I really hate to paint any person or group with a wide brush. Are there people that Ms. Tutt dislikes. Absolutely, but all of us have people we dislike. In her comments I read that she is concerned/dislikes behaviors of people not necessarily individual people themselves and most definitely not all of us in general. And yes while rumors will always abound in our community I agree we all owe it to ourselves to rebuke false rumors whenever we can. It is also important to note that rumors, especially false ones often generate actual dollars costs. At a recent Welcome Wednesday meeting I attend, Ms. Tutt explained an investigation into a rumor about a very long emergency medical response time. She was pleased to report that after concluding the investigation all parties agreed the rumor was false. However what Ms. Tutt did not complain about or discuss was the actual man-hour cost to all of us to have her staff, Sumter County Sheriffs Dept., Villages Public Safety, Community Watch and other personnel review the call transcripts and dispatch logs to disprove this particular rumor. Bottom line, in my opinion, we will never be able to eliminate gossip and often general gossip can be good. But when general gossip takes on a set of alleged facts it becomes a rumor. At which point all of us owe it to ourselves and our community, to verify the alleged facts before we repeat and spread rumors.
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