Of disah and datah and whatevah is the mattah with the Big Papah? Nary a stick of type on Largo doings - or anything else up this way for that matter.
Largo is chock-a-block full of news for anyone with eyes open and ears alert.
This corner gets bombarded with queries as to what the Big Paper is NOT doing. Tell you what, check with the folks there.
One hint is that the Pointy-Headed Institute owns the BP and once you get journalism professors associated with newspapers the product goes into the toilet (sort of "if you can't do it, teach it").
Ah, yes, and now on to the day's chief business -
It appears we have elected officials in Largo who, when after all is said and done, don't want their jobs.
The mayor has announced that she can't find time to do mayor things and then, most startlingly, a commission member, styled as vice mayor, has put herself in the position of plainly stating she is not going to do what is generally expected of those we elect to public office.
Doesn't have time to do those things the job requires, Harriet Crozier announced last week. She didn't bat an eye, made no bones about it. She just ain't a-gonna do what is required to bring fair judgment to an issue.
This is what is going on -
A Largo citizen, namely Curtis Holmes, who is probably seen in some quarters of city hall as a pain in the oblongata but is really a friend to the people because he pays attention and is a watchdog for his fellow citizens, has come forth with the idea of the City Commission having an internal auditor who reports directly and solely to them.
This is not a bean counter job. This is not a job that checks the books. This is a job that checks to see that policies and aims of the elected commission are conformed to and carried out.
It is an attempt to put the power back into the hands of the elected folks in Largo. Truly, through various machinations and manipulations, they have been overtaken by the city's administration.
Steve Stanton, the city manager, is opposed to the idea of an internal auditor but he shouldn't be.
It would seem that a sensible fellow in his job would welcome any vetting of the way the city is being run. If nothing else it would ratify and confirm all the good results he asserts that his skillful efforts bring to the city.
In furtherance of his idea, some time ago Holmes gave La Mayor and members of the commission material from the internal auditors group that explains in detail what such a job entails.
At the same time, Stanton loaded up the commission with 36 pages of information that, more or less, tells why this position is not needed.
It was thrown up for discussion at last week's commission work session. But hours before the meeting began it was withdrawn from the agenda because of efforts mainly of Commissioners Rodney Woods and Gigi Arntzen.
Too much stuff to look at in a short time, they said. Obviously, these well intentioned commissioners new as they are to the board, want to give anything that may have merit a fair look.
But not Crozier.
She put herself in the category of that distinguished gentleman who, when offered some tasty victuals, turned them down with the proclamation that "No, I never tried it, but I know I don't like it."
In other words, Crozier's against the idea without hearing anything about it. Don't confuse me with facts and nothing like having your mind made up in advance. It's such a time saver.
"I don't have time to read all this and do the research," she announced last week, apparently unaware of how self-indicting her words are.
The words are tantamount to saying, "I don't want this job; I don't have time for it."
And coming from a woman who has a burning desire to become mayor (along with several others of her colleagues) the public is now so advised as to Crozier's real approach to her duties.
Make sure you put it in your memory bank.