Gator defender pays fine

Bill Warner feels the bite of the law when his lawyer says he can't win and his kids say, "Don't go to jail."

By S.I. ROSENBAUM Times Staff Writer
Published November 2, 2007

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SUN CITY CENTER -- He said he was willing to go to jail for his cause. He meant to make a stand for alligators everywhere.

But in the end, the self-styled defender of the gators paid a $300 fine and went home to Sun City Center.

After all, Bill Warner, 80, had already copped to cutting the hooks off one of the Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission's gator traps.

He showed the hook to trappers who knocked on his door. He talked about it in the newspaper.

The way he saw it, the state was taking too many gators out of the lake, taking them out to die. It wasn't humane, he said.

That was going to be his defense.

His public defender told him: Don't bother.

"She said there's no way I'm going to win this," Warner said. "The state of Florida isn't going to change the laws for me."

His children told him: Don't go to jail.

"The kids are putting a lot of pressure on me," he said.

So when his day in court came last week and the judge suggested that Warner settle the matter with a $300 "donation" to the state, he went along with it.

It's a little anticlimactic, he said. But there's a bright side.

That public defender is pretty cute.

And she's under 60 - Warner's age cutoff for dates.

"I'm going to call her," he said. "You bet I am."

S.I. Rosenbaum can be reached at srosenbaum@sptimes.com or 661-2442.