January 2 Time Capsule

 

            Hi everybody and welcome!! I hope everybody had a safe and happy holiday! Now is the time for all of us to reflect on the year that was left behind us and to plan on how to improve in the year we have yet to see. With that in mind, I would like to wish everybody a very happy and safe New Year!!

            You know, I have a lot of people come into the store and ask me questions about my site and column. One of the most asked is “where did you get a name like Joe’s Disco for a website”? Well going back about 20 years ago to 1982, Dancing was my main form of entertainment. My disco partner Wanda and I used to go anywhere there was a disco contest and sometimes we would actually win. We would meet with several other friends from work just about every weekend at different clubs and literally dance the night away. One of our favorite places used to be The Commodore Lounge, which used to be in north Stuart just before the Roosevelt Bridge. We all knew the owner really well and it was almost like a second home. It was here that we learned most of our dance steps and had the most practice. As you well know, going out every weekend can get really expensive. I decided to do something about it. I got my imagination in full gear and devised a plan to build my own backyard disco. I had a huge screened in porch next to the apartment I was renting. I started with some pallets for the dance floor, carpeting on the walls {for acoustics}, bamboo on the ceilings and back walls. I then put in the finishing touches of installing colored lights in the ceiling and in the dance floor. All the lights were controlled with electronic boxes I built so that they would all go with the music. The final touches included a 6 speaker sound system and small pub style tables. The finished product was my pride and joy-Joe’s Disco. The place had a tremendous impact on a lot of lives as so many of us became such close friends, as the disco was “open” anytime and at any hour for friends. All of the Joe’s Disco originals cherish those days and we still often talk and remember all the times we had Joe’s Disco! I especially have to thank my very dear friends Trish, Jeff, Wanda, Karen and Steve, as without them, the disco would have only been a dream. The disco stayed around for about 5 years until we all slowly started drifting in our own different directions. Next week, I will talk about the rebirth of Joe’s Disco almost 15 years later!

 

Now on to the Time Capsule….

 

January 3, l994 -- Polk Co., Frostproof -- A tornado touched down four times, damaging cars, buildings, signs, and citrus trees. Windows were blown out of vehicles and stores. A l2 year old boy was injured by flying debris. Brief tornado touchdowns were also reported in Alachua, Bradford, Baker, and Duval Counties.

January 4, l934 -- Escambia Co., Pensacola -- A tornado damaged about 20 small homes. A young boy was killed and seven people were injured.

January 5, 1962 -- Okaloosa Co., Crestview -- Twin tornadoes, l00 yards apart, destroyed l0 homes and l0 house trailers and damaged 300 homes. A six-month old girl was killed and 65 people injured.

January 6, l892  -- Orange Co., Winter Garden -- A tornado destroyed five homes. A woman was killed when her home turned completely upside down and fell on her. Five injuries.

January 6, 1970 -- West central Florida -- Tornado outbreak - Five trailers overturned, power/telephone lines down at Apollo Beach in Hillsborough County. Other tornadoes touched down in Ruskin, Lakeland, Bartow, Mulberry, and Avon Park. Total of six tornadoes caused five injuries.

January 7, l976 -- Escambia Co., Pensacola -- A small tornado was observed by radar northeast of the Pensacola Naval Air Station.

January 7, 1995 -- Marion Co., Summerfield -- An F2 tornado destroyed or heavily damaged 66 mobile homes with less extensive damage to another 85 dwellings, mostly mobile homes.  A man received fatal head injuries while sitting in his car outside a mobile home when the car was rolled four times.  Another 20 persons, mostly those in mobile homes, were injured.

January 8, 1978 -- Hillsborough Co., Dover -- A tornado destroyed four block homes, five mobile homes, six other homes and several cars. Windermere, Orange Co. -- Tornado severely damaged large lakefront home and damaged five other homes.  Lockhart, Orange Co. to Sanford, Seminole Co. -- Large tornado moved through mobile home Park near Lockhart destroying 17 trailers, damaging 60 and injuring 23 people, eight seriously. Tornado continued into Seminole Co., passing southeast of Sanford and causing damage to homes and boats along St. Johns River.

January 9, l953 -- Hillsborough Co. --A tornado destroyed five homes and damaged 53 from Lithia to Hopewell in southwest part of county injuring l2 people. Other tornadoes were reported in Clermont, Minneola, and Brooksville. Severe thunderstorm winds were reported in Ft. Myers and Sarasota. There were many reports of trees and power lines down and roof damage. Storm waves washed over the beach road on south Captiva Island.

January 9, 1996 -- west central peninsula -- Damaging freeze -- Sub-freezing temperatures severely damaged vegetable crops with losses
estimated over $2 million dollars in Hillsborough and Lee counties; with minor damage to the dormant citrus crop in Pasco
County. Several tropical fish farms lost over 50 percent of their harvest with the estimated loss at $5.5 million dollars.

January l0, l977 -- Osceola Co., Kissimmee -- A Tornado struck a large apartment, ripping the roofs off 20 apartments and damaging several automobiles.

January 10, 1986 -- Orange Co., Christmas -- Thunderstorm winds destroyed two mobile homes and damaged a house. Three people in one mobile home suffered cuts and bruises.

Here are some National past weather events…

 

January 3, 1877 -- An overnight freeze enabled George Washington and his troops to flank the British at Trenton, cross their lines at Princeton, and seek security in the hills of northern New Jersey.

January 3, 1961 -- A three day long icestorm was in progress over northern Idaho which produced an accumulation of ice eight inches thick, a U.S. record. Heavy fog, which blanketed much of northern Idaho from Grangeville to the Canadian border, deposited the ice on power and phone lines causing widespread power outages.

January 4, 1888 -- Sacramento Calif. received 3.5 inches of snow, an all-time record for that location. The heaviest snow in recent history was two inches on February 5th in 1976. (4th-5th)

January 4, 1988 -- Frigid arctic air invading the central and eastern U.S. left Florida about the only safe refuge from the cold and snow. A storm in the western U.S. soaked Bodega Bay in central California with 3.12 inches of rain.

January 5, 1982 -- A three day rainstorm in the San Francisco area finally came to an end. Marin County and Cruz County were drenched with up to 25 inches of rain, and the Sierra Nevada Range was buried under four to eight feet of snow. The storm claimed at least 36 lives, and caused more than 300 million dollars damage.

January 6, 1880 -- Seattle Wash. was in the midst of their worst snowstorm of record. Hundreds of barns were destroyed, and transportation was brought to a standstill, as the storm left the city buried under four feet of snow.

January 6, 1988 -- It was a bad day for chickens. Heavy snow in Arkansas, with totals ranging up to 16 inches at Heber Springs, claimed the lives of 3.5 million chickens, and snow and ice up to three inches thick claimed the lives of another 1.75 million chickens in north central Texas. Up to 18 inches of snow blanketed Oklahoma, with Oklahoma City reporting a record 12 inches of snow in 24 hours.