Allelujah!

Rational voters prevail! ESPLOST passes! Shirley Wise just called me from Judge Gillette's office. With 15 of 16 precincts reporting, the Yes votes are 1,534; the irrational No votes are 1,222. there are five absentee ballots to be counted. The problem is that there is one machine acting up at that 16th precinct so they can't give a final count until tomorrow, but there were not enough total votes cast at that one to make it mathematically possible for ESPLOST not to have passed. I'm really glad to know that my school ad valorem taxes will not have to build these new schools and make all of those repairs. By the way, the JDA Board is having their next meeting at the county annex in Kingsland at 9:30 AM this coming Friday, 3/20. I asked the commissioners tonight to try to attend, as I will. This will be where they start discussing the list of applicants. Thankfully, we calm, rational voters today, by a narrow margin, gave them the advantage of a continued good educational infrastructure that the new director can use as a drawing card for new businesses. I would encourage all who can attend to be there to let them know that damn it, we expect them to make good use of it. We do not expect them to hire a local GOB with no credentials. We expect a qualified "go getter" and nothing less will do.