Clean water activists take message to state capitol
To the editor:
The ongoing attempts by statewide and local clean water activists to raise awareness about Lake Okeechobee discharges took center stage at our state capitol this past week. We demanded an end to the discharges that have wreaked havoc on our local waterways, our communities, our wildlife, our marine life, and of course our tourism. Thousands gathered from all over the state on the old state capitol building steps to insist that Gov. Rick Scott not only use the allocated funds from Amendment 1 properly for our state’s waterways needed aid, yet to call on him and his administration to fully purchase the land south of Lake O to return the natural flow way into the Everglades, rather then down our rivers to the east and west coasts.
The Caloosahatchee River at one point recently was deemed as one of the most damaged, polluted, critical state of health of any waterway in the United States of America. Yes, OUR RIVER was in the top 10 list for all the wrong reasons.
The Sierra Club, a national environmental protection organization that has been around for 100 years, organized buses from Fort Myers, as well as many other statewide locations for an all-out outcry collectively to demand clean water in the state of Florida, while holding Rick Scott accountable personally for the ongoing destruction of our state’s environment simply in the name of greed.
Hundreds to thousands gathered on the state capitol building in the effort to save our communities. Everyone of these dedicated individuals should be applauded by our own community for speaking up to end the Lake O discharges that are indeed someday going to ruin everything we love and cherish as FMB. If I can speak to the truth of the matter of fact, then so can you. If you don’t stand up for something, you will fall for anything.
John G Heim
2014 United States River Champion
Clean Water Activist
Fort Myers Beach