Doug Gilpin of the Sumter County Board of Commissioners, spoke to Republican Club of Sumter County members Thursday night for an early kickoff to the Memorial Day weekend. Upwards of 30 people met at Savannah Center and formed a golf cart caravan to Veterans’ Memorial Park to meet with Gilpin.
Among the first members to arrive were Village of Winifred residents Linda Gray and Bob Martin.
“If you want to try to improve our country, you need to be involved,” Gray said. “You can’t just sit back and gripe.” “We’re going to be out here, talking with people, and discussing our views with them,” Bob added. Thomas and Barbara Davis felt good about the mini-rally. “We came here to show our colors,” Bob said. “We need to wave our flag from time to time to keep our spirits high and show people we are proud to be Republicans and proud to be Americans. We have a lot to be proud about.”
During his brief talk, Doug Gilpin said, “We have had a lot of disagreements in Washington about long-standing problems. Our federal government has run amok.”
Focusing on the current scandal at the Veterans Administration, Gilpin cited the campaign rhetoric of the current administration — “the promises we all heard about how well they would take care of our veterans — and now,,, it’s just shameful how so many are being neglected.”
Changing gears, Gilpin reported “Things are good in Sumter County. Today we have good government here, but not in Washington. We have common sense in Sumter County. The higher you go in the chain of government, the more common sense seems to be lost.”
Temporarily upstaged by a pair of waddling ducks from Lake Mira Mar, Gilpin resumed a brief history about how the Sumter County Board of Commissioners had evolved along with the growth of The Villages. “After our landslide victory, so many things have changed for the better in Sumter County.” He cited as just one example the sharp reduction in the millage rate. “It had been at 9.25 and is now around 6.33 — a big improvement for taxpayers. “We run our county lean and mean,” Gilpin said proudly, “in fact we do almost everything the exact opposite way our Federal government does.”
Former club president, Rich Cole, reminded the group both Doug Gilpin, representing District 2, and Commissioner Garry Breeden, from District 4, will be up for re-election in November. “No challengers have filed paperwork to run against them,” Cole said. “We hope that means the people like the job we’ve been doing,” said Gilpin. “We want to continue to do some of the things (former Commissioners) Mike Francis and Dick Hoffman started in the past but were outvoted on.”
After the Pledge of Allegiance and recognition of our deployed troops and military veterans, club president, Joannie Cady distributed Klondike bars to everyone. The warm temperature was evident in how quickly the ice cream sandwiches melted after being packed in dry ice.