Despite a freak cold snap last night, this weekend is shaping up to look like Spring Break: Part Deux — or at least, that’s what we’re telling ourselves.
We’re in the home stretch, guys. The finish line is in sight for seniors, and all the freshman have parted ways with their campus maps and lanyards — finally. That being said, here it is: your is-it-St.-Patrick’s-Day-yet edition of
Darts & Laurels
This week, Gainesville City Commission elections culminated in the incumbent Todd Chase’s victory in District 2, Craig Carter’s win over incumbent Susan Bottcher and a runoff election scheduled in April for At-Large Seat 2 candidates Annie Orlando and Helen K. Warren.
We were surprised when, on election day, copies of the Gainesville Sun arrived with stickers promoting certain political candidates. Although political advertising and sticker ads aren’t new, these particular advertisements could have easily been misconstrued as the paper’s endorsements of those candidates. When the line between editorial content and political advertisement is blurred, problems arise — putting ads on the front page that look like endorsements is misleading to readers, and for that, we’re throwing a DART at the Gainesville Sun.
Remember when news broke that Subway used the same chemicals in its bread used to make shoe soles and yoga mats more elastic? As if you needed more of an excuse to shy away from their questionable lunch meats and overrated sweet chilli sauce.
However, Subway announced late last month that it would quit using the gross compound azodicarbonamide. The changes are slated to hit UF soon, and for that we give a begrudging OK-those-meatball-subs-aren’t-so-bad LAUREL to Subway headquarters.
In other sandwich-related news, Gainesville lunch lovers were disappointed to learn this week that the last Quiznos location in GNV is shuttering its doors for good on Saturday. The owner, Lance O’Carroll, told the Alligator that he planned to retire after realizing sales had been gradually declining.
Are you serious?! If Subway, Jimmy John’s and Quiznos were the original members of TLC, Quiznos would be Left Eye — a stunning talent met by an untimely and tragic death. In light of this unfortunate news, we’re throwing a DART at Gainesville sandwich consumers who don’t know a good sub when they see one.
And, finally, your feel-good news of the week: We want to award our final LAUREL to Gainesville Harley Davidson and local law enforcement for helping Marc Okes, a local 8-year-old boy with a cancerous brain tumor, achieve his dream of riding a motorcycle. Marc rode sidecar to Gainesville Harley Davidson owner Kevin Lytle’s motorcycle alongside a crowd of Gainesville motorcycle owners.
“It was my favorite day because I never done that in my whole entire life,” Marc told the Alligator. Well said, dude.
See you on Monday!
[A version of this editorial ran on page 6 on 3/14/2014 under the headline "Darts & Laurels"]
