CITRUS CRUSADER

By John Labriola - The Citrus County Commission on Tuesday decided to maintain the current public participation procedures for its meetings, rejecting Commissioner Jeff Kinnard's proposal to eliminate the first Open to the Public period at the beginning of meetings when residents can address commissioners on any topic. The decision to drop Kinnard's proposed ordinance came after the commission received some 100 or more emails denouncing the idea, which he first proposed at a meeting last month. "Today, I'm prepared to say we need to keep the Open to the Public the same," said Commissioner Diana Finegan. "At the end of the day, we want to serve the public the best way we can serve them." Finegan said she would be open to suggestions on giving residents a specific time on the agenda to speak so they don't have to wait through hours of "time certain" items before addressing the commission, as happened on Tuesday.  A number of residents who c...

By John Labriola - This Tuesday may be the public's last chance to defend their right to be heard at county commission meetings on the topics they care about. The Citrus County Commission will meet at 1 p.m. on Dec. 10 to vote on Commissioner Jeff Kinnard's ordinance to eliminate the Open to the Public period at the beginning of meetings. The meeting will take place at the Citrus County Courthouse, 110 N. Apopka Ave., Inverness, FL 34450. Kinnard, who was just reelected to a third term, is sponsoring the item because he believes the public should be forced to wait until an agenda item comes up to speak about it, or until the end of the meeting to discuss non-agenda items. Prior to the recent election, Kinnard supported leaving public comment as it is, but he did an about-face once the elections were over . Former Commissioner Ruthie Schlabach was defeated this year after unsuccessfully making the same unpopular proposal two years ago, which may explain why Kinnard waited until ...

A Christmas nativity scene is back at Inverness City Hall after being banished 15 years ago.  The traditional manger scene depicting the birth of Jesus was eliminated around 2009 when then-City Attorney Larry Haag claimed it violated the Constitution.  This year, residents clamored for its return and made an impassioned plea at the Nov. 19  council meeting following the reelection of Donald Trump, who campaigned to end discrimination against Christians.

By John Labriola - Citrus County Commission will meet on Tuesday, Dec. 10, to discuss eliminating the public comment period at the beginning of meetings, which has been a mainstay in Citrus County for decades. The radical change, which requires amending the county’s public participation ordinance, is on the agenda because Commissioner Jeff Kinnard, who was just reelected to a third term, demanded it at last month’s commission meeting after previously taking the opposite position . He said the change is needed to improve the “efficiency” of meetings and prevent county staff from having to wait in the chamber for the public to finish their comments. Residents have flooded commissioners with emails opposing the move, saying it would deprive them of the opportunity to address the board on important agenda and non-agenda items without having to wait through a lengthy meeting. The vast majority of county commissions in the state allow public comment at the beginning of meetings. Th...

By John Labriola - The Citrus County Library Advisory Board (LAB) on Tuesday voted to keep the sexually vulgar LGBT novel "Here's to Us" in the Young Adult section of the Central Ridge Library in Beverly Hills, rejecting a resident's request to reconsider the book's placement.  Earlier this year, Mike O'Connell of Floral City challenged 26 library books, including one that was removed from circulation by Library Director Adam Chang after Commissioner Diana Finegan called it pornographic and shared excerpts with her commission colleagues.  Following weeks of review, Chang decided to keep the other 25 books in the system, but O'Connell appealed the decision on "Here's to Us" to the LAB. During about an hour of public input, O'Connell and others mostly argued against the book, one resident calling it "degrading" and "shameful." But the LAB rejected a motion by Vice Chairwoman Edith Ramlow to move the book to the adult se...

By John Labriola - Two years ago, former Citrus County Commissioner Ruthie Schlabach, who had just been chosen by her colleagues as commission chairwoman, proposed eliminating the Open to the Public period at the beginning of county commission meetings.  Her move to silence the public, who often voiced their opposition to her liberal agenda, generated a flood of angry protests from residents. When her proposal came up at a November 2022 commission meeting, many residents loudly denounced the idea, and she was forced to withdraw it under withering criticism.  At the time, Commissioner Jeff Kinnard was among those who opposed the move. "The Open to the Public at the start of the meeting is an opportunity for people to run out on a lunch break, come in, speak their piece and get out of here,” he had said. “I think we might be trying to fix a problem that does not necessarily exist...I do think it's an important time to keep on the agenda." (See video HERE .) Now safely reele...

By John Labriola - Tuesday was a remarkable night for America. President Donald Trump performed the greatest political comeback in the nation's history, defeating Vice President Kamala Harris to take back the White House in a sweeping electoral and popular vote victory after being impeached, indicted and convicted and surviving an assassination attempt by his political enemies.  Voters across the nation had clearly soured on the Democrats' gross mishandling of the country, especially President Joe Biden's decision to open the U.S. southern border to millions of illegal and criminal migrants, years of runaway inflation, and Biden's demented promotion of insane woke policies like taxpayer-funded sex-change operations. In Florida, Trump enjoyed a massive 13-point victory, even winning historically blue counties like Miami-Dade, where no Republican presidential candidate had won in 36 years, and carrying Citrus County by 72 percent.  In a huge victory for the right to life...