Guest Column: Dibrom is dangerous; treat it that way

Guest Column: Dibrom is dangerous; treat it that way By CECILE-MARIE SASTRE St. Augustine Publication Date: 10/10/04
The Oct. 4 aerial spraying of Dibrom, an organophosphate pesticide, should concern us all.
Our federal government (FEMA), at the behest of the Anastasia Mosquito Control, is exposing the residents of St. Johns County to a toxic compound which happens to be in the same class of chemical compounds as the chemical weapons Saddam Hussein used to gas his own people.Organophosphates were developed before World War II and used during it as nerve agents and chemical weapons.
After the war, they began to be used as pesticides.
According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Organophosphates such as Dibrom, Malathion, Chlorpyrifos disrupt the acetylcholinesterase (AChE) enzyme metabolism of insects, mammals and other animals, resulting in a buildup in the system of an enzyme whose balance is crucial for the proper functioning of the nervous system and the brain.
In effect, Dibrom and other organophosphates are poisonous to the nervous system and the brain.
Over 15 percent of the population of the U.S. has some form of Multiple Chemical Sensitivity (MCS): some do not know they have the condition.
Those who do know it are partially or completely disabled by it.
There is no cure for MCS, except avoidance of offending substances.
The majority of people with MCS developed the illness after acute or chronic, low-level exposures to pesticides, particularly organophosphates.
Many developed the illness after the cumulative effects of chemical exposures became impossible for the body to withstand.
But MCS is not the only consequence of exposure to pesticides and other toxic chemicals (which include perfumes, a completely unregulated industry).
Parkinson's Disease, Lupus, Lou Gehrig's Disease (ALS), Multiple Sclerosis, Asthma, Autism, learning disabilities, cancer and a host of other diseases have been tied to exposure to pesticides and other toxic chemicals.Most susceptible are fetuses, infants and children because their brains and nervous systems are still developing.
People with compromised immune systems such as those with HIV/AIDS, liver and kidney disease, cancer, etc. are also particularly vulnerable to the effects of toxic chemicals.
Women are also at risk because numerous toxic chemicals, including many found in pesticide compounds, are estrogen mimics.
That is, they behave like estrogen in the body and disrupt women's hormonal system.
Uterine and ovarian cancer, fibroids, endometriosis and breast cancer result from the disruption of estrogens, in large part.
Why are we fighting the war on terror around the world when our own government agencies are dousing us with the very class of chemicals used by terrorists?
There are safe, natural and effective alternatives to toxic pesticides.
Many municipalities and school districts throughout the U.S. and Canada have banned the use of toxic pesticides.It is high time we, in Florida, demand the same.I believe this is a civil and property rights issue as well as a health issue.
I did not consent to being doused with a neurotoxic compound or to be used as a guinea pig by the CDC.
I did not give anyone the right to invade my home, car and body with a poisonous pesticide.
If I were to put the same pesticide in someone's food, I would go to jail for murder or attempted murder.
If Dibrom is as safe and extensively tested as it is claimed, why is the CDC collecting urine samples?
And what a coincidence that FEMA and the CDC were ready to spray and collect urine right after the hurricanes, as if maybe they were already looking for a vulnerable population to expose in order to finish their test (which started by testing folks in Mississippi and North Carolina)?
I urge every resident of St. Johns County to join me in demanding that the Anastasia Mosquito Control stop any further spraying of toxic pesticides and find safe, alternative solutions.
Click here to return to story:http://staugustine.com/stories/101004/opi_2629872.shtml © The St. Augustine Record

Invasion of the Body Snatchers?

Invasion of the Body Snatchers?
Has a human body of an indigenous tribal member been removed from an archaeological site in the City of St. Augustine by someone other than our St. Augustine City archaeologist?
Have state and federal laws -- and Indian tribal rights -- been violated?
Will such indigenous burial site desecrations be reported and prevented in the future?
Will creation of the "St. Augustine National Historical Park and National Seashore" (see below) preserve our history?
Let’s end the charade of the Nation’s Oldest City presuming to know how to preserve history, when our City Manager and staff are more interested in fattening speculators.
What credibility hath the City of St. Augustine in seeking grants or hiring a lobbyist?
For over eight years, there have been no performance appraisals of our estimable City Manager, WILLIAM B. HARRISS. Commissioners voted him a heck-of-a-job-Brownie plaque in the midst of a pending criminal investigation (see below). Commissioners every day ratify HARRISS’ April 13, 1998 coronation.
Our City Administration disrespects indigenous burials.
Our City Administration took the entire contents of the old city dump and puts it into the Old City Reservoir.
Cost of cleanup is expected to exceed $1,000,000.00.
What next, indigenous cemeteries deposited in the Old City Reservoir, too?
Will HARRISS & Co. be placed under oath and required to testify at the April 23, 2007 City Commission meeting?
Or will HARRISS arrange for more scapegoats to be fired?
How many careers will be shredded for HARRISS’ sins of omission and commission?
How many millions of dollars will be wasted?
How many indigenous graves will be desecrated?
How much longer will HARRISS remain in office?
Will St. Augustine voters vote to recall five City Commissioners who are lickspittles for HARRISS?

City Commission to reconsider tree plan

City Commission to reconsider tree planPublication Date: 03/30/07
A decision to remove eight trees on Sevilla Street will be coming back before the St. Augustine City Commission.
Commissioner George Gardner said Thursday he plans at the next meeting on April 23 to call for a reconsideration of the vote to remove the trees.
"The action we took runs counter to this commission's effort to seek public input on all major decisions. The calls and e-mails I've received have made it clear that this tree canopy is a major concern for our citizens," Gardner wrote in an e-mail to The St. Augustine Record.
The decision was made at Monday's meeting when Flagler College asked the City Commission to permanently make Sevilla Street one way from Valencia Street to King Street.
Removing the trees also came up with College President William Abare Jr. saying Flagler would foot the bill for 11 trees if the eight were removed.
Only Vice Mayor Don Crichlow voted against the tree removal. Click here to return to story:http://staugustine.com/stories/033007/news_4501915.shtml © The St. Augustine Record

Guest Column: St. Augustine should have a national historical park

Guest Column: St. Augustine should have a national historical parkED SLAVINSt. AugustinePublication Date: 03/26/07
Real estate speculators (some foreign-funded) continue to destroy our local wildlife, habitat, nature and history. Roads are clogged. Noise abounds. Our way of life is being destroyed. Unfeeling, uncaring Philistines are turning St. Johns County into an uglier, unreasonable facsimile of South Florida. Unjust county government stewards allowed an asphalt plant near homes. Another plant reportedly emits 50 tons/year of volatile organic compounds into residents' and workers' lungs and brains.
Speculators are even trying to build homes on top of unremediated septic tanks/fields, while vacationing boaters pollute our Bay front with untreated sewage (the only boat-pumpout-station is at Conch House Marina). Our Bay front (which lacks a harbormaster) had an oil spill Jan. 15. Developers demand to build docks over city-owned State Road 312 area marshes for boat-owners' pleasure. Enough.
Let's invite environmental tourism by preserving an "emerald necklace of parks," including the city-owned marsh.
Ask Congress to hold hearings to map our "St. Augustine National Historical Park and National Seashore" (SANHPNS), using 1928-style trolleycars to save gasoline, uniting the Castillo and Fort Matanzas National Monuments, "slave market park," downtown streets, Government House, Red House Bluff indigenous village (next to historical society), marshes, forests, National Cemetery, GTM NERR, Anastasia State Park, Fort Mose and other city, county, state and St. Johns River Water Management District lands.
Let's cancel future shock/schlock/sprawl/ugliness/skyscrapers and eliminate temptations to abuse/neglect/misuse state parks and historic buildings for golf courses and rote, rube commercialism.
In December, State Sen. Jim King suggested Florida donate "deed and title" of state buildings to our city. I suggested that we deed them to the National Park Service (NPS), with St. George Street visitor center in restored buildings, saving millions (as in the New Bedford Whaling National Historical Park).
St. Augustine needs a national civil rights and indigenous history museum, celebrating local residents and national leaders, whose courage helped win passage of 1964's Civil Rights Act. Why not put the museum in the old Woolworth's building, restored to its former glory, with wood floors, lunch-counter and exhibits on the civil rights struggles that changed history (well- documented in Jeremy Dean's documentary, "Dare Not Walk Alone"), with "footsoldiers monument" across the street ?
Why not (finally) implement the 2003 National Trust for Historic Preservation and Flagler College study on how to protect our history? Let's tax tourists more to fund historic preservation, as in Charleston/elsewhere.
Let's preserve/protect the quality of our lives and visitors' experience (and property values) by preserving forever what speculators haven't destroyed (yet).
Let's adopt a three-year moratorium on growth, while we work to adopt truly comprehensive plans worthy of the name.
Colonial National Historical Park (NHP), Philadelphia's Independence NHP and NHPs in Boston, New Bedford, Valley Forge, San Francisco and Saratoga.
There's a Martin Luther King historical site in Atlanta, NHPs for "Rosie the Riveter" (California) and the "War in the Pacific" (Guam), and new parks slated for ten Japanese internment camps.
Florida hosts Everglades, Dry Tortugas and Biscayne National Parks and Canaveral National Seashore. Let's add St. Augustine to the list.
From sea to shining sea, America's coastal areas enjoy national parks. Where's ours?
Let's make parts of State Road A1A a National Parkway and hiking/biking trail, like the Colonial National Historical Parkway and the Baltimore Washington, George Washington, Rock Creek and John D. Rockefeller (Wyoming) Parkways and the Appalachian Trial and C&O Canal.
Let's add St. Augustine to the list of our nation's most beloved national parks, joining Zion, Yosemite, Grand Canyon, Bryce Canyon and the Great Smoky Mountains.
Florida's 500th and St. Augustine's 450th anniversaries are only six and eight years away (2013 and 2015). Enacting a national park and seashore will forever preserve the treasures that we love. It will halt the sprawl we hate, increase tourism and reduce local taxes, paying speculators to stop.
Mayor Joe Boles' mother graciously thanked me for speaking out on these issues after the Jan. 22 City Commission meeting -- issues that Mrs. Boles has been outspoken about for "30 years." Let's honor/heed Mrs. Boles' wisdom -- and those who proposed a national park before World War II. Let's save St. Augustine and our environment forever.
Ed Slavin lives in St. Augustine. Click here to return to story:http://staugustine.com/stories/032607/opinions_4479465.shtml © The St. Augustine Record

City of St. Augustine, Florida's Illegal Dumping Coverup continues: Day 375

City of St. Augustine, Florida’s Illegal Dumping Coverup continues: Day 375
30,000,000 pounds of contaminants were dumped from the old city dump into the Old City Reservoir -- enough to fill in six Olympic size swimming pools to a depth of six feet or to cover a football field to a depth of 11.2 feet.
For 375 days, since February 27, 2006, there has been a full-on coverup -- public questions are not being answered, the State’s Attorney is not prosecuting, the City Attorney and Public Works Director mysteriously resigned, and the City is in the process of being fined (proposed fine $47,248). FDEP did not propose the $47,248 fine until AFTER the November 2006 elections, helping re-elect incumbents GEORGE GARDNER and JOSEPH LEROY BOLES, JR.
Our questions have never been answered by City Commissioners, who would rather talk about anything but the massive pollution scandal.
The range of questions that our City government will not answer is not mind-boggling.
Consider these excerpts from the March 11, 2006 City Commission minutes of the City of St. Augustine::.
Ed Slavin, P. O. Box 3084, stated that he had been waiting for answers, and he proceeded with statements about the City along with questions as follows: The City was withholding documents he had requested The City should post the entire agenda on their website What was happening with the archeological site next to the high school When would the Commissioners vote for a living wage What about a moratorium on junkets and development When would the Commissioners address the numerous technical problems that occurred during Commission meetings St. Augustine was being ruined by developers Which Commissioners visited the old city reservoir, when, with whom and what were they told Why was dumping occurring in the old city reservoir after the St. Johns Water Management District ordered the City to stop dumping by certified letter on January 10 th Why did the City dump approximately 20,000 cubic yards of plastic, metal and other refuse and unclean fill in the reservoir after being ordered not to do so Did the City consider the laws merely suggestions Was it the first time the City had dumped in the reservoir or on other property without proper permits What year did the City start dumping in the reservoir What and how much had been dumped since the City started dumping at each place that they dumped on How many fish were in the reservoir before the latest dumping Were there any fish alive in there now and how many How many fish were killed by the dumping Had the City checked on the fish and if not, why not What had the City learned from the dumping Was a chief environmental office required to protect the environment from further destruction What baseline data existed about aquatic life and water purity in the reservoir What analytical chemistry tests had the City performed in the reservoir since February 27 th and what were the results Who knew the City was dumping at the reservoir
Had a professional engineer, the City Attorney, Mr. Pence (City environmental Attorney), the City auditor or the City Commission approved the dumping How come the City had not dumped in a proper landfill with permits Who inspected the material prior to dumping What was the City Manager’s motivation for dumping in the reservoir and was his motivation learned from his predecessor Mr. Pomar Who was paying for the City environmental attorney, what was his hourly rate, how much had he billed to date, and he said he would like a copy Was the developer of the San Sebastian Inland Harbor project paying any of the cost to remediate the dumping and if not why not Was Mr. Pence representing individual City managers and the City at the same time and was that a conflict of interest Why was the City dumping on City property for a private developer and who had approved it What public purpose was served by dumping in the reservoir The River Management District denied a discount permit unless there was a public purpose He was waiting to hear the public purpose for dumping in the reservoir

12.B/ GENERAL PUBLIC PRESENTATIONS AND COMMENTS (15 minutes per presentations) (None Scheduled) Adjournment There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 7:03 p.m.

Tree-cutting mania, public speaker censorship in St. Augustine, Florida

Tree-cutting mania, public speaker censorship in St. Augustine
This week FOLIO WEEKLY rightly reported the illegal tree-cutting by the Elks Club, reported by my friend and mentor, Ms. Robin Nadeau (with whom we recently celebrated her 81st birthday). FOLIO also reported the shocking behavior of St. Augustine Mayor JOSEPH LEROY BOLES, JR., giving him a "brickbat." I was late and did not observe BOLES’ behavior, but here is how FOLIO WEEKLY reported it:
"Brickbats to St. Augustine Mayor Joe Boles for insulting a resident at a public meeting, then cutting him off when their exchange prevented the speaker from completing his comments. Boles interrupted resident Les Garcia’s comments to ask if he were "under the influence," a comment other commissioners found inappropriate. Garcia tried to resume his presentation, but Boles cut him off, saying his time had elapsed. When Garcia refused to stop speaking, Boles had police remove him from the meeting."
Observations:
1. The same Commissioners who refuse to answer questions about illegal dumping often bait citizens, stealing their time with non sequiturs and telling them their time has elapsed.
2. Some Commissioners have appeared to be intoxicated at meetings, with City Manager WILLIAM B. HARRISS sometimes driving one of them home.
3. Some Commissioners leave meetings early, with no explanation why they’re departing. One Commissioner misses most meetings.
4. These Commissioners are getting very testy, because St. Augustine citizen-activists, like good diplomats, will not take no for an answer. Sunshine violations, waste, fraud, abuse and illegal dumping demand answers.
5. If Commissioners "can’t stand the heat, they should get out of the kitchen," as Harry S Truman put it best.

Are environmental devastators hiding behind supposed Internet anonymity?

1. In 2003, 157 of 159 applications for rezoning were approved by the then-St. Johns County, Florida Commission. Locals called them a corrupt rubber-stamp for powerful economic interests who are ruining this beautify county with shoddy "developments" without adequate infrastructure, destroying our wildlife, wetlands and way of life.
2. In 2004, Ben Rich was elected to County Commission. Thank God.A retired federal law enforcement official, he walked the county, heard our concerns and is against corruption and favoritism.
3. In 2006, two other populist skeptics were elected.
4. In 2007, did landraping, clearcutting overdevelopers" use a putative "blog" to attack St. Johns County, Florida Commission Chairman Ben Rich, retaliating for his courageous stands against destruction of our natural beauty and pleasures, our land, air, water?
5. Did those who want to destroy the reasons people love to visit and live here with tacky clear-cutting and metastasized "development" trash Ben Rich?
6. Thanks to the St. Augustine Record, we may know the answer.
7. I appreciate Mr. Rogers Cadenhead's concern about personal privacy. http://www.cadenhead.org/workbench/
8. Ironically, the local government and business carping harpies (I call them the "anonymice") who frequent the St. Augustine Record "Talk of the Town" website have hid behind anonymity for years, making ad hominem attacks on all persons who criticize government officials (including archaeology issues, St. Augustine's illegal dumping of the contents of the old city dump into the Old City Reservoir, race discrimination and refusal to fly the Gay Rainbow flags on our Bridge of Lions (leading to a federal court order that the flags fly June 7-13, 2005). See, e.g., www.cleanupcityofstaugustine.blogspot.com
9. ToTTers' antics are a reflection of a control group that is losing its grip on St. Johns County. Last year, I was kicked off ToTT for supposedly "outing" ToTTers who already identified themselves.
10. Some "anonymice" ToTTers attacking my right to engage in First Amendment protected activity were local government officials, businesspeople and their spouses and entourages.
11. These "anonymice" have chilled free speech here for years on ToTT.
12. Likewise, the "anonymice" behind the www.localsafety.org have a (barely) hidden agenda.
13. The public has a right to know.
14. As Justice Louis Brandeis said, "sunlight is the best disinfectant."
15. While the right to anonymous posting on the Internet is protected by the First Amendment against government interference.
16. No "state action" is involved in the St. Augustine Record's effort to learn the true identity of the "anonymice" behind the www.localsafety.org website.
17. The identity of the "anonymice" behind www.localsafety.org is news. 18. Kudos to Morris Communications and the St. Augustine Record for exercising their God-given First Amendment right to identify those who contributed to www.localsafety.org.
19. Will the malefactors of great wealth who seek to skewer Ben Rich be hoist on their own petard?
20. Will landraping, clearcutting, uglifying foreign investment interests that seek to destroy our county (and turn it into South Florida) kindly identify themselves?
21. Why must they hide behind "private corporations?"
22. Are they ashamed of what they have done to the wetlands, wildlife, land and people of St. Johns County?
23. Do they reckon themselves above the public's right to know?
24. They have the "right to remain silent," but we wish they wouldn't.
25. By County Commission Chairman Ben Rich announcing his 2008 candidacy earlier this week, the www.localsafety.org crew knew that they would have to disclose their identity as a Political Action Committee (PAC).
26. That's why www.localsafety.org pulled the plug on their "blog" -- they can't stand scrutiny and have contempt for our democracy. As St. Augustine Record Editor Pete Ellis reportedly wrote another blogger, "There's a difference between a blogger and a political action committee." www.writingcompany.blogs.com As Pete Ellis wrote above, "Many of you are confusing a blogger with a political action committee. "Lee Padgett is a fictitious person; he does not exist. The web site under his name was set up by a political action committee. The goal is to find out what that political action committee is." I agree. Taking out a newspaper ad under a false name may also be a breach of contract, depending upon how the Record's ad rate card and contracts are written.
27. So, to solve the kerfuffle, will the www.localsafety.org funders kindly call the St. Augustine Record (or me) and identify yourselves?
28. Confession is good for the soul -- just as investigative reporting is good for the soul of a democracy.
29. Thank you, Pete Ellis and St. Augustine Record for working to disclose the identity of the "frontman" for developers, in order to expose who funded www.localsafety.org, which may involve possible state and federal crimes, including RICO and Hobbs Act. The wrecking crew of uglifying discredited overdevelopers, manipulators and controllers -- they can run, but they can't hide. See, e.g., www.cleanupcityofstaugustine.blogspot.com
30. Cheers!With kindest regards,Sincerely yours,
Ed Slavin
www.cleanupcityofstaugustine.blogspot.comBox 3084St. Augustine, Florida 32085904-471-7023904-471-9918 (fax)

City Apologizes for Racial Wrongs, Thank You for Listening, Commissioners

St. Augustine City Commissioners Monday voted to apologize for past racial injustice wrongs. See article below. I first proposed something like it in April 2005. Thank you for listening, Commissioners.

As Commissioner Jones’ original, unexpurgated resolution said (in the immortal words Matt Damon said to Robin Williams in "Good Will Hunting"), "Let the Healing Begin."

City apologizes for racial wrongs

City apologizes for racial wrongsJones dissents over changes to make resolution 'look pretty'MARCIA LANEmarcia.lane@staugustine.comPublication Date: 02/27/07
The St. Augustine City Commission apologized Monday to all who "suffered the indignities" and "painful emotions and anger" during the city's civil rights turmoil in the 1960s.
However, the commissioner who made the resolution didn't vote for it after other commissioners changed two words at Monday's St. Augustine City Commission meeting.
"I don't need someone else to tell me how to express my feelings," Commissioner Errol Jones said after the vote. Jones, who is black, said he had been thinking about the need for the city to apologize for some time.
During the annual Martin Luther King Jr. breakfast he decided "once a year we people get up and say rah, rah for civil rights and then 364 days of the year they go home and do nothing about it. That's blacks and whites. We need to be doing things that have long-term effects."
His resolution called for the city to "formally and sincerely expresses its regret to all who suffered the indignities endured, the painful emotions, and anger during the time. For this, we show nothing but sorrow."
Other commissioners raised concerns over the word "its," arguing that could lead to legal challenges.
"I'm not against this resolution. I think it's very apropos during this time. I'm just concerned about the wording of it and what it may open up for St. Augustine," Vice Mayor Don Crichlow said.
He suggested several sentences changes.
Commissioners also disagreed with Jones' assertion that there had been no healing of wounds caused during the civil rights demonstrations that rocked St. Augustine in 1964.
They suggested changing a phrase in Jones' original resolution that read, " We the City Commission of the City of St. Augustine, do herein express our words of profound regret and remorse ... 'Let the healing begin.' "
Commissioner Susan Burk wanted "let the healing begin" changed to "let the healing continue."
"Since 1964, I believe a lot of healing has occurred. To suggest otherwise is wrong," Burk said.
Jones replied, "The wound is there and the need for an apology of this type is needed. Not, not, not, as we say, shining it up or making it look pretty for Sunday School. We're telling it like it is. I'm not prepared to accept an amendment that glosses over the seriousness of it the importance of it."
Burk then said, "You're not willing to accept changing even one word."
Jones said she was right.
There was no argument over the words "that we celebrate the efforts of the foot soldiers who worked to change the system of racial segregation in what the future will view as one of St. Augustine's greatest gifts to America and to the world."
Commissioners eventually passed the resolution with the two changes. Mayor Joe Boles, Commissioner George Gardner and Burk voted for the resolution.
Jones and Crichlow voted against it.
Jones said later he would not give up on pushing for a resolution in which the city and people took responsibility for the injustices.
"You can't hide it. We have had no reconciliation," Jones said. Before people can move on, he said, they have to admit the injustices.Click here to return to story:http://staugustine.com/stories/022707/news_4432045.shtml © The St. Augustine Record

Editorial: City tour guide test lacks pivotal partof city's history

Editorial: City tour guide test lacks pivotal partof city's history Publication Date: 02/23/07
St. Augustine's official tour guide manual ignores a key part of St. Augustine's history: black history.
The manual, which is sold to prospective tour guides, encompasses a dress code, ethics, tour routes, basic historical information, historic sites, modern facts and figures and suggested readings about the city's history. Prospective guides are expected to study it and then be tested on its contents in order to become a licensed tour guide for hire.
The licensing was developed years ago after city officials heard numerous complaints about the lack of uniform tour information. Guides were not licensed and almost every tour was different depending on who told the story.
The city's past often was told through family histories, folk lore, and many times, half truths about St. Augustine's five centuries. For example, in years past, some guides would comment that Napoleon Bonaparte had visited St. Augustine's Prince Murat house on St. George Street. In truth, Murat was a nephew of Bonaparte.
It is not clear how the guide missed on the city's black history. It was last revised in 2002.
Examples of black history missing from the tour guide are:
Fort Mose de Gracia de Santa Teresa, the first free black settlement in what is now the United States. Mose was a fort and a town run by runaway slaves from the British colonies. Fort Mose protected the northern defense of Spanish St. Augustine from 1738 until 1763 when Spanish rule gave way to British rule. The fort itself is non-existent but the site is a state park, north of the city off U.S. 1.
Lincolnville, the city's oldest black business and residential section. It was established by freed slaves after the Civil War. It is one of the city's historic districts. Famed singer Ray Charles is said to have performed at clubs in Lincolnville while he was a student at the Florida School for the Deaf and the Blind.
St. Augustine's role in the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s, including the arrest of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in 1964 for trying to integrate the Monson Motor Lodge Restaurant. St. Augustine was the only city in Florida where King was arrested. Numerous sites have recently been marked by the Civil Rights Memorial Projects Committee.
The St. Augustine City Commission must take charge of the problem and fix it because the study guide and test are part of the city's licensing requirement. It's time for St. Augustine City Commissioner Errol Jones to take the lead on getting the tour guide and test revised. He will find no shortage of black heritage groups in the city ready to help. We encourage him to move on this project soon.
St. Augustine's prospective tour guides deserve the most accurate information possible about the city's history. It's disgraceful that the city's official tour guide and test ignores black history. Click here to return to story:http://staugustine.com/stories/022307/opinions_4423046.shtml © The St. Augustine Record

Letter: City needs greater protection of resources

Letter: City needs greater protection of resources
Judith Seraphin
St. Augustine
Publication Date: 02/11/07
Editor: Let's adopt a moratorium on development of our local St. Augustine area and the history, wetlands, forests, seashores and wildlife, at least until our 110th Congress holds hearings about preservation.
The alternative is developers who propose to develop housing on arsenic-contaminated lands, sewage-polluted lands and pesticide-contaminated lands that is undisclosed to buyers. The alternative to what should be a National Seashore, is daily turned into a "national sacrifice area" for developers, who systematically destroy all the reasons so many of us chose to move here in the first place.
The "alternative" is rubberstamping the short-sighted plans of those who are euchred to sell their generations-old birthright to foreign developers, destroying our region's nature for short-term profits, while refusing to disclose the owners of the sell-out organizations.
Let's follow the examples of my native Philadelphia's Independence National Historical Park, and of the Cape Cod National Seashore, and our nation's other national parks and national seashores.
Let's just say "no" to the secretive, other-directed, undisclosed, environmentally-insensitive (and foreign-funded) developers and investors who have no respect for our history, culture, wildlife and experience.
What's good enough for Boston, Philadelphia, New Bedford, Cape Cod, Washington, D.C., Guam, San Francisco and other national parklands is good enough for St. Augustine, Florida. Working with city, county and state elected representatives, the people of St. Augustine and St. Johns County must work to preserve our local/regional history and wildlife habitats inviolate, forever. I strongly support Ed Slavin's proposal for a "St. Augustine National Historical Park and National Seashore," now.
Who among us could possibly disagree?Click here to return to story:http://staugustine.com/stories/021107/opinions_439181b.shtml © The St. Augustine Record

Letter: City needs greater protection of resources

Letter: City needs greater protection of resources



Judith Seraphin
St. Augustine
Publication Date: 02/11/07


Editor: Let's adopt a moratorium on development of our local St. Augustine area and the history, wetlands, forests, seashores and wildlife, at least until our 110th Congress holds hearings about preservation.

The alternative is developers who propose to develop housing on arsenic-contaminated lands, sewage-polluted lands and pesticide-contaminated lands that is undisclosed to buyers. The alternative to what should be a National Seashore, is daily turned into a "national sacrifice area" for developers, who systematically destroy all the reasons so many of us chose to move here in the first place.

The "alternative" is rubberstamping the short-sighted plans of those who are euchred to sell their generations-old birthright to foreign developers, destroying our region's nature for short-term profits, while refusing to disclose the owners of the sell-out organizations.

Let's follow the examples of my native Philadelphia's Independence National Historical Park, and of the Cape Cod National Seashore, and our nation's other national parks and national seashores.

Let's just say "no" to the secretive, other-directed, undisclosed, environmentally-insensitive (and foreign-funded) developers and investors who have no respect for our history, culture, wildlife and experience.

What's good enough for Boston, Philadelphia, New Bedford, Cape Cod, Washington, D.C., Guam, San Francisco and other national parklands is good enough for St. Augustine, Florida. Working with city, county and state elected representatives, the people of St. Augustine and St. Johns County must work to preserve our local/regional history and wildlife habitats inviolate, forever. I strongly support Ed Slavin's proposal for a "St. Augustine National Historical Park and National Seashore," now.

Who among us could possibly disagree?


Click here to return to story:
http://www.staugustine.com/stories/021107/opinions_439181b.shtml

© The St. Augustine Record

Nocatee, Florida Superfund Site

The Davis family (Winn-Dixie supermarkets) chose the name of Nocatee for their massive housing development in St. Johns and Duval County forests. Nocatee was a perfectly good name for an existing town in DeSoto County, with its own Zip code.

Steamrollering environmentalists, the PARC group and the Davises got approval for Nocatee, tree-killing and all, with a few crumbs (parks in wetlands they could not develop anyway).

Now it turns out there's a Superfund site associated with that other Nocatee.

Public relations and marketing people from the Davis' Nocatee will now get to knock themselves out distinguishing their Nocatee from the other one -- the one with the Superfund site and litigation.


So eager to steal and exploit a perfectly good indigenous tribal name (and existing Florida place name), Nocatee's speculators must be waiting for their South Sea bubble to burst. Who knows, maybe people won't buy fancy homes in forests and wetlands in the middle of nowhere. Maybe the wildlife will survive the speculators who would crush their bodies into burning pyres of trees and animals.

Maybe Nocatee will be a spectacular speculator failure, foremost among many.

Meanwhile, since Folio Weekly reported several years ago pollution on some of the Davises' other land, has anyone bothered to do their due diligence about illegal dumping in this Nocatee? Has anyone used ground-penetrating radar and helicopter sensors to look for illegal dumping?

Or will homeowners be left to find barrels for themselves> That's the way they may find other surprises from real estate speculators (one of whom was recently caught trying to build a house on top of unremediated septic tanks/fields, until the St. Johns County Health Department, on referral from County Commission Chairman Ben Rich, saved the day (after EPA and DEP officials were inscouciant).

"St. Augustine National Historical Park and National Seashore" Gains Support

Will our Congressman John Mica and our local public officials propose and get enacted a "St. Augustine National Historical Park and National Seashore," embracing areas that deserve protection?

Or will land-raping developers be allowed to pave over every part of our city and county, making it look, feel and smell like New York City?

So many other places -- from Guam to Cape Cod to Cape Canaveral to the Everglades -- have national parks and national seashores. Why not St. Augustine and St. Johns County? (See below).

A St. Augustine national park was first proposed before World War II. It's about time we create it.

Let's empower America's favorite federal agency, the National Park Service (NPS), to do what NPS does best.

After the January 22, 2007 St. Augustine City Commission meeting, Mrs. Maureen Boles (St. Augustine Mayor Joseph Boles' mother), came up, introduced herself, took my hand in both her hands and graciously thanked me for "speaking out" on the need for a national park, and on historic and natural preservation issues, on which she's been outspoken for "30 years."

To honor Mrs. Boles (and those who first proposed the national park before WWII), let's take decisive action now.

Let every citizen be heard on the park. What should be included?
How should it be managed?

To those city residents who want to save money, let's move the history-preservation function from the city government to NPS.

To those county commissioners who want to save money, let's deed some county parklands to NPS.

To those Florida state officials who want to save money, let's deed some Florida state parks and historic properties to NPS.

To the St. Johns River Water Management District board, let's deed SJRWMD parks to NPS.

Let's adopt a management plan for "St. Augustine National Historical Park and National Seashore" that preserves, protects and defends our history, nature and wildlife for future generations.

We can do it.

What do the engineering firm of Prosser Hallock (rhymes with "Moloch"), the Rogers Towers law firm and Samco Constructors have in mind for Elkton, FL?

What do the engineering firm of Prosser Hallock (rhymes with "Moloch"), the Rogers Towers law firm and Samco Constructors have in mind for Elkton, Florida?

Elkton is presently a rural area in St. Johns County known for its good soil, for potato and cabbage farms and for rural beauty.

Unknown speculators hiding behind a corporate veil want to plop thousands of homes on top of potentially pesticide-contaminated, petroleum-contaminated and turpentine-contaminated soils (even considering asking for another "brownfield" designation.

On January 29th, Prosser Hallock and Rogers Towers had a get-together at Jim's Place, a restaurant in Elkton, providing lukewarm food (and buckets of sugary iced tea), trying to win friends and influence neighbors.

It didn't work.

Patronizing the residents, few straight answers were given to questions about wetlands, affordable housing and already clogged local roads.
Hurricane evacuation of Anastasia Island and other areas could be imperiled. There were five hour backups on SR 207 during one hurricane, even before some 80,000 new residents moved to the county, one resident said.

One local resident noted the wetlands in the area for which a "Development of Regional Impact" (DRI) is being sought, stating how there was "chest high water" in the area after one rainfall.

Prosser Hallock and Rogers Towers could not and would not answer questions articulately, whether they involved wetlands, traffic or corporate ownership.

"It's a private company," one hobbledehoy sniffed.

Do foreign speculators have to destroy all the farms, nature, beauty, seashores and history in St. Johns County and St. Augustine?

Does money from India, China and elsewhere speak louder than local residents?

Do local farmers have to sell their land, or are they greedy?

Will destruction of agriculture result in U.S. dependency on pesticide-contaminated foreign food imports?

Will there be an OPEC of food once our U.S. agriculture economy is destroyed?

Is the Elkton DRI based upon need, or greed?

Will speculators be candid with citizens, or do they suppose that it is "business as usual," as under the ancien regime, when arrogant, smug, dictatorial, speculators' lawyers ruled the roost in our St. Johns County Commission under the suzerainty of the likes of Bruce Maguire and Karen Stern?

What do you reckon?

Guest Column: Press must get tough on city leaders

Guest Column: Press must get tough on city leaders

DAVID BRIAN WALLACE
St. Augustine
Publication Date: 01/14/07
We sincerely appreciate improvements in the St. Augustine Record and hope it continues to improve. Increased news coverage is deserved of lawbreaking by city of St. Augustine officials.
St. Augustine city government's lawbreaking continued three days before Christmas. City Commission broke the Sunshine law (again) by voting Dec. 22 to ban venders from the Plaza de la Constitucion and to hire Ron Brown as permanent city attorney. The special meeting notice said it was solely to enact tax breaks for low-income elderly. St. Augustine city officials cared not for public rights to notice and an opportunity to speak.
City commissioners violated the Sunshine law on Oct. 13 when they hired Ron Brown as temporary city attorney, with no advance notice. City officials must be investigated by grand jurors.
Why do city officials always have to be picking on someone, and holding illegal meetings? Are disgruntled city officials only happy when they are making someone else unhappy? Do they think their "gotcha" government wins friends?
Our city government created the homelessness problem. Remember the buskers, artists, entertainers and musicians along St. George Street? Though buskers were popular with tourists, our misguided City Manager, William B. Harriss, and Commission (Commissioner Susan Burk dissenting), banned buskers from St. George Street. The city promised they could use the public market in the Plaza. Now panhandlers have replaced St. George Street buskers. Venders are being kicked out of the Plaza.
Homelessness is a predictable result of governments neglecting responsibilities and corporations' shipping our jobs overseas ñ Lou Dobbs' "Race to the Bottom."
We need investigative reporting, not government and corporate apologists.
Too often, press and politicians forget they work for the people.
Legislating against buskers, musicians, artists, entertainers, the homeless and venders will not make anyone happier or wealthier.
"Blaming the victims" of poverty is a wretched excuse for public policy or journalism.
The Record must continue to improve its coverage during 2007, shining the searchlight of investigative reporting, empowered by Florida's Sunshine law, on corrupt, dysfunctional local organizations.
St. Augustine city officials must be held accountable by the people, prosecutors, the courts and Gov. Charlie Crist (who has created an office of Government Openness, which sounds promising). Let's persist in exposing wrongdoing and demanding that public meetings and records be open and understood, eliminating wasteful spending.
Like good diplomats, we must not take "no" for an answer. City of St. Augustine pollution, Sunshine and open records violations must be remedied/stopped. Dumping the contents of St. Augustine's old city dump into the Old City Reservoir was only the tip of the proverbial iceberg in local governments' involvement in environmental crimes. We must investigate and prosecute environmental crimes (including bald eagle nest-tree cutters, clear-cutters, polluters and wetland-destroyers).
Let's solve environmental and historic preservation problems creatively, graciously.
Let's ask Congress and the president to enact a "St. Augustine National Historical Park and National Seashore" for everyone. I agree with Ed Slavin's idea, first shared at the Nov. 13, 2006, City Commission meeting. There's no principled reason for St. Augustine not to share federal park dollars spent liberally elsewhere. St. Augustine deserves an actual "National Park" (not just the Castillo de San Marcos and Fort Matanzas, both "National Monuments").
The National Park Service (NPS) is America's most trusted, favorite federal agency, with long experience/expertise.
Let's combine historic city streets, the Anastasia State Park and Guana Tolomato Matanzas National Estuarine Research Reserve (formerly Guana River State Park), Red House Bluff, and other local history/nature into one world-class tourist destination, administered by NPS, inspired by Cape Cod, New Bedford and Philadelphia national parks/seashores. Let's preserve history/nature and culture, earning more national and international tourists' time (not just daytrips from nearby neighbors).
We're blessed with an opportunity of a lifetime: voters' righteous revulsion against wholesale history/nature destruction (and current real estate market). Let's unite our diverse community, working to preserve what makes St. Augustine and St. Johns County great, unique, enjoyable. Future generations will thank us and praise our leaders' vision. St. Augustine National Historical Park and National Seashore:
Let's get it done. It's up to us.

Click here to return to story:
http://staugustine.com/stories/011407/opinions_4311095.shtml

© The St. Augustine Record

Not Unexpected

Reporter Peter Guinta's article in today's St. Augustine Record says it was "unexpected" for Governor Crist to create a new Office of Government Openness. Unexpected by whom? Why?

Governor Crist announced plans to create the office several weeks ago.

As JFK said during the Cuban Missile Crisis, "there's always some poor SOB who doesn't get the word."

For Decades, Local Governments Violating Sunshine Law By Banning Employees from Attending Public Meetings

For decades, local governments in St. Augustine and St. Johns County, Florida wrongfully excluded their own government employees from our government meetings.

Calls to City of St. Augustine officials about this illegal policy were not answered last week. (See below).

Local governments with policies excluding government employees included the Anastasia Mosquito Control Commission under longtime Director Hampton Mickler, as well as the city of St. Augustine City Commmission, whose policy is apparently still chilling city employees (other than courageous firemen) from attending. Employees were long told they cold not attend City Commission meetings without permission

The office of Florida State Attorney General Charles Crist was kind enough to answer my questiosn about this matter today, (New Year's Day 2007), by E-mail. Tomorrow General Charles Crist will become Governor Charles Crist.

The answer to the question is a resounding NO -- read it for yourself. See below.
A 1979 State Attorney General's opinion shows that these actions violated the law.
Fear, "team-playwr" ideologies and lack of competent legal advice have excluded employees from the meetings of governments for which they work.

For 28 years after the question was asked the Attorney General, local lugubrious goobers in St. Augustine and St. Johns County have been trampling upon the public's right to know, including the right of government employees to attend meetings of the City, County and other Commissions for which they work.

-----------------------------

Here's the full text of the 1979 Attorney General's opinion:

Number: AGO 79-01
Date: January 9, 1979
Subject: Sunshine law, personnel matters


Frank C. Chavers
Executive Director
Housing Authority of the City of Cocoa
Cocoa

QUESTIONS:

1. Does the Government in the Sunshine Law permit the board of commissioners of a municipal housing authority to exclude the executive director and other members of the authority's staff from the public meetings of the board when the board is discussing personnel matters?

2. If the answer to question 1 is in the negative, is such an exclusion permissible if members of the news media are present at the meeting?

3. If the first two questions are answered in the negative, is such an exclusion permissible if no other members of the public have chosen to attend the meeting of the board?

SUMMARY:

The Government in the Sunshine Law prohibits the governing body of a municipal housing authority from excluding the executive director and other members of the authority's staff from a public meeting in which the board discusses personnel matters, regardless of whether members of the news media are in attendance or whether any other members of the public are present.

Since your questions are interrelated, they will be answered together.

The Government in the Sunshine Law, s. 286.011, F. S. (1978 Supp.), provides, in pertinent part:


(1) All meetings of any board or commission . . . of any agency or authority of any county, municipal corporation or any political subdivision . . . at which official acts are to be taken are declared to be public meetings open to the public at all times . . .. (Emphasis supplied.)

The governing body of a municipal housing authority operating under Ch. 421, F. S., is a public agency within the purview of the Sunshine Law; therefore, the meetings of that body must be 'open to the public.' Attorney General Opinion 076-102. Webster's Third International Dictionary, at page 1836, defines 'public' to mean 'the people as a whole.' Clearly, the staff of a municipal housing authority are members of the public as well as employees of the authority; hence, such persons may not be excluded from the meetings of the board of commissioners of the authority unless the meetings themselves are exempted by law from the requirements of s. 286.011, supra. The presence of newspaper reporters or other representatives of the media at a meeting of a public body does not foreclose the right of other members of the public to attend such public meetings. Cf. Informal Opinion to Mr. Johnie A. McLeod, November 2, 1976, in which this office concluded that the fact that a city councilman is owner and publisher of the local newspaper does not serve to exempt such councilman from the scope of s. 286.011. The fact that no other members of the public are present at the meeting likewise does not authorize any circumvention of the requirements of s. 286.011. The phrase 'open to the public' means open to all persons who choose to attend. See s. 286.011(2), which provides that '[t]he circuit courts of this state shall have jurisdiction to issue injunctions to enforce the purposes of this section upon application by any citizen of this state' (Emphasis supplied.); and s. 286.011(6), stating that all persons subject to subsection (1) of the statute are prohibited from holding meetings at any facility or location which, inter alia, operates in such a manner as to unreasonably restrict public access to such a facility.

Moreover, it might be noted that no law permits a public body to discuss personnel matters in secret (except collective bargaining sessions to the extent provided in s. 447.605[1], F. S.). Further, the courts have declined to imply an exception to the Sunshine Law for meetings relating to personnel matters. As stated by the Second District Court of Appeal in Times Publishing Co. v. Williams, 222 So.2d 470, 474 (2 D.C.A. Fla., 1969):

'[P]ersonnel Matters' are not sacred nor legally privilged, nor do they enjoy any insulation from legislative control. Here we are aided by the history of the act's passage, and conclude that the legislature specifically intended to include 'personnel matters' within the 'open meetings' mandate of the act. (Emphasis supplied by the court.)

See also Wolfson v. State, 344 So.2d 611, 614 (2 D.C.A. Fla., 1977), in which the court held that an indictment charging the defendant with a criminal violation of the Sunshine Law was sufficient when it alleged that the defendant 'while serving as an elected City Commissioner of the City Commission of Lake Wales' met with other city commissioners at a secret meeting and that 'at said meeting matters pertaining to City Commission business, to-wit: Employment of the City Attorney, was [sic] discussed . . ..' As a caveat, however, it should be noted that the Sunshine Law does not preclude the reasonable application of ordinary personnel policies, for example, the requirement to use annual leave to attend meetings, provided that such policies do not frustrate or subvert the purposes of the Sunshine Law.

Accordingly, your questions are answered in the negative.

Prepared by:

Patricia R. Gleason
Assistant Attorney General

Comments on St. Augustine & St.. Johns County Office Pool 2007

Comments on the St. Augustine and St. Johns County Office Pool 2007 include assertions that it is "brilliant" (aw, shucks) and too long (I plead nolo contendere) and not as tough on Governor Charles Crist as it is on local malefactors of great wealth and their minions (a fair criticism).

Time will tell.

Meanwhile, for a good time, read the hagiongraphy emitted from national nad local newspapers and TV about the late President Gerald R. Ford.

We're grateful that former President Ford condemned Bush's war in Iraq posthumously and that he stood up for human rights, appointing John Paul Stevens to the Supreme Court. Yet hearing his sycophantic 1973 Watergate tape kissing President Nixon's butt the day after Nixon accepted the resignation of Haldeman and Ehrlichman reminds us that Ford was a "team player," who pardoned Nixon, a criminal scoundrel.

The comparisons are obvious. President Gerald R. Ford made Reagan look intellectual, Bush I look scholarly and Bush II look honest by comparison. Ford's Republican Party was a "big tent," compared to today's national Republican party, full of hate for diversity.

President Ford had the perspicacity to debate Jimmy Carter and to hold frequent press conferences, both as President and Vice President.

By comparison, some local public officials in St. Augustine, Florida avoid debate and won't even answer questions (like the questions we've been seeking answers to since February 24 on the Nation's Oldest City dumping 20,000 cubic yards of contaminants in the Old City Reservoir.

It's one thing to be conservative (or liberal): it's another thing to take the point of view that "l'etat c'est moi." Our local oligarchs have much to learn from history, including the lessons of Watergate.


St. Augustine politics still hews to the Spanish colonial past in a City that brags on being founded by murderous colonists in 1565, the same year that Ivan the Terrible founded the KGB's forerunner.

St. Augustine will learn and grow in the New Year, as local progressives persist in uncovering misdeeds by misanthropes.

What do you reckon?

St. Augustine and St. Johns County, Florida Office Pool 2007

This Office Pool is written with tongue-in-cheek and a tip-of-the-hat, admiration and my sincere appreciation to NY Times' semi-retired columnist William Safire (sesquipedalian former Vice President Spiro T. Agnew speechwriter who coined such Nixonian bon mots as "nattering nabobs of negativism").
The venerable William Safire has been writing -- and I've been reading -- his New Year's "Office Polls" for 33 years. Mr. Safire published his 33rd Office Pool this morning.
So here's my 2007 Office Pool for St. Augustine and St. Johns County. As Mr. Safire said in a prior year, "You've got to play to win." Here goes:
1. St. Johns County Commissioner Jim Bryant will:
a. Be indicted;
b. Resign;
c. Be fired by Governor Charles Crist;
d. Go to work for clear-cutting developers, like other former Commissioners;
e. Fall asleep at County Commission meetings;
f. Try to make the County taxpayers pay for the lawyer he claimed he hired to "defend" himself against "slander," in a fit of pique at Ben Rich (now Commission Chair);
g. Write a haiku poem extolling the virtues of clear-cutting and tree-killing;
h. Leave Commission meetings early, pouting;
i. None of the above;
j. All of the above.

2. St. Augustine City Commissioners will find a new spirit of friendliness and openness as they:
a. Welcome Gay residents and tourists by banning anti-Gay discrimination in housing, public accommodations, employment and education;
b. Accept WILLIAM B. HARRISS' gracious, heart-felt resignation as City Manager, resulting in a spontaneous three-day street festival;
c. Welcome artists and entertainers back to St. George Street;
d. Admit to violating open records laws and Sunshine laws, apologizing;
e. Support legislation to create a new national park, the "St. Augustine National Historical Park and National Seashore";
f. Apologize for St. Augustine's 1964 bigotry and Philistinism, including the police riots, judicial abuses, KKK dominance of local government, arrest of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and the beating of Rev. Andrew Young while police watched (all of which resulted in enactment of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, as shown in Jeremy Dean's prize-winning documentary, "Dare Not Walk Alone";
g. Find new venues to violate Sunshine laws and thumb their nose at "just us folks," whether on a plane, in Spain, in NYC, in local business's backroom or at a Rolling Stones concert;
h. All of the above;
i. None of the above.

3. Tree-killing-clear-cutting developers will:
a. Be indicted;
b. Be shown to have corrupted County and City officials;
c. Be hated by everyone in St. Augustine and St. Johns County;
d. Try to redeem themselves in public opinion by donating/selling their ill-gotten land for the St. Augustine National Park and National Seashore.

4. Federal and state law enforcement agents will conduct surprise raids on:
a. Present and former Town of Hastings officials and local developers responsible for 2005 annexations;
b. Local officials responsible for zoning decisions;
c. Local developers;
d. Local hate groups;
e. Local restaurants and hotels employing workers at subminimum wages, some undocumented illegal immigrants;
f. Other organizational targets;
g. All of the above;
h. None of the above.

5. Archaeological find of the year 2007 will be:
a. Peer-reviewed scientific journal confirmation of the location of Pedro Menendez' first settlement (in and north of the Fountain of Youth Historical Park);
b. Actual interest by City officials in saving indigenous historical sites from overdevelopers;
c. Conflicts-of- interests discovered among people boisterously blocking and putting-down indigenous archaeological preservation efforts, including WILLETT ALBRIGHT BOYER, III (who went by "Freethinker" in obscene comments on the St. Augustine Record's "Talk of the Town" website);
d. More human bodies discovered and reported by St. Augustine city employees and construction worker, despite overdevelopers' desire to conceal them and the inconvenient truths of where they wish to erect more ugly buildings;
e. New-found courage by Florida Secretary of State's archaeological staff, empowered by Governor Crist to do their jobs without fear or favor;
f. City Manager WILLIAM B. HARRISS and his Planning and Zoning Director MARK KNIGHT are not now and never have been archaeologist and have no training or competence to supervise the City's Archaeology Department;
g. The PR flaks of the international corporate law firm once known as JONES, DAY, REAVIS, POGUE may be related to Neanderthals, as established by his St. Augustine coal-to-gas plant "victory lap" press release (below) and DNA tests;
h. All of the above.

6. Florida Governor Charles Crist will:
a. Support legislation endorsing Gay civil unions;
b. Fire local public officials convicted of Sunshine violations;
c. Wage war on government corruption.

7. St. Johns County Commissioners will hire a new County Administrator who:
a. Does not have four grandparents in local cemeteries;
b. Will lead and inspire confidence in governmental integrity;
c. Knows how to stop public corruption;
d. Has experience in investigations and putting handcuffs on criminals;
e. Will know who's been naughty and nice;
f. Will be selected through a valid, national search without fear or favor of local political bosses, based on competence.

8. St. Johns County Election Supervisor Penny Haliburton will:
a. Be sued for First Amendment violations for using churches for 2/3 of all of St. Johns County's polling places;
b. Be investigated for favoritism to incumbents;
c. Be investigated for violations of the Americans with Disabilities Act and other civil rights laws;
d. Announce her retirement;
e. All of the above.


9. St. Johns County Sheriff David Shoar will:
a. Announce formation of an Environmental Crimes unit;
b. Fire at least three law enforcement officers for misfeasance, malfeasance, nonfeasance, drunkenness and/or corruption;
c. Announce an end to anti-Gay policies (flaunted in the Organized Crime Unit threatening two women for planning to protest the March 15, 2005 anti-Gay hate rally at the World Golf Village Convention Center), becoming the first governmental unit in St. Johns County to announce it won't discriminate against Gay employees;
d. All of the above.


10. Three out of five St. Augustine City Commissioners will:
a. Shock everyone by standing up to developers, with or without spinal implant surgeries;
b. Vote to hold a public hearing on what ex-Mayor GEORGE GARDNER admits is "rampant corruption," changing procedures and adopting reforms;
c. Vote to place webcams at the Old City Reservoir so we can watch the "cleanup";
d. Vote to contest the FDEP fines for dumping in the Old City Reservoir of the contents of the old illegal city dump, saying dumping 30 million pounds of contaminants into a prime bass fishing spot was somehow "inadvertent," "de minimis" and or "de micromis";
e. Adopt transparency policies, placing all agenda item memos and proposals on the website;
f. Start meeting with voters, instead of ducking our E-mails and phone calls.
g. Announce they are not seeking re-election, joining in Commissioner GEORGE GARDNER's post-election Sherman-like statement;
h. Propose consolidation of the City and County governments;
i. All of the above.
j. None of the above.


11. The first local "development" to go belly-up amid talk of recession and disintermediation will be:
a. CHESTER STOKES' evisceration of the arsenic-contaminated Ponce de Leon Golf Links;
b. ROBERT MICHAEL GRAUBARD's effort to turn a 3000-4000 year old indigenous American Indian village next to St. Augustine High School into condos and a stripmall;
c. ROBERT MICHAEL GRAUBARD's effort to turn Conch House Marina into condominiums (a project called "one sweet monkey" by the family that sold the Conch House to GRAUBARD);
d. Sebastian Inner Harbor;
e. Nocatee (a knockoff of the DeSoto County town with an Indian name that already bears Florida zip code 34268), rubber-stamp approved by compliant St. Johns County Commissioners for the Davis family and the PARC group under the discredited days of the St. Johns County Commission's ancien regime under Jim Bryant (like the late Louisiana Governor O.K. Allen, Huey Long's puppet, of whom it was said that a leaf once blew in Allen's window and he signed it);
f. None of the above.

12. St. Augustine City Commissioners will admit that they erred when they:
a. Banned all but government flags from the Bridge of Lions;
b. Violated the Sunshine law to hire a new attorney and ban venders from the Slave Market Plaza at a December 22, 2006 meeting that was noticed only to cover low-income elderly tax relief, after they had promised the State's Attorney not to violate the Sunshine law any longer;
c. Voted 3-2 (Commissioners Burk and Gardner dissenting) for "brownfield" tax credit subsidies for CHESTER STOKES' Ponce de Leon Golf Course;
d. Thought they made a mistake once but found out they were wrong.

13. St. Augustine City Manager WILLIAM B. HARRISS will be publicly revealed to:
a. Be a known Republican;
b. Have interesting digital photographs of City Commissioners during NYC's 2005 "March madness" (more than $8100 Sunshine violating March 2005 NYC trip);
c. Have done secret favors for every single City Commissioner, including ordering up a tiny street, allowing one Commissioner to invest in a friend's business;
d. Have warned City Commissioners privately that it would be illegal and that they would get our Nation's Oldest (European-founded) City both caught and fined if our Nation's Oldest (European-founded) City dumped the contents of the old illegal city dump in the Old City Reservoir;
e. Have invoked the Fifth Amendment;
f. All of the above.


14. The "upscale" $70 million Sebastian Inner Harbor public-private partnership of hotel, condos and marina will earn nationwide headlines when it is revealed:
a. City Commissioners pressured City Manager WILLIAM B. HARRISS to speed the 4.1 acre wetland mitigation by dumping the old city dump contents in the Old City Reservoir;
b. The Atlanta Gas Light "cleanup" was incomplete and no records exist showing that the contaminated soil was disposed of properly because EPA did not supervise it properly;
c. Some city officials stand to profit from the project, directly or indirectly;
d. It falls behind schedule and loses investors;
e. It opens on time as scheduled, with buskers, musicians and entertainers taking their rightful place, surpassing Key West's legendary Mallory Square sunset celebrations nightly, re-establishing St. Augustine as a destination for artists, entertainers, musicians and buskers (and tourists who enjoy them).

15. Controversial State's Attorney John Tanner will:
a. Announce that he will not seek re-election, endorsing former Public Defender candidate Bennett Ford (his St. Johns County chief assistant) to take his place on the ballot as the candidate of the local political machine;
b. Travel on an airplane without trying to take his gun;
c. Prosecute the City of St. Augustine and its Commissioners for Sunshine violations;
d. Prosecute the City of St. Augustine and its Commissioners for open records violations;
e. Announce he is leaving Daytona, moving to Clay County and announcing his candidacy for Sate's Attorney against Harry Shorstein;
f. Answer press and public questions and return telephone calls.

16. The St. Augustine and St. Johns County Airport Authority will:
a. Take federal funds for something useful;
b. Hire a new manager based on a national search;
c. Finally allow scheduled airliners to land;
d. Charge rich guys to land their airplanes;
e. Condemn (steal) more homeowners' land for rich guys' airplanes;
f. Make Northrop Grumman pay more for its use of the airport;
g. Eliminate ad valorem property taxes for rich guys' airplanes;
h. Issue self-serving press statements and insult critics.


17. Developer lawyer George McClure will:
a. Legally change his name to "Snidely Whiplash," inspired by his uncanny resemblance to the character in "Dudley Do-right";
b. Legally change his name to the "Prince of Darkness," inspired by his secret admiration of the James Mason character in Paul Newman's movie, "The Verdict";
c. Represent environmentalist-citizens fighting tree-cutting developers (albeit in a county far, far away);
d. Appear before local governmental bodies without wearing a silk tie, in recognition of the fact that his law firm now bears his own name (instead of Rogers Towers);
e. Take less than 15 minutes to make his case for done-deal zoning favors (saying he now believes it's only fair that his clients should have no more than 3 minutes to which development opponents are limited);
f. Sue government officials for civil rights violations for disapproving a developer's project.

18. Flagler College will:
a. Announce its plans to annex the entire City of St. Augustine and take it off the tax rolls;
b. Hire faculty members without respect to their political views;
c. Recognize faculty rights to academic freedom;
d. Recognize Flagler College's unofficial Gay-friendly student group and announce a policy against discriminating against Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgendered (GLBT) students and employees;
e. Ban the use of the "N" word in all Flagler College classes, including those that are attended by St. Augustine and County police officers, instituting a diversity policy and sensitivity training;
f. Raise faculty salaries to levels competitive with UF and FSU;
g. Grant eligibility for tenure to Flagler college faculty members;
h. Announce plans to seek American Bar Association (ABA) accreditation for a new law school;
i. Give up on plans to start an ABA-accredited law school when someone reads the ABA Standards for Approval of Law Schools and ponders that it might mean implementing items b,c,d,e,f&g;
j. All of the above.

19. The first civil rights lawsuit brought by a federal agency against a local government agency in St. Johns County during 2007 will be:
a. EEOC employment discrimination lawsuit against St. Johns County over hiring of the new County Attorney;
b. Justice Department suit against the City of St. Augustine for job discrimination (59 of 59 white police officers), hiring new City Attorney without notice to the public, and 55-year record of annexing white areas while refusing to annex West Augustine;
c. The Department of Health and Human Services for racially segregated nursing homes receiving government funds;
d. HUD for racially-segregated real estate offices and advertisements showing only white homeowners;
e. City of St. Augustine and State of Florida, for failing to implement the Americans with Disabilities Act with proper disability access to historic St. George Street properties;
f. City of St. Augustine, for leasing St. George Street properties to discriminator employers who refuse to employ African-Americans;
g. St. Johns County, for refusing to appoint Democrats to its committees, as former County Commissioner Mary Kohnke has charged;
h. Other.

20. The first successful environmental crime prosecution (or guilty plea) in St. Johns County in 2007 will be:
a. City of St. Augustine for illegal dumping of the contents of the old illegal city dump into the Old City Reservoir;
b. PIERRE THOMPSON for his admitted role in the October 2001 cutting-down of a bald eagle nest-tree (statute of limitations extended by agreement)(see below);
c. ROBERT MICHAEL GRAUBARD for wetland-filling;
d. Florida Department of Environmental Protection for obstruction of justice in covering up City of St. Augustine's illegal dumping, delaying word of the proposed $47,248 in fines/penalties until exactly one week after the November 7, 2006 election;;
e. St. Johns River Water Management District (SJRWMD) and FDEP for covering up developers' willful destruction of wetlands;
f. A nonagenarian peace activist for allegedly spitting on the sidewalk;
g. An insouciant Yankee tourist for dumping an ashtray full of cigarette butts from his SUV onto the floor of the City's White Elephant Parking Garage;
h. An overweight, sweaty, South Georgia tourist for taking his shirt off in front of the Castillo.

21. Worst local government scandal:
a. Extending City of St. Augustine water and sewer to developers miles away from City borders;
b. Outgoing Anastasia Mosquito Control Commissioners' "Christmas present" -- buying gold-plated, brand-new, six-seater, $1.8 million Bell Helicopter without "flyoff," competitive bidding or specifications;
c. City of St. Augustine for massive underused parking garage on site Fred Francis' will provided for baseball fields;
d. City of St. Augustine for converting old firehouse into utility bill-paying and tour guide test-taking building for over $500,000, in order to prevent future construction of any parking garage behind the Lightner Museum building at behest of influential architect;
e. FDEP and State's Attorney John Tanner for refusing to prosecute City of St. Augustine for illegal dumping of old city dump contents into Old City Reservoir;
f. Politically well-connected St. Augustine law firm and local governments for hiring it when it takes no notes when it investigates employee allegations of governmental misconduct, while representing both "developers" and virtually every single government entity in St. Johns County;
g. State of Florida and the Save our Bridge Committee for the high-priced $77 million reconstruction of Bridge of Lions and construction and demolition of a temporary bridge;
h. City of St. Augustine's globegirdling Sunshine violations junkets at your expense, unprosecuted by State's Attorney John Tanner and Florida Department of Law Enforcement;
i. Dilution of minority voting strength by constant annexation of City of St. Augustine (50 annexations in 55 years), refusal to annex West Augustine, 1998's conversion of County Commission apportionment to five elected at large (from seven by Districts), and at-large election of St. Augustine Commissioners (with no 15th Amendment and Voting Rights Act lawsuit filed by Justice Department Civil Rights Division yet).
j. Developer influence from City Hall to the Courthouse to Tallahassee to the White House;
k. School Board for even considering proposal by developers to lease schools;
l. Local governments for lack of competition in purchasing and de facto sole source procurement;
m. Low voter turnout;
n. Lack of adequate local daily newspaper space given to serious investigative coverage of government/politics, including items a-n, above;
o. Lackadaisical television news coverage of local St. Johns County news by the likes of the tatterdemalion, monopolistic "First Coast News" and local Jacksonville PBS affiliate's "Week in Review" program;
p. "Just us folks" for empowering all of the above and letting ourselves be taken advantage of decade after decade, deal after deal, election after election;
q. All of the above.

22. Biggest local land deal of the 21st century will be:
a. Proposed consolidation of City of St. Augustine and St. Johns County governments;
b. Proposed merger of the city governments of the City of St. Augustine and City of St. Augustine Beach;
c. Transfer of city-and state-owned properties and developers' undeveloped properties for the "St. Augustine National Historical Park and National Seashore."

My predictions (for whatever they're worth): 1(b,d,f); 2(e,f); 3 (d); 4(h); 5(a); 6(a,b,c); 7(all); 8 (a,d); 9(a); 10(g); 11(c); 12(d); 13(a,d); 14(e); 15(a&b); 16(h); 17(d); 18(h); 19(h); 20(b); 21(q); 22(c). What do you reckon? Happy New Year!

Illegal, Unconstitutional Gag Orders tor St. Augustine, Florida City Employees?

Illegal, Unconstitutional Gag Orders tor St. Augustine, Florida City Employees?

Are St. Augustine, Florida city employees forbidden to attend, speak or ask questions at St. Augustine City Commission meetings?

Efforts to obtain comment from city officials were unavailing earlier today, but several sources confirmed that City employees have long been directed and expected to remain silent.
This alleged requirement violates the First Amendment and environmental whistleblower laws. In the context of EPA and FDEP investigations of our City's illegal pollution, it may constitute the felony of obstruction of justice.

City officials -- you have the right to remain silent, but we wish you wouldn't.

Do you deny that you are still telling City employees they can't attend Commission meetings?

Do you rely on the "City Manager" form of government?

In that same vein, is that why City Commissioners said nothing when they learned of City Planning and Zoning Director MARK KNIGHT's illegal orders to Street Tree Advisory Committee members that they had to vote as he wished or be fired and have the committee abolished (violating Tree City USA requirements)?

Expect democracy.

Expect free speech.

Expect our City to start obeying the rule of law.

Expect City charter amendments to give City employees and residents "a new birth of freedom," in Lincoln's immortal words.

City employees, feel free to blow the whistle on the likes of City Manager WILLIAM B. HARRISS. FBI, U.S. Attorney, the State's Attorney, FDEP and Governor-Elect Charles Crist (currently our State Attorney General) are waiting to hear from you. As it says in Isaiah, "the truth shall set you free."

City Commissioners, will you please issue a statement clarifying that City employees have the indefeasible right to speak, write or comment on any subject, including the right to attend District Board meetings? There seems to be some confusion on this issue, which can only contribute to future environmental fines and liability for the Nation's Oldest (European-founded) City.

Jones, Day, Reavis Pogue re: Potential LIability of Government Employeees for Pollution

14-page paper written for Pentagon in 1993, abstract here:


Accession Number : ADP008723

Title : Civil and Criminal Liability for Violation of Environmental Laws,

Corporate Author : JONES DAY REAVIS AND POGUE WASHINGTON DC

Personal Author(s) : McElveen, Junius C., Jr

Report Date : JAN 1993

Pagination or Media Count : 14

Abstract : Over the past several years, increasing public attention has been focused on environmental pollution at facilities owned or operated by the United States Government, with particular emphasis on hazards that pollution may present to human health and the environment. In response to the concerns which are being raised, federal officials and private citizens have investigated a variety of options they have available to ensure environmental laws are being enforced and to compensate those injured by the pollution. More and more, those options have included litigation. Criminal prosecutions have been instituted against government employees, and civil suits have been filed against the government, against those who contributed to the perceived problem and against those who are endeavoring to clean up the sites. Questions have been raised about whether, and to what extent, the government should indemnify its contractors or contractors should indemnify the government. Pending legislative initiatives may address some of these problems, but potential civil and criminal liability will probably be the order of the day for the foreseeable future

Descriptors : *HAZARDOUS MATERIALS, *HEALTH, AIR POLLUTION, CRIMINAL INVESTIGATIONS.

Subject Categories : SOLID WASTES POLLUTION AND CONTROL
ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH AND SAFETY

Distribution Statement : APPROVED FOR PUBLIC RELEASE


Search DTIC's Public STINET for similiar documents.

Members of the public may purchase hardcopy documents from the National Technical Information Service.

Whose "Naked Guesswork" on St. Augustine Toxic Pollution?

Read it for yourself -- the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals decision involving St. Augustine's coal-to-gas plant and pollution here from 1886 until the site was supposedly cleaned up.

Was roguish Jones, Day, Revavis Pogue right to brag that it hung the moon by depriving the world of a jury trial? See press release posted yesterday (below).

Read the Eleventh Circuit's decision for yourself.



Corporations and governments deeply mistrust juries, ignoring the wisdom of the Founders enshrinded in the Seventh Amendment right to civil jury trial.


Don't take my word for it -- as the late Chief Justice William Rehnquist said it best, America's Founders considered juries to be the "bulwark of democracy," protecting citizens from oppression by the powerful. Parklane Hosiery v. Shore, 439 U.S. 322 (1979)(Rehnquist, J., dissenting)

Today, the powerful deny jury trials with an oppressive twist. One wag said that it would have been "naked gusswork" to assume that there was pollution on in 1947, when an insurance policy was in effect that might have provided coverage. That wag was a United States District Judge -- he or his law clerk no doubt chuckled. If pollution was continuous, isn't it "naked guesswork" to take the issue from the jury as to whether pollution took place in 1947? Isn't it "naked guesswork" for Judge Harvey Schlesinger to suppose that he knows better than a jury?

Judge Harvey Schlesinger and his law clerk took the issue from a jury. They read a cold record (there was no trial, notwithstanding Jones, Day's confusion on that matter (see below).

They deprived the people of St. Augustine (and Atlanta Gas Light) of their Seventh Amendment right to jury trial, which Justice Rehnquist termed a "bulwark" of democracy against powerful interests --- including Century Indemnity of Philadelphia and the corporate descendants of United Gas Improvements and American Gas & Power.

Not a peep was heard from the press about the decision.

No one at City Hall said a word. Only Jones, Day, Reavis, Pogue let the proverbial "cat out of the bag" with its press release.


Thank you, Jones, Day for blowing the whistle on the decision you "won" for your corporate clients -- now we all know.

"Naked guesswork" is what our community of St. Augustine, Florida has endured for years on issues of pollution for decades.

Whether the City of St. Augustine City Hall denizens who took the entire contents of the old illegal city dump and deposited it into the Old City Reservoir ($47,248 fine proposal pending), the Anastasia Mosquito Control District that allegedly dumped DDT, malathion and used oil into our groundwater and aquifer at five different locations (including Anastasia State Park and locations at 500 Old Beach Road, Ponte Vedra, Hastings and Northwest St. Johns County, or other polluters in our midst, there's been a lot of "naked guesswork" going on.

Governments "guessed" that we would not learn and would not care about their carte blanche attitude toward pollution (theirs and corporations).

Corporations "guessed" that they would get away with it.

Prosecutors "guessed" no one cared about white collar crime.

Journalists "guessed" they could ignore pollution, wetland destruction and wildlife extinction.

Juries have not been empowered to hear and decide these issues, with prosecutors and defense lawyers keeping jurors from passing judgment.

Educators "guessed" they could ignore the inconvenient truths.

Politicians and their lawyers "guessed" they could coverup for wrongdoing.

306 days after questions were first asked about the illegal dumping by the City of St. Augustine, our questions remain unanswered.

The "naked guesswork" must stop. Answers are required.

Governments must govern themselves by the same laws they apply to corporations -- just as President Clinton said in his Earth Day speech in 1993.

Corporations must stop pollution and secrecy.

Prosecutors must prosecute polluters and wetland destroyers.

Journalists must investigate what is being done to this beautiful state, in teh spirit of the St. Petersburg Times, whose work on wetland destruction exosed the fact that over 106,000 acres of wetlands have been destroyed by overdevelopers since the government declared "no net loss of wetlands" as national policy.

Juries must deliberate, deciding civil and criminal cases about the pollution and wetland destruction that are turning Northeast Florida into a nightmarish version of Houston, Texas or South Florida -- all heat and concrete and no soul.

Educators must educate.


Politicians must answer questions. They must lead, follow or get out of the way.

Citizens must stay angry as they were when they voted for reform in 2006.

RE: Anastasia Mosquito Control District (AMCD): 25 Proposals for Reform for Consideration By New AMCD Board of Directors

RE: Anastasia Mosquito Control District (AMCD):
25 Proposals for Reform for Consideration By New AMCD Board of Directors

Dear Dr. Xue:

Thank you again for inviting Ms. Robin E. Nadeau, Ms. Ann L Palmquist and me to the December 19 meeting that you requested with you and District staff. We appreciate your candid answers and the tour of the District Headquarters.

Also, thank you for your gracious invitation to teach and speak to District employees and to Florida mosquito control experts, which I have accepted.

Please relay my congratulations to three new Board members (Ms. Jeanne Moeller, Mr. John Sundeman and Ms. Linda Wampler).

Inspired by our candid discussions on December 19, would you please be so kind as to place the following 25 items on the agenda for the next Board meeting (January 11)? I request to make a 15 minute presentation on the need for these 25 items:

1. Workshops on reforming longstanding District policies, procedures and practices, including workshops on natural pesticides (e.g., minnows, frogs and bats); employee concerns; employee rights; employee compensation; workers' compensation; employee work for other governmental entities outside the busy season; aircraft and property acquisition policies; epidemiological and environmental impact studies; fish, wildlife, butterfly, firefly, dragonfly, frog and bee protection and restoration; and systematic review of every single AMCD policy, practice and procedure, with an eye toward assuring transparency, environmental protection, safety precautions, heeding employee and public concerns, openness, candor, accountability, fiscal frugality and meaningful public participation.

2. Cholinesterase monitoring and health assessment for all past and present employees.

3. Voluntary compliance with all OSHA standards and improved environmental safety and health compliance.

4. Appointment of an environmental, health and safety director to assure compliance with all applicable environmental, safety and health standards, with direct report to Board and the duty to assure that our environment, safety and health are protected. The District must heed Director Xue's safety leadership (in banning the wearing of shorts while spraying pesticides and banning employees from washing their pesticide-exposed uniforms at home). The District must learn, grow and foster and encourage a "safety culture" that will become permanent, one where employees don't r fear to ask questions or report problems. Our Anastasia Mosquito Control District must become a an example for other mosquito control districts and governmental entities.

5. Appointment of an Ombuds for employees and citizens, with direct report to Board, encouraging citizen and employee participation in formation and implementation of Board policies. AMCD must become worker-friendly, citizen-friendly and environmentally-friendly.

6. Employee Concerns Program and Employee Rights Policy to protect and cherish employee rights to raise concerns about environmental, safety, health, worker rights and other matters, to assure what our U.S. Supreme Court calls the "free flow of information." Oppressive tropes and phrases from large organizations (such as "chain of command" and "team player" and "troublemaker") must be banished. A culture of openness and candor must be created. Employee concerns must be respected and not neglected. Candor from employees will empower the Director and Board members to do their jobs better, fully complying with environmental, health, safety and other laws and principles. District employees must be encouraged to speak out and to raise concerns to assure environment, safety and health protection. The scientific method must be respected by allowing every voice to be heard, so people can express their concerns without fear or favor. Employees must receive training and encouragement on employee rights, including environmental whistleblower rights to raise environmental concerns to Board members, news media and regulatory agencies.

7. Diversity, EEO and Affirmative Action policy improvements to insure that women, African-Americans, persons with disabilities and other national, ethnic, religious and other minority and protected groups are fairly treated as applicants, employees and residents. Concerns of West Augustine residents must be acted upon regarding their community allegedly not receiving adequate mosquito spraying. Environmental justice concerns must be heeded.

8. Environmental impact studies on effects of pesticide applications on fish, wildlife, frogs, bees, butterflies, fireflies, dragonflies, groundwater and aquifer, 1948-date, obtaining the assistance of universities to study pesticide effects.

9. Environmental restoration to remedy past pollution by pesticides, to document and to publicize past spills, accidents and pesticide levels, and to clean them up; and to plant butterfly-, bee-, dragonfly-, firefly- and frog-friendly plants to remedy the effects of pesticide spraying.

10. Epidemiological studies re: everyone who has worked for District, to determine if District's actions have contributed to employee cancers and deaths and to St. Johns County infant mortality or cancer mortality.

11. Review of environmental laws and principles and ethical responsibilities of District regarding contaminated lands and spills and handling of pesticides.

12. Transparency policy -- live cable/low power TV/satellite TV coverage of AMCD meetings, workshops, symposia and colloquia, along with website posting of Material Safety Data Sheets, contracts, bid, budget and environmental information on AMCD website, along with all Requests for Proposals (RFPs) and Invitations for Bid (IFBs). The City of Orlando, St. Johns County and St. Johns River Water Management District are three good examples of how websites can be improved to inform citizens of government actions. Governor-elect Charles Crist has announced that, upon his inauguration, he will be establishing an Office of Government Openness, headed by Ms. Pat Gleason. Governor Crist and Ms. Gleason cano can help advise and encourage our AMCD's efforts in assuring open government.

13. Revision of EEO policies to require nondiscrimination on basis of employee exercise of First Amendment, workplace free speech (whistleblower) rights, sexual orientation, filing workers' compensation claim and prohibition of any form of discrimination or retaliation.

14. Reform of purchasing and personal services contracts procedures.

15. Reform of conflict of interest disclosures for auditors, attorneys and other contractors and improvement of policies regarding environmental, safety, health, transparency, anti-nepotism and competitive bidding requirements and principles.

16. Establishing performance standards and evaluations for the District's attorneys and auditors (including requiring that attorneys conducting investigations take notes and record interviews and that the District never again be a party to a contract where the same attorney represents the District as any lessor, vender, beneficiary, or other party-at-interest).

17. Rescission or sale of $1.8 million Bell Helicopter contract (with no competitive bidding, flyoff, scientific data or specifications).

18. Exploration of legal and equitable remedies re: $1.2 million land purchase without appraisal or environmental testing).

19. Reform of budgeting process to institute Zero-Based Budgeting.

20. A truly independent environmental and management audit to identify any and all waste, fraud, abuse, lack of competition in purchasing, misfeasance, malfeasance, nonfeasance, pollution, toxic exposures and (upon receipt of the management.

21. Fairly balanced standing advisory committees of environmental scientists, citizens and environmentalists, inspired by the principles of the Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA), to advise the Board on all policies, procedures and practices, 1948-date.

22. Upon receipt and reading of the truly independent management and environmental audit, public discussion and debate of whether to create an independent Inspector General.

23. District-wide policy review on a continuing and systematic basis, inspired by information from citizens, employees, the Employee Concerns Program, Ombuds, E,S&H Director, the truly independent management and environmental audit, fairly balanced advisory committees.

24. Policy statement that persons speaking before the Board must be treated with dignity, respect and consideration and that public, press and Director questions must be answered promptly at the same meeting unless actual statistical compilation is required, re-emphasizing that there are no arbitrary limits on time for speakers (as AMCD counsel Mr. Geoffrey Dobson informed me on December 14, 2006). .

25. Encouragement of public participation in Board decision-making and policymaking (including the adoption of proposed items 1-24 above), including realigning Board agendas to provide for public comments at both the beginning and end of the meeting.

Thank you.

Best wishes to you, all District employees, present and future Board members, counsel, auditor and others for an open, democratic, transparent, environmentally responsible and productive New Year.

With kindest regards, I am,
Sincerely yours,
Ed
Ed Slavin
www.cleanupcityofstaugustine.blogspot.com
Box 3084
St. Augustine, Florida 32085-3084
904-471-7023
904-471-9918 (fax)

St. Augustine, Florida Eagle Nest Tree-Cutter PIERRE THOMPSON's Criminal Statute of Limitations Extended

St. Augustine, Florida Eagle Nest Tree-Cutter PIERRE THOMPSON's Criminal Statute of Limitations Extended


Millionaire St. Augustine real estate kingpin PIERRE THOMPSON, grandson of the founder of the St. Augustine Record newspaper, cut down an eagle nest tree in October 2001.

In 2005, I wrote an article for the Collective Press newspaper about the Fish & Wildlife Service's effort to prosecute.

U.S. Attorney's office refusing comment, hanging up the telephone when I asked if there were a coverup.
See Ed Slavin, "Bald Eagle Coverup? Four Years Later, No Decision on Prosecution," The Collective Press (October 2005),

On December 15, 2006, the U.S. Attorney's spokesman, Steve Cole, informed me that the five-year criminal statute of limitations was not a problem. The five year statute of limitations under three federal criminal laws apparently extended by consent of criminal defense counsel to PIERRE THOMPSON and the U.S. Attorney.

Will eagle nest tree-cutter PIERRE THOMPSON be indicted or pay a large fine for destroying the eagle nest tree?

Will other overdevelopers be investigated for their environmental crimes, including filling in wetlands?


That would be good news.

Expect envirnonmental crimes to be detected, deterred, prosecuted and punished.

If it requires a federal prosecution and investigation for our Nation's Oldest City's illegal dumping in the Old City Reservoir, let the FBI and EPA CID do their jobs and prosecute CITY MANAGER WILLIAM B. HARRISS and other City officials for their environmental crimes.

Like any good diplomats, let's not take no for an answer.

Our Nation's Oldest City is worth saving, preserving, protecting and defending from people who destroy our environment.

Day 305 -- Questions on City of St. Augustine's Illegal Dumping in Old City Reservoir Still Unanswered

305 days ago, I sent written questions to our City of St. Augustine, Florida about its illegal dumping. While our Florida DEP proposes a $47,248 in fines, it has not yet taken the case to a grand jury for prosecution of conspiracy, perjury, obstruction of justice and other crimes involving what DEP calls "serious" pollution and "lack of good faith" in dumping 30 million pounds of contaminants from our old city dump into our Old City Reservoir.

On February 27, 2006, then-Mayor GEORGE GARDNER promised "answers" to my questions.

305 days after the first questions were asked, our Nation's Oldest City has not answered them.

Instead, Mayor GARDNER shows contempt for our democracy, contempt for our republican, contempt for environmental values, refusing to answer a single question asked by citizens about the pollution at public meetings.

Our City recently added to its contempt additional violations of Sunshine laws (see below).

Our Nation's Oldest City is a hangout for Scrooges, the sort of willful people who wince when asked questions about the people's business, whining and complaining.
A new broom sweeps clean.