Think it’s time for a change YET? Guest Editorial Claude Strass CLICK HERE

Drive down 19 and look at all the vacant strip malls, empty buildings, and for sale signs and homeless people walking around or people begging on the street corners. The Crystal River Mall is almost empty. Drive down our side streets and all you will see is holes and patches in need for repair and resurfacing, vacant homes and for sale signs that are old and rusted. There are so many business that have closed their doors leaving people without jobs.

Look at how much more gasoline costs here compared to surrounding counties because of taxes, How much your real estate tax rates have increased, New fees, New MSTU’s, increased health care costs while the quality of services has decreased. The problems with the garbage dump, Pan Scraper, excess county cars, poor county legal advise, failed EDC, neglected fire equipment the used up county reserved funds, poor and out of control budgeting with only excuses why we can not cut spending, letters from the state with concern of our counties financial condition, and the list goes on.

What do we read in the chronicle our commissioner are doing: moving monuments, proposing an increase from 3% bed tax to 5% because Rebeca Bays does not know how to collect $200,000 in unpaid taxes, Brad Thrope wants to see our jail sold so the commissioners have more money to spend on pet projects. J.J. Kenny’s number one project for the county is build a new dog and cat building. Damato wants Port Citrus (for what no one knows). The Sheriff wants to be chief dog catcher and run the fire department, but wants nothing to do with the jail. Meek wants to get his fingers in the Citrus Memorial Hospital funds from the sale. The county wants to continue to boss Inverness and Crystal River who seem to be doing very well on their own, thank you! Have all these people lost their marbles. Why is our newspaper not covering the issues and only doing photo ops for the politicians for no nothing pet projects. The Chairman is so smooth calling our largest business in the county thugs, talking about our retires taking a dirt nap, and telling smokers to give up some of their smokes to pay for his new fees.. Is this a real leader to look up to? Scott Adams wants to reduce spending and install zero base budgeting to enable fiscal responsibility and reduce the peoples taxes, but the Fab Four stop every one of his proposals. Is Scott really Crazy. God please help us…

Open letter to the Chronicle management. I just got done reading your managements commentary in the Sunday newspaper telling the people to tone down there criticism of the government officials of the county. Let me remind the newspaper that most of the commentary is centered around the broken promises of our elected officials. When these employees of the people ran for election they made many promises and have broken almost all of them for the exception of Scott Adams. Since then these same politicians that lied to us have reduced the peoples ability to voice their opinions at the County Commission Meetings. We now know that the paper is also not printing the peoples concerns and asking the people to stop sending in their comments if they do not agree with the fab four and the county administrator. Their is a new media for those who want to get the word out call goundhog on the Internet and growing fast to get the real peoples concerns in front of the public for positive change.