By Brendan McLaughlin

If you’re following the effort on the part of some Hillsborough County commissioners to deep six the wetlands protection division of the Environmental Protection Commission, give Frank Sargeant’s column in the Tampa Tribune a read.  He believes putting our mangroves and all the marine life they support at risk to save a few clams may not be smart.

“With hundreds of waterfront homeowners throughout the county, many in mangrove areas, the only thing that has kept the roots of thousands of these trees in the water has been the Environmental Protection Commission.”

Thursday’s hearing is open to the public. It starts at 9 a.m. at 601 E. Kennedy Blvd in Tampa.

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I took a couple of days off to spend time with the daughter back from college. She’ll be off to North Carolina to finish her senior year in a week and since she already has a job lined up in New York after graduation, she will likely never live under our roof again. (sniff). I've still got a son to torture for a few more years. She and I  had a nice lunch at Kelly’s in Dunedin and then drove out to Honeymoon Island to rent a little sailboat by the hour. Since there wasn’t a breath of wind, we decided to go into the park. While paying our five bucks to the park ranger, I asked if this would be a good place to release the African reptiles in my trunk. She wasn’t amused.  We did, however spot a gopher tortoise chewing on a prickly pear. Nice.

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