 Not long after moving here in February 1987 and starting work at the Chronicle, I began seeing stories and hearing of a local judge who seemed a little eccentric.
He threw a guy in jail for uttering “bull” during a cop’s testimony during his DUI trial. He ordered someone to kill his pet snakes that bit a friend. The judge (not the guy pictured here) directed another to dismantle his custom pickup truck to resolve a careless driving case.  Let’s start off Monday with a noncontroversial subject: Northern Turnpike extension.
Fooled ya! The County Commission, not this week but next week, will invite citizens to offer their opinion on whether it’s a thumbs up/down on any or all of the potential alignments through Citrus County.  My brain is full from a week of politics so here are three randomly separate blog topics that I may or may not expand on someday:
— Random thought No. 1: Isn’t that a cool photo (Just Wright Citrus standards) from today’s blog of the Chassahowitzka River? Chazz is an awesome community, tucked away in the county’s southwest corner — serene, quiet, unassuming.  We’re bumping Commission Email Thursday a day to talk a bit about Rebecca Bays and the continued fallout from Gov. Ron DeSantis sticking his nose in our electoral business.
At the moment, Bays, a former Citrus County commissioner, is a candidate for House District 23. She is not a candidate for County Commission District 4. At the moment.  It’s Wednesday so let’s talk about Josh Wooten.
His name came up a time or two during Tuesday’s county commission meeting. Wooten has angered the Library Guy Gang for standing up publicly to denounce their hate agenda. He is one of very few — DISAPPOINTINGLY very few — community leaders who has the stones to defend our county against those who wish to do it harm.  Started off my work week at Fort Island Gulf Beach, watching what happens when someone’s idea takes off.
The idea came from Bruce Titus, a Citrus County native who’s been confined to a wheelchair since 2016 when a car struck him while he was riding a bike.  We’re into the campaign sign segment of the political season, which means two things:
1. More campaign signs. 2. More complaints about missing campaign signs.  The Great American Cooter Festival as we know it is coming to a close.
The City of Inverness, which has hosted the Cooter Festival the last weekend of October since 2004, has decided to forego the freebie event and replace it with a three-day country music festival with paid admission. They’re looking to call it Cooter Country Stampede or something like that. Truthfully, I’m bummed.  One thing I’ll say about Library Guy, he never ceases to amaze.
Fresh off his crushing defeat last week by a Library Governing Board majority that would not give in to hate, Library Guy is taking a different route:  A few odds and ends for your Citrus County Wednesday…
— A developer is considering buying the Crystal River Mall with plans to turn it into something other than a mall. Details are lacking at this point, but expect the city of Crystal River to soon receive an application to remove the mall Development of Regional Impact, or DRI, that sets in stone what the property’s development should look like. |
AuthorMike Wright has written about Citrus County government and politics for 39 years. 
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