Bloggers,

On Monday, more than 100 Clay Countians gathered at the Thrasher-Horne Center for the Performing Arts to vision Clay County's future. The all-day session was facilitated by Clay County consultants and leaders of the Jacksonville Community Council, Inc.

An informal, on-line survey yielded 965 responses. Ulrich and Associates, a Clay County research consulting group, compiled the data from the on-line survey. The results were fairly predictable in terms of identifying the problems we face in Clay County. During the visioning session, there was a lot of discussion on what was "right" in Clay County.

As a participant, it really was a banner day for Clay County as a diverse population came together to create a broad-range vision for the county. Many people worked very hard to make sure all of the populations were represented on each of the 9 sub-committees.

What floors me is the level of negativity leveled toward this effort from political candidates like Tom Platt who sent an email to all of his friends accusing the Reinhold Corporation of manipulating the Department of Community Affairs into accepting a county-adopted visioning plan in order to avoid scrutiny over certain Master Plans in the County. Nothing is futher from the truth. Candidates are misleading voters in order to get an "edge" on the election. These visioning sessions have not been adopted by the County and legally, cannot pass the numerous points of scrutiny the DCA requires.

Let's remember, people are trying to get elected. Please don't fall victim to the lowest common denominator. It will not serve you.