Some thoughts --
There was a tussle in Largo recently because the city fired a couple of guys who did not show up for a hurricane that didn't happen and came nowhere near here.
And, seeing that the "H" word was just brought up, let's make it clear and a matter of record, we DID NOT have any hurricanes here, although the panic crowd is preaching otherwise.
Now about the firing controversy . . . Oh, there was great sturm und drang, a great outcry from the ninnies and sympathy soaked who obviously have no grasp of the concept of duty.
The Largo high command was totally right in firing the two.
How in tarnation anybody could think anything comes ahead of his or her job is beyond me. Where I come from, the job is number 1. Numero Uno, amigos.
Iffen you ain't got that job you ain't agonna have anything else. It is fundabasicmental.
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Then there is the case of the street naming struggle.
This is so simple in construct and concept it is a wonder that it became a cause celebre.
But, then again, if you want to know what kind of morons you are sharing this planet with tune into C-SPAN and listen to the call ins every morning.
Mayor Bob Jackson was riding around one day and noted that what had been known as Greenwood Avenue in Clearwater had been changed to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Avenue.
And duly noting that said street wended its way into the political confines and boundaries of his fair city, the Honorable Jackson thought it would make sense, out of a sense of consistency, to rename that portion of Greenwood that lies in Largo after the late and estimable King.
Although the naming of any street, avenue, plaza, by-way, building, postage stamp or gin joint after one of the departed is by its very nature an act of honoring, that was not Hizzoner's prime purpose.
There is another plan afoot to honor King with a grotto or some such thing in Central Park (which, one hopes, does not go the way of the lamented Military Court of Honor, and which, one also hopes, is not named after one of the current commissioners as a collateral honoree with the worthy and late King).
Much consternation broke out when Jackson presented his humble and good idea. Some in the community thought this would give short shrift to King, others did not want the street they lived on to bear that name (for obvious reasons).
Another case of making mystery out of you-know-what.
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And now another suggestion from a very fertile mind teeming with ideas for the hicogolorums and hoi polloi alike to rassle with.
Largo should have a strong mayor form of government. There; I said it, and I'm glad.
Hold on. The current city manager, Steve Stanton, does an efficient, careful and competent job. This is not a ploy to dispense with his services or the same that anyone of his caliber could perform.
Now Largo has a city manager-council form of government. What are called commissioners are not that at all. Commissioners generally have charge of city departments. In Largo, the manager reigns supreme.
It is nice to have an El Supremo, a Fuehrer, a Vozhd, but in this case he is not elected.
And the top guy should be there at the direct behest of the people.
A mayor should be the boss. Pay him a mayor's salary, give him a driver and let him ride herd on potholes or debris that goes uncollected for weeks. Let him be the guy who has power over jobs.
That way is an American tradition.
There is plenty of work to do. The mayor's top assistant can fulfill the role that the manager currently does -- in other words, be the administrative assistant so necessary in getting the job done.