Published: February 25, 2008 10:13 am            

Rant & Rave - Feb. 22, 2008

Suwannee Countians, it's time to speak your mind! How do you do that? By calling the Suwannee Democrat Rant and Rave hotline! The hotline never closes and is your way to let it out.

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Editor's note: We appreciate your comments, folks, but please try to keep them brief. We want to publish as many points of view as possible, and several of the longer entries this week were omitted due to space limitations. Also, please be sure to speak clearly when leaving your message. If we can't understand you, we can't publish your opinion. About a hundred clearly spoken words (or about 30-45 seconds' worth) should be enough to get your point across.

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Perhaps the staff of the Suwannee Democrat is unaware, but the Spirit of Suwannee Music Park hosts numerous music festivals besides the country jam. There is the Magnolia Festival, Spring Fest, Wanee Festival, two biker festivals, plus last year the park hosted the Bear Creek Festival and The Parrot Head club hosted an event. There are also bluegrass and gospel events at the park. It would be nice if the paper would promote ALL of the music festivals featured at the S.O.S. and not just the country jam. I understand that country music is popular in this area, but not everyone likes their music with twang. Please consider promoting rock, folk, roots and other musical styles with as much enthusiasm as you do for country and western. By the way, for music fans who would like to know about ALL of the festivals planned this year at the S.O.S. visit musicliveshere.com.

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The Bright Futures scholarship program was presented to the citizens of Florida as a scholarship program for those who excelled academically. Don't change it based on need. This is not a charity.

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With all the restrictions Water Management is placing on the community, are they still issuing permits for irrigation systems?

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This is in response to Rant & Rave on Friday, Feb 15 about the person who called to gripe about the drought being caused by the pivot irrigation systems. That is completely ignorant of the person. Suwannee County was founded on and has always been based on agriculture. And then to gripe about the irrigation of crops as the main stay of the economy of Suwannee County is just ridiculous. The over-development of the area and over development in South Florida has caused the drought in Florida, not agriculture.

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This is in reference to the salary raises with two employees of the city. The administrator bought the expensive SUV without prior approval and now he is giving these enormous pay increases. In my life I have never heard of such foolishness. Maybe they are underpaid, but never give an increase such as this at this time. At what time? My recommendation is to get rid of this so-called administrator. He needs a one-way ticket right now. Thank you and I appreciate it.

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I hear by the grapevine and it's really true that one of our courthouse officials are paying some employees $33 per hour. This is regular employees. However some are very special to him. Folks, can we afford to keep this official? You may hide some things, but public records are public records. Just remember that.

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I have a suggestion for the mayor, city administrator, and the public works director. If you did the crime, it's time to resign.

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The mayor and the city administrator are paid to take care of the welfare of city. This does not entitle them to break the rules or reward themselves with fancy cars nor does it allow them to do favors for their friends with taxpayers' money. Shame on them.

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I think it's time our city consider a skateboard park for all these children who are actively trying to find a place to engage in a healthy activity.

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Why does our city administrator have sudden memory lapses when we talk about doing work on private property? He couldn't recall that we have put pipe in for Florida Power and then his memory seemed to fail him about sending fire trucks out to Silas Oaks. Now once again he has no recollection of trucks going to Gold Kist. You better be careful, this instant amnesia must be contagious, because the mayor has caught it too.

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Hi, first let me congratulate you on putting the story about teen pregnancy on the front page. I thought that story would get a lot of attention, but seems like only one letter to the editor was the response. The writer of the letter seemed to think that girls get pregnant because there are no activities for teens. I don't think that's the problem. In a county where there is literally a church on every corner, religion doesn't seem to be the answer either. The schools aren't allowed to really teach more than just abstinence and God forbid they should give out birth control. All I know is that parents need to wake up and realize that anyone's daughter can become pregnant and parents need to build self esteem into their daughters so she don't have to rely on the sweet talk of a boy who makes her do things she really doesn't want to do but really doesn't know how to say no. I think a lot more discussion attention needs to be brought to the problem.

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Who is at the helm? The mayor is elected by the people to represent them and city councilmen are elected for the same reason. All of them are governed by rules and regulations in their respective positions. An administrator is approved by the city council for his position in city government, and it is his responsibility thorough the mayor and city council who can also fire him for any wrongdoing. When an administrator thinks he can do whatever pleases him and takes that position -- I won't go by the council rules and regulations and request a SUV, I'll just buy one I like and if I feel like giving my employees a raise that exceeds the 10% cap, so be it. Whose money is it, anyway? And if I'm challenged it's easier to ask for forgiveness than permission. I wonder if he ever had a business, how many of his employees received a 29.4% raise? It's using poor management skills claiming your employees are irreplaceable. The city would not shut down if they had to leave. However, we only have to look in the mirror to see the people to blame. We keep electing the same people over and over even if their job performance is bad. And if we don't wise up all of us can sit back and watch our tax money fly away.

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Restrict water use on farmers! I have read comments and heard a lady on the news this morning. Excuse us for trying to put food on your table. So if you people would rather water your lawns than eat, go for it. Take our irrigation away and let's just take your food off the table. It's people like you that are putting farming out of the United States.

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Callers to 208-8314 may express their thoughts, good or bad, 24/7 about community issues and politics, but not about private individuals or businesses. If you prefer, you may e-mail your comments to nf.editorial@gaflnews.com. You can let everyone know how you feel if you will be respectful in how you express yourself. You don't have to give your name.

        

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