Implosion? Wingnut? Where do they find 'em?

Tom Jackson printed a column in Mother Trib this week that calls one city councilperson a 'wingnut' for her plans to put critical city governance issues before the voters, since the City Council won't. He says these modest proposals put the city of Zepherhills on his list of cities most likely to implode in the coming year. If casting out the rascals and revamping city goverment in a rational fashion is what prompts implosion, let me have a dose of one of those them, that, implosion cocktails. As for the 'wingnut' reference, I find wingnuts to be among the most user friendly members of the hardware family.

Full disclosure here: I was a member of the Charter Study Committee which came up with some of the radical ideas that City Council rejected -- Radical things like term limits (old time pols hate term limits -- are you listening Liz and Clyde?) Radical things like giving Council realistic tools to hire and fire key emloyees like the City Manager. Radical ideas like an article that makes the city provide locally-manned police and fire protection. Some of those ideas were hijacked during the Charter Study Commission's studies, others were hijacked when Council went after the recommendations with a meat axe.

If Councilperson Gina King, the aforementioned 'wingnut' and 'neutron bomb trigger' of Mr. Jackson's column, hadn't come forth with the idea of a citizen's referendum I would have.

Under state law we have to get 725 signatures just to get the questions on the ballot. We plan to get 800 -- that's 126 more people than those who chose to vote at the last municipal election. So, doing the math if every signer voted, the citizen referenda would win in a landslide.

Now, Mr. Jackson might call that an 'implosion' we call it a mandate.

In the meantime, keep your eye out for the petitions to sign. Better yet call Gina at 788-0090 and volunteer to get signatures in your neighborhood or stroll down to L.G. Hood's lawnmower shop and put your John Henry on one of the petitions he has there. Time is of the essence here folks, so do what's right, guarantee at the very least your right to vote on your future, not the Pablum City Council thinks you should vote on.

Arjay