Joe Merchant
Cadet
- Joined
- Jan 11, 2005
- Messages
- 20
There will be a STATEWIDE BOATER'S RALLY on MARCH 12, from 10AM to noon.<br /><br />Four days after the 2005 Florida Legislature convenes, we want boaters across Florida to take to the waters to tell the Legislature: Save Family Boating. With the recent changes in the law and the fact that this is a non-election year there is a good chance we may get some real relief from the draconian rules inflicted on the boaters by this fake Manatee "crisis".<br /><br />We want every group that loves the water and bemoans its loss to GET OUT THERE and remind our legislators that we are concerned and we are active.<br /><br />Everywhere around this state are "poster child" examples of regulatory excess.<br /><br /> In Cocoa, it's the privatization of the last public access marina. <br /> In Cocoa Beach, it is long (hours) travel times and a loss of water sports because the entire city and it's waterways is now idle speed. <br /> In Lee County, it's Federal Emergency Rules that mock a judge's verdict. <br /> In Broward County, it's a Manatee Protection Plan that destroys years of work developing a true Marine Master Plan. <br /> In Duval County, it's building restrictions that almost deflated the Super Bowl. <br /> In Tampa Bay, it's new criteria on top of new zones -- new criteria that effectively ban new marinas. <br /><br />A boat trip from Cocoa Beach to Daytona Beach, which should take two hours, takes over eight.<br /><br />Every location, every group, will have its own issues. Fine. In fact, better.<br /><br />In Brevard, we've conducted two in-water rallies, both widely publicized. Now is the time to take it statewide. We had hundreds of boats at both rallies and got a tremendous amount of publicity from each one. Photographers and camera operators LOVE to shoot boats on water. In fact, they will usually go out and ride with you during the protest if you ask them to. <br /><br />It's one thing to fill up a meeting room. It's another to fill up the water. Call your local TV and radio stations and newspapers and let them know. Make sure your rally is somewhere with high visibility like a causeway or next to a major highway.<br /><br />Sample flyers from this year's Central Brevard rally can be obtained by contacting mailto:robin@savefamilyboating.org<br /><br />Also available are photos of the 2003 rally. A picture is worth a thousand words. We also have a video of the 2003 rally. It is a 14MB MPEG file. If anyone wants a copy, and has a large enough e-mailbox, let me know and I will send it to you. <br /><br />Please circulate this to every boater you know, and urge them to circulate it to all their friends. Questions? Contact Robin Turner at mailto:robin@savefamilyboating.org
