CITRUS CRUSADER

By John Labriola - The Inverness City Council will hold its final meeting before the Nov. 5 election tonight. At its last meeting on Oct. 1, staff presented a video that appeared to dismiss public concerns about the city's monthlong celebration of the occult in October. The video depicted Cootertober as "family-friendly" despite events like the Vampire Ball and the Vampire Pub Crawl that encourage residents to dress up like vampires for a night of hard drinking.  Last year, the city's weekend-long Cooterfest, which featured turtle races and a music festival, was transformed into a monthlong celebration of Halloween, including the conversion of the Old Courthouse into a haunted house that falsifies Citrus County history by suggesting that a witch trial at the courthouse resulted in the building burning down.  The city has awarded a $74,000 contract to Twistid Arts Initiative to organize the events and promote Cootertober on social media. The online advertising, some of

By John Labriola - Two recent hurricanes couldn't keep people away from the Pregnancy & Family Life Center (PFLC) of Citrus County’s annual Heroes Walk for Life on Saturday in Floral Park. Over 150 residents participated in the walk and ensuing bake sale, which raised about $20,000 for the PFLC. The walk is held every October in honor of Respect Life Month. Just before the walk, PFLC Executive Director Stephanie Bell held baby Arrow in her arms. The baby is a testament to the lies of the abortion industry. Doctors recommended that his mother abort him because of false diagnoses of fatal illness. She refused, and today he is a healthy baby boy.  There was a booth with information about why residents should vote No on pro-abortion Amendment 4, which is being funded by Planned Parenthood, the ACLU and various Soros-backed groups. The deceptively worded amendment would require taxpayer funding of late-term abortions and eliminate parental consent for minors seeking abortions. &quo

By John Labriola - As Citrus County's coastal communities recover from unprecedented flooding from Hurricane Helene, affected residents can now apply for aid from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), which is helping cover expenses such as home repairs, temporary housing, and other critical needs.  Residents impacted by the storm are urged to call FEMA’s hotline at 800-621-3362, visit disasterassistance.gov or download the FEMA app on the App Store or Google Play.  Those wishing to donate to Hurricane Helene relief efforts across Florida and the Southeast can give to Operation Blessing by visiting www.ob.org/mc/helenerelief. Various churches throughout the county are also helping coordinate volunteer relief efforts and collecting donated items. Contact your local church to find out how you can help.

By John Labriola - Citrus County citizens will be paying 6.5 percent more in county property taxes this coming year, an unwelcome increase following last year's 18 percent tax hike.  At the Citrus County Commission's final budget hearing this past week, the Commission voted 4-1 to reject Commissioner Diana Finegan's move to cap increases in the county's deparments at 5 percent, excluding transportation and roads.  "Government is a deep black hole," Finegan said. "You can fund it and fund it and fund it and it's never enough. But taxpayers have felt the burn, and I know we can do a little better here." Finegan noted that some departments including the library system are getting a 10 percent increase in their budgets. For the library, that includes $312,000 to purchase approximatley 1,300 books a month, which resulted in a pornographic book being purchased for the teen section several years ago. The book was removed from circulation after Finegan s

By John Labriola - A candidate forum for Inverness City Council candidates will take place this coming Wednsday, Oct. 2, at the Valerie Theatre, 207 Courthouse Square, Inverness, FL 34450. Doors open at 5:30 p.m., and the program will begin at 6 p.m. I've decided to participate and look forward to debating my opponent Jacquie Hepfer. 

By John Labriola - The Inverness City Council showed its contempt for taxpayers this week as it ignored the complaints and concerns of well over a dozen residents who showed up to oppose the city spending money to celebrate the occult during the entire month of October. Last year, Inverness converted its family-friendly Cooterfest weekend turtle celebration in October into a monthlong homage to Halloween and evil spirits dubbed "Cootertober."  This year, the city awarded a $74,000 contract to Twistid Arts Initiative to organize and promote two vampire-themed events as well as the Witches and Warlocks Night Out, Spooky Story Time for Kids, the Cooterween trick-or-treating costume contest, and a Historic Haunt at the Old Courthouse, which will use actors who have attended a Scare Acting Workshop and will feature strobe lighting effects, fog, disturbing scents, and jump scares, as well as a falsification of Inverness history to suggest a witch trial at the courthouse resulted i

President: Donald Trump U.S. Senator: Rick Scott Representative in Congress: Gus Bilirakis State Senator: Blaise Ingoglia State Representative: J.J. Grow County Commissioner: Paul M. Grogan   Retain Justice Renatha Francis? Yes Retain Justice Meredith Sasso? Yes School Board: Ken Frink Inverness City Council Seat 2: John Labriola Crystal River City Council Seat 3: Chris Ensing Amendment 3: No Amendment 4: No Early Voting Oct. 21 - Nov. 2 Election Day is Nov. 5