Sunday, June 28, 2026

RON ESTES, R.I.P. (St Augustine Record)

Godspeed to Ron Estes.  Thank you for your service to our Nation, and western civilizationMr. Estes was a frequent commenter on the St. Augustine Record's "Talk of the Town" website, which many will recall was once robust and uninhibited, a forum for free voices. (pre-GANNETT hedge fund takeover).  




St. Augustine Record Obituaries in Saint Augustine, FL | St. Augustine Record


Ronald Edward Estes, after a lifetime of eluding death on his doorstep, passed away peacefully with his loving family close by on Sunday, October 13, 2024. Born in Washington, DC, on June 28, 1931, to Edward and Edna Estes, he was reared on a 5-acre family compound built by his grandfather in 1906 in Arlington, Virginia. After contracting polio at age 13, Ron had to relearn to speak and swallow. However, by the time he reached high school, he was a baseball pitcher whose team won the Virginia State Championship and he was sought after by professional teams. In 1950, Ron and several of his buddies joined the Marine Corps.

Arriving at Inchon, Korea, 1952, Ron served 11 months in Korea. Wounded in combat, he declined accepting a Purple Heart to save his parents the worrisome news. After completing his service with the Marines, Ron enrolled at Virginia Tech in 1954, where in the fall of his senior year, he was approached by a recruiter from the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).

Upon graduating in 1957 with a Bachelor’s degree in sociology, Ron joined the CIA, where he was commissioned as an Operations Officer in the Clandestine Service. Upon completion of initial training, including language training, he received his first overseas assignment, to Kavalla, Greece, which became the setting for his first novel, published in 2003, The Mission: CIA in the Balkans.

After 16 months in Kavalla, Ron was transferred to Athens, Greece, and later to Nicosia, Cyprus, as one of two fluent Greek-speaking operations officers in the station. After serving in Cyprus, Ron continued overseas assignments in Prague, (then) Czechoslovakia, and Beirut, Lebanon. In 1973, Ron was transferred back to Athens, to be Deputy Chief of Station with his colleague from Cyprus days, Richard Welch, as Chief of Station. The two friends took over the Athens Station as they had vowed to do 13 years earlier, but tragically Dick Welch was assassinated in 1975, the first-ever CIA Chief of Station to be killed in the line of duty. It was a huge personal loss for Ron, who cradled Welch in his arms that night, and then assumed command of the Athens station. His final overseas tour was as Chief of Station in Madrid, Spain.

During his career Ron was a target for assassination on more than one occasion and was the cover feature in Spain’s version of TIME magazine, CAMBIO 16. While stationed in Washington, DC, Ron was the deputy chief of the CIA European division and later chief of one of the Clandestine service divisions. His efforts over the years were so successful that he was awarded the highest honor the CIA can bestow, the Distinguished Intelligence Medal.

After his retirement from the CIA, Ron formed a company representing American companies overseas. He retired fully in 1990 and took up golf while living in Clifton, Virginia. Ron and his wife Luba moved to St. Augustine, Florida, in 1996. In retirement, Ron wrote a second novel, The Recruitment, based on operations in Beirut, and published columns nationwide to educate the American public on the plight of the Palestine people and the war crimes they endure to this day. He also co-chaired a forum on the Middle East with Senator George McGovern at Flagler College. For seven years, Ron was the longest serving President of the Marsh Creek Men’s Golf Association.

Ron was pre-deceased by his first wife and mother of his children, Ann Estes, sister Janet Yanette, and beloved son, Wesley Estes. He is survived by his wife Luba Estes, daughters Debra Eason (Jay Moore), and Valerie Ragan (John Ragan), stepdaughters Elena “Kiki” Tovey (Carl Tovey, decd), and Anne “Anita” Healy (Jonathan Healy), grandchildren Megan Arnold, Matthew Eason (Amanda LaBorde), Dylan Tovey, Timothy and Alexandra Healy, and great-grandchildren James and Anne Arnold.

A celebration of life service will take place at the Marsh Creek Country Club in St. Augustine on November 16, 2024 from 12:00 - 2:00 p.m.

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Guest column: Robin Nadeau worked for a more sustainable world. (Ed Slavin, St. Augustine Record, February 5, 2012)

Guest column: Robin Nadeau worked for a more sustainable world


We moved to St. Augustine in 1999. I was first contacted, encouraged and empowered by Robin Nadeau in 2000, after Robin read my December 3, 2000 St. Augustine Record column, “Democracy under pressure,” about the strange case of Bush v. Gore (Florida election recount lawsuit). Below is my 600 word guest column about Robin Nadeau, from February 5, 2012 St. Augustine Record (coincidentally, I saw my first butterfly of 2012 while walking that morning):


Guest column: Robin Nadeau worked for a more sustainable world
Posted: February 5, 2012 - 12:32am

By ED SLAVIN
St. Augustine

Hundreds of Robin Nadeau’s friends joined her family, celebrating her life on Jan. 23.

“Thinking globally, acting locally,” always young at heart, Robin knew “freedom is never free.” “Speaking truth to power,” she worked for positive change and a more sustainable world.

Citizen Robin Nadeau (1926-2012) was a zealous environmentalist, peace activist, government reformer and free speech defender. Robin won the Daughters of the American Revolution National Conservation Award for work planting/saving thousands of trees (where greed once endangered them all).

Robin supported “Medicare for All,” Solar/Wind energy, Progressive Taxation and Environmental Justice. She opposed polluters’ promiscuously weakening our environmental laws. She exposed the horrors of nuclear power plants, offshore oil, and dirty money in politics.

She succeeded in convincing governments to buy park land, including a now-threatened 6.1 acres at St. Augustine Beach.

Robin was kind, logical, thoughtful, winning progressive victories with information, research, diplomacy and tact. Robin had what Ambassador Andrew Young calls “soul force.”

Few said “no” to Robin Nadeau.

A faithful convert to Roman Catholicism, she supported Occupy St. Augustine, Grandmothers for Peace, NAACP, League of Women Voters and Sierra Club. She championed equality for gays and lesbians.

Robin encouraged and nurtured so many people.

Robin knew that “decisions are made by those who show up,” showing up for decades. Her work was a tale of two cities (St. Augustine and St. Augustine Beach) and St. Johns County, persuading all to adopt tree protections, serving for decades on city and county boards and as TREES VP for 13 years.

In December 2006, Robin persuaded me to help investigate our Mosquito Control District’s luxury jet helicopter purchase and organophosphate spraying. Together, we helped kill the $1.8 million, no-bid helicopter, winning a refund. It took us nine months, enduring AMCD’s then-chair’s insults and arrest threats. The people won. Robin wrote in her autobiographical note, “I contributed to an ultimately successful effort to replace use of organophosphates to control mosquitoes in St. Johns County with environmentally friendly techniques.”

In 2007-08, Robin and I sought ballot-petition signatures for Democratic Congressional candidate Faye Armitage in local parks. Someone threatened to have us arrested, exclaiming, “I know the law!” Gently, Robin and I stood our ground. First Amendment rights prevailed.

Robin believed in hope, forgiveness, democracy and Democrats: as precinct committeeperson, Robin worked hardest of all.

Robin Nadeau lived with joy, wit and style, getting things done (often working until 3 a.m.). Like Thomas Jefferson, she loved beauty and she designed her own home. She had an infectious laugh, threw wonderful Twelfth Night parties, and made the best orange marmalade.

The Record printed a cognitive miser’s 2004 letter, attacking “the Robin Nadeaus of the world.” I responded, “thanking the Robin Nadeaus of this world,” who bring us moral strength.

“Robin Nadeau family values” are based on love, reality and kindness — the opposite of “faux FOX-TV family values,” based on prejudice, ignorance and hatred.

With all of her beautiful heart, soul and “PBS mind,” Robin Nadeau avidly supported the St. Augustine National Historical Park and National Seashore since 2006. St. Augustine Beach Mayor Gary Snodgrass remembers Robin telephoning him about the proposal two months ago — he was in the shower, but took her call.

Robin’s inner strength showed on Nov. 1, as park supporters were called “Nazis” and “Communists” by angry, misguided “Tea Partiers,” who momentarily scared off our County Commissioners from supporting the Historical Park and Seashore. Enough. errant nonsense!

Give Robin Nadeau the last word. She wrote, “I think my greatest achievement lay in my contribution to enactment of the St. Augustine National Historical Park and National Seashore Act of 2012.” Let’s do it for Robin!  www.staugustgreen.com


■

Ed Slavin has a bachelor of science in Foreign Service from Georgetown University and a Juris Doctor from Memphis State University (now University of Memphis).
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Watch John Oliver on special tax districts.

John Oliver on special tax districts. FYI: I am running for a seat on the Anastasia Mosquito Control District of St. Johns County in the nonpartisan election on November 3, 2026. It is an independent special taxing district. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3saU5racsGE

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Ed Slavin response to Sierra Club on Anastasia Mosquito Control of St. Johns County Commission (2024)

Here's my response to the March 2024 Sierra Club questionnaire re: Mosquito  Control Commission;


Good evening:
Thank you for your patience!  Excellent questions. 


Questionnaire to Candidates for St. Johns County 
County Commission 2024

Please provide answers to the following questions below, or on a separate sheet:

1. On a scale of 1 to 10 (with 1 being the least important and 10 being the most important), where do
environmental issues rate when compared to other critical issues facing St. Johns County and
Northeast Florida? Please include a brief explanation of your rating.

Most important: 10.  Our frail planet, our city, county, state and nation are all threatened by pollution and climate change. Overdevelopment is destroying our quality of life.

2. What are the most significant environmental issues and challenges in St. Johns County? 

* Proposed St. Augustine National Historical Park and National Seashore deserves our County's support.  First proposed by the Mayor of St. Augustine, Walter Fraser, both U.S. Senators and our Congressman in 1939, this is an idea whose time has come.  https://cleanupcityofstaugustine.blogspot.com/2023/10/support-st-augustine-national.html
* Developers demanding to be free of fair impact fees.  

* Secretive PACs and campaign contributions, corruption and conflict of interest. Corruption, as Al Gore wrote in 1992, in Earth in the Balance, often leads to environmental devastation.  

* Proposed 25 ideas for local government reform in 2022, one (1) heeded (County Sheriff body-worn cameras and dashboard cameras, long opposed by Sheriff David Shoar). County Commission has STILL not responded to 25 suggestions on government reform. Why not?




+ Support meritocracy amidst one-party rule by mediocrities in St. Johns County Commission





3. What actions have you taken in the past to demonstrate your concern or interest regarding our environment?
 

  2. Helping end pelagic whaling of endangered sperm whales by promoting development of jojoba oil seed crops, an exact duplicate for the oil of the sperm whale. The market system worked. (Working as intern and staffer for Senator Ted Kennedy, 1974-76).  
  3. Helping defeat coal slurry pipeline eminent domain legislation in U.S House of Representatives, helping preserve and protect precious scarce water from Madison Formation aquifer.  (11,500 word Crossroads Magazine (formerly Coal Patrol) investigative article, inserted into Congressional Record by U.S. Rep. Joe Skubitz, Republican of Kansas, except for parts on campaign finance).  July 19, 1978: House Defeated Coal Slurry Pipeline Eminent Domain Legislation



  4. Exposing U.S. Tennessee Valley Authority purchasing and policies that encouraged steep slope strip-mining, corruption, coal quality fraud, antitrust violations and and conflicts of interest. With support from Fund for Investigative Journalism, helped secure GAO investigation verifying  concerns of Appalachian activists, led by Save Our Cumberland Mountains.  TVA's Coal Procurement Practices--More Effective Management Needed



  5. Winning declassification of world's largest mercury pollution event (Oak Ridge, Tenn.) and testifying about it in Congressional investigation.  July 11, 1983: Al Gore's Mercury Pollution Hearing in Oak Ridge, Tennessee -- Largest Mercury Pollution Event in World History (4.2 Million Pounds). 



  6. Security clearance reforms protecting environmental, nuclear anjd other whistleblowers, and LGBTQ, people working for federal agencies and government contractors.  Helped win American Bar Association House of Delegates vote in February 1990, endorsing security clearance reforms that were implemented under President Clinton, halting a proposed Bush Executive Order that would have erased rights to fair hearings and due process.
  7. Environmental whistleblower law victories and precedents at U.S.Department of Labor, including landmark whistleblower case protecting federal environmental crimes investigators against retaliation for recusals or refusing to coverup wrongdoing.  FBI, HUD, EPA Senior Special Agent Robert E. Tyndall (Ret.), R.I.P.



  8. Exposed intimidation of nuclear weapons plant whistleblowers. February 5, 1992



  9. Questioned aerial pesticide spraying program and winning reversal of illegal, no-bid SJC Mosquito Control Board purchase of $1.8 million luxury Bell Jet helicopter unadorned by nozzles, tanks, pilots, hangar or any plans for aerial spraying, winning 100% refund of deposit.
  10. Defeat of multiple unwise development projects in St. Augustine and St. Johns County,
  11. Adoption of employee whistleblower policy and sexual orientation nondiscrimination policies for Anastasia Mosquito Control District of St. Johns County. 
  12. Successfully reported City of St. Augustine illegally dumping a landfill in a lake to National Response Center, resulting in fines and consent decree, after City Manager William B. Harriss had said he would not agree to put the contaminated solid waste in a Class I landfill without a court order.  2008 Folio Weekly cover story by Anne Schindler called me an "environmental hero."
  13. Reported City of St. Augustine illegal sewage pollution to National Response Center, resulting in fines and consent decree.
  14. Helped elect Nancy Shaver as in St. Augustine Mayor and Krista Keating-Joseph as County Commissioner, defeating pro-developer incumbents. 
  15. Helping secure preservation of historic iconic Fish Island as city park with state funds, rejecting proposed ruinous development by D.R. Horton, with fifty (50) witnesses, including former St. Augustine Beach Mayor Sherman Gary Snodgrass.




4. What organizations do you belong to? 

1000 Friends of Florida
National Trust for Historic Preservation
Democratic Party
St. Augustine Historical Society
Fort Mose Historic Society
Florida Historical Society
Sierra Club
Investigative Reporters and Editors  
American Assn. For Advancement of Science  
Florida Adventures in Railroading
WJCT

5. What is your position and suggested solution on these key issues affecting our county?   
- Climate change and sea level rise
+ Support federal, state and local legislation to preserve and protect us from carbon and methane pollution, protect our coasts and wetlands, promote biodiversity, restore balance,
+ Support County's acceptance of federal grants on climate change. 
+ Oppose Florida Governors' attacks on environmental protection, with frequent blog posts.
www,cleanupcityofstaugustine.blogspot.com
+ Support a St. Augustine National Historical Park and National Seashore. Spoke to every St. Johns County Legislative Delegation meeting since 2006 on National Park and Seashore.


- Growth management and development
+ Strongly support reform of our Land Development Code as we know it.  
+ We must have fair hearings, with full disclosures, lobbyist registration, expert testimony, cross-examination of all witnesses and background investigations of developers.  
+ Are our current local and state procedures are a honky-tonk medley of "regulatory capture," farce and kabuki dance?
+ James Madison wrote, "A popular Government, without popular information, or the means of acquiring it, is but a Prologue to a Farce or a Tragedy; or, perhaps both. Knowledge will forever govern ignorance: And a people who mean to be their own Governors, must arm themselves with the power which knowledge gives. "
+ Affordable housing: we must reject "snob zoning," and allow duplexes and other auziliary dwellling units, preserving land and advancing affordable housing. 
+ We must adopt a Public Housing Agency.
+ We must comply with Fair Housing Act.
+ Let's start by re-writing our LDC and quasi-judicial hearing procedures.
+ For transparency, Commissioners must never meet with zoning applicants ex parte.  
+ St. Augustine Mayor Nancy Shaver refused such meetings during her 1550 days as Mayor (making an exception when an applicant was allegedly being treated unfairly).
+ What kind of administrative judicial system lets zoning applicants meet secretly with elected officials?
+  Reject this corrupt system and will not be embroiled by it. 
+ We must require fuller corporate disclosure and better data. 
+ Require background investigations on zoning applicants -- know your customer! 
+ Are any zoning applicants involved in money-laundering,  
+ Environmental violations by zoning applicants must be researched by County staff and discussed publly in hearings.
+ We need full information on ex parte contacts with Commissioners, disclosed before hearings.
+ All ex parte meetings with Commissioners and staff must be videotaped and made a public record.  
+ As Daniel Patrick Moynihan said, "Secrey is for losers, for people who don't understand the value of the information.


- Trees and the proposed 14 point tree ordinance
+ Support proposed tree protection ordinance and spoke in favor of it, as did dozens of residents.  
+ I objected to four Commissioners' harsh response to First Amendment protected activity, evident retaliation against reform Commissioner Krista Joseph..

- Management of traffic and infrastructure
+ Support transit, impact fees and reform of zoning and planning as we know it.

- Septic tanks
+ Explore ban on new septic tanks in new construction
+ Monitor septic tank inspections and code enforcement.




6. What is your motivation for running to be a County Commissioner?
+ My first American ancestor escaped the British government-caused Irish potato famine in 1849, immigrating to Philadelphia with Irish neighbors at age six, the rest of her family died in famine.  My father taught me, as JFK's father taught him, that "if you don't stand up to people in power, they walk all over you."   JFK was killed 22 days after I proudly wore a JFK costume on Halloween, at age six. At age 17.5, I went to work for his brother, Sen. Ted Kennedy, the day before my first Georgetown class, inspired after hearing Ralph Nader speak on August 28, 1974 (Feast of St. Augustine).   
Love this magical place. We need to preserve what we know and love, with National Park Service help.  http://www.staugustgreen.com 
Moved here November 5, 1999, after falling in love with St. Augustine when we visited in August 1992, right after first environmental whistleblower trial against Oak Ridge National Laboratory.  
Faster than a speeding dump truck, what we love about St. Johns County is being destroyed. 



7. If you are elected or re-elected, what initiatives would you introduce or promote to protect the environment of St. Johns County?
* St. Augustine National Historical Park and National Seashore
* Environmental Regulatory Commission.
* Independent environmental impact statements for government project, as under NEPA.
* Lobbyist registration and background investigations.
* Video of every County Commissioner "ex parte' meeting with putative "developers."
* County whistleblower protection ordinance
* Reform zoning and planning as we know it. 

Thank you. 
With kindest regards, I am,
Sincerely yours,
Ed Slavin
Box 3084
St. Augustine, Florida 32085-3084
www.edslavin.com
(904) 377-4998


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