The De Soto County news. [volume] (Arcadia, Fla.) 1898-1924, 1916-10-12

Se--
A condition and not theory exist,
I'm the road situation Of the Arcadia
district. There must he no msundcr.
standing There shall be no misun-
Outstanding upon the part Of the peo-
pie u it can possibly be prevented 10y
nS There Is now a misunderstanding
Of the real status Of conditions. and
this article IS intended primarily t,
correct this. We published a few days
ago the results of the two petition,
that were filal before the Honorable
Board Of Comfy Commissioners, the
one asking Cor n bond issue election.
r"d the other asking that No. 4, Ar
cadia. be made. Special Tax Levy
District. We told that the petition
asking for bond issue had been ia
Eled by the commissioners. and that
the petition to make a Special TaX
Levy District had been acted uoon.
and a committee appointed to look
over the petition for the purpose "
determining whether or not it met
oll legal requirements. We did not
state why the commissioners Ia lei
he one AMI acted upon the Other in
the face # the fact that the bond Is
sue petition presented nearly 100
more signatures than did the Special
Tax Levy petition. one reason we
did net state why the bond issue oc-
tition was tabled was because we lid
rot know, AMI wc rarely ever spocu-
late in a matter of so much impOr.
lance concerning things that we
know nothing about. We now think
we know why, or at least know one
Of the reasons for this action. The
following letter Of advice from Colo
mel John w. Burton undoubtedly
had something to do with the decis-
ion Of the hoard:
Arcadia, Fla, oct. 3, 1916.
County Commissioners, City.
Gentlemen: wien a petition signed
and filed under authority Of, and for
purpose described by, Chapter 620s,
Acts of 1911, and amendments, shah
have been withdrawn by the signers
Of the same, it is my opinion that the
same petition can not be properly
ronsidered by you unless all who
have signed the petition shall make
request therefor.
If 1t should he desired by those
.ersons who signed the original petit
tions, or by others, to have you con.
slider and act upon the same subject
matter. new petitions properly sign
cd, should he filed with you.
Very truly,
JOHN w. BURTON,
Attorney.
No blame can or should he attach
Oh to the county commissions
crs for heir action in the
face Of this advice from their lie
gal advisor. We do not blame them,
and we feel sure no one else who full
w. understands the matter will blame
them. Neither do we attempt to crit
icise the opinion given by Colonel
Burton, except in the fact that Colo
mel Burton was not conversant with
the real facts involved when he gave
the opinion. Colonel Burton gives
his opinion that petition which
"ehnll have been withdrawn by the
sicncrs Of the same can not he prop
erly considered unless all who have
signed this petition shall make re-
quest therefor.
The writer Of this article was pres
ent at the mass meeting when the |
"hove named petition was withdrawn.
He made a talk before the body Civ |
ing It as his opinion that the petition |
should he Withdrawn, and also that |
the petition presented by the citizens
Of Pine Level should he withdrawn. |
The petitions were both withdrawn. |
But it is extremely doubtful il there
were twenty-five Of nearly 400 |
who signed the petition present on |
this occasion. The writer both talk
ed and voted in favor Of its tempo
rary withdrawal, when he himself