Council treats Cootertober complaints with contempt

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 in the building burning down. The city expects to spend another $24,000 in staff time. 

Residents showed up at Tuesday's council meeting to complain about their tax dollars being used to attract the occult community to Inverness. 

"We're inviting a whole different population into the community. This is an event supporting the occult. Witches, warlocks, and seances attract members of the occult community," said Debra Garner of Inverness. "I was extremely disappointed that this council awarded money on drawing in tourism from that community when we could've focused on an entirely different area and brought more families in."

Inverness resident Patricia Adams agreed.

"You are barking up the wrong tree," she said. "And don't think darkness and witches is not a religion, it is a religion. You are going into a place that's very dangerous, and our kids have enough trouble today."

Megan Ennis said she moved to Citrus County from the St. Petersburg area 20 years ago for the family values.

"We used to enjoy going to Cooterfest. It was a celebration of turtles, and now you're turning it into a monthlong celebration [of Halloween]," she said. "$74,000 awarded to Twisted Arts Initiative to celebrate bringing in the occult? This is wrong in so many ways. I am from a city that is much larger and I can tell you, you do not want to celebrate the occult."

Carmelita Carothers of Inverness said her daughter practiced Wicca and died of an overdose at 26.

"The occult is real," she said. "The door you're opening up and the people you're bringing in are not going to be here just to celebrate Halloween."

But residents' complaints were met with silence, as none of the councilmembers addressed their concerns, showing their utter disregard for taxpaying citizens.

Earlier this month, Twistid Arts Initiative Executive Director Elisha Belden told the council that Cootertober went viral in a TikTok video as the top "weirdest festival" in the state of Florida, putting Inverness on the map for its celebration of the occult. The city honored her with a "Cooter Kudos Award" to recognize the nonprofit's "dedication to the arts" in the community and its handling of Cootertober. Belden is friends on Facebook with Brian Kovalski, a self-described witch and drag queen who regularly performs psychic readings and drag shows at the Canna Bakery Shop in Inverness and the Boil Yard in Crystal River. The Twistid Arts Initiative is run by the owners of the Twistid Ink tattoo studio in Inverness.

The city's monthlong celebration of Halloween stands in stark contrast to its treatment of Christmas. A number of years ago, the city canceled its nativity scene at City Hall for fear of offending atheists.

Also on Tuesday, the council voted 3-2, with Councilmen Cabot McBride and Gene Davis voting no, to change its Entertainment District ordinance in order to allow the consumption of hard liquor – in addition to the beer and wine already allowed – in city-approved open containers at functions around the downtown area. The majority of the council, led by Council President Jacquie Hepfer, ignored residents' complaints that they were abandoning the city's small-town conservative character as expressed in its motto, "Small Town Done Right." 

"When you open up one law, you open up everything else and all hell breaks loose," said Meilin Gilmet. "What about people's safety and well being? What about the culture? What about people jumping in the car and driving and causing another DUI?"

The change appeared timed for Cootertober's alcohol-centered activities like the Vampire Ball, where attendees are invited to "dance, drink, and party the night away in true vampiric style" while "donned up in the style of your favorite vampire character," and the Vampire Pub Crawl, which encourages participants to join the city in "grabbing our capes and Vamp'ing it out as we cruise around downtown and drink the night away!"

The council also gave final approval on Tuesday to its $88 million budget for 2024-25. The budget is based on a millage rate of 7.66, which is down a tenth of a mill from this year's 7.76 mills. 

But city residents will still pay higher taxes because the tax rate is above the rollback rate of 7.2564, which is the rate necessary to keep taxes the same. The difference is because of the rise in property values.

It means that the owner of an Inverness home currently valued at $300,000 who takes the standard $50,000 homestead exemption will pay $1,915 in city taxes, in addition to county and school board taxes. 

Also Tuesday, the council voted to keep its third Friday car show and work with affected businesses.