The De Soto County news. [volume] (Arcadia, Fla.) 1898-1924, 1916-10-19
HOW CAN 1T BE DONE9

One OF the county commissioners
requests MS in future editorial dis.
cussion to fully explain how a
smaller unit may evade having fore
ed upon it road building system
that does not meet its approval, which
was alluded D i'm our editorial of Oc-
tober 9th.
So far as we know, every one ad-
m.tS that any rortion If a county cr
district has the right Of petition 10
become a bonding district or a sDA.
cial tax levy district. with this al. !
mitted we shall now proceed to l;e
"A concrete illustration Of the working
of the law as undoubtedly contem-
plated by the law makers.
Suppose, for instance. that "" go
tire Arcadia commissioners district
files a petition asking that this bonn.
dairy may be nude a special taN levy
district This now exists in fact.
Suppose the Nocatee and joshua
Creek communities should prefer To
bui1d their own roads. ana l'~irc
that this be dJLe by bond issue in
stead Of by special tax. Such It'll
2,rs Of these communities wiz have
g,t signed III, bond issue 1cr'ii1n
could agree upon boundary and Pc
titiOn the commissioners Ia give them
a bonding district. Now. this conru-
sion IF petitions embracing pair OF
the same territory, seems TO be the
hughear If many, which l. entirely
unnecessary IL we are only willing
that the people themselves, as in
tended by the legislature, shall be
the deciding factors. let us keep in
mind there i ~ such thing as pri-
ority Of petitions as many are led to
believe. The commissioners are to
consider these petitions. investigate
them. and If finding that they meet
the legal requirements rs IN number
Of Signers, grant them. The respon-
sihility is not with the commissioners
hut with the people.
Now let's consider the two petitions
as above given. We. the commission
ers, find after duo investigation thar
the Nocatcc and Joshua Creek COM
munities have perfectly legal petit
tion asking that these communities
lie made bonding district Then il
the petition Is in every particular le-
gal there is but one thing 10 d., and
that Is to have a motion, second
and unanimous veto granting the pc
tition. The heard will now take up
the special tay petition and lnvcsti
catc as before. whether or not this
Eetition. after eliminating the terri
tory described in the Nocatee and
Joshua Creek petition just granted. is
legal. Or 1t may be that in the mean
time, in fact 1t is most sure to be the
case, this petition will have to he
modified to meet the new conditions.
Were we Il member of the board
of county commissioners under no
circumstances would our action diff
fer from the above general policy, ex-
ccpt when we believed that the small
er unit presenting a petition did so
for the purpose of evading the law.
instead of accepting its benefcenee.
Under such circumstances a comnou'
nifty should not he permitted to stanl
in the way OF progress, and the com
missioners shoild refuse to grant
such, even at the risk of having
mandamus suit.
We shall nov suppose another con-
dition that may arise even at the risk
of being r'sumptuouS. We do not
believe. though. that any one will nc
cuse us Of this when he knows that
our whole heart is In this matter In
order that the truth may he reached.
The next question we wish to men
tion that may arise is, that there
may he two petitions embracing the
same territory. one asking for II bend
issue and the ether asking for a spe.
cial tax levy. Should such n condi-
tion arise AMI were we member OF
the hoard of commissioners. the vot-
ers Of the district would have to de-
eide which one Of these elections
should he called. You ask how.
"Where there is n will there Is a
way" and II such a condition should
arise the 'how' could he found. and
the people froced to decide for them
selves as the law contemplated.
Wen hazard one more suggestions
Were we a member Of the board OF
commissioners no election would be