🌟 A Thank You From Wakulla Reports 🌟

As we close out the year, we want to say something simple and sincere: thank you.

Wakulla Reports didn’t begin as a grand plan. It began because one woman got tired of seeing public information treated like something people shouldn’t have access to. She shared what any citizen could find on a State of Florida website — and the backlash was immediate.

⚡ This page wasn’t born — it was provoked.

During the 2024 primary season, insiders launched a very real campaign to figure out “who was behind the page.” The threats were personal. The pressure was intense. For most people, that would have been enough to shut everything down.

But instead of backing off, she got angry — angry that anyone would threaten a person’s home or safety over public records. And that anger became fuel.

🌪️ When the threats came, we didn’t fold. We documented.

So Wakulla Reports was born (or, provoked), with no branding strategy, no mission statement, and no roadmap. Just a commitment to sunlight.

Finding Our Lane

Since then, we’ve gone down more rabbit holes than we can count. We tried Rumble. We tried videos, articles, shorts, YouTube — all of it. And we learned something important:

🛑 Drama gets clicks (y'all love drama - chuckle). But truth builds community.

So we refined. We experimented. We adjusted. And eventually, we found our purpose:

• Keeping up with BOCC meeting agendas

• Making sure the full agendas reach the public

• Sharing meeting clips and breaking down complex issues

• Keeping an eye on the legislature and outside entities influencing local policy

Because the truth is: what happens in Tallahassee - and what happens in the shadows of statewide associations and lobbying groups - often shapes Wakulla County just as much as what happens in a BOCC meeting. This isn't to say we won't bring you the "tea" on some outlier items - this will just be the lane we gravitate to.

📚 Public records aren’t dangerous. People who fear them are.

We know there are items we don’t highlight that may matter deeply to you. We’re human. Our contributors come and go as family and life allow. We do our best with the time and skillsets we have.

We also offer space for citizen voices — but serious claims must come with documentation

If you bring us a claim, bring the receipts.

The Backlash & The Labels

This past year, one commissioner became very upset over a few honorable mentions in our development coverage. We understand the frustration, but we stand by our assessment.

And when the attempted doxing targeted one of our contributors - someone who has never shied away from a camera, just busy living life - it only reminded us why anonymity protects the mission, not the ego.

And somewhere along the way, we were also accused of being “Democrats.”

For the record: our founder is a lifelong Republican - one who can sit down with Democrats and have a normal conversation without anyone losing their mind. You don’t have to abandon your beliefs to talk to someone with different ones.

Maybe, on a larger scale, we’ve forgotten how to do that.

But Wakulla hasn’t.

Wakulla can still be a beacon of light in a sea of political turmoil — a place where community matters more than party lines.

📈 Your Support Changed Everything

And through all of this, you kept showing up.

🚨 We didn’t expect 1.6 million views. But here we are.

Your engagement pushed our Facebook page to over 1.6 million views in 2025.

Your curiosity brought more than 16,000 active users to our website.

Your messages, questions, and corrections helped us grow.

We’ve made several corrections over the past year and will always remain open to citizen input and data.

We’re not perfect reporters — we’re persistent citizens.

We don’t want fame.

We want you to care about your civic institutions.

We want compassion for your fellow Wakullians — new or old, Democrat or Republican.

National politics rarely apply to small communities like ours.

Local stewardship is on us.

📢 Platform Update

After experimenting with multiple platforms, we will be fully retiring our Rumble account.

Rumble is retired. We’re focusing where YOU actually are.

Going forward, we’ll be focusing our energy on:

• Facebook

• Our Website

• YouTube

• TikTok

That’s the ecosystem now.

❤️ A Sincere Thank You

Thank you for reading, sharing, questioning, correcting, and caring.

Thank you for being part of this community.

Thank you for proving that transparency still matters.

A sincere thank you — from all of us at Wakulla Reports.