[Dave_n_Tenn]

Originally Posted by Corrie22

well that sucks up everyone else's excuse....

so what's their excuse in all the other parts of the country?

because Florida certainly does not have this market cornered

Yep... we be crazy, well armed, full of snakes, alligators, giant bugs so the only logical options is... stay away.

This has been a public service announcement.

[elchevere]

Originally Posted by jean_ji

Not everyone got the memo on California. We have a younger relative who thinks getting away from where she is living now and moving to California will solve all her many problems. She’s in for a sad reality check.

yeah, because California has never had its share of crazies...smh (Charles Manson, Zodiac killer, Dan White, Richard Ramirez, Rodney King, Octomom, The Gropenator, Michael Jackson's pedophile ranch, freeway chases, the Menendez brothers, etc etc etc).

[Arcenal813]

Some wacky California news for you:

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/09/06/u...y-blocked.html

https://www.newsweek.com/store-retai...fornia-1804565

Two of MANY

[silverct9a]

Only read a couple of posts, but I agree with alot of this, and I've noticed a pretty obvious trend - A majority of the drug/growhouse/fentanyl/meth and "Florida Man" types seem to be concentrated outside of the major metropolitan areas. In my area for example, I consistently read about and see trafficking of hard, dangerous drugs in the Treasure Coast (primarily St. Lucie and Indian River). It's almost a nightly news report of major fentanyl or meth busts up there...I consider that to be our "Florida Man" area.

As for the Florida Man and downright strange, trashy behavior, I too notice the consistent offenders to be places in Central and SW Florida like Pasco, Polk, Lehigh Acres, Ft. Meyers, Cape Coral etc. I'm sure there will be some push back on my comments, but just check out the provided link below - I realize it's a small sample size, but it can't be dismissed especially factoring in incidents per capita.

https://floridaman.com/

Originally Posted by Daryl_G

Florida has always been a weird place with drugs running rampant in every county, crazy "Florida Man" people that serve as entertainment for locals like me but don't mix well with the newer arrivals, big pockets of child molesters and rapist communities scattered in the middle of the state that new arrivals are unaware of, and cost of living here will surprise you if you were sold on Florida being a cheap place.

Florida is in transition right now and it's unclear where the state will end up.

[Dave_n_Tenn]

Economically depressed areas/people always tend towards illegal substances to make money or get high. Smugglers in the keys back in the day running rum, moonshiners in the Ocala national forest, then it was , cocaine, crack, meth, etc. none of the latter is uniquely Florida. Maybe in the hey day of cocaine Miami was, but again... not a unique Florida man issue.

Basically it's the constant flow of people in and out, transients, people looking for a better 'something' a better anything will to work for low wages for a lay back kinda life. Well that resulted in lots of disillusioned people... and thus the roots of the Florida man. California went through the same thing and we (Floridians) don't wanna be another California.

[Corrie22]

Originally Posted by silverct9a

Only read a couple of posts, but I agree with alot of this, and I've noticed a pretty obvious trend -

don't miss the most obvious trend....Florida's Sunshine laws....and how that applies to letting all these records out for the news media to report....public records are just that....public

and that's how the new media created "Florida man"

every state has "Florida man"....they just can't release the records...and the media can't report it

"It's all due to Florida's Sunshine Law, which was passed in 1991. It guarantees free public access to Florida's government documents and proceedings, minus some exemptions. Among the allowed documents are police arrest records. It's interesting and even ironic that the very vehicle which allows these stories to be easily available created a character who is now the butt of late-night jokes."

https://www.pnj.com/story/news/2019/...aw/3310306002/

[SnazzyB]

Really, the deal is, Florida has pretty open Sunshine laws. Anyone can look up arrest records, etc. Sure, Florida gets kooks...but so does every other state in the nation. It's just they're not as much an open book as Florida is.

[thetiredone]

It does seem like people are angry or crazy here who have moved here from other states. If you watch TV, they always seem to joke about the people down here in Florida and especially the late-night talk shows.

[silverct9a]

Very good point. I suspect you are correct about why this is the case.

Originally Posted by Corrie22

don't miss the most obvious trend....Florida's Sunshine laws....and how that applies to letting all these records out for the news media to report....public records are just that....public

and that's how the new media created "Florida man"

every state has "Florida man"....they just can't release the records...and the media can't report it

"It's all due to Florida's Sunshine Law, which was passed in 1991. It guarantees free public access to Florida's government documents and proceedings, minus some exemptions. Among the allowed documents are police arrest records. It's interesting and even ironic that the very vehicle which allows these stories to be easily available created a character who is now the butt of late-night jokes."

https://www.pnj.com/story/news/2019/...aw/3310306002/

[Ghaati]

Where I came from, we had two weekly town newspapers. Each posted the police log, each in its own way. One posted just a tally of types of arrests and citations issued. The other included the name and the town the person was from.

We had one murder, one murder/suicide, a half dozen burglaries, a dozen or so attempted burglaries, and the rest was mostly domestic violence and traffic tickets. That was over a period of 10 years living in that town.

I lived in Boston, we had a police log in three of the area weekly papers. Mostly it was possession of pot, DUI, and frat boys doing stupid frat boy things. There were a couple of doozies - I attended two murder trials while I was up there in college, covering them for class. There were also a couple handsfull of robberies and an ATM theft (someone stole the entire ATM machine).

I lived in a fishing village north of Montreal. A bunch of people had parking tickets. They were all paid within 48 hours (or else your vehicle is impounded and you go to jail. The Quebecois don't mess around.)

I know people in 30 of the 50 states, and in 10 different countries around the world. Florida Man is absolutely a Florida-specific phenomenon, notwithstanding the nomenclature.