Print

Email story

Comment

Email editor

Real justice: Remove judge from office

While the newspaper's continued attempts to reduce the outrageous sentences imposed by Circuit Judge Ric Howard upon young William Thornton and Adam Bollenback are only what we expect from the St. Petersburg Times, I am amazed that you are not going further by demanding that Judge Ric Howard be removed from office.

Why aren't members of the legal profession themselves speaking up and demanding his resignation?

Executive clemency is not enough. Howard should not be in a position to ruin any more lives with his draconian "justice."

Composting toilets would help with river's health

The beautiful Chassahowitzka River in southern Citrus County needs help.

A cost of $10,000 per home for central sewer shouldn't have to be assessed. Central sewer should not be in there, period. The Chassahowitzka area has had saltwater intrusion in most of their wells for years, and drawing groundwater to flush their toilets and then pumping the water and the excrement it is mixed with to an inland sewer system doesn't make any sense.

State Sen. Nancy Argenziano is suggesting an upgraded septic tank system for homes that don't have a properly functioning one and she estimated the cost at $6,000 per home. That is one solution but will put the homeowner and/or the county in "low-cost loan debt" for many years.

I remember talking to some of the residents of Chassahowitzka and some county commissioners a number of years back about looking at composting toilets. The cost would be about $600 to $1,000 a home and would require a small amount of learning, but to me it is well worth the savings and not going into debt. You might be able to get grants to pay for them.

The residents and commissioners were not inclined to pursue this idea.

"They will smell," I was told. Well, not if properly fed. "It's yucky!" I was told. Not as yucky as an assessment of $10,000 a home for sewer service. These units are in some fine facilities, even condos in downtown Toronto.

For those who can afford the state-of-the-art septic system that the senator is talking about, that's fine. The water you draw from the ground to flush will go back into the ground after being treated. State-of-the-art systems, though, require attention and maintenance and are not inexpensive.

A composting toilet doesn't use water, though it can be adapted to use some. Properly fed with a handful of peat moss per occupant a day or something similar, plus the daily human contributions allow it to build a high temperature in a separate chamber. The high temp digests everything and at the end of a year's operation you have a shovel full of compost for your flower garden.

No pipes in the floor, no water, no overhaul and repair.

Go online and do a search for composting toilets and find pros, cons, cost, maintenance. I hope the Chassahowitzka homeowners can make the choice their own.

Airboaters quietly working to keep our waters safe

Re: Muffler rule for airboats should calm waterways, Times editorial, Dec. 7.

While you are accurate on most of your editorial, I wish to add the majority of recreational airboat-sportsmen in the state, as members of the Florida Airboat Association, voted over three years ago to require the vessels to have an automotive-style muffler attached to their exhaust.

Between public hearings, research, testing and so on, it has taken this long to produce a rule change at the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. We are fully supportive of FWCC's action.

Additionally, as a user group, we are working with legislators to require muffler use, standardize the sound testing of vessels and adopt vessel sound levels that are realistic to the operation of airboats. In partnership with FWCC, we are sponsoring "The Quiet Airboat Competition" to bring new ideas and technology that ultimately will lead to acceptance of quieter vessels.

We, members of the Florida Airboat Association, are working with FWCC on organizing and training a volunteer airboat rescue team statewide, under the leadership of FWCC Law Enforcement, to assist in catastrophic disasters such as hurricane Katrina. (FAA members received congressional recognition for their volunteer and life-saving efforts in New Orleans.) With the world coming into a prolonged hurricane cycle, this unit has the potential to save countless lives.

We, airboat sportsmen, will continue to be wise, active stewards of our natural resources by continuing to organize and conduct lake and river cleanups, coastal cleanups, derelict crab trap removals, environmental education, remote search and rescue, nonnative vegetation removal, humanitarian aid, protection of wildlife habitat and other such endeavors while being proactive in finding solutions to the congestion and conflicts upon and adjacent to our waters.

As a lifelong resident of Florida, it takes a while to adjust to the development of our once remote areas.

[Last modified December 15, 2005, 00:32:19]