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. There was a time when I really enjoyed Wednedays. Middle of the week, hump day, and all that. It has become one of my favorite days of the week, particularly on the Just Wright Citrus schedule that allegedly provides a “day off” on Friday, making your Wednesday my Thursday. It’s also the day following the County Commission meeting meaning it’s my first free day of the week. The beauty of having my own blog is every so often I write something that has little interest outside of the space between my ears. I always thought it would be fun to review the local government websites and grade them on a list of random criteria. Sunshine Week provides that opportunity. So, how does one go about grading websites? Easy! He does it during the County Commission meeting instead of listening to budget talk. We interrupt our Sunshine Week of scintillating public records chat for a word about Chick-fil-A. First, a little history about emails and me. We media types started to see early on how valuable these things could be. But it wasn’t until the Brown Schools debacle that I really saw their potential. Welcome to the most important part of the calendar you’ve never heard of. Sunshine Week! More fun than the Citrus County Fair (not true), Sunshine Week draws attention to how well — or not —the government is doing in performing its public work in public. It’s certainly been busy of late. Every day it seems I’m either on the phone, chatting online, or enjoying a frozen hot chocolate at Cattle Dog, with the movers and shakers who make Citrus County such a joy to write about. I’ve noticed a certain pattern in many of these conversations. Sure, we talk about politics. Mainly, though, there’s a common theme from whoever it is I’m chatting with: |
AuthorMike Wright has written about Citrus County government and politics for 36 years. Archives
April 2024
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