White Eagle Times

Apalachicola-(wetnews)-
Rick Scott came to Apalachicola and ate some "good" oysters and visited a restaurant.
 But he without apology by-passed the restaurant of the man who had appealed to him since January 1, 2011 to help him. The 37 year old business of a 73 year old Marine Veteran in an economically depressed area shut down because of DEP over regulation. Robert D. Allen the owner and operator of White Eagle Restaurant campaigned tirelessly for Scott to be elected because he believed Scott would revitalize business. Even though Allen promoted him with the
Franklin County Seafood Workers and placed billboards advertsing Scott's "Let's Get To Work" slogan it seems Scott chooses to ignore Allen's appeal. Allen has long been the Champion for what he calls "the true working people" the Apalachicola Oysterman. In 1985 he received commendation from then president Ron Page for his help in the Kate-Elena hurricane.
     Perhaps Rick Scott needs to remember that those "good" oysters are harvested by hard working people who need his support. With new FDA rules for summer oystering and concerns over oyster quality because of the BP oil spill they need a vote of confidence. Robert D. Allen's Motel, Restaurant, and Marina are all about business and tourism. But even more it gives the local seafood workers a place to meet and enjoy especially when they start mooring there for the summer oyster bars.
     Scott remarked the restaurant he visited in Apalachicola was having trouble getting employees. Robert D. Allen is having trouble getting his restaurant released from a DEP 'Consent Order" that shut him down. "It was local politics that got my restaurant closed and has cost me thousands of dollars," Allen said, "I thought Rick Scott was "out of the box" enough to undo what local politics had done." But for some reason Rick Scott is not listening."
     A possible reason Rick Scott is ignoring the Eastpoint business man is because he has been on a 10 year campaign of his own. A concerted effort to expose political corruption in Franklin County and especially concerning th Eastpoint Waste Water Treatment Plant that sits above Indian Creek that runs through Allen's property to the Bay. Allen has more than once proved to his and others satisfaction that the Treatment plant has and is dumping raw sewge into Indian Creek. Scott's stand on such environmental issues is highly in question. Especially since he hired Apalachicola native Billy Buzzet to head DCA and Herschel Vineyard as DEP secretary. Buzzett was a high profile development spokesman for St. Joe Paper and bulldozed Franklin County into changing the DCA "Comp plan" to allow more density building. Alan Pierce as County Planner worked closely with Buzzet and even left his position to work exclusively with St. Joe. When Pierce returned despite local resistance the "Summer Camp" development was passed by the Board of Commissioners.
     Perhaps Rick Scott is taking his stand on environmental issues. Scott stated in Apalachicola " We got to make sure people know our Seafood products are safe and taste great." So Obama swims in the Gulf of Mexico and Rick Scott eats Oysters just to show everything is alright and there is no pollution. Obviously any mention of pollution would not fit into that program. The motivation for that is not hard to figure. The Chairman of the FWCC told Scott, "Tourism and recreation is worth more than 20 BILLION dollars and 250,000 jobs in Florida."
Certainly 20 Billion dollars and 250,000 jobs far outweigh the appeal of one man who wants his business and all business to prosper. But the fact he does not want it to prosper at the expense of health or future generations makes him a very silent minority in the Rick Scott program.