 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.  They called him the “people’s commissioner,” an apt moniker for a man who spent five terms in office.
Gary Bartell was also my first real Citrus County commissioner, a politician who spoke freely with reporters without rancor or arrogance. And, boy, did he love Homosassa politics. Gary, whom I’ll refer to today as Commissioner Bartell, died Friday at age 80. As word spread through the community, I couldn’t help but harken back 20 years to a political structure foreign in today’s world.  Happy Friday! We’re going a little short today in honor of Ardath Prendergast.
It’s common to poke some fun at Ardath, the diminutive chamber vice president who is winding down after a brilliantly successful 16-year career. Ardath stands about 4-foot-nothin’. But she’s the tallest person in the room based on her service to the community. Ardath’s official title is vice president of government affairs and projects. In reality, everyone knows Ardath as the person who Gets Things Done.  Happy Thursday! Today’s theme: Mike empties out his notebook.
I’m a note-taking person. I have reporter notepads next to my laptop, on another table 10 feet away, in the car, next to my bed…you get it. We all know the note-takers. I sat with someone at Cattle Dog the other day, and she took copious notes during our talk. Others are like those restaurant servers who can take an order from a table of eight without a single note.  Let’s see where this goes.
It was very early in my Chronicle career when I learned Citrus County desperately wanted a Major League Baseball spring training site. The county had a group of business leaders who shopped Citrus County to prospective teams looking to relocate.  On the days between blog ideas, or when the tank is simply low, I go out looking for inspiration.
That’s usually a drive, but also a good walk will do it. And that’s how I found myself Monday morning in Inverness at the site of Friday’s explosion at Storm Distillery. The owner, David Mohr, is hospitalized in critical condition, according to numerous Facebook posts. Someone provided an opportunity at the business for passersby to write messages of encouragement and healing for David and others affected by this tragedy.  Happy Monday! Today we continue part 7 of the series, “Betz Farm: The Early Years.”
Ha! Just yankin’ your early week chain. Nah, we’re looking at something much more basic and timelier: Campaign money. I’ve been writing about campaign money for more than a day or two, and the story never changes. Voters want to know how much candidates are getting, from whom, and how they are spending it. |
AuthorMike Wright has written about Citrus County government and politics for 39 years. 
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