{"id":57830,"date":"2025-09-04T22:45:38","date_gmt":"2025-09-05T02:45:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/?p=57830"},"modified":"2025-09-05T00:38:07","modified_gmt":"2025-09-05T04:38:07","slug":"polk-county-commissioner-rick-wilson-needs-to-wake-up-and-take-his-head-out-of-his-ass","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/2025\/09\/04\/polk-county-commissioner-rick-wilson-needs-to-wake-up-and-take-his-head-out-of-his-ass\/","title":{"rendered":"Polk County Commissioner Rick Wilson                       needs to wake up and take his head out of his ass"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Editorial<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u00a0<strong>Animal Defenders of Polk County, FL<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n        \n        <div class=\"embedpress-gutenberg-wrapper source-provider-Youtube aligncenter ep-clear   ep-content-protection-disabled inline\" id=\"7f133583-9cd9-4291-af98-0dfa7d7c42c6\" data-embed-type=\"Youtube \">\n            <div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper \">\n                <div id=\"ep-gutenberg-content-71a0f942570995b8cab2ebccce6bc6c1\" class=\"ep-gutenberg-content\">\n                    <div >\n                        <div class=\"ep-embed-content-wraper preset-default insta-grid ep-google-photos-carousel\"\n                            style=\"max-width:600px;margin-left:auto;margin-right:auto\"                                                                                                                >\n\n                            <div class=\"ose-youtube ose-uid-50ba078972466f75963de3470b99ce18 ose-embedpress-responsive\" style=\"width:600px; height:340px; max-height:340px; max-width:100%; display:inline-block;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" allowFullScreen=\"true\" title=\"Commissioner Wilson Refuses Polk County Shelter Reform: Sept 2, 2025 \" width=\"600\" height=\"340\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/UytVekxDXcU?feature=oembed&#038;color=red&#038;rel=1&#038;controls=2&#038;start=true&#038;end=true&#038;fs=1&#038;iv_load_policy=1&#038;autoplay=0&#038;mute=1&#038;modestbranding=0&#038;cc_load_policy=0&#038;playsinline=1\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; encrypted-media;accelerometer;autoplay;clipboard-write;gyroscope;picture-in-picture clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen title=\"Polk County Commissioner Rick Wilson                       needs to wake up and take his head out of his ass\"><\/iframe><\/div>                        <\/div>\n\n                                            <\/div>\n                <\/div>\n            <\/div>\n        <\/div>\n    \n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">At the September 2nd Commission meeting, after animal advocates made their statements, Commissioner Rick Wilson said this:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWe\u2019re not gonna make something happen here today or the next day\u2026The Sheriff\u2019s Office is in charge of Animal Control. So until the Sheriff or the Sheriff\u2019s staff tells us that new ordinances are needed, or the changes needed in running a facility, this board will not take actions to regard those things\u2026this board will not attempt to mandate anything to the Sheriff\u2019s Office running of Animal Control. Period.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-full is-resized\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" data-dominant-color=\"4e4e4e\" data-has-transparency=\"false\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"497\" height=\"566\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1110px) 100vw, 1110px\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/screen-shot-2024-05-16-at-7-28-53-am.webp?resize=497%2C566&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-57831 not-transparent\" style=\"--dominant-color: #4e4e4e; width:256px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/screen-shot-2024-05-16-at-7-28-53-am.webp?w=497&amp;ssl=1 497w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/screen-shot-2024-05-16-at-7-28-53-am.webp?resize=263%2C300&amp;ssl=1 263w\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Let\u2019s be clear: that is not how Polk County government works. According to Polk County\u2019s own published responsibilities:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>\u2022The Board of County Commissioners adopts ordinances and resolutions to establish public policy.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>\u2022The Board of County Commissioners creates committees and appoints members to serve on them.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Sheriff does not decide what ordinances the BoCC may or may not consider.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Sheriff enforces laws; he does not set policy. By deferring all responsibility to Sheriff Judd, the BoCC is abdicating its duty to the people of Polk County.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Citizens elect commissioners to represent their will, and the will of Polk County residents is clear: shelter reform.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-vivid-red-color has-text-color has-link-color has-medium-font-size wp-elements-1 wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>It makes no sense to tell citizens to plead with a Sheriff who refuses to engage, while animals continue to suffer and die in our county shelter.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong> <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/hashtag\/polkcounty\">#polkcounty<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/hashtag\/shelter\">#shelter<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/hashtag\/animaladvocacy\">#animaladvocacy<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/hashtag\/cat\">#cat<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/hashtag\/community\">#community<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/hashtag\/dog\">#dog<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/hashtag\/florida\">#florida<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/hashtag\/advocate\">#advocate<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/hashtag\/gradyjudd\">#gradyjudd<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/hashtag\/tnvr\">#tnvr<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Editorial \u00a0Animal Defenders of Polk County, FL At the September 2nd Commission meeting, after animal advocates made their statements, Commissioner Rick Wilson said this: \u201cWe\u2019re not gonna make something happen&hellip; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":57831,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_robots_follow":"","_seopress_robots_imageindex":"","_seopress_robots_snippet":"","_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"8","_seopress_robots_breadcrumbs":"","_seopress_robots_freeze_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_custom_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_canonical":"","_seopress_social_fb_title":"","_seopress_social_fb_desc":"","_seopress_social_fb_img":"","_seopress_social_fb_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_height":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_title":"","_seopress_social_twitter_desc":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_height":0,"_seopress_redirections_value":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled_regex":"","_seopress_redirections_logged_status":"","_seopress_redirections_param":"","_seopress_redirections_type":0,"_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","inline_featured_image":false,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"wpai_generated_summary":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":true,"token":"eyJpbWciOiJodHRwczpcL1wvaTAud3AuY29tXC9sYWtlbGFuZGdhemV0dGUuaW5mb1wvbmV3c1wvd3AtY29udGVudFwvdXBsb2Fkc1wvMjAyNVwvMDlcL3NjcmVlbi1zaG90LTIwMjQtMDUtMTYtYXQtNy0yOC01My1hbS53ZWJwP2ZpdD00OTclMkM1NjYmc3NsPTEiLCJ0eHQiOiJQb2xrIENvdW50eSBDb21taXNzaW9uZXIgUmljayBXaWxzb24gICAgICAgICAgICAgICAgICAgICAgIG5lZWRzIHRvIHdha2UgdXAgYW5kIHRha2UgaGlzIGhlYWQgb3V0IG9mIGhpcyBhc3MiLCJ0ZW1wbGF0ZSI6ImhpZ2h3YXkiLCJmb250IjoiIiwiYmxvZ19pZCI6MTYzMDQwNjYxfQ._bqBqboXKV1eZwUj0PrLCJ2XNN4TqENRgjx1oEE4j9YMQ"},"version":2,"attached_media":[{"id":57831,"url":"http:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/screen-shot-2024-05-16-at-7-28-53-am.webp","type":"image\/png"}]},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-57830","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-editorial"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57830","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=57830"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57830\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":57834,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57830\/revisions\/57834"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/57831"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=57830"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=57830"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=57830"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}