 Of the many blessings Citrus County offers, my favorites are numerous drives to nowhere.
And I took one such drive on Thursday to one of my favorite drive-to-nowhere destinations, Inglis/Yankeetown. Now, before you start in on the geography lesson, I realize that Inglis and Yankeetown are not, technically, in Citrus County. Driving up U.S. 19, that’s Levy County on the other side of the Withlacoochee River.  Sorry to start your day on a low note, but we do not have Commission Email Thursday.
I know, I know. Disappointing. For us both. The email batch of the week came randomly from Commissioner Scott Carnahan and, frankly, was pretty dry. I doubt that has anything to do with Carnahan. Sometimes it just happens (though it rarely happens with Commissioners Holly Davis and Ruthie Davis Schlabach, who each have a ton of email interaction with the public).  Today’s blog is nothing like the one I planned. And I blame it all on Crystal River Councilman Ken Brown.
See, the idea was pretty cool. Knowing that the library debate would go on for hours, and what would be said had already been said more than a few times in recent months, I had decided to keep a running diary. I would then edit it down to something that makes sense and you, the loyal Just Wright Citrus reader, could relive these exciting moments right along with me.  In other county government news of significance related to neither Target nor Library Guy…
— The county commission has a road resurfacing workshop Tuesday morning where commissioners will be told what they already know and the administration will push heavily on a sales tax referendum.  I love a good zoning fight. My earliest experience in covering local government was in college, writing stories about the local city council. Government is a lot of things that people don’t like, but zoning is another animal. It’s personal. It’s neighbor vs. neighbor (or, more likely neighbor vs. developer). These are folks fighting for their privacy, peace of life, their manner of living.  In 1994 Helen Spivey ran for State Representative and had no chance.
Sure, she was a Crystal River councilwoman and avowed environmentalist during a time when that was important. And Spivey co-chaired the Save the Manatee Club with Jimmy Buffett (that’s them in the photo, from the club’s website).  So it’s come to this.
A national hate group is bragging how it pushed around the locals in backwater Citrus County, Florida. You have to wonder, at what point does a community stand up and say “Enough!”  We interrupt this week of grown-up conversation to return to the sandbox known as the Citrus County Library Advisory Board appointments.
A process that would usually take about 14 seconds now will require a full day of…well, we’re not exactly sure what will transpire Tuesday when the seven-member library governing board — five commissioners, plus a council member from each city — will choose five advisory board members from 39 applicants.  Here’s something you’re not going to see every day:
Me changing my mind on something I felt pretty sure about. Such as, I felt sure a sales tax referendum to help pay for repaving neighborhood roads and providing marine law enforcement to the sheriff’s office, among other things, was a good idea.  Everyone have a nice Easter? Plenty of ham, turkey and chocolate bunnies? Good. Let’s start the post-Easter week by talking about county taxes.
As in, they’re likely going up. And that’s not a bad thing if done correctly. |
AuthorMike Wright has written about Citrus County government and politics for 36 years. 
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