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Here it has been more than two weeks since Hurricane Jeanne hit Florida and caused millions of dollars of destruction. It has been eight weeks since the start of all of this with Charley. We barely had a chance to recover from each storm when it seemed another was heading our way. Yet we as Floridians did make it through these storms, we did manage to maintain order and respect with one another.
I have never been more proud to call myself a Floridian. Everybody pulled together and helped one another. On the road I see power trucks contracted from other states helping the exhausted men and women from our state's power companies. Thank you to all who lent support. Thank you to the power companies, the cable companies, the police and fire/rescue personnel, and the businesses that provided the necessary supplies in an expedited and professional manner.
Also, a big thank you to the different entities of the media; radio and television stations, newspapers and the online news stations for providing accurate and continuous coverage throughout the hurricane crisis.
On Sept. 25, as Hurricane Jeanne approached, I evacuated to my parents' house in Palm Harbor. This was about 2 in the afternoon and the winds had picked up. When I arrived, I mentioned that it seemed the county Emergency Operations Center was doing nothing.
Well, I was watching Channel 8 at 5 p.m. and the chief meteorologist was saying that Jeanne hadn't turned yet, and this was mentioned again at 8 p.m. as Jeanne came ashore on the east coast. There was no excuse for the EOC not knowing.
In addition, I cannot imagine being awakened and asked to drive 20-25 minutes for shelter as the winds raged. As an educator, I understand not wanting to close schools, which are used as shelters, unnecessarily, but I would rather have people safe and sound and not having to evacuate in the dead of night.
These recent hurricanes should be a wakeup call to all current and future county commissioners as well as all municipal governments about the high cost of the disposal of hurricane debris.
Pinellas, Hillsborough and Pasco counties have been fortunate. However, Pinellas County commissioners as well as St. Petersburg City Council members and Mayor Rick Baker were not visionaries when they allowed the sod farm property to be sold and rezoned for a development by Grady Pridgen.
This is/was a 108-acre parcel that abuts Bridgeway Acres, the county landfill. The county's Solid Waste Department wanted to buy it for a future landfill in anticipation of growth and natural disasters to save Pinellas taxpayers the high future cost of disposal.
The department's plan was to allow St. Petersburg to continue to develop the site as industrial and, when needed, the county would then take back portions of the site for landfills in about 40 years, unless natural disasters shortened that time span.
What a waste of land and dollars!
We would like to thank the Indian Rocks Beach Solid Waste and Public Works departments for the outstanding job in dealing with the aftermath of Hurricane Frances and Jeanne. They worked tirelessly to remove all debris after Frances and before and after Jeanne to ensure the safety of our citizens. They maintained a professional and always pleasant attitude while working around the clock.
Thank you.
Re: Jeanne outages recall storm of 1921, by Jon Wilson, Oct. 6.
Losing electric power nowadays is more of a hardship than it was during the 1921 hurricane in St. Petersburg. There was no air conditioning in 1921 and today it's almost considered a necessity. Many households today depend on electricity for hot showers and cooking. In 1921 people cooked on wood stoves or gas supplied by the city plant.
Living in Florida, one should be psychologically prepared for the aftermath of serious tropical storms. Charley, which initially was forecast to hit Tampa Bay as a Category 4 hurricane, would have caused immeasurable misfortune because of the population of Pinellas County compared to 1921.
One day a powerful hurricane will come and we'll suffer a direct hit. It will be positively catastrophic and will lead to an unprecedented collapse of our economy for quite some time. All we can do is take pains to prepare and devise power sources, other than electric, that would serve the public.
We must have more pet friendly shelters in place during the hurricane season. In a disaster scenario our government forces should primarily serve in the preservation of the physical life. Property is of secondary importance.
As one of the thousands of people affected by power outages recently, I would like to comment on the problem we all have with trees growing into the power lines, and, of course, the inevitable broken limb taking out the line, thus affecting the whole neighborhood.
Think about it. We all suffer because one person doesn't care about keeping a tree trimmed. It is his tree, on his property, that jeopardizes the power for the whole neighborhood.
Is it the responsibility of the power company to trim trees or is it the tree owner's? I feel it is the owner's responsibility. Whatever happened to personal responsibility? We always expect someone else to be responsible or to take the blame for what we can and should control.
I suggest that the power company could continually inspect lines and when a tree limb poses a potential threat, inform the owner to have the tree trimmed within a certain period of time. If the work is not done, the power company would do it and put the fee on that person's next electric bill. If the owner cannot afford to have the work done, then a special fund would be available, created by a surcharge of just 50 cents or a dollar on everyone's monthly bill.
The important thing is, something must be done. Too many people suffer for a few stupid trees.
Last, I would like to offer our heartfelt thanks to all of the power companies, their employees, the line workers and the tree trimmers, and a special thank you to all of the out-of-state workers. Maybe someday the state of Florida will reciprocate if these folks ever need help in an emergency.