September 13, 2015
First thing. Please go vote for Chuck O’ Neal. He is the person who is doing the law suit against the hunt. This ends tomorrow and the money will go towards the law suit which we desperately need since we can’t make decisions in Florida like human beings.
http://coxconservesheroes.com/orlando/finalists.aspx
Chuck O’Neal
Chuck O’Neal has advocated for Florida’s natural resources for more than 15 years. An entrepreneur and lifelong Florida resident, Chuck has volunteered hundreds of hours educating voters and lawmakers on the importance of conserving Florida’s unique ecosystem. He organized “Speak up Wekiva,” which engaged community leaders and the public at large in the need to protect the aquifer and created greater awareness about the ill effects of groundwater pollution on people and wildlife. Chuck also leads advocacy efforts for the protection of the Florida black bear and played a vital role in the passing of the Florida Land and Water Conservation Initiative in 2014. His nonprofit of choice is the League of Women Voters of Florida Education Fund.
I was planning on writing a Bear update today. There was a letter to the editor in our local TC Palm that I responded to then I saw this. It’s a little fuzzy. You can see it better on the Animal Activists Network on Facebook. They are screenshots from Animal Activists Network on Facebook. https://www.facebook.com/AnimalActivistsNetwork
The screen shots are from https://www.facebook.com/JB-Ranch-Outfitters-560078547369690/timeline/
They have been taken down but some smart person got these first. You can go to the Animal Activist Network and read them but essentially these guys are talking about how they are going to kill the bears with or without a permit. You can feel the foaming on their mouths.
This was the original post that I saw in the TC Palm this morning from a local hunter.
Jim Weix, Palm City
“For example, one protest features a picture of a bear and her cub that says: “Please don’t shoot my mom!” The protesters don’t bother to mention that it would be illegal to shoot any bear with one or more cubs.
You also can’t shoot cubs, but this group seems to not want facts to get in its way.
Perhaps the circus will be beneficial. We will learn that not all people who are opposed to killing animals are “bad.” However, there are also extremists who will stop at nothing to further their beliefs.”
end of section.
I also watched the video last week of the people speaking down in Ft Lauderdale.
What i heard from the Hunters was they were the people conserving and they they knew what they were doing. But they don’t and this is why.
Because if you the hunters keep this up there will be no hunting and you are being used to promote a bigger agenda. So who’s being emotional now?
It’s been the job of the Pacific Legal Foundation to deregulate all the animals that are protected. They are now in many states but Florida is an easy target. Our legislators are dumb as bricks. We have the most protected species in the world “Developers.” There will not be any land to hunt on because it going to be full of wall marts,shopping centers, no lot line houses. There will be no hunting because there will be no place to hunt.
We have plenty of hunting in Florida and I don’t think you’ve heard an outcry like this.
Why?
Because we know two things and in your heart you know it too.
Floridians cannot be trusted to hunt bears. forgetaboutit We understand the lessons of the past when they were decimated.
When we hunt the bears the panthers will be next Then the land will be free to sell and develop and we will have nothing. OUR Florida will be gone. You wanna hunt dudes save up your mileage for flights up north because there will be no hunting here.
Don’t allow your self to be used. Settle down.
When I spoke a representative from FWC last year the plan was education. Period end of story. The issue was humans feeding the bears.
Way back last April I wrote this blogpost
Sorry about the formatting my wordpress is psycho this morning.
https://cyndi-lenz.com/2015/04/28/i-am-not-a-bear-trust-me
The bill, sponsored by Rep. Jennifer Sullivan, R-Mount Dora, and Rep. Jay Trumbull, R-Panama City, comes as the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission prepares to give formal approval to a black bear hunt this fall — the first such hunt in two decades.
The hunt stems from interactions between bears and humans in some parts of the state, with wildlife officials saying a major cause of the problem is residents leaving out garbage that attracts bears.”
WHEN ARE WE GOING TO STOP BEING THE JOKE OF THE NATION?
Then later down the line I wrote this.
https://cyndi-lenz.com/2015/07/09/panthers-manatees-and-bears-oh-my/
The downlisting came after the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service was petitioned by Pacific Legal Foundation, a private property attorney lobbying firm in Sacramento, Calif. Oddly, both the Endangered Species List and Pacific Legal Foundation were created in 1973.”
The downlisting did not come from Florida but out of state from a group that has been working on this since 1973 and have plenty of money.
States Rights people. Don’t let fat cat out of state interests mess with our state.
So here the story continues
“Conservatives you can’t have it both ways. You either believe in state and local rights or your being a hypocrite. I’m beginning to think more and more every day its the latter. These people tell you one thing and they do another. In other words your being duped. If you want to believe something believe it but don’t be duplicitous.”
So this is the story. These peoples jobs are to deregulate everything and then the developers come in and build build build. You want to hunt? There won’t be any hunting when they are done. You’ll be taking that trip up to Maine or NH to do your Bear Hunting.
So I’m just asking you to consider this since you consider yourselves conversationalists. You also have plenty to hunt and to eat. I’m not anti hunting for food and you can hunt for hundreds of animals in Florida. You can hunt your brains out.
OK I know long. So sorry but I want to get it all in one blogpost so I can tweet.
So here are the important updates so please go to the links I am providing and follow those people.
This is the Facebook page where all the events are posted
https://www.facebook.com/stopbearhunt
This is a very important event. No matter what we need to get Bear Proof Garbage Cans out there. This is our work to be the voice of reason in the hunting season!
https://www.facebook.com/events/689353931200109/
Tuesday, October 13
at 9:30a
Seminole County Services Building – 1101 E. First Street in Sanford, FL 32771
Here’s one way you can help. The Seminole County Commission will be having a meeting with the FWC on October 13th.
Yes and support the right to ARM BEARS!
#writing101
In response to The Daily Post’s writing prompt: “Retrospectively Funny.”
I had a hard time picking a word.
The first word I thought I’d write about was synchronicity.
“the simultaneous occurrence of events that appear significantly related but have no discernible causal connection.” Like picking the word and seeing the prompt from yesterday was the same thing I picked. That’s amore!
Also, my assignment was to write a list and I had been meaning to write this reading list for our legislators.
Well that worked out great.
The second word that came to mind was the word “grounded.” Something I aspire to be every day and when I’m not you’ll find me out there seeking assistance. Boring.
Funny.
I like.
So a funny thing happened this week.
Mostly everything I post on Facebook is important information about the environment. I do try to find funny memes. Funny memes and photos of my cat, dog and my grandson get the most likes. I could work on a piece for two days but everyone loves MeMe, Barney and Ethan.
MeMe my cat
Barney my almost 18 year old golden
So sometime over the weekend I posted this funny meme.
Everyone could relate and I got some hysterical comments. If you know my circle of friends the conversation turned political and we were all cracking up.
Then later on I was watching “Flow: For the love of water” documentary and I went to google some about the fish in the Seine River changing sex.
I came across this article:
Go look at the photo. This fish with these freakish human teeth.
So I tweet the article to my self. I also remember my fellow blogger and future Martin County Commissioner Jacqui wrote an article about these guys being in Lake Okeechobee!
http://jacquithurlowlippisch.com/tag/pacu/
Then this happened
https://twitter.com/Squidbass7/status/641236312566157312
There was some back and forth. It came at a very cranky moment because I felt like this person didn’t understand the context and I’m still having fantasies of inviting our legislators to Lake O for a swim.
Don’t take away my happy fantasy!
Out of my entire week of seriousness how can anyone take my laughter away.
Sadly it’s true. They are vegetarians. Which reminds me of what my mother always said “Don’t judge a book by it’s cover.”
This poor guy has seen this post so many time and he is in the business of fish. Now I feel terrible.
Apparently you eat these little guys with the big teeth. ( why would mother nature give them such big teeth. What vegetation grows that they need choppers like this to eat? Do I even want to know this.)
Apparently this guys sells them for food along with a bunch of other things that we all love like lobsta’s. Yes I know I spelled that wrong.
He did finally get the joke and I as usual learned something new.
and I thought heard it all when I read about Dove AU Vin last week. But here’s how you cook the little guys.
https://twitter.com/Squidbass7/status/641572965545570304
https://twitter.com/Squidbass7/status/642034070587883520
So here is my gift to Squidbass-takes like chicken hahahahah
Here you go!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WeU8GKNsrzU
hahahha
Funny
#writing101
Florida Legislators: Here’s your reading list!
This past year has been very telling. Not only did these people ignore us but they ignored their job and couldn’t seem to get it done.
My assignment for writing 101 is to make a list. I’ve been wanting to make THIS list so its win-win.
We need to know our legislators actually understand the issues and problems with Florida. We cannot take for granted that they know anything.
I’d also like to hear from you guys about what you think and we can keep a running list.
I knew what books I wanted but decided to go to the wisest people I know. My circle of friends.
This was from my friend Marjorie.
“Marjorie Shropshire : Oh, I have a whole long list LOL… But I think I’d start with Craig Pittman’s book on wetlands mitigation, and then move on to Ecosystems of Florida” so they could gain some kernel of understanding about how things in this state work; This Changes Everything, for some insight into what might be done about climate change; The Social Conquest of Earth, The Diversity of Life, and The Creation, all by E.O. Wilson for an overview of how humans fit into the world and can’t survive without natural systems; The Swamp, which we all know is the best explanation of the mess we’ve made of water management in Florida’s southern half; Priceless Florida, so they can see what we are losing; and finally, An Everglades Providence, a biography of Marjory Stoneman Douglas, to teach them what it means to do something bold, instead of sitting on their assess and eating out of the hands of their keepers.”
I love Marjorie. She’s is very quiet. But when she speaks she is mighty!
I think we all agree on the Swamp and Craig and Matt’s book “Paving Paradise.”
So here I go
the end.
No only kidding.
I’m going to list them out by name because everyone had good choices.
3. Ecosystems of Florida
4. This Changes Everything
5. The Social Conquest of Earth E.O. Wilson
6. The Diversity of Life E.O. Wilson
7. The Creation E.O. Wilson
8. Priceless Florida
9. An Everglades Providence
My friend Richard suggested
10. “The value of life” by the 4 Americans left in Iran
Cris suggested
11. The Lorax
Mike G suggested
12. Haricari 101 for dummies (Which I don’t even think is a book but just a suggestion.)
Shelia suggested
13. Term Limits by Vince Flynn.
Lisa Suggested
14. My Florida” by Ernie Lyons
Rick suggested
15. Any book on civics
Linda suggested
16. Reading the constitution. Followed by a written test. (She also suggested The Swamp. )
Victoria suggested
17. The Everglades: River of Grass” Marjory Stoneman Douglas.
18. “Mother of Florida Forestry”
Robin suggested
19. Oranges and Inlets by Nathaniel Osborn. ( Will be out in book form soon)
Phyllis suggested
20. The Shack. By Robert Young
21. Golfing with God
So here’s my list.
Any other suggestions leave below!
Yesterday, I drove over to Sarasota to see my family and go to a party. It was a pretty special day. Two birthdays and we would find out a baby gender. I decided to take Barney because there would be a fenced in back yard and it’s cool enough if you leave early in the morning for him to be in the car.
Even though there is so much to talk about, think about and write about we have to remember why we are here in the first place.
It’s a great ride.
We started off in Jensen Beach from our little house on the hill and this glorious sunrise.
Here is Barney my almost 18 year old golden. There’s nothing he loves more than a “Woad Twip.”
Here’s the fog out at fog at Alapattah Flats Management Area. I’m still in Martin County.
Here is our Martin Grade Scenic Hwy. It’s fabulous and worth the ride. The best ride would be coming from the west early in the morning because the light is amazing. Make sure you have a driver because there is no place to stop. I looked behind me as I drove and it was like the light was following me down the road.
The end of this road is the end of Martin County.
Through Okeechobee, Highland County and onto Desoto County which has a grand sign about tranquility and prosperity and something else I can’t remember.
I had to stop. The main reason was I really needed a bathroom and it’s very hard when you travel alone with a dog to find a place you can just run into and safely leave your dog in the car with the windows down. Barney barks not when you come towards him but when you leave. I’m sure if we were ever robbed he would bark as the robber’s were leaving abandoning him. “Come back. Don’t leave me!”
Just an interesting note. In Arcadia, FL the streets are names for the Florida Counties. I’ve stopped there a few times and I really need to go back and I think it would a fun place to meet the kids in the future.
Check it out.
“Arcadia is famous throughout Florida for its historic downtown antique district. Additionally, on the fourth Saturday of each month, vendors from surrounding locations take over our streets with even more wares and precious finds. Tucked between the shops, you’ll have the chance to enjoy cafés, home cooking, a tea room and even an old fashion ice cream parlor, complete with homemade delicious flavors, sundaes and shakes.”
The second reason was I wized past this place so many times I just wanted to see what it was and take Barney for a little walk and shoot some photos.
Across the road there were guns going off. Hundreds of cars and people shooting guns and a big no trespassing sign.
This is where we went.
http://www.desotobocc.com/department/parks_recreation/desoto-veterans-memorial-park
“With boat ramp and picnic areas, this park is used frequently by groups and large gatherings such as Pioneer Days and Relay for Life. With the shade provided by the large oak trees, this is the perfect place to park and enjoy your lunch hour. This park also features restroom facilities.”
When traveling in Florida you always to leave a little early because there’s always someplace to stop with your dog and take a moment to breath and use the rest room.
Here is the Peace RIver.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peace_River_%28Florida%29
The Peace River is a river in the southwestern part of the Florida peninsula, in the U.S.A. It originates at the juncture of Saddle Creek and Peace Creek northeast of Bartow in Polk County and flows south through Hardee County to Arcadia in DeSoto County
and then southwest into the Charlotte Harbor estuary at Port Charlotte in Charlotte County. It is 106 miles (171 km) long and has a drainage basin of 1,367 square miles (3,540 km2). U.S. Highway 17 runs near and somewhat parallel to the river for much of its course. The river was called Rio de la Paz (River of Peace) on 16th century Spanish charts. It appeared as Peas Creek or Pease Creek on later maps. The Creek (and later, Seminole) Indians call it Talakchopcohatchee, River of Long Peas.[3] Other cities along the Peace River include Fort Meade, Wauchula and Zolfo Springs.
Fresh water from the Peace River is vital to maintain the delicate salinity of Charlotte Harbor that hosts several endangered species, as well as commercial and recreational harvests of shrimp, crabs, and fish. The river has always been a vital resource to the people in its watershed. Historically, the abundant fishery and wildlife of Charlotte Harbor supported large populations of people of the Caloosahatchee culture (in early historic times, the Calusa). Today, the Peace River supplies over six million gallons per day of drinking water to the people in the region. The river is also popular for canoeing.[5]
There were many Pleistocene and Miocene fossils found throughout the Peace River area, eventually leading to the discovery of phosphate deposits. Most of the northern watershed of the Peace River comprises an area known as the Bone Valley.
The Peace River is a popular destination for fossil hunters who dig and sift the river gravel for fossilized shark teeth and prehistoric mammal bones. Several campgrounds and canoe rental operations cater to fossil hunters, with Wauchula, Zolfo Springs, and Arcadia being the main points of entry.
http://www.protectingourwater.org/watersheds/map/sarasota_bay_peace_myakka/peace/
A number of major restoration activities are under way in the watershed, particularly in the Peace River region. The objectives of the SWFWMD’s Upper Peace River Watershed Restoration Initiative include the restoration of surface water storage and flows and aquifer recharge, as well as improvement to water quality and ecosystems that have been lost, degraded, or significantly altered. The initiative will provide a critical link to a major greenway that extends from Florida’s lower west coast up through the Peace River watershed and Green Swamp, and north to the Ocala National Forest. Projects undertaken through the initiative involve Lake Hancock, the upper Peace River, and the Peace Creek Canal.
Why can’t I just write a blog about the great things in Florida.
THREAT: PHOSPHATE MINING
HUGE PHOSPHATE MINES ARE DEVOURING THE PEACE RIVER WATERSHED, LEAVING BEHIND UNSTABLE CLAY POOLS THAT PREVENT WATER FROM REACHING THE RIVER — UNTIL THEY COLLAPSE.
Peace River Makes the 2004 Most Endangered Rivers List
Florida – America’s rivers and streams are becoming more polluted — and the White House and Congress are making a bad situation worse by cutting clean water law enforcement and spending on pollution prevention, charged American Rivers with the release of its 2004 Most Endangered Rivers report.
* On President Bush’s watch, EPA is issuing less than half as many “violation notices” to polluters who break the law, and is levying smaller fines, as well
* One-fourth of America’s largest industrial and sewage treatment plants are in “significant noncompliance” with water pollution standards at any one time
* The White House and Congress have declined to reauthorize the Superfund tax to ensure that polluters pay to cleanup toxic waste instead of the taxpayers
* On his first day in office, President Bush scrapped a proposal to require wastewater treatment plants to notify the public when the spill sewage into streams and rivers.
* In November 2003, the EPA proposed to sanction dumping fully and partially treated sewage into rivers when it rains.
* The federal government used to pay 20% of water infrastructure costs. Now it pays 5% and President Bush has asked the Congress to cut this by another third for 2005.
* Removed restrictions that protect streams from mountaintop removal coal mining
* Issued new nationwide permits for building shopping centers, tract housing, and corporate campuses on top of wetlands and flood-prone areas
* Discouraged federal field staff from protecting many wetlands and streams under the Clean Water Act.
* 51% of the mouths of America’s rivers were designated “impaired” in 2000, up from 37% in 1994
* EPA estimates that sanitary sewers overflow directly into streams, lakes, and estuaries 40,000 times and that as many as 3.5 million American get sick from swimming in water laced with sewage each year.
* Forty-three states have issued fish-consumption advisories along 500,000 miles of river
* The United States loses 60,000 acres of wetlands each year – increasing the frequency and severity of floods
Summary
Phosphate mining in the Peace River watershed has been the source of serious environmental problems for many years, and large new mines are planned. Florida’s Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) and the Southwest Florida Water Management District (SWFWMD) must take measures to safeguard the river and communities in the watershed from mining impacts, including protecting drinking water, and important tourism and commercial fishing industries.I have to do more research. If any of you guys have any more info email me at clenz@mac.com.
The national news (Newsweek) are painting us as ok with this bear hunt.
http://www.newsweek.com/florida-totally-cool-black-bear-hunting-season-347367
Asked whether bears are the biggest threat to bears, Wraithmell responds: “I don’t believe that’s supported by science right now…. In addition to habitat loss, major causes of mortality for bears in Florida are roadkill and euthanasia for nuisance bears.”
This is the video from the hearing in Ft Lauderdale.
http://thefloridachannel.org/videos/9215-florida-fish-wildlife-conservation-commission-part-4/
Here are some comments I jotted down as I listened.
“Letters after Letters and we are being ignored.” (Sound familiar?)
Vivian Handy : 28 biologists redefinition was not due to the population number but when it was delisted as threatened. This will effect the success of dening. The hunt will introduce noise and fears, pregnant mothers could be short and the cubs could be shot.
People talk about Florida’s reputation. (Just kick us in the head.)
http://www.newsweek.com/florida-totally-cool-black-bear-hunting-season-347367
Persons with masters wetlands biologists says this ignorance greed trumping science
the humane society of the united states was there.
Chuck O’Neal: Your hunt is based on cherry picked data
We don’t even know how many bears we have!
You are appointed and not elected and you don’t have to listen to the people
we’ll see you court. We’ll see you in the media
Jon Ullman the sierra club: ” Its about development. ”
Your not going to get rid of the nuisance problem by opening up the hunt
If your going to kill something you should eat not stuff it.
I can’t believe these are the people making decisions for our animals.
There’s no explanation. This is rigged.
Ronald Bergeron, one of the commissioners, said he can’t vote for any quota is against the hunt because he doesn’t see the science. He believes that bears are an icon of Florida. He think the train has moved very rapidly.
(at about 2:00) He lays out the scenario about when hunting is appropriate.
2:08 water in the WMAS blamed sfwmd
position paper on water level (Have to go look for that)
Just so people know we have plenty of hunting in Florida but here on the FWC has proudly put a hunter with a dead bear on their website.
We NEED people to go hunting the Everglades for pythons and we need divers to go after Lionfish. We have alligator hunting, hog hunting, deer hunting, dove hunting, duck/waterfoul hunting, Raccoon, opossum, skunk, nutria, beaver, coyote, bobcat, and river otter, Quail, turkey and wild hogs.
Dove hunting really?
apparently so. If you google dove recipes there are plenty. Like this one.
Stupid pills: Throwback Thurs Marco goes to Stuart.
“Where have you been for the past 13 months?” called out one protester.R
Another held a wanted poster with Rubio’s face on it, calling him “No Show Rubio” and accusing him of “murder of our rivers.”
After begging him for a year he finally showed up. The initial meeting was invited Republicans only. Some people we knew stuck their tongues out at us as they walked by into the meeting. Truly a dagger into the hearts of the “clean water” River Warriors which is non partisan.
In the end we were invited in if we promised to be quiet.
Marco Rubio
The speakers were all very respectful to Marco Rubio.
He was given a bottle of dirty river water. He was given an explanation by Mark Perry our expert on all things St Lucie River, Indian River Lagoon and Estuary.
What the issue? Not that we were decimated and destroyed by the discharges from Lake Okeechobee.
This is the issue.
To be far almost everyone takes sugar money. Florida’s own Debbi Wasserman Schultz is the worse. She’s a great buddy of Marco Rubio.
This week this happened.
http://www.nationalreview.com/article/423243/rubio-sugar-subsidies?GE1yGQlf72Ql5Rrv.01
Rubio: Our National Security Depends on Sugar Subsidies
“If we eliminate our sugar subsidies first, Rubio warned, “other countries will capture the market share, our agricultural capacity will be developed into real estate, you know, housing and so forth, and then we lose the capacity to produce our own food, at which point we’re at the mercy of a foreign country for food security.”
“With a little more space, Mr. Mann might have added some pungent details. How Rubio, for example, while leader from Miami in the Florida legislature, strongly supported Big Sugar’s right to pollute the Everglades at taxpayer expense. That was in the early 2000’s, when Rubio was Jeb Bush’s point man in weakening federal and state agreements to protect the dying River of Grass from Big Sugar’s fertilizer runoff.
A decade of litigation by Friends of the Everglades and the Miccosukee Tribe resulted in an $880 million dollar agreement in 2012 by the Gov. Rick Scott administration that is now shifting the entire burden, again, onto taxpayers and away from the sugar industry.
Instead of siding with taxpayers, Marco Rubio chose the team that controls the state: billionaire insiders like the Fanjuls of Coral Gables and Palm Beach who run the sugar industry and insure its prerogatives like a syndicate.
What Mann doesn’t quite explain is how Rubio’s logic in defense of Big Sugar works. Rubio’s defense of Big Sugar as “national security” is rote memory from the Big Sugar’s playbook: “if you don’t let us grow sugarcane and pollute, we will put suburban sprawl on the land we own.” That’s not a threat: it’s gospel that is blithely accepted by Democratic leadership as well as Republican, gliding past the awareness that strong growth management regulations in favor of the Everglades once attempted to guide sprawl away from what taxpayers have already spent billions to protect.
The Big Sugar nonsense goes on: “If you don’t heed our threat, instead of dealing with us (sensitive sugar billionaires you can negotiate with in good faith) you will have to deal with owners of zero lot line homes who want more Lowes and Home Depots and Friday’s in wetlands.” The only problem: Big Sugar has never negotiated in good faith with the public or, to be more accurate, only negotiates from a position where it defends its profits down to the very last penny.”
Attention Martin County: Fracking Info please contact commissioners.
From Floridians Against Fracking
Need your help here in Martin County, where FPL is headquartered and fracked gas is a commodity to be bought and sold from all over the United Sates and proposed to be shipped via Sabal Trail natural gas pipeline to here.
We need citizen support to ask BOCC to support a ban on fracking in FL.
also, please share with folks in the Indian River Lagoon area:
Here’s a one liner: for phone or email use:
On Tuesday, September 1st, the Commission will be voting to adopt a Resolution in support of a statewide ban on hydraulic fracturing, also known as fracking. I am calling to encourage you to support adopting this Resolution.
The following is a link to contact all of the Martin County Commissioners by email:
http://www.martin.fl.us/portal/page?_pageid=339,1&_dad=portal&_schema=PORTAL&sc=344&rgg =
Here are the phone numbers for the Commissioners:
Chair – Ed Fielding 772-288-5421
Vice Chair – Ann Scott (772) 221-2357
John Haddox (772) 221-1357
Sarah Heard (772) 221-2358
Doug Smith (772) 221-2359
Confirmation that the vote for the Resolution in Martin County is on this coming Tuesday, Sept. 1st. Most likely it will take place in the afternoon. If you know anyone who would like to attend, the address is 2401 SE Monterey Road, Stuart, FL 34996 (Next to the Blake Library. The item is not specifically shown on the main agenda, but it is shown under Individual Agenda Items in Section 8A3, page 82. Please see the following link for the text. You have to scroll down to page 82.
Please ask all our friends to come out and join us or at least send the Commissioners an email encouraging them to support the resolution. The following is a link which allows you to contact all of the Commissioners by email:
http://www.martin.fl.us/portal/page?_pageid=339,1&_dad=portal&_schema=PORTAL&sc=344&rgg =
Please feel free to pass this along to anyone who you feel will be interested.
Help us save our Black Bears in Florida.
by Cyndi Lenz
I’ve written a few blogs in the past about our Black Bear situation but it’s really has come to critical mass and we must do something to stop the madness that is going on in Florida right now. We have been taken over by a bunch of loonies with a plan of their own. Not just for us but for our treasures panthers, manatees and black bears.
At one time the Black Bear was endangered. Now we have a fabulous healthy population. What do they do? They kill them.
Today this was posted on Floridians United to Save our Bears.
“(From a post by Fred Bohler) Cubs will stay with their mother for 18-24 months. When i was with FWC, the rule was , cubs of a deceased female that were under 35 pounds were euthanized. Cubs 35 -50 pounds were left on their own and had about a 10-20% chance of survival respectively. Obviously without proper foraging/ hunting skills , most cubs are doomed. Male bears will readily hunt them down and kill them. I was involved with one of the few rehabilitation efforts for a cub to be released back into the wild by FWC. Even that had its problems, once again, man could not be trusted not to imprint the cub. The release was marginally successful.”
This week we all saw this fabulous video on the news. “Der’s bears in da pool. They took my floaties.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2PnzrWJ-GnI
How can we as humans watch this video and then allow hunters to hunt mothers and then euthanize the cubs. Most of Floridians are against hunting the bears and I’m sure no life loving person could be ok with killing a mother and euthanizing their cubs. If they are then they are hypocrites. 61% percent of Floridians are against this.
.http://www.dailykumquat.com/florida-bear-hunt-fwc-habitat-loss-overpopulation-development/
“A state-wide poll commissioned by the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) earlier this year showed that 61% of Floridians were against bear hunting, with overwhelming majorities favoring educational outreach programs and the widespread use of bear-proof garbage cans. When the HSUS delivered a petition to Governor Rick Scott with 90,000 names calling upon him to block the hunt, Scott deferred to the Republican-packed FWC, whose chairman, Richard Corbett, dismissed the concerns of these Florida citizens in the following way:
This is Richard Corbett
http://myfwc.com/about/commission/commissioners/corbett/
Richard Corbett is associated with the Pacific Legal Foundation which I have written about before.
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/florida/fl-record-manatee-count-20150316-story.html
“The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service expects to announce a decision later this year on a petition from the Pacific Legal Foundation to reclassify the manatee from endangered to threatened. The petition was submitted on behalf of Save Crystal River, a group of property owners concerned about boating restrictions in King’s Bay in Citrus County.
“Those people don’t know what they’re talking about. Most of those people have never been in the woods. They think we’re talking about teddy bears. “Oh Lord, don’t hurt my little teddy bear!’ Well these bears are dangerous…. Do you want blood on your hands? We don’t. We have taken a step.”
A step towards murdering a mother and leaving her babies to die.
Don’t be a hypocrite.
This is what we can do to help.
There are two paid and four volunteer attorneys working on the lawsuit against the FWC to stop the hunt. You can help pay the legal expenses by donating to the legal fund. All donations, large or small, are greatly appreciated.
Here is the link to the gofundme account to pay for this.
http://www.gofundme.com/6y6k5vm8
If we can all give ten bucks that’s a lot of bucks that will help for this lawsuit.
2) If you are unable to donate monetarily, you can donate some time by helping to spread the word via Facebook, Twitter, email and letters to the editor. You can also help the cause receive a $10,000 award from Cox Conserves by voting for Chuck O’Neal here. One click one vote 10,000 bucks towards the cause.
http://coxconservesheroes.com/orlando/finalists.aspx
Here is Chuck’s story in the Orlando Sentinel:
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/…/os-oneal-battles-florida-b…
O’Neal, an environmental activist and a real-estate investor in Longwood, filed a lawsuit against the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission to stop the state agency from allowing people to hunt bears. He was joined in his suit by Speak Up Wekiva, a nonprofit group based in Lake Mary.
“Filing this lawsuit is something that fulfills this commitment,” O’Neal said.
3) As a contingency plan, if all other means to stop the hunt fail, there are going to be a series of statewide protests and an immeasurable amount of negative publicity for FWC and the state officials who are responsible. You can find one in your area here:
https://www.facebook.com/stopbearhunt/events?key=events
4) And possibly the most important. PLEASE REGISTER TO VOTE and help insure that all your friends vote in EVERY election. You can join a great organization with a long history of education, voter registration and advocacy here:
http://thefloridavoter.org/contact-us/join/
Florida has gone to the looney bin and we have got to turn it around.
http://www.dailykumquat.com/florida-bear-hunt-fwc-habitat-loss-overpopulation-development/
On October 10th, 2015, the small Central Florida town of Umatilla, on the southern edge of the Ocala National Forest, is scheduled to hold its annual Black Bear Festival. The event, organized by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC), has traditionally been aimed at educating young and old alike about the area’s wildlife, featuring presentations and guided eco-tours of the nearby forest. For a town that used to label itself “The Gateway to the Forest,” the event was a wholesome family activity and entirely fitting. This year’s event promises to be extra-special, for it will mark the two-week countdown to the resumption of bear hunting after a twenty-one-year hiatus, affording Florida’s families a wonderful new way to interact with their natural environment. It remains to be seen whether the organizers will set up bear-shaped targets for youngsters to aim at in Cadwell Park, or will hide the reality of the coming bloodbath behind their fraudulent and authoritarian claim of managerial responsibility
Ok so to wrap this up grew our black bear population out of endangered to a large population. We now after many years have bear hunting. Hunters can kill the mothers and that means a dismal outcome for the cubs. This whole thing is orchestrated from the darkness who have found Florida a great place to destroy for their own greedy reasons.
Here is an article about Ted Nugent buying his permit to kill bears in Florida.
If that doesn’t upset you nothing will.
There will a meeting in Ft Lauderdale regarding this issue on September 2, 2015
http://myfwc.com/about/commission/commission-meetings/2015/september/02/agenda/
| 8:30am each day | |
| Dates: | September 2 – 3, 2015 |
| Place: | Hilton Fort Lauderdale Marina 1881 SE 17th Street Ft. Lauderdale, FL 33316 (954) 463-4000 www.fortlauderdalemarinahotel.com |
So three things you can do right now:
Vote for Chuck O’Neal
Support the lawsuit go fund me bear lawsuit
and go to the Florida Save Black Bears Facebook Page for more news.
Docs VS Glocs. Gag me. Oh ya. you did. Welcome to loony bin coming to state near you.
I was going to write this nice blog about Jensen Beach or the Treasure Coast. Then this happened. I was looking around the twittersphere and I found this.
https://twitter.com/MarkPafford/status/628170477454753793
Only in Florida do our legislators think it ok to kill bears but want to jail you for feeding them. (You really shouldn’t feed them) and it’s ok for health care workers not to ask people if they have a gun.
That’s just for now because it could be coming to a state near you so listen up!
As I have said before this is a long list of questions that we ask as mandated by Medicare, Medicaid, JCAHO and AHCA and all those other governing bodies that tell us what we have to ask that have been rolled up in lovely computer program and I don’t care what program you have they all ask the same questions. Yes its a run on sentence.
Sue me. Because that’s whats going happen if there is a gun in the house and someone gets hurt.
How do you mitigate this? Who signed this bill. I want names.
Because clearly it wasn’t a person who even understands how medicine works and what we are REQUIRED TO DO. A firearm is more than a gun. A weapon is more than a gun. A person could have big knives. Do you care about the big knives? Nooooo Do they care about the giant bottles of medicine the person could OD on? No. All they care about it the guns. They don’t care about the people.
They took this story and they ran with it. This girl takes her kid to the pediatrician in Ocala. He asked about guns which is part of his assessment ( again thousands of questions) She goes off. No one questions the mental health of a person going off in a doctor’s office. The NRA certainly does not care about mental health. They just care about gun sales.
I know this story because I personally spoke to the the representative sponsoring this in the first place. I totally understood where he was coming from but instead of doing something about the issue like helping the poor girl that went off he created a lot of havoc for a lot of people. Especially those of us that go to people’s houses to take care of them.
Who is protecting me? No one. I have no protection. I could get shot tomorrow and it would be too bad for me.
https://cyndi-lenz.com/2015/06/18/m-the-florida-legislature-really-hates-health-care-workers/
The big issue was the doctor told her not to come back. No reason to rehash. Why? Because this is loony land. Run by loonies with loony ideas.
He told her to not come back because she could not control herself in his office. Not because she owned a gun. The office is in Ocala.
For some reason this just wreaked havoc in the brains of some Republican Lawmakers who don’t understand this goes on all the time for a variety of reasons. Doctor’s do not have time for people going off in their offices. Sometimes this is recognized as depression and many times if the person is elderly a psych home health nurse like myself is ordered to assess the situation and make recommendations.
No one likes to see anyone in anyone be in that much anguish that they have to go off in order to get relief.
Except for out Florida Legislature that doesn’t give a rat’s behind. They just want to make everyone life crazy over their guns.
There’s many different weapons and when you’ve been doing this for 25 years everything in the house is a potential weapon. In a house with a pool and no fence that pool is a death trap for a child.
I usually ask “Do you have any firearms.” and then I apologize and then I crack a joke about fire arms. It looks like this. Then I apologize for my bad acting skills and it ends with a good laugh. As it should. I can’t discuss how I would handle this because of HIPPA. The same HIPPA that would prevent lists to be made of paranoid gun owners so Obama’s secret agents can come to your house and take your guns away.
For many of our older generation asking if they have a gun is actually a conversation starter to their time in war and for many of these older veterans they really don’t get a chance to talk to anyone about this. Why would anyone want to take this away from them? This is the issue with stupid laws. They have unintended consequences.
“The gag law, nicknamed the Docs vs. Glocks law by its detractors, was passed by an overwhelmingly Republican Legislature brimming over with money from NRA lobbyists. It would seem to be an obvious First Amendment violation: For asking a patient a question that could save his child’s life, a doctor in Florida could lose her medical license or be fined $10,000. The state has no rational—let alone compelling—interest in censoring doctors from asking this basic question, much less preventing doctors from making evidence-based recommendations about public health and safety. And the law is so broad and vague that even an indirect inquiry could potentially qualify as illegal “harassment of a patient regarding firearm ownership.”
Ten thousand bucks. Do nurses get a sliding scale discount? EMTS?
Here is a sample of an self evaluation form from a psychiatry clinic.
https://com-psychiatry.sites.medinfo.ufl.edu/files/2012/09/Psych_Clinic_intake_form_2015.pdf
Out of pages of evaluation there is one question. The nono
On Tuesday, the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals reversed an injunction against Florida’s notorious “Docs vs. Glocks” law, aka the Firearm Owners’ Privacy Act. The case could easily wind up before the U.S. Supreme Court. It should. It’s a dangerous decision that must not stand. The groups that sued to overturn the law say they’ll dispute the ruling and are advising their physician members that the law is still on hold while they fight. If it survives, legal experts say it will represent the first time the courts allow a state to silence physicians from counseling their patients. Two of the court’s three judges suggested the state’s Docs vs. Glocks law isn’t a limit on free speech but “legitimate regulation of professional conduct.” Think about what that would mean: If it’s OK to ban doctors’ questions about guns, then every industry with an effective lobby could pass a similar gag law. What will be next? Sodas? Red meat? Electronic cigarettes? Motorcycle helmets? The goal here was to chill doctors’ speech. Gun-makers aren’t the only industry with an interest in doing that. The law would prohibit doctors from “harassing” patients about gun ownership and collecting such information in a database, if the issue is “irrelevant to or unnecessary for the provision of medical care.” The odious law had been on hold since 2011, when a lower court granted an injunction on First Amendment and due process grounds. But what, exactly, constitutes “harassment” as opposed to sound medical care? In these polarizing times, the simple question, “Is there a gun in the house?” can raise hackles. A doctor with his patient’s best interest at heart could be hauled before the Florida Board of Medicine and forced to pay costly legal fees to answer a complaint from anyone who took offense. A politicized board could impose penalties as extreme as revocation of a doctor’s license to practice medicine. The court suggests there are only limited times when it would be relevant for a doctor to ask about gun ownership, such as when a patient expressed suicidal thoughts. So now we are to presume that scholars of law and legislators know more about the practice of medicine than actual physicians and their professional societies? The problem with the court’s flawed logic is that when it comes to health, the issue of gun ownership is never irrelevant or unnecessary. Don’t take our word. Take the word of the American Medical Association, the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Academy of Family Physicians, and the American College of Physicians. Research shows that an average of seven children and youths younger than 20 are killed by guns every day. For people between 13 and 34, homicide and suicide are the second and third leading causes of death in the United States. As pediatricians conduct regular school physicals, they must now decide for themselves whether to follow the advice of their professional medical societies or two judges on the subject of guns in the home. Palm Beach Gardens pediatrician Dr. Tommy Schechtman is a plaintiff in the case. It’s standard practice for him to ask parents if there’s a gun in the home, and if the answer is yes, to discuss the importance of keeping the gun locked away, with ammunition stored separately. He suggests parents consider the added protection of a combination trigger lock. He plans to keep asking. We applaud him.”
No offense to the court there are plenty of times that you want to ask if there is a gun the house. People going thru a divorce. At risk are the elderly in the case of one being a caregiver and the other person having dementia. Just a person with dementia. What happens to the lone person that lives by himself has dementia and has a gun? Because you never know. You just don’t know. It’s not like it’s never happened before.
So understand there are many situations. In the case of an elderly person with dementia I would do the same thing a pediatrician would do. I would make sure it was locked up along with any medications and anything else that could cause a person harm.
But if I can’t ask then I don’t know and you’ve just put my patient, the family and the neighbors and myself at risk. Why? Because guns trump people.
Please don’t even start to call me a gun hater. We had a rifle in our cottage in Maine over the door for my whole life. My uncle sold guns in Maine. We had guns in our house in our parents army chests complete with bullets. I even took the bullets for show and tell in grade school. I went to summer camp and became a sharpshooter as well as many archery awards when I was a kid. You wanna have a gun have a gun. You want to have dead parents or dead children don’t lock them up.
We, your healthcare workers, don’t deal in guns. We don’t care that you have a gun. We care that you are safe.
This is from 2012
“Schechtman was one of the lead plaintiffs in a federal lawsuit that took aim at the Firearm Owners’ Privacy Act that was signed into law by Gov. Rick Scott in June 2011. The law forbid doctors from asking a patient whether she owns a firearm, unless the practitioner in good faith believed the information was relevant to the patient’s medical care or safety.
WEIGH IN: Allow doctors to talk about guns with patients?
But Schechtman and others argued that the law had a “chilling effect,” violated the sanctity of the doctor-patient relationship and kept them from providing potentially life-saving gun safety information.
Friday, a federal judge put a permanent injunction on the law.
Marion Hammer, with the Florida chapter of the National Rifle Association, said many members were calling, upset about Judge Marcia Cooke’s ruling.
“No doctor should tell you not to own a gun,” Hammer said.
She said the governor will appeal the ruling. A spokesman for Gov. Scott could not immediately confirm that.”
No one is telling anyone not to own a gun? How dense are these people that actually believe this. But believe me these are the first people who will start yelling and calling for justice if there was a nurse or a social worker in the house and someone got hurt. “Why didn’t they do anything?”
My new answer
“Sorry Dude. you gagged me.”
Maybe I should ask Rick Scott what to do? He’s worked in medicine before.
A moment of silence, please, for Zuri Chambers, who died in Lake Worth this spring at age 3; also for Nick Minor, who died in West Palm Beach at age 17, and for Patrick Appleton, who died in Palm City at age 13.
All three youths had been playing, unsupervised, with guns they found in their homes. The guns went off accidentally, killing them.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/07/18/docs-vs-glocks-florida-appeal_n_3618432.html
MIAMI — A Florida law that restricts what doctors can ask patients about gun ownership should be reinstated because it doesn’t limit free speech as a federal judge ruled, an attorney for the state argued Thursday.
The law, which has become popularly known as “Docs vs. Glocks,” does not flatly ban physicians from having discussions about firearms with patients, Florida Solicitor General Allen Winsor told a three-judge panel of the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
“The wording in the law is `should refrain,'” Winsor said. “It’s not mandating anything. It’s recommending. The use of the term is critical in this case.” ( A ten thousand dollar fine and the loss of your medical license is NOT a recommendation. It’s a mandate.)
Passed by the Legislature in 2011, the Firearm Owners Privacy Act prohibited doctors from asking patients about gun ownership or recording such information in medical records unless it was medically necessary – although that term was not defined. U.S. District Judge Marcia Cooke declared the legislation unconstitutional last year as an impermissible restriction on free speech, and the state appealed.
In his rebuttal, the attorney representing physicians and gun-control advocates, Douglas Hallward-Driemeier, said the law was sufficiently strong to prompt doctors to censor themselves, because none would risk a potential loss of license or fines up to $10,000 for violating it.
He said most doctors ask about gun ownership as a common practice on questionnaires filled out by patients and that it’s particularly important in homes where children are present or in cases of mental illness.
“We think it’s relevant to ask every patient, every time,” Hallward-Driemeier said. “Doctors will self-censor.”
But one member of the panel, U.S. Circuit Judge Gerald Tjoflat, had a different concern.
Tjoflat grilled Hallward-Driemeier about the possibility that allowing doctors to ask about gun ownership could devolve into a situation in which they are somehow used by the federal government to collect lists of gun owners.
“It goes to Uncle Sam in Washington. You understand my concern,” the judge said. “You can put it in a computer and spit out everybody who owns a gun.”
Hallward-Driemeier said he knew of no state or federal provision for doctors in Florida or elsewhere to provide gun owner lists to the government, noting that medical records are already protected by strict privacy laws. He argued that the law restricting doctors’ ability to discuss guns only came into being because the Republican-dominated Florida Legislature was trying to make a political point.
“The state simply cannot stop speech it believes to be a political attack,” Hallward-Driemeier said.
The panel did not issue an immediate ruling and seemed split on what to do. Judge Charles Wilson said the law appeared to him a “classic content-related restriction on speech” that impermissible singles out doctors.
Judge L. Scott Coogler, an Alabama district judge sitting by invitation on the appeals panel, said one possible ruling could be to allow doctors to ask about guns but leave intact the law’s restrictions on record-keeping and the requirement that the information be medically necessary.
“Do you have some other reason other than medical treatment that you want to ask patients about guns?” Coogler asked.
The law has been challenged by organizations representing 11,000 Florida health providers, including the Florida chapters of the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American Academy of Family Physicians. The Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence, the American Civil Liberties Union and numerous other groups have joined them.
That time he signed a bill allowing concealed loaded firearms in national parks.
Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) introduced an amendment in 2009 permitting concealed, loaded guns in national parks to a bill about credit cards, saying differences in state and federal laws inhibited gun owners from travel between state and federal lands.
And signed a bill allowing Amtrak passengers to store handguns in their checked baggage.
Advocates of the bill, also introduced in 2009, said it gave train riders rights comparable to those possessed by plane passengers. Amtrak had allowed firearms to be carried on trains before 9/11, so the bill represented a victory for gun rights activists.
After Newtown, Obama assembled a task force to address gun violence.
Obama charged Vice President Joe Biden in December 2012 with overseeing an administration-wide process to develop proposals for Congress to take up. He urged lawmakers to reinstate a ban on assault weapons, close loopholes that allow buyers to avoid background checks and restrict high-capacity ammunition clips.
Then unveiled proposals to combat gun violence…
Obama’s legislative proposals, released in January 2013, touched upon not just access to firearms and ammunition but school safety and mental health care.
This BS has got to end.
Because of all this BS it has really brought the nuttiness out of the gun lobby and because of that we really need to keep the nuttiness out of our lives. We need to look closely at the people who are lobbying for these kinds of laws. Guns like corporations are not people. Gun’s don’t vote. Nor can they get pregnant.
Here’s the thing. This whole situation is a result of bad reactions and people going off and making emotional and bad decisions. I really believe that if talked out this could have been taken care of like rational adults and not a bunch whining babies who think that everyone coming for their guns.
No one wants to come for guns. Least of all the medical profession. We just want to make sure that people are safe.
So please take your politics out of my medicine.
Someone please talk some logic here.
It seems that the gun lobbyists can’t control themselves and apparently they think everything is about them.
.
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