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© St. Petersburg Times, published June 26, 2002
Editor: Re: Star's shine shouldn't dim park's allure, June 16 Times editorial:
After reading your editorial, I felt the need to clarify a few things in regard to Jack Hanna's visit and interest in Citrus County.
First, let me point out that Jack was in contact with members of the business community, Patricia Walker and Carol Lee Wallis. Patricia and Carol Lee made all the arrangements for his visit. After receiving positive feedback from Jack that he may be interested in a vacation home here and possibly some type of business venture, Patricia and Carol Lee asked me, as a county commissioner and chairman of the Tourist Development Council (TDC), and Brett Wattles, executive director of the Economic Development Council (EDC), to attend some planning meetings and to accompany Jack on part of his tour.
I was asked to explore possible incentives to extend to Hanna from the county. Knowing the county-owned building at Fort Island Trail Park is vacant, I suggested that maybe it could be part of this equation. It has never been suggested that public access to the boat ramp, fishing pier and other amenities of the park would be in jeopardy.
The financial incentives I have proposed are as follows: 1 percent increase in bed tax and up to $100,000 per year, for two years, out of the occupational license fund. What I have proposed is just that, a proposal. The TDC and the EDC have unanimously sent letters of support to encourage Jack Hanna's coming here. The EDC has expressed support of my plan to use $100,000 of the occupational license fee money, although the TDC did not commit to the 1 percent bed tax until more information is brought forward.
It is important to note that the bed tax cannot be raised, nor the occupational license fee money used, without approval of the Board of County Commissioners (BOCC). Also, the TDC is not in a position to offer the use of the county-owned building at Fort Island Trail Park. That decision also rests with the BOCC.
I cannot speak to any negotiation going on with any business that may be interested in the venture, but anything I have proposed has been and will continue to be discussed in public meetings. My opinion is that having Jack Hanna as our spokesperson for "Mother Nature's Theme Park" would be the best thing to ever happen to our tourism industry. The return on our investment would be phenomenal. I believe it also will give us a chance to diversify and highlight other treasures and activities available in our county other than just the manatee, on which our marketing plan has previously heavily relied.
The EDC and the TDC unanimously agree that Jack Hanna's presence in our county would be a positive thing, and I hope your newspaper does, too. At the appropriate time, should negotiations by Wattles, Ms. Walker and Ms. Wallis with Jack Hanna and his representatives warrant further action, it will be brought up before the BOCC in a public forum.
Whether Hanna purchases a vacation home here, or moves all or part of his operations here, we should have no regrets for trying. Nothing ventured, nothing gained.
-- Josh Wooten commissioner, District 5
Editor: Re: Leave the wetlands, waterfront alone, June 13 letter to editor:
The gentleman with the $1.5-million home "a stone's throw" from the Halls River Retreat site provides wonderful proof that money and brains can be total strangers.
The writer tells us, "The fact that the county or state governments saw no problem in destroying wetlands in the 1940s and 1950s should not grandfather them in. Let us all do the right thing," he implores. "Tear down your waterfront/wetlands home and go back to New Jersey, or wherever."
Bravo! Citrus County could set an example for the entire nation, displacing 20-or-so-million people across the continent. But why stop there? Everybody, generations of us everywhere, could go back and renounce all environmental transgression, until the land again belongs to its rightful Native American owners. What a brilliant, breathless vision.
But society, we must concede, is unwilling to do "the right thing." Therefore, the writer implies, what possible alternative is there but to continue doing the wrong thing? What, he seems to ask, ever gave society the right to suddenly pass laws preventing further pollution or the mass annihilation of species?
The Halls River developer, and generations of developers to come, have every right to trash wetlands along a river, he says, is already a "sewer." If it was fair yesterday, why shouldn't it be fair today? Only a "NIMBY" would think otherwise.
I think it is interesting that he would choose to build a house of that value on something he thinks is a "sewer."
Exploring the primitive thought process is never an easy endeavor. But then I read the sentence: "I agree 100 percent with Commissioner Jim Fowler," and then understood that the writer was just another voter defending the candidate of his choice. Oddly enough, a part of me actually felt sympathy for Mr. Fowler. With defenders like this, who needs detractors?
-- Andrea Perry, Homosassa
Editor: Consider the following in regard to the 2-cent raise in the gasoline tax the county administrator is proposing:
When on a fixed income of Social Security and depending on investments that have dwindled in the face of two disasters, Wall Street and the Twin Towers, it is distressing to see taxes rise. However, the bite into my individual budget is not that great a concern, as Administrator Richard Wesch says it will only cost me 30 cents per fillup. That's maybe $1.20 per month. After all, money is a renewable resource (for some).
And I understand we will need better roads to handle the increase in traffic that comes from increased population. What distresses me most is the impact on the most valuable resource that Florida has: water.
Of course, I don't mean that higher taxes will deplete our already low supply of water. But what will deplete that most valuable of resources is a blind catering to the increase in population. It seems more appropriate to me to raise taxes in the name of buying water from an outside source to handle the present demand, not to mention an increase in population.
In other words, Mr. Wesch, when will enough be enough? When will our county officials decide not to permit that next huge development? You know, the one that needs two or three new golf courses to serve it. The one that puts hundreds of acres in grass, which will have to be watered. Yes, and it's the one that will put that burden on our roads that you mentioned.
It seems we are ignoring some basic facts in our quest for progress. One fact is that progress doesn't necessarily mean more. It could just as well mean an improvement in the quality of life for those already here. The natural resources, which have attracted people to Central Florida, are dwindling. The lakes, which used to support a lively fishing enterprise, are weed-choked puddles. The Withlacoochee River has seen a steady decline in water flow over the last 50 years. It is today a trickle. The aquifer level, which supports these, is at an all-time low. Florida sinkholes are swallowing houses to the tune of millions of dollars each year, mainly because of this lower water table. The lack of rainfall in recent years has a lot to do with this.
But so has the increased demands on our water supply, and the practice of selling our precious spring water to sources outside the county.
This is not an appeal to close the borders. It is an appeal to be responsible in decisions to attract a greater population. An appeal to be responsible with our resources, which includes water, along with money. You can't raise water with taxes.
-- Ron Johnson, Hernando
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