From Largo, Dawn Morgan reports:
Was it the dude holding up a poster board scribbled with the word faggot or the rusty red pick up truck with a full-sized Confederate flag waving from its bed rolling down the streets of Largo that made me a little nervous?
Actually, those two incidents aside, I found very little opposition to Steve Stanton Friday night in Largo.
Many people cut out of work or school early Friday afternoon to bake lightly in 81 degrees of Florida sunshine – not at the beach, but outside of Largo City Hall. The first 100 or so folks in line received a seat inside the chambers of the City Council, where they would have the option to speak for three minutes after Steve Stanton, showing either their support or opposition for the jilted city manager.
The city hall's community room and break room were turned into viewing areas, set up with televisions and chairs to accommodate a few hundred more citizens.
But by 6 p.m. when the council was ready to begin, only 90 people were set to speak for or against Stanton and 200 tickets had been given out for the other rooms. Though the city had braced for several hundred more people, there was still plenty of excitement that hadn't seen since “Maybe the RV ordinance,†said Largo city employee Joan Wheaton. Several years ago, the ordinance raised a fury when RV's were restricted from parking in front yards all over town.
This article appears in Mar 21-27, 2007.