Letter: Sign the Springs County petition

While I support the movement I also am of the understanding that it is a long and expensive process. Admittedly I am not very knowledgeable on the process so my question may sound naïve, but is there an option for cities like High springs, Alachua and Newberry to get annexed into Gilchrist County?

LOOKING FOR A PHANTOM—MY SEARCH FOR “SPRINGS COUNTY”

Guest Opinion Piece using only Public Records as sources.
Spoiler Alert: Do Not Read if you are a Snowflake–You’ve Been Warned
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I Am Being Stalked. I repeat. I Am Being Stalked. I live in Western Alachua County.
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A phantom “movement” is stalking me, stalking my house, attempting to kidnap me and my house into a new county without my permission through involuntary annexation. You are damn right I am concerned.
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When I first heard of this, I asked “Who is trying to do this?” The Chronicle, Mainstreetdailynews, TV20, and the Alachua paper all have articles implying this is a “movement” which calls itself “Springs County.” A real movement has multiple people, and an organization structure. Perhaps an office and a phone number. There will be much information online. I began a google search. What I found was surprisingly little. Where is this movement? It more resembles a Phantom.
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The Chronicle says it is into “Holding local governments accountable.” “Springs County” is a PROPOSED local government yet the Chronicle and other outlets have failed to do their due diligence and examine it using the Public Records laws it will be subject to as a government entity if it is ever created.
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Purpose of this independent research: The “Springs County” (SC) movement is, in my opinion, in violation of several Florida Statutes. The various State agencies will make the final determination. In order to get them to investigate, a standard complaint form must be filed. The State will not investigate a Phantom, they need information. Bottom line: There is not enough public information available to fill out the complaint forms. Huh? Does this “movement” actually exist? The Real Research Team investigates. (Not like that pathetic “Research Team”(sic) the local Weird Sort Pudcast claims to have.)
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SC says they want to “create” a new county. In reality, in order to do this, they want to DESTROY the existing Alachua County and create two new counties, SC and New Alachua County. They are anarchists masquerading as pro freedom and pro democracy fans. Hypocrites from the outset, their agenda is deceptive from the first sentence. One of their supporters just ran for Alachua County Commission as a Republican (and thankfully lost.) What a hypocrite. She wanted to get elected to the Commission of a County she is pledged to DESTROY. She wanted to get a Alachua County taxpayer salary to destroy Alachua County. That is some kind of just plain wrong.
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Looking for The Movement.
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A free SC facebook page was created June 18, 2015. It is unregistered/unverified by facebook. There is an email address “infoATspringscounty.com”, and the only name affiliated with the facebook page is a “Tim Marden.”
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The domain name “springscounty.com” was purchased by someone unknown from godaddy on May 26, 2020. There is minimal info on that web site, the facebook page seems to be their main event.
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The FB page says they are printing and selling large amounts of merchandise, bumper stickers at $5, t-shirts at $15, and yard signs at $15. The announced purpose of SC is to influence the State Legislature to introduce special legislation, and to place a straw poll on the ballot.
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In July one Tim Marden started a changedotorg petition https://www.change.org/p/florida-legislators-springs-county-florida-time-has-come?
to lobby the Florida Legislature for their specific issue.
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Observation: Newberry’s massive annexation sprawl has gone so far north some Newberry Residents have High Springs mail addresses. Newberry is a prime example of how NOT to run a small city.
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According to public records at the Department of State Cooperate Lookup, the Florida Registered agent of the “John Birch Society, Inc.” is Marden, Timothy

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On facebook as of 7/31 SC claims to have sold $10,750 of merchandise. Someone named Dennis gave a $1000 donation. What bank account is this money going into?
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Florida Statute 106:
“PAC A political committee means: 1. A combination of two or more individuals, or a person other than an individual, that, in an aggregate amount in excess of $500 during a single calendar year:
b. Accepts contributions for the purpose of expressly advocating the election or defeat of a candidate or issue;”
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Splitting an existing county by Legislative act is an “issue.”
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SC claims to be for law an order. SC is at this moment breaking the law by operating as an illegal unregistered PAC. They have not filed the required Form DS-DE 5, Statement of Organization of Political Committee, Form DS-DE 6, Appointment of Campaign Treasurer and Designation of Campaign Depository for Political Committees, and Form DS-DE 41, Registered Agent Statement of Appointment. They have not filed their list of contributors. SC has not filed this with Tallahassee, as required by law. SC is liable to get fined $500 a day if someone files a complaint with the elections commission. Problem: Not enough is known about SC to fill out the complaint form. Catch 22: a complaint cannot be filed with the State reporting SC has not filed their required DS-DE 5 until they file their DS-DE 5 and provide the information needed for the complaint form.
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Why is SC a PAC? They are collecting money to lobby the Legislature for a special interest Bill to create SC. They may also be an unregistered lobbyist also, but then they seem to think they are exempt and above the law. Conservative Republicans often do. See Trump, Donald if you need an example.
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SC has not done any of the normal required paperwork to create an organization. They have not incorporated, nor have they registered their SC trademarks. (Free message for SC: Things like trademark names are first come, first registered. If some enterprising venture capitalist registers the name “Springs County” today, tomorrow you will get a cease and desist letter from a lawyer. Your option will be to buy the Spring County name from the legal owner. Free market capitalism at work. Happens all the time.)
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With no registered PAC or corporation, SC is buying many yard signs at $1.50 each and selling them at $15 each. If this financial transaction is being done by an individual through his personal bank account, this huge profit margin means they will own the IRS a lot of income tax on the profits. (If they get turned in by a whistleblower, the IRS will pay the whistleblower a reward.)

SC is collecting money on Paypal. https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/tmardenusa?locale.x=en_US
Looks like one “tmardenusa”is setting himself for a rude IRS awakening. Is this an unregistered charity? An unregistered PAC? An unregistered lobbyist? Since there is no corporation, no LLC, no Form DS-DE 5, no PAC, no registered charity, financially this looks like a personally owned for profit business venture of one T. Marden which according to the IRS is not tax free but needs to file tax returns and pay income tax on the profits.
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SC has an ersatz county seal, implying they are a county. Counties are subsets of the State Government, created by the Legislature. SC is impersonating a government entity, which is illegal. For wanting to run the law, the SC people sure like to break the law. Their seal looks like it was copied from the City of Alachua seal.
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Florida Statute 817.417 is the Government Imposter and Deceptive Advertisement Act. Prohibited is falsely representing that a company or offer is: Part of or associated with a government entity; Approved, authorized or endorsed by a government entity; or From a government entity.
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A complaint to the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services will hopefully encourage these SC people to quit breaking the law. However, there is not enough information to fill out the complaint form, as the Phantom “Springs County movement” does not seem to exist beyond one Walter Mitty fantasy facebook page run by a Tim Marden, collecting money and sticking it into his own bank account.
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Additionally, the SC merchandise and logos use the names of the municipalities High Springs, Newberry, Alachua and Archer, implying that these cities approve of this “movement.” Is SC using these city names without permission and authorization? Yes. The July 16 2020 edition of the publication Alachua County Today has an article headlined “Springs County, hopeful reality or pipedream?” It says: “While Marden has not reached out to the mayors or city managers of the town in the proposed county . . . City officials from Newberry, High Springs, and Alachua do not favor splitting from Alachua County.” SC is falsely representing implied approval from governments that DO NOT favor SC. These cities have never voted to approve SC to use their names. SC proponents seem to think they are exempt from laws rules and regulations. Good to know fraud will be legal in Springs County. What Libertarians these SC folks are.
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A google search turns up numerous web pages started, owned, and operated by a Tim Marden. Tim has a fascinating hobby, starting “organizations” with big impressive names, installing himself as Dear Leader, then asking for volunteers to work under him to do the real work for the organizations. One King, many worker bees. Sounds like a fun and legal hobby, and I hope he enjoys it. Go for it dude. Those things do not affect or concern me.
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BUT: The SC “movement” wants to kidnap me and my house into a new government zone I have zero desire to be in, where Tim Marden and his like minded politically ultra conservative friends will appoint themselves to run the New Government and spend over $200 million a year of tax money, including mine. Yes, the SC area prorated share of the Alachua County budget is $200 million. I have faith they will appoint all their Newberry Republican cronies to the top government positions, paying over $100,000 a year. If you think otherwise, I know a Bridge in Brooklyn you might want to invest in.
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My opinion is that both New Alachua County and Springs County will both be Poverty Counties. I do not have to prove this; it is up to the SC proponents to prove in advance they will not be. The SC people need to produce a full detailed five year budget for BOTH New Alachua and Springs Counties, with all revenues, expenses and tax rates listed, to prove that both will be financially viable. One or both new counties may get classified as Fiscally Constrained Counties under F.S. 218.67, meaning they are so poor they get welfare subsidy payments from the wealthier counties. Nothing says “Self Sufficient Small Government Pick Yourself Up by Your Bootstraps Springs County” like being on State welfare from day one. The proposed SC land grab of everything west of 34th Street leaves New Alachua County with almost no tax base. The Legislature would be Fools to create such an impoverished New Alachua County, but the goal of SC is to strangle and destroy Alachua County out of spite, meanness and revenge for DARING to not elect Republicans to the County Commission.
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I have learned one important fact about SC by reading their public facebook page. They do not believe in open discussion. Several people have asked tough questions on the SC facebook page. They have had their posts deleted and been banned from posting on the site. Other who ask a soft question do not get an answer, but a deflecting question as a reply. The people who run the SC facebook page will NOT engage in adult discussion about their Movement. The SC facebook page also posts lies and misinformation, but no one is allowed to post corrections. SC’s page is a groupthink of a closed minded cult. Just one giant self reinforcing circle jerk. “We Conservative, We Right, They Liberal, They Wrong. Uh Huh. Springs County”
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SC has a FAQ posted on their web page. Lots of talk about “small/limited government, no property taxes, individual freedom, no permits for developers” kind of libertarian/extreme Republican right wing conservative buzz words and philosophy. A careful reading shows the SC FAQ is copied from the political manifesto of the John Birch Society, a radical anti government organization that the SPLC calls a borderline racist hate group. For those who came in late, the JBS was founded in 1958 as an anti government/anti Communist/anti UN/anti civil rights extremist group of white Christian men. They see UN One World Order conspiracies behind every tree. The members and philosophy was similar to the KKK, but by the 1950’s the KKK had 80 years of negative history that was hard to shake. So a KKK clone called the JBS was formed. The only difference between the KKK and the JBS is that the KKK has pretty robes. Fred Koch and Fred Trump were early founders.

You like Donald Trump? You might like the SC philosophy: Wiki: “The John Birch Society has increasingly been linked to the presidency of Donald Trump by political commentators such as Jeet Heer of The New Republic, arguing that “Trumpism” is essentially Bircherism. Trump confidante and longtime advisor Roger Stone said that Trump’s father Fred Trump was a financier of the Society and a personal friend of founder Robert Welch. Trump’s former Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney was the speaker at the John Birch Society’s National Council dinner shortly before joining the Trump administration. U.S. Senator Rand Paul (R-Kentucky), widely reported to be one of Trump’s top advisors on foreign policy, is also tied to the John Birch Society. The senator’s father, former Congressman Ron Paul (R-Texas), has had a long and very close relationship with the Society, celebrating its work in his 2008 keynote speech at the John Birch Society 50th anniversary event and saying that it was leading the fight to restore freedom. Right-wing conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, who hosted Trump on his Infowars radio show and claims to have a personal relationship with the president, called Trump a “John Birch Society president” and previously claimed Trump was “more John Birch Society than the John Birch Society.””

Be careful what you wish for. The Koch Brothers fund the JBS because of their call for smaller government, less regulation. This means no EPA and quick building permits. So the Koches can practice their robber baron slash and burn polluting industrial ways. SC proposes to be business friendly. This means if Koch Industries wants to come in and clear cut a forest to build a hazardous waste dump next to the river, it is fast tracked. Springs protection will NOT be a priority of Springs County, as that would mean an Environmental Protection Department just like present “communist” Alachua County, and “anti business jobs killing” regulations. SC is an environmental disaster waiting to happen. If you think Alachua County approves too much sprawl growth, SC will have FEWER regulations against it and a “pro business” philosophy which will rubber stamp approve every building permit application. SC will have no land use planning or springs protection ordinances. Do people really want that? Do people really consider that an improvement over existing Alachua County enough to want to secede? I do not.
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The mental mindset of SC proponents is questioned. In reading their literature, they always write “Springs County is. . . Not “SC will be,” or “the proposed SC.” “Is.” Present tense, as though SC already exists. If they think that way they have a serious delusional view of reality just like Trumpkin Republicans. In their minds SC appears to already exist; creating it is just a formality. They are delusional nuts. And they are stalking me. Am I scared?
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Damn right I’m scared! These are huge Second Amendment fans. Tim Marden has another facebook group Western Alachua Conservative Action which features a video titled “David showing off his tannerite skills” where one David sets off a high explosive with a shot from a high powered rifle. Tannerite is ammonium nitrate, the same explosive a right wing nut used to blow up Oklahoma City. Damn right these heavily armed Birchers with explosives scare me. Not so veiled threats of gun violence if you do not goosestep to their far right wing Republican Conservative White Christian ONLY ways in “Springs County.”

And they want to involuntarily annex me into their John Birch Utopia of “Springs County”? I say NO.
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I went looking for the phantom “Springs County.” All I found was what looks like a multiple local, state, and Federal law violating money grifting scam with its head up the posterior of Brother John Birch. Sad. Very sad. But scary. Very scary.
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But to end on a positive note, I do like the catchy Springs County Official County Song. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pG6taS9R1KM
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The opinions expressed by letter or opinion writers are their own and do not necessarily represent the views of AlachuaChronicle.com. No Agenda 21 resources were used in this research.