Issue link: https://newsleader.uberflip.com/i/352007
EDITORIAL When parents decide that their relationship cannot continue, how to explain to the chil- dren that mommy and daddy no longer will be together is perhaps the most delicate task. Yet children, especially those who are older, are quite perceptive and likely recognize the unsustainability of a dysfunctional relation- ship. They might not like the idea of divorce, but they usually are not surprised when it happens. That is especially true when one parent unilaterally changes the nature of the relationship, forcing the other partner to either go along or get out. And so it figuratively has been with the res- idents of Sarasota County in general — and those of North Port in particular — as they wit- nessed the acrimonious deterioration of the relationship between the County Commission and the North Port City Commission over their joint ownership of Warm Mineral Springs. When the two entities decided to purchase and jointly develop Warm Mineral Springs in 2010, there was cordial unanimity about the future of the popular attraction. There were discussions about developing the Springs into a world-class eco-tourism resort, which would bring visitors from around the world to southern Sarasota County. Unfortunately, that all changed in 2012 with the election of two new city commissioners — Rhonda DiFranco and Cheryl Cook — who joined then-Mayor Linda Yates in upending all of those previously contemplated plans. The new triumvirate wanted to maintain the THE WARM MINERAL SPRINGS 'D-I-V-O-R-C-E' OPINION