Monday, January 7, 2008

Santa Rosa County Says the State Will Clean up the Dead Mullet in Milton

Santa Rosa County says it's not their job to clean up the dead mullet in Ward Basin near Milton.

The county initially said they would clean up the fish kill, but since their meeting today, the county commissioners have since changed their tune.

This weekend, thousands of dead mullet were found dead in Ward Basin, a tributary of Escambia Bay. The cold-snap last week did the fish in. They froze to death.

After today's meeting, Commissioner Broxson said the state would clean up the mullet, but the landowners will need to clean up the mess on the shore.

Florida's Department of Environmental Protection is going to clean up the bloated mullet that are floating in the water.

Bob Cole is the county commissioner that represents Wright Basin and he tells it like it is. "We don't have the dollars to go out there and clean it up."

I agree with Cole's approach. Why should the county have to go to a private land owners waterfront and clean up something that he or she could just clean up themselves? If this was public land, it might be the job of the county to clean up the dead mullet.

Plus, the area will be cleaned up soon enough when the marine life in the basin feast on the mullet.

I think public funds should not be used for services that will be used for total private benefit.

No comments: