Light-up McIntosh December 15
Light-up McIntosh will begin at the Civic Center at 6:30 p.m. The event will host Santa Clause and an area choir from six local churches will sing.
07.20.07 -- EDITORIAL: Owning it
Friday, July 20, 2007
By CHER PHILLIPS
Editorial:
It's always been my policy to own my mistakes when I am wrong.
I'm torn, here, because I don't think I was wrong to pursue this story. For pursuing it, I can't apologize. I accurately reported what happened at that meeting. There are times when stories unfold as you work them. This one has.
As you will read in the following story, I was wrong, in part, when I wrote council members attended a meeting outside the Sunshine Law. Of course, the problem with that statement is that the council members attendance was outside the Sunshine Law -- just not for the reasons that I, and others at the time, understood.
For all practical purposes, some of the council members in McIntosh probably did meet outside the Sunshine Law. The documentation and expert comment supports that conclusion. The fine print is that if there is a violation, the two council members, Eva Jo Callahan and Lee Deaderick weren't the responsible party, because it wasn't their meeting. Notices for these meetings that I've gathered from my neighbors in the Cove show that it's questionable as to whether they serve as sufficient public notice, according to expert sources. Further, at the meeting I attended, I saw no minutes being taken.
I do apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused.
Even though my pursuit of this story seems to upset people enough to personally attack me on my own blog, I continued my reporting today, and I hope the following story clarifies the issue.
My hope from this reporting is that future meetings held by the school board as they work through the issue of building a school are handled in a manner consistent with the Sunshine Laws so those meetings don't hinder them or threaten their future projects.
posted by Cher @ 1:44 PM,
0 Comments:
Editor
Editor and Publisher:
I'm Cher From McIntosh, FL I'm a graduate student at the University of Florida working on a master's degree in Mass Communication. While I was finishing my undergrad degree in journalism last year, I reported on McIntosh, Fla. for an in-depth reporting class. I figured that the reporting and the public record files should go somewhere people can access them. Reporters don't report to keep the information they find to themselves. Some of that reporting is included here in a forum that allows response. McIntosh suffers because with no news coverage, the local government and the rumor mill have too much potential to run rampant over residents. I moved to McIntosh in the fall of 1999. My profile
About This Blog
The primary purpose of this blog is to accurately reflect what happens in town public meetings and dispel rumors. I record the meetings and make them available for download. One of the goals of this blog is to offer residents a place to voice opinions. The comments, views and opinions expressed there are not necessarily those of the editor.
