BY MERRILLEE MALWITZ-JIPSONPresident, Our Santa Fe River, Inc.

A citizen’s voice will help protect our neighbor-hoods and public natural resources.

Our Santa Fe River, Inc., was born out of a neighborhood’s need to stop four more water bottling plants coming into the Santa Fe River in North Florida.

We stayed together creat-ing a 501c3-not for profit to serve as an educational resource to the public, whose main interest is the watershed of the Santa Fe River.

Our board meets regu-larly, and when there is action necessary from a broader public we call for meetings in various loca-tions that are accessible to area residents.

We try our best to gather facts about any situation by attending meetings de-signed by professionals such as Suwannee River Water

Management District, Florida Department of Protection, local governments and envi-ronmental groups.

All of these meetings are open to citizens; we encourage anyone to attend.

With the state and federal bud-gets being cut so severely, OSFR feels stronger than ever that it is up to the local citizens to partici-

pate in decision making with regards to how our natural resources and local envi-ronments are being used.

OSFR had success op-posing water bottling op-erations in our state. We are advisors to Friends of the Wacissa, who are against Nestle water bottling the Wacissa River spring water. We credit Food and Water Watch, Corporate Accountability International, and Polaris Institute with providing valuable information for our victories.

OSFR has become a powerful disseminator of information. E-mail has become a successful tool to share news across the state

and country. OSFR updates regularly on Facebook.

Most of our membership is tied to us through e-mail. And sometimes we opt for a good old fashioned phone call to share in-formation.

In the upcoming meeting on March 3, 2011, we would like to share with you how OSFR became successful as a citizen watch-dog organization.

Suwannee-St. Johns Group

Sierra ClubNewsletter

Published monthly except June and August from Gainesville, FloridaVOLUME 41 • NUMBER 3 • March 2011

thank you from the chair . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3nature coast or mining coast? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4nature’s flying garbage disposals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

Fighting for Our Water Resources

Find OSFR On FacebOOk at

‘OuR Santa Fe RiveR’ and at

www.OuRSantaFeRiveR.ORg

GENERAL MEETINGThursday, Mar. 3, 7:30 p.m.

Entomology/Nematology Building on the UF campus, ** room 3118 **

(Just east of the Performing Arts Center. Turn south offHull Road on to Natural Areas Road.)

FIghtINg FOR WAtERMERRIllEE MAlWItz-jIPSON

PRESIDENt, OuR SANtA FE RIvER, INC.

Natural Area Drive

Natural A

rea Rd.

Surge Area Rd.

Visit the National and Local Sierra Club Websites!National: www.sierraclub.org Local: http://ssjsierra.org

Suwannee-St Johns Group Chairs & Executive CommitteeChair Brack Barker 528-3751 brack154@msn.com Administrative Dwight Adams 378-5129 dwight.adams@att.netConservation Whitey Markle 595-5131 whmarkle@gmail.comPolitical larry Marsh 379-2784 ldmarsh@cox.net Program Chair Melanie Martin 246-3084 melaniemoksa@gmail.comMembership Roberta gastmeyer 336-2404 rgastmeyer@bellsouth.netFundraising jack Donovan 352-376-2838 jfdonovan@bellsouth.netNewsletter Publisher Scott Camil 375-2563 s.camil@att.net Events Sherry Steiner 375-2563 sherrysteiner@att.netlegislative liaison Daniel vazquez 352-870-6999 a.daniel.vazquez@gmail.com ICO Maryvonne Devensky 871-1606 marydeven@yahoo.com Enviro Education Chris Smiley 561-866-3719 chris.smiley@gmx.comSecretary linda Pollini 352-481-2048 thirdeyegrafix@bellsouth.net treasurer Roberta gastmeyer 336-2404 rgastmeyer@bellsouth.netPublicity linda Pollini 352-481-2048 thirdeyegrafix@bellsouth.netOutings Robert Fisher 514-7674 rbertisher@gmail.comNewsletter Editor Chuck hawkins 505-803-3736 chuck.hawkins1@gmail.comSocial Robert Fisher 514-7674 rbertisher@gmail.comlegal Daniel vazquez 352-870-6999 a.daniel.vazquez@gmail.comNewsletter Design Colin Whitworth (toronto) 1-416-655-7725 colinwhitworth@gmail.com Webmaster Mike Wright 372-7975 mike@sugarfoot.org

Interested in hosting a newsletter folding party? Contact Scott Camil at 375-2563

Suwannee-St. johns group Sierra Club Newsletter (UPS 317-370) is published 10 months a year, except June and August, by the Suwannee-St. johns group Sierra Club, 1024 NW 13th Ave, gainesville, 32601. Non-member subscription rate is $5.00. Periodicals Postage Paid is paid at the gainesville, Fl 32608 post office. Postmaster: Send change of addresses to SSJ SC Newsletter, P.O. Box 13951, Gaines-ville, FL 32604, or to ssjsierranl@bellsouth.net. Send both your old and new addresses and a Sierra ad-dress label, which contains your membership number. PlEASE AD-DRESS All gENERAl CORRE-SPONDENCE FOR thE SuWAN-NEE-St. jOhNS gROuP OF thE SIERRA CluB tO: P.O. BOX 13951, gAINESvIllE, Fl 32604.

FOLDING PARTY

2 Suwannee-St. Johns Sierra Club March 2011

BY BRACK BARKER

By now the dust has settled from our 40th Anniversary Celebration. I want to thank all of the SSj members who were instrumental in carrying this huge event to fruition.

At the front of the list are Melanie Martin and Roberta gastmeyer. They worked tire-lessly behind the scenes for months getting things lined up.

Thanks also goes out to David Auth for helping us acquire the Matheson Museum as our venue.

Also to linda Pollini in soliciting area art-ists, and to the artists themselves, for all the artwork donated for the silent auction.

And to the Suwannee/St. johns Sierra group Executive Committee for pitching in with time, food, money, and assistance the day of the event.

Barney Capehart should be assigned the project of group historian, along with joanne Auth for her assistance in research-ing the archives of old newsletters; that added a bit of nostalgia to our evening of February 12th, 2011.

let’s do it again next year!Environmental news is the upcoming re-

turn of titan America (tarmac) and their resubmittal of a special exception permit to mine up to five thou-sand acres of wetlands in the gulf hammock portion of levy Coun-ty.

Stay tuned for the actual date of the planning board and county commission meetings that will probably be held in March or April. We’ll need to pack the auditorium with people to help end this detrimental project.

A permit for a water bottling plant along

the western area of lake george in Marion County was recently denied by the Marion County BOCC. We’re still awaiting word on the ‘for sale’ status of the Coke/Danon Bottling Plant’s future that is along the San-ta Fe River in gilchrist County.

As Florida’s drought continues, our water supplies dwindle, and the permits for more bottling plants keep coming in to the water

management districts. One wonders when will the wa-

ter managers come to their senses. Conservation can only go so far. The assignment of consumptive use permits must be re-evaluated on more than just profit for multi-national corporations.

So say thank you too, to the wa-ter that we have. And hope that

our water managers will eventually get a clue about this precious resource that we all need for life.

Thank You

cHaiR’S

cORneR

March 2011 Suwannee-St. Johns Sierra Club 3

Atlantic Great Sea Battles, Heroic Discov-eries, Titanic Success, and a Vast Ocean of a Million StoriesBy Simon WinchesterHarperCollins Press 2010

how wide is this ocean? Or in animated terms, “Ocean, what have you done with your life?”

Atlantic answers that question, and sweeps the panorama of its origins from tectonic plate drift 10 million years ago through the human span of exploration, warfare, and now human domination.

A few notes from the book include recent archeological data detailing that Norsemen settled for about eight years around 1001 AD in Newfoundland where the first Euro-pean baby was born (Snorri). Columbus is described as sometimes vain and cruel who explored many islands but missed the big picture.

It was Italian explorer, pimp, and sor-

cerer Amerigo vespucci who described the great landmass of the western hemisphere for whom the continents were named by a german mapmaker in 1507.

We learn that the International hydro-graphic Organization (IhO) defines ocean boundaries and navigation maps, and that the gulf of Mexico is legally defined as being part of the Atlantic Ocean.

The agony of ocean war-fare began with the Roman invasion of Briton and most recently ended with the Falkland Islands war in 1982.

That war was brief, bitter, and bloody despite being belittled as “two bald men fighting over a comb”. Ca-ribbean pirates with their short, violent 75-year reign in the 16th century were not the romantized rol-licking, singing, bar room drunks, but sadistic brutes who tortured and mutilated their victims. The British Navy ended their terror.

The last section of the book deals with

human domination over the ocean. Ocean ships and transoceanic aircraft dump about 1.3 billion tons of CO2 yearly. Waste dumping of radioactive material, solid waste, and chemical toxins tear the ocean fabric. greed and factory ship ocean strip mining have wiped out certain plenti-ful fish such as the grand Banks Atlantic

Cod. The popular Patagonian

toothfish, since renamed the more menu friendly Chilean Seabass may fol-low. global Climate Change is raising ocean sea levels, and may be unstop-pable in the face of a large segment of the population who believe that modern industrial goals override climate change factors. There is so much more in this book for the hungry reader.

Simon Winchester is a British writer, foreign correspondent jour-nalist, and broadcaster. he wrote several books including Krakatoa—The Day the World Exploded.

Support the Sierra Club and Get New Customers

tO ADvERtISE, CONtACt: ROBERtA gAStMEyER, 352-336-2404

ad prices for a single issue are: 1/8 page $ 35 ¼ Page $ 65 ½ Page $120 Full Page $175

ad prices for 10 issues are: 1/8 page $ 315 ¼ Page $ 585 ½ Page $ 1080 Full Page $ 1575

The newsleTTer needs layouT help. The newsleTTer layouT uses

The adobe IndesIgn program.

emaIl chuck.hawkIns1@gmaIl.com.o

4 Suwannee-St. Johns Sierra Club March 2011

BY WHITEY MARKLE

tarmac, the mega mine in gulf hammock (levy County), is well on its way to being totally permitted.

The levy County Planning Commission was scheduled to have a “quasi-judicial” hearing on March 14, but tarmac’s team of expert witnesses couldn’t arrange to be in Bronson on that date, so the hearing was cancelled.

Also, a proposed February 15th date was rejected, so we are on hold until we get of-ficial notification.

We would like for all interested parties and especially our levy County member-ship to show up for the hearing(s). Watch

your newspapers in levy County and your email for notification whenever we find out the firm date and time of the hearing.

The levy County Commission needs to know we care about this boondoggle, and that we will take whatever action(s) that are necessary to defend the Nature Coast. They also need to see how many Sierrans are in levy County.

The tarmac mine is far too big to be per-mitted at this time. It is close to the Nature Coast and is in a Karst-sensitive area. Also, the process by which it is being permitted by levy County reeks of arrogance.

The mine is being permitted under a “Spe-cial Exception” clause in the levy Compre-hensive Plan.

In other words, the levy Comprehensive

Plan applies to all parties, except those who apply for a “Special Exception”, so; essen-tially comprehensive planning doesn’t really exist in levy County.

By permitting this monster to destroy gulf hammock, the powers that be are making the statement that they would rather have a Mining Coast rather than a Nature Coast. Stay tuned for exact dates and places.

I would like to thank the SSj group for the award they presented to me at the 40th Anniversary Party.

It was a total surprise (I’m glad I dressed up). like I said then, that award was given to me, but it wouldn’t have been given at all without the help of so many others in the group.

Thanks again.

Nature Coast or Mining Coast?

BY CHUCK HAWKINS

the weather has gone a little crazy. Several 1000-year floods occurred in 2010 in Nash-ville, Fargo, Iowa, China, Paki-stan, and India. Record snowfalls happened last month.

These wild swings in regional weather, such as hot-cold and dry-wet were predict-ed by climate models 25-years ago. That extra precipitation is a symptom of warmer surface sea temperatures and hotter ground temperatures that evap-orate extra moisture to produce huge amounts of snow and rain. That moisture has to come down somewhere.

There were 4,100 American cities and towns that reported record temperature highs and 1,500 reported record low lows in 2010.

los Angeles reached temperatures of 113 degrees, an all time high. Pakistan hit 128 degrees, which is the hottest ever recorded

in Asia. Moscow went above 100F for the first time in history and for five days. Fires raged and crop loss was 30%.

The Russian President reversed long-standing opposition to global warming saying it is real.

Do any of these extraordinary events mean global warming is upon us? techni-cally no, but we should sure pay attention. Science is conservative in the face of natu-ral variations.

The best evidence for global warming is the steady stream of data collected daily

from 10,000 weather stations showing that average temperature change on the Earth keeps rising.

That data says gW is upon us. Climate change refers to average weather chang-

es from a decade to thousands of years. Weather is what we predict in the next 5 days. Weather is up close, personal, and local; climate is not (yet).

The recent winter cold spells in the South and Midwest brought joyful jeers from the deniers who proclaim that gW is what hits their nose when they walk out of the house in the morning.

A color-coded world temperature map (NOAA) showed that the large affected cold regions of the uSA in january 2010 were 3-5 degrees colder than a previous 30-

year average normal. however the large areas

north of the diagonal uSA cold zone were 3-10 degrees warmer, and that included northern Canada and the Arctic region.

global warming has not ended as shrilled by Fox News. CO2 is rising and so

is the Earth average temperature.

Resources were from NASA/GISS, NOAA, the Economist, and Living on Earth broad-cast of Dec. 12, 2010.

cOld weatHeR + glObal waRming = glObal waRming

Global warming has not ended as shrilled by Fox News. CO2 is rising and so is the Earth average temperature.“

“

manatee Paddle cRyStal RiveR

Meet at Winn-Dixie in Williston, 727 W Noble Ave 32696, at 8:30 am March 5 to caravan to hunter’s Park in Crystal River, or meet at hunters Park, off Citrus Blvd and NE 1 Ave, at 9:19 am.

We will look for manatees in the Kings Bay area and Three Sisters Springs, follow-ing the SSj’s “no swim-no touch” policy. Rental kayaks will be available.

FWC has a live manatee cam http://manateecam.viewnetcam then click on “single” at the entrance to Three Sisters.

Reservations & trip info: Knox Bagwell at knoxberries@msn.com, 352-468-1790

Rental reservation: Brack Barker, at

brack154@msn.com, 352-528-3751

OveRnigHt Paddle and camPAnyone interested in a one or two night

overnight paddle/camping trip the last weekend in March? This would take place on easy to paddle rivers: Suwannee, Ockla-waha, or hontoon S/P on St. johns.

Paddling about 10 miles a day, back-woods camping on sand bars on the Su-wannee, or park camping on Ocklawaha or hontoon, carrying everything needed with you.

Contact Knox Bagwell knoxberries@msn.com 352-468-1790.

victORy FOR Sludge SPReading

On Thursday, February 18, the gaines-ville City Commission voted to phase out the 30-year practice of spreading treated sewage sludge on a 1,400 acre Archer farm.

An agreement was worked out with the county’s approval and now a plan must be developed for an alternate method of dis-posal.

An organics recycling facility on the sludge site is one possibility.

Money is an issue, but on the good side, it may require creative thinking in a new design.

news&notesMarch 2011 Suwannee-St. Johns Sierra Club 5

BY RILEY PECK

you can see them soaring high above the ground in wide circles, heads down and eyes sharply focused, scanning the earth for their next feast. Suddenly a vul-ture spies a meal.

It circles down, landing on top of a dead animal. The other vultures follow hungrily.

vultures provide a great service to nature and man by eating the dead creatures that may otherwise cause foul smells and dis-ease. I have heard people refer to vultures as garbage cans with wings, to give you a better picture.

vultures serve as nature’s fly-in cleanup crews. They can be seen at garbage dumps, fishing docks, markets, dining on a road kill feast, or soaring above farms where a carcass or animal body litter may be easily found. As they devour dead animals, they are as-sisting us with the removal of what is no longer living and often rotting.

A vulture’s diet is predom-inately the dead. For many humans, that may seem disgusting. But that’s not the only trait that may be a major turn-off to us. Adult vultures later regurgitate their half-digested meals for their young.

While other animals do the same thing to nourish their offspring, vultures are re-gurgitating stuff that was often rotten be-fore being swallowed. So the practice leaves the nesting sites foul-smelling. That may be one reason young vultures are rarely preyed upon. Their other habits include projectile vomiting when threatened, but that is really just a self-defense mechanism: the birds rid themselves of the meal they have just eaten so they can quickly get airborne.

vultures are big birds – as big as eagles. They do have an eagle-size wingspan of six feet, and they do appear eagle-big as they circle above. Often mistaken for eagles but can be quickly identified by one feature of

the wings – the flight features. Those are the big features on the top edge of the wings, and in eagles they are distinct. When you look up at them you can see, in an eagle, the full feature, like long, distinct fingers. The flight features of the vulture, however, do not have the full scalloped definition of the eagles’ feathers.

Although vultures are considered scav-engers, they are highly sociable. They roost in trees, and are quiet creatures except for grunts and hisses while perching. But as the days warm, they split into bonded pairs – they are thought to mate for life – and in early spring head to their breeding grounds.

Although these birds are seemingly re-pulsive, they are just doing their job. A job many of us would not want to do.

vultuReS:

Nature’s Flying garbage Disposals

6 Suwannee-St. Johns Sierra Club March 2011

BY MARVONNE DEVENSKY

“Adventure on la Chua trail” could be the title to the following report by jimmy, a 3rd grader at lake For-est.

On jan. 26, seven kids went on that hike with four ICO volunteers. The weather was great: sunny and cool. Corey spotted an eagle, welcoming us at the entrance of the trail. We never got to the tower at the end of the trail, because we stopped many times to watch birds, alligators, and horses on the way….But, here is jimmy’s report:

“We had seen five wading her-ons. We saw lots of alligators. I stepped on an ant pile. I did not

realize I walked on the ant pile. Then I moved my foot and I saw my footprint and lots of ants were on my shoes and on my pants. I needed help to get the ants off my pants. Then we saw a water buffalo in the water eating grass. Then we saw three turtles. When we were going back, the water buffalo had gotten on the path. We waited for the buffalo to leave. I had a great time out there. When you go out there, if you see a buffalo, don’t be frightened. just stay calm.”

On Feb. 9, the same group visited the Florida Museum of Natural history to see the Blue Path exhibit on the North Florida Spring. They were impressed by the North

Florida cave, the dug up canoes exhibit, the microscopes, and the drawers that you could open and close. They all want to go back because the Museum is “the most beautiful place on Earth,” said one of them.

More outings are planned for February and March, like this Saturday, February 19, the girl Power group is going to Rally for the Rivers, in Palatka.

On March 19 (to be confirmed) we are planning a hiking day in Paynes Prairie (Bo-len Bluff in the morning, then the trails at the headquarters, with a picnic) combining our various groups, and hopefully adding a new group of Swaggers junior

Many thanks to the volunteers, Dan Rountree, photographer and activist who led us through the exhibition, and the stu-dents from the triP program at uF.

Kids visit la Chua trail

Want to Write for the SSJ Sierra Club Newsletter?

Contact Chuck Hawkins at chuck.hawkins1@gmail.com.

The stream at Paynes Prairie comes from Alachua Lake and empties into the Alachua Sink. Photograph from www.floridastateparks.org

March 2011 Suwannee-St. Johns Sierra Club 7

BY CHUCK HAWKINS

the annual winter Rally for the Rivers weekend in Palatka has become the place to be for merging knowledge and people in the fight to preserve north Florida’s water supply and quality.

Karen Ahler’s all-day workshop brought prominent leaders to present the not-so-pleasant news coming from tallahassee.

Former state senator lee Constantine led off the speakers and about an hour later he ended to a standing applause. he gripped us early with the observation that after 32 years in politics the most grateful feeling was that he could at last be free to speak his mind.

In 2010 he was the successful sponsor of the clean water bill SB 550. SB 550 has many features, but it is most noted for the contentious 5-year septic tank inspection feature.

Broken or degraded septic tanks foul ground water, and this year opponents have not gone quietly in the night.

The Florida Association of Realtors, the Florida homebuilders Association, the Florida Chamber of Commerce, Associated Industries of Florida and the Florida Onsite Wastewater Association have joined in com-mon cause to repeal or amend SB 550.

Their vested interest is that so many of Florida’s homes are built beyond municipal sewer systems. These homes need either a septic tank or an onsite wastewater treat-ment plant.

Despite the fact that 5-year septic tank inspections would reduce the cost over on-site wastewater treatment plants from about $350 per year to below $150, the oxen feel gored. If an owner can’t smell it, or it’s not on his kitchen floor, “It ain’t broke, so don’t fix it”.

The associations and the tea Party have

optimism for repeal in tallahassee this year. Water quality will then take a giant step backwards. Constantine gave us a close up look at the daily life of legislators who battle against the ideological hordes that now de-fine the 21st century. It is not pretty.

Secretary tom Pelham of the Dept. of Community Affairs spoke next. The FCA mission is now being gutted under the en-ergetic ideology that any regulation is detri-mental to economic growth.

tom rebutted the attack against DCA that since 90% of the local land planning use exceptions are approved, why keep the DCA. he noted that approved permits went through a constructive review, and the final altered product served Florida as op-posed to no review.

tom also frequently referred to the ideol-ogy driven climate in tallahassee. he ad-vised that “ …to be nice is not effective in the current climate. you will be ignored.”

A strong comment came from the audi-ence that the many environmental groups are relatively weak as individuals, but a common cause would have more power if the groups could merge on the political is-sues. Not an easy task but one to consider.

Neil Armingeon spoke next on the issue of water supply. Neil has been the St. johns Riverkeeper for seven years. Water with-drawal from the St. johns River is a con-stant issue.

Seminole County is actively constructing a plant to draw 5.5 million gallons per day mostly for lawn irrigation. Future planning is for an increase to 80 MgD to supplement drinking water.

The good news is that volusia can’t fund the total project alone and no one else is stepping up to partner. Sanford has plans for 2 MgD.

In a different water issue, the jacksonville jEA has challenged the accuracy of scientific data that shows the region’s groundwater cone of depression has affected the ground water level in outlying counties. The jEA

has the largest consumptive use in the state. At least the SjWMD has admitted that Keystone heights has a problem.

David guest is a long time environmen-tal lawyer. he horrified the audience with several Florida river and lake photos of the blue-green algae, otherwise known as Flori-da’s (and developing nation’s) pea soup.

The problem is too much nitrogen and phosphorus causing a bloom. The nitrogen comes from water treatment discharge, irri-gation runoff of fertilizer, and failing septic tanks and sewage pipes.

The EPA is under heavy attack from the ideology folks. On the issue of what to do, David added, “Restoration is three times more expensive than prevention”.

Preston Robertson is general Counsel for the Florida Wildlife Federation. he discussed Near-Shore Oil drilling. tour-ism brings in 80 million persons each year. When it was reported that Florida (Escam-bia County) beaches were soaked with oil from the BP spill, the impression in Europe was that it was all Florida beaches, even evoking a query from a german whether the Miami beaches were clear.

The Florida gulf oil story sold worldwide. The media report had an instant negative impact on Florida’s tourism, and it was hard to counter. The media isn’t so much at fault as the legal ability of oil companies to drill in the oceans.

jeff Klinkenburg topped off a terrific day with stories of old and new Florida. he is the state’s premier nature and Florida stories writer for the St. Pete times. The audience was rapt as he described stories of Marge Stoneman Douglas, Marge Rawlings, Mar-ge Carr and other Floridians he has written about for 34 years. In contrast to the seri-ous problems of the day, jeff left us feeling good about everything – a rare talent in to-day’s Florida.

hats off to Karen Ahlers for this superb day and for the whole 3-day Rally for the Rivers event.

A Day at the Rally for the Rivers Workshop

Suwannee-St. johns groupSierra ClubNEWSlEttERP.O. Box 13951gainesville Fl 32604

PeriodicalsU.S. POSTAGE

PAIDGainesville FL 32608

Explore, enjoy and protect the planet

maRcH 2011 calendaR OF eventSMAR 3–SSJ Sierra Club Group general meeting, Thursday, 7:30 pm, in the Entomol-ogy/Nematology Building on the UF campus, room 3118. See page 1 for details. MAR 5–Crystal River Manatee Paddle. Contact Knox Bagwell at knoxberries@msn.com, 352-468-1790 for details, and Brack Barker brack154@msn.com, 352-528-3751 for rental reservation. See page 5 for details. MAR 9–ICO 1:00-4:00 pm, Wednesday. Outing at Prairie Creek Preserve. To be confirmed. Contact Maryvonne Devensky, 352-871-1606.MAR 10–SSJ Sierra Club Executive Committee meeting, Thursday, 7 pm, at the Santa Fe Community College Downtown Gainesville Campus Board meeting room. MAR 19–SSJ Sierra Club is doing a booth at the Cinema Verde Eco Fest.MAR 19–ICO 1:00-4:00 pm, Saturday. Day Hike/Picnic at Paynes Prairie. Various ICO groups will be combined on that day. Contact Maryvonne Devensky, 352-871-1606.MAR 25–Folding party for the April Newsletter, Friday, 7 pm, at the home of Scott Camil and Sherry Steiner. Call 375-2563 for info. MAR 26–SSJ Sierra Club is doing a booth at the Springs Festival at Oleno State Park.MAR 26-27–Overnight Paddle/Camp. River to be selected. Contact Knox Bagwell knoxberries@msn.com 352-468-1790. See page 5 for details.EARLY APRIL–ICO Saturday in Early April. Girl Power will go to a horse farm in Alachua. To be confirmed. Contact Maryvonne Devensky, 352-871-1606.

3305

Gainesville City Elections March 15th

Sierra Club Endorsements

District 2 JAMES INGLE

District 3 SUSAN BOTTCHER

At Large THOMAS HAWKINS