[Pturner]

Originally Posted by VillagesFlorida

I am quite sure, if my memory serves me correctly, that a "deal" of some sort is what quieted Dan Farnsworth and allowed building to move forward. There is likely an article explaining just what happened but I have not been able to locate it on the net anywhere....yet. Also, I could swear that back then I read somewhere that Dan Farnsworth had made his fortune, whatever that is or was, doing some kind of developing in S. Florida. At the time I remember thinking that it was OK for him to be a successful developer but not OK for the Morse family. I have saved some Daily Sun newspapers over the years that reported on major development news in the community here. I do not think I have any articles pertaining to Farnsworth but I will go through them when I get a chance.

Originally Posted by Bogie Shooter

A few news items I found. Do google search on Dan Farnsworth the villages.


From POA archives:
The CEEB Articles - Resident living here about three years ago will remember the legal fight with Dan Farnsworth, an Oxford farmer, over whether the Villages developer should be allowed to build south of highway 466.

An organization of suppliers, vendors, workers, construction firms, Villages employees, etc., formed a group known as CEEB. The group's main function was to agitate and demonstrate for proceeding with the development and construction work. Many believed that the developer of The Villages was ultimately behind the group. Many, if not most, of the CEEB members were from outside either The Villages, Sumter County, or even the state. Most had a direct financial involvement with the planned construction.

You could scarcely not pick up a copy of the Daily Sun without seeing story after story describing the CEEB goals of starting the construction and discrediting Dan Farnsworth. Farnsworth was effectively ridiculed for his belief that the development would destroy the rural way of life in Sumter County that he and many others valued. Many residents could see what appeared to be the Daily Sun's one-sided coverage. Farnsworth's reasoning was never given much if any coverage in the paper. You might not have agreed with his reasoning, but you never saw it fully explained in the Sun

Was this fair and balanced? Don't think so!

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Daily Commercial 3/19/02
Villages angered by neighbor delaying expansion

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Orlando Sentinel 11/2002 Covers the settlement
Towns See Villages As Mixed Blessing - Page 3 - Orlando Sentinel

Thanks VillagesFlorida and Bogie Shooter for the historical perspective. Change is often resisted before being eventually embraced, if not just taken for granted.