Letters to the Editors

Manatee safety and moviemaking can go together

Your Aug. 9 editorial, Bad Boys vs. manatees, suggests that I am indifferent to manatee safety and that I am personally responsible for "placing them in harm's way." Nothing could be further from the truth.

As your editorial itself noted, filming of the movie Bad Boys 2 in Biscayne Bay and the Miami River was stopped seven times because manatees were spotted. To me, this demonstrates that the additional lookouts provided by the production company -- and which Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission officials insisted upon before granting an emergency waiver -- were effective in protecting the manatees. No manatees were injured or killed during the filming, and none was placed in harm's way.

Effective government means protecting vulnerable creatures like manatees while still encouraging economic growth in our state. Bad Boys 2 will employ 300 Floridians in high-wage jobs. It's one of 22 motion picture and television productions that have filmed here since I took office and which have spurred the growth of this $3.9-billion industry that employs more than 39,000 Floridians in 3,500 establishments. One of the broader ways we protect our environment is by recruiting business that is high-tech, low-polluting and promotes the beauty of our state.

Manatee deaths due to watercraft are a tragedy. To help protect them I have supported additional law enforcement to ensure compliance with targeted speed zones. I have supported a settlement agreement that includes the creation and implementation of 14 new refuges and sanctuaries for manatees. I also hosted a Manatee Summit in 2000 and recommended more funds for research to find better methods of protecting manatees.

Florida manatees remain an endangered species, but through our efforts we hope their numbers in our waters will continue to grow, even as our film industry continues to thrive.
-- Jeb Bush, governor, Tallahassee

No pressure applied in manatee decision

I read with some disappointment your Aug. 9 editorial, Bad Boys vs. manatees. As a longtime resident of St. Petersburg who recently moved to Tallahassee as the new executive director of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, I feel that your readers deserve a response to your below-the-belt comments relative to the recent filming of the movie Bad Boys 2 in Miami.

Yes, I approved filming of several boat chase scenes in manatee slow-speed zones in Miami. You failed to mention that we worked with Columbia Pictures to eliminate filming in all but the most critical signature-Miami scenes, and for those few places Columbia did film in a slow-speed zone, the use of helicopter, boat and bridge-based observers to ensure manatees were protected was simply unparalleled. As you negatively point out, the shoots were delayed a number of times to protect traveling manatees, and the production company successfully got its scenes filmed with no impact to manatees. You also failed to mention that the observers also noted and protected manatees in the nonregulated areas and actually stopped a shoot in one of these unprotected areas and avoided an encounter with a manatee.

You state it was implausible that the governor did not direct the decision I made. It is true that staff from the governor's office did express an interest in the success of filming of Bad Boys 2 in Miami, but at no time did I receive any pressure for a decision. It was my decision alone. I believe it was the right decision and one that balanced extraordinary protective measures during the very short time the boats were actually traveling at high speed with the economic considerations to the Miami area and Florida. It really should be considered a win-win situation rather than how you have portrayed it.

I can accept the challenge to my decision to allow a portion of the filming in manatee slow-speed zones, but it disappoints me that you would use the fish and wildlife commission and me as a focal point to politically attack President Bush and Gov. Bush when it is simply unfounded and unnecessary. In defense of Gov. Bush, he is a strong proponent of the manatee and manatee protection, and if I had decided the facts did not warrant filming in the manatee speed zones, I am sure he would have respected that decision. I know it may seem implausible to you, but decisions can be made without political pressure or direction.
-- Kenneth Haddad, executive director, Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, Tallahassee

It looks like common sense

Re: Bad Boys vs. manatees.

Let me see if I get this right. A movie company wants to use Biscayne Bay and the Miami River for a photo shoot but it's told no by the state agency under Gov. Jeb Bush because we're worried about the manatees. The company then appeals to Bush with a plan to protect the manatees, make the movie, and make a sizable donation to the state economy.

No manatees get hurt and the state will have more tax revenue for education, health care or environmental protection. Somehow in all this your editorialist obviously sees some sinister plot involving the Bushes, but all I see is good, honest, common sense government.
-- Ronnie Dubs, Gulfport

A ridiculous notion

Re: Bad Boys vs. manatees.

It must be an election year. Nothing else could explain your ridiculous notion that the governor of Florida and the president of the United States are mean toward animals.

My reaction to the events in question are that whatever contribution Gov. Jeb Bush offered about the matter, it was rooted in common sense.
-- John Donovan, St. Petersburg

Boaters need to heed the signs

Re: Letting up on the throttle for the sake of manatees, by Mary Jo Melone, July 8.

As residents of one of St. Petersburg's beautiful residential canals, we are blessed with manatees, dolphins, birds and fish in our backyard. One of the main reasons we moved to this area was to be able to observe them all in such close proximity. Boats and jet skis going too fast endanger these magnificent natural gifts and violate the law. That's why we have no wake zone signs posted at each end of our canal.

What part of "NO WAKE ZONE" do you not understand?
-- Cindy Trumble, St. Petersburg

Conflict is inevitable

Re: Letting up on the throttle for the sake of manatees, by Mary Jo Melone.

As a boater and fisherman who respects laws and speed limits, and never ceases to be grateful for our inshore wildlife and environment, I also prefer to err on the side of conservation. We should have more restrictions, especially on personal watercraft and airboats, the great water and noise polluters.

But growing numbers of watercraft in our beautiful area are inevitable. What Melone fails to point out is that the numbers of manatees are increasing, and hidden in the fine print is that less than 25 percent of those that died were killed by boaters. How did the others die? Were the other 75 percent "killed," or did they die from predators or natural causes?
-- Environments are finite and fragile. When human and wildlife species continually increase, conflict is inevitable. You can't have it both ways.
Bill Ackerman, Homosassa

Let's see some CEOs in prison

Re: Of greed and $6,000 shower curtains, by Robert Trigaux, Aug. 9.

At first, I thought I was reading the National Inquirer -- spending $6,000 for a shower curtain as former Tyco CEO Dennis Kozlowski did, and Enron Corp.'s purchasing a vinyl sculptured light switch for $590,000. Then I realized I was reading the Times, and my blood started to boil. These corporations and their CEOs are just laughing in the face of the thousands of people whose lives were financially destroyed by their injustice.

There is only one solution to ending corporate fraud and the greed of these CEOs/executives. Prosecute them as criminals and sentence them to prison. I mean real prison, not one of the "country club" compounds where they will still enjoy the amenities. Let them answer to their new board of trustees -- the hard-line inmates of the general prison population.

All corporate America has to do is see one of their deceiving own do "hard time" and it will begin the end of corporate fraud. CEOs and their bought-and-paid-for-executives are just shells of men who believe they are armor-coated because of money.

If the government's intent to end corporate fraud is genuine, then I expect to read in the near future: "First CEO goes to prison with many more to follow!"

If not, then we will remain subject to greed, money and the ineptness of our elected representatives.
-- Jack Burlakos, Kenneth City

Writer's remorse wins no sympathy

Re: Hollywood's part in smoking deaths, Aug. 12.

I find it impossible to feel true sympathy for Joe Eszterhas who, now that he has become a victim of self-inflicted cancer, is urging his fellow screenwriters and directors to quit glamorizing cigarette smoking in films. His long-time support of the film industry's habit of pushing this carcinogen-laden drug prior to his own self-induced affliction implies an arrogant message that "It didn't really matter until it happened to me."

The true devastation of the effect of cigarette-related deaths will never be fully known by those who actually die from these horrible diseases, but is felt forever by those they leave behind: their widows, parents, sisters, brothers, children, grandchildren and friends.

As a former nurse, I have cared for too many smokers who died while gasping for their last breath, including my own beloved father whose own grandsons never had the opportunity to know him. I have no sympathy for any part of society that condones and glamorizes the use of any form of nicotine, including the recent popularization of cigars by the tobacco and advertising industries.

So to Joe Eszterhas, I say, "You've always been fully aware of what you were doing by promoting smoking in your films. Where was your concern then? Reality bites, doesn't it?"
-- Jean F. West, Indian Rocks Beach

The power of personal impact

Re: Hollywood's part in smoking deaths, Aug. 12.

Finally someone in the entertainment industry is taking a stand against glamorizing smoking in movies. Too bad Joe Eszterhas had to experience a health crisis himself to come to the conclusion that promoting smoking in movies and TV is, as he says, unconscionable. But sometimes that is what it takes.

I am particularly unhappy seeing Martin Sheen portraying the president and smoking on West Wing.

I speak from personal experience as my husband is currently in chemotherapy for lung cancer. In spite of the fact that he quit smoking 23 years ago (after 32 years of puffing) the doctors say his cancer is definitely due to smoking. We managed to keep our children from taking up the habit, but now due to smoking being portrayed as "cool" we have three grandchildren who are smokers. I can only hope that seeing how ill their grandfather is as he goes through treatment will give them the fortitude to quit.
Barbara Molloy, Clearwater

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