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The Newscaster/Nature Coast News

PAGE 11 - September 2, 2009

Yankeetown Mayor s Report

Editorial - Opinion - Commentary

A Guest Commentary by Dawn Clary

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Milestone - They said it couldn’t be done. The spray field for the Yankeetown Water

A while back there was an announcement in Yankeetown regarding the signs which

Plant received the ONE MILLIONTH GALLON of water last Friday. The spray field is

have been installed that will indicate the flood water level during a storm or perhaps if the

used to dispose of the waste water generated by our reverse osmosis system which treats a

dam fails. These will be exceptionally helpful to those attempting to sell their homes certain

percentage of our water giving some improvement in our water quality.

the Realtors will avoid the ones located at 63rd. and C.R. 40 when showing property in the

For those of us who have been with this project from the beginning, this was a big

area. The test question is in the midst of the wind event necessary to pile the water that high

day as it seemed we had to walk through perdition to bring the project to this point of suc-

how do you get beyond the down and falling trees to read the signs? And then, does it really

cess. In the beginning the original water plant design used another system called an ultra

matter at that point?

filtration system to remove contaminates in our water and the reverse osmosis system was

Staying on the topic of signage it appears some one has caused the action to begin that

also used to improve water quality.

requires the small amount of advertising on C.R. 40 that our small amount of commercial

The designer recommended that a 5 acre parcel was needed to dispose of the waste

business relies on here in Y-town to be removed from the right of way. I understand there

water. The parcels adjacent to the water plant had been available but during the delay in

is a signature on the complaint and will reserve any further comment until it is verified one

starting the project they were no longer available. The hunt was on for a suitable piece.

way or the other.

Problems popped up with the procedure of the grant application where the asking prices

Currently the traffic is being counted on local streets during a period when traffic is very

weren’t matching up with the appraisals, putting us in an endless circle.

light due to vacancies for various reasons. I am certain this very low count will be used as

I very bright helpful person came up with an alternate method which was accept-

some sort of bench mark and leverage in the future against someone trying to do something

able to the grant agency using the bidding procedure and market value. We found a spot.

that might really matter in a positive way to the town’s future. Perhaps when one of the

Then came the geotechnical results which showed that in our area the land would not accept

counters frees up it could be installed at the WGP to show what a waste of someone else’s

as much water as was predicted. We were out of time. The Department of Environmental

tax dollars that purchase was and is.

Protection had already granted us extensions of time on our deadline to do something about

There were two substantial diesel fuel spills in the river up-stream from Magnolia Av-

being out of compliance on water standards. Another ground breaking technology was just

enue during the week of the 16th with the air smelling so bad you could not sit on the porch

beginning to be implemented called the MIEX system which would remove contaminates

when they occurred. How about some enforcement in this area Yankeetown?

and generate a lot less waste water. This could replace and eliminate the originally pro-

Hey Yankeetown! The people you elected for one reason or another do indeed have the

posed ultra filtration system which generated a lot of water to be disposed of. The design

town’s future swirling around the drain. You have no idea the trouble for you the tax payers

was changed to a combination of the MIEX system and the reverse osmosis instead of the

and citizens that have been built-in to the future of Y-town as a result of your decision with

original Ultrafiltration and reverse osmosis. This made the amount of land we had for a

this crew. No idea. They, the elected and appointed officials have no idea themselves be-

spray field acceptable. Then the ground work to put in the special grass uncovered more

cause none of them can see beyond the special interests they have catered to and/or in some

rocks than were expected and we had to excavate and fill slightly more, 6 inches.

cases have worse yet yielded to another or other official’s misguided rhetoric.

This seemed to make the spray field a political football and some claimed that it

Joe McDonald, Yankeetown - 352.212.4951

would not work and that we were wasting the taxpayer’s money. The effects of politicaliza-

tion of technical issues are something that I ponder a great deal. It has been difficult to slog

Letter to the Editor:

Re: Inglis Property Assessments

through all of this, but success is sweet. They said it couldn’t be done, we did it. Congrats

to all of you that stuck with it.

I Michael Drew White am protesting the 3 assessments (Storm Water, Fire and

Have a safe and happy Labor Day Good Night and Good Luck, Dawn Marie Clary,

Garbage) being placed on the citizens of Inglis by the Inglis Town Commission. After con-

Mayor of Yankeetown

sulting the county and legal council, I was advised these assessments are not legally done.

The Storm Water assessment from last year was voted for one year and was for

a project that never materialized due to a major error on the part of leadership. I feel that

money should be refunded to the citizens for last years Storm Water fees and not be assessed

yearly for the town’s error.

I disagree with the Fire assessment when the fire chief said he did not ask for a

budget increase and operated within budget. This is just freeing up money for another de-

partment. Making garbage service mandatory for all properties with a structure on it will be

giving thousands of dollars to Waste Pro when many people will not use the service and the

Town of Inglis guarantees the payment for each lot to a garbage contract that was not put up

for a competitive bid legally to other companies to start with.

If anyone would like to join me or talk to me about joining in an action to stop this

outrage call me at 447-0777. We need to stop the government from attacking the citizens at

all levels, starting in Inglis.

Michael “Drew” White, Inglis.

Comments On The Tarmac Mine Poll

Archer via voicemail:

Comments on tarmac, Bruce Morgan Archer, FL at 1:15 p.m. Tuesday 8-4-09 said “ I am

absolutley against the mine, and you must help stop it.”

Bronson via Voicemail:

Hi. This is Chuck DeGrove. I called earlier I’ sorry I didn’t understand what was going on.

I am in favor of the Tarmac mine. They’re going to build that min somewhere. And it might

“Yankeetownians gather on the town’s Spray Field to commemorate the one millionth gallon

as well be in our area right here. We can benefit from the jobs and the money It’s gonna pro-

of water from Yankeetown’s new water plant to go on the spray field precisely at noon last

duce, and also be convenient to the Shaw group when they go to build that nuke plant over

Friday.” photo by Marsha Drew

there in about a year and a half. Once again, I’m very much in favor of the Tarmac mine and

ew! email news to: news@thenewscaster.com

I honestly hope they get to build it here. Thank you.

N

Inglis

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947 Hwy. 40 East, INGLIS, FL • 1.8 miles east of Hwy. 19 on left