CITRUS CRUSADER

By John Labriola - Citrus County commissioners will meet Tuesday morning in their capacity as the Library District Governing Body to fill a vacancy on the Library Advisory Board (LAB), the nine-member volunteer board that makes policy and budget recommendations regarding the county's library system.   The meeting will be held on Tuesday, Sept. 26, at 11 a.m. in the Citrus County Courthouse, 110 N. Apopka Ave., Inverness, FL 34450 . Commissioners will be joined by Inverness Councilwoman Jacquie Hepfer and Crystal River Councilman Ken Brown, who are part of the nominating body that appoints LAB members.  A total of 17 applicants have applied for the opening. The meeting to choose a new LAB member comes on the heels of the county's decision to cut ties with the far-left American Library Association (ALA). LAB members voted 5-1 on Aug. 22  to recommend discontinuing annual membership dues to the ALA after more than 30 residents showed up to voice their outrage over the ALA's a

By John Labriola - Citrus County commissioners on Tuesday backed up the Library Advisory Board's Aug. 22 recommendation to discontinue membership dues to the American Library Association (ALA), making Citrus one one of the first counties in the Southeastern United States to join the growing national movement of counties and states cutting ties with the far-left organization and its self-declared "Marxist lesbian" president. "Marxism says you don't own your property. Marxism says you don't get to make decisions about your kids. Marxism is the end of our freedom," said Commissioner Diana Finegan. "I took an oath to the Constitution, and for me that will always be standing against Marxism." Finegan noted that Sen. Marco Rubio has demanded a federal investigation into the ALA's efforts to censor Christian publisher Brave Books and author/actor Kirk Cameron's family-friendly story hours. Rubio also has called for halting all federal funding

Hundreds of residents from Citrus and neighboring counties flocked to the Citrus County Auditorium on Saturday to hear from a host of speakers who discussed the political weaponization of the U.S. Justice Department and FBI and the denial of due process rights to January 6 political prisoners. Hosted by the Citrus County Trump Club, the "Justice is Coming" rally featured a long lineup including FBI whistleblower Steve Friend, the wives of several January 6 political prisoners, and the mother of Ashli Babbitt, who was shot dead by a U.S. Capitol Police officer while protesting 2020 election irregularities at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. "The FBI is presently the weaponized arm of the political left," Friend told the crowd. See Friend's speech  here .

By John Labriola - A recommendation to cut ties with the far-left American Library Association (ALA) will be among the items the Citrus County Commission will be considering this Thursday at its tentative budget hearing on the county's proposed 2023-24 budget. On Aug. 22, the Citrus County Library Advisory Board voted 5-1 to recommend that the county  cancel its annual ALA membership dues after more than 30 residents pointed to the organization's aggressive promotion of Drag Queen Story Hours and explicit LGBT materials in children's sections, as well as radical statements by its self-declared " Marxist lesbian " president Emily Drabinski.  Sen. Marco Rubio recently called for halting federal funds to the ALA and has demanded an investigation into how the organization tried to block family-friendly story hours by Christian children's author and actor Kirk Cameron while simultaneously promoting drag queen storytelling.  If county commissioners uphold the LAB&#

As Citrus County's coastal communities recover from widespread flooding damage, Operation Blessing is among the humanitarian relief organizations connecting Hurricane Idalia victims with vital resources and volunteers.   Operation Blessing's disaster relief team is working with a church in Homosassa to organize mass cleanup efforts in the surrounding area by deploying teams of volunteers stocked with cleaning supplies to people with damaged homes. The Christian service charity also is providing meals and other relief supplies to those impacted by the storm.  Those needing assistance with salvaging personal belongings, debris removal, chainsaw work or blue roofs can fill out a work request for free volunteer help from 10 a.m. to 4:30 a.m. Monday through Saturday at Christian Center Church, 7961 W. Green Acres St., Homosassa, FL 34446. Those wishing to volunteer to help storm victims can register at the church at 8:30 a.m. Monday through Saturday and attend a 9 a.m. or 1 p.m. ori

By John Labriola - Citrus County appears poised to become the first in Florida to join a nationwide movement of counties cutting ties with the American Library Association (ALA) over the organization's aggressive promotion of "drag queen story hours" and sexually explicit LGBT materials targeting children. The Citrus County Library Advisory Board (LAB) on Tuesday voted 5-1 to recommend that the county cancel the annual ALA membership dues it has been paying since the library system's inception.  "It has nothing to do with anybody's lifestyle. It has to do with protecting children from very bad choices and porn content, frankly," said LAB member Elaine Kleid, whose motion to discontinue ALA dues was backed by board members Edith Ramlow, Justin Strickland, Lorraine Benefield and Shavonna Reid. LAB member Ken Jones voted no, while board members April McLaughlin and Neale Brennan were absent.  Ramlow, a College of Central Florida librarian, said the ALA'

By John Labriola - The Citrus County Library Advisory Board will meet this Tuesday to discuss the library system's proposed 2023-24 budget. The $4.2 million budget, which is funded by property taxes, pays for the operation and upkeep of the county's five libraries, including staff salaries, book purchases, periodical subscriptions and building maintenance.  Disturbingly, the library budget also includes membership dues for the American Library Association (ALA), the far-left organization that has become notorious for its aggressive promotion of "drag queen story hours"  and sexually explicit LGBT materials targeting children .  The ALA's current president is self-proclaimed "Marxist lesbian" Emily Drabinski , who has a long track record of advocating for the "queering" of public libraries. Her academic works include "Queering the Catalog: Queer Theory and the Politics of Correction" and "Gendered S(h)elves: Body and Identity in