Not in the way I wanted it to. This story made national news.
Forget the fact that many recognize the name for its tomatoes. Never mind the fact that the local weather station is located in the area either. I spent 23 years of my life here, to be specific. I got married here. She lived/was found here. Nothing like that has EVER happened before, nor did I ever think it would.
For Chrissakes, it’s a little farming/ senior citizen community and it gets national attention for a slain little girl! Don’t get me wrong, I feel horrible that this is happened. As a 7th Grade teacher, she could have been in one of my classes. That hurts BIG TIME.
I just wish that people would still say “oh yeah, where the tomatoes come from,” or “where the weather station is” rather than “where that girl was killed.”
How do the other central FL Dopers feel about this?
PS- sorry for all the links, but I’m a very visual person.
I understand your feelings. A few years ago in my little town of Newport, Oregon, we had a guy murder his wife and three little children and put the bodies in local bodies of water. We were not happy. It was scary and, even more, very infuriating; I felt like the innocence of my community had been violated. (Sorry, I realize that this is naive and that I sound like the narrator on City Confidential, but it’s true. We used to think that such things happening in other places, not here.)
Aaaanyway. You should know that I, for one, have fond memories of Ruskin that will never be erased by this tragedy. I lived in the Sarasota area for many years, and I had many very fine breakfasts at the Coffee Cup in Ruskin, right there on the highway. I hope the place is still in business; they served up good food and a whole lot of it.
I saw your thread title and thought, “Uh oh, I know what this is about”. Ruskin will still always mean tomatoes to me. Florida, however, is starting to shift it’s meaning from “can’t fill out ballots” to “murdered young girls”. Any idea how we fix this? How do we keep all the degenerates from ending up here?
Sorry to inform you, but the Coffee Cup has been gone for about 10 years now. However, Mannings, which was right behind it, has developed into a good Mom and Pop restaurant just like the Coffee Cup.
On a sort of side note, where, exactly, is Ruskin? A few weeks (or months) back I tried to drive through there, but I never figured out where “there” was.
I feel your pain. A few years back, we made national news for the same reason - it was a little girl from my daughter’s school (so we’re talking REALLY local!). Then we made the news shortly after for a school shooting. Things were quiet for a while, then we hit the national news again, when our school district went bust.
I have to keep reminding myself that my hometown is a good town, with a rich history and a bright future. And the bad news will fade into the background eventually.