Comments on: Iguanas, golf carts and Web 2.0

By: Lynda

Lynda — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 22:56:42 +0000

We get passed up by bicycles in our golf cart and I don’t see any child restraints on those scary, speedy bikes! This is beyond ridiculous and is so clearly another case of those jealous of the Boca Grande lifestyle trying to bully it out of existence. Things were better when no one knew about Boca, except for those of us who appreciate it for what it is. I am so disappointed by all this nonsense when Lee County should be rebating the golf cart users for helping to “save the earth” by cutting fuel emissions. What about that???

By: SKIP PERRY

SKIP PERRY — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 16:47:14 +0000

There is no rollover protection in a golf cart. Would you put a seat belt on a motorcycle?

By: Corny Preston

Corny Preston — Sun, 13 Apr 2008 08:55:53 +0000

Do they have those things you blow into on the golf carts to see if you had been drinking or not? If not they should.

By: Norman S. Cannella, Sr.

Norman S. Cannella, Sr. — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 16:29:29 +0000

I have read with interest the articles regarding golf carts. I can’t help but think those in Boca Grande who support restricting golf cart usage have fallen off the deep end of the lighthouse hole.

Why are added regulations needed? Have those in support of regulation demonstrated that 14 year old drivers, or for that matter, drivers younger than 14 have caused accidents wherein life and limb have been taken or serious bodily injury suffered? And what about those drivers 65 and over? Is it documented they have been engaged in demolition derby tactics?

There is in place a state statute restricting golf cart operators to those 14 or more in years. Nothing else is needed. The local law, if in doubt about the age of a drvier, can put to use the time honored investigative tool of calling the parents. I know of no better way of corralling the attention of a youngster than having the cops call the father or the mother down to the scene of the crime.

Let’s not regulate more than is required. Regulators have an ability to be given an inch and the next thing they want is a mile. Look at the regulation under which we lead our daily lives; it’s strangling. Do you want more? Think before you give government another piece of your freedom.

By: island resident

island resident — Sat, 29 Mar 2008 20:17:37 +0000

The problem with the iguanas is that they eat everything. You have to control the numbers.
If we had more year round residents the population could be managed by the islands residents.
Too bad this is not the case.

How many preppies does it take to handle the iguana problem?
Three, one to call commissioner Janes, two to mix the cocktails.

By: Island Resident

Island Resident — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 21:48:40 +0000

I support the program to reduce the iguana population on Boca Grande. The most urgent need for this program, which you neglected to mention in your article, is to protect the bird life as these lizards have devastated the shorebird population on the island. Their vulnerable nests have been prey to them for the many years they had free range of our beaches and riprap becoming a great cover for these creatures.

All one has to do is take a walk on the beach and compare the numbers of shorebirds you see now as compared with 10 years ago.They are known to climb trees and remove eggs and chicks from the birds that nest there. I have heard no complaints about the cost of the program and the method used which was voted in by the community. Bob Janes position was that if we waited for the State or the Counties to address this problem, the iguana population would be even more out of control.

Moderator remarks: The iguana program wasn’t “voted in” by the community. It was “voted in” by the Lee County Board of Commissioners. The only vote, if you want to call it that, took place at a meeting sponsored by the GICIA. As you might remember, Janes suggested that the island iguana tax would cost property owners “about a buck” a year. At that point, the president of the GICIA asked for a show of hands of those willing to pay Janes’ “about a buck” annual tax. Turned out Janes was a few dollars short in his estimate.

As far as Janes’ position on waiting for the county to address the problem, Bob Janes is the county. And the county did address the problem. They addressed it with Boca Grande tax dollars, noting that iguanas were a Boca Grande problem and that iguana control was not a “core level service.”