It's time for the Record to win some prizes for journalism, as it once did in better days.
It's time for the Record to denounce the author of the straw ban ban bill -- local yokel joke hick hack other-directed STATE SENATOR TRAVIS HUTSON (R-HUTSON COMPANIES).
And it's time for the Record to renounce the County's wicked evil political boss, the Republican Lord of All He Surveys, Sheriff DAVID BERNARD SHOAR, who legally changed his name from "HOAR" in 1994.
Come on, Jim: write an editorial calling for an FBI investigation of the January 31, 2019 Eli/Ellie Washtock murder, the September 2, 2010 Michelle O'Connell homicide, the $700,000 embezzlement over five yeas in the St. Johns County Sheriff's Department, and the pervasive financial corruption in the St. Johns County Sheriff's office.
Like The Little Engine That Could, I think you can. I think you can. I think you can.
From The St. Augustine Record:
RECORD EDITORIAL: Hopefully DeSantis veto may be the first straw
Posted May 13, 2019 at 7:31 PM
Updated May 13, 2019 at 7:31 PM
St. Augustine Record
Astronaut Neil Armstrong’s first words exiting Apollo 11 back in 1969 are among the planet’s better-known one-liners: “That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.”
And that’s a little like the feeling we got following Gov. Rick DeSantis’ veto of the poster-boy bill for legislative preemption — the plastic straw ban.
It’s easy to regard its downfall as lightly as its upstart. Yes, it’s only about a drinking straw. But, from where we sit, it’s a straw that may have “broke the back” of legislative silliness without borders.
DeSantis made a statement. The bill did not languish on his desk behind bills on prison reform or private school vouchers. If you’re a regular reader of the opinion pages, you’ll know we editorialized for more of the former and less of the latter. But politics is a game of compromise. Given the ironclad majority of the Republican Party in recent years and its indifference to the electorate, that in itself is a step in the right direction.
DeSantis folded-up the bill like a paper airplane and launched it back to the legislature within hours of receiving it. In doing so he acknowledged the pettiness and overreach of the bill. He sided with environmentalists, yes. But to a larger degree he sided with counties, municipalities and Florida’s Constitution, in which home rule is clearly defined.
He told new sources this:
“A number of Florida municipalities, including Sanibel, Fort Myers Beach and Miami Beach, have enacted ordinances prohibiting single-use plastic straws ... These measures have not, as far as I can tell, frustrated any state policy or harmed the state’s interests. In fact, the Florida Department of Environmental Protection has encouraged Florida residents, schools and businesses to reduce plastic straw use.
“Under these circumstances, the state should simply allow local communities to address this issue through the political process. Citizens who oppose plastic straw ordinances can seek recourse by electing people who share their views.”
Opponents of the bill, primarily hospitality associations, argued that the bill would be “confusing and burdensome” — with different laws in different locations throughout the state.
A blog post from the Florida Restaurant & Lodging Association read: “Every business should be free to serve its customers in the lawful manner in which it sees fit. ... Some companies decide that providing disposable items such as straws does not fit with their culture and identity. Others may take a different approach, and there is space for both in Florida.”
Really? Confusing? If, for instance, St. Augustine Beach passes such an ordinance, as it may well do, will restaurant management teams affected need to bring in attorneys to outline the concept of paper straws? Will bus staff be burdened by putting paper straws in the holders rather than plastic?
Apparently their costs may go up in a very small way, but we doubt it’ll kill the profit on a $10 Pina Colada, or we’ll see customers boycotting their establishments with signs reading “Paper straws suck.”
Maybe this all seems much ado about nothing. But DeSantis’ little veto represents a paradigm shift in abetting legislative shiftlessness.
Keep that pencil sharp.
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