What's in the Envelope?

Shout out to one of my favorite movies, Seven, starring Brad Pitt and Morgan Freeman. If you've seen the movie, you know that you aren't supposed to ask this question. I had a chance to toss out a movie like line and I took it. 😄 But I digress...

Today we are going to chat a bit about how I get stories and how I do research. 90% of the time, what I talk about on this site and the social media page is what I find on my own. The other 10% are things that are sent to me or something someone mentioned in a conversation.

The one consistent thing is that I love to do research. That is what is the most fun with this. I love to read court cases. I love to play private investigator. There is very little that I will not be able to uncover. It might take some time to do it, but more likely than not, I will get to the bottom of something.

That brings me to today's topic. Last week, I received an envelope in the mail. Below is that envelope.

As you can see, it looks like something you would see in a spy movie. Clearly, "Smith" isnt a real person. The return address is the Inverness Courthouse. It was sent to my office address, which is easy to find on Google. It looks like it was written by someone using their opposite hand (right hand if they are left handed or left hand if they are right handed). Its was clearly sent by someone who didnt want to be identified. The contents of the envelope would show me why.

The contents of the envelope were pretty shocking. I knew that I needed to do a bit of research to verify the contents. I will NEVER run anything without verifying it first, even if it means that I am late to the party so to speak. I want to make sure I verify all details before I put something out in the public. It not only protects me from legal issues, but also makes sure that you are reading something that is true... not just something created for clicks.

So I spent a day or so verifying what I was sent. I was able to do that. I researched it, got some proof and then made some calls to get verification of what I was seeing. It has 100% been verified. I can run it today and have ZERO issues in doing so.

But I decided not to. Why? Let me explain.

This would likely be one of the bigger stories I have done since I started this. If I post the information, social media would go wild. I would get a ton of new followers. It would be shared A LOT. Trust me when I say this isnt a small deal. It isnt anything illegal, but in the court of public opinion, it would confirm a lot of suspicions. I'm not going to say anymore than that.

So why not share it and get the ultimate reward of social media... more followers.

When I started this journey, I have said it has been about moving Citrus County forward. I am not afraid to call out people or things that are happening. I can handle the heat of prominent people in the community pushing back on me for outing things. It has already been happening, yet I am still here pushing for more information and outing what I find.

I called out 491 and the behind the scenes issues with that because it was not the correct process. I called out the airport stuff because again, not the correct process. I call out commissioners going directly to staff, because again, not the correct process. I talk about public records and potential violations because it puts Citrus in a bad spot and legal jeopardy. All of those things hurt Citrus County and me calling them out helps being attention to it to get those things to stop or changed.

But the contents of this envelope, while pretty shocking, will not help Citrus County move forward. The outcomes/actions are already finalized. There is no changing them. Outing these things only creates chaos. Again, that helps the social media growth, but doesn't help the county move forward.

So I made the decision not to publish the contents. I do reserve the right to do it later down the road should these issues arise again. The people involved know that I have this information, as I spoke to most of them as part of the verification process. So perhaps, this changes the status-quo and its no longer business as usual. That would be a positive change for sure.

The important thing here is that people know I am watching and they know that I can get the information needed to shine a light on their actions. Just because I have that in my toolbox, doesn't mean that I always have to use it. This time, it might actually do more harm than good.