LETTERS TO THE EDITOR -- JUNE 2
Nease’s gain is, sadly, Landrum’s loss
Dean Blue’s loss at Landrum is a sad state of affairs for our middle- school age children. Nease parents and students are celebrating but there will be a huge void for children 11 to 13.
I was Kelvin Blue’s secretary for several years and I observed his interactions with the children of this community first hand. He is, in my opinion, irreplaceable. In a world where everything is measured in money or metrics he is the great intangible. How do you measure or put value on turning a child’s life around, taking young people destined for success and encouraging them to an even higher level, giving a student a sense of self-worth, instilling an attitude of pride and respect, of caring and service done with courtesy and a smile, or teaching that as great as winning is, how you win is more important?
How do we measure the lifelong impact on our young people who have had as a mentor a man who always puts the needs of others before himself or the lessons they have learned about duty to family, community and country? There is no way to measure these things which are Dean Blue.
We are all thankful for the years we had him as part of our lives and the lives of middle school children in their most formative years.
Dean Blue is beyond special. Thinking of Landrum without him saddens me terribly.
Clara Cowan
Ponte Vedra Beach
Wakeboarder responds to letter that questioned his sport
I’m no biologist, but aren’t most of the houses along bishop estates built on wetlands? He [letter writer] needs to be more worried about the jet skis and tubers spinning donuts in front of his dock than a boat with weight in it.
With regards to singling me out of a very large and growing crowd of wakeboarders on “your” creek, I am not the snob you make me out to be. As a matter of fact, my “high-priced toy,” as you so gracefully put it, is a 1997 model, which my family bought used back in 2000 with almost 800 hours on it. Being that the boat is 10 years old, it is far from heavy, the wake is far from big, and the stereo is far from loud.
If you’d like to know where the gas money comes from, you can come visit me at Pinch-a-Penny. I usually work around 40 hours a week, so there’s a good chance you’ll catch me there. As for your bulkhead, dock, tree, etc., wakeboarders DO contribute to the damage done to those things, but so do the jet-skis and tube pullers that spin donuts in front of your dock. The only way to stop the increased rate of erosion would be to make the whole creek an idle zone. Then when the wide part of the creek gets all jammed up, we can make that an idle zone, too. With all that said, I’m not mad or anything about what you wrote about me. Everyone has an opinion and I’m cool with that. I’m still going to ride in the salty goodness and I’m not gonna object when I’m on the boat with anyone slamming it full of water.
Please just remember to find out the facts before you go making someone out to be what they aren’t.
Justin Parker
Fruit Cove
Congrats on another successful Players Championship
The St. Johns County Chamber of Commerce and its Economic Development Council would like to congratulate the PGA TOUR for another successful rendition of The Players Championship. The tournament’s contribution to our community goes beyond entertaining our local golf lovers for a week every spring. The Players continues to bring visitors to our community, enhance our economy, contribute to local charities, and create national media coverage of our area.
St. Johns County benefits from a double-whammy on economic impact from The Players. While the course renovations have allowed over 100,000 tournament attendees this year, it is those fans spending money while they’re here that has a huge impact. Plus, the tournament triggers increased local business investment from companies gearing up to accommodate those visitors.
A 2005 economic impact study by the University of Florida reveals the overall impact from all revenues from the tournament to be $95.78 million — broken down into direct, indirect and induced impacts.
Further, an estimated 1,398 jobs were created throughout the region because of these direct, indirect and induced effects.
Based on a 2005 on-site survey of the tournament’s attendees, 45 percent are non-locals defined as residents outside of the seven counties (Baker, Clay, Duval, Flagler, Nassau, Putnam and St. Johns) of Northeast Florida. And of these non-locals, 80 percent came with the clear intention of attending The Players. More than 11,000 non- local attendees stayed in commercial accommodations for an average of
4.3 days.
In 2007 we’ve witnessed the stunning $50 million renovation of the clubhouse — now a true landmark in St. Johns County. It features unrivaled banquet and meeting amenities for use by resort guests, individuals and organizations throughout the year. Moreover, with tournament director Brian Goin at the helm and plans that allow for sales of an additional 10,000 tickets per day, we can only imagine what the next economic impact study will reveal.
Aside from the contributions the tournament delivers to our economy, The Players has made more than $24 million in charitable contributions to Northeast Florida since it moved to Ponte Vedra in 1977. In 2006, the tournament raised $2.7 million for Northeast Florida charities.
The Players Championship is something we can all get behind and support. Whether it’s sitting in the new stadium seats on the 17th hole, or just being a little more patient with the traffic, everyone can find a way to be supportive of the tournament’s efforts and the impact it has on our community.
We are proud that the tournament and the PGA TOUR call our county home.
Mike Siragusa, chairman
St. Johns County Chamber of Commerce
Jim Wheeler, chairman
Economic Development Council
