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Yankeetown recouping from political implosion

After nearly a year of turmoil over a proposed resort hotel development that has forever ripped the close-knit fabric of this small community, Yankeetown is enjoying a rare moment of relative peace.

Three new Town Council members, chosen by a 2-1 margin in a recent election ordered by the governor, are setting about performing the mundane but vital tasks of government.

It has been nearly a week since the last elected official resigned. No one has reported a death threat, the kidnapping of a pet or the theft of a computer in days. This passes for tranquility by recent Yankeetown standards.

These are welcome signs that the town may be coming out of the chaos that has engulfed it since the Izaak Walton Investors Inc.'s proposals for a hotel along the Withlacoochee River erupted in December. Since then, this Levy County hamlet has been torn apart in a whirlwind of personal threats, lawsuits, accusations of corruption, mass resignations of officials and all but open warfare among townspeople.

The tide began to turn, however, in the August special election that brought three new members to the Town Council, a bloc that ran on a platform of open government and who made no secret of their opposition to the development. The citizens spoke overwhelmingly to support their stance.

Not surprisingly, given the town's recent history, the political bloodletting has continued. Two of the holdover council members, who wanted to negotiate with the developer, have resigned. And, last week, the embattled mayor decided to quit, too.

In her exit letter to Gov. Jeb Bush, Mayor Joanne Johannesson urged him to pull the town's charter. She said that the new council will lead the town into even more troubled waters and that the governor should head off these looming crises.

The governor should not follow the mayor's premature and prejudicial predictions. The new council must be given every chance to get Yankeetown back on track.

Several months ago, when the town was spiraling out of control, this newspaper called for the governor to intervene and to consider taking the so-called nuclear option of dissolving the town.

After the Florida Department of Law Enforcement launched an inquiry into possible official corruption, Bush did step in.

He declared a state of emergency in July, appointed a special financial board to oversee the town's affairs and ordered the special elections to fill the council seats.

The governor now must let these new council members perform the duties that they have been legally granted by the town's voters.

This does not mean that all is well and that the governor can now turn away from Yankeetown.

The forces that led to the town's implosion still exist. The FDLE inquiry is continuing. Community calm is still just wishful thinking.

Laptop computers, including one containing developer's information, have reportedly been stolen. The locks on Town Hall have been changed three times so far. The outgoing mayor's cat has mysteriously disappeared.

The unparalleled parade of oddities continues.

The next big step for Yankeetown is the upcoming election, this one to fill the seats of the now-departed mayor and three council positions. This is a chance for the citizens once again to choose their own representatives, to prove to the governor that they can stand on their own, to take a step out of the House of Horrors they have lived in for almost a year.

Appropriately, the election will be held on Halloween.

[Last modified September 26, 2006, 06:20:24]