Hi there! Hope you’re doing well this year, in spite of the North Pole’s accelerated melt rate . I hear that’s happening because of that thing our governor and Legislature don’t want us to talk about . Don’t put coal in their stockings, though — they’ll probably just burn it.
I want to start this letter by thanking you for the many wonderful gifts you’ve brought us already. We’ve enjoyed an early Christmas bonanza here in Florida, thanks to three pieces of positive news:
1) The newly reconstituted Milton City Council — remade by river advocates who were worried about the future of the Blackwater River — voted to move the new sewer plant so it won’t pollute one of the most pristine rivers in the South.
2) The newly reconstituted Manatee County Commission reversed its decision shrinking its development buffers, which the old pro-development majority passed last year to make it easier to pave over wetlands. The new commissioners restored the old rules that were more protective of those vital swamps, marshes, and bogs.