Losing the battle?
To the editor:
This weekend we released 3,000 rubber ducks to raise money for the Calusa Land Trust to buy property on Pine Island to keep our island one of the last places in Florida that is not over developed. We are rapidly losing the battle. We raised $37,000. We need to raise $37 million. That is almost what the developers are paying to buy the last of our pine tree farms and cattle ranches. Pine Island is the largest island on the west coast of Florida. We have a permanent population of only 8,000 people and are 17 miles long. We have been a forgotten land for tens of thousands of years. The Calusa Indians lost to the Spanish. We are about to lose to the greedy land developers. What a shame. This was one of the last places on earth to watch an eagle try to rob a fish from an osprey. Sad!
Please try to attend the hearing at the old court house in Fort Myers on Tuesday, March 1,7 to have your voice heard in front of the elected officials of our County Commissioners. They may not listen to you, but you can always vote them out of office if they do not and try again before our island is so over-built you will not be able to get over our new drawbridge, not that you can get over it now in “season.”
Capt. Barry August
St. James City