Five Lafayette County farmers CARES recipients

By Ira Mikell, Mayo Free Press Reporter

Stormy weather could not deter a large crowd of approximately 800 to 900 farmers, their families, and friends from enjoying an evening of fellowship and entertainment at Dwight Stansel’s farm located on CR 49 several miles southeast of Live Oak. The event was the seventh annual CARES Recognition Dinner which commenced at 5:30 p.m., on Thursday, June 28, and ended several hours later.

The attendants were guests from the counties of Lafayette , Suwannee, Madison , Gilchrist, Jefferson , Leon , Hamilton , and other surrounding farming communities. Everyone enjoyed a home cooked meal consisting of steak, potatoes, rolls, dessert, sweet tea, and other tasty delicacies. They also ate corn on the cob, boiled peanuts, and watermelon.

Also in attendance were several guest speakers: Florida Agriculture Commissioner Charles Bronson; Florida Farm Bureau President John Hoblick; Mike Sole, Florida Department of Environmental Protection Secretary; Niles Glasgow, State Conservationist of the Florida Natural Resources Conservation Service; Dr. Jimmy Cheek, Vice President of the Institute of Food and Agricultural Services at the University of Florida; and Louis Shiver, Suwannee River Water Management District Governing Board Member. These individuals stressed the importance of agriculture in our community and also praised the farmers and their families for their hard work and dedication to the profession.

A total of 57 farmers were recognized and honored for their outstanding achievements in farming practices. Each recipient received a certificate of achievement from Bronson and Hoblick. “The old adage that farmers are the best environmentalists is proven by this event. I congratulate all of this year’s winners. Like these fine producers, Florida Farm Bureau is committed to the CARES program for the long-term. What we have accomplished shows that farmers and ranchers are outstanding stewards of our land—our basic resource,” Hoblick said.

Among those honored were five Lafayette County farmers, Bryan Prine, Terry Folsom, Scott Prine, Randy Moses, and Fred Moses.

The acronym CARES stands for “ County Alliance for Responsible Environmental Stewardship.” In order to receive a CARES certificate, applicants are required to be excellent stewards of the land and implement effective farming practices that protect the environment. They also receive a sign on their property that designates them as a “This Farm Cares.”

From Sturgeon To Surgeon: Flying Fish A Hazard

By ABBY GOODNOUGH, The New York Times

Published: July 5, 2007

BRANFORD - 'Lots of artillery out there,' an old man hollered from the safety of the Suwannee River 's edge, and he was right. The sturgeon were jumping high and fast, twisting their armored girth in midair and returning to the depths with a stunning splash.

On the water, there was reason to be anxious. Florida 's season of 'sturgeon strikes' - law enforcement's term for collisions between the state's largest freshwater fish and hapless boaters - was well under way.

It may seem bizarre, but it is no joke. Leaping sturgeon have injured three people on the Suwannee so far this year, including a woman on a Jet Ski and a girl whose leg was shattered when one of the giant fish jumped aboard her boat. Eight others were hit last year, and with traffic growing on the storied river, sturgeon are joining alligators and hurricanes on the list of things to dread in Florida .

'These injuries are very impressive,' said Lawrence Lottenberg, director of trauma surgery at the University of Florida College of Medicine in nearby Gainesville .

'You've got people sitting on the front of an open boat, and the boat is going 20, 30, 40 miles per hour. The fish jumps up and usually slaps these people right across their face and upper chest. Almost every one of them universally has been knocked unconscious. If you're not wearing a life jacket, you're going to fall in the water and potentially drown.'

Fortunately, most sturgeon in Florida stick to the Suwannee, which winds 265 miles from southern Georgia to the Gulf of Mexico . Known as gulf sturgeon, they migrate between the river, where they spawn in spring and relax in summer, and the Gulf, where they return in the fall to feed.

They have no teeth or temper, only a pressing, mysterious urge to jump all summer long.

'You'll be sitting out there,' said Melanie Carter, who boats on the river with her husband, 'and then all the sudden, 5, 10 feet away from you, a big one will jump up and scare you half to death.'

Sturgeon have been around since the dinosaur age, and they look it. They have long, flat snouts and hefty bodies covered in sharp, bony plates. Gulf sturgeon can grow up to 8 feet long and weigh 200 pounds, but even the smaller ones can inflict serious harm. In recent years, injuries have included a broken pelvis, a fractured arm and a slashed throat.

Brian Clemens was motoring down the Choctawhatchee River in the Panhandle in 2002 when a sturgeon 'jumped up and hit him dead center in the chest,' said his wife, Joy. It broke his ribs and sternum, collapsed a lung and put him in intensive care for three days, she said.

'There's a permanent dent in his chest where that fish hit him,' she said.

Wildlife officials have posted signs warning boaters to slow down. Leah Daniel, a friend of Carter, said there was only one other precaution to take: 'Pray.'

Fear is not rampant on the gentle river, lined with ancient cypress trees and moss-draped live oaks, but curiosity is. No one knows for sure why sturgeon jump.

The federal government has listed gulf sturgeon as threatened since 1991, and for nearly a quarter-century Florida has outlawed catching them. Parker said there were now 3,000 to 5,000 of them in the Suwannee ; Ken Sulak, a biologist with the U.S. Geological Survey, puts it closer to 7,000.

But with more people using the Suwannee, more farm waste flowing into it and urban regions eyeing it as a source of water, the sturgeon's future is uncertain, said Bill Pine, a fisheries professor at the University of Florida .

Crist Builds Record Against Coal

By DAVID ROYSE, The Associated Press

Published: July 4, 2007

TALLAHASSEE - The future of coal as fuel for generating electricity in Florida is 'not looking good,' Gov. Charlie Crist said Tuesday after the second setback in a month for utilities seeking to build coal-fired plants.

A group that was planning to build a coal plant in Taylor County , southeast of Tallahassee , said Tuesday that it was suspending its efforts to get a permit in the face of 'growing concerns about greenhouse gas emissions.'

The decision, hailed by Crist as good for Florida , comes about a month after the state's Public Service Commission rejected a coal power plant that Florida Power & Light, the state's largest electric company, wanted to build near the Everglades .

Crist said Florida is moving away from coal as a power source because burning it produces carbon dioxide emissions that are blamed for causing global warming. The governor spoke at a news conference in which he was promoting his upcoming trip to Miami to meet with national leaders on global warming.

'We're obviously moving in a different direction, and I think we need to continue to explore solar, wind, nuclear - other alternatives that are clean emission,' Crist said. 'Continuing to rely on foreign oil and coal I don't think is in the best interest of our state.'

Still, Crist signed legislation this year that encourages construction of coal gasification power plants, a type Tampa Electric Co. has said it wants to build in Polk County . TECO has said it wants to open the plant by 2013, but the Tampa-based utility has not made any filings with the state seeking permission to build it.

Coal gasification plants produce significantly fewer emissions than conventional coal-fired facilities but cost up to 20 percent more to build. The plants convert coal into cleaner-burning gas, which is used to generate electricity. But the biggest benefit of the plants is that they can easily be equipped to capture and store carbon dioxide.

Even without technologies that allow coal gasification, electric and coal industry officials have tried to make the case in recent years that burning the fuel is a much cleaner enterprise than it was a few decades ago. It is much cheaper and its prices less volatile than natural gas, which allows utilities to sell electricity at lower rates. Building a coal plant is also cheaper than building nuclear plants.

Joe Lucas, director of the coal industry-backed group Americans for Balanced Energy Choices, agreed that Florida needs to look at alternative sources of energy.

'But it's disappointing to hear that the governor, and maybe some other state officials, don't see that ... technology has already made coal an increasingly clean resource, and technology will continue to make that happen,' Lucas said.

The group also notes that coal is more affordable than many other types of fuel and says officials need to understand that customers pay the cost of higher electric rates if more expensive fuels are used.

The partnership of local electric companies that was working on the proposed Taylor County plant said it was suspending its efforts while it 'participates in a state dialogue about Florida 's energy future.'

Mike Lawson, the project manager for the proposed plant, said officials thought the technology would provide reliable and affordable power 'in an environmentally responsible manner.

'However, growing concerns about climate change have raised questions that must be addressed thoughtfully,' Lawson said in a statement from the Taylor Energy Center group. 'Rather than push forward, it's more important that we work with state leaders to craft an energy plan for Florida .'

Tallahassee , Jacksonville 's JEA municipal utility, the Florida Municipal Power Agency and the Reedy Creek Improvement District, which includes Walt Disney World, are the directors of the group that was planning to build the plant, near Perry.

The project still faced hearings before state regulators and would need approval from Crist and the Cabinet.

Environmental groups hailed the group's decision to stop the project.

Crist adviser Chris Kise said the administration had conveyed concerns about the future of coal to plant officials but declined to describe it as pressure.

'They've been very receptive to the governor's message about climate change,' Kise said.

Last month, the Public Service Commission rejected an FP&L proposal to build what would have been the nation's largest new coal-burning power plant in Glades County - although commissioners ruled on economic grounds, not direct concerns about climate change. The potential cost of regulations on carbon emissions, however, was a factor in the decision.

Tribune reporter Russell Ray contributed to this report.

Blair's Lake Advocacy Muddies His Image

A Tampa Tribune editorial

Published: July 5, 2007

It isn't the biggest lake in Hillsborough County . Nor is it the most important. But since Hillsborough Commissioner Brian Blair happens to live on Noreast Lake , his backyard playground is receiving first-class attention.

Since Blair's 2004 election, the county's focus on Noreast Lake - detailed in a St. Petersburg Times report - is way out of proportion to the attention given other county lakes, including some in far worse shape.

Blair's preferential treatment is particularly distasteful given that, as acting chairman of the local Environmental Protection Commission, he moved to eliminate the local regulation of wetlands. It's hypocritical for Blair to prod improvements for his backyard lake while shortchanging the oversight needed to protect others.

The paper reported that at one point, the county was ready to spend $985,000 for a stormwater bypass project to improve Noreast Lake , which residents say had clear water until 2004, when it became infested with weeds, algae, water moccasins and an excessive number of mosquitoes.

Since that January vote, the project has been scrapped in favor of a broader approach to improving Noreast and other lakes in the Forest Hills neighborhood.

Blair says he didn't coerce county employees to clean up his lake, but the paper's review suggests his unwavering attention kept county employees focused on his problem.

Certainly, Blair spoke about algae blooms and diminished water quality in the months before his election in 2004. But once in office, he should have let other neighbors carry the lake's banner and abstained from votes affecting it.

Curiously, the county attorney told Blair that he didn't have to abstain because his is not the only home on the lake. Her interpretation may be right, but it violates the spirit of the conflict-of-interest law.

Regardless, the commissioner should show heightened sensitivity to the appearance of using his position for personal gain. And demanding a county cleanup of his backyard lake represents personal gain, especially given that three reports were inconclusive about the source of the lake's problems. No other lake with inconclusive reports is tagged for special consideration. The Public Works department should remember that they serve the entire public and resist bending to the whims of individual commissioners.

The Noreast controversy, besides revealing a selfish side of Blair, raises an important question about who should pay to improve area water bodies. The county is exploring special taxing districts for waterfront homeowners who want their lakes or canals cleaned up.

Waterfront homeowners rightly argue that the pollution flows from other neighborhoods. Still, the owners of these pricey properties benefit most from any clean-up.

A small assessment would go a long way toward giving the owners of all lakefront homes the environment they desire.

Two properties near Winn-Dixie get commercial zoning

HIGH SPRINGS -- The city commission unanimously approved two commercial zonings in the area just north of Winn-Dixie.

One parcel of land was county land that was recently annexed into the city because the land was an enclave -- a piece of county land surrounded on three sides or more by city land.

The city had to assign a land use to the property, and the planning staff said they recommended commercial because the other land nearby is commercial, namely an apartment complex named Heritage Heights .

Another parcel, located near the first parcel, was changed to commercial zoning from city residential at the property owner’s request.

“The most likely use of the land use would be townhouses,” City Planner Christian Popoli said at the meeting.

Rezoning approval given for 'age-restricted' community in High Springs

By Rachael Anne Ryals

Herald Staff Writer

HIGH SPRINGS -- An age-restricted community in High Springs for people 55 and older is one step closer to being built after the city commission gave final approval to the land rezoning needed to build the community.

The developers have described the community, a mix of commercial and residential areas that will have a historic look and design, as a “Mini Disney World.”

The commercial area will be located directly off of U.S. 441 just north of Winn-Dixie, and the residential area, with a potential for 125 homes, will be behind the commercial area.

The commercial shop area is to be a 2-story, “old-world” style area that will attract specialty shops, doctor offices, entertainment and many other stores to fulfill the daily needs of the retired people living there, Developer Larry Lackey said.

Lackey said he is trying to get a Publix grocery store in the community.

The commissioners discussed the possible adverse effects the new community could have on downtown High Springs.

“The only concern I have is that we are creating a second downtown area,” Commissioner Kirk Eppenstein said, adding that the historic design may allow people to mistake the area for the real downtown High Springs.

Eppenstein suggested that kiosks be added to the community, advertising downtown historic High Springs.

“I don’t want people to miss the rich history we have here,” he said.

Gene Boles, planner for High Springs, said the community has the potential to be a gateway to downtown High Springs, agreeing with Eppenstein that adding kiosks would help move people downtown.

The commission unanimously approved the commercial rezoning, but DePeter dissented on the PUD rezoning that included the residential portion.

DePeter said he was baffled by the “lack of outcry” over the small lot sizes of the community -- just 40 feet by 100 feet – while earlier in the meeting there was 2-hour debate about quarter-acre lot sizes.

"No one complains," DePeter said about the potential for 10 homes to be built on one acre. "I just don't get it."

But Eppenstein said the community would be good for High Springs.

"It serves a particular niche in the market that I have heard for years we need to serve," he said.

High Springs rezones land for controversial Springhill Pines
By Mallory Colliflower
For The Herald

HIGH SPRINGS -- The highly debated Springhill Pines subdivision is one step closer to making its way into High Springs after the June 28 city commission meeting.

The commission voted 3-2 in favor of an ordinance to rezone the land for the second phase of the 3-phase subdivision from residential R1 to R1-a.

The rezoning will allow a higher density of homes on each acre, as well as forcing the subdivision to connect to water and sewer.

Rezoning for phase 1 was voted on at the May 24 meeting, following a public meeting that drew much public input and lasted more than four hours.

Residents in the surrounding developments of Tillman Acres and Pinecrest, both of which have one-acre lot sizes, have upheld the argument that the higher density neighborhood of Springhill Pines is out of character with what is already there.

Numerous residents from Tillman Acres and Pinecrest have shown up at each public hearing related to the Springhill Pines rezoning, arguing their viewpoint that allowing quarter-acre lots near their neighborhoods will lower both their quality of life and their property values.

At Thursday’s meeting, Mayor Pro-tem Larry Travis and Commissioner Kirk Eppenstein voted against the rezoning, bringing up questions as to why the land couldn’t be used as intended under the current zoning.

Commissioner Jim Gabriel voted in favor of the ordinance, citing citizens’ rights as Americans to develop their land how they want.

The next step in the development process is to plat the newly rezoned portion of the property and present it for a public hearing at an upcoming commission meeting.

Build fewer than 999 homes on CR235A, Alachua tells developer
By Ronald Dupont Jr.
Herald Editor

ALACHUA – A mixture of townhomes, apartments and single family homes – up to 999 in total – have been given initial approval by the Alachua City Commission to be built near the Dollar General Distribution Center .

But in giving the first of what will be many, many votes for the development to become a reality, the city commissioners issued a special directive to the developer.

Don't build 999 homes. Build less.

But commissioners Monday gave the developer no indication on how many fewer homes to build on the 285 acres at the northwest corner of County Road 235A and CR 2054.

Instead, the developer was told to meet again with city staff and take into consideration comments made by residents and city commissioners.

Those comments were strong ones and were led by Mayor Gib Coerper, who garnered no support from fellow commissioners when he suggested that much of County Road 235A between the distribution centers and U.S. 441 should remain largely rural, with big acreage left for rural uses, such as agricultural uses or homes on bigger lots.

“We have a chance to make something special here – that we keep that corridor at larger lots,” Coerper told his fellow commissioners. “The city of Alachua is growing but we also have an obligation to keep some of this (rural land) intact. I'd like you to think about this real hard.”

The commission voted 4-1 to give initial approval to rezoning the land, with Coerper being the lone dissenter.

Vice Mayor Bonnie Burgess said she, too, did not like the idea of that many homes but said she wasn't going to vote against it in her first vote because the developer will have a chance to revise the plans before coming back before the commission months from now for a second vote.

“Do the citizens of Alachua really need this development?” she said.

Resident Michael Canney echoed similar comments.

“This is the kind of project that can transform a whole community,” Canney said, adding that the project reminded him of a South Florida development. “The need for this should be questioned at this point. Is this something the city has a need for or a developer has a need for?”

Resident Theresa Kenyon was more to the point.

“Nine hundred and ninety nine?” she asked. “I'm sorry. That's just too much.”

The property is owned by WACO , the same company that sold land to Wal-Mart and Dollar General for the distribution centers and the same company that is trying to get land along Interstate-75 near Peggy Road rezoned as commercial.

The only city commissioner to openly and emphatically support the proposed development was Commissioner James Lewis. He said having that many homes next to places offering thousands of jobs was a good idea.

“I've never heard of not wanting to have labor next to the job site,” he said. “This is a great opportunity presented to the city. All I've heard is negative about this site but I think it would be a great initiative for the city of Alachua .”

DeLand sets limit of 10 for developers

By JULIE MURPHY
Staff Writer

DELAND -- It could take longer for would-be developers to move their projects through the planning process in DeLand.

The City Commission on Monday unanimously approved a resolution limiting the number of new applications to be considered by the city's planning division to 10 per month, about two-thirds of the current monthly average.

"I know you hear talk of a lull," Community Development Director Dale Arrington said. "But we don't see it."

Last year was the second fastest growth year in DeLand's history, City Manager Michael Abels said.

Parking waivers and alley abandonment will fall under the same limiting restrictions as those for annexation, rezoning and development agreement applications.

The process of seeing a request from the first inquiry through fruition is time consuming, Planning Director Mike Holmes said. Holmes made the request to ease the burden of staffing reductions coupled with increased demands to meet state deadlines. The resolution is self-repealing in December 2008.

"It's been really overwhelming, and morale is low," Holmes said. "The only good thing with the property tax issue is that no (employees are) leaving," he said, referring to employees.

Though he voted in favor of the resolution, Commissioner Scott Price called it "drastic." Arrington agreed, saying, "My staff has been cut by 25 percent. I have to take some drastic measures."

Later in the meeting, the commission tabled a resolution that would raise fees for planning applications, in some cases fourfold, until the first meeting in August.

In other news, the commission:

· Appointed eight people to the newly created Airport Advisory Committee. Matt Johnson, David Shifflett, John Eiff, Mike Johnston, Ed Rinderle, Neil Brady and Rocky Norris were appointed to represent differing airport interests. No one applied to represent flight training schools or jet-related businesses. Kent Titcomb was appointed to represent the latter, with the understanding that if a more suitable representative comes forward, he will relinquish the position.

· Authorized an agreement with law firm Gray/Robinson, Orlando, for code enforcement special magistrate services. The current budget contains funds for a code enforcement board attorney to attend monthly meetings and review orders. These funds will be switched over to the special magistrate.

· Approved a temporary co-operative purchase agreement for debris removal, reduction and disposal services in case the city is affected by a natural disaster during July or August. Bids for a permanent contract, necessary for DeLand to be eligible for assistance through the Federal Emergency Management Agency, are due July 13.

· Formally approved an agreement with the State of Florida Department of Transportation providing that it will install landscaping along the median of U.S. 92 from Kepler Road to Woodland Boulevard . The city will be responsible for connecting the irrigation system, and maintaining the landscaping thereafter.

julie.murphy@news-jrnl.com

Endangered beach mice get home at zoo to protect against extinction

BY NATHAN CRABBE NYT REGIONAL NEWSPAPERS

GAINESVILLE -- Some endangered mice at Santa Fe Community College are serving as an insurance policy against extinction.

The Perdido Key beach mouse, as its name suggests, is native to sand dunes on an island near Pensacola . Just a few hundred remain in the wild, so biologists worry a hurricane could wipe out the population.

Santa Fe 's Teaching Zoo is housing 52 mice that could be released in the wild if that happens. Last week, some of the mice were put on public display in the zoo's reptile house.

Zoo curator Kathy Russell said housing the mice fits with the zoo's conservation mission. The mouse is one of seven threatened species being bred at the zoo, she said, acting both as insurance policies to prevent extinction and educational tools about habitat conservation.

"Educating the public is key, because without that, there probably won't be a place to release them," she said.

The Florida and Alabama coasts were once home to at least eight different subspecies of beach mice. Due to costal development, one subspecies has gone extinct and six of the remaining seven subspecies are listed as endangered or threatened.

As Hurricane Ivan bore down on the Panhandle in 2004, a wildlife biologist captured eight Perdido Key mice to ensure the subspecies would survive. The mice were housed and bred at the University of South Carolina before space constraints led to the Florida move.

Beach mice are one of the few mammal species that mate for life. The 3-inch-long mice typically spends the day sleeping in their burrows, before emerging at night to eat the seeds and fruit of beach plants.

Because the beach mouse is nocturnal, few people had seen them before the Santa Fe Zoo display, said Ron Loggins, assistant regional biologist with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.

"I wouldn't be surprised if five times more people on the planet have seen them since last week," he said.

He said the mice illustrate the importance of protecting sand dunes. Such protections are crucial for the species, he said, as well as shielding coastal residents from hurricanes.

"By protecting the habitat for the mice we're providing ... some additional protection for coastal homes," he said.

The Santa Fe zoo plans to send some of the mice to other facilities, including the Brevard Zoo and Florida Aquarium. Santa Fe will likely keep about 16 mice for the long term, Russell said.

The mice are appealing to the public because they're cute, she said, but more importantly teach an important lesson.

"If people appreciate these mice then maybe they're take better care of the dunes," she said.

Nathan Crabbe writes for The Gainesville Sun.

Pair envision Port Salerno as magnet

By JASON SCHULTZ

Palm Beach Post Staff Writer

Thursday, July 05, 2007

Port Salerno is about more than fish, drugs and violence.

That's the message a community leader and a former county commissioner are pushing as they try to use family festival events to drum up tourism while burnishing the rough image of their tiny community.

"For years, it's had this destination for just fishing and knife fights," said John Hennessee, co-founder of Port Salerno Community Promotions Inc.

He and former County Commissioner Elmira Gainey, now a real estate agent who is active in the Port Salerno area, formed their nonprofit group in December. Its goal: to dispel that image by promoting a series of street festivals and other tourist events intended to give people a reason to come to Port Salerno and have fun, Hennessee said.

"I want it to be a happening place," he said. "I want Port Salerno to be a destination."

Part of the community's image is rooted in its heritage.

Port Salerno , near the Manatee Pocket, was settled in the early 1900s by farmers and fishermen. For decades, it was the epicenter of Martin County 's commercial fishing industry. In the 1990s, the state approved restrictions on net fishing that severely hampered the industry out of Port Salerno .

But it remains the home of the Port Salerno Commercial Fishing Authority, a collection of longtime commercial fishermen who bring their catches back to county-owned docks in the Pocket.

Residents say the area's fishing roots and its working waterfront have caused residents of the wealthier parts of Martin County to think poorly of the more blue-collar, lower-income Port Salerno area.

"People have always looked down on the fishermen," said Elaine Moore, part of a four-generation family that resides in Port Salerno and the daughter of longtime commercial fishermen Bobby Thompson.

"I don't even remember starting fishing," said 81-year-old Thompson. "I've been wading around the river since I was that big," he said, holding his hand low to the ground.

Another part of the community's image is rooted in a number of notorious events over the years.

In 2004, Eugene McWatters was arrested in the slayings of three women who were part of the area's homeless community, bringing attention to the prostitution, drugs and alcohol that have been prolific in nearby Golden Gate and areas of Port Salerno. McWatters, dubbed the "Port Salerno Strangler," eventually was sentenced to death for the murders.

In 1997, community leaders in Port Salerno rallied after two women were killed in less than a month in the area, which has been plagued by years of high crime statistics. Four years before, the area received national notoriety after 10-year-old Andrea Parsons disappeared while walking to a grocery store in Port Salerno . She is presumed dead.

But today, Port Salerno is home to several tourist-related businesses, including a strip of restaurants, bars, coffee houses and an art gallery along what is called the Pocket Walk, a boardwalk along the Manatee Pocket waterfront. That is the Port Salerno that the nonprofit group has sought to portray to outsiders since it formed in December and organized a Christmas Jamboree party.

"I think this will show that we have a great community here that people will want to be involved in," Gainey said.

The group also sponsored a seafood festival in January that attracted about 10,000 people to the waterfront, said the founders, who plan to host the festival again next year. This past weekend, the group put on a half-day Salute to the Troops block party, which it plans to make an all-day event next year.

The group's next project is to co-sponsor an existing Bahamian cultural festival planned in nearby New Monrovia this year, Gainey said.

The proceeds from the tourism festivals go to the group to promote more festivals and to the commercial fishermen to revamp the docks to give the public more access to the waterfront, Hennessee said.

The group is also part of an effort to raise millions of dollars in grants and assessments of property owners to dredge a deeper channel out of the muck that lines the bottom of the Manatee Pocket so larger boats can get to the local businesses.

Part of the image change idea is to stress the waterfront as a magnet for more affluent tourists and families with boats.

"It really is the best boating destination around," Hennessee said. "You can come here and tie up and eat."

The efforts to change public perceptions of Port Salerno also have a far more tangible goal than simply civic pride. In 2004 the county designated Port Salerno one of its seven community redevelopment areas, in which property taxes from redevelopment projects are used to fight blight.

Three projects are in the works seeking site plan approvals to develop land inside the redevelopment area, county officials sy. Several other land owners have expressed interest in redeveloping their property, they say.

Hennessee hopes all of the events and efforts to bring people to Port Salerno will increase interest in redeveloping the area.

"We're counting on it," he said.

Teresa Lamar-Sarno, the county's liaison to the Port Salerno redevelopment area, said the group's efforts have started to quell the community's rougher image and may encourage redevelopment by somebody attending one of the festivals.

"A lot of people don't know the boardwalk is down there," she said. "Hopefully somebody will want to fix up their property now or buy a property there and fix it up."

Residents say the efforts of Hennessee and Gainey are changing the perception of Port Salerno .

"This gives people a chance to come down to our docks and see what we are all about, and I think it's working already," Moore said. "Our seafood festival had such an impact on what people thought about us."

Retail giant seeks a sweeter deal to put a Supercenter in Newtown

By CATHY ZOLLO

cathy.zollo@heraldtribune.com

SARASOTA -- Wal-Mart is asking the city of Sarasota to sweeten the deal to put a Supercenter in Newtown .

A memo from Wal-Mart real estate manager David Roetto outlined how the city could urge Wal-Mart to move forward with the project, which has been stalled for several months while the retail giant re-evaluates it.

His proposal includes:

More city money for the environmental cleanup that is needed on the land selected for the store, which was once a city-run garbage dump.

A promise from the city to hold $3 million in real estate contracts along U.S. 301 until after the store is complete to make the project look better on paper.

Less going to the community from the $1.6 million in rebates Wal-Mart would get for developing in an enterprise zone and for cleaning up the site.

The retailer had promised to donate all the money to local organizations.

Wal-Mart is scheduled to make a presentation to commissioners either this month or in August, but commissioners were split on whether to proceed with talks.

At least two of them are moving beyond Wal-Mart entirely.

"It's unfortunate for the community because obviously there is a lot of support," said Commissioner Kelly Kirschner, who plans to contact Trader Joe's, a discount grocery chain that favors organic products.

Wal-Mart officials declined to comment on recent happenings with the Newtown deal.

The retailer raised hopes for almost two years that it would plant one of its stores in northern Sarasota and revitalize the community around it.

The plan would have turned a polluted former dump and some nearby property into a magnet for enterprise.

But beginning in April, the retailer began signaling that all was not well with the deal, and that profit numbers did not meet the company's expectations.

That is when Wal-Mart came back to the city asking for more.

Commissioner Fredd Atkins, who represents the district where the proposed store would sit, also said he wanted to start looking for a different taker for the site.

Roetto's letter does not ask the city to do anything about the upcoming minimum wage referendum, but Wal-Mart is concerned about it nonetheless, said John Hawthorne, the city's Newtown Redevelopment Director.

In response to thousands of petition signatures, city commissioners in March approved putting a citywide minimum wage referendum on the November ballot. It lets voters decide if Sarasota businesses with 50 or more employees that receive at least $100,000 in city subsidies will be required to pay an hourly rate more than $3 above the state minimum wage.

If it passes, it guarantees for up to five years at least $9.93 an hour for workers at those companies. That is the poverty level for a family of four, according to the federal government.

Also at the top of Wal-Mart's list of concerns is the potential cost to clean up lead, arsenic and pesticides on the 18-acre site at the corner of U.S. 301 and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Way .

The city had already promised that its $4.9 million profit from selling the land to Wal-Mart will pay for the cleanup, and the city committed another $2.8 million -- a total of $7.7 million -- should the cost exceed the city's initial outlay.

As a cushion, the retail giant wants the city to sell part of the land that will hold a retention pond to the Florida Department of Transportation.

The state agency would then be responsible for building the pond and paying for its cleanup.

The project is at the bottom of a list of 40 similar ones in terms of how profitable Wal-Mart thinks it will be, according to internal city documents.

In search of plentiful water for future

As part of an alternative water supply project, Oldsmar drills to find space for brine disposal.

By TERRI BRYCE REEVES
Published July 5, 2007

OLDSMAR - If you've spotted a 100-foot-tall rig at the city's water reclamation facility, know they aren't drilling for oil or water, but for something else very precious nonetheless.

Empty space.

Youngquist Brothers, a Fort Myers-based drilling company, is boring deep into the earth -- possibly as far as 3,500 feet -- to find cavernous areas where a salty brine can be safely disposed of, preventing it from seeping into fresh groundwater or environmentally sensitive areas such as Tampa Bay .

It's all part of the city's alternative water supply project -- a proposed reverse-osmosis treatment plant that would turn brackish groundwater into clean drinking water.

The system removes salts and other minerals from the brackish water. To do that, however, the city must have a place to dispose of the brine, or concentrate.

Thus, the exploratory well.

Tuesday, a team of geologists and engineers met with the city staff to detail its progress since drilling began about six weeks ago. To demonstrate its findings, the team showed a pre-recorded video taken with a lighted camera that scoped deep down into the well, currently about 750 feet deep.

"The preliminary results are consistent with what we expected to see," said Tim Curran, principal engineer for Boyle Engineering Corp., which is overseeing the project. "The ability to dispose of a byproduct tends to make or break a reverse-osmosis water supply program. All expectations are that this is going to work."

The team reported it was particularly pleased with the Avon Park rock formation found at about 650 feet, which tests showed had dense limestone, dolomite and clay formations, plus some Swiss-cheese-like caverns -- perfect for containment.

The brackish source water runs between 70 to 200 feet deep. The team said that for every 100 gallons of source water, 75 gallons will be turned into potable water and 25 gallons will be byproduct.

"If this tests out well, like we think it will, we'll come back later and convert it the exploratory well to an injection well," Curran said.

The next step?

Drilling the production wells, likely to take place in early 2008. Bidding and construction of the plant should begin in 2009, with completion by 2010.

Currently, the city purchases about 1.53-million gallons of potable water per day from Pinellas County . Having a plant of its own will accommodate future growth of the city and add quality drinking water capacity to declining regional supplies, staffers said.

The future plant, with an estimated capital cost of $16.6-million, is permitted to produce an annual average of 2-million gallons a day.

But with finances for cities statewide getting tighter, could it be one big pipe dream?

Jeb Bush and Charlie Crist both used the gubernatorial line-item veto to eliminate state funding for the project. Still the city's staff remains optimistic.

"The city is working on a plan to fund it themselves through Penny for Pinellas and operating revenue," said John Mulvihill, Oldsmar's public works director. "Of course, each step is up for approval by the council, but they all seem in agreement that this should be done, assuming all regulatory issues are addressed.

"And we're always looking for more funding."

Terri Bryce Reeves can be reached at treeves@tampabay.rr.com.

County plows forward with landfill expansion

Hearings needed before trash starts piling up

BY CHRISTOPHER CURRY
STAR-BANNER OCALA - The potential expansion of the Baseline Landfill moved ahead Tuesday.

The Marion County Commission unanimously voted to forward to the Florida Department of Community Affairs a proposed amendment to the county's Comprehensive Plan. The amendment would allow the expansion of Class 1 (household waste) landfills in operation in January 2007. The Baseline Landfill is the only such facility in Marion County .

"That does not approve the expansion of any landfill," County Commission Chairman Stan McClain told several residents who spoke against the expansion Tuesday. "That just gives us the option."

The proposed amendment is expected back from DCA for a final County Commission vote in late August or early September. Approval then would allow county government to apply to expand Baseline. Public hearings would then follow on that application.

Under the expansion plan, the county would pile garbage on the slope of a closed-out cell toward Baseline Road . If the Department of Environmental Protection approves, the maximum height of the landfill would rise from the current permitted amount of 150 feet to 212 feet. Right now, the landfill stands about 80 feet high. The potential expansion could also add 25 acres to the west and keep the landfill in operation for 20 years.

About three years ago, the County Commission approved construction of a transfer station with the intent of eventually closing down Baseline. But the cost of shipping garbage from that station to a south Georgia landfill is a major part of a $6 million a year shortfall the Solid Waste Department has experienced in recent years. That now has the County Commission considering the expansion, which is projected to cost $18 million.

Several members of the public opposed the expansion Tuesday and expressed concerns about the possibility of property values dropping in the area and environmental harm, including potential groundwater contamination.

"We were promised no more landfills," said Jimmy Edwards, who lives less than a mile from Baseline. "That's what we're asking for."

BED TAX CHANGED
In another decision Tuesday, commissioners eliminated the requirement that 35 percent of the money raised by the county's 2-percent bed tax for tourism be spent as grants for non-profit groups putting on special events.

Under the previous formula, at least $700,000 would have gone for grants in the upcoming 2007-08 fiscal year. Without the requirement, the Tourist Development Council is asking the County Commission to approve the more modest amount of $400,000 during the upcoming budget hearings.

While there may be less grant money, the applications are still coming in. Next week, the council's marketing committee will review applications for more than $900,000 in grants. But Jo Salyers, council chairwoman, said under state law the grants have to go to events that can demonstrate they bring in tourists and put "heads in beds" at area hotels and motels.

The change in the grant formula needed a four-fifths vote to pass and that's what it received, with Commissioner Andy Kesselring dissenting.

WATER STUDY PLANS
Also Tuesday, commissioners unanimously voted to add up to $54,929 to the county's contract with utilities consultant, Burton and Associates. The increase will cover a study to implement a tiered or conservation rate structure for water. It would charge more per gallon as a customer's water consumption exceeds certain thresholds. The county's contract amount with the consultant to perform utilities rate study is now around $119,000.

Christopher Curry may be reached at chris.curry@starbanner.com or (352) 867-4115

Aggressive vagrants a tough reality for condo owners

Denizens of the new condo tower Blue were shocked to find out what neighbors have known for years: the highly touted Edgewater area has a lot of panhandlers.

BY LAURA MORALES

llmorales@MiamiHerald.com

When Lily Azel and her husband forked over nearly $750,000 for a condo at Blue, a swanky new tower on 36th Street just east of Biscayne Boulevard , they weren't just sold a luxury home with turquoise-tinted windows and a gleaming stainless steel kitchen.  

They were sold a vision of a fabulous new midtown Miami . But that doesn't quite gel with what they see when they leave their home.  

Welcome to Edgewater, where die-hard old grit collides with new flash every day.  

''We knew there was some of that element,'' Azel said, referring to the squads of vagrants and panhandlers who populate the area near the condo. She moved to Blue last year from Weston. ``But we were led to believe the whole area would be revamped into this great midtown.''  

To make matters worse, Azel and her neighbors were shocked to recently learn that the state was stashing a quintet of convicted sex offenders a few hundred yards to the east, under the Julia Tuttle Causeway.  

While organizing residents to address the problems, Azel reached out to Blue's more crime-weary neighbors at the Charter Club, a 31-year-old condo situated across 36th Street , to organize a Crime Watch.  

Victor McGlone, an educator who has lived at the Charter Club for nine years, said folks in his building have often found homeless people bathing in the fountain in front of their building's lobby. His neighbors also encounter harassment at the traffic light and Shell gas station at the intersection of Biscayne and 36th Street .  

''Everyone at the Charter Club has complained about it for a long time,'' McGlone said. ``But I think we just didn't know what to do.''  

Residents of the two buildings recently held their first Crime Watch organizational meeting, and discussed strategies like organizing phone chains, appointing ''floor captains'' and keeping an eye on each others' parking lots.  

DAILY PRESENCE  

According to residents, panhandlers are everywhere, stretching out their hands at the Biscayne Boulevard traffic light, at the door -- and gas pumps -- of the Shell gas station and at the drive-through lanes of Taco Bell and McDonald's.  

''They hang out in the little park and under the bridges,'' said Azel, who has been monitoring Stearns Park from her balcony. The park lies north of Blue and is split into two sections by the lanes of Interstate 195. ``I've seen drug dealers in the park selling stuff to these people. Then they go off under the bridges to get high.''  

Blue resident David Ziegelman said he has seen aggressive gas-station vagrants try to intimidate women into giving them money. ''It's gotten so that I don't want my girlfriend filling up at the Shell station because you just never know what these guys are gonna do,'' he said. ``I feel like I'm a sitting target, just waiting to get accosted.''

Alan Rosenblum, who owns the Shell station at 36th and Biscayne, also plans to join the Crime Watch. ''It's a constant problem at my station,'' he said of the vagrants. ``They scare my customers, especially the ladies, and I lose business. Unfortunately there doesn't seem to be much the city can do.''

Foremost in everyone's mind at the meeting were the sex offenders living under the nearby causeway.  

Darrell Nichols, an Upper Eastside neighborhood resource officer, tried to ease residents' anxiety about the offenders, which the state's corrections department recently placed under the causeway after a county ordinance -- meant to keep them away from kids -- left them unable to find housing.  

Nichols said the ex-cons were tucked under a bridge farther east along the Tuttle than most Blue residents originally thought.  

''They are very closely monitored,'' he assured neighbors, ``and every day they are visited by an officer at about 4 or 5 a.m., and they have to be there. That bridge is basically their legal address.''  

Albert Guerra, one of Edgewater's neighborhood resource officers, told residents that dealing with the panhandlers can be tricky, particularly if they are homeless. He cited a 1988 lawsuit in which thousands of homeless sued the city for arresting them just for living on the street. The city settled a decade later.  

WATCH EACH OTHER  

He advised the high-rise dwellers to watch each other's parking lots and surrounding public areas from their windows or balconies.  

''When you see anything, call us. Your information is crucial,'' he said.  

Peter Megler, a Realtor and vice president of the Blue's board of directors, said the condo's developers extolled the transformation expected for Edgewater when pitching to buyers.  

''I moved here from New York because I could feel the energy in this town,'' said Megler, whose condo cost $396,489. ``But many of us don't feel like we're getting our money's worth.''  

After a recent meeting of the 10 County Coalition about Lake Okeechobee management and Everglades restoration, U.S. Sugar Corp.'s Robert Coker made comments to the media alleging fault with a proposed flow way connecting Lake Okeechobee with the Everglades.

Mr. Coker attempted to distort the action taken on a resolution by the coalition.

He ignored the fact that the resolution supported further investigation of storage and conveyance of excessive water released from Lake Okeechobee and broadened the analysis beyond a single specific flow way in the Everglades Agricultural Area.

The Army Corps of Engineers and South Florida Water Management District are struggling with this dilemma: the Central Southern Florida Flood Control restudy — used as the basis for the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Project (CERP) — is defective due to faulty data used in the district's computer model to manage water in Lake Okeechobee.

The district model used rainfall data from 1965 to 1995, which historically was a dry cycle in Florida. Cyclical rainfall patterns, depicting wetter rainfall events prior to 1965 and after 1995, were not taken into account resulting in inadequate storage in CERP, thus failing to address maximum flows from Lake Okeechobee.

In the absence of adequate storage south of Lake Okeechobee, the district releases billions of gallons of water during wet years to the east and west coast resulting in destruction of coastal estuaries and significant loss of water supplies from South Florida, which is now experiencing severe drought conditions.

An evaluation of the water budget for Lake Okeechobee including inflow, rainfall, and evaporation reveals a need for an additional one million acre feet of storage during the wet season in excess of the 800,000 acre feet of water storage in the reservoirs under CERP.

The contingency plan by the district to store the excess water in aquifer storage and recovery wells is fraught with economic and environmental concerns.

A proposal of 330 wells around the lake would cost in excess of $3 billion and the uncertainty of injecting water below ground raises serious questions as to the recovery rate and release of arsenic contaminating ground water supplies.

For the record, it is the dairy farms north of the lake and decades of back pumping from the sugar cane fields south of the Lake that have made the water dirty in Lake Okeechobee.

Fertilizers and pesticides back pumped into Lake Okeechobee have degraded water quality forcing the glades communities to shift from lake water to expensive treatment of ground water for potable water supply.

Approximately 430,000 acres of sugar cane fields in the Everglades Agricultural Area between Lake Okeechobee and the Everglades displaced an expansive natural wetland system that historically treated and stored surface water flowing south from Lake Okeechobee.

The sugar industry uses hundreds of thousands of acres of publicly owned land known as storm water treatment and storm water conservation areas to treat and store water from their sugar cane fields, thus depriving the use of these publicly owned lands for treatment and storage of excessive surface water runoff from Lake Okeechobee.

This insidious system of allowing the sugar industry to exploit publicly owned land — to the detriment of the economy and environment of South Florida and the exclusion of the entire Everglades Agricultural Area from being incorporated in a comprehensive management system to restore Lake Okeechobee and the Florida Everglades — is a recipe for destruction of our South Florida ecosystem and further deterioration of our economy and quality of life.

Restoration of a storage flow way south of Lake Okeechobee in the Everglades Agricultural Area, whether in the form of a continuous shallow water conveyance, or interconnecting reservoirs and storm water treatment areas would be the most cost effective and efficient means of providing treatment and storage of water release from Lake Okeechobee.

— Ray Judah is a Lee County commissioner, representing District 3. You can e-mail him at dist3@leegov.com or call him at 533-2223.

Hearing will eye designating parcel as rural

By TIMES WIRES
Published July 5, 2007

BROOKSVILLE

The Hernando County Commission will conduct a public hearing at 9 a.m. Wednesday in the commission chambers at Hernando County Government Center, 20 N Main St. Among the various comprehensive plan amendments to be considered will be one to amend the Future Land Use Map for a 251-acre parcel of land north of Brooksville off County Road 491 from mining to rural, allowing a rural cluster overlay district on the property. For information, call the Hernando County Planning Department, 754-4057 (either Paul Wieczorek at ext. 28027 or Jim King at ext. 28020).

The Freeport News

Ginn Sued

Satellite images reveal link between urban growth and changing rainfall patterns

Global Warming Saps Arctic Ponds

The Tampa Tribune

Published: July 3, 2007

WASHINGTON - Ponds that have provided summertime water in the high arctic for thousands of years are drying up as global warming advances, researchers from Canada say.

Falling water levels and changes in chemistry in the ponds first were noticed in the 1990s, and by July 2006, some of the ponds that dot the landscape were dry, according to a report in the current Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

John Smol of Queens University in Kingston , Ontario , and Marianne Douglas of the University of Alberta in Edmonton have been studying about 40 ponds on Ellesmere Island in northern Canada since 1983.

The ponds are habitat for algae and invertebrates such as insect larvae, and waterfowl use them.

In addition to loss of ponds, the researchers reported drying of nearby wetlands.

The Associated Press  

Timeless Putnam land feels future stirring  

Some see the proposed Mariposa development as a boon for the county, others fear the mega project

By ANNE MARIE APOLLO, The Times-Union

EAST PALATKA - Out a road called Cracker Swamp , tree limbs that reach over a length of still, brown canal are just as likely to sway from the pressure of a combine as a passing pickup truck.  

Remote even by Putnam County standards, there are still parts of old Florida there, with farmers out early atop tractors and children spending the summer on wide wooden porches. 

But in a place where it seems as though almost nothing has changed any time recently, a development unlike anything Putnam County has seen before is on the way.  

Hailed by some as the county's future and others as a desecration of its past, Mariposa would put 3,230 houses as well as hundreds of thousands of square feet of retail, office and business park space on 2,025 acres, nearly half of which would be held for conservation.  

If the development continues to get the nod, it could have its first round of needed permits by the end of the summer, with building reaching past 2020.  

It has been the target of criticism from its neighbors - ranging from family farmers who maintain the development will "tear the heart out of" the region's agriculture to a St. Johns county commissioner who said he believes negative impact from the growth will overspill Putnam County's borders.  

In the wake of a development order unanimously approved by the Putnam County Commission last month - the most recent in a long list of reviews from local and state agencies it will undergo - Mariposa's backers said the project will mean education, not only in the expected elementary and middle school buildings but through possible college satellite campuses.  

Along with the development would come water and sewer services for eastern Putnam County , medical parks and a possible hospital, they said.  

Joey Kelly, director of external relations for Delray Beach-based Ascot Development, said the land development company chose Putnam County in part because the houses could make a significant positive impact. Mariposa would bring jobs, diversify the region's housing stock and once built out could net the county more than $11 million annually in property taxes, she said.  

"We understand fear of change, but we think this brings value" to the greater community, she said.  

County Commission Chairman Brad Purcell knows not everyone is happy with Mariposa.  

At the same meeting at which the commission approved the development order, nearly 100 people spoke about the project, the bulk of them against it.  

Many fear the development is the first step in the urbanization of eastern Putnam County , something Purcell said is not true.  

Not every developer who comes to Putnam County is going to get the green light, he said.  

"We have learned from the development patterns of our region," Purcell said. "We want agricultural land and open space and residential. We're looking for a balance."  

Ascot's Kelly said that while the developer has an option to buy even more land in St. Johns County, portions of which Mariposa abuts, it has no plans now to expand.  

St. Johns County Commissioner Tom Manuel, however, said he believes additional development eventually is planned across the county line.  

He said he is against the proposal as it stands now and plans to speak about the recently approved development order when Mariposa comes again before the Northeast Florida Regional Planning Council this month.  

The project Putnam County already has approved will negatively affect nearby Hastings as well as St. Johns County roads, Manuel said, despite $5.5 million set aside by Ascot for improvements at the intersection of Interstate 95 and Florida 207.  

The Florida Department of Community Affairs questioned transportation issues brought by Mariposa, as well, in a review of the project this year. It raised concerns about urban sprawl and protection of natural resources, among other issues, and Mariposa has drawn letters of opposition from the Florida Wildlife Federation and the Putnam County Environmental Council.  

Residents on both sides of the county line are speaking out, too, chafing at being called poor and incredulous at the idea of building on land that has historically been swamp.  

"If this foolishness is allowed to happen, it will tear the heart out of, and be the end of agriculture in Putnam and St. Johns County ," wrote one farmer in a letter to the Department of Community Affairs.  

In nearby Hastings , Mayor Tom Ward said the town still is adjusting to having a four-lane road and has been concerned about the amount of traffic the nearby development would bring. 

But that might happen with or without Mariposa, Ward said.  

Years ago, Hastings was considered a day trip from St. Augustine , he said. Now people are traveling back and forth several times a day and people are moving rapidly to nearby Flagler Estates.  

"Life changes," he said. "And it's going to continue to change."  

annemarie.apollo@jacksonville.com (904) 359-4470

Water levels drop as drought grips Marion  

BY FRED HIERS

STAR-BANNER 

OCALA - Jon Semmes' business rises and falls with the depth and quality of the Withlacoochee and Rainbow rivers.  

A few days ago, Semmes, who owns Singing River Tours in Dunnellon, cancelled two tours from Dunnellon up the Withlacoochee River to State Road 200 and County Road 39. The problem: Rocks that typically are underwater and no threat to his pontoon boat were above the water's surface and blocked the route. There has been far less rain in areas that feed the river than in previous years.  

"I don't know if I've ever seen the river this low," Semmes said. "I can't get my boat up there because of the rocks. There's just no way in."  

He said the Rainbow, which empties into the Withlacoochee , also has dropped.  

Because of the below-average rainfall, the Southwest Florida Water Management District, whose jurisdiction includes Marion County west of Interstate 75, will consider during its July 31 board meeting extending its restrictions on lawn watering, which limits residential irrigation to once per week.  

"What we're concerned with is water supply and making sure there's adequate water for everyone," said Swiftmud spokeswoman Robyn Hanke. "And outdoor irrigation can account for as much as 50 percent of a household's water use."  

Aquifer levels in the north portion of Swiftmud's 16-county district reflect the declining rainfall.  

June groundwater levels were 1.51 feet below the normal range for the area. The groundwater level for the same month last year was in the normal range.  

Rainfall, which ensures groundwater is replenished, has also been low since the beginning of the year.

June rainfall was 4.68 inches, significantly lower than the average for the month in previous years: 7.49 inches.  

The historic rainfall for January through May has been 16.01 inches. This year it dropped to 8.93 inches.  

The lack of rain is reflected by the Withlacoochee 's dwindling flow. Compared to previous June flows, only 10 percent of the time has the flow been lower, according to Swiftmud's records.  

While the west side of I-75 is overseen by Swiftmud, the east side falls under the St. Johns River Water Management District. That agency allows watering twice per week. That district's spokesman, Hank Largin, said the agency had no plans to reduce that to match Swiftmud's schedule.  

Issuing watering restrictions is one thing; enforcing them is another.  

Both agencies depend on local governments to enforce the state's watering rules. And it's unlikely that local communities in Marion will enforce the state's watering mandates.  

Last week, County Commission Chairman Stan McClain said the county did not currently have the resources to enforce watering restrictions.  

Commissioner Jim Payton said Monday that enforcing the state's watering rules would not be on the top of his list, either.  

"We're not going to go out and see if John Q. Citizen is following a one- or two-day-a-week watering schedule," Payton said.  

He said the way to get people to use less water is to target their wallets.  

And the best way to do that is to impose a tiered rate structure: The more a customer uses, the more they pay per 1,000 gallons of water. The average use per household in Swiftmud's district is 115 gallons per day. Marion households use an average of 203 gallons per day.  

Currently, only the city of Ocala has tier rates. The county does not.  

Fred Hiers may be reached at fred.hiers@starbanner and (352) 867-4157.

Delays, costs plague Everglades cleanup
By Eun Kyung Kim
DEMOCRAT WASHINGTON BUREAU

WASHINGTON - Cost estimates to restore the Everglades have increased by 28 percent and many projects crucial to the restoration haven't started, according to a report released Monday by congressional investigators.

The total projected costs of the restoration grew to at least $19.7 billion last year from $15.4 billion in 2000, the Government Accountability Office said in its report. But those figures don't reflect the true price tag because many key projects are still in the conceptual phase.

''Some of these projects are behind schedule by up to six years,'' according to the GAO report.

Most of these projects are outlined in the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan, or CERP, the multibillion-dollar partnership between the Florida and federal governments.

Some delays were caused by a lack of congressional authorization and federal money. The U.S. government fell short $1.4 billion of its contribution toward CERP projects, the GAO found. From 1999 through 2006, Florida contributed $4.8 billion toward restoration efforts, while the federal government gave $2.3 billion.

There are 222 projects that make up the South Florida ecosystem-restoration effort. Of those, 43 have been completed and 107 are being implemented. The remaining 72 haven't started.

The report found that 162 projects were driven by the availability of funds, not by importance or impact.

The GAO recommended that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which oversees most of the projects, evaluate its decisions to ensure that CERP projects are ''appropriately sequenced to maximize the achievement of the restoration goals.''

The Defense Department, in its comments on a draft of the GAO report, agreed with the recommendation, but Florida expressed concern that the suggestion might lead to further delays and increased costs.

Find the GAO report at www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/ getrpt?GAO-07-520.

Florida Home Builders Association removes Web statement on political contributions

By S.V. Date

Palm Beach Post Capital Bureau Chief

Tuesday, July 03, 2007

TALLAHASSEE — The Florida Home Builders Association today removed from its Web site a statement linking political contributions to sponsorship of legislation limiting impact fees, which the group supports.

The 400-word "President's Message" by John Wiseman was pulled soon after The Palm Beach Post published an article describing the statement and negative reaction to it from Senate President Ken Pruitt, who advised his members not to sponsor any such bill and to return any contributions the group may have given them.

The group's "FHBAction News" page remains dated July 2, but now begins with information about the recently finished legislative session that on Monday had appeared immediately below Wiseman's message.

Group spokeswoman Edie Ausley did not immediately return a phone call about the change.

Gov. Charlie Crist, whose actions on some bills are criticized on the news page, this morning added his disapproval to the group's tactic.

"On the surface, it just doesn't sound appropriate at all," he said.

Clustering of homes not up for debate

By Jason Schultz

Palm Beach Post Staff Writer

Tuesday, July 03, 2007

STUART — Slow-growth activists said they tried to get Martin County commissioners to debate a proposed comprehensive plan amendment to allow clustering of homes in rural lands but were snubbed by the amendment's supporters.

"We wanted to make sure we had both sides of this issue," said Bill Summers, president of the Martin County Consensus.

The group, made up of leaders of other slow-growth organizations, tried to organize a debate between Martin County Commissioners Sarah Heard and Susan Valliere, Summers said.

Earlier this year, Valliere proposed the comprehensive plan amendment that would give commissioners the ability to consider allowing clustered pockets of homes on land where they are now prohibited in exchange for large donations of environmentally sensitive land.

Valliere's proposal, which commissioners voted 3-2 to consider later this year, was patterned after the Atlantic Preserve in Hobe Sound, approved in April amid praise by environmentalists despite allowing development where it was previously off-limits.

Heard, who voted against the proposal, agreed to attend the debate.

Valliere, who could not be reached for comment Monday, initially balked at the idea of debating but agreed to give a presentation on the issue, Summers said.

Tom Fullman, chairman of the consensus, said Valliere referred him to her husband, Jim Valliere, to negotiate the details of the meeting. According to Fullman, Valliere said both the original date, which would have been Monday night, and the group's alternative date of July 9 would not work. He suggested holding it July 30.

Fullman said that was too late because the Martin County Local Planning Agency will consider the amendment just three days later, on Aug. 2. So the group decided to hold the meeting without Valliere.

"We had to move on," Fullman said.

Next Monday, the Martin County Consensus will hold the meeting about the clustering amendment at the Blake Library in Stuart.

Heard, who could not be reached for comment Monday, will give a presentation on the proposal and answer questions for about 35 minutes, Summers said.

Fullman said he also invited Commissioners Michael DiTerlizzi and Doug Smith, who both voted to consider the amendment, but both declined to attend.

Consensus member Linda Grand said the group did not approach anyone other than a commissioner who supported the amendment to fill in for Valliere.

"We wanted people who are directly responsible to the public," Grand said.

Fullman said the group will try to hold debates between commissioners about other issues.

The Atlantic Preserve was approved 4-1, giving Martin County 2,300 acres to be preserved in return for allowing homes on 460 acres outside the county's urban service boundary, beyond which water and sewer service normally is not allowed.

Slow-growth activists, who normally blast any suggestion of clustering homes or moving the urban service boundary, supported the change in order to obtain the pristine land adjacent to Atlantic Ridge Preserve State Park .

Valliere's proposal would allow similar clustering to be considered throughout the county if land is preserved as a result.

Opponents said the Atlantic Preserve case was unique, given its proximity to the urban service boundary and the amount and quality of land that would be preserved.  

Woman's Legacy to Nature Rich in Life, Death

By Tom Palmer

tom.palmer@theledger.com 

Environmental legacies sometimes come from unexpected sources.

I recently learned of the story of a Lake Wales woman named Kathie Bonneman.  

It's a story about dedication and how people can help the environment in many ways.  

Bonneman volunteered at the local office of The Nature Conservancy, a private environmental group that buys and manages environmentally sensitive land all over the world.  

She came to the local office every week for 17 years to create a reading file of press clippings for staff members and to help answer the phones.  

Bonneman, a Florida native with a strong interest in protecting the environment, was a faithful volunteer despite the fact that she suffered from multiple sclerosis.  

She continued to volunteer even after the office moved miles away from its original location in downtown Lake Wales to Tiger Creek Preserve near Babson Park .  

This is a great lesson because although much of the opportunities in environmental volunteering involve strenuous outdoor work, there are ways that people with all kinds abilities can contribute.  

Julie Jackson, one of Bonneman's sisters, said her affliction was ironic because she was the most active person in the family.  

"She rode horses, she water skied," Jackson said.  

Despite her medical problems, she was known as a positive person.  

"She was always upbeat and interested in learning about what the Florida chapter was doing to save her native state," recalls Tricia Martin, who heads the TNC office in Babson Park .  

Jackson said her late sister had an infectious laugh, which kept the mood around her light.  

Jackson also called her sister "a wonderful listener" and "a nonmaterialistic person."  

Bonneman's volunteerism ended last year when she died of breast cancer. She was 64.  

However, her legacy turns out to be more than fond memories of a departed colleague.  

TNC's Martin said she recently learned that Bonneman left TNC $500,000 in her will.  

Martin said they will use the money to support three projects:  

Ongoing research to protect the Florida scrub-jay, the only species of bird that lives only in Florida .  

Fire management of endangered habitat, which is necessary to maintain open areas to aid Florida scrub-jays and a large number of rare and endangered plants and animals on the Lake Wales Ridge.  

The fight to control Old World climbing fern, a serious exotic pest plant that threatens to kill entire sections of forests in natural areas.  

"Her amazing spirit lives on in our work," Martin said.  

The case shows the value of thinking about conservation projects in estate planning, said Chevon Baccus at American Bank in Lake Wales , which handled the trust work.  

All banks have trust departments that can offer customers advice on estate planning, including the establishment of charitable trusts, though this is something many people neglect, she said.  

I'm sure the money will be welcome.  

The simple fact is that buying and managing environmental land takes money. Although TNC and other organizations use many volunteers, they need employees, vehicles and equipment.  

In addition to the environmental help Bonneman's bequest provided, there's an interesting back story, too.  

Bonneman was a retired state social worker, not the type of person you normally think of when you think of this kind of bequest.  

The source of at least part of her gift to TNC was some Publix stock Bonneman had received from her father and never sold.  

Her father was Louis G. MacDowell, one of the three scientists credited with the development of frozen citrus concentrate.  

Now the money will help to protect Polk's heritage.  

Tom Palmer can be reached at 863-802-7535 or tom.palmer@theledger.com. Read more views on the environment at http://environment.theledger.com.

Planners give plaza green light

As it builds, Collina still may face reviews

Robert Sargent

Sentinel Staff Writer

July 3, 2007

TAVARES

Lake County planners on Monday approved a master plan for Plaza Collina, clearing a way for the massive commercial magnet to begin construction.

The 988,000-square-foot complex on State Road 50 near the Orange County line -- one of Central Florida 's largest shopping centers -- originally was approved by county commissioners in January 2006.

The project has been tied up in recent months as partners Phoenicia Development and The Goodman Co. modified plans to meet county requirements.

Opponents argue that Plaza Collina has changed too many plans and that elected officials should get a chance to reconsider. Others say the shopping center is not living up to its high-end retail expectations after developers shared plans with the county for a Wal-Mart Supercenter .

"We want it to be everything we thought it was going to be," said County Commissioner Elaine Renick, who took office after the county approved Plaza Collina. She said residents had anticipated upscale shopping: "They thought they were getting something more than a Wal-Mart strip mall."

County staffers with the Department of Growth Management approved overall plans for Plaza Collina on Monday, although different sections of the project likely will face more review when they are submitted.

John Dowd, Goodman's senior vice president of development, said construction of the $140 million shopping center could begin within 60 days.

"The county has been great to work with," he said.

Aside from transforming 142 acres for stores, restaurants and offices, developers of Plaza Collina are required to widen roughly a mile of S.R. 50 to six lanes and add three intersections with traffic signals.

The shopping center will have a four-lane road connecting S.R. 50 to County Road 50, also known as Old Highway 50. Lake Boulevard will be closed just east of the shopping center.

The project will have interior access roads, a large bus-transit stop, and bike and pedestrian paths. A section of the county's South Lake Trail -- a recreational corridor -- cuts through the north part of the property.

Months ago, the developers told the county that the largest tenant could be a 24-hour Wal-Mart Supercenter . Plans call for a 207,000-square-foot building.

The developers had negotiated for a 16-screen movie theater, but those plans fell through.

Plaza Collina could have about 17 outparcels along S.R. 50. Past plans submitted to the county have shown a nearly 12,000-square-foot ABC Fine Wine and Spirits store and a 37,000-square-foot Rooms to Go outlet.

So far, the developers have not confirmed any tenants.

Rich Dunkel -- a former member of Lake 's Local Planning Agency, a county advisory board -- fired off an e-mail to county commissioners last week saying that the project should be examined again.

"The changes proposed by the developer destroy any opportunity to have the classy development that their original graphics and language suggested," Dunkel wrote.

Commissioners asked County Attorney Sandy Minkoff to look at whether Plaza Collina merits reconsideration. Minkoff concluded that everything was in order.

"There does not appear to be evidence to show that the site plan proposed for this project is significantly different than what was proposed during the public hearing process, other than the fact that one of the tenants of the project will be Wal-Mart and no tenants were disclosed during the public hearings," Minkoff wrote in a memo dated Friday.

Robert Sargent can be reached at rsargent@orlandosentinel.com or 352-742-5909.

Resort wins another victory

By Terry Witt

A circuit judge gave Homosassa Riverside Resort a big holiday legal victory Friday when he ruled an environmental group has no standing to challenge the resort’s expansion plans.

The Save the Homosassa River Alliance filed suit against the county commission last year hoping to void a development permit the board approved on a 3-2 vote for a 72-unit expansion of the resort.

Resort owner Gail Oakes fought back and filed a motion of her own, claiming the alliance members who filed the suit didn’t live close to the resort and had no right to claim they would be adversely affected by the development.

Oakes was excited when she heard Circuit Judge Charles Harris had thrown out the lawsuit and ruled that the alliance could not make new arguments about its standing in the case.

“It feels great, but it’s the fourth time,” she said.

The judge had ruled earlier that the alliance had no standing in the case, but had allowed the organization to amend its complaint and file new arguments. The final hearing was last week.

Harris said he found nothing new in the alliance’s arguments. He said court cases decided in other parts of the state indicate there must be a connection between “the alleged evil” and the “adverse affect claimed.”

“In other words, it is not enough to live near the challenged project and it is not enough to oppose the proposed project because of general environmental concerns,” he wrote. “ To have standing, the challenger must show that his or her interests are affected by the project in a way not experienced by the general population.”

The ruling was the second loss for the alliance in the case. The group had filed a companion lawsuit claiming the county commission had not given them due process when the resort expansion was approved in public hearing.

Harris ruled that the group’s arguments were not valid and threw out the due process claims. The alliance had argued, among other things that Commissioner Dennis Damato, who voted for the project, had read from a prepared statement at the hearing, an indication his mind was made up before he heard any evidence.

The alliance also tried to make a business connection between Commissioner Gary Bartell and Oakes, arguing Bartell’s license for antique car restoration business hung in a room on Oakes motel property leased by a different business.

Harris said the alliance never produced anything more than innuendo about the business connection and he said Damato’s use of prepared notes was not evidence he came to the hearing with his mind made up.

Alliance attorney Denise Lyn did not return a phone call, nor did Alliance President Priscilla Watkins. The group has not said whether it will appeal.

Oakes said she is not sure whether she will ask for attorney’s fees. Her lawyer, Derrill McAteer, is on vacation, and she said it’s a legal question McAteer will have to answer. McAteer indicated at a hearing last week that his client would be asking for attorney’s fees.

“I will tell you, once the permit is in hand, I’d have to think about it,” Oakes said.

Oakes said her permit application has been submitted to county planners.

“We’re just negotiating the details,” she said.  

Hillsborough Bids For 1,018 Acres It Seeks To Conserve

By KAREN BRANCH-BRIOSO, The Tampa Tribune

Published: July 3, 2007

TAMPA - Hillsborough's environmental land-buying program made an offer Monday on a rare 1,018-acre piece of vacant green space in the county's northwestern-most corner.

For nearly a decade, Hillsborough has coveted the space for conservation.

'It's a large tract of vacant land, most of it in native condition, both animals and plant species. Not too many of 'em left,' said Kurt Gremley, acquisition manager for Hillsborough County 's Environmental Land Acquisition and Protection Programs. He confirmed that an offer was made Monday to owners, but declined to provide details, citing ongoing negotiations.

Only recently have the owners seemed serious about selling to the county - or at least to someone, public records show. They are the heirs of a family that has long leased the land's abundant wellfields, the source of millions of gallons of the region's drinking supply.

That lease, now held by Tampa Bay Water, includes several hundred more acres in northeastern Pinellas County . Hillsborough's bid is only for the section in Hillsborough.

The owners - G. William Wilde of Key Biscayne and Peter Wilde of Brookline , Mass. - didn't respond to repeated requests for comment. An assistant for trust attorney Harry Cline said his clients had not authorized him to comment on the land.

The entire 1,018 acres have a market value of more than $19 million, according to property appraiser estimates. In a May 10 letter to the owners' representatives, Gremley said the county had applied for a state grant to help buy the property, 'though we will not have any indication if we will have funding until September.'

According to the Florida Communities Trust, a state program that helps local communities preserve open space and recreational areas, Hillsborough County applied for its maximum grant, $6.6 million, to help buy 500 acres of the Lake Dan Preserve, as the county has dubbed the area.

The program lists the total price as $13.2 million, with the county kicking in half - just for the 500-acre portion of the land. That's just about half the total acreage.

The owners have made it clear to the county that they're seeking top dollar for the land.

In a Nov. 13 letter to Gremley, Cline said the owners would consider selling to the county, 'however, please clearly understand that the valuation would be based upon a fair market value projecting the highest and best use for the lands.'

On Feb. 23, a real estate consultant for the trust wrote to Gremley to outline details for allowing county representatives and appraisers onto the property; he explicitly noted that the county wasn't the only potential buyer in town:

'The owners will continue to pursue a rezoning, or other development opportunities, to include considering offers of sale, accepting offers of sale, and in fact selling and transferring the property, in whole or in part, and this understanding with you and your organization will not constitute any restrictions in so proceeding.'

In fact, the owners are poised to successfully change the future land-use designation of the property. It has long been designated as 'Natural Preservation' in the comprehensive plan, the county's long-term blueprint for growth.

But in an ongoing update in the plan, the Wilde trust wants to change that designation to 'Agricultural Rural.' A piece of land designated as Natural Preservation is reserved for open space or parkland - and no homes can be built on it. But Agricultural Rural allows up to one home for every 5 acres.

According to planning commission documents, that would boost the development potential for the land to 203 homes. The owners asked for the change because, they said, the land was mistakenly labeled for Natural Preservation.

The planning commission staff agreed and is recommending the change. Executive Planner Melissa Zornitta said Natural Preservation lands must be either publicly owned or privately owned with a conservation easement that bans development of the land.

'It doesn't meet the criteria,' she said.

The new future land use makes the property more attractive to developers - and costlier when it comes to negotiations. County e-mails show that the owners could potentially build 144 homes on the property (less than the planning commission estimate because of wetlands restrictions).

If Hillsborough's environmental land-buying program made a winning offer today, the contract would have to be approved by the county commissioners. In addition to grants, the ELAP program buys lands for conservation with the money raised from a special property tax assessment approved by voters in 1990 for that purpose.

Voters approved up to a 25-cent annual tax on every $1,000 of property value, but the county has never levied the maximum.

Reporter Karen Branch-Brioso can be reached at (813) 259-7815 or kbranch-brioso@tampatrib.com.

Lake Wales May Annex Eight Properties

By Bill Bair
The Ledger

LAKE WALES – The City Commission will consider annexation of eight property tracts totaling 913 acres when it meets at 6:30 tonight in Lake Wales City Hall .

The proposed annexations include:

KTSN Horizon: 24 acres on Buck Moore Road , where a residential development is being planned.

City of Lake Wales : 47 acres on Hunt Brothers Road, which the city plans to use for spray irrigation of treated wastewater.

New Harvest Church : 9.3 acres on Hunt Brothers Road, where a new church is planned.

Padgett Property: 9.5 acres across from the Longleaf Business Park on U.S. 27, where a business park is expected to be developed.

Carter Property: 1 acre on U.S. 27 North, where an office is planned.

Waverly Partners: 260s acres near Waverly on Scenic Highway , where residential development is planned.

Okamarion: 42 acres off C.F. Kinney Road , where a residential development is planned.

Florida Roak: 520 acres on Masterpiece Road where residential development is planned.

In all, city officials estimate that the residential developments associated with the annexations could eventually total 1,700 to 1,800 units with a population increase of 4,000 to 5,000.

Weeki Wachee 400 feet deep

The drought has slowed the springs' flow enough for divers to reach record depths.

By CHANDRA BROADWATER
Published July 3, 2007

WEEKI WACHEE - The home of the Weeki Wachee mermaids may also be the deepest underwater cave system in the country.

On Friday night, divers from the Tampa-based Karst Underwater Research group got farther than any other divers in history to determine that the caves are at least 400 feet deep.

With the help of about 20 people on land, the exhausted but excited two-man crew emerged from the cool, crystal-clear springs at about 4:30 a.m. Saturday after beginning the dive at 6 p.m. Friday.

"Weeki Wachee is a crown jewel that everyone's coveted and wanted to get into, " said Karst Underwater Research president Jeff Petersen. "But nature's prevented that. This is a historic event."

Drought conditions have slowed the usual flow of the springs by nearly half, to about 97 cubic feet per second, Petersen said. As it has gotten drier on land, the not-for-profit research group began testing the flow in late May to determine when conditions would be right to dive.

Now divers can withstand the currents to make their way past the heavy flow and then drop into the cavernous underwater world. There the flow dissipates because the caves are so broad.

"It's still hard. You pull with a lot of strength to get in, " Petersen said. "And if you let go, you go flying back."

He likened the flow to hanging on to a flagpole in hurricane winds.

Once inside the caves, divers used torpedo-looking snub-nosed scooters and lights to go as deep as they could.

At about 350 feet down, one of the divers could see that the cave turned and went farther down toward a pit, Petersen explained. The crew thinks the rock probably comes back up like a valley of some sort to about 250 feet deep.

So what's it like down there?

"Imagine the Lincoln Tunnel, " Petersen said.

Think about all those lanes for cars and all that earth and water above, but picture it as a natural formation with lots of giant boulders and rock all over the place.

A diver all the way down there is like a little weightless spacecraft floating along with a light- a tiny object in an immense alien world, he said. Wherever the light goes is where the eyes follow to paint a mental picture of just how big or small a cave is.

"We lose track of just how far it is to go down, " Petersen said. "A 150 feet down is like 15 stories. So if you think about 250 feet down, that's like 25 stories of a building underground."

Researchers believe the Weeki Wachee caves are connected to another system known as Twin Dees Spring . Karst divers have previously located the main water source of this spring, located southwest of Weeki Wachee, and tracked more than 2, 000 feet of passages at about 300 feet deep in some places.

They also think the system connects with a well drilled on the northbound side of U.S. 19 by the Southwest Florida Water Management District for water sampling. That well punched into another cave underground.

Weeki Wachee spokesman John Athanason called the weekend discovery "amazing."

"To think that's all in our back yard, " he said. "We hope this helps to educate the public and for us to preserve the springs."

As long as the drought continues, Petersen said, Karst divers will continue to explore as much of the caves as humanly possible. They plan to dive again this weekend.

"If the aquifer starts recharging, we'll probably have to wait until next year, " he said. "And that's assuming our families don't kill us first. We're never around right now."

Chandra Broadwater can be reached at cbroadwater@sptimes.com or (352) 848-1432.

Lake Monroe duck deaths puzzle wildlife authorities

Health officials are stymied but note that no other birds and no humans have died.

Robert Perez

Sentinel Staff Writer

July 3, 2007

SANFORD

The number of mysterious mallard deaths at Lake Monroe has reached nearly 70, and state wildlife investigators have no idea why the ducks are dying.

The number of dead ducks found daily since last week around Marina Island has ranged from a single duck to a peak of 34 Friday.

"We had seven more this weekend," said Joy Hill, a spokeswoman for the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, which is leading the investigation.

The state Department of Environmental Protection sent a staff biologist to the area Monday to look for any potential environmental causes for the deaths, said Jeff Prather, a DEP spokesman.

Tests on water samples taken from the lake found a form of blue-green algae, Prather said.

"We're taking a look at that," he said. "But there is nothing definitive so far."

The results of necropsies -- animal autopsies -- and tests on blood taken from two dying birds have not produced answers, but the deadly effects appear to be expanding. Early on, only juvenile ducks were dying, but the deaths now run from ducklings to adults.

"I've never seen anything like this with so many birds," said Mary Beth Lake , a manager at Seminole County Animal Services.

The birds appear to be suffering from upper-respiratory distress and near paralysis before dying, Lake said.

Despite the growing number of unexplained deaths, state health officials say there is no public health threat. No other bird species has been affected, and the avian flu was ruled out early as a possible cause.

"As soon as we know something, we may act, but at this point it is not a public-health issue," said Denise Ward, a Seminole County Health Department spokeswoman.

State and local officials say they won't know what steps to take until they know the cause of the deaths. The answer may be to do nothing, Lake said.

"If it's an avian virus or upper-respiratory condition, we'll let it take its course," she said. "It will take out the weakest, and those who survive will be the superior stock."

Some have questioned whether the ongoing dismantling of the 1920s-era George E. Turner power plant across the lake in Enterprise may be contributing to the duck deaths. A Progress Energy safety engineer said that is highly unlikely, primarily because the duck deaths are occurring upriver from the plant.

What's more, contractors working to dismantle the plant have instituted strict safety and pollution-control plans to make sure there is no runoff or other contamination from the site, engineer Todd Brouette said.

"If there was as much as a drop or two of oil in the water, we would have to notify federal safety officials," he said. "There is nothing coming out of there that could be affecting them."

The mallards have long been a fixture on Marina Island , a man-made peninsula and marina that jut into Lake Monroe a half-mile from City Hall. The ducks congregate along and under a boardwalk outside lakefront offices.

On Monday evening, dozens sat quietly in the shade of the boardwalk while others swam in the lake nearby. A number of Peking and Muscovy ducks that live around the marina have been unaffected, as have other bird species in the area, including pigeons, blackbirds, crows and sea gulls.

A number of buzzards also have begun congregating along the Marina Island waterfront.

Robert Perez can be reached at 407-322-1298 or rperez@orlandosentinel.com.

Scores of dead herons a mystery

By CRISTINA SILVA
Published July 1, 2007

The mystery of the yellow-crowned night herons surfaced about two weeks ago when Kathleen Moran found the first of the dead birds near her front door.

Since then, residents near the intersection of 49th Street and 29th Avenue S have found dozens of birds lying motionless on their driveways, in the grass under the Australian pines where the herons nest, and on the sidewalk, ravaged after a neighborhood stray cat mistook the carcasses for lunch.

"It's very sad, " Moran said. "Who would do this, especially when it is nesting season and you have all these little baby birds around?"

The case has stumped wildlife officials who have traveled from as far away as Gainesville to study the fallen birds, but have yet to determine the cause of death.

Gulfport city officials seemed flabbergasted, and residents, who have taken to burying the birds in their own back yards, are spreading rumors that someone has been spraying harmful pesticides in the neighborhood.

Residents claim that at least 60 birds have turned up dead along this one street in Gulfport in recent weeks.

Also found dead were nearly a hundred tree frogs, most of which, unlike the birds, will not be missed, residents said.

Initially, Bob Williams, Gulfport 's parks supervisor, chalked up the deaths to another case of bird eats bird.

"We've got a lot of birds at Hoyt Field, " Williams explained. "The hawks attack the doves. They will hit them with their beaks and then eat them real quick. We find bird carcasses all the time."

He canvassed 29th Avenue S for clues last week, but save for a few lone feathers, everything seemed in order.

Still, to a city administrator, it is always wisest to run through the worst-case scenarios. A few dozen deceased birds could mean scary stuff. Maybe avian flu. Or biochemical warfare.

"Especially nowadays with terrorism stuff, " Williams said, "someone could have poisoned the water."

Linda Holmes, a property manager for Caldwell Realty, which oversees the Pontiac Apartments on the corner of 29th Avenue and 49th Street S , was certain someone had been seen spraying chemicals near the trees weeks before the first dead bird was found.

"Whatever it was, it took them all out at once, " she said.

Usually, five reported cases of dead birds in an area is cause for alarm, said Gary Morse, spokesman for the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.

The cause of the deaths could be anything, especially something banal, like someone forgetting to properly clean their bird bath, Morse said.

The commission sent two biologists last week to pick up bird carcasses. The necropsy results will be available in a few weeks, Morse said.

But the results will only do so much to assuage the grief of some residents in this part of Gulfport , where the nesting herons have been treasured for decades.

Only a few blocks from Boca Ciega Bay , 29th Avenue S is lined with quaint, single-family homes, a series of apartment buildings shaded by towering trees and patches of shrubbery.

It isn't the kind of street where someone would set out to intentionally kill herons, Moran said.

And that's what worries her. What else could it be?

Cristina Silva can be reached at 727 893-8846 or csilva@sptimes.com.

Fast Facts:

Deaths monitored

The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission keeps tabs on dead wild birds to monitor potential health concerns and protect local animals. To report a deceased bird, go to www.myfwc.com/bird.