Statement of Ed Slavin to County Commission on City of St. Augustine Extending Nights of Lights

On the anniversary of the ratification of the Bill of Rights (December 15), We, the People are united in expecting government accountability, from the Courthouse to the Whue House to City Hall.  Our leaders must obey our laws, listen, and heed the wisdom of our Founders and our elders, including people who have passed on, like my late mentors Stetson Kennedy and Alice Compton.  Alice Compton suggested Nights of Lights, which urgently needs to be extended by another two weeks. 

On December 8th, City Commission refused to vote to extend Nights of Lights, not even making a motion.  That was so wrong,  They did not even vote. 

Thanks to leaders, including Irving Kass, Karen Zander, TDC, VCB, Len Weeks for standing up to City Hall which still seems, as FDR said, quoting Dante, "frozen in the ice of its own indifference."  My Father told me when I was a little boy, "you can't fight City Hall."  Of course, my Dad was wrong, and he proudly admitted it after public victories in Appalachia and St. Augustine.  

The people of St. Augustine won after the City dumped a landfill in a lake, and thought they'd get away with it. Sherry Badger and other citizens blew the whistle.  Our  Old City Reservoir was cleaned up. 

The people won iafter the Governor of Florida illegally ordered Sisters of St. Joseph arrested for teaching Blacks to read.  

The people of St. Augustine won when segregation laws after Congress paseed to the 1964 Civil Rights Act, made possible by the 1000 people arrested here, with all charges dismissed by Judge Bryan Simpson, for whom the federal courthouse is now named.   

We won when it only took two weeks in 2005 for a federal judge to find the City violated the First Amendment when it order refused to fly Rainbow flags for Gay Pride, when every single other group got to fly their flags on the Bridge of Lions, including the Broward Yacht Company. 

Our economy is a- hurtin' for certain, and we're not going to accept excuses for it.  Please pass a resolution calling on our St. Augustine City Commissioners to extend Nights of Lights by two weeks, at a special meeting on or before December 22, 2025.  Please ask the City to extend Nights of Lights xxxx

Please ask the City to extend Nights of Lights.

Please honor our. Bill of Rights.