We'll now you've gone and done it! The Idiots from Save Crystal River have put out a contract on our Florida manatees by hiring the Pacific Legal Foundation. They want them, first, down listed from Endangered to Threatened, and then delisted completely.  They seem to think that without legal protection all the speed zones and the Feds will go away and they can freely mutilate manatees for their enjoyment.  Here is the face of Save Crystal River and what their ultimate goal is.  Manatee Road Kill.  Below we have Steve and Jewel Lamb relaxing at their waterfront mansion overlooking Kings Bay and the Crystal River NWR. Steve owns Crystal Automotive Group. Jewel is Crystal River citizen of the year. Steve is a Director for Save Crystal River described as follows from their website listing:

"Save Crystal River (The Crystal River, communities, and our manatees)".

Funny way to save manatees.  Get hired guns to take them off the Endangered Species List

Following that is what manatees look like after being hit by the speeding watercraft that the Lambs favor over the manatees.

• Jewel and Steve  Lamb, 900 SW Kings Bay Drive, Crystal River

Steve and Jewel Lamb relaxing by the pool of their mansion.

Patriot (A manatee killed in front of their house)

The 1%

 

For this post, I've editorialized in red.

 I have a new flag and motto for the Nature Coast found on a fishing forum, posted by an upstanding Crystal River resident and apparently supported by the city of Crystal River and the Board of County Commissioners of Citrus County .  What a wonderful way to promote ecotourism.

County wants to stop King’s Bay rule.

By Chris Van Ormer (Citrus County Chronicle)

Thursday, October 27, 2011 at 12:00 am (Updated: October 27, 12:02 am)

County commissioners voted Tuesday to join Crystal River in a federal court challenge against a government agency rule to turn King’s Bay into a manatee refuge.

Last week, Crystal River City Council voted unanimously to send a letter to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) stating its intent to sue if the federal government continues a plan to make all of King’s Bay a manatee refuge by eliminating a sport zone in the bay and imposing a year-round slow-speed restriction.
Gary Maidhof, county projects and operations officer, told the Citrus County Board of County Commissioners (BOCC) how Crystal River was asking the county to form a partnership in its challenge.

“Our position from Day 1 has been that the rule was over-reaching,” Maidhof said. “We would like them (FWS) to work with us to find something that was acceptable to the majority of this community.” According to USFWS, of the local residents (Citrus County) who participated in the process, 723 supported the rule and only 145 who were opposed. It seems disingenuous to say that the rule is not acceptable to the majority of the community.  Unfortunately this community has a reputation of not supporting manatee protection.  

Maidhof said meetings between residents and FWC staff have not indicated changes. So Crystal River had a special meeting to discuss the next step.

“The next level that the city would like to follow would be to prepare for and to advise U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service formally by letter that it is their intent, and they are asking for our participation to join them in this, to file suit in opposition of this rule if it is adopted as proposed,” Maidhof said.

Federal litigation would not be cheap, but Maidhof said that if the city and the county would send a letter, it would go beyond regional FWC staff to Washington, D.C., where someone could recognize that change to the rule was wanted before a court action would begin. The purpose of the letter would be to find a solution through talks rather than litigation. The 1% at play again.  This is being pushed by monied interests who chose not to participate in the process and now don't like the result.  Members of the Lamb family have a long history of opposing manatee protection efforts on Kings Bay.

Maidhof also said the state of Florida would be  asked to join this action because the FWS is a federal agency making a rule without input from elected officials.  BULL!  All our elected officials could have participated and some did. Because the service did not agree doesn't mean you didn't have input. Read this transcript and you'll see a lot of local politicians actually spoke.  What egos! Manatees will suffer and die because some politician is posturing.

“This is the federal government (acting) through a process that does not involve their elected officials,” Maidhof  (again, bull!) said. “A government agency would implement a rule and it would be on state waters. We have been asked, as well as the city, to participate in a Senate subcommittee hearing on this issue and hopefully we will convince the state of Florida to also join us in this in the fact that this is an example of federalism of state waters, which is prohibited by rule under the federal regulations.”  If you don't want the feds involved, how about cleaning up Kings Bay and addressing the same issues that the proposed rule attempts to.  The Manatee Protection Plan won't stop this:  Manatee Harassment Caught on Tape  or the more recent article from animaltourism.com/

Commissioner Winn Webb asked if legislators had been contacted. Maidhof said they had. State Sen. Char(l)es Dean, R-Inverness, had arranged for a presentation before a Senate subcommittee, Maidhof said.
Maidhof said two challenges could be made, one about whether the rulemaking followed procedures and what information was used to support the decision.

Commissioner Rebecca Bays, who is chairman of the Citrus County Tourist Development Council, said the rule would have negative consequences for county businesses that depend on tourism.  We need to keep Rebecca away from tourism.  The alternative is that the swim industry gets shut down completely. I wish she would look at the tourism revenues generated during the months when the speed zones are in place vs summer revenues when the sport zone is in effect.  That should give you a pretty good idea that this is pandering and political posturing,

Maidhof said in addition to the city and county going to the state, a number of people from the private sector who are homeowners and business owners have said they want to take part in the challenge to the rule.
Robert Mercer of Crystal River gave the BOCC a copy of the letter a group of Crystal River residents drafted Monday. (I'll be asking for a copy.  Can't wait.  Can you say 1%)  Here's an interesting link that connects some of the dots.

“We are going Thursday at 9 o’clock to meet with an attorney to decide whether the private sector is going to form an LLC or 501(c) corporation,” Mercer said.

The private citizens’ group would raise money for its lawsuit, Mercer said. He also said Jewel Lamb of Crystal Motors offered to provide a website for the group.  There is a history here of opposing manatee protection all the way back to the association with the Port Hotel and Jim Dicks.

Josh Wooten, president and chief executive officer of the Citrus County Chamber of Commerce, said the chamber supported the action because the county had always protected manatees.

“We are the model that every other county in the state of Florida should follow,” Wooten said.  One thing this community has been good at is patting itself on the back for things it can take no credit for.  I certainly don't think suing the USFWS for protecting manatees is a good example of stewardship.  The Citrus County Manatee Protection Plan does not address any of the issues in the proposed rule and it was only put in place because it was mandated.  When given the chance to deal with the sport zone, the county declined.  When given the opportunity to create locally controlled sanctuaries in the Blue Waters, the county failed to do so. County Attorney Richard Wesch advised the board to draft a letter incorporating by reference Crystal River’s letter. Copies would be sent to Sen. Bill Nelson, Sen. Marco Rubio, Rep. Richard Nugent, state Sen. Charles Dean, state Sen. Mike Fasano and state Rep. Jimmie T. Smith. All five commissioners would sign the correspondence. Copies would be sent to FWS and appropriate federal agencies.

Gov. Rick Scott would receive a separate letter, a copy of which would be sent to State Attorney Pam Bondi, which would be a transmittal letter of the notice of intent that would be sent to FWS. A motion to send the letters as advised passed by unanimous vote."

I am ashamed to live in Citrus County. 

                                                                       Instead of this:
                                                                 We'll see more of this:  

All so a few "special" spoiled'selfish  people can buzz around in circles on high speed water toys or take an additional 15 minutes to get to the channel.

Here is a link to the Citrus County Manatee Protection Plan (PDF) and here is a link to the Proposed rule.  See if you can find any similarities.  Most issues covered by one are not covered by the other.  Also note that if you read the transcripts, local officials did speak AT THE PUBLIC HEARINGS.

MAYBE IT'S TIME FOR OCCUPY CITRUS

IT IS TIME TO STAND UP TO SELF SERVING POLITICIANS AND RADICALS

The Tea Party on Manatees

Shun USFWS Employees

Here are links to contact information should anyone like to provide your comments to our elected officials:

City of Crystal River

E-mails and Contact Info

Click on the name to send and e-mail

City Manager Andy Houston

Mayor Jim Farley

Councilman Mike Gudis

Councilman Ron Kitchens

Councilman Maureen McNiff

Councilman Paula Wheeler

Citrus County 

Commissioners Contact Info

Click on the name to send and e-mail 

County Administrator  Brad Thorpe 

Tourist Bureau Marla Chancey

Commissioner Rebecca Bays

Commissioner Dennis Damato

Commissioner JJ Kenney

Commissioner Joe Meek

Commissioner Winn Webb

State of Florida  (State Legislators and U.S. Congressmen)

Click on the name to send and e-mail

Gov. Rick Scott 

Senator Charlie Dean 

Representative Jimmy Smith 

Senator Bill Nelson

Senator Marco Rubio 

Representative Richard Nugent*

Senator Mike Fasano

Congresswoman Debbie Wassmerman Schultz

* Nugent has an interesting photo of manatees in the header.  Read what he really thinks.

The 99% Analogy

Well it seems to have spread (no surprise).  For a community that depends heavily on ecotourism, not wanting to protect the very species that it all revolves around is..well..idiotic!  I now understand the 99% movement. Despite the fact that an overwhelming number of comments on the proposed rule were in favor, the city sides with wealthy Kings Bay homeowners and monied interests with high speed water toys over the interests of small business owners (ecotour operators) and manatees. News that the city does not favor manatee protection is not a great selling point for tourism.

Despite being "buoyed by citizens opposed to the proposed rule", the reality is that of those in Citrus County who bothered to participate,  723 supported the rule and only 145 who were opposed.  Nationwide, 105,050 were in favor vs 189 opposed.  Granted not everyone on either side participated, but coming back now and restarting the process because you didn't like the outcome is like taking a mulligan when you hit a bad shot.

From the October 20th Edition of the Citrus County Chronicle:

CRYSTAL RIVER — City officials are prepared to sue the federal government in what they admit is an uphill battle to stop a proposed King’s Bay manatee-protection rule from taking effect.

The city council on Wednesday voted unanimously to send a letter to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service stating its intent to sue if the federal government follows through on plans to make the entirety of King’s Bay a manatee refuge.

In sending the notice, however, officials hope the wildlife service will decide to back off the rule which, among other things, would eliminate a boating summer sport zone in King’s Bay in favor of year-round slow speed restrictions.

Council members embraced the notice-of-intent idea presented by Gary Maidhof, the projects and operations officer for Citrus County government.

Maidhof, who authored the county’s position paper in opposition to the proposed rule, spoke to the city council as a citizen and not in his official capacity.

Maidhof said he could cite numerous instances where the wildlife agency did not follow its own rules or executive orders in developing the King’s Bay rule. Among them is that the agency never conducted an economic impact study specific to Crystal River, nor did it take into account the effect it would have on the Crystal River city government.

The wildlife agency offered the proposed rule in June and conducted a public hearing in July. City Manager Andy Houston said he expects that the rule will be finalized before the winter manatee protection season begins Nov. 15.

Council members, buoyed by citizens opposed to the proposed rule, said the rule would have broad impact on boaters and residents of Crystal River.

“It’s not a rule, it’s legislation,” Mayor Jim Farley said.

Council members said the legal action should be a joint effort with the Citrus County Commission.
Commissioner Joe Meek said he would take that request to his board. “The county stands shoulder to shoulder with you in opposition to this proposed rule,” Meek said.

Attorney Clark Stillwell, who represents the interests of developers and counts on experts when seeking regulative permits, said a federal lawsuit won’t be easy. “Rule challenges are exceedingly expensive,” he said. “Unless you bring your lawyers and your experts, they’re not going to respect you. They’ll walk all over you.”

Listen to Clark!  I'd rather you spend  money cleaning up the mess that is King's Bay.  That will do more to bolster the economy and the value of our waterfront properties than posturing and wasting our tax dollars.

The First of Many to Come

My first nomination for Village Idiot comes from a Letter to the Editor published in the Citrus County Chronicle from Mr. Mac Williams of Crystal River.  He writes:

Environmental agenda

Sunday, September 4, 2011 at 12:00 am (Updated: September 4, 12:03 am)

The USFWS Jacksonville office, run by Dave Hankla, is like a radical environmentalist’s “sleeper cell.” Their time-delay petard: Prohibit “using mooring and float lines that can entangle manatees.”
This will enable year-round “quotas” on the number of boats in King’s Bay — private or commercial. Nothing in Hankla’s proposal stops this once his refuge is expanded to all of King’s Bay. No more pesky public meetings and comments when they “ratchet down” this small rule.
“Ratchet down” is on the drawing boards at PEER.org. First, slow speed all the way to the Gulf, making it a two-hour trip. Aug. 22: PEER again threatened to sue, insisting Hankla didn’t go far enough (its first threat in March 2010 brought about Hankla’s folly). Once the refuge expansion is approved, PEER will get its, avoiding those pesky public hearings. PEER.org, Aug. 22: “Key manatee habitat, including the only access to and egress from the habitat (6 miles of The Crystal River) have no boat speed limits or other restrictions, leaving manatees vulnerable as they come and go from King’s Bay.” No more pesky Mel Tillis fishing tournament, and others, bringing in countless thousands of dollars to the local economy. “No problem,” says the sleeper cell: Their study reports it’s okay if it loses locals less than $100 million. (Citrus County’s Aug. 19 white paper slams this ludicrous ploy.)
Next, quotas: FWS reports it’s building docks along the canal, southwest of the Three Sisters Springs acreage. PEER.org to the sleeper cell, Feb. 17: “PEER urges a quota system to reduce crowds.”
I’m reminded of the movie set in “Jurassic Park:” Electric fence, kayak-only paths full of environmentalists, no pesky motorized boats nor kids with masks and swim fins, Joan Baez singing “Kumbaya” over loudspeakers and sign reading “Dave Hankla-PEER.org Private Kayak Preserve.”
Your lying eyes will tell you, as required by the Endangered Species Act, King’s Bay/Crystal River has never been designated as “critical habitat essential to the conservation of the species” except during winter months — November to March.
Pesky facts!
Mac Williams
Crystal River

Dear Mr Mac,

The city of Crystal River called and said their village idiot is missing and wants you to come home.

Sincerely and with no due respect,

Agenda 21