Arial Dunes condos - photos - June 15 2006

Am I going to have to come down there and separate you Two????

Re: A Confederancy of Arial Dunces - photos - June 15 2006

My grandparents were sharecroppers in Jackson County. My grandfather could neither read nor write. I never heard him utter an unkind word. He did cheat at poker, though.

I guess that's why my hackles go up when it's implied that locals are inbred and stupid. Obviously there's a difference between uneducated and unintelligent. And it's we locals who are primarily to blame for allowing the destruction of much of our beaches.

I must disagree about fertilizer not being the problem at Seascape. Take a look at a satellite photo of the area. Compare it to the dune lakes, karst lakes (google it) and spring-fed lakes in the area. If you have another explanation for the overgrowth of algae I'd be interested in hearing it. (I will concede it can also be caused by sewage, but I hope that's not the case.) Fortunately the Northwest Florida Water Management District has bought about 50,000 acres to protect our watershed. They plan to buy more but the money is limited. Also fortunate is that the state was able to buy the Topsail area about 20 years ago despite the opposition of the then Walton County Commissioners, who said it would affect the tax base. In reality the commissioners were mostly developers and real estate agents just as they are now. Ro Cuchens is the marine contractor/commissioner who put up most of the illegal and harmful seawalls in the Blue Mountain Beach area.

The seawalls have been discussed ad nauseum in these forums. Seawalls and beach renourishment are short term but ultimately harmful remedies for our stupidity in building too close to the shoreline.

I often criticize St. Joe, but I will give them credit for clustering and leaving approximately 50% green space with native vegetation. I'm guessing it's about 10% at Seascape. One must maximize one's profits. So what about how it affects the ecosystem. I can't seem to find any dunes at "Arial Dunes".

I apologize for my outburst and have removed the more egregious passages.

I apologize for my outburst and have removed the more egregious passages.

I don't think you need to apologize for anything..this is a free expression forum and you just expressed what you felt.
Truth is, Stewart lake is in a deplorable state of affairs. I am in touch with the CBA and shall soon find out what water samples from the lake show. I feel reasonably sure that fertilizers wont be at the heart of the problem. I have seen no overt engineering that suggests runoff from the golf course is being diverted into the lake.
The Seascape HOA have been sliding on this for a long time. With new funds from AD1 and AD2 they (I've been told) are gearing up to give the area a face lift. Not sure what that augurs for the lake.
One way or another I will do something to clean it up.