Letters to the Editor

+ Greer Island groin would protect north end
Editor’s note: The following letter was sent to the Longboat Key Town Commission in addition to the Longboat Observer.
Dear Editor:
I am writing this letter because I am concerned about the environment, specifically the north end of Longboat Key and more specifically about the future of Greer Island (Beer Can Island) and the residences affected by its survival or demise.

I attended the Jan. 21 Longboat Key Town Commission meeting and listened to the beach nourishment presentation by the Olsen Associates consulting firm, comments by the town manager, mayor and commissioners, Robert Appel, the Longbeach Condominium president and others. I also gave my own short presentation.

The following week, I learned to my great disappointment that on Jan. 17, the town agreed to a settlement with Joe McClash and the Sierra Club to allow the building of two groins at the north end of Longboat Key and to drop the building of a terminal jetty on the south side of Longboat Pass. I read in the news that by a 6-1 vote, the town capitulated to lawsuits of former Manatee Commissioner Joe McClash and the Sierra Club on building a terminal jetty at Longboat Pass inlet. The terminal groin most probably would save Greer Island, eventually Longbeach and 360 North condominiums on the Gulf and the homes along North Shore Road. Regarding Olsen Consultants, I assume that they were not asked to include an evaluation of a terminal jetty at Longboat Pass in their contract because of the expected settlement. I think it should have been included in the contract. May I get an answer to this question?

It puzzles me that McClash and the Sierra Club, both entities that purport to want to save the “natural environment” took action exactly opposite to that end. Both entities apparently feel that losing a beautiful natural land mass visited by many residents and tourists each year is more environmentally friendly than building a jetty at the inlet that would spare Greer Island, stabilize the inlet, and prevent a future crisis for the homes that will be directly on the inlet if and when the Greer Island buffer is gone. It would also seem logical and in the interest of Manatee County to extend the existing short terminal jetty on the north side of the inlet on Coquina Beach to prevent erosion of sand from Coquina and to further stabilize the inlet.

Commissioner Pat Zunz, representing the north end of Longboat Key was the only dissenting vote, and I give her praise for identifying the future peril that these north end residences face. Zunz correctly pointed out that the eventual loss of Greer Island would eliminate the buffer that protects these dwellings from the Gulf of Mexico and protects specifically all of the homes and condominiums along North Shore Road. Who or what agency will be responsible for protecting these residences in the future?

At the Jan. 21 meeting, I was not aware that the deal with McClash and the Sierra Club had already been concluded.

My presentation on Jan. 21 that a terminal jetty should be installed was based on an extensive (179-page) August 2003 report by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers evaluating the success of the south terminal jetty installed at the Barnegat Inlet on the north end of Long Beach Island (a barrier island) in New Jersey. A north jetty already existed. I gave copies of the report abstract (ERDC/CHL TR-03-9) to David Bullock for distribution to the commissioners.

The full text is available at: dtic.mil/cgi-bin/GetTRDoc?AD=ADA417600

The abstract and extensive report told of the successful results obtained by adding the south jetty on the inlet between Barnegat Bay and the Atlantic Ocean to stabilize the inlet, causing the accretion of sand behind the jetty, and the saving of threatened Barnegat Lighthouse. Residents of Long Beach Island and tourists walk along the jetty to sightsee and fish. I have seen these positive results firsthand over the past 20 years.

It is my hope that further analysis and action is taken to modify or rescind the contract agreed upon to eliminate the possibility of a terminal jetty to be constructed for at least five years at the Longboat Pass before Greer Island is completely washed away.

Herman Kruegle
Longboat Key

+ History shows welfare’s wastefulness
Dear Editor:
In the late 1940s, a group of industrial psychologists did a clinical study on wages. The conclusion they reached was: “In general, the more you pay people, the less likely they are to increase or improve performance.”

Long-term pro contracts and payments based on artificial considerations are not likely to improve performance and may even retard it.

I don’t remember who said it, maybe a sales trainer/motivator, but he remarked, “I was never motivated by money, only by a lack of it.”

When one is paid not to perform, why perform? Not everyone is a Pete Rose. I have never been a Pete Rose fan for reasons too numerous to mention, but he earned every dime that he was paid for playing baseball. To be paid $200 million for being fired as an underachieving CEO is a classic example of the fiscal foolishness at large in the land. Paying people whose full-time job is really running for re-election a lifetime wage if successful one time is an outrage.

As Walter Williams pointed out, the war on welfare is the most expensive war this country has ever waged and lost. Historians may someday call it “The 50 Years War.” We refuse to learn the lessons of history and will continue to repeat them to our collective sorrow.

John W. Minton Jr.
Bradenton