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Sumter County Restrictions: New & Improved!

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at the bluff.
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me cleaning appitizers for later
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hanging out at bulldozer
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Anonymous

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Nothing like being asleep. Never heard a word about this. Anyone from the area? We may have to challenge this one in court?!

Please remind Chuck it's airboat SOUND!

http://www.dailycommercial.com/main.asp?SectionID=31&SubSectionID=162&ArticleID=16843


Thursday, June 15, 2006

Complaints getting louder
Restriction has airboaters sputtering

Thursday, June 15, 2006


C.D. McGONIGAL Staff Photographer Chuck Rackley, owner of Airboat Pros in Lake Panasofkee, revs the engine of an airboat that has been modified to be quieter. Rackley feels a new ordinance that bans driving airboats at night has been applied unfairly.
BUSHNELL � An increase in population in the Lake Miona area has created an audience for the sound of airboats sometimes reaching 90 decibels at a distance of 50 feet.

In response to several complaints and a 103-signature petition against the free rein of airboats on Lake Miona, Sumter County Commissioners passed an ordinance restricting the hours airboats can be operated.

Ronald Durham, a lakefront homeowner, came to the Tuesday commission meeting to represent his neighbors. He left satisfied with new hours of airboat operation � 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. in the fall, winter and spring months and 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. in the summer.

“It sounds like an airplane is going to crash into your house,� Durham said. “These signatures are just a sampling of the people who are disturbed by the noise. It’s almost to the point of harassment.�

More.......go to link
 
What happened to the anti-discrimination verbage that was in the new bill? At least I have a nice new flag on my boat. :evil:
 
If we know about these thing we can fight them & do OK. When no one sounds the alarm & we have little to no representation, this is what happens.
 
I hate to be the guys who have the Gater permits for the Sumter, and Citrus county area, well at lease in Citrus you can hunt till 11pm.
 
A1, you might have just hit on the basis for an effective lawsuit. If the State takes a man's money for a permit, and then wants to deny him the access to use it ...... shame on them! :?
 
My zone partner and I responded to Lake Miona last night, just after 7pm, in response to a complaint of an airboat being driven "recklessly". My partner got there before I did and said the airboater had already taken his boat out of the water.

My partner, a non-airboater, said that the airboater was extreamly nice and polite about the whole issue and left a VERY GOOD IMPRESSION.

Simply put, the complaint appeared to be UNFOUNDED and was made simply because of the "noise".

This makes the second airboat related complaint I have been dispatched to in less than 5 days... I hope this is not a "tactic" or "ploy" to harass airboaters.

I understand that ALL CITIZENS deserve to have their complaints answered swiftly and properly by what ever LE agency is summoned, I just hope some folks don't abuse LE as a way to shed bad light on airboating.

I for one know that I WILL NEVER put my airboat in Lake Miona.
 
OF I wonder if I should sue manatee county for taking my money for my boat registration which by the way was just increased 50% with the extra going to the county, and then they say i can't use it here in the county, hmmm

bowhntr I am glad the boater left a good impression on the non-airboating LEO. that helps us not all be lumped into the reckless renagade section of life. I agree on not putting in where your not wanted afterall i live in manatee county. I wouldn't put it past the anti ab folks to try and use the law for harrassing us especially if they think we may over react and give the officer a problem, heck if that would have been moodfood i woulda had to go bail him outta jail just if he was being his normal self LOL sorry mood i know you can take it.
 
The antis can use the numbers that pile up whether the complaint is unfounded or not. Still shows X number of airboat complaints answered at that address or location. Maybe they are just trying to run up the numbers.

Scotty
 
Sounds like the local AB'ers in Manatee need to have a large gathering and ride around Lake Miona area all day long spreading their goodwill. Hey, a nice friendly wave to the anti AB'ers letting them know they are # one, seems in order. Some times it's a good idea to have LE see you in action, beeing friendly, obeying the law, having a good time. Enjoy your rights or privleges. Can you shoot across the lake at night in a bass boat going 50 + mph and not be breaking the law?
 
Cntry, that sounds to me like you have every right to sue for access.
The day that the State of Florida stops taking my money for the renewal of the registration of my airboat will be the day I put 'er up for sale. Unless/ until that day comes, I believe I have a Constitutional right to run it as long as I do it responsibly.

All of y'all who are regular contributors on here see where this is going, don't you? This has very little to do with whether or not airboats are an icon of our Florida Heritage, or whether we should have a God given right to run them, and in truth probably doesn't really have that much to do with the sound issue. It has to do with money.

I'm not talking about money in terms of thousands or millions. I'm talking about money the likes of which most of us can't even comprehend. Hundreds of millions, and plenty more where that comes from if it's needed to get what they want. And what they (Developers) want is to eventually control every square foot of land in this State that has anything resembling a water access. Hell, I saw a house listed the other day up here that was asking a premium price because it has a 'water view', and it's sitting on a freekin' retention pond that's half dried up right now !!

Our State is "For Sale", and I don't just mean the land and the water we love. I mean the county commissioners, the assesors, the real estate agents, the tax comissioners, the real estate attorneys (no offense intended, Charles), and the wh*res that run the zoning boards. All of them are as 'for sale' as the dirt and our precious waterways themselves.

So what do we do to stop them? First, we can't, but we can sure slow them down, and by quite a few years if we get our stuff together. If we don't then an entire 'pure Florida' way of life and the industry that supports it is running on the clock.

We can no longer tolerate irresponsible behavior within our own ranks. If somebody is making an ass of himself we need to handle it ourselves as best we can before LEO ever has to get involved.

We can no longer afford to play around with the rules. I see folks trying to peddle those little tin cans that are supposed to look like mufflers, or inserts that slip up inside flex pipe, and they want an FWC officer to be "fooled" into thinking that they've somehow complied with the new regulation. Get Mufflers !! Real Mufflers !! Quit trying to be cool or cute and Quiet That Damn Boat Down !! It's not only the law, it's the intention of the law, and it's the right thing to do if you want to continue to be able to run it. And don't give me that crap about how mufflers don't make that much of a difference. I know better.

We must continue the clean-ups and other visible public work, and look for new opportunities to do more. The Ride for Melissa was wonderful stuff. And we need to try to involve as many members of the media as we can every time we have one of these events.

It is my belief that the FAA, given the fact that it is an all volunteer organization with very limited resources, did a Masterful job of trying to protect all of your rights this past year. If you're disatisfied with what they were able to get for you this year in Tallahassee, then you would be really pissed off tonight if they hadn't showed up.

However money has to be found to fight if we as a community intend to survive. The Developers have theirs. We as a community need to be able to go into court one of these days, with good representation, and bust the asses of one of these 'bought and paid for' county councils. It can be done, but in my opinion it needs to be done soon. Do that, and we'll buy some precious time.
 
IN my opinion your right, it is all about money and power. It is my feeling that the way to approach this is not to fight them over airboats, it is to fight them at every turn on every issue period. Make them spend more money to do it than it is worth. Yeh tie them up in court systems, but also in county hearings, responses to newspaper articles, and anything else that costs them money.

In my opinion the county level folks being bought and sold need to be closely monitored for violations of the Sunshine Act since it is my opinion that a lot of these deals are firmed up on golf courses in dinner clubs and bars. If your going to attack something you don't just go along with it and comply with their wishes. If you attack something you eliminate them and sew their fields in salt ! Figuratively of course. I sure hope a list is being created of officials who vote against our interests and their term expiration dates. We can of course return the favor. Until then we can watch and llisten.

I personally believe that compromise is a poor way to do business, cause you fight the same people over the same issue again and again.

Seems to me that people who continually make official complaints about airboats and the complaints are unfounded again and again can be sued by the airboaters for harassment and likely by the LEO organizations for the same thing. Seems to me the stalking law might even be able to be used.

Scotty
 
I am a non-airboater, but gatorstick can tell you, I send emails and make phone calls for you guys.

Sticking together is what it is all about. Getting together with folks who don't share your chosen recreation, but do share your love for the outdoors, access to public lands, and the right to enjoy what we pay for will go a long way.

They are scrambling down south because "they" (the anti-folks in the government) thought "they" could close fishing off of bridges. "They" thought wrong. Many folks who don't fish off of bridges either on a regular basis or at all, have taken up arms against the ordinance. Now the National Parks Service is scrambling because DOT made it clear that the new ordinance came from them. Why are they scrambling? Becuase folks from all user groups banned together to let the government agencies know that those government agencies were not going to railroad folks anymore.

What does this have to do with ABs? Simple, if user groups can ban together on a small issue like keeping fishing from bridges, what can they do for big issues like this sound issue?

I am a jeeper. I will be there supporting you ABers. Why? Because I believe in public access, our rights to enjoy lands we pay for, and I believe in the Constitution, America and my freedoms!

Hope to see some of you guys at the meeting! (Oh, I live in Lake County....)
 
Lisa, it my pleasure to meet you. I hope to be able to shake your hand one day soon. Thank you for your involvement in this adventure we call life.

God Bless.
 
Thanks Lisa, well said. And thanks for helping us. Keep up the job you're doing on behalf of bear hunting in Florida. We need it!
Hope you post Jeep concerns on this site as these folks will respond.

"United we stand, divided we fall."
 
I have always felt it is unethical for me to hunt predator species as they are part of the mechanism that helps to keep the prey species herds healthy. Thats why I don't hunt bear anymore.

If were going to hunt bear, hey why not hunt Panther and hey how about Bald Eagles too?

Bear hunting I know is a deep seated tradition, but hey I changed with new thinking, I'd like to see others make that change too, but I'll not force the issue because I know heritage runs deep.

My family made moonshine and sold illegal whiskey during prohibition and for hundreds fo years before. We changed and now just enjoy the heritage of it. Haven't run any booze since High School days, likely never will again. But, I do value the heritage of were I have been.

Scotty
 
Whitebear said:
I have always felt it is unethical for me to hunt predator species as they are part of the mechanism that helps to keep the prey species herds healthy. Thats why I don't hunt bear anymore.
If were going to hunt bear, hey why not hunt Panther and hey how about Bald Eagles too?

Scotty, I'll try to answer your post from my personal perspective which, while a little different, tries to understand yours also.

An adult bear, like an adult gator, sees their young as just another morsel in the food chain. A bear sow's biggest job when she's had a couple of cubs is to protect them from the old male boars. They are very indiscriminate when they're hungry. The same is true for big gator. Both species are mindless eating machines and it is up to 'man' to keep their numbers in check for our own safety.

Panther and Eagles on the other hand are much different in that both parents will fiercely defend their young from any and all harm until they're old enough to defend themselves, and neither pose a threat to us.
Click to expand...
 
Cntry

I must have been asleep when I wrote that cause I sure don't see the bear hunting comment I was responding to now. Hmmmm

Maybe I REALLY am going nuts.

Scotty
 
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