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LETTERSzation or coalition that could be focused on this crucialneed? You tell me.A second need is the need for information disseminationto boaters. I pick up a rumor here, a tidbit there. Thereis the need for a controlled monthly published board ofactions—or pending actions—affecting boating and wateraccess. Possibly SOUTHWINDS could run a monthly columnlisting these actions—one similar to the regional activitiesand racing calendar. Perhaps other regional publicationscould be found for fishermen and powerboaters. A Web sitewould be a must.This is a plea for somebody to answer the clarion calland say “Let’s meet at…on…date.” I’m retired and havetime and interest to help with the logistics.Only when we have a start can we use the e-mail, onlineforums and boat shows to rally fellow boaters.LET’S MAKE IT HAPPEN! Let’s control our destinyrather than letting it happen to us.Richard CritchlowSt. Petersburg, FLRichard,Well put. We have started that monthly column. Even more so,several months back, we started a monthly section, “OurWaterways,” which is working to bring this news out, and we areasking our readers to send us information and news about upcomingchanges, thoughts, opinions on this subject.EditorOPPOSITION TO SEAFOOD SHACK (See “OurWaterways” Nov. 2005) PURCHASE BY COUNTY FORMARITIME MUSEUM AND BOAT RAMP IN CORTEZ, FLIt is evident that the editors of the Herald Tribune must drivearound wearing rose-tinted glasses if they can advocate thesale of the Seafood Shack to Manatee County. Clearly, theyhave not eaten at the Holmes Beach cafe if they believe thatManatee County displays any realistic ability to administerthe properties it already owns. Before the county considersspending huge sums of taxpayers’ money to buy theSeafood Shack in Cortez, it should arrange to put thoseproperties it already owns in decent order. Presently, theyare about as visually appealing as old housing projects incommunist East Berlin. Why not spend some of that, presumablysurplus, cash on proper landscaping of ManateeCounty roads, which generally looks like the Wild West(including “scenic” Route 41!)?Yes, I can be classed as a “NIMBY” (not in my back yard),although I do support public access to water and parks—solong as they are properly administered and the rules policed.Unfortunately, I see little evidence of this on its existing properties,so why consider entrusting Manatee County with thisrelatively small but valuable piece of real estate? By the way,the oldest part of this “Old Florida” property is about 40years old. The only worse option might be if any attemptwere made by the city of Bradenton to annex this part ofSee LETTERS continued on page 68Send your letters toeditor@southwindsmagazine.comWeb site: southwindsmagazine.comPO Box 1175, Holmes Beach FL 34218Fax: (941) 795-8705News & Views for Southern Sailors SOUTHWINDS January 2006 15