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Florida Citrus Mutual Members Elect Board for 2008-2009 Season

Contact: Andrew Meadows at (863) 682-1111 or (cell) (863) 944-4924
For Immediate Release:

LAKELAND, Fla. (May 19, 2008) – Florida Citrus Mutual’s grower members have re-elected 20 directors and elected one new director to serve on the association’s board for the 2008-2009 season.

Mutual’s 21-member board sets the direction and the policies of the association, which focuses on trade, legislative and regulatory issues on behalf of Florida’s citrus growers.

FCM board members for the 2008-2009 season are:

District 1 – Re-elected: David Evans, Oviedo, vice president of Nelson & Co.
District 2 – Re-elected: George Neukom, III, Zephyrhills, vice president of
Neukom Properties.
District 3 – Re-elected: Rex Clonts, Oviedo, owner and president of Clonts Farms.
District 4 – Re-elected: Richard “Ric” Freeman, Winter Garden, president of P.H.
Freeman & Sons and Bob Battaglia, Winter Park, vice president of Battaglia Grove Management LLC.
District 5 – Re-elected: P. Louis Haverlock, Balm, president of Lou Ross Citrus,
Inc.
District 6 – Re-elected: Raymond “Bo” Bentley, Jr., Winter Haven, fruit
buyer/harvesting supervisor of Bentley Brothers, Inc.; Dennis Broadaway, Haines
City, general manager of Haines City Citrus Growers Association and Victor Story,
Jr., Lake Wales, president of Story Grove Service, Inc. New Board Member Larry Black, Ft. Meade, operations manager for Peace River Packing Co.
District 7 – Re-elected: Kevin Bynum, Vero Beach, owner/CEO of Premier Citrus;
Tom Jerkins, general manager and VP of Blue Goose Growers and Trey Smith, Vero Beach, vice president of Leroy Smith Inc.
District 8 – Re-elected: Fran Becker, Bradenton, vice president of fruit procurement
for Peace River Citrus Products, Inc. and Steve Sorrells, Arcadia, owner and
president of Sorrells Groves Inc.
District 9 –. Re-elected: J.A. “Jay” Clark III, Wauchula, owner of Clark Farms,
Inc.; Marty McKenna, Sebring, president of McKenna & Associates Citrus, Inc. and
John Smoak, III, Lake Placid, general manager of Smoak Groves, Inc.
District 10 – Re-elected: Steve Ryan, president of Orange-Co., Wade Timpner, LaBelle, vice president of Jackson Citrus and Mark Wheeler, Lake Placid, CFO of Wheeler Farms Inc.

Directors serve one-year terms and will be formally inducted at Mutual’s Annual Meeting on June 11 at the Hyatt Regency Coconut Point in Bonita Springs. Officers for the 2008-2009 season will be elected at that time.

Founded in 1948 and currently representing nearly 8,000 grower members, Florida Citrus Mutual is the state’s largest citrus growers organization. For more information, please visit www.flcitrusmutual.com.

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