Sometimes I think I live in this other world where we see things and then there is this other place where things get reported and the only thing I can say is “huh?”
What if instead of draining away about 2 billion gallons of water a day, there were better ways to put that water to use?
“nearly 200 billion gallons of Lake Okeechobee water was drained to the east and west coasts to ease the strain on the erosion-prone dike that protects South Florida from flooding.”
“*SEVEN MONTHS OF DRINKING WATER: The amount of Lake Okeechobee water drained east and west and out to sea was enough to supply about seven months of drinking water for the nearly seven million people in Palm Beach County, Broward County, Miami-Dade County and the Florida Keys. Water plants in southeast Florida churn out about 840 million gallons of drinking water a day.
*NEARLY 40 PERCENT OF EVERGLADES’ WATER NEEDS: Everglades advocates have called for moving almost 500 billion gallons of Lake Okeechobee water south each year to help replenish Florida’s struggling River of Grass. The volume of lake water drained east and west for flood control between January and June equated to almost 40 percent of that Everglades restoration goal.”
What can I say. I have posted hundreds of hours of video of people pleading to save our water.
This is recent letter to the Miami Herald from Maggy Hurchella.
When you kill the environment to get more water, you end up with less water and you end up with very dirty water.
This is the same James Moran who lectured a crowded meeting room in May.
The crowd was there to ask the SFWMD Board to buy land and send the water south.
Moran said that was impossible and unnecessary, “And I don’t know why you claim it will save the Dade County water supply. They get their water from wells.”
He finally seems to have figured out that Miami-Dade’s wells are in aquifers that are recharged by water flowing south from Lake Okeechobee.
Too late.
Maggy Reno Hurchalla, Miami”
These are people in charge of our water. We know what’s happening. They don’t.
You can help conserve water by following year-round irrigation rules for your area. Find when you can water at http://t.co/N3Rp6btFl1.
— South Florida Water Management District (@SFWMD) July 15, 2015
On the website on SFWMD they have loads of information about water conservation and have been on the news multiple time even having the nerve to tell us to conserve ( I don’t have an issue conserving but I do have an issue with them not conserving. Not just not conserving. Just totally wasting millions and millions of gallons of water send out to tide and destroying our estuary.
Then this happened and i knew the world was just turned upside down.
“But Rodney Barreto thinks Scott has been a tree-hugging warrior for Mother Gaia. The Miami developer, who also chairs the Fish & Wildlife Foundation of Florida, announced via email this week that at the BlueGreen gala this fall, he’ll honor Scott for his conservation work.
“Governor Scott has been instrumental in helping develop a strong connection between fish and wildlife conservation and traditional outdoors activities like hunting and especially fishing,” Barreto says in a release.
Local environmentalists are aghast at the news. “It’s laughable,” Alan Farago, president of Friends of the Everglades, tells New Times. “In terms of the environment, I think he’s the worst governor in modern Florida history.”
Aghast doesn’t even cover it.”
Fishing. Yes I dare you Rick Scott to come swimming in the Indian River Lagoon.
“Today, a report by AP’s Gary Fineout, “Florida Gov. Scott against at odds with Florida Republicans” sheds light on the award, in the context of a deeply strained relationship between court-penalized Republicans, shuddering at the prospect of having to draw fair districts, and an isolated governor.
What to do with a governor hunkered down in his coastal multi-million dollar estate from which he doesn’t emerge, except to his private jet clutching talking points? Give him an environmental award! Cheer up his mysterious spirits, unknowable except to special interests and cronies.”
“On Tuesday morning, I began reaching out to other sponsors of the event. But Tuesday afternoon, the foundation had removed all the sponsors’ names from its website.”
You can’t make this stuff up.
Even the sponsors know its BS. But it will interesting to see who sponsors this event. Let’s stay tuned for that one.
Here is the new guy he picked for the SFWMD board.
Accursio, 52, whose family owns and farms 2,000 acres in South Miami-Dade County, has been among farmers bitterly complaining about Everglades restoration efforts flooding fields and causing crop losses in the region.
Update: The contact numbers that we previously gave are incorrect. for the time being, anyone that is wanting to help in the search for Austin and Perry please contact findperryandaustin@gmail.com. The love and support from the community, state, and nation is above and beyond what I could have hoped, wished, or prayed for. We love these boys with all of our heart and look forward to tell them how so many people never, never, never gave up on them. Greatly appreciated from my heart to yours
findperryandaustin@gmail.com
and here is a new facebook group if you can help walk the coast!
BOLO these items: Shimano Tigras spinning reels, orange life vests, White Yeti Cooler 65 quart, white throw cushion, white bait bucket, white rain boots,white short sleeve that says “grand slam events”\tranulcent plane tackle box
black long sleeve tt shirt
silver grey yamaha 115 hp engine
get a date and a timestamp and call 866-750-7770 or email
AustinAndPerry@tigerswan.com
Update July 31, 2015
The coastguard is suspending the search tonight. Here is new info. Prayers needed.
#findaustinandperry
Last night instead of writing my blog I sat on Facebook with some friends listening to the Facebook Feed from JAX.
Many of you know we have two boys missing. They went out in their boat last Friday and have not been heard from since. Their boat was found way up north capsized but we are praying they had their cooler and life jackets. Last night something was going on in Tybee, Georgia. This morning the Coast Guard is going back out there.
I saw some really nasty remarks online. I know it’s hard. When something happens the first place you go is to the judging place. This is not a time for judging but a time for prayers.
Many people were upset about the Go Fund me site. As far as I know that’s to help with volunteers in boats and planes that have been searching for these kids.
The Coast Guard will be going back out there this morning. Here is the feed.
If they are not found this morning please if you live along the east coast please go to the beach and see if you can find anything. Lifejackets, coolers.
Please go to the Facebook page. It is being updated constantly.
Someone Save Pahokee’s Old Prince Theater! Former Mayor was too busy obsessing.
When I lived in Palm Beach County Pahokee was that place way out there. I don’t even think when I worked in home health from Boca I ever went out there. It’s pretty torn up. Yet the people that live there are so nice. Real people. I’d rather spend a day in Pahokee than a day in Palm Beach. Truly.
I feel like the whole area are the forgotten people but whats so funny is they haven’t forgotten themselves. They just go on with their day. This is their life.
So if you go to downtown Pahokee you see this: An old movie theater and the base is made from coral.
Joe Vogel on April 4, 2015 at 4:40 amThe original Prince Theatre was replaced in 1940. The April 5, 1940, issue of The Film Daily had this item:
“Dobrow to Erect New Theater Building, Refurnish Another“Pahokee, Fla. — A call for bids is being made by Abe Dobrow of the Everglades and Prince Theaters, for a new structure to replace the present building housing the Prince theater. Bids will be opened April 8. Plans also call for complete refurnishing of the Everglades theater.”
This follow-up item is from the January 3, 1941, issue of The Film Daily:
“Open New Pahokee House“Pahokee, Fla. — New $40,000 Prince theater, has been opened. The 600-seater is owned and operated by Gold & Dobrow. Don Hiller & Sons, Pahokee, were the contractors.”
Listings of the Prince Theatre in FDY’s from the 1930s consistently give it a capacity of 250, so it was less than half the size of the new house. It seems unlikely that the original Prince Theatre would have been demolished in 1940 if its building was only nine years old, so it’s likely that it was either an older theater that had operated under a different name earlier in its history, or it was in an older commercial building that had been converted into a theater in 1931.Architect Chester A. Cone was still in practice at least as late as 1985, so it seems likely that it was the 1940 rebuilding of the Prince Theatre that he designed, rather than the original house.
In 1966, the Gold-Dobrow chain leased three of their five theaters, including the Prince, to a Miami-based chain. An article about the transfer in the December 21 issue of The Palm Beach Post said that the Gold-Dobrow chain had been “…organized about 35 years ago….” That would be consistent with the 1931 opening of the original Prince Theatre, whether it was a new operation or an old house renamed by the new owners.
“A fight is brewing over the crumbling, pink Prince Theater on Main Street, where country music singer Mel Tillis got his start and Glades children spent countless Saturday afternoons.
But city leaders aren’t fighting to restore the 70-year-old landmark. They want to force its new owner to tear it down.
The city sold the theater to businessman Emilio Perez for $8,500 on March 1, with the understanding he would demolish the building and use the site to expand a gas station for economic development. Now the city is suing Perez for breach of contract after he started to repair the building instead.
“The bottom line is: ‘Just do what you said you would do,'” Mayor J.P Sasser said. “All we want him to do is honor his original agreement.”
In a June 29 letter to the city, Perez said he had a change of heart about demolishing the theater after residents asked him to fix and re-open it.
The 500-seat theater was built in 1940 and showed first-run movies and live performances for about 25 years until it closed in the mid-1960s. Tillis, who grew up in Pahokee, said he got his start singing at talent shows at the Prince Theater in the late 1940s
The theater sat dormant for more than a decade, and its owners donated it to the city in 1976. After residents led by Harriet Seldes raised more than $100,000 to renovate the building, it reopened in 1980 for community events and later for movies.
“We were doing this not only for the adults in the community but also the children,” said Seldes, who now lives in Port St. Lucie. “There was no other theater, nothing else for children to do but football.”
The theater closed again after a few years. Tropical Storm Fay in 2008 damaged the roof so badly that city officials decided it was beyond hope of repair, Sasser said.
Pahokee resident Larry Wright said the Prince should not be torn down. He suggested that a nonprofit theater group could be organized to put on plays there using local children.
Sasser said that before being elected this year he had worked with a group that tried to find money to save the Prince, but it was a lost cause because of the extent of roof damage and other needed repairs.”
Seriously JP you spend too much time obsessing about the septic tanks in Martin County to pay attention to your own town the wonderful place it could be. You could find a roof company and try to raise the money to fix this. You want it replaced with a Gas station?
You could fix this place out. Have a children’s theater. Show some good movies. Have some concerts. Who would want to demolish such a gem. You could have brought people to pahokee!
We need to help Pahokee!
Maybe someone from the Island of Palm Beach could invest in this. It would be awesome. We need to invest in the children of Pahokee.
Pahokee out by Lake O. Forgotton building could be something wonderful.
“Sasser has been one of the most visible representatives of the Pahokee area on the state and federal level, taking trips to Tallahassee and Washington D.C. to argue his case for his hometown and for the Glades area. Along those same lines, it was his sharp tongue and his haranguing of other elected officials that landed him in the headlines. Sasser defended the area in a distinct way, and a harsh scolding of the county or state was one of the many cards Sasser played to get his message across.
With a convincing loss to a political newcomer, Sasser said his political career in Pahokee in over.”
Oh Goody! The water issue has got to be fixed! But looking at the old Prince theater which is a jewel that you want to tear down instead of putting effort into having something for the children of your town is beyond me. Good for the guy who bought it and changed his mind.
JP Sasser’s belief that we want to flood out Pahokee.
“He said, “The first thing Senator Negron did was to sit me down and assure me that nobody wants to flood Pahokee. I told him, ‘Oh, yes, they do. They want all the lake water flowing south. Do that and we’re done.'”
It’s very hard to deal with someone who has their own belief system and just won’t listen. I wrote this a while back. I’m so sick of rehashing this point. But you can watch the Sugarland Video and see that we all sincerely wanted to work together and it was the people that lived out on the Lake that started this whole ‘They want to flood us out thing.” I know where it came from.. That’s not what was said. You all are still in danger.
I know where it came from.. That’s not what was said. You all are still in danger. And no you can’t build giant cities out there with new Walmarts. Because you can’t have it both ways. We discharges to protect you guys. No one in their right is going to put anyone else in danger.
No one wanted to flood them out. This is just Big Sugar BS for lets change the subject and make all those tree hugging liberals look bad.
yes this is me hugging a tree.
No one wanted to flood you out JP. We wanted you to do your job and take care of the people of Pahokee. If you weren’t so obsessed with us perhaps you could have done that.
It’s so absurd that I can’t post parts of the article. I read it and laughed. Seriously are you kidding me?
Why not take the money your spending on lawyers and fix the Prince theater and ask some famous local actor to come out there and have a program for the children you were supposed to represent.
Glad to see a new face and hope to see some good changes out there.
This is what the people want. I know this because I saw it painted on their store fronts.
Let’s all be aware of what is going on in Pahokee and perhaps the people of Palm Beach County which has a population of 1,397,710 – If each person sent one buck they could save the prince theater and there would be money left over to do something else for the kids out there.
“The Kissimmee Basin encompasses more than two dozen lakes in the Kissimmee Chain of Lakes (KCOL), their tributary streams and associated marshes and the Kissimmee River and floodplain. The basin forms the headwaters of Lake Okeechobee and the Everglades; together they comprise the Kissimmee-Okeechobee-Everglades (KOE) system. In the 1960s, the Central and Southern Florida Flood Control (C&SF) Project modified the native KOE system extensively throughout South Florida, including construction of canals and water control structures to achieve flood control in the Upper and Lower Kissimmee basins.
Major initiatives in the Kissimmee Basin are the Kissimmee River Restoration Project (which includes Construction Projects), the Kissimmee River Restoration Evaluation Program, the Kissimmee Basin Modeling and Operations Study and the Kissimmee Chain of Lakes Long-Term Management Plan. A number of activities are associated with these projects, including ecosystem restoration, evaluation of restoration efforts, aquatic plant management, land management, water quality improvement and water supply planning.”
We ended up here.
Whoops.
Then we ended up here .
It was one of those “It’s got to be here somewhere!”
Then we found this
You are here!
We were disappointed that you could not walk out on the lock.
and a little down the road heading south you can put in with your canoes or kayaks.
“The very northern end of the Kissimmee River Basin is primarily urban and includes a small portion of the city of Orlando, three large theme parks (Walt Disney World, SeaWorld, and Universal Studios), Orlando International Airport, and the cities of Kissimmee and St. Cloud. There are some pockets of residential development along the Lake Wales Ridge (in the cities of Lake Wales, Avon Park, Sebring, and Lake Placid) and a military installation (Avon Park Air Force Range). However, agricultural lands (citrus groves, cattle ranches, caladium fields, and sod farms) as well as wetlands and upland forests dominate the remainder of the Kissimmee River Basin and all of the Fisheating Creek Basin.”
So every time someone flushes a toilet at Mickey’s a seahorse dies in the Indian RIver Lagoon.
It was everything I imagined except for the lock part. If we have Locks that go down the river why do we need water storage and farming to hold the water back?
I tried to find a map but I couldn’t but I did find this. I found four locks.
“Earlier Monday, smoke from a more than 10,300-acre wildfire in Palm Beach County could be smelled throughout the Treasure Coast thanks to winds out of the south.
The fire began July 8 with a lightning strike in the Arthur R. Marshall/Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge, and is about 75 percent contained, a release states.
Reports of smoke came in from throughout the Treasure Coast, as far north as Sebastian in Indian River County, according to information from the St. Lucie County Fire District and Yunas.”
This is what was reported to us and we just knew there was more to the story.
Last week we all woke up to not just smoke but a really nasty smell. There was a fire in Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge, and other brush fires around. This smell was nasty and we are not the only ones who woke up to this and had to endure for days. It smelled like plastic burning.
“In the terminology of North American agriculture, muck is a soil made up primarily of humus from drained swampland. Muck farming is controversial, because the drainage of wetlands destroys wildlife habitats and results in a variety of environmental problems. It also can catch fire and burn underground for months. Oxidation also removes a portion of the soil each year, so it becomes progressively shallower. :
“A pervasive, smoky smell throughout south Lee County, Estero and into Cape Coral Thursday was the result of a muck fire in the Everglades District, according to the Florida Forestry Service.”
“Basically, a muck fire is going to burn down until it hits water,” said Sean Gallagher, a spokesman with the Florida Division of Forestry. “It burns with such intensity that it lights the dirt.”
Muck ignites from the burning brush above and from lightning strikes. Enough oxygen penetrates the parched, loosely packed peat, causing underground embers to smolder for weeks. The muck can cook and kill roots, causing trees to topple. After their leaves dry out, they kindle more brush and the downed trees themselves.
Muck is soil rich in carbon-based compounds from dead plants and organisms, usually more than a third of the soil content.
It becomes flammable when the groundwater dips below normal for an extended period of time.
Burning muck can lower the ground elevation enough to ultimately change swamps into lakes or ponds.
Firefighters cut fire breaks around the muck and till up the ground so they can see the glowing hot spots and soak them.
“Before farmers and developers drained natural wetlands, muck fires were much less common because low-lying areas stayed underwater throughout the year.”
The reason I bring this up is because Maggy Hurchella brought this up in her pleas to SFWMD this past winter. Drought=muck fires.
Sinkholes are the results of groundwater pumping. watch this video. warning language. totally worth the watch.
Florida Sinkholes are Swallowing Cars: America’s Water Crisis (Part 2/3)
Why do I bring this up? Because there are lots of clueless people managing our water and their mismanagement is hurting us. Their leader of course is Rick Scott and politics and Florida Inc is in charge of our future.
Gerrymandering has been going on in Florida for a long time and it truly has been a bipartisan activity. It took the very awesome and very bipartisan League of Woman voters to get the whole mess straightened out.
“In the process of setting electoral districts, gerrymandering is a practice that attempts to establish a political advantage for a particular party or group by manipulating district boundaries to create partisan advantaged districts.”
“The League of Women Voters (LWV) is an American civic organization that was formed to help women take a larger role in public affairs as they won the right to vote. It was founded in 1920 by Carrie Chapman Catt during the last meeting of the National American Woman Suffrage Association, approximately six months before the Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution gave women the right to vote.[3] The League of Women Voters began as a “mighty political experiment” aimed to help newly enfranchised women exercise their responsibilities as voters. Originally, only women could join the league; but in 1973 the charter was modified to include men. LWV operates at the local, state, and national level, with over 1,000 local and 50 state leagues.”
“The League of Women Voters of Florida (LWVF) is a civic organization in the state of Florida. The League’s bylaws mandate that the organization will not support any candidate or party, but the League’s members do advocate on policy issues.
The Florida League got its official start in the state in 1939, when women in Winter Haven, Winter Park and St. Petersburg initiated the Florida League of Women Voters, following some earlier efforts. Its first project was a study of state government with a particular focus on the State’s Constitution. Early advocacy efforts encouraged the Florida Legislature to end the process of gerrymandering.”
A case brought by the League of Women Voters and Democratic-leaning plaintiffs could force the Republican-controlled state legislature to redraw Florida’s “lopsided” election districts before the midterm elections, The Washington Post reported.
Both houses of the Florida legislature are controlled by Republicans as is the governor’s mansion. Republicans had invested heavily in winning the legislature in advance of the once-in-a-decade redrawing process.”
Lawyers for the defendants have told the court that none of the documents sought by the plaintiffs have been “deleted, destroyed, lost, misappropriated, or otherwise became unavailable for production” and that they produced more than 20,000 documents in response to the request.
“The subpoenas were sent April 2 and include Senate President Andy Gardiner, R-Orlando; state Sen. Don Gaetz, a Niceville Republican who served as head of the Senate redistricting committee and then Senate president; former state Rep. Dean Cannon, who served as House Speaker when the maps were passed; and state Sen. Jack Latvala, a Clearwater Republican who filed a last minute redistricting amendment that was ultimately passed by the Senate.
Much like the congressional lawsuit, plaintiffs again allege that lawmakers violated anti-gerrymandering provision added to the state Constitution by voters in 2010. The amendments say, in part, that politics cannot play a role in the redistricting process.
The subpoena list is also full of state redistricting staff and outside political consultants, many of whom were also involved in the congressional lawsuit. That includes Gainesville-based GOP consulting firm Data Targeting.
Records released as part of the first lawsuit show the firm drew both congressional and Senate maps and submitted them through third-parties. Firm founder Pat Bainter said the anti-gerrymandering amendments are unfair because it makes it nearly impossible for people who work as political consultants to take part in the map drawing process, which should be their right as a state citizens.”
HAAHAHAH That’s rich!
“One of those is the seat held by state Sen. Joe Negron, R-Stuart, which contains parts of Indian River, Martin, Palm Beach and St. Lucie Counties. The lawsuit says Negron’s coastal district was intentionally pushed north into Indian River County to “avoid including Democratic voters to the South.”Pushing the district north opens up a gap in the south between Negron’s district and the seat held by Lake Worth Democrat Jeff Clemens. That gap is filled by a portion of state Rep. Joseph Abruzzo, D-Royal Palm Beach, that “strangely protrudes” into the Palm Beach County, a Democratic stronghold.
“The Legislature intentionally disregarded political and geographic boundaries to favor particular incumbents and the party in power,” read the lawsuit.”
“TALLAHASSEE, Fla., July 9 (Reuters) – The Florida Supreme Court on Thursday ordered the redrawing of some of the state’s U.S. congressional districts before the 2016 elections.
The state’s high court found the legislature’s redistricting plan was “constitutionally invalid,” the latest decision in a long-running legal battle over gerrymandering in the state.
The court said two of the state’s 27 congressional districts, currently occupied by Democrat Corrine Brown of Jacksonville and Republican Daniel Webster in the Orlando area, need to be redrawn, as well as adjacent districts.
These districts have been the subject of litigation. A circuit court judge ruled last year that the legislature’s 2012 maps “made a mockery” of anti-gerrymandering provisions in the state’s constitution.
“The court has made it abundantly clear that partisan gerrymandering will not be tolerated,” said attorney David King, representing a group of plaintiffs led by the League of Women Voters of Florida and Common Cause. (Reporting by Bill Cotterell and Letitia Stein; Editing by Bill Trott and Mohammad Zargham)”
GOP continues to fight tooth and nail for its gerrymandered district maps, despite ruling by Florida Supreme Court firmly against its Congressional district gerrymandering … by gimleteye.
You can read the entire decision from the Supreme Court of Florida there.
“Supreme Court of Florida
____________ No. SC14-1905 ____________
THE LEAGUE OF WOMEN VOTERS OF FLORIDA, etc., et al.,
Appellants/Cross–Appellees, vs.
KEN DETZNER, et al.,
Appellees/Cross–Appellants. [July 9, 2015] PARIENTE, J. In this appeal involving legal issues of first impression, we review a trial court’s finding that the 2012 “redistricting process” and the “resulting map” apportioning Florida’s twenty-seven congressional districts were “taint[ed]” by unconstitutional intent to favor the Republican Party and incumbent lawmakers.”
Remember them. The same folks who wouldn’t listen, carried on in the shadows, think we are their personal property. If you think about it we are the employees of FLORIDA INC. (I’d like raise please and some health insurance for the same price you guys get!)
“– 18 – proposed maps in their names to the Legislature, which were drawn by the consultants. What is clear to me from the evidence, as described in more detail below, is that this group of Republican political consultants or operatives did in fact conspire to manipulate and influence the redistricting process. They accomplished this by writing scripts for and organizing groups of people to attend the public hearings to advocate for adoption of certain components or characteristics in the maps, and by submitting maps and partial maps through the public process, all with the intention of obtaining enacted maps for the State House and Senate and for Congress that would favor the Republican Party. They made a mockery of the Legislature’s proclaimed transparent and open process of redistricting by doing all of this in the shadow of that process, utilizing the access it gave them to the decision makers, but going to great lengths to conceal from the public their plan and their participation in it. They were successful in their efforts to influence the redistricting process and the congressional plan under review here. And they might have successfully concealed their scheme and their actions from the public had it not been for the [challengers’] determined efforts to uncover it in this case.The closer question is whether the Legislature in general, or the leadership and staff principally involved in drawing the maps, knowingly joined in this plan, or were duped by the operatives in the same way as the general public.”
“Kenneth W. Detzner (b. 1952 in Chicago, IL) is the current RepublicanFlorida Secretary of State. He was appointed on January 18, 2012, by GovernorRick Scott, and confirmed by the Florida State Senate in late February.[1]Detzner previously occupied the secretary of state’s office for a short period in under then-Gov. Jeb Bush, during its transition from an elective cabinet post to a gubernatorial appointed post. Bush named Detzner his chief of staff until appointing him to serve as interim secretary of state.”
A little while back Jules and I traveled down to STA 5 and 6 where we were dismayed to find not a lot of water going anywhere but over to US Sugar lands.
One the way back we stopped here and hung out with the cows. Out here you are seriously out in the middle of nowhere.
They have hunting, fishing, wildlife viewing, hiking, camping horseback riding, biking and scenic driving. There was a bad rain storm do we didn’t get all the way through but saw enough to say we would definitely get back there.
What is Florida’s Wildlife Management Area System?
Florida’s Wildlife Management Area (WMA) system is managed by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) to sustain the widest possible range of native wildlife in their natural habitats. These lands are more rugged than parks, with fewer developed amenities.
This system includes more than 5.8 million acres of land established as WMAs or Wildlife and Environmental Areas (WEAs).
Cooperative Areas – On the majority of these lands (about 4.4 million acres), FWC is a cooperating manager working with other governmental or private landowners to conserve wildlife and provide public use opportunities.
Lead Areas – On the remaining lands (about 1.4 million acres), FWC is the landowner or “lead” managing agency responsible for land stewardship and providing quality wildlife conservation and recreation opportunities including hunting, fishing, wildlife viewing, hiking, biking, horseback riding, paddling, scenic driving, and camping.
There are loads of critters that live there including the Florida Panther.
So this is a great place for conservationists and hunters alike. A place for all of us.
There’s a place for us.
So I was very distressed to read this on our favorite Blog EYE on MIami.
Message from South Florida Wildlands Association: Threats to Everglades from FPL and oil drillers
“Matthew Schwartz, of South Florida Wildlands Association, provides a good summary of the ongoing threats to the Everglades by oil drillers and FPL. Please consider joining and contributing to their efforts.”
You can read the letter at link but here are the highlights:
“In the years since South Florida Wildlands has been working to protect wildlife and habitat in the Greater Everglades, we have never faced a combination of issues that have such capacity to destroy and degrade this unique landscape. Folks who live in South Florida and follow local media are aware that a company (Kanter Real Estate LLC) has just applied for a permit to drill for oil and dig limestone mines on 20,000 acres of Everglades it owns in Broward County.
But that’s not all. We recently learned that Florida and Power and Light (FPL) is still intent on developing 3,000 acres of primary Florida panther habitat they bought just north of the Big Cypress National Preserve and Seminole Reservation for the purpose of building the largest gas-fired electrical generating plant in the nation. Having lost a lawsuit with the Seminole Tribe of Florida over agricultural zoning on the property, FPL is now asking Hendry County to create a new land use type (Electrical Generating Facility) and move the property into that new classification.
The FPL property is surrounded by public lands that were acquired at tremendous cost and effort (e.g. the Big Cypress National Preserve, Dinner Island Wildlife Management Area, Okaloacoochee Slough State Forest) and contain some of the most important contiguous upland habitat for Florida panthers, black bears, and other wildlife in South Florida. For years, the entire property had been expected to be protected by a Florida Forever land protection project called “Panther Glades.” Unfortunately, funds were never available to complete that purchase prior to FPL buying the land for their own purposes. From the standpoint of our stressed out wildlife in South Florida, FPL could not have chosen a worse location for their new power plant if they had tried.
But wait – there’s more. In the Big Cypress National Preserve, another company (Burnett Oil Company of Ft. Worth, Texas) is applying for a permit to conduct seismic testing for oil across 110 square miles (70,000 acres) in the heart of the preserve. The intent is to locate oil deposits before opening up the Big Cypress to additional oil drilling. A federal comment period is open until the middle of August. For those wondering how this can take place inside a national preserve – most of the below ground oil rights are owned by a company named Collier Resources while the National Park Service controls only the surface. Collier Resources has leased some of these rights to Burnett Oil for the purpose of the seismic survey. Another news story from the Sun-Sentinel summarizes this project – which would take place on some of the most sensitive and biodiverse wetlands in Florida:
Feel free to call or email on any of the above with comments or questions.
Best regards,
Matthew Schwartz
Executive Director
South Florida Wildlands Association
1404 East Las Olas Blvd.
P.O. Box 30211
Ft. Lauderdale, FL 33303
954-634-7173 https://www.facebook.com/southfloridawild“
Please pay attention to this!
I had hoped to spend the summer visiting state parks and wild life management areas in Florida. We call this our adventure days and I amazed at all the wonderful things we have seen so far. if you other citizen journalists want to do this also please take some photos and videos and write us a guest blog. We need to show the world the beautiful Florida that we all know and love. We need to show our fellow Floridians what we are protecting. Let’s do this!
I thought it was to be a nice quiet afternoon in the hood and I could do something like read a book, finish watching my movie, clean the closet. Around here it just never ends. Now we have people threatening to sue over noise and the City Commission is caving.
We have toxic discharges. We have trains with loud horns. We can’t go swimming. The new train when it comes through is going to destroy our downtown Stuart which is a very beloved place.
We need great music and great places to go. Music is therapy is good for our mental health. We have very little in mental heath services around here so when I see lots of my friends going to listen to music I know they will leave feeling better.
I could write an entire blog post on music as therapy but I don’t want to bore everyone. I will say this Music lights a part of people brains, the nucleus accumbens, and makes them happy. It’s true. I have a friend, Dr Ed Long,who does this research down at FAU.
What I’m going to write about is decibels and noise ordinances This is a really bad idea. First of all will you insist the train turn down its horn because it not at 60 decibels I can tell you that. Secondly, if this how your going utilize your police force? This is more important that catching criminals and keeping us safe? Are the fire engines and police going to turn off their sirens? Are not going to be allow to have traffic? Are you to close the airport down? Are we banning hair driers and food processors? Lawn Mowers and Blowers? How far are you willing to go to have us live at 65 decibels. Or are we just picking on one person?
Now here in Jensen Beach sometimes on Sunday we have a very loud church service. What would you do if that was in Stuart? Would you arrest them or fine them? It’s very loud way more than 60 decibels. Wakes me up early on a Sunday morning. Would you be willing to go to a church and shut them down?
Also keep in mind that that what they proposing is worse than the Lake worth ordinance and that was called Draconian. You can’t have things both ways. You can’t have people claiming to be conservatives being draconian. Well you can but they won’t be around long. Not around here.
Sticky wickets.
When you deal with decibels it gets very sticky.
I would take it personally if this was something police would have to deal with 24 hours a day 7 days a week instead of protecting us. I would say it’s a misuse of the police department.
Here are some examples of decibels
Painful
150 dB = fireworks at 3 feet
140 dB = firearms, jet engine
130 dB = jackhammer
120 dB = jet plane takeoff, siren
Extremely Loud
110 dB = maximum output of some MP3 players, model airplane, chain saw
106 dB = gas lawn mower, snowblower
100 dB = hand drill, pneumatic drill
90 dB = subway, passing motorcycle
Very Loud
80–90 dB = blow-dryer, kitchen blender, food processor
70 dB = busy traffic, vacuum cleaner, alarm clock
Moderate
60 dB = typical conversation, dishwasher, clothes dryer
Look who is right here in our hood! Bring it on home! Let James help you cause we sure do got dem blues! A love affair with the Pacific Legal Foundation and the Economic Council of Martin County. Wow! Who would have thunk?
“PALM BEACH GARDENS, FL; March 12, 2014: Florida attorney Mark Miller, a veteran of business, property rights, and constitutional litigation, has joined Pacific Legal Foundation (PLF) as managing attorney with PLF’s Florida (Atlantic Center) office based in Palm Beach Gardens.
It’s a privilege to join Pacific Legal Foundation and be part of America’s most successful legal organization that works to defend and advance freedom,” said Miller. “PLF is dedicated to ‘rescuing liberty’ from coast to coast. I’ll be promoting that mission aggressively throughout Florida and along the Eastern Seaboard, by putting my legal skills to work on behalf of property rights and other constitutional liberties, and to help victims of overreaching government.
In 2012, he served as lead local counsel for former U.S. Representative Allen West in the 2012 election battle for the 18th District congressional seat in Florida.”
“Mark Miller, an attorney with PLF, said he wants a court to rule a state law prohibiting craft breweries, restaurants and taverns from selling or filling beer growlers unconstitutional.”
Personally, I don’t have an issue with the case. I have issue with the camaraderie between this group and Rick Scott who calls himself the Governor but really and obviously in cahoots with a very right winged agenda that is affected us, our water and our Florida Black Bears, Panthers and Manatees. I’m sure they are the one’s distributing all the “land grab propaganda” that we had to deal with.
It’s so sad is that what the Libertarian party set out to do has morphed into a group that is totally operated and owned by a bunch of old rich white guys. The very freedom they want has been taken away. I feel bad for you Libertarians! You want freedom but you don’t want us to have the freedom to swim in clean water.
Please don’t think I’m Libertarian Hater. I am not! There are parts of the platform I really appreciate like the leave me alone stuff and no government intrusion stuff. What a bunch of hypocrites you guys are! You working for the people are intruding on our very right to have clean drinking water. Let’s have a conversation about the first amendment and my right to free speech which has been taken away by a bunch of legislators that have no idea what they voted for.
In this particular case it is illegal for me to ask my patients if they have a gun even though its required of me through my computer program. In the end I get punished not the makers of the computer program or the people who require me to ask this question. Who does that?
You have way become hateful and single minded there is no talking to you. All you know is the talking points that have drummed into your heads. Were you all hypnotized? Did the legislators go to a meeting and have some strange hypnotic music? You must have because I cannot think of one rational reason that our entire GOP Florida Legislature would hate Floridians so much and really go against your own party standards of state rights and local control. Please explain the hypocrisy! Libertarians should be against the wasting of water and sending millions of gallons of water out tide. That’s how I know these are not Libertarians. But boy they got them fooled.
Now check this out. Guess who is a partner with the Economic Council of Martin County?
Yes! 200 points for you. The Pacific Legal Council.
This stuff in nothing new. We need to put an end to it.or we really will have zombie Apocalypse. Only in our case its the zombies of the extreme right.
Remember when Michael Grunwald was here and he said “Big Sugar has a right to be in business” and everyone groaned. Well, that’s true. They do. What I don’t think they have the right to get subsidies to stay alive when the rest of the businesses have to put themselves out there and if they succeed they succeed and if they don’t they don’t.
The same thing goes for Pacific Legal Foundation. 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.
Yesterday, I wrote this blogpost about how Pacific Legal Foundation is the common denominator with issues with our Florida Panthers, Florida Black Bears and Manatees. They were also on Lawsuit for the Chesapeake Bay.
“We support a clean and healthy environment and sensible use of our natural resources. Private landowners and conservation groups have a vested interest in maintaining natural resources. Pollution and misuse of resources cause damage to our ecosystem. Governments, unlike private businesses, are unaccountable for such damage done to our environment and have a terrible track record when it comes to environmental protection. Protecting the environment requires a clear definition and enforcement of individual rights in resources like land, water, air, and wildlife. Free markets and property rights stimulate the technological innovations and behavioral changes required to protect our environment and ecosystems. We realize that our planet’s climate is constantly changing, but environmental advocates and social pressure are the most effective means of changing public behavior.”
Let me repeat “environmental advocates and social pressure are the most effective means of changing public behavior.”
(P.S. It looks like they believe in climate change)
So it’s hypercritical for the Pacific Legal Foundation to mess with the free will of our Florida Black Bears.
That’s my logical conclusion.
Duplicitous
So is the Pacific Legal Foundation a libertarian foundation. I don’t think so.
I think they are a Koch Brothers, Scaife Foundation lackeys hiding out in bosom of an unending cash cow and really sticking their nose where it doesn’t belong but where their masters want them to go.
Not free thinking at all. Not what I would expect from Libertarians.
It’s this behavoir, this intrusion into our Legislature this past year that I think made our head’s spin.
Who is the Pacific Legal Foundation and why are our Panthers, Manatees and Bears their Business?
Or anything else for that matter.
Just as a reminder we live in a democracy and we vote these people in to represent us.
About a month ago there was an issue up in Brevard, incited by some behind the scene bs getting all down on Thad Altman for being ok with the purchase of the land to send the water south and not dealing with his section of the Indian River Lagoon.
You can’t have it both ways. Pick a way and do that.
But what we ALL can’t have is people from other places making rules for us. If you want to be an elected official you talk to us your constituents not to the Pacific Legal Foundation or Citizens United. You work for us. If you work for them then give up your office and work for them. Can’t have it.
Other bloggers, writers in other states – we all need to compare notes. I guarantee the same thing is happening everywhere and one day we’re going to wake up and say “What happened?” (as we float down to Miami in our Kayaks.)
We all got upset when Pam Bondi signed on to a lawsuit for the polluters in the case of Chesapeake Bay. Most of us felt that Florida had no business being involved and using our tax money on a case not in our state when her job is to work for Florida. Pam Bondi! You work for us!
What we witnessed this past year was Rick Scott and the Florida Legislature making Florida their own personal slush fund at the expense of all of us. The Tea Party was given verbiage to incite them like “Land Grabs” and they went out like the sheeples they deplore and worked tirelessly for the 1%. Tea Party you have been duped. Brainwashed. You are not free. You are slaves for the Koch Brothers.
The Pacific Legal Foundation is a Sacramento, California-based legal organization that was established March 5, 1973 [1] to support pro-business causes. In recent years, it has taken a lead in pursuing anti-affirmative action policies.
It is the key right-wing public interest litigation firm in a network of similar organizations funded initially by Scaife Foundations money across the USA to support capitalism and oppose environmental and health activism and government regulation.
The organization has been partially funded by a range of corporations and conservative foundations, including by the Koch family Claude R. Lambe Foundation in 1998.
These people don’t believe in freedom they believe in pushing their own agenda that call conservative and they have their own Tea Party out their representing them.
Florida is not the Koch Brothers private playground.
And they may be treading into waters other people would not want you to go. After all, one of the reasons given not to buy the land was because of endangered birds that were there. You effectively would take that away from SFWMD and Big sugar and I don’t think they would be too happy about that.
“Tobacco Industry associations
PLF is listed as a “key third party ally” in a September 14, 1999 Philip Morris document.[6]
In 1989, Philip Morris began funding the organization through its Mission Viejo (gated-community land-development company) subsidiary, mainly because the organisation was active in the property rights area and had won cases limiting the States’ ability to expropriate or regulate private property. The Mission Viejo subsidiary was interested in fighting a no-growth initiative which had been blocking some of their development projects. At this stage Philip Morris only gave an annual grant of $5,000 each year, just to keep the organisation on side and available, but it may have also funded specific legal projects.
By 1991 the PLF had a major budget crisis. It was in deficit to the tune of about $1 million, which was about a quarter of its $4 million annual requirements. Not long after, Roy Marden, the Philip Morris executive in charge of maintaining relations with the right-wing think tanks and advocacy institutes, joined the PLF board. Overnight the funding increased substantially to $10,000, and then $22,000 by 1993. Philip Morris also began to utilize the PLF to undertake hidden media and political activities on its behalf.
The PLF also intervened successful in Keller v. California State Bar, where it established a legal precedent that California lawyers could challenge the use of their dues to the state bar for political purposes. This was an successful attempt to block collective actions by the more liberal Californian lawyers who were involving themselves in such policy areas as class-actions and product liability.
By the mid 1990s the PLF had offices in Sacramento, Anchorage and Seattle and ran several key issues and programs:
Judicial Responsibility Project
College of Public Interest Law
Limited Government Project
It also sloughed off the Center for Applied Jurisprudence which focused on commercial “free speech issues” (i.e., the right to advertise harmful products) and “regulatory reform.” Philip Morris was giving them a $25,000 retainer by this time (and presumably paying also for work done on their behalf).
In 1997-1998 the PLF joined forces with the $10 million funded (by Philip Morris) National Smokers Alliance, in a fierce and vindictive legal attack on Professor Stanton Arnold Glantz, a leader of California’s main anti-smoking organization, Americans for Nonsmokers Rights[9] and attempted to brand him in the public mind as having something to hide … a destroyer of legal document (a ruse the tobacco industry used itself on a massive scale). Glantz had received documents from the early tobacco industry whistleblowers, and he had established the first public-access Internet web site revealing how the industry operated.
Anti-Environment Policies
According to ExxonSecrets.org, the Pacific Legal Foundation has received $110,000 from ExxonMobil since 1998. The website goes on to state that:
Anti-environmental from the start, PLF’s early actions supported the use of DDT, the use of herbicides in national forests, and the use of public range land without requiring an environmental impact review. They also supported at least six pro-nuclear power cases before the early eighties while accepting funding from Pacific General Electric (PGE), a utility which has gained a great deal through the development of nuclear power in the Pacific Northwest. In the 1980s, PLF won several cases that are considered landmarks by those working on property rights issues today: Nollan v the California Coastal Commission and First Church, both Supreme Court victories which provide precedence for the takings litigation pursued today (Oliver Houck, “With Charity For All,” Yale Law Journal, 1993). In October 2003, PLF Vice President M. David Stirling had an Op-Ed published in which he defended President Bush’s environmental record and condemned former President Clinton for endorsing the Kyoto Protocol.”
Yikes!
Their the merchants of death! DDT for everyone. You get DDT and you get DDT!
SO Pacific Legal Foundation if you want to help people and their freedom please do so but please stop trampling on us. Florida is not up for grabs. We don’t care what Rick tells you. It’s just not true.
Rick Scott and his love affair with Pacific Legal Foundation!
For years, Florida law prohibited craft beer brewers and sellers from offering their beverage in the standard-size container used throughout the country.
Florida Gov. Rick Scott plans to sue the CMS, accusing the agency of unconstitutionally trying to force the state to expand Medicaid by ending funding that now helps Florida hospitals pay for uncompensated care for low-income and uninsured patients.
But Todd Gaziano, a senior fellow in constitutional law with the conservative Pacific Legal Foundation, said the Florida situation presents the same legal issue as the one in NFIB. Still, he said, the argument of unconstitutional coercion in the Florida case, is “far from a slam dunk.” The Pacific Legal Foundation filed a separate lawsuit challenging the ACA.
“It’s the kind of claim that should not be dismissed at the outset,” Gaziano said. “It’s a claim that presents a reasonable legal argument.” But he conceded that the claim is not as clear, even if the government’s object is the same: to apply pressure on the state to expand Medicaid eligibility.
cyndi lenz 
Joe Vogel on April 4, 2015 at 4:40 amThe original Prince Theatre was replaced in 1940. The April 5, 1940, issue of The Film Daily had this item:
This follow-up item is from the January 3, 1941, issue of The Film Daily:
Listings of the Prince Theatre in FDY’s from the 1930s consistently give it a capacity of 250, so it was less than half the size of the new house. It seems unlikely that the original Prince Theatre would have been demolished in 1940 if its building was only nine years old, so it’s likely that it was either an older theater that had operated under a different name earlier in its history, or it was in an older commercial building that had been converted into a theater in 1931.Architect Chester A. Cone was still in practice at least as late as 1985, so it seems likely that it was the 1940 rebuilding of the Prince Theatre that he designed, rather than the original house.
In 1966, the Gold-Dobrow chain leased three of their five theaters, including the Prince, to a Miami-based chain. An article about the transfer in the December 21 issue of The Palm Beach Post said that the Gold-Dobrow chain had been “…organized about 35 years ago….” That would be consistent with the 1931 opening of the original Prince Theatre, whether it was a new operation or an old house renamed by the new owners.