He's a retired lawyer. Does that count? Anyone know any good lawyer/gator jokes?

How about, "Gators have no fear of anything, except lawyers."

A man walked into a bar with his alligator and asked the bartender if he served lawyers. The bartender said yes. So the man said, "good, I'll have a beer and a lawyer for my alligator."

I saw the other alligator/lawyer joke on that web site, and you were wise not to go there!

I'd still like to know how much a dead gator costs and who is selling it? Not that I want one, just wondering.

I too do not wish to appear judgemental. I am so grateful that both dog and dog owner are alive and doing 'well' but...all of this could have been avoided to begin with, had he put the dog inside out of harms way. The gator was doing what comes naturally to a gator sigh. I am not in love with alligators. live and let live . however....if you choose to live on a golf course or near a lake in florida..this goes with the territory of home ownership and gators love little munchkins. little children and little dogs..that they drag and pull down into the lakes and swamps here. what a story. whew.

I so very much admire what steve did. He put his life on the line. Was it necessary though? He saw the gator lurking in the pond. the dog was at the waters edge? hello??? anyone home. please????? The bottom line is..the potential for danger was there..and it happened. He put the dogs life at risk and his own and the gator and now the gator is dead. It was a living thing too. Had the gator come into his house thats another story. the dog was on its turf so to speak. Rule number one with alligators in florida. NEVER FEED THEM. Rule number 2 with alligators in florida. never have little ones..(children) or small dogs near a gator. NEVER. For those of us who live in these situations in close proximity to alligators here in florida, most people have the smarts to have a dog on a leash. In fact I would never even have my dog in the backyard where there there was a pond. But thats just me. An ounce of prevention. Just some thoughts. thanks for reading this. Its not about condemnation.Its about wisdom and common sense. God bless.

Thank you so much for clearing that up.

I think lovesports was referring to "freedom of speech" and freedom to know the truth.

So many of our grandparents or great grandparents came from countries that were oppressive to these freedoms........in doing my massive family tree, genealogy has taught me a lot more than just the male lineage and the female lineage........it's shown why they left those countries behind for the freedoms in America........

Some people do move to Florida naively; better to know all the little details than to go blindly into the night..........we ourselves learned that.

I really enjoyed the Villages newspaper when we were there.
Positive news is wonderful and the Daily Sun is chock full of all types of interesting articles and club news, real estate, etc.

However, things that befall our neighbors, such as to the man with his dog in his own backyard........truly deserved an article. All the other Florida papers printed it**........so for the naysayers that doubt if it happend, I still cannot believe the doubting Thomases that abound in TV.
Why is everyone who states a fact treated negatively.

**Even a paper in Great Britain printed the news....

My maternal grandparents came from what later became Communist countries.......but in their childhoods and youth , they were still oppressed. They were so fortunate to come to our great country where freedom of speech and the right to read the truth is one of our basic liberties.............all places have good things and not so good things.
Alligators are one of the perils of living in Florida.......but not every one is expecting them to pop up in their own back yard.

Had the N.Y. papers not printed the article about the Central Park attacker, other unsuspecting women might have ventured out as that unfortunate woman did. News happens . It's not all happy news.

I'm all for freedom of expression and for all newspapers printing what really happens in their town. Ours sure does. We want to know if seasonal homes are being broken into up here or if other "stuff" is going on. It is called being aware and staying safe.

We do love the Daily Sun newspaper and who doesn't like happy news?
But it should be balanced.

Senior. I read The Sun Daily and I read this Forum daily. And First Amendment rights are tattooed on my fanny. (There is plenty of room left over for the preamble and the rest of the document AND Abes speech.;)_)

Just sayin'.

I do not see the need for the Villages Daily Sun to cover the story of Steve Gustafson and Bounce. Most of the time the result of a 66 year old man jumping on a 7 foot gator is not a good one. They should not encourage others trying the same kind of thing.

Mr. Gustafson did not seem that anxious to even talk about his saving Bounce and wrestling the gator. From what I have heard he did this on Friday September 14, 2012 and the story did not come out for a few days.

I went to law school at a school (U of MN) with around 250 people in each starting Class (about 5% drop out) and cannot remember any of those interested in corporate law as being the type of people who would challenge a gator over its lunch even if the dog were their pet.

Hats off again to the Man Who Saved Bounce.

SC, Very well said. It should have been posted in the Sun.

I think the 1st ammendment protects their right to print it, not your right to read it.

Obviously, if they wanted to put a lid on it, it didn't work.

Good point Patty55.

My friends that live in Sweden just e-mailed me about the story in their paper!!! Since this story was considered news ALL OVER the world, it makes no sense that it wasn't considered news where it happened.

Like you(Patty55) said, by the Sun not publishing the story, it sure didn't keep a lid on it.

I think TV is afraid of the "Monkey see-monkey do" effect. Sure now that this Steve guy has a dead alligator in his yard everyone is going to want one.

I'm going cruising today for a flock of pink flamingos that I can wrestle and put in my yard.

Just make sure they leave no poop around or it could be a big problem.

Because WE, the imperial WE on TOTV can make problems outa ANYTHING. We have proven it time and time again. ;)

Which imperial we are you? I know imperial Patty is from Pattyland.

. Are you like the "king" but rather the queen from Graceland?

Whoops.

Hellooo, that's why THEY have brought in omnivore manure eating pigs.

Au contraire Everybody likes Gracie!

Another example of how well thought out TV is...

Problem with The Sun not printing the story that certainly was news in TV is it makes people curious as to what else they are covering up? Had they printed it when it happened we probably wouldn't be on page 18 of posts. Or maybe that is why they didn't print it - to give us something to talk about. Let me know if you figure this out!

Censorship
 

There is a mentality here in some ways and maybe too many ways similiar to some other well known locations in the news in years past. Most were set up where everything was controlled by some all knowing leader. Most of those entities did not work out so well in the long run. A newspaper should be just that a newspaper and print all the news in an area not just the bad or good. After years of working and life experiences I do not need someone or some newspaper treating me like a 3 year old and decicing what I should and what I should not know or read about. We do take the Daily Sun and the feel good stories are fine but if you want current news and happening it should be called the Day After Sun since it is old news and censored at that by the time it is in the Sun. Most stories they do decide to print are almost word for word from other news sources on the previous day. In this land of the free with all our freedoms we have fought for I am really surprised to find how willing we are to be totally controlled beyond what we agreed to when we signed our purchase agreements.

Holy Bowlegged Sarah! That is just plain silly what you said. The Sun has all the news from the wires. There isn't a conspiracy theory. Most papers have a p******** slant of some kind if that is what is really bothering you. Today I read about the Fort Hood shooter who apparently tried to kill himself and about the credit card companies who are having to return money to their customers for two. They have the national news wire feeds. If you don't like the Sun, get the Orlando Sentinel.

Opinion
 

One persons observation, look around. Don't need to be told I'm silly either.

Question. Why did the gator not eat the lawyer?
Answer. Professional Courtesy!!!!!!

He did not buy the gator; he will have to pay to have it mounted.

Now be careful of those pink flamingos, there’s one with the street name of “Tommy the wing” real bad bird, been kwon to carry extra feathers on his wings. You can recognize him by a small white dot on his nose, got it in 82 when he went one on one with a flamingo called “Bobby the legs” but that’s a different story. lol:pepper2:

Graciegirl you missed the point - they censor any bad news in TV and I'm really not sure what else. Fort Hood and the credit card companies have no negative impact on the image of TV. I love it here (maybe not as much as you) but there is censorship and a lot of us have a probem with that. Look, we are censored on this site and The Sun censors bad stuff in TV. It's a fact and some of us don't agree with it. BUT it is the reality of living in the bubble. And please don't anyone tell me to leave - I really do love it here, but I see some flaws and I just have to accept them - but I won't ignore them.

Freedom of the press means you are free to publish your own news. Perhaps there would be a market for a second newspaper in TV -- or another TOTV-style forum. The Sun and the developers do nothing to limit your choice of news sources. Censorship? Oppression? Come on.

I know that you and everyone else knows that this forum, TalkoftheVillages.com, is owned by an individual who is in no way related to the developer. The young man who owns this forum lives in Atlanta, Georgia and he can do anything he wants with the forum.

Perhaps I am missing something on the issue of The Daily Sun. WHAT besides this story of the man, the dog and the gator do you think has been kept from us? The police blotter is printed and there is news and pictures about sinkholes and other such bad stuff that happens here. WHAT exactly is missing?

That's my point - I don't know what is missing 'cause they may be hiding it!
Actually I didn't know who owned this forum and if that is really the truth can't for the life of me why he thinks he needs to censor it! He surely knows the sex and controvery sells and if he was interested in doing right by his advertisers would want as many people on here as possible.

I'm not looking for a fight or argument with you - I respect your time on here and your knowledge of TV and believe you are probably someone I would be honored to call a friend. I'm just stating my opinion and hope you can respect it as much as I do yours.

Nor am I. You are a responsible and caring person who I admire and respect.

Here's my take on the Sun...

TV's responsibility was to build a house, link it up with a lifestyle and maintain the place. Their paper is not required reading, it's not like there's a quiz on Fridays. It's not TV's responsibility to provide me with all the news, but if I really want more they sell the NY Times and the Post at Publix, you can get almost any paper online. I think some peoples expectations are too high.

The site is privately owned by multiple people based out of Florida and has no affiliation with The Villages Company or Development. Per the site guidelines if you have questions regarding ownership or administrator or moderator actions please private message or email. Talk of the Villages does not censor within the guidelines and terms of the user agreement that all members agree to when registering to participate with the site.