“Apology” from Guinn

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Posted December 3, 2021 | By Rev. Jill Carel

The Ocala Gazette posted online “Mayor brings campaign hostility to Hanukkah celebration,” an article about the outrageous and inappropriate comments made at the Downtown Ocala Square event celebrating the Jewish holiday of Hanukkah. I was quoted in that article about how horrified my husband and I were at Guinn’s hateful rhetoric.

To my surprise I received a personal message of apology from the Mayor through Facebook Messenger. At a glance, one might think that was a lovely caring gesture. That is not how I see it. I believe Kent Guinn is a politician in the worst style of “oops, I got caught and am getting some bad press.” Here is the message I received: “Jill this is Mayor Guinn. I just wanted to apologize for my comments at the Lighting of the Menorah regarding Manal Fakhoury. While they were the truth that wasn’t the place to make them. Again my apologies.”

Well, first of all, I am not the only one who deserves an apology. The entire group of people who attended the event, the citizens of Ocala, and Manal Fakhoury all deserve to hear an apology from him.

Secondly, I do not believe for a minute that Guinn has a concern about any danger posed by the most peace-loving honorable and devoted citizen of Ocala, Dr. Manal Fakhoury. The list of her civic involvements are too long to list here. Google can tell you how awesome she is.

In closing, I say that Mayor Guinn is one of many current politicians who are spouting divisive lies in an effort to dehumanize others for maintaining political power. My political leanings and spiritual background are vying for the appropriate words to suggest that the reigns of leadership should change hands at our next voting opportunity.