The Days and Nights of Catherine Evermore

Donna Deegan’s incompetence has gotten on my last good nerve.

JTA is circling the drain and Jacksonville is paying the tab. Nearly $40 million in the hole, almost 200 people getting pink slips, Skyway parked, NAVI mothballed, buses cut back to Saturday schedules, and a stack of delinquent bills stretching back years.

The outgoing CEO still collects a fat paycheck while the agency he left behind begs City Hall for a $30 million gas-tax lifeline.

That is not a rough patch. That is a wreck.

Meanwhile the mayor’s orbit keeps drawing subpoenas like a magnet.

State prosecutors and the AG have already gone fishing through city and utility records over board games, lobbying contracts, immigration livestreams, and more.

Whether the latest paper lands on JTA letterhead or the next authority over, the pattern is the same: sloppy oversight, political score-settling, and an administration that treats independent agencies like personal chess pieces until the money runs out and riders get stranded.

Donna Deegan promised to clean up the “toxic culture.”

Instead Jacksonville got grant money left on the table, service cuts for working people who actually use the bus, and another round of lawyers reading emails.

The city needed a mayor who could run the trains and the books. It got press conferences and investigations.

That’s the failure.

In 2024, the Duval County School Board unanimously hired Dr. Christopher Bernier as superintendent after he abruptly resigned from Lee County Schools.

Board members knew of an ongoing whistleblower investigation into allegations of bullying, intimidation, and a “violent temper,” and said they had done due diligence.

A later Lee County report cleared the most serious claims but found he had spoken to a senior staffer with profanity and in ways witnesses called “dehumanizing,” “insulting,” and disrespectful.

Much has been said about Mayor Donna Deegan’s appearance at a pro-Palestine event earlier this year. She stood on the stage with the flag of Palestine and a lectern covered with a keffiyeh that is a kerchief worn by pro-Hamas, anti-Israel terrorists.

Her appearance at this event was posted on social media on the same day as the Holocaust Remembrance Day, and members of the Jacksonville Jewish community, as well as others, were livid.

Deegan made the following statement after receiving backlash:

“It’s disappointing to see partisan actors use people’s rich heritage to divide our community.” (Donna Deegan)

Donna Deegan just doesn’t get it.

She doesn’t understand why people are upset.

She blamed the people who were offended for being offended.

Isn’t that like blaming a victim for being a victim?

Donna Deegan has embarrassed our city many times before; however, this might be the greatest embarrassment of all.

© Catherine Evermore. All rights reserved.

Funny story! Well, maybe not that funny.

After suffering with an allergic reaction to blood thinner #1, I started taking blood thinner #2. Most of the issues with the first one had finally cleared up, but the second one, while much better, wasn’t completely allergic reaction free.

So, I asked the doctor if I could take it at night instead of each morning.

Why?

So glad you asked. Because if I was going to feel sick after taking it at least I would be sleeping through most of the nausea and wake up each morning nausea-free.

Let’s move on …

Two weeks have passed and I got a call from the hospital cardio rehab center. It seems they received a referral for me to attend rehap sessions.

How many? 3 x a week for 6 weeks.

Do these people know me? I’m old, and tired, and won’t be making trips anywhere to exercise.

My response:  That’s not going to work out for me. Sorry. Maybe later in the year but not right now.

Thank the dear Lord for patient portals because I used mine to let my doctor know that Friday was the first time I had heard about any cardio rehab sessions, and maybe we could discuss this when I see him in a few months.

That’s it. That’s the post for today. ~CE

When I was going through chemo for cancer, I used my website to write about my journey, good and bad. It helped to just bang away on the keyboard and type whatever came to my foggy brain.

Such is the case today!

Earlier this week, I was in the hospital for two days for two different heart procedures:  a heart cath & stent, and a TCC.

My cardiologist performed the first procedure, and another doctor performed the second. I survived both but the after-effects have been awful.

Why?

I didn’t sleep for nearly 36 hours between #1 and #2. Nothing I was given during my overnight stay put me to sleep. Nothing!

By the time I was wheeled in for the TCC (a procedure that took a picture of the back side of my heart), I was ready to be knocked out.

Oh, by the way, I had an allergic reaction to the injection that I was given prior to the heart cath. That was not fun!

Finally, I was sent home with an additional prescription for another blood thinner to be added to the 14 pills that I’m already taking. This new blood thinner has been a disaster.

Why?

It makes everything taste like metal. No joke. This reminds me of my chemo days when I had the same reaction to the poison they injected through a port embedded in my chest.

But wait, there is more!

I cut my hand. I didn’t just cut it, I sliced it across the top and as of today (day 4) it has finally stopped bleeding.

What did the cardio doc’s office tell me to do? Go to the ER or an urgent care center.

That wasn’t going to happen. I can’t run there each time I cut myself. They might as well wrap me up like a mummy!

So much for now. ~CE