May 01, 2015
By Florida Sportsman
Here's a somewhat common refrain we hear from well-meaning citizens:
“Let's stop the finger pointing and all work together…”
At that point there come a few murmurs of agreement. Can't we all sit down in a big room and work out our differences?
After all, we're responsible adults.
As good as all that may sound, there are times when we should indeed point fingers at bad guys.
Otherwise, we get more of the same, or worse.
A strong case in point is the work of our fumbling governor, legislature and water management folks who are doing next to nothing to stop the pollution assaulting
our estuaries and other water bodies.
Even though three out of four voters approved a state constitutional amendment designating many millions to clean the waters, the special interests in charge are ignoring the public.
Of course, we saw this coming when the early drafts of the amendment made not one single mention of the Everglades or Everglades Agricultural Area.
When that huge omission was mentioned (with finger pointing), the text of the amendment was changed to include the Glades as a potential use of the new money. Voters thought, understandably, that help would be on the way. Naw. The polluting Big Ag discharges are now left out the plans, barring a miracle.
Still, let's not point fingers. The officials' Teflon suits are working just great.
Another prime example of the community's unwillingness to single out wrong doing concerns the federal government's insistence on creating a separate recreational quota for “party boat” red snapper fishing. Under this bizarre deal, certain charter boats may take people red snapper fishing at the very time that regular anglers are barred from taking a single fish.
So go out on a for-hire boat but not on your own, or a friend's.
That's worth a good finger point, don't you think?
Karl Wickstrom
