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In fiction, it's the spies who get all the credit. Espionage agents are depicted as glamorous, their lives full of adventure.

Think James Bond.

But it real life, intelligence agencies depend much more on the analysts who sit safely at headquarters than they do on spies snooping in exotic parts of the world.

It is the intelligence analysts who make sense of the scraps of information sent in by spies and other means of gathering information, such as surveillance satellites.

The analysts see patterns: Given lots of reports about individual trees, the analysts put together a picture of the forest.

So let's play the intelligence game. You be the analyst, trying to make sense out of the reports coming in from the field. See what patterns you can discern from the incoming info.

For input, we'll use news stories about recent local events. Your job, should you decide to accept it, is to figure out what's happening in Southwest Florida.

One item is about the beach renourishment project that started a couple of weeks ago, "already well behind schedule," according to newspaper reports.

Beach renourishment is needed because local beaches are constantly being washed away. Beaches are dynamic entities. Normally, a barrier island will gradually merge with the mainland, while the action of tide and surf builds a new barrier island where today there is only a sand bar.

But once buildings are planted along the beach, that normal process is stopped. Tide and surf erode the beach, making it necessary to bring in more sand or see the beach eventually disappear. Thus, beach renourishment.

Because the project is late getting started, it will run into the turtle nesting season in May. Will the project be suspended until October, or will the turtles suffer? The law is on the turtles' side, but that might not be enough.

Second item: an employee of Stock Development Company was put on trial in the U.S. District Court in Fort Myers for taking down a tree on an East Naples golf community that housed a bald eagle best.

The bald eagle, symbol of the United States of America, is a protected species. It is illegal to destroy bald eagle nests. Stock Development's CEO, Brian Stock, blamed James Messina for the deed. Messina had been promoted by Stock a few weeks earlier.

The court decided that Messina was innocent of deliberate wrongdoing. The eagles will have to find another tree and build another nest. If they can.

Then there is the long-standing battle over speed limits for boats in Naples Bay and other local waterways. Speeding boats create wakes that damage piers and canal sidings, and injure or kill manatees. They also annoy the people who live along the canals and waterways.

Boaters claim that the proposed speed limits are unrealistic and unfair. They say that the speed limits are really being proposed for the benefit of the area's wealthiest and most politically influential residents, such as the Port Royal community.

Meanwhile, the manatees are being killed in record numbers.

Up in Tallahassee, the Florida Legislature is debating a bill that would allow dogs to be seated at restaurants.

Just as they do in France? Not quite: This bill would permit dogs only in outdoor sections of restaurants.

Dog owners would like to bring their pets with them when they go out to dine. People who don't own dogs (or at least are content to feed them at home) worry about fleas, disease, flies, allergies and doggie-do. Would the pet owners have to bring pooper-scoopers with them? How appetizing that will be for the restaurant's patrons!

Incidentally, European researchers have found that dogs can be carriers of the deadly bird flu virus. In restaurants or at home, dog owners should be aware of this dangerous possibility.

A 10-year-old Florida panther has been captured and sent to Busch Gardens in Tampa. "For reasons no one has determined," according to this newspaper, the panther started killing pets and livestock before it was captured.

The reason might be human encroachment on its natural territory. While the state highway department dutifully puts up "Panther Crossing" signs along new roads, the housing tracts and shopping malls being built along those roads destroy the panthers' natural habitat. On the other hand, humans bring pets that are easy prey for panthers. So what do you expect?

Then there are the endless stories about road construction projects, traffic congestion and gridlock. People complain that a 10-minute ride to the golf course takes an hour during season, when all the snowbirds are here. Meanwhile, construction projects clog the roads: they should be called constriction projects, most drivers feel.

As an intelligence analyst, what patterns do you find in these reports?

It seems clear that Southwest Florida is suffering from the effects of unrestricted growth. Everybody complains about the effects of growth — crowded highways, loss of green space, destruction of natural habitats — but nobody does anything about it.

Nobody, from the governor to your friendly neighborhood real estate agents and bankers, does anything to slow down the growth that is transforming Southwest Florida into a huge and high-priced Bronx.

There is money to be made in development. Opposing development is a thankless undertaking. Money talks. Eloquently.

Just ask the residents of the Riviera Golf Estates, who are going to lose the public golf course that is the heart of their community. It will be replaced by high-density "workforce housing," with the blessings of the county administration.

What does the future hold? More housing projects, more shopping malls, higher population density, more destruction of natural environments, more concrete and traffic congestion and crime, and maybe even a dog or two sitting next to you at your favorite restaurant.

Maybe we should all ask Busch Gardens for asylum.

Naples resident Ben Bova is the author of more than 100 books. His latest novel is "Titan," published this month. Dr. Bova's Web site address is www.benbova.net.