 Happy Tuesday!
It doesn’t happen every year, or even every two years, but it happens enough for me to know when it’s about to happen again. That “come to Jesus” moment when politicians realize citizens have had enough. Like we’re experiencing with Betz Farm.  Happy Mother’s Day and a day!
Today’s topic is what I call the "gift that keeps on giving": A story, usually involving local government, that continues to heap weirdness onto itself with no help from anyone other than the newsmakers themselves. It starts with some oddity, the sort of thing that makes a normal person go, “Huh?” Then, the government refuses to acknowledge the obvious when citizens respond.  It was the night of July 5, 2006, when I lay awake in bed, convinced I would not see the light of morning.
A few hours earlier, I had called a friend who would take me to my first 12-step meeting the next day, July 6. But in the detox terror that engulfed me, one thought raced through over and over as I stared at a photo of Erin in her Catholic school uniform. “God, please give me another day so I can see my baby again.”  “Do you think I’m crazy?
Is there something wrong with me? I don’t want to be angry. I ain't trying to be!” — “Ninety Miles” by EmiSunshine Bravery comes in many forms. I saw it taken to a whole other level the other night. A woman stood behind a microphone, her voice edgy as she fought back tears, rage actually. Her son, a sweet, innocent boy who fought valiantly against mental illness, had finally succumbed to its dreadful grip just a week earlier.  Happy Tuesday!
You know, I get aggravated when politics becomes so arrogant it just breezes by citizens as if we don’t even exist. That’s what this latest redistricting thing is. A total, “we’re in charge, we don’t care what you think” move. If politicians want to box us out, they’ll do just that.  A wonderful happy Monday!
Today’s question: Are we over the road craze? Has Citrus County reached a point where the condition of our neighborhood streets and thoroughfares no longer weighs as heavily with us as it once did?  It’s May, so let’s thank a few people.
The shocker in my life isn’t that I write an online column. It’s that I own an actual business. I have an LLC and pay taxes monthly. A framed Inverness Business License sits on my bookshelf. As the blog started heating up, I went out looking for support. And found it. This was all new to me, and I’ve learned in the last five years how valuable sponsorship is to the overall mission.  Scrolling through Facebook the other day, when something made me stop.
It was a promo for a performance in late May at Twistid Arts Initiative, the fabulous nonprofit in Inverness run by Elisha Belden. The performance is called “The Last Encore,” and what caught my immediate attention was its subject.  County Commission meetings like Tuesday’s drive me nuts.
I take plenty of notes, but they lead to nothing. Never been a big fan of the all-talk, little action board meeting. It’s not like commissioners shirked their duty or anything, it’s just I sense a lack of, I don’t know, spark. I don’t see commissioners pushing out fresh ideas or encouraging deep discussion. Instead…blah.  Steve Howard calls ‘em “f-bombs.”
It’s not barroom talk from the Citrus County Administrator, who is about as mild-mannered a guy you’ll ever meet. No, this is Howard’s way of bringing attention to funding issues. Picking out big projects is easy, paying for them is a whole other challenge. |
AuthorMike Wright has written about Citrus County government and politics for 39 years. 
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