Marines are indignant, fairgrounds group digs in

Marines are indignant, fairgrounds group digs in
By Dan DeWitt, Times Columnist
In print: Sunday, September 21, 2008
If you like God, country and family, Toys for Tots is the charity for you.

It's run by Marine Corps veterans, many of whom risked their lives in combat. Last Christmas — the Lord's birthday, of course — they gave away 21,000 toys to 1,100 needy families, and, with the economy sagging, will probably give away more this year.

"No child should have to go without Christmas,'' said Bob Ross, the program coordinator and a Vietnam veteran.

Who can argue with that? And why, for goodness sake, would anyone want to jerk these guys around, which is what the Hernando County Fair Association seems to be doing?

See, for several years, the Marine Corps League has stored toys and staged its giveaway at the Hernando County Fairgrounds, on U.S. 41 in Brooksville. The rent is outrageous, Ross said, and at a meeting in August, fairgrounds manager Joy Jackson told the league it would also have to pay hundreds of dollars for utilities in 2008.
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