Florida seems a state doomed to not learn from the mistakes of our past. How many times have we been sold a bill of goods from a fast-buck developer promising the moon and leaving communities with only debt and the loss of the natural beauty that used to define the southern Nature Coast? ...more

February 15, 2009

The Gulf Coast Conservancy is mounting a campaign to block a land swap between state officials and the developers of the former Sun West mine property in Hudson. ...more

February 4, 2009

A land swap to preserve municipal recreational facilities adjacent to Hillsborough Community College is probably impossible, Plant City commissioners learned at their June 23 meeting. ...more

July 2, 2008

SEBRING — Two Highlands County commissioners, Don Bates and Guy Maxcy, launched negotiations through a designated county spokesman to obtain one acre of prime, white-sand-beach lakefront on troubled Lake Denton. Maxcy and Bates asked Ken Melvin, one of the seven people on the commissioner-appointed Lake Denton Citizens Advisory Committee, to informally negotiate the county's obtaining that one-acre of Lake Denton lakefront with the president and CEO of a fifth-generation Highlands County citrus/ranch family. ...more

January 10, 2008

Boaters may lose again if the county follows through on a suggested land swap plan. The plan being talked about is the possible swap of the boat ramp located on Little Lake Bonnet for a piece of private property located next to the Lake Denton boat ramp. The purpose for acquiring this additional property is to provide a venue for scuba divers. The boat ramp at Little Lake Bonnet was described by Commissioner Don Bates as "seldom used." This has not been my experience. About four years ago, I finally found my way to the Little Lake Bonnet ramp where I found it covered with broken beer bottles, and looking like a trash dump. Later that day, I returned with a broom and a couple of garbage cans, and proceeded to clean it up, so that it could be made usable. Months later I noticed evidence of further clean-up activity. ...more

October 23, 2007

SEBRING — Scuba divers want public access to Lake Denton restored by the beginning of next summer. That's not soon enough, though, for the special seven-member Lake Denton Citizens Committee. At its third meeting Thursday night, the committee set the goal of reopening public access at this popular, exceptionally clear lake in six months, with a target date of April 18. No recommendations on how to do that have been settled on yet. Committee members, though, agreed that parking and/or user's fees will probably be necessary to pay for off-duty law enforcement officers working a private security detail. ...more

October 21, 2007