Wednesday, May 04, 2011

Saving St. Augustine II -- St. Augustine National Historical Park and Seashore Will Protect Our St. Augustine Heritage from Landraping Developers


One of the many wonderful places that the St. Augustine National Historical Park, National Seashore and Scenic Coastal Parkway will protect is the beautiful stretch of A1A between Vilano Beach and Ponte Vedra, one of the last surviving wild stretches of Old Florida on Florida’s East Coast.

The land is currently part of the Guana Tolomato Matanzas National Estuarine Reserve (formerly Guana State Park). State parks are under attack under the regime of Florida Governor Richard Scott.

Six years ago, County Commissioner BRUCE MAGUIRE sought to destroy Guana, at the behest of developers. Their agenda, as always, is to rape the land and destroy our vistas for private profit. They are indescribably boring, bores of little brain, who lack decent respect for our parks and nature.

BRUCE MAGUIRE actually proposed to move A1A into Guana, which would have destroyed endangered species and their habitat. Don’t take my word for it. At the time, Republican John Edward Bush (a/k/a Jeb Bush) was Governor. Bush’s Department of Environmental Protection wrote MAGUIRE an eloquent letter, nipping the idea in the bud, telling him it would be illegal and lacked scientific and public support. FOLIO WEEKLY blew the whistle on the plot, with a front-page story and caricature of MAGUIRE.

BRUCE MAGUIRE is from a major land-owning family. BRUCE MAGUIRE and his twin brother have both served as County Commission Chairman. BRUCE MAGUIRE married VIRGINIA WHETSTONE, scion of another land-owning family.

BRUCE MAGUIRE now regularly writes angry columns for “Historic City News,” a front for hate site operator MICHAEL GOLD f/k/a “MICHAEL TOBIN.” GOLD/TOBIN and his NICs have taken irrational, hostile potshots at supporters of the St. Augustine National Historical Park, National Seashore and Scenic Coastal Parkway – so irrational that they are laughable. As Mr. T would say, “I pity the fool.”

GOLD’s HISTORIC CITY COMPANIES’ registered address with the Florida Secretary of State is 100 Whetstone Place, owned by the WHETSTONE family. The prior registered address was a WHETSTONE storage locker. When GOLD ran for City Commissioner, the only GOLD signs in evidence were at WHETSTONE commercial properties – GOLD was trounced by retired Department of the Interior and Council on Environmental Quality lawyer William L. Leary.

So when you read on GOLD’s local hate websites about how someone supports a National Park and Seashore and is therefore worthy of hatred and obloquy and being run out of town, ask: Why?

Some nattering nabobs of negativism ignore their own senses --would they rather plunder our precious historical and environmental heritage rather than protect it?

Some people have emotional problems when it comes to parks. These are truly “shameful people.” How revealing they chose those words for the name of one of their hate websites.

Former County Commission Chairman Ben Rich has said that some of the local developers are Just as in so many sacred, beautiful, historic places, where rich and powerful and influential organizations were ready to destroy history and nature, the National Park Service is empowered to stop "temple destroyers" here in St. Augustine.

From the Yellowstone to Grand Canyon to the Everglades, the National Park Service (like the Mounties), has rescued our landscape from predators.

Here in St. Augustine, NPS can buy land or accept donations from developers and stop the reign of ruin of the likes of ROBERT MICHAEL GRAUBARD and others who destroy history and nature (including a 3000-4000 year old Indian village next to St. Augustine High School).

Tonight is the last episode of Ken Burns' PBS series, "THE NATIONAL PARKS -- America's Best Idea." We've learned a lot from it -- it is the courage of individuals that helps makes a national park. Current parks were created by crusaders and community leaders -- people with the courage to ignore the nattering nabobs of negativism, the name-callers, the mediocrities, the mendacious back-scratchers and mindless hacks. Happily, local governments are no longer owned in fee simple by unhappy rich people "who know not that they know not that they know not." Progressives are now on local boards, and they are listening to the people.

As Robert Kennedy said in South Africa, “each time a [person] stands up for an ideal or speaks out for the rights of others, he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope, and crossing each other from a million different centers of energy and daring, those ripples can form a current that can sweep away the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance.”

It is imperative to support the St. Augustine National Historical Park and Seashore to foil their nefarious plans, preserving and protecting our environment and history forever. www.staugustgreen.com

Just as in so many sacred, beautiful, historic places, where rich and powerful and influential organizations were ready to destroy history and nature, the National Park Service is empowered to stop "temple destroyers" here in St. Augustine.

From the Yellowstone to Grand Canyon to the Everglades, the National Park Service (like the Mounties), has rescued our landscape from predators.

Here in St. Augustine, NPS can accept Guana, other state parks, water management district land and buy land or accept donations from developers and stop the reign of ruin of the likes of ROBERT MICHAEL GRAUBARD and others who destroyed history and nature (including a 3000-4000 year old Indian village next to St. Augustine High School).

We learned a lot from Ken Burns' PBS series, "THE NATIONAL PARKS -- America's Best Idea." It is the courage of individuals that helps makes a national park -- the courage to ignore the nattering nabobs of negativism, the name-callers, the mediocrities, the mendacious negatives -- people "who know not that they know not that they know not."

As Robert Kennedy said in South Africa, “each time a [person] stands up for an ideal or speaks out for the rights of others, he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope, and crossing each other from a million different centers of energy and daring, those ripples can form a current that can sweep away the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance.”

It is up to us.

What do you reckon?

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