blame game

NEW SMYRNA BEACH -- So what did the city's top administrators know and when did they know it?

The line above is a reincarnation of sorts of the famous line uttered by Republican Senator Howard Baker that led to President Nixon's exit from the White House following Watergate: "What did the President know and when did he know it?"

And there are more than a few people plaing the blame game in the wake of New Smyrna Beach's planning debacle that has grounded 72 community projects valued at tens of millions of dollars before groundbreaking has taken place with any of them, including a Wal-Mart Supercenter, a 112-room hotel, a new church, several residential subdivisions and the Mosquito Lagoon fishery.