This fuss is about 15% of the island not being sewered? You got to be kidding. We started this project with a cost of 130 million dollars. Only 31 million has been spent. The remaining 15% is going to cost us 91 million dollars? No, I'll tell you what this is about. It's about the good old boys of Marco Island losing their grip on City Hall. That 15% represents the installation of main lines to commercial areas on the perimeter of the old sewer. 43 miles of digging and 5 more years of construction for 15%! Without it the "good old boys" won't be able to complete those mixed use condos they want to build. The Chamber of Commerce, the realtors and the corporate enterprises on this island have had their way for the last 8 years. That is why they gave number 1 priority to Collier Blvd. They needed to "showcase" their money maker. The bridges were never a real consideration. They have been passing money out to their cronies like crazy, 10 million for a park that they never intended to make into a park comes to mind. Now they are using our tax money to expand infrastructure so that they can build high density buildings. It's time for the taxpayers to take our island back. Throw the "old boys" out and give our people representitive government. Vote for Batte, Guidry, Hall and Neylon.

Don,

Once again you misuse your position as a columnist to spread untruths and gross exaggerations. Where did you get the idea that Batte, Guidry, Hall and Neylon threaten to "go slow or not go at all on needed infrastructure projects"? They never said that; they SUPPORT infrastructure projects as long as they are NEEDED, prioritized, approved by the people and fit the budget. Whereas your man Gibson makes a dog park his highest priority, Neylon considers reuse water more important. I know you have a pooch, Don, but do you really think dog parks take priority over reuse water? Batte and Hall place priority on essential infrastructure like keeping our bridges safe. Are safe bridges more or less important than fancy steet lights every 50 feet? Using adjectives like "retrograde" diminishes what little influence you have left on the island.

Next, you are flat out wrong when you say: "Virtually every environmental expert who knows about wastewater management on barrier islands believes septic tanks are harmful and that Marco needs central sewers." You are flat out wrong when you say: "Chances are excellent that the state would require Marco to use sewers island-wide within a few years."

No one who knows about wastewater management believes septic tanks are harmful when they are properly sited, installed and managed. Clarence Tears of the SFWMD is not expert in wastewater treatment. He is in charge of WATER, not WASTEwater.

The EPA and DOH approve use of onsite treatment as a long term answer to wastewater management. Give Bob Freeman, the point man for onsite wastewater treatment in our area (EPA Region IV) and let him tell you (as he told me) that there is NO reason to install sewers unless there is scientific evidence proving a direct connection between pollution and the use of septic systems. There isn't on Marco.

Give Mark Hooks of the Florida Department of Health in Tallahassee a call. He'll tell you that onsite treatment is likely to be far more cost effective on Marco than central sewers and a helluva lot less dangerous in a storm.

Contact the government-funded National Small Flows Center at West Virginia University and see what they say. Check the research done at the University of Wisonsin on the benefits of onsite treatment. Check the cost of maintaining, managing and guaranteeing septic systems. It's half what the city is charging just to haul your sewage away ... ignoring installation costs entirely.

Check with Jon Iglehart, Director of the FDEP, or Ken Rech of the FDOH. They'll tell you that there is NO likelihood that the state will mandate sewers on Marco without concrete evidence of pollution caused by septics. Fecal count in our canals is less than 5% of the safe limit. We have far cleaner water than Naples and Naples is on sewer. We haven't had a beach closure ... but Sanibel has since they installed sewers.

Stop misleading your readership while you still have a readership.

Ed Foster

Don does not check or do any research, he just writes what THEY tell him to

If logic, facts and good sense prevail, our new council members will be Gibson, Recker, Trotter and Waldack.

Flowerpower: The following is not mean spirited it is generous to say the least: Two of your fellows show little capacity for understanding what being a councilman entails. One filed for bankruptcy another spent his life as a bartender and everyone including his uncle knows it. Both don't believe in affordable housing on Marco Island and have so stated. Neither want to live next door to those who need affordable housing. That means our firemen and policemen. They said so. They are wannabees, they were the last men in the room when John Arceri asked for volunteers. Trotter is a failed Councilman, praying that he has a large enough fan base for one more term. We know he is responsible for much that is wrong with our current government and to vote for him would show a lack of common sense. The only one that has any hope is the charmer who promises nothing.

Lolala is correct about those 2 men. Neither one of them is qualified. People, WAKE UP! A bartender and a backrupted, Amway salesman!!
Farmer, you are definitely qualified to write on the subjects of bother, bluster and blather! I absolutely resent your negative insinuations about an intelligent gentleman like Joe Batte. You obviously do not know the man, and it is a DISGRACE to describe him in such a negative manner.

What do you expect from a fellow that is being used by the good old boys? This fellow stands to lose a lot of cash if Batte, Hall, Guidry and Neylon get into City Hall. He obviously is not interested in the fact that these four guys have promised to reduce rates and protect our enviornment our health, quality of life and our welfare. Money and power trumps all things for Don Farmer.