[ricki]

"Hello everyone, Thank you for coming out last night. Sorry to have missed anyone who was not able to make it.
We had a great turnout and signed up almost everyone in attendance. The good news, if you missed the meeting; is contained in my most recent forwarded mail of today.

Rob LaDue, Superintendent of Sarasota County Parks, let us know on Friday afternoon that the proposed ordinance, that was previously suggested, to prohibit kiting on all Sarasota County Beaches; has been rewritten and, if found acceptable to the Parks Director, The County Attorney and the Florida Fish and Wildlife officials; could be finalized and submitted to the County Commissioners for discussion and public input at the Public Hearing on June 23.


We are by not means in the clear. Although this is all extremely good news, in my opinion, we will ultimately get nowhere if our practices are not even more protective of public safety and the nesting and migratory birds than these proposed guidelines stipulate. Rick Iossi, shares with us that the public sectors' support is easier to achieve than the actual cooperation of local and visiting kiters who must, ultimately, protect their own access. We are extremely fortunate to have such a small, responsible group of local kiteboarders to deal with. In my experience, almost every visitor who comes here to kiteboard either calls a local shop to check out conditions and regulations already knows one of us and hooks up with them upon arrival, or is easily identified as someone we don't know who will need to be brought up to speed by one of our members on the regulations and practices that facilitate our access.


I forwarded to all of you, an e-mail to Vince about the surprise meeting tomorrow with Jon Thaxton. George volunteered to sit down with us. They are friends and have a love for kayaking in common. I feel that George and I can work together best to have a productive meeting that leaves Commissioner Thaxton with a better comfort level with Kiteboarding on the beach.

Also, tomorrow, we will work to develop a complete contact list based upon the newly added e-mail addresses from new members at Saturday's meeting. We hope to make certain that everyone has received all of the backlog of mail. Instead of justifying the list of forwards and the most comprehensive list of mail, we will send all volumes of the archives to any new address and current forwards or updates will continue to go to everyone on the list as we move forward. If at any time, you don't want to be kept up with the day to day, simply send me an e-mail and let me know and I will stop copying you.

Provided that the wind does indeed blow again this year at the beach, there will be as many demonstrations as it takes to get anyone and everyone with questions or reservations, 100% up to speed on the launching and landing method that we have ascribed to in regard to nesting season. This may well be the hardest part of our proposal, to implement. While NOT written into the regulations; this practice is a VITAL part of the assurances that were put forward by me on your behalf. We have volunteers who can be on hand almost any time to show you how and how not to make this a safe and reliable method. If beforehand there are any questions about this, please don't hesitate to ask.

Update to follow tomorrow's meeting.

Laurel"