So the Longboat Key Fire Department and its pension board are undertaking a forensic investigation of their pension fund with an eye to determine why the unfunded liability has bloated beyond $10 million and what funding and management decisions led to where we are today. And there is something chilling about this request; the words forensic investigation have a grisly pall. One expects Horatio Cain from CSI Miami to emerge in the finance director’s office, crack open a few actuarial reports and say something like, “There is a lot more than money missing in these reports…”

Several months ago, after a visit to Phoenix, I opined on immigration. That was at the time of passage and signing of the Arizona immigration law. My thoughts on that subject stand as written. But while in Phoenix, I looked at municipal government with a view toward contrasting that large city with our small town. I found there wasn’t enough there for a meaningful column. Maybe there is.

Ever since the Europeans decided they could vacation in the sun more conveniently and for less money away from Longboat Key, certain merchants have been claiming they would all return if the 30-day rule on residential leases were rescinded.

It was my intention this week to write about the recent sad turn of events at the Whitney Beach Plaza, but I will not do so. Having been a frequent customer of The Market and being a regular diner at the Bayou Tavern, as well as a commercial tenant of the plaza for the last few months, I fear that my interest in the subject may conflict with proper journalistic ethics.

I am going to divert my attention from local politics to a subject more in the nature of national politics, if this can be considered politics at all—the proposed mosque near ground zero in New York City.

What a nightmare if the boss of your boss finds your work and perhaps your attitude second rate. How long until a justification is found to squeeze you out of your job?

I was reading in the Anna Maria Island Sun (July 21, 2010) a story about CERT. That got me remembering.

The sad news from Anna Maria Island recently of further loss of life occurred off the beaches. These drownings were reported to be the result of persons caught in rip currents. These are dangerous beachfront phenomena.

All of us get frustrated. Some of us blow up when we do. The lucky ones do it in relative privacy and usually make their amends privately. Andrew Hlywa, the recent owner of the Whitney Beach Plaza, unfortunately vented his frustration on the editorial page of the Longboat Key News. I am sure when he calms down, he will realize his outburst was unseemly and mean-spirited. However, done is done, and so are Andrew and his charming companion Dawn di Lorenzo with Longboat Key.

The voters of Longboat Key have elected six of the seven commissioners to serve the electorate. The seventh commissioner was appointed to the commission despite the fact that he lost the election, the loser to an elected candidate who didn’t even campaign.