Citrus Slices

Their show of support rises from 'dungeon'

THINGS THAT GO BUMP IN THE NIGHT: The public hearing Tuesday night on the controversial Halls River Retreat condominium project drew a standing-room-only crowd, mostly of opponents to the proposed time shares.

After people filled the seats and aisles in the third-floor commission chambers, the overflow audience spilled down to the second-floor hallway, where folding metal chairs and a television broadcasting the hearing lined the corridor outside the Guardian ad Litem office.

One spectator jokingly called it "the dungeon."

Although the second-floor crowd was out of sight, it would not be ignored. When someone upstairs made a comment worth applauding, the "dungeon" mates would pound their feet on the wooden floors in approval.

The rumbling in the 91-year-old Masonic Building was surreal, almost creepy, until the third-floor crowd realized what it was.

"I hope those are not rats," Commissioner Vicki Phillips said.

IS IT SOMETHING I SAID?: Homosassa environmentalist Jim Bitter arrived at the County Commission's chambers about 4 p.m. Tuesday to make sure he got a seat for the 5 p.m. public hearing on the condo project. With another issue slated first on the agenda, a good four hours passed before it was Bitter's turn to rail against the proposed time shares.

So as he made his way to the microphone, Bitter couldn't help but notice that one of the three commissioners leaning in support of the project had left the room.

"Where's (Commissioner Jim) Fowler?" Bitter asked.

"He had to go to the boy's room," Commissioner Josh Wooten replied.

"Wonderful," Bitter said. "When he saw me get up?"

A MAN OF FEW WORDS?: Property Appraiser Ron Schultz loves to talk. With his hands, with big words, with analogies, with historical anecdotes -- with anything but one-word replies.

So it pained the loquacious appraiser to find himself Friday in a verbal straightjacket: on the witness stand in his court battle against Time Warner Communications, instructed by the attorneys to give simple yes-or-no answers.

"It drove me nuts!" Schultz later told the Citrus Times.

ONE MORE TIME, WITH FEELING: Last week's School Board meeting opened with an emotional song of patriotism called Dear America, written by the students of the Renaissance Center. There were few dry eyes among the school officials who listened.

Shortly after the song, the board had to discuss the future of the school's alternative programs, and the discussion stretched on and on. Finally, when it came time for a vote, Renaissance principal David Cook could see that it would not be a unanimous approval for the expansions supported by district staff.

"Can we sing for you again?" Cook asked.

AREN'T TUESDAYS BOARD MEETING DAYS?: The School Board members found themselves discussing a familiar issue: the school calendar. At issue again this year is the number of half-days built into the plan. Board members and parents do not like early dismissal days, but teachers and schools do because they allow for grading and training activities.

School Board member Sandra "Sam" Himmel said there was one county in the state that had a short day every Wednesday for those kinds of activities. They called the day "wacky Wednesday."

Superintendent David Hickey whispered something, which was caught by Chairwoman Patience Nave.

"Mr. Hickey said our wacky days are Tuesdays," she noted.

-- Staff writers Bridget Hall Grumet and Barbara Behrendt compiled this report.

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