Profile in Courage

I am even more proud of my last name tonight. Gavin, my wonderful brother-in-law and a Councilman for the city of Keystone Heights, stood up for what he believes is right and voted against an increase of the millage rate for the city. He knew going into the meeting tonight that his opinion was not the popular one and that he would be the only one of five members of the council voting against it, but he stood his ground and confidently voted "nay". The proposed increase would have raised the taxes on the property we own in the city by 62%, but because he believes that other measures should be taken (i.e. cutting or restructuring the budget), he stood his ground. He did this knowing that the majority of the people in the audience at the meeting were in favor of the increase, as they spent two hours making their opinions known, but still felt that now was not the time to increase the taxes by that magnitude or that it should be put on the next ballot for the people to vote on. As the youngest elected official in Clay County history, he has been called naive, but I believe that as he listened to what the Mayor, fellow councilmen and citizens had to say and thoughtfully explained his position in voting against the ordinance, he showed true courage.

In related news, he and the other members of the Rollins family who were there to show support were able to escape the evening without being caught by the lynch mob.

And in unrelated, but equally as noteworthy, news, we made it out of the meeting in time to get some Johnny's for dinner :) And hopefully the Mayor was able to make it home to watch "Dancing With the Stars", as that was an expressed concern of hers.

P.S. Gavin was my date for the senior prom. What a fun story for the kids one day...