Winner of the Week
Bob Gualtieri. The Pinellas County sheriff is the new president of the Florida Sheriffs Association and it’s another notch for the man whose name comes up for higher office, even if he demurs from the talk. Gualtieri’s profile has been consistently on the rise since he led the commission investigating the shootings at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland and he’s one to watch.
Loser of the Week
![Statue of Edmund Kirby Smith. [Times archives]](https://www.tampabay.com/resizer//6Khg1-V2usWBLQW5AVDvRz1_rnM=/620x0/filters:format(webP)/arc-anglerfish-arc2-prod-tbt.s3.amazonaws.com/public/C3U6FNGHGFFWXFZECEBTQN66LI.JPG "Statue of Edmund Kirby Smith. [Times archives]")
Lake County Commission. The county’s five-member governing board voted 3-2 Tuesday to move a statue of Confederate Gen. Edmund Kirby Smith from Washington D.C. to a local history museum. And yet, Smith has no connection to Lake County, which is best known for the Groveland Four, one of the worst episodes of racism in American history. Four African-American men were wrongly accused of rape in 1949 then tortured, murdered or unjustly imprisoned by a white supremacist sheriff. The last thing this county needs is to serve as sanctuary for a statue of one of the last Confederate generals to surrender in the Civil War. It only reminds us that the worst instincts in this county have yet to surrender.
/s3.amazonaws.com/arc-authors/tbt/2597fb02-c313-45c4-91d4-d08a154769f4.png "Amy Hollyfield - Former Times Staffer")
/s3.amazonaws.com/arc-authors/tbt/823c3ff5-1384-4901-9b6b-f42d199d0595.png "Michael Van Sickler - Assistant Managing Editor, News")