 My newspaper career began before I could drive.
I delivered the Macomb Daily each afternoon on my bicycle to subscribers in our suburban Detroit neighborhood. Not sure how I became a paperboy. Sounds like something Mom volunteered me for.  Don’t tell the boss I played hooky Tuesday.
It came down to a simple choice: Spend the afternoon in a cold, dark cave known as the County Commission Chambers. Or visit the Citrus County Fair.  Peeking at the County Commission agenda while wondering if I can spend at least an hour each day this week at the Citrus County Fair…
— The county is re-upping a contract for the Code Compliance special master. This in itself is not newsworthy, but it sparked thoughts of single person vs. volunteer board. “Special master" is a fancy term for “hearing officer.” The concept works the same. Rather than an all-volunteer board that hears cases and then makes decisions, the county hires an attorney to do that.  Happy Monday! Let’s start the week talking about Steve Howard.
Here’s what I like about Steve: That dude is focused. As Citrus County Administrator for a little over a year, Steve has fended off more public daggers than his predecessors.  Just when I think life can’t get any more fun comes this idea from School Board member Thomas Kennedy.
Thomas is one of those board members who like to showcase schools, classrooms, kids, and that kind of thing. Long as I’ve known him, he’s helped make the connections between the Big Picture, and its effect on kids and teachers.  At the risk of ruining my Thursday, let’s talk about the sheriff’s race.
I would usually need to conduct a dozen town hall meetings to get the variety of opinion expressed in last Friday’s blog about the photo of Sheriff Mike Prendergast in full SWAT gear glaring at Dennis Gene Himmel, who had just been arrested in a drug bust for dealing fentanyl. The blog made a point that the photo was a political setup, retribution against Himmel’s mother, Superintendent of Schools Sandra “Sam” Himmel, who has feuded publicly with Prendergast for many years.  Mike note: At a friend’s insistence, I decided to take a mental health day on Presidential Preference Primary Tuesday. In keeping with the election theme, I’m running a favorite blog from back in December 2021 about Ozello in the pre-glampground days.
We’ve spent a lot of time recently talking about Ozello so let’s go with a funny story from years gone by. From a political standpoint, Ozello has probably had no more or less decent representation on the County Commission than any other small corner of the county. Ozello has few issues that I can recall other than protecting what they have.  A little off the beam Monday, so it’s tidbit Tuesday…
— During last week’s County Commission discussion on the budget, someone asked for a list of the top county taxpayers. A report showed up in the commission email this week, and while not surprising, it’s still interesting fodder. The top 10 in 2023:  Meanwhile, back to boring old regular politics.
The Citrus County Chamber of Commerce released its annual Temperature Check survey of members about the state of the county and its politicians. Coincidentally, around the same time, someone sent me the results of an informal survey, distributed to numerous Facebook groups, related to candidates for local elections.  This time, no late-night rewrites.
I’m just going to say what I want to say. I know it’s Friday, but we need a grownup conversation about the photo with today’s blog. You probably saw it this week on the sheriff’s Facebook page, or in various media. The shirtless man with tats in cuffs is Dennis Gene Himmel, accused of dealing fentanyl. |
AuthorMike Wright has written about Citrus County government and politics for 36 years. 
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