With less than two minutes left in the game and Immokalee holding a 13-7 lead, it looked like Barron Collier was going to do what it was supposed to do, beat the Indians. But a Cougars fumble, and a fortuitous bounce into the hands of an Immokalee defender, enabled the Indians to hold on and pull the upset victory Friday night.

The Barron Collier fumble came on the 11th play of an 84-yard drive that came up one yard short of paydirt. After a 29-yard run set up the Cougars with first and goal on the Immokalee 1-yard line, the ball popped free as a Barron Collier player stretched for the goal line and ended up in the hands of Immokalee senior Kervins Clement.

Read more here in the Naples Daily News. 

 This is a story about a brainy guy in a cowboy hat who plays hard rock, soft love songs, ballads, blues, white gospel, black gospel, medium-weight metal and all sorts of other music, from Afrobeat to zydeco, from Aerosmith to ZZ Top.

And yet he’s not a moody, egomaniacal, self-absorbed exhibitionist. He’s not even a pampered super star, although there are fans who would follow him almost anywhere.

Lucky for us, we don’t have to go far to see, hear and appreciate the raw talent of a man called Raiford Starke, a stage name dreamed up mostly as a joke. (More about his names a bit later.)

Starke also plays often at the Seminole Casino and has a long, close relationship with a lot of the Seminoles. He met and became musical director for Native American singer/songwriter and Seminole Tribal Chairman, Chief Jim Billie. The Seminole chief’s influence on Starke was seminal.

A song Starke and a friend wrote is emblematic of that. It’s called “Girl From Immokalee,” a tune that sticks in your head after you hear it once and you can’t escape it unless you have an Ambien night. And you really don’t want to.

 Enter former Marine Jerrod Ackley. The no-nonsense 37-year-old was hired in March after serving as an assistant coach with Lely, and immediately began to put his stamp on the program.

“I immediately established our program and we don’t give very much wiggle room,” Ackley said. “And we’ve lost kids, very talented kids because of it, but our philosophy is that we’re going to win with the kids that are here and the kids that buy into the program.”

So far, so good for the first-year coach, who saw his team beat LaBelle 34-7 in Friday’s preseason game.

The Indians entertain the Barron Collier Cougars tonight at 7:30 p.m. Read more in the Naples Daily News. 

 Aaron Henry, the junior free safety for the Badgers, is one of the most thoughtful interview subjects you'll find on the UW campus. It's more than his unending politeness and candor. There's a power behind his words.

Henry, from Immokalee, Fla., has dealt with some weighty challenges since arriving on campus in 2007. He emerged as starter as a true freshman, but suffered a serious knee injury that forced him to redshirt in 2008. He played in nine games last season, but was a reserve. That gave way to his current transition to free safety, where he's slated to start this season.

Read the rest of the interview here. 

 Building and operating a business in Immokalee comes with built-in economic advantages, not the least of which is a wide-range of tax savings.

Immokalee businesses saved over $65,000 last year in taxes that would have been paid to the State of Florida. 

But the companies - from local businesses to national chains - got credit for the taxes or avoided them outright because Immokalee is a state-designated Rural Enterprise Zone. 

The enterprise zone is just one of the special designations that Immokalee provides for entrepreneurs and business owners. 

Immokalee is also a federally-designated HUBZone (Historically Underutilized Buziness Zone) as well as a Free Foreign Trade Zone. And, in addition to the state and federal designations, Collier County also provides a list of business incentives to Immokalee entrepreneurs. 

Companies benefiting the state tax breaks through the Immokalee Enterprise Zone includes Immokalee vegetable packer Florida Specialites, Immokalee housing developer Eden Gardens and the American Discount Pharmacy as well as national companies like CVS Pharmacy, Walgreens Pharmacy, the Auto Zone and Family Discount Stores. 

The businesses benefited from savings on jobs credits, building material credits, business equipment purchases and other Enterprise Zone programs and tax breaks. 

Read more about Immokalee's Enterprize Zone here or call the Immokalee Community Redevelopment Agency: 239-252-2310. 

All this is just one of the reasons Immokalee is Florida in the 21st Century! 

 IMMOKALEE — Both LaBelle and Immokalee came out with plenty of enthusiasm for their preview of the coming football season.

But the most fury shown all night was from Mother Nature.

And so the Cowboys' kickoff classic with the Indians was stopped with 4:26 left in the third quarter and Immokalee ahead 34-6.

The Indians led 34-0 at halftime before LaBelle got in a score early in the third. A few minutes later, lightning and heavy rain stopped the game, which was canceled after a few minutes of deliberation.

Read more in the Fort Myers News-Press. 

 Bernie Martinez is going to be missed.

He’ll be missed on the cross-country courses this fall. He’ll be missed matside at wrestling tournaments in the winter. He’ll be missed in the spring, running stride for stride with every one of his runners, in every one of their races, shouting encouragement until his voice disappears.

What will be missed most of all is the example Martinez has set as a coach and teacher at Immokalee for the last 10 years. He has guided the school to numerous district track and cross country titles.

Martinez taught his last class at Immokalee this summer and will now pursue his masters at Nova University online, while he relocates to the Caribbean.

Read the rest in the Naples Daily News. 

 Bringing reliable and ubiquitous high-speed Internet to Florida's interior counties and communities is a major economic goal of the 21st Century. 

And that search engine just received a big boost of power through the award of a $24 million grant from the U.S. Department of Commerce to the Florida Rural Broadband Alliance, a coalition of Florida counties and communities - including Immokalee - in the Sunshine States' heartland. 

The Florida Rural Broadband Alliance FRBA) is an arm of the Florida's Heartland Regional Economic Development Initiative (FHREDI) in which the Immokalee Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA) participates. Immokalee Internet guru and community volunteer Birgit Pauli-Haack of Pauli Systems, Inc., represents Immokalee on the broadband alliance's board of directors. 

The grant, which is part of the Obama Administration's Recovery Act Investments Stimulus Package, will help pay for the infrastructure needed to bring reliable high-speed Internet for education, health care and public safety services, economic development and a nearly limitless variety of other uses.

In short, the project will open the Florida Heartland communities to the rest of the world and bring the world into Florida's Heartland, including Immokalee which is Florida in the 21st Century. 

Read more about the grant here. 

Read more about FHREDI here. 

Read here about Florida's Freshwater Frontier. 

 The Coalition of Immokalee Workers struck a deal this week with Sodexo to pay 1.5 cents for every pound of tomatoes it buys. 

The agreement makes CIW three for three striking deals with three of the world's largest food buyers and suppliers. 

The Fort Myers News-Press reported the story.