Citrus County is a beautiful place to live and raise a family. Our schools are outstanding. The city of Inverness is "small town done well" with our parks, lakes, and civic events.
With its manatees, Three Springs, and civic involvement in cleaning up the Bay, Crystal River helps make this County a little Eden.
But all that may be changing after this election. Our piece of heaven may become a divisive hell if we are not vigilant.
This election offers us candidates that don't seem to respect our Citrus conservative, nor progressive values. They are outliers with values not yet in Citrus County.
Two dangerous candidates are running for the Inverness City Council.
According to the Citrus Chronicle, one made a name for himself in his quest to ban LGBTQ+ displays in county libraries. These newcomers claim to be the local representative of MassResistance, which was labeled an anti-LGBTQ hate group in 2021 by the Southern Poverty Law Center. Can you imagine a city council meeting with homophobic council members pushing their homophobic agenda on the city?
One candidate for the School Board wants to drag us back to the 1950s. She is opposed to the use of iPads in schools. She believes the County has spent too much money on new technology for classrooms. She also wants to end cross-dressing and the "Furys" in school.
The County spends money on technology because we are preparing kids for a future with computers. I am sure the cross-dressing and "fury's" (whatever they are) must be news to the administration and are just part of the candidate's imagination.
Two candidates running for the Board of County Commissioners believe the presidential election was stolen. If you want to think that the election was stolen, that is fine, but I would like my commissioners to be critical thinking and separate the real from the imagined when they vote. I don't want ideologists running the government. I want clear thinkers who can vote on the facts.
If we decide that candidates like these are what Citrus County needs, we are choosing to change the nature of Citrus County. If you like what we already have, find a candidate that fits your ideas about how to move Citrus County forward. There are lots of good people running for office.
Thomas Mitchell
Inverness