He helped keep America safe.

He saw the need for that program during the Cuban Missile Crisis when his squadron of U-2s and other reconnaissance aircraft – SPY PLANES — discovered Soviet missile sites on the island. They were pointed toward Florida.  He briefed President Kennedy about the situation and helped the nation, and the world, avoid World War III.

Following the Air Force he went on to a long career with Eastern Airlines where he was the chief flight instructor. If you flew Eastern during the 70s, 80s or 90s, chances were that dad and his team had trained the flight crew.

He never really retired. After Eastern he tried his hand at Real Estate. He could sell anything and was an active realtor until he was 90.

Speaking of selling anything, after our mom and the kids, he loved automobiles. The house in Miami usually looked like a car lot. In fact, it still does.

He probably owned more than 500 Pontiacs, Fords, Chevrolets, Ferraris, Porsches and Mercedes. Then there were the Cadillacs and Corvettes. Boy did he love his Cadillacs and Corvettes. When he died last month he still had two 1984 Corvettes sitting in the garage just waiting for him to find time to restore them.

We are all going to miss Dad. He was an amazing father and role model. An amazing Grandfather and Great Grandfather. An amazing friend and mentor.

He led a wonderful life and we’re all so happy he was with us for so long.

So, after 91 years, it’s time to say goodbye.

So dad, as you used to tell us all, Fly Low and Slow … and keep the doors open.

Mom and a whole bunch of angels are out there who want to hitch a ride and fly with you.

10 – 4, Roger and Out.

Lost our little girl Hominy Pearl suddenly on Friday, July 15. Thirteen and a half great years. From California to Tampa to New York to Atlanta and back with our daughter. In our hearts forever.

Now Grits McGee, our 17-year-old Papillon is not doing well. It’s tough with dogs. They really do become part of the family and it really hurts to lose them.

One of Many

Passion Rules

https://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/us-elections-government/ny-jan-6-committee-trump-rudy-giuliani-election-night-20220613-xmiq5nsbljblhh6z3zmnwdndxu-story.html?fbclid=IwAR0kiFi4KMjvPIKugR5cgsJcKkicHF1zcVxuJraGbhZD8GLftCLFozHGTdE

Passion Rules!

As a long-time Florida resident, I’m concerned about whistleblower information filed earlier this month with the Florida Attorney General that alleges textbook publishers McGraw Hill and Savvas have overcharged Florida School districts more than $4.48 million for K-5 ELA textbooks during 2020-2021. The practice appears to be widespread and ongoing and impacts school districts across the state.

Textbook publishers agree to provide the “Best Price” for all textbooks sold in Florida and that is not happening:
“As Florida Statute 1006.38 says, publishers must “(f)urnish the instructional materials offered by them at a price in the state which, including all costs of electronic transmission, may not exceed the lowest price at which they offer such instructional materials for adoption or sale to any state or school district in the United States. These variations in pricing seem to violate that statutory mandate. The Publishers affirmative pledges to follow the pricing statutes lead to the conclusion that false claims for payment were made against the State.”

At a time when school districts across Florida are struggling to fund the basic education needs of their students, teacher salaries and more, textbook publishers are lining their pockets and violating state law. This practice has been ongoing since 2003 as outlined in Oppage Report No: 03-28 (Office of Program Policy Analysis and Government Accountability ).

Here’s a list including the 13 of 16 Florida school districts included in the whistleblower information:

McGraw Hill overcharges:

· Miami-Dade County: ELA adoption last year in Kindergarten and 1st grade, Miami-Dade County was overcharged $1,245,888.88.

· Lee County: ELA adoption last year in K-5, Lee County was overcharged by $842,703.28.

· Hillsborough County: ELA adoption last year in Kindergarten, 1st grade, and 2nd grade, Hillsborough County was overcharged $782,253.18.

· Polk: ELA adoption last year in K-5, Polk County was overcharged $731,568.74.

· Hamilton County: ELA adoption last year K-5, Hamilton County was overcharged $19,383.55.

· Madison County: ELA adoption last year in just 1st grade, Madison County was overcharged $17,496.00.

· Franklin County: ELA adoption last year in K-5, Franklin County was overcharged $10,233.04.


Savvas overcharges:

· Alachua County: ELA adoption last year K-5, Alachua County was overcharged more than $128,878.

· Citrus County: ELA adoption last year K-5, Citrus County was overcharged more than $135,459.

· Franklin County: ELA adoption last year K-5 , Franklin County was overcharged more than $996.

· Okaloosa County: ELA adoption last year K-5, Okaloosa County was overcharged more than $176,917.

· St. Lucie County: ELA adoption last year K-5, St. Lucie County was overcharged by more than $164,125.

· Sarasota County: ELA adoption last year K-5, Sarasota County was overcharged by more than $92,676.

I have provided this information to School Boards in all the counties impacted and I’m hopeful they will address this issue and demand that the textbook publishers reimburse the system for the overcharges. The districts may also be eligible for “treble damages” for the overcharges. That’s money school systems throughout the state could use to augment struggling budgets and teacher salaries. They should also cease doing business with publishers who have failed to follow Florida’s guidelines for textbook purchases.

One of Many

Passion Rules!

Elizabeth Warren knows how Democrats can win the midterms. It starts with canceling student loan debt

https://www.latimes.com/opinion/story/2022-04-21/elizabeth-warren-democrats-midterms-canceling-student-loan-debt

About 45 million Americans collectively owe $1.6 trillion in student debt. Elizabeth Warren and other experts believe Biden can legally cancel it.

Congratulations to New Mexico for becoming the first state in the nation to make all of its public colleges and universities tuition free regardless of income or immigration status. Now, it’s time to make all public colleges and universities tuition free in America.