It must be tough to be liberal and have the temerity to speak out.

The point, though, is that Grapski started spending more and more time at City Hall researching the absentee ballots. At first, he was given free rein to examine them as closely as he pleased. Then he was told he was no longer at liberty to make photocopies. Shortly afterwards, Henderson told him he would be allowed no more than an extra hour to go through the ballot pile, and if he wanted to scrutinize them further he would have to pay the city for the trouble of watching over him as he did so.

Grapski’s tape-recorded conversation with Watson took place on a Friday; he was arrested the following Monday. According to a local paper, the High Springs Herald, Watson spent much of the weekend in “constant contact” with Mayor Calderwood, suggesting she was in on the decision to make the arrest. Mayor Calderwood herself described Watson’s behavior as “exemplary” and insisted: “He did not go out on a limb by himself.”

Grapski spent several uncomfortable hours in the lock-up. A judge ordered his release at 6:30 in the evening, but he was not let out until shortly before midnight – supposedly, according to sheriff’s deputies, because of a mix-up over assigning him a prisoner number. The threatened illegal taping charges have not materialized, but at the same time the State Attorney’s office has refused to let the case drop.

—-

As in so many election disputes around the country, the Alachua authorities have not released all the documents requested of them, raising suspicions that the records were either incomplete, shoddy, or don’t exist. The minutes of the vote count itself, for example, have been approved by the City Commission – sight unseen, according to one renegade commissioner – but remain unavailable to the public.

At least they have oranges.