Trimming local government

Not surprisingly, county and city governments are painting worst-case scenarios about the cuts they will need to make as a result of statewide property tax reform.

But in Okaloosa County, the potential cuts do not appear to be that big. Maybe still more should be trimmed.

On Tuesday, Okaloosa County Administrator Jim Curry estimated $5.4 million will need to be trimmed from this year's budget. But that amounts to just 1.8 percent of this year's current $292.3 million budget. In the world of private enterprise -- where budgets are often adjusted to meet performance expectations -- 1.8 percent is nothing.

The county ought to give taxpayers even more of their money back.

You can help cities and counties. Blog your ideas for trimming local government. I'm confident some officials read this blog. They'll see your ideas and perhaps put them to use.

Free the chickens!

You go, Jim Tucker!

Tucker, a former Fort Walton Beach city councilman, has run a-fowl (sorry, couldn't resist) of city law because he has a few chickens wandering around at his business, The Boat marina.

So, Tucker's planning to ask the city of a change in its land development code, which he hopes will allow the city to grant him an exception to the no-chicken rule.

Everyone should get behind Tucker on this one. The city ordinance is antiquated, unnecessary and an intrusion on Tucker's property rights. It's what happens when the bureaucrats get to make the rules. Yes, we don't want a chicken farm to spring up in downtown Fort Walton Beach. But a few pet chickens pecking around a businessman's lot won't hurt anyone.

The number at City Hall for the mayor and city council is 833-9510.

Attending "Freedom School"

I'm blogging this week from Tempe, Ariz., where I'm attending a gathering of editors and publishers from Freedom Communications, the parent company of the Northwest Florida Daily News.

The latter part of the week is our annual editors conference. But the first part of the week is "Freedom School." No, it's not indoctrination. Rather, it's a chance for us to discuss and debate the libertarian philosophy that guides the opinions on the editorial pages of our newspapers.

I like libertarianism. We're not Democrats and we're not Republicans. We're not liberals, and we're not conservatives. Instead, Freedom's libertarian philosophy champions:

-- Repect for individual rights.
-- Community service.
-- Lifelong learning.
-- Integrity.
-- Individual responsibility.

If something particularly interesting comes up this week, I'll post it on my blog, get your feedback, and report it back to my fellow editors and publishers. Cheers.

Expand Spout Off?

Folks, I need your thoughts about one of our most popular features -- Spout Off.

We began Spout Off about 15 months ago, and it has been a great hit with our readers. So great that I'm thinking about expanding it.

Right now, we sometimes receive up to 100 Spout Offs a day. Those Spout Offs are edited down to a dozen or so that we publish in the next day's edition of the Northwest Florida Daily News.

I should mention here that not all of the Spout Offs are publishable. Some of them, frankly, are crude, or bigoted, or inappropriately criticize people. Those kinds of Spout Offs go into the trash.

That stated, many Spout Offs are worth sharing, but aren't published for lack of space.

So here's my question: Would readers be interested in having the Daily News publish any extra Spout Offs online?

Let me know what you think about expanding Spout Off.

And by the way, for those of you who who blogged to me a month or so ago about comics, stay tuned for my column in in the Daily News in a couple of weeks, in which I will let you know whether "Cathy" stays or goes.

Greatest album: Sgt. Pepper

It was 40 years ago today...

Actually, it was 40 years ago this week that The Beatles released Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club band.

I don't always agree with the critics, but in this case I do. Sgt. Pepper is the greatest album of all time. From the opening guitar chord of the album's theme song, to the final explosion of sound at the end of "A Day in the Life," Sgt. Pepper is non-stop brilliance. It also probably influenced pop music more than any album before or since.

Or perhaps you disagree. Perhaps you think another Beatles album is better. Or maybe you think some other band -- or even Elvis -- produced an album better than Sgt. Pepper. If so, tell me what's better than Sgt. Pepper and why.

While I'm wating for you to prove me wrong, I think I'll listen to "With a Little Help from My Friends" for about the millionth time.

Monster pig is hogwash

This just in from the Associated Press.

The 1,000-plus lb. monster "wild" hog an 11-year-old boy killed a few weeks ago in Alabama was actually a domesticated pig named "Fred" that was released onto a hunting plantation just four days before it was shot. As it turns out, Fred was raised from piglet-hood in a nearby neighbor's pen.

This proves a common journalism rule: When a story sounds too good to be true, it usually isn't true.

I wonder what other "too good to be true" stories have made their way into print -- or more likely these days, onto the internet -- that later turn out to be hogwash. Anybody have a good Northwest Florida urban legend story to tell? You may share it here.