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Guest Column

Keep Brooksville's troubles in perspective

By JIMMY BROWN
Published January 18, 2007

I have read and listened with growing sadness recently as questions and disputes within the city of Brooksville government have grown into such unseemly and unnecessary chaos as to effectively bring the conduct of the city's normal business to a virtual standstill at the most recent council meeting.

I recognize the obligation to the public of the news media to investigate and report, and I firmly believe an informed populace is essential to a free and just society. It is unfortunate, however, that certain accounts in the press in recent days have emphasized half-formed thoughts and repeated rumors, which appeal to the baser instincts of those who resent or envy the special status and particular character of our city.

Brooksville has a long, proud and honorable history born from surviving and growing through the daunting challenges of an untamed frontier, the privations of the Civil War and harsh reconstruction, the Depression, seven major and minor wars and the disruption of exploding growth in the county around us. Throughout those times the people of Brooksville and its elected representatives have looked inward and found strength, practical solutions and common purpose to confront and work through those problems with integrity and mutual respect for the greater good.

In many respects, the city is a family; we may disagree and argue and sometimes let our transitory hurts or animosities cause us to say or do things we later heartily regret.

I suggest the time has come for us to draw on the lessons of our heritage and consign the recent disruptions to their proper place. None of us become flawless, omniscient or infallible by virtue of election or appointment to a position of civic responsibility. Our mayor and council members, our city manager, human resources director and the chief of police have the common good of the city and its residents as their individual and mutual goal.

Each has worked diligently and to the best of their ability to fulfill the trust and responsibility incumbent upon them by virtue of the position to which each has been elected or appointed. We do their efforts and our own reputation a disservice to pretend shock or outrage when we are reminded they are normal, imperfect human beings.

It is time to put this controversy and its distractions behind us and allow our city and its public servants to move forward with the important problems and challenges that will affect us and our children in the decades to come.

The proud and honorable heritage of our city require we act with the dignity and foresight our predecessors left us as their legacy.

The chief of police, his lieutenant, our human resources director and city manager have recognized the undeniable truth of this reality and have pledged their renewed commitment to work together with mutual respect for the diligence and integrity of each other and for the greater good of our city and its residents.

I respectfully call on the mayor and council to honor the responsible and sober rededication of those public servants and return them to their indispensable positions.

This city we love, which has given so much to each of us, has earned the right to expect its residents to pull together as a family and move forward together, with honor and dignity, into the future.

Jimmy Brown is an attorney in Brooksville. He represents Ron Woods, a former detective at the Brooksville Police Department. Guest columnists write their own views on subjects they choose, which do not necessarily reflect the opinions of this newspaper.

[Last modified January 17, 2007, 21:42:24]