The Fourth of July weekend traditionally is one of the most popular boating holidays of the year.

 Florida boaters ramp up the fun factor afloat with picnics, tubing, waterskiing, attending fireworks displays and visiting waterside restaurants. 

These activities alone don’t constitute anything that might be dangerous – except when boaters abuse alcohol, don’t wear life jackets, don’t consider weather developments or don’t keep a sharp lookout ahead, to the sides and behind their vessels. 

One of the main duties of Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission officers is the enforcement of boating safety regulations.  Many sheriff’s departments and local police departments also have law enforcement officers afloat to help out with marine safety issues.  All these law enforcement agencies will be on the water, helping to ensure the safety of the boating public during the extended holiday weekend – and they are all involved in “Operation Dry Water,” a national effort to call attention to the dangerous practice of operating a vessel under the influence of alcohol or drugs.  Boating safety details in high-use areas will be targeting inebriated boaters.

In spite of a strong presence of law enforcement officers on the water, Florida all too often leads the nation in fatal boating accidents. Copious amounts of both saltwater and freshwater recreational opportunities and a 12-month boating season are factors that combine to increase the odds that boating accidents will happen here.  Yet, these factors cannot excuse the exercise of poor judgment by an irresponsible skipper.

There is an addition concern specific to the western reaches of the state’s boaters this holiday weekend.  Oil from the Deepwater Horizon event is toxic to people as well as wildlife.  To avoid causing additional damage to ourselves and our environment, boaters should avoid areas where booms are deployed and oil is present. If near oil booms, keep speeds down to minimum wake or slower.  Wakes from vessels can damage booms, and traveling through oil can contaminate a vessel, further spreading toxic chemicals in an already highly stressed environment.  As for the direct effects of oil on your vessel, piloting through oil or tar will damage your vessel’s engine and your bank account. 

Boating is a fun recreational activity, but only as long as your habits on the water are punctuated with responsible behavior and good common sense.

By Tom Vilsack, Secretary of Agriculture

June is National Homeownership Month.

Throughout the month, USDA, which is a primary lender in rural America, will reach out to local residents to talk about how our programs can help them repair their homes, making them more energy efficient, buy an affordable residence or find safe and sanitary housing in one of the many apartment buildings we have helped to fund.

A strong Nation is made up of strong families, and safe, quality housing contributes greatly to rural Americans' quality of life. The Obama Administration is committed to bringing the necessary resources to rural America provide decent, affordable housing to those who need it.

Let me share with you some of what the Administration through USDA is doing to help protect the American Dream, and how our efforts help local communities. In Gering, Nebraska, a community of about 8,000, there was a need for new, affordable housing. A local manufacturer, Magnolia Homes, needed new orders to keep from laying local residents off. USDA worked with the manufacturer, the city, housing organizations and local lenders to fund the construction of five new homes. The manufacturer then started work on more homes. Working with our partners, USDA helped stabilize a local business, increased the tax base and provided affordable housing for families in Gering. That’s the type of thing the Obama Administration is doing all across America.

USDA does more than help people buy homes: it helps owners remain in them. We have funds available to help limited-income seniors and families weatherize their homes and make needed repairs such as replacing inefficient heating systems, installing programmable thermostats, upgrading plumbing and electrical systems and improving accessibility for individuals with disabilities.

President Obama and I understand how important homeownership is to the nation’s continued prosperity. Homeownership is an essential component of the American economy and a key to vibrant rural communities. We work closely with the Department of Housing and Urban Development, State housing authorities, Tribes, local organizations and a host of lenders every day to assist income-eligible residents obtain safe, sanitary, affordable housing. We want to work with you as well.

At USDA, we are proud to celebrate our accomplishments and the spirit of homeownership this month, and throughout the year.

THOMAS A. CAPPELLO

Director, North Florida/South Georgia Veterans Health System

There is no observance in America more somber than Memorial Day.  In events held across America this Memorial Day weekend, people will gather in small villages and great cities for one purpose: to remember our war dead, pay homage to their sacrifice and courage, and to recall the selflessness that embodies military service.  Indeed, throughout Europe, Africa and the Pacific Islands, Americans and our foreign friends alike pay their respects by visiting our Nation’s many cemeteries abroad.

This year, as in years past and years to come, the Department of Veterans Affairs plays a key role in these observances.  On Memorial Day, millions of Americans gather on the pastoral lawns of our 128 national cemeteries, crisscrossed row upon row with markers over the final resting places of some of our nation’s most courageous citizens.  By virtue of scale, solemnity and serenity, it is moving beyond words, and brings home the supreme cost of defending democracy.

Across the generations – indeed, across the centuries – Americans have answered the call to duty and many paid the ultimate price.  The America we know today would not be the same were it not for the men and women we honor on Memorial Day.

But the true meaning of Memorial Day eclipses American history.  Much of the contemporary history of the world was shaped and molded by the tens of millions of American veterans who put their lives on hold to wear the uniform.  Who among us could even begin to contemplate the world today had courageous defenders of freedom not stood fast against the scourge of Nazi fascism or ruthless imperialism in the Pacific? 

The latest generation of American veterans is engaged in a struggle no less critical to history than those of their predecessors.  Everyday, young men and women are returning from Iraq and Afghanistan after service in harms way.  Most come home to joyous reunions with loved ones and revel in the collective sigh of relief that marks a safe return.  Others come home with the visible and invisible wounds that are the tragic hallmarks of armed conflict, while still others return in solemn, eternal repose beneath a draped American flag.

I am indescribably proud of the people of the North Florida/South Georgia Veterans Health System and the service they provide to this community of Veterans.  The value and importance of their work is evident every day in the faces of the Veterans we serve.  Whether it’s the gritty determination of a patient undergoing rehabilitative therapy at one of our VA medical centers/Clinic, the ear-to-ear grins of a veteran and his family buying their first home with a VA loan guarantee, or a young veteran entering college because of expanded VA benefits under the Post 9/11 GI Bill, the Veterans we serve are our inspiration to live up to Abraham Lincoln’s promise, “to care for him who has borne the battle.”

Through their spirit, adherence to duty and honor – and yes, their sacrifice – our Veterans have paid for and delivered the freedom and security not only we Americans enjoy, but that lived by increasing millions around the world.

Please join us on Monday, May 31, 2010 at 10 a.m. at Meadows Cemetery, Hawthorne Road, Gainesville as we remember those who have paid the ultimate price for America and all humanity, and as we reflect on the achievements wrought by their sacrifice.  Life and liberty are God-given rights, but throughout history, the task of defending these high ideals has fallen to ordinary men and women of extraordinary courage and fortitude.

Their perseverance and loyalty to a higher calling is central to what and whom we honor each Memorial Day.  Let us never forget those who have fallen and the immeasurable good for which they have laid down their lives.

Let us never stop educating our youngsters about the price that has been paid for their freedom.  A trip with them to one of our sacred shrines – our Veterans cemeteries – is a good place to start.

 

During the 2009 election season, Alachua County Today opposed City of Alachua charter Amendment 1 which converted a commission seat into an elected mayor seat instead of allowing commissioners to select the mayor amongst themselves.  Nevertheless, voters