Page 7 - Martin Downs Bulletin - September '22

Martin Downs, Page 7

Good Works from page 6 The couple began the to get the child the dental care needed.”
process of becoming Starts’ tireless advocacy extends beyond her own
Neighbor Who Took In Little what is called a “Level 1” home. She is currently in the process of opening a
caregiver – someone who
Christian-based school with her friend Meghan Pybus.
Girl Awarded For Advocacy is licensed to care for a The Stuart school opened its doors Aug. 15.
specific child rather than The mission of Communities Connected for Kids is
Not all children have advocates. Fortunately for one any child in need of a foster to enhance the safety, permanency and well-being for all
8-year-old girl in the local foster-care system, Jenny Starts home. And that’s when the children in Okeechobee and the Treasure Coast through
was there to be that advocate. real advocacy began. a community network of family support services.
Starts and her husband, Brent, took on the role of “She had a need for
caregiver earlier this year when their friend and neighbor, dental care that required
who was a foster parent, could no longer care for the child. sedation that case Treasure Coast
Communities Connected for Kids recently awarded management had been working on for several months,”
Jenny the Topaz GEM – or Going the Extra Mile – said Mary Altiery, case management supervisor in Martin
award for her advocacy for the child’s dental and health County who nominated Starts for the award. Outdoors
care. Communities Connected for Kids oversees and When an appointment in Orlando didn’t work out,
coordinates the child-welfare community in Indian River, Starts began working with case management to find a
Martin, Okeechobee and St. Lucie counties. provider who could help. Redfish Harvest Banned
The little girl “ended up spending a lot of time with us “Mrs. Starts was able to locate a local dental surgeon
when our friend’s mother passed away, so we said we could who was able to get the child in immediately,” Altiery By Jim Weix
just keep her with us,” said Starts, a former foster care and said. “She went above and beyond in advocating for that The state has banned
adoptions recruiter in the California system of care. little girl and to considerable time and expense to herself harvesting redfish in the
156-mile-long Indian
River Lagoon that runs
through Martin, St. Lucie,
Indian River, Volusia, and
Brevard counties.
Decades of pollution,
brown tides, discharges
2022 from Lake Okeechobee,
and algae blooms have
decimated our once beautiful fishing paradise. Gone
NOVEMBER 11–13, 2022 STUART, FLORIDA are the expansive seagrass beds, oyster beds, and other
NOVEMBER 11–13, 2022
important habitats. Areas where I once caught sea trout,
VETERANS DAY WEEKEND
pompano, and redfish now resemble an underwater
wasteland.
Along with the fish, dead manatees now wash up on the
shores. What has happened to the Indian River Lagoon,
in my opinion, is both an ecological disaster and a crime.
It started when the C-44 canal was built between 1916
and 1924. This man-made canal was supposedly created to
divert flood waters from Lake Okeechobee. In reality, the
canal was built so that another foolish ecological disaster,
the Herbert Hoover Dike, would allow Lake Okeechobee
to hold more water and be a source of irrigation water for
agricultural interests.
A locally built dike, made of sand and muck, was
originally built by local interests in about 1915 to divert
water around towns that should never have existed and to
allow more land to be farmed. The so-called towns were
population centers for cheap farm labor. That ignorant
plan washed away during hurricanes in 1926 and 1928.
Over 2,500 people died as a result.
In an overly simplistic and perfect world, the towns on
the south end of Lake Okeechobee would be re-located,
the C-44 canal would be filled in, and the Herbert Hoover
Dike would be removed. You could call it the “blow it up
and start over again” approach. But of course, that will
not happen.
Short of that, there are a lot of good people working to
find less drastic solutions. Some of these will hopefully
reduce the need for discharges. Unfortunately, it won’t
eliminate them.
Given some time, the Indian River Lagoon will start to
recover. The huge amount of toxic muck won’t go away,
but seagrass will reestablish itself in areas and there may
be some oyster beds in some areas again. I’ve witnessed
it several times and get quite excited.
Then heavy rains again create the need for discharges
and it is back to an underwater wasteland. It is a perfect
example of insanity.
Editor’s note: Jim Weix is an avid hunter, angler,
conservationist, as well as an outdoor writer. Jim is
included in the Wisconsin Waterfowl Association’s Hall of
Fame, for his work in helping restore thousands of acres
of wetlands. Jim is a broker associate with The Keyes
Company. He can be reached at (772) 341-2941 or by
email: jimweix@jimweix.com.

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