As OneMann reported about the last BCC meeting, Comm. George Bush moved, and the BCC approved (4-1), to direct the County Attorney to research the possibility of the BCC placing a Charter Amendment before the electorate that would help regulate future expansion of gambling in Clay County.

Look no further than the Osceola County Home Rule Charter.

Section 1.5.A. Reservation of Power by the Electorate. The citizens of Osceola County reserve to themselves the power to approve or disapprove casino gambling of any nature within the boundaries of the County. Therefore, if and when casino gambling becomes lawful under the Constitution and Laws of the State of Florida, no action may be taken by the Board of County Commissioners, by the governing body of any municipality, or by any elected or appointed official or employee of either the County or any municipality the effect of which is to authorize, to approve, or in any manner to allow casino gambling to occur anywhere in the County unless and until casino gambling in the County is first authorized by an approving vote of the majority of the qualified electors residing in the County and voting on the question at referendum, and such referendum must be separate and apart from any Statewide or multi-County referendum on the question.

Subsections B, C, & D add further detail.

Personally, I'm all for it. In today's (2 OCT 07) Fla. T/U, Bill McCollum, Attorney General for the State of Florida, wrote a Letter to the Editor on the issue. If you didn't get to read it, suffice it to say, he is strongly opposed to further expansion of the gambling in the State. He offered several statistics that show the cost of gambling - both in dollars, and the human toll - far outweigh the supposed benefits to society. (His statistics were not attributed to any source, and I prefer some reference for verification.) I agree with his message.

If you agree, tell someone in Green Cove (commissioners@co.clay.fl.us). If you don't, I'd like to read your explanation of why further expansion of State mandated gambling can be good for us.