 It’s Wednesday, so let’s talk about Josh Wooten:
— Josh has been my friend for over 30 years. — He leads a strong Chamber of Commerce of 1,200 members. I cannot imagine a better business advocacy organization. My business would never have gotten off the ground without Josh and the Chamber.  Happy Tuesday! Let’s go full government geek today.
This is not related to the County Administrator’s performance or his pay. It’s not about employee evaluations or whether he’s a good guy. Nope, just this question: How do we know if the Steve Howard/County Commission relationship is thriving? What’s our gauge for success?  And it’s a new week. Yay!
Bunny Road Trips help get the creative juices going. One such idea from a recent drive made the playbook. It has to do with the voter mandate. After every election, no matter who wins, we always talk about what it all means. You know, what’s the voter mandate with such-and-such result?  Good morning, friends. Let’s chat.
I wrote this blog late Thursday. I had a difficult time finding the right words to convey what took place in the previous 48 hours. I’ll get to that, but first let me just share what's on my heart, OK? This ugliness, this social media circus has left our community in shambles. We once had friendly debate. Now it’s clownish cartoons, ridiculing the appearance of women candidates, and constant gotcha.  In a week that’s been weirder than most, comes this:
I hit a deer. It was Tuesday night around 8:30, taking a Bunny Road Trip. Heading along Istachatta Road right near the Hernando County line. I’m quite familiar with that stretch of road. I drive slowly and expectantly because, you know, critters dart from the woods all the time.  Happy Wednesday!
Watched Tuesday’s County Commission meeting online from World Headquarters III. It was one of those “in other business” meetings, meaning nothing jumped out. These meetings made me crazy at the Chronicle. What is my lead? Golf carts? No vote. Library? No discussion. Landfill? No details.  Happy Tuesday!
OK, first off, don’t even try. Unless you’re quite familiar with where I’m standing for today’s photo, you’ll never guess. It’s not Citrus County. I’ll explain below. (And, yet I am quite positive that at least a few JWC readers will, in fact, know this location. We have some explorers in the bunch.)  Mike note: July 13 is the 17th anniversary of mine and Deb’s first date. I wrote this blog on Thursday to run today in Deb’s memory and then considered bumping it to instead honor retired Judge Trish Thomas, who died Sunday morning.
I decided to stick with the Deb blog. I’ll have my Trish thoughts later in the week. Prayers for our community. It all started at Patriotic Evening. We had been texting through the day at work, a friendly banter that bordered on flirting. I asked if she was going to watch the fireworks. She said probably not.  Happy Friday!
So, here’s the deal. I don’t wear ties very often — never did. But in retirement, it’s even rarer. I think I’m down to four total ties. There are three days in even-numbered years that I wear a tie: Primary Day, Election Day…and the Citrus County Chronicle political forum.  Here’s what I’ll say about the performances from candidates at Tuesday’s Chronicle forum:
Few surprises. Some rose to the occasion, but most played it safe. Expressing confidence, while also sticking to the script. |
AuthorMike Wright has written about Citrus County government and politics for 39 years. 
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