Friday, February 2, 2024

If you're a Democrat, reregister now as a Republican so you vote for Nikki Haley. Here's why.

Here's a thought for the day

If you're a Democrat, reregister now as a Republican so you vote for Nikki Haley. 

Why? So you help defeat Donald Trump from becoming the Republican nominee and leading the country to total destruction by another term.. Then vote Democrat in the General election and help put the Republicans out the national door.

My thoughts:

Back in the 60's, as a young person I registered to vote as an Independent basically because I didn't cater much to politics. Didn't understand it and didn't care. Then, in the 70's, after starting a career where politics mattered, Bob Martinez led me to become a Republican and that's where I was until January 6. 2021. After that sorrowful day, I reregistered as a person with No Party Affiliation. I wanted nothing to to do with what the Republican Party had become. As a military Veteran, I was disgusted that my country and all it has stood so proudly for and in which I strongly believed could be so disrespected - and endangered - by a major political faction of the American voting public that had been so completely duped by a feckless rich con-man.
Fast forward to February, 2024. I am still disgusted. Nevertheless, today I am considering reregistering as a Republican and here's why. If Donald Trump is elected President again, anyone who has any sense of how deeply flawed the man is and the real and tangible danger he has singlehandedly brought to OUR AMERICA DEMOCRACY, should do all in their power to stop him.
One thing I can do at 81 years old is change my party affiliation back to Republican so I can help Nikki Haley beat him in the Primary. After that I'll return to NPA status and in the General and vote down the line for Democrats because none of them can be as dangerous to MY COUNTRY as a rabid Trump-serving Republican.

Semper Fi



Friday, January 12, 2024

"Election objectors' top corporate PAC & industry group funders in 2023"

"Election objectors' top corporate PAC & industry group funders in 2023"

Who's funding the campaigns of the congressional election deniers who voted against certification of the presidential election of Joe Biden? You'll be surprised.

After the January 6 Insurrection, as you know, there was an attempt by certain GOP congressional leaders to deny the voters of America their legal election of Joe Biden. They did this by voting against certifying the 2020 election results as required by the United States Constitution.  It is instructive to know who these election denying jerks did this despite the failure of the insurrection, but it's even more instructive to know who continue to financially support these jerks and the likely resultant destruction of our American Democracy as we know it.

Look, if someone came to your house and tried to steal something of great value to you and was caught doing it, and then someone else provided them money to bail them out and fight their prosecution, wouldn't you come to the conclusion that those people are sympathetic and supportive of the attempted theft?

Well, there are a number of very large corporations and others who continued to send millions of dollars to the election deniers who tried to steal your legitimately elected president and you need to know who they are. Fortunately for us, someone has researched who they are and published an article revealing them.

Here's a list of who and how much they continued supporting these election-denying criminals provided in an article by OpenSecrets "based on SEC filings through QW3 2023 as of Jan. 6 2024." (Read the full article HERE)

Election objectors' top corporate PAC & industry group funders in 2023

Table with 4 columns and 1444 rows. Currently displaying rows 1 to 20.
Business PACTotalCampaignLeadership PAC
1American Bankers Assn
$430,500
$345,500$85,000
2National Assn of Realtors
$370,000
$166,000$204,000
3National Rural Electric Cooperative Assn
$272,000
$227,000$45,000
4United Parcel Service
$269,500
$164,500$105,000
5Boeing Co
$257,500
$237,500$20,000
6National Multifamily Housing Council
$255,000
$162,500$92,500
7Honeywell International
$251,000
$197,000$54,000
8AT&T Inc
$248,000
$205,500$42,500
9Lockheed Martin
$239,500
$206,000$33,500
10National Auto Dealers Assn
$236,000
$203,500$32,500
11National Cattlemen's Beef Assn
$232,000
$212,000$20,000
12Koch Industries
$231,000
$188,500$42,500
13Comcast Corp
$229,500
$192,000$37,500
14Council of Insurance Agents & Brokers
$224,000
$194,000$30,000
15Independent Insurance Agents & Brokers of America
$223,000
$164,500$58,500
16American Crystal Sugar
$220,000
$210,000$10,000
17National Assn of Convenience Stores
$209,000
$129,000$80,000
18General Dynamics
$198,000
$150,000$48,000
19American Council of Engineering Cos
$197,500
$182,500$15,000
20Charter Communications
$194,000
$124,000$70,000

Tuesday, May 24, 2022

 You can have a 572-acre rock mine across the street from a major hospital, but you can’t create art on a tree farm in Hernando County

May 10, 2022

Brooksville, Florida

Recently, the Hernando County Commission met to hear some folks complain about a neighbor whose lawyer said was operating an ugly, unsightly, smelly, dusty, noisy, industrial manufacturing plant in a rural/agricultural area which should not be allowed in Hernando County. 

They put up slides showing tall steel structures that could be seen above the 6-foot privacy fence erected by the next-door property owner as well as a cloud of "dust" caused by what they claimed was from sandblasting. 

Friends of the complaining neighbor swore under oath that they, too, could see the structure and hear the noises of the offensive goings on. They said the conditions were so bad they could no longer sit on their porches or look out their kitchen windows and not be offended by the activities of the new neighbor. 

If you did not know the truth behind all this, you might agree it’s just awful that sights and sounds of such things should not be allowed to encroach upon a neighbor’s right to the quiet and bucolic views of country living in our Hernando County.

But, oh how reality and truth can get tossed aside in the contorted legalese of lawyers arguing before a lay board who are not lawyers, who have not studied the laws they are elected to apply, and who are sometimes driven more by election politics than the execution of fairness and right. Truth can get overlooked and even avoided in such hearings and right can suffer. And this is what so egregiously happened at that hearing.

The allegedly offending neighbors are one, John Henry, who just happens to be one of the most highly revered living sculptors in the world, and his wife Pamela. This is a man and wife team who have been recognized by the international art community their entire lives and somehow decided Hernando County is where, at least for the moment, they want to spend the rest of their lives. We all, it would seem for many obvious reasons, should be so very fortunate to have them reside here and become members of our county community.

So, what, really, were the Henrys doing that was so egregiously unacceptable that the Commissioners decided to ban activities on their 30-plus acres after the next year ending May 31, 2023, to such an extent that Mr. Henry will be prevented from continuing to create on their own property the magnificent art sculptures for which he is known around the world? What could be so unacceptable that it was suggested he create his art in another county?

When the Henrys moved here, the property was an ongoing farming operation where palm trees were grown and sold. The property is also located on a major highway and within a mile, as a crow flies, of one of the busiest north/south interstate thoroughfares in Florida. Some of these trees are tall and can only be excavated and loaded on flatbed semi-tractor trailer trucks using large cranes, an activity that was happening before the Henrys but apparently never bothered any of the now-complaining neighbors in the past.

Mr. Henry's getting older. Born in 1943 he is approaching 80 years. He is known for his bold and towering steel and aluminum structures that museums, galleries and private collectors have purchased and displayed throughout the world. To make these structures, welding, grinding, and painting is required, and some are just too large to assemble in an enclosed building. He is in the process of finishing two of these structures. After completion, they will be disassembled and shipped to their buyer or display location.

The point here is that what he does on the property is not smelly, dirty, or offensive. It does not entail dozens of workers laboring through long shifts to manufacture thousands of widgets, day in and day out, which are then shipped in trucks daily going in and out from a dark smoking plant, as was so disingenuously implied by the complainants’ attorney and the testifying neighbors.

It is indisputable that the property is an ongoing agricultural operation of growing and selling hundreds if not thousands of palm trees for harvesting and marketing. The fact that Mr. Henry is an artist who has the personal wherewithal to also produce and sell art from his farm was inexplicably discounted when the Commission Chair observed that he was fully aware of Mr. Henry’s distinction as a globally appreciated artist, but that fact was not pertinent to the purposes of the hearing. But, of course, it was.

The alleged objectionable activity is to produce art, not to manufacture widgets. If this had been acknowledged from the beginning, it would have allowed a better appreciation for the fact that the “pertinent” activity is infrequent and would have underscored the fact that the sounds and sights associated therewith are not any more objectionable than what any reasonably sized agricultural operation might produce. This was simply not considered. Anyone who lives next to a farm knows this and many folks in Hernando County do. It was a significant oversight by the Commissioners.

Other unfair things happened at that hearing. Misinformation was given to the commissioners who then struggled for several hours trying to understand what they have the authority to do and what they should do with it. At one point, the complainants’ lawyer had them seemingly convinced they had no authority to allow the Special Exception being requested - and recommended for approval by the Commission’s own staff - until the Henrys’ lawyer, reading directly from statutes and rules, pointed out they did.

So, what should the Commissioners have done? Well, they should have approved their own staff’s recommendation. Doing so would’ve placed reasonable constraints the Henrys’ activities but wouldn’t have ultimately and so arbitrarily after one year banned Mr. Henry from being able to produce his award-winning art on his own property.

Instead, the Commissioners chose to focus on carrying out the rigid specifications of ordinances and laws and ignored their duty to also consider what would be right for the larger community. That is what Special Exceptions are all about. They exist in recognition of the fact that no legal language will ever be able to contemplate all possible situations that a law or ordinance might be intended to address.

As a final point, when the Henrys’ situation is seen in the light of a controversial project approved by the Hernando Commission over the objections of dozens if not hundreds of concerned residents a few years ago, the fact that a hand full of complaining neighbors can so easily cause the County Commission to outright ban an extraordinary man’s lifelong pursuit seems utterly outrageous.

Not too long ago, a request was made to allow a 572-acre rock mine immediately west of the City of Brooksville and adjacent to Cortez Boulevard, a major thoroughfare connecting the city to the rapidly developing residential/commercial area of Spring Hill. But, it was not possible at the time because at least four of the five-member board was needed to approve changes to the county’s Master Plan which, at that time, had the area designated for residential and commercial uses. Lacking the four votes necessary, the mining proposal was withdrawn.

Subsequently, a “friendlier” Commission revised the requirement for a four-member super majority to be able to change the County’s Master Plan so only three would be needed, a simple majority. This despite the vocal and written objections of dozens of Hernando residents.

With only a simple majority now required, the Commission accepted the mining plan and changed the County’s Master Plan to rezone 730 acres, of which rock mining would be allowed on 572. Thus, as a result of the Commission’s decision, a 572-acre rock mine is now going to happen on property directly across the street from a regional hospital despite a lawsuit and the organized objections of dozens of concerned county residents.

Activities associated with rock mining can include clouds of white lime-rock dust, explosions, draglines digging massive holes acres wide, and 110-ton-capacity Euclid vehicles rumbling around all hours of the day. In this case, it was also alleged mining there would disrupt an existing colony of threatened gopher tortoises and impact a nearby historic Brooksville cemetery.

So, while in that instance the voices of perhaps hundreds of residents were unable to sway the Commission, it apparently took only a few for the Hernando County Commission to do what it did to the Henry's. It is simply and inescapably dumbfounding.

By the way, that cloud of “sandblast” dust claimed to have wafted over the fence into the the Henry's neighbors' yards? Turns out, I’m told, it was the Henrys having their white fence pressure washed.

So, wrong was done at that hearing. Hopefully, before the end of the designated year, a way will be found to correct what is now happening to John and Pamela Henry and allow Mr. Henry to continue his passion for creating trend-setting art for as long as he might wish on the property they own in our Hernando County.

It’s the right thing to do.

Monday, May 24, 2021

Weeki Wachee Preserve - An Open Letter


The Hernando Board of County Commissioners is proposing to build a six-mile long “Aquatic Preserve boardwalk” inside the confines of the 11,206-acre Weeki Wachee Preserve purchased in 1995 using Florida Forever (State) funds. The property was acquired specifically to preserve the very significant environmental values of western Hernando County. This is an open letter to the Hernando County Board of County Commissioners and Administrator; the Board of Governors of the Southwest Florida Water Management District and Executive Director; the Secretary of the Florida Department of Environmental Protection, and Florida Senator Wilton Simpson suggesting such a thought is unwise and setting forth the reasons why.













May 17, 2021

To: Hernando County Board of County Commissioners

Commissioner John Allocco, Chair

Commissioner Steve Champion, Vice Chair

Commissioner Jeff Holcomb, Second Vice Chair

Commissioner Wayne Dukes

Commissioner Elizabeth Narverud

County Administrator Jeff Rogers

Governing Board of the Southwest Florida Water Management District

Member Kelly S. Rice, Chair

Member Joel Schleicher, Vice Chair

Member Rebecca Smith, Secretary

Member James G. Murphy, Treasurer

Member Ed Armstrong

Member Ashley Bell Barnett

Member Jack Bispham

Member Roger Germann

Member John Mitten

Member Seth Weigtman

Member Michelle Williamson

Executive Director Brian Armstrong

Secretary Noah Valenstein, Florida Department of Environmental Protection

Senator Wilton Simpson

Dear Ladies and Gentlemen,

Having read recently that Hernando County Board of County Commissioners is considering a so-called six-mile boardwalk from the Weeki Wachee Preserve in western Hernando County to Pedersen Park, and having received calls from Hernando Beach residents opposing the idea, here are a few thoughts for your consideration.

It is understandable how this unique property might seem attractive as a location for Hernando Beach residents who wish to have greater access to it. But, given the Preserve’s history which is directly related to Florida’s decades-long and nationally recognized program to protect its unique natural systems from the inevitable impacts of Florida’s continuing population growth, increased public usage and particularly construction of a six-mile long “boardwalk” large enough to allow significant hiking and biking, is problematic.

Everyone wants sustained economic growth and people world-wide want to live here, but most folks already here also want a balance between the loss of natural habitat that’s already occurring and the need to protect the rest from what will inevitably come with all that “love.” The growing realization is that if we do not preserve a large part of what’s left of Florida’s natural habitat, it will simply be exploited and “used” until it is no more and the very reasons why Florida has become a global destination in the first place will be lost along with it. I’m reminded of the “Tragedy of the Commons” and the phrase, “death by a thousand cuts”, further defined as, “the way a major negative change, which happens slowly in many unnoticed increments, is not perceived as objectionable” (Wikipedia).

Recent arrivals to our state simply may not appreciate all the hard lessons learned from past decisions and the energy and capital that previous and current residents have invested in implementing the state’s historic environmental protection programs that were carefully evolved as a result over the last 50 years. It remains a continuous struggle to maintain public awareness and appreciation for the critical importance that Florida’s natural systems hold for the state’s economy. Not all land in its natural state, or that hosts environmentally significant flora and/or fauna, for example, should be considered appropriate for a public facility just because it’s already owned by the public, it’s beautiful, and it’s environmentally bountiful.

In Florida, public education is ephemeral. Our population is always moving on or dying and being replaced by newcomers. Thus, maintaining effective appreciation for those hard lessons learned is difficult. It is an unfortunate reality about Florida that its demography is continuously renewing and changing while the critical importance of Florida’s natural environment to its economic future is growing as more of it is lost to development.

The 11,206-acre Weeki Wachee Preserve was purchased by the Southwest Florida Water Management District in 1995 from W. L. Cobb Construction Company for $15.1 million. Six years later in 2001 while I was executive director at SWFWMD, the property surrounding Weeki Wachee Springs was purchased from the City of St. Petersburg. (For years, ownership of this property by St. Pete was a very painful bone of contention for the residents of Hernando County because the City had acquired it in the 1930’s as a potential water supply source.) The springs parcel of about 400 acres was purchased for around $16 million as part of then-Governor Bush’s “Springs Initiative” using funds from the State’s Florida Forever program. Today, both acquisitions remain as important components of the state’s strategy to acquire, restore, and protect Florida’s inventory of iconic springs, which are not duplicated in such concentration anywhere else in the world. Florida’s springs are part of its globally unique natural heritage, much as the Grand Canyon is for Arizona.

The Preserve property was purchased as part of a regional system of conservation lands that extend up to the Crystal River State Park - originally known as the Crystal River Buffer Preserve - consisting of some 27,500 acres and including the southernmost coastal hardwood hammocks in western Florida. The Weeki Wachee Preserve provides a rich collage of habitats including several miles of Weeki Wachee River frontage, portions of Mud River, dense hardwood swamps, freshwater and saltwater marshes, and pine-covered sand hills. Part of why the acquisition was so important was because it would help in preventing further degradation of the groundwater flowing to Weeki Wachee Springs and because the area and its habitat is well known for its black bear population.

It is my understanding that, unfortunately, the preserve has been described as just some old leftover mining pits and those who oppose its development as an active public recreation facility are just people who are against everything. I have also heard that some believe if the county can get the six-mile “boardwalk” permitted, “other facilities” can be constructed later. It’s the old saw, if the camel can get his nose under the tent the rest of him will follow.

I can’t believe SWFWMD is going to be that naïve. The district has always understood, and likely still does, that there is a necessary responsibility to allow reasonable public enjoyment of its conservation properties, but within the meaning of that reasonableness is the responsibility to not allow the land to be over utilized to the extent that the original purposes for which it was purchased become obscured and no longer operative. I believe this because, early on, a careful plan for public access and use was developed by SWFWMD for every property it acquired using Florida Forever funds including the Weeki Wachee Preserve. Therefore, I believe it is not public use, per se, that is causing the growing objections to the county’s proposal. It is the potential concentration and intensity of the proposed use. The main access road from Osowaw Boulevard, for example, is smack dab through the heart of the corridor black bears need for their normal foraging, ranging and sustainment of the specie. Consequently, while the road may be marginally acceptable for maintenance purposes, it would not be acceptable as a main entrance with any anticipated heavy daily usage.

Perhaps there will be ways to allow a limited degree of public usage in the lake area, but the fact remains that the total land area was purchased and established as a Preserve for very specific reasons that are more critical today than they have ever been, and a six-mile walkway that promotes heavy human hiking and even biking from the mined lakes to Pedersen Park through what can only be described as some very sensitive natural systems is certainly contradictory to those purposes. SWFWMD clearly has an obligation to assure any proposed public uses fall within the constraints contained in the original state authorization to purchase the property using Florida Forever funds. Boardwalks can be found in many state parks but in most cases are carefully constructed to assure minimal impact on natural systems and keep related human incursion and its inevitable impacts to a carefully defined minimum.

You may know that SWFWMD has partnered on several occasions with Hernando County and the state’s park system to allow public access and use of district-owned public lands within the county such as popular Bayport Park and Weeki Wachee Springs State Park. It also instigated and locally funded, through the now dismantled Coastal Rivers Basin Board, the location and construction of an Environmental Education Center on park land just west of Weeki Wachee Springs on Bayport Road. All these facilities are located fairly close to Hernando Beach for those residents wanting to use them. If greater public usage becomes accommodated within the Weeki Wachee Preserve it will not reduce any pressures of overuse at the other facilities as has been suggested. It will only bring more visitors from out of county to negatively impact another unique and environmentally sensitive natural area of Hernando County.

There is also a mistaken notion that the reason the Preserve is under this consideration is because grant funding may be available, the land is cheap, i.e., free (SWFWMD already owns it), and it has water features. These are not valid reasons for obviating the original important purposes for which the land was acquired on behalf of Florida’s greater public, Florida’s natural environment, and Florida’s long-term economic future.

Finally, it should be noted that both houses of the 2021 Florida Legislature just adopted the Wildlife Corridor Act which would, if signed by the Governor, award $300 million to the Florida Forever land conservation program to expand and protect wildlife corridors. It was passed unanimously by both the House and Senate! Our leaders in Tallahassee clearly want wildlife corridors expanded, not developed.

I appreciate the opportunity to share these thoughts.

Respectfully,

Sonny Vergara

Brooksville, FL 

Former Executive Director of Southwest Florida Water Management District and St. Johns River Water Management District.