The Sumter Landing Community Development District Board of Supervisors on Monday rendered a decision on a Villager’s request to return to his neighborhood pool.
The ban on Villager Ed McGinty will continue through Oct. 26 at the Hadley swimming pool.
Three of the five members of the board were present for the meeting. The three board members – Mike Berning, Joseph Nisbett and Gerry Lachnicht – reached a consensus that the ban on McGinty should continue.
The 74-year-old resident of the Village of Hadley was acquitted in April in Sumter County Court after the prosecutor’s office failed to prove its stalking case. McGinty was arrested Sept. 24 after reportedly showing up at the home of a woman with whom he was known to have a long-running political feud. He had been banned from the Hadley pool the previous day after arguing with the woman, who had been wearing a “Joe Biden Sucks” T-shirt.
The woman who had been wearing that now-infamous T-shirt, Liza Adkison of the Village of Mallory Square, spoke out Monday before the SLCDD board and asked that the ban on McGinty be upheld through Oct. 26.
She said the board needed to send a message that there are “consequences” for bad behavior.
“You can’t disrespect and berate others without consequences. I would ask that you send a message to others to behave civilly and with tolerance. You don’t have to agree with everybody. You don’t have to like them,” Adkison told the board.
McGinty also pleaded his case.
He claimed Adkison came to “his” pool three times in September.
“A lot of people said she was there to goad me on. I called on her to leave because of her shirt which said ‘Biden Sucks,’” McGinty told the board.
He admitted he went to her house with political signs on his golf cart.
“That was a mistake. I never should have done that,” McGinty said.
However, he blamed politics for a subsequent arrest at the pool.
“It was a Trump cop just busting me,” McGinty said.
Board members were advised that District staff was hoping to see the ban on McGinty continue through Oct. 26.
“I have to respect the staff’s recommendation. There are other pools that Mr. McGinty will have access to,” Chairman Berning said.
