What About Bob?

As Governor Charlie listened to a story over at McAuliffe Elementary Thursday, a thought occurred to me.

No matter how his case turns out, I very much doubt accused state Rep. Bob Allen will ever step foot inside a classroom again.

But wouldn't it be great if he tried? Think the press is bad? Try taking on a room full of kindergartners.

"My mommy told me to never talk to strangers."

"I saw you on TV."

"You talk too much."

"I like going to the park, too."

"My mommy and daddy called you a bad name. So did my Pop-Pop."

"You don't look so fat in person."

Kids.

You gotta love them.

God only knows what they asked Charlie.

Chalk Dust-Up

Heck no, we won't go...to our neighborhood school.

Protesters dressed in their best back-to-school uniforms drew and crossed the metaphorical line in the sand this week by showing up for school at the Osprey and Sawgrass charters, recently closed by the Brevard County School Board.

The adults in charge chalked the day up as a victory, confident their appeal to the state will reverse the decision by those who closed the book on the schools.

It ain't over 'til it's over.

Bad grammar aside, you gotta admit.

That stance takes some set of erasers.

Load Up the Truck

Brevard County schools are 275 kids in the black.

Everyone is happy--the district, the teachers, the business community. Even the kids are happy to be back in school after the long summer vacation.

But the parents--many ready to load up the truck and move to Beverly--how happy are they, saddled with the burden of high property taxes and equally high home insurance costs?

The number of Brevard existing-home sales by Realtors fell 18 percent in the second quarter -- to 1,500 from 1,833 in the second quarter of 2006. State legislators now face a cool $2 billion in budget cuts over the next two years due to the ice cold Florida housing market.

Is student enrollment up simply because the farm won't sell?

Once the cold snap breaks with a predictable warming of the Brevard real estate market, will families stick around or cut and run, forcing school districts across the Sunshine State to deal with the effects of an anomaly merely stalled?

Public Exposure

It's interesting that Florida's Sunshine Law was used to the full extent regarding disgraced state Rep. Bob Allen, but in the case of 29-year-old Aaron Zylstra--shot dead by two Palm Bay police officers-- the general public is provided no copy of the assistant attorney general's findings that called the shooting justified.

There must be a report somewhere. Where is it?

Why hasn't that report been obtained by Florida Today and published for the public to read?

Where's the PDF file on this incident?

Every citizen in Brevard appears subject to some sort of public exposure when mistakes are made--the most recent being teachers cited on the state's Discipline against Educators licenses list.Yet a hands-over-the-eyes policy appears in place for law enforcement.

Is the public's right to know crossing the thin blue line?

Public Records and You

Florida has a new hobby.

Putting people on lists.

The list movement may have started with Deb Lafave, convicted for lewd and lascivious battery of a student. The former teacher is far too notorious to feature on just two lists, the Florida Sex Offender Registry and the Corrections Offenders Network.

Let's create yet another list. She was a teacher. Let's do a Teacher list, featuring disciplinary actions against teachers. List number Three for Ms. Lafave.

A visit to the Discipline Against Educators Licenses site features the following disclaimer in bright red letters:

"Criminal charges listed on this site do not necessarily indicate the individual pled guilty to, or was convicted of the criminal offense."

Hmm. I wonder how many people actually read the disclaimer.

Second question.

How many actually follow up on the actual circumstances that land anyone on a list?

A national child abuse registry is also in the works. Ms. LaFave will probably make that list as well. List Four.

As far as Mr. Blackwell's Worst Dressed List, it's safe to say--judging from attire worn through her court proceedings--she won't make List number Five.

The innocuous list--that once bulleted things to do or groceries to buy or recommended a good read from the New York Times "Bestsellers List"--has become Florida's favorite use of public records.

How far away are we from a Criminal Records List featuring the general population? A guy over in Orlando is profiting off just that. JAIL is a weekly newspaper filled with unflattering mug shots of the locals, outing neighbors and sometimes...outing you or your kids.

But we all need to know who our neighbors are.....right?

***

"Sometimes the first duty of intelligent men is the restatement of the obvious."

--George Orwell

(Certainly featured on a someone's list somewhere).

Two Tiers of Justice

Disgraced former Florida Rep. Mark Foley--who resigned his congressional seat amid a scandal about e-mail messages to teenage pages--may be off the hook.

The FDLE says neither Foley nor the House will let investigators examine his congressional computers.

Investigators requested the machines, but the House--CONGRESS--claims computers are considered congressional work papers, and only Foley can release them.

As the former Missing and Exploited Children's Caucus Co-Chair, Mark Foley helped legislate the laws criminalizing the very actions he participated in himself.

Apparently, the law does not apply to Mark Foley.

Bob Allen heads to court Monday. Will the law apply to him?

And if not, why are We subject to the full extent of the law, but not Them?

Angry yet, Brevard?

Talk to Me.

Political Suicide?

The Orlando Sentinel is reporting that three men in their 30s have been found dead in a residence owned by the former Executive Director of the Georgia Republican Party in Orlando, Florida, Ralph Gonzalez.

Gonzalez--president of the Strategum Group, an Orlando political consulting firm--has been identified as one of the deceased. Republican candidates represented by the group include many that call Central Florida home--state Rep. Andy Gardiner-Orlando and recently indicted former state Rep of District 36, Sheri McInvale.

Strategum Group also counted U.S. Rep Tom Feeney-District 24 as a client.

Taking Names Scott Maxwell writes "Ralph was always been a hard worker who ate, slept and breathed politics. Lately, he was gearing up for a special legislative election. And when we talked Monday he said he thought he might have a tough campaign ahead ... but that he was ready for it."

Police are calling the crime scene a double murder-suicide.

Read more about the developing story here.

Hee-Haw

Bob Allen's story is a lot like Pinnochio's nose. It just keeps getting longer and longer.

As the Geppetto of his own making, the latest story is Allen ventured into the park bathroom to avoid being struck by lightning.

The tale begins to splinter with the claim that Allen so feared the man in the next stall, he just wanted to get rein the guy into in his car, make fast tracks off Pleasure Island and gallop to the nearest KSC security gate to hee-haw for help.

Over the Max Brewer in the same car where Allen could've waited out the storm. That's where the story sprouts ears and grows one Monstro of an alleged tale...'er, I mean tail.

Bob, stop pulling our strings and get real because I don't even think the Blue Fairy can get you out of this one.

No matter how many wishes you make on a star.

Dog Days

Melbourne Beach has had one dog of a year.

Not too long ago, the town bit the hand that fed them by booting out the local Hot Dog Man.

More recently, the issue of ill-mannered dogs--perhaps, the rogue human hand biter--delayed the commission's decision to allow dogs to dine with their owners at outdoor restaurants.

Liability is no yapping matter.

Although I think the next mega fortune stands to be made in doggie utensils, canines congregating en mass as their owners kibble back and forth over a decadent meal, dangling forks of scrumptious tidbits within inches of Pavlov's nose, well-- I'm not even certain how long Lassie could hold out.

With law enforcement tazing packs running wild in Cocoa, I'd rather not be the next on the menu when good dogs go bad. My instinct tells me one thing.

Take the doggie bag to go.

By Way of Fate

Don't lie to me, Melbourne.

You've done it and so have I.

Old enough to know better, yet young enough to take a chance, we've made that fated conscious choice to go where no driver should ever go.

We've traveled Wickham Road.

Yes, we could have taken the long way around via John Rodes Blvd., but no, we fought that urge, thinking that this time--this time--would be different. For one single stress-free drive, Wickham would be the road less traveled, a wide open strip of sleek graded ribbon that once threaded south through the ranch land, leading all who dared to Five Points in West Melbourne. True, thirty years ago, teens driving VW's with surf racks would have been drop dead stupid to head that direction, the better choice being to travel north instead, towards Lake Washington Road, where the natives were a bit on the horsey side, but hey, Mr. Ed--much, much friendlier.

Perhaps, the old habits and ways are what fuels our drive to make the same mistake over and over, to turn down a road where we're destined to sit and fume for who knows how long as one of the 40,000 drivers daily that will also sit and fume, some with a/c in the car and the other poor souls without the cool sustenance that keeps Florida habitable.

Wickham Road aka Memory Lane brakes our lives to a complete stop, back to the old school times while traffic holds us captive in the recall of our yesterdays.

Dean! Dean! Dean!

Dean is alive and kicking, in sync with the start of the school year.

As Hurricane Kid storms school Monday morning--smartly dressed in new back to school clothes-- beleaguered parents can turn watchful eyes from their children and toward the tropics.

Many are surfing naked--without insurance--through this storm season. It's just too expensive to suit up.

With FEMA all but posting a "Been Struck Once? Sorry." sign for nonprofits and local governments, good luck getting any help from the feds.

Those the most tempted to do without insurance stand the most to lose as the Most Unlikely to Rebound should catastrophe hit.

That's way too many "mosts" for "most" people.

Chigger Alert

Remember when the living was easy?

These days, we've find ourselves knee deep in chiggers, ticks, fleas and other parasitic ankle biters, many of which we elected to public office.

Stop itching and start talking, Brevard County.

This weekend, it's all about you.

Talk to Me.

Think for Yourself

The mind is a terrible thing to waste.

So don't.

Happy Friday.

Bob Allen Derailed

It's official.

Bob Allen is a train wreck.

After House Speaker Marco Rubio slammed the brakes on the state Rep's chairmanship of the House Energy Committee, Allen veered off track with a retort that would best be described as one car short of a full load.

"In Cuba, that's where you are charged by police, wrapped up and sent off as guilty without a trial," Allen said. "That's a Cuba thing, something Fidel Castro does."

Incidentally, Rubio is the first Cuban-American to preside over the Florida House.

No, no. That's not what Allen meant.

"I mean any totalitarian government regime," he said, "any regime where the police have the only word and there is no justice. Cuba is just the closest one."

Insert foot in mouth yet again.

The man is simply derailed.

Last Stop. Resignation.

Cracker Radio

I was surprised Scott Duncan lasted as long as he did on WMMB--AM (1240). He had big shoes to fill upon the departure of previous host Bill Mick and tried his best to stomp libertarian on the Space Coast while calling Volusia County home. It just didn't work.

To "diss" the Brevard County "homies", your home best be in Brevard County.

One has to live among the locals to urge them past their sawgrass boundaries, both political and personal. At bare bones minimum, the sharing of home turf might have given Duncan a fighting chance. (Chewing on a bit of humble swamp cabbage pie now and again might have helped out with a crowd who measures a man like an airboat in terms of how best he handles the terrain).

What's really weird is Monday's broadcast--destined to air as Duncan's last as morning host of Space Coast Talks--actually resonated with me. The Monday Round Table crowd had gathered to ponder the ever growing presence of government in our lives. The discussion proved melancholic, as the three grown men reminisced about better days gone by. What of tomorrow, next week, the days ahead for us-for our kids? Would life ever be the same? With our constitutionally guaranteed privacy rights trounced by FISA--recently reauthorized by a Congress we elected to bar the door closed against the eavesdropping big bad wolf--had life become just one big "Can you hear me now?"

Bill Mick--sliding home to welcoming hoots and hollers--obviously knows how to play up the ratings game with the home team crowd, intimating the first guest on his show would be news magnet Bob Allen, R-Merritt Island--a local who has learned the hard way just how quickly the crowd can turn on one of their own.

Bob just might pitch Bill the same question. "Will life ever be the same?"

No SCHIP

U.S. Rep. Tom Feeney (R-Oviedo) called the recent expansion of SCHIP--the State Children's Health Insurance Program that insures poor children and is set to expire September 30--"irresponsible legislation" and "one giant leap toward socialized medicine".

Sort of like the health care benefits Feeney receives as a member of Congress?

Called the Rolls Royce of Health Care, the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program (FEHBP) has covered federal workers and retirees for over 40 years. Federal employees share the cost of health care benefits coverage with their employer, the U.S. Government.

The government (meaning taxpayers like you and me) pays 72% of the average premium but not more than 75%. A rank-and-file Congressman saw the remaining 25% deducted from his $13,766 monthly paycheck (also paid for by you and me).

(Interesting enough, FEHBP has long been considered the model for Medicare reform, yet many members of Congress have strongly opposed such a creation. Read more here).

Feeney indicates the reauthorization of SCHIP would cost taxpayers over $105 billion during the next five years by slashing funding for free-market Medicare programs. The House bill that Feeney calls "irresponsible" is applauded by AARP CEO Bill Novelli. "This legislation helps older Americans, helps kids and helps doctors," he said. "It is opposed by the tobacco and insurance companies. Who are the American people going to side with?"

That said, could the real reason behind the curious opposition to SCHIP be found here, among the Party Faithful?

The Public School Catch-22

Florida's public school systems stand to lose major money due to state budget cuts. Brevard County Schools alone is projected to lose $12 million.

At the same time, school systems are bound to the class-size amendment and new this year--by law--elementary school kids must receive 150 minutes of physical education weekly.

Back in March, Governor Charlie signed the Teacher Bonus Bill into law as an incentive to attract and retain Florida teachers.

It's a legislated financially mandated Catch 22.

The governor appears open to citizen input, so allow me to toss a couple of suggestions his way that would immediately benefit current Florida teachers and attract educators to a state wobbling financially.

Brevard County legislators, feel free to take note and carry forth to Tallahassee.

***

--Forgive student loans for teachers working in Title One schools five years or longer.

Such an incentive would effect an immediate salary increase for professionals working in more challenging schools. The feds sponsored such a program that proved date bound and excluded most long time experienced educators from loan forgiveness. Check it out here.

--Allow Florida educators to take early retirement at 25 years without penalty.

Florida teachers can retire anytime before reaching age 62 or 30 years service, but should they choose to retire and pull their pension early, educators enrolled in the Florida Retirement System Pension Plan are subject to an early retirement reduction. The benefit will be reduced 5% for each year the educator's age at retirement is under normal retirement age. With the hiring demands for Florida teachers high and the funds to compensate the same tenuous, a "25 Year and Out" program could make more money available for educators needed to fill teaching positions. Read more here.

***

In recent years, Florida focus has been all about keeping experienced educators on the job in the public schools. The state's troubled financial times and constitutionally mandated need for an ever-increasing number of newly hired teachers, may force the Legislature to readdress the goal to retain while figuring out how to pay for those much-needed teachers they hope to attract.

Read more about the Governor's education budget here.

Hot Stuff

Hey, Brevard County!

The heat is on.

Are you hot around the collar, steamed over a community concern?

Cool off here.

This weekend, it's all about you.

Talk to Me.

Crosses at School

A recent Letter to the Editor caught my attention with the suggestion that parents volunteer to serve the community as school crossing guards.

Back in the 1960's-- when my brothers and I attended elementary school--my mom volunteered in the clinic as a Gray Lady. She completed the required coursework and once official, performed her responsibilities seriously and efficiently, at no cost to anyone but herself--for the training and purchase of the uniform. I can still see her, all perky and crisp--Red Cross pin affixed to her lapel-- always at the ready to reassure sick school children as if they were her own. In fact, a lot of kids thought my mom was a nurse.

I'm uncertain as to what happened to Gray Ladies in the school clinic but I'm fairly certain the dispensing of prescribed medication to children had everything to do with the demise of the friendly volunteer mom in the clinic.

Thinking back to the days a crossing guard walked the elementary school me across Croton Road, I remember the same person, every day--standing at the light with a Safety Patrol in tow--taking that job as serious as a heart attack.

The crossing guard could've been a trained volunteer, just like my mom. Regardless, both performed their assigned duties so diligently, everything about their performance screamed "paid".

Law enforcement will tell you that crossing pedestrians is one dangerous job, even for the professionals. Many officers are injured--and sometimes killed--directing traffic. Although money could be saved through the training of volunteer crossing guards, my instincts tell me--in the litigious world in which we live--one thing.

Not going to happen.

I can also be certain that Brevard County schools takes the safety of children traveling to and from school very seriously and with that said, I expect crossing guards to remain constantly on vigil for our kids, the first day of school August 20th and throughout the years to come.

Revisit the Past

My father was laid off from the space center during the 1970's.

Finding a comparable job in the area proved tough for him as well as the many others who had worked the NASA heydays.

As a teenager, it was all about me back then. We had to relocate and it killed me to miss my senior year and my graduation with the classmates I had known since the second grade.

As an adult, I now know how much the layoff killed my dad.

In the glory days, Brevard County was an industry town that lived and breathed high tech pride in the launches that sent everyone scurrying outside for the best vantage point, our eyes shaded and searching for the first glimpse of a new star headed for orbit.

And then it was gone, winked out of site.

The Brevard County Commission should revisit the past to head back to the future when planning the post-Shuttle years. Find a way to retain the skilled employees of the industry who put this place on the map.

The heart of Brevard County should beat with pride and not anxiety as the last launch of the Space Shuttle lifts us forward to a new tomorrow.

59 Buick

Any time an issue becomes so hot that everyone in the country has an opinion to voice, I ask myself, "Why now?" and "Who stands to gain politically?"

Immigration is that issue today.

No matter the answer to why or who, if this bill is signed into law, Florida is still faced with the same age-old question.

How does the Coast Guard effectively patrol 1800 miles of Florida coastline when people will risk anything and everything to land on our shores?

Throw the bill at them?

Phone Buzzards

Did you know the correctional phone market is worth well over $1 billion a year, according to the Florida Prisoners Legal Aid Organization?

Single-carrier collect call systems are the norm for telephone service in prisons across the United States. Prisoners may only call collect, and loved ones who accept the calls must accept the terms dictated by the chosen phone company.

Earlier this summer, Sheriff Parker asked the county to borrow $3 million to buy a Rockledge building to house a larger crime lab. He offered to pay for it with about $250,000 collected annually from jail inmates' phone calls, not county property taxes." (6/25/07)

I questioned then if inmate families should be expected to shoulder the financial costs of such noncritical expenditures through continued high commercial phone rates.

Forget the shoulders. Families' backs are breaking under the financial costs of these phone calls, many forced to choose between life's necessities or communication with their incarcerated loved one.

Sheriff Parker didn't mention that little detail to the Commission.

But New Yorkers knew and were flat fed up with filling state coffers while footing astronomical phone bills.

For more than ten years, families of inmates have had no choice but to pay phone rates 630 percent higher than normal consumer rates to speak with their loved ones in New York State correctional facilities.

A 15-minute call from a Florida prison typically costs $4.23. This equates to $0.28 per minute, and is considerably higher than the price of commercial long distance rates-which generally range from $0.03 to $0.10 per minute.

Under the New York state's monopoly contract with MCI--working as Verizon-- at that time, the average prison phone call billed at 19 minutes, costing just over $6 and adding up to monthly phone bills of up to $400.

New York State received a 57.5 percent kickback on MCI's profits.

The New York Times, citing Florida House of Representatives sources, tabulated the 1999 annual prisoner telephone contract kickbacks by state: New York, $20-21 million; Illinois, $12-16 million; California, $15 million; Ohio, $14 million; Florida, $14 million; Georgia, $10-12 million; Missouri, $9- 10 million; Virginia, $10 million; Michigan, $10 million; Pennsylvania, $3 million.

States receive kickback commissions from the phone companies who receive the contract, creating a situation in which there is no incentive to seek competitive bids.

The New York Campaign for Telephone Justice and the Center for Constitutional Rights teamed up and got busy on behalf of New York families and were successful June, 2007 in the passage of The Family Connections Bill. The New York State legislature must now disconnect the unfair rates.

By imposing such burdens on families of prisoners, the practice resembles a form of collective punishment.

Parker wanted to add his crime lab to that burden.

But then, Florida excels at collateral damage. So much for family values.

***

Important links for Families

The New York Campaign for Telephone Justice

Center for Constitutional Rights

Florida Prisoners Legal Aid Organization

Florida Cabinet

Florida Senate

Florida House

The Florida Department of Corrections

MCI got out of the prison phone call racket in July. Global Tel*Link has taken over. Florida customers encountering difficulty with the change in companies can click this link for more information.

Mr. Gerry Mander

Let me introduce you to Mr. Gerry Mander. His job is to make certain that voting districts remain politically uncompetitive.

Have you ever wondered why so many Brevard County state legislators ran for office as unopposed incumbents in 2006?

They can thank Gerry for making that happen.

Florida gained two congressional districts --the 24th and 25th--after the 2000 census. With a little help from his friend Gerry, then-Speaker Tom Feeney-with the control of the state legislature and the Governorship all in the hands of one political party--the Republican party--Florida was easy for Gerry Mander back in 2001.

In theory, redistricting updates district lines to reflect shifts in population to guarantee the equality of your vote.

Let's use the creation of the 24th Congressional district--Mr. Feeney's district--as an example of what happens when too many Hatfields run Appalachia. The Republican majority drew lines to dip and weave through the friendly and unfriendly areas of Brevard, Orange, Seminole and Brevard counties, creating a district of the then 156,292 registered Republicans compared to 126,976 Democrats.

Gerry helps Tom get a lock on his district. Once elected, incumbents like Feeney--are virtually protected from outside competitors. In many cases--as witnessed here locally--incumbents ran unopposed because the McCoys can't run a competitive campaign against a Hatfield in a territory controlled by--you got it...the Hatfields.

Gerry helps out unopposed incumbents because they don't need your vote anymore to retain office. As a result, elected officials become less accountable to their constituents and more allegiant to their party, who in turn provides a hand up the political ladder.

Without fear of being held accountable for their lack of productivity, state legislators don't sweat the bad times of property tax reform and insurance crisis too badly. They know Gerry's got their back--at least, until term limited out. The fun starts all over again with Gerry leading the game of Political Musical Chairs , almost guaranteeing the faces will simply swap political seats in Hatfield county.

Which is why we should kick Gerry to the curb.

Unfortunately, initiatives to move the responsibility of redistricting from politicians and into the hands of an independent redistricting commission have not fared well in Florida, the most recent smacked down by the Florida Supreme Court for violation of the rule that only one issue be raised in an initiative question.

Never say die. As reported by the St. Pete Times, Floridians for Fair Elections have renewed their initiative and filed four proposed constitutional amendments with the state Division of Elections that, taken together, would ask voters to transfer redistricting authority to a 15-member citizen commission and set apolitical guidelines for district boundaries.

Feet are on the street this summer to gather the necessary 611,009 signatures in time for four proposed constitutional amendments to appear on the 2008 ballot. Districts are redrawn in 2012.

Incumbency should not be a monarchy--for any political party.

Gerry, it's time for you to head on out of Appalachia.

Spare a Square?

What squeezed your Charmin this week, Brevard County?

Does the state of our bridges have you worried?

Had enough of the Bob Allen arrest? (Nah. Not when political cartoons like those drawn by Nate Sullivan--PixelMarx--prove available. The story obviously has political legs).

What's on your mind?

This weekend, it's all about you.

Talk to Me.

The Sting

No matter what you think of the Bob Allen arrest, it carries a certain "ick" factor that smacks vaguely of creating crime.

The release of his court records allows the public an inside view of the justice tool known as the "sting".

A sting operation uses deception to catch a person committing a crime. Law enforcement must be extremely careful not to provoke the commission of a crime by someone that would ordinarily not be predisposed to do so.

Investigative reporter Bill Moushey examined the use of the sting in his series "Win at All Costs", Part 2 written for the Pittsburgh Post Gazette (1996).

In 1986, industrialist John DeLorean was tried on charges of cocaine trafficking after his arrest in a government sting. In a videotape shown at his trial, DeLorean said a suitcase full of cocaine that an undercover officer brought was "better than gold," but a jury determined that the government, not DeLorean, had crossed the line. DeLorean's company was on the brink of financial collapse, and undercover federal agents proposed a drug deal to him that would bring in millions to save his business.

Federal agents didn't go after a criminal, the jury decided. They persuaded a desperate man to commit an act he would not otherwise have considered.

The DeLorean verdict reaffirmed safeguards that supposedly were already part of the 1974 law:

--Sting targets must be predisposed toward committing a crime. Usually this means they already have done something criminal and the government wants to catch them doing it again.

--Sting targets must be willing to commit a crime. Talking innocent people into doing something wrong through bribes or other means is not supposed to be tolerated.

--Not only must the targets of a sting want to commit the crime, they must have the ability to do so. This might mean having the money or the connections to pull it off.

The feds nabbed DeLorean in an organized operation, but as we have all witnessed with Allen, the hometown impromptu sting proves as effective if not more brutally damaging well before one's day in court.

Guilty or not guilty, Florida state Representative Bob Allen will always be associated with this alleged event.

The one positive that might stem from the Allen arrest is the legal dissection of the controversial sting.

Ayuh

Most people move south from the north. My mother did the opposite, packing up the farm in South Florida to reverse transplant to New Hampshire.

During her Yankee years, she worked as the secretary to the Board of Selectmen, the New England equivalent of a city council. Her position landed her slap dab in the middle of the town's governing heart from where all civic matters circulated.

During my summer visits, I became well-schooled in local control of town government--I'm talking residents telling elected officials just what was up every Monday evening over at the Town Hall. They had say--and did say--everything.

Ayuh.

As a wannabe city slicker from metropolitan Florida, I found the local political scene both charming and disturbingly unfamiliar. The locals pressed their fingers to the pulse of their town and had no difficulty digging in their fingers when matters appeared to be getting out of the resident's collective grip. If a special interest group dared to present before the Board, the town grilled the presenter in ways reminiscent of the Salem Witch trials.

How did anything ever get accomplished?

Which was exactly the point. Not much did. And that's the way they wicked liked it.

I snapped to attention upon learning that the town budget included the public schools, the library and recreation department. No long arm of county government here, in fact, county government had little business in town business. (Quick aside--the salaries of every teacher employed by the TOWN school board was published by the newspaper every year. That alone--along with the town librarian's purchase of a new automobile--provided fodder for conversations for months).

I was once told by a New Englander that Floridians are under-educated in the workings of county government, that we just don't know how better to fiscally manage services, until--UNTIL-we get out of the state and see how other municipal governments are budgeted and managed. When we get ourselves out of the "county department comfort zone", that's when the questioning begins.

How did county government become so powerful in Florida? Did the infamous Good Ole Boy system long ago set the table for "scratch my back, I'll scratch yours" guests? How--and why--did Sunshine State residents--with so many hailing from the Great White North--release their grip on local control? Could that be the answer...because so many of us stem from somewhere else does no community allegiance exist here because home sweet home is "back where I come from....".

The property tax crisis has forced us to become more educated in the ways of Brevard County government. Can we change business as usual? Should local cities and towns regain budgetary control over libraries and schools, recreation and parks? Is Brevard County just too large an area for a handful of county commissioners too handle the big bucks?

Is it time to redraw the county line, to divide the Space Coast in half to better grip management of services now considered the responsibility of Brevard County?

Is it high time we started to pay better attention to just what is going on? Has the tide turned our way?

What are your ideas? And honestly, is the frustration at such an all time high, that you just don't care?

Talk to Me.

Invite Only

About one hundred years ago--during my junior year at EGHS--I became aware of an annual school dance called Yuletide. As I fumble back through my memory yearbook, I believe ROTC sponsored the holiday dance.

I do recall one tidbit with true clarity.

The dance was invitation only.

You're thinking my first thought.

Oh no.

Yuletide wasn't a dance held just for members of ROTC and their dates. The invites were issued exclusively to handpicked members of the Fighting Commodore student body.

Even back in high school, the have and have not segregation training had begun.

As did my training in grassroots "feet on the street" activism...the ability to network, multi-task, provide a voice for those with none (or for those who could care less until the door of every public school dance slammed shut in their face).

I got a few "It's always been this way" but not one to be easily deterred, I pressed on and lobbied for "Let My People In" change.

Yuletide opened up to all who wanted to attend.

I never really knew if my efforts effected the change at the high school country club, but I do remember feeling the satisfaction that "always been this way" didn't necessarily mean "always will be this way".

It's time again to open up the dance for us all. The Five Percent Club has reaped the benefits of noblesse oblige for far too long.

It doesn't have to be that way.

See you at the dance.