Sarasota County Sheriff Tom Knight is pleased to announce that he has named Colonel Ben Knisely, United States Army (retired), as the new Military/Veterans Liaison Officer for the Sarasota County Sheriff's Office.

Sheriff Knight created the volunteer position to provide a point of contact for the many former military personnel seeking employment with the Sheriff’s Office. Knisely will also represent the agency on the Sarasota County Veterans Commission, and coordinate the agency’s interaction with the area’s other military and veterans organizations.

Knisely grew up in Sarasota County, graduated from Riverview High School, Manatee Junior College (now State College of Florida) and the University of South Florida, and then embarked on a 27-year career with the Army.

SARASOTA, Florida - On September 11, thousands of people found themselves trapped in the World Trade Center towers when the planes hit. One Bay area man happened to be there by chance.

Daniel Hoffe is a wealth management advisor. Ten years ago, he told 10 News Reporter Isabel Mascarenas about those terrifying moments and, a decade later, he recalls the terror and reflects on how 9-11 changed his life.

"I want people to remember the heroes. I'm just a survivor," says Hoffe.

At 8:14 a.m. on September 11, the Morgan Stanley advisor from Sarasota was on the 61^st floor of WTC's South Tower, known as Tower 2. "We'd finished training and were actually on a break," recalls Hoffe.

Meanwhile, United Airlines flight #175 had taken off from Boston's Logan Airport. A half hour passed. Hoffe says, "I had gotten some coffee. I was on the side of the South Tower facing the North. I could look out and see the North Tower."

Sarasota, Florida-Newsweek ranks New College of Florida the eighth most Free-Spirited college in "The Best Colleges for You," the magazine's annual rankings guide in the Sept. 5, 2011, issue and online.

Newsweek compiled the list of Free-Spirited colleges based on how much students can design their own majors, the use of written evaluations over letter grades and a student's personal learning experience as measured by the total enrollment and student to faculty ratio.

New College of Florida's student/faculty ratio of 10 to 1 fosters a personal learning environment that allows students to work collaboratively with faculty mentors on coursework, research and independent study projects.