On strike: Day 12

Kissimmee, FL - Access Osceola officials will ask the City of Kissimmee and Osceola County governments to contact the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to start the process of declaring a local state of emergency because of the tremendous hardships that have been created by lack of writing staff who are now on Day 12 of an ongoing strike. The lack of writers has created a situation where public information officials are left to piece together government subsidized entertainment venues in order to keep the local government access channel alive. "It has been a tough 12 days, but I think we have put together some material that Access Osceola viewers will watch," noted one Access Osceola manager.

Access Osceola viewers on the other side, have not been amused by the change in programming. "This week, they had an FYI episode on why you should eat squash, and how to cook it," besmirched one avid viewer. "I am not sure why we are paying these people to put on a show about cooking squash when we have the Food Network that can really show you some good stuff. Maybe our taxes should pay for some better shows or at least put some new people on the show instead of the same people week after week."

Unfortunately for viewers who would normally be glued to the local government access channel to catch their favorite episodes of "The Fountain" or "Tax or No Tax", it looks like they won't be so lucky. With the public information departments being stretched to the breaking point, they are having to chose between patching together "Squash" episodes, or dealing with true public concerns. No public information staffers could be found this week when a local news station broke a story on the dangerously low personnel levels at the Kissimmee Fire Department. According to the Channel 9 news report, staffing levels are so low at the Kissimmee Fire Department that one of the rescue vehicles has been going unmanned for much of the time. Public information representatives could not be found for comment because they were too busy working on possible Commission Comments for upcoming meetings. "We have had to cancel a few meetings just so we can get caught up on writing down what commissioners are supposed to say," blurted out a tired looking public information staffer. "The commissioners need time to learn their lines."

The disaster declaration and FEMA assistance would open up travel trailers and $15,000 in rental assistance for those who may have lost their homes due to the writers strike. We have been assured that the disaster declaration will not hamper upcoming birthday celebrations.