Patti Thompson Quotations

There were many findings of exposed wiring and breaker boxes... not up to code. There were also problems with smoke alarms... I guess it was re-occurring in many of the cabins.

All a manatee needs, we have found, is a chance to get out of the way of an oncoming boat. We have scientific proof that manatees can sense a boat and attempt to move away. A fast boat doesn't give the slow moving animal an opportunity to get out of the way.

There are four main areas of concern where manatees tend to live. The northeast or upper St. Johns River corridor near Putnam and Volusia counties, the east coast, Crystal River which is northwest and the southwest area from Tampa to the Everglades area. Two of those areas, the two small ones, Crystal River and the upper St. Johns River, are doing well in those regions.

There actually wasn't a danger to the public during that time.

It's a carefully calculated effort on the part of the people that manatees are in the way of.

Even if a legal boater hits and injures a manatee, we want them to feel compelled to call in authorities to rescue the animal and not flee for fear of prosecution. Now if boaters are speeding in a slow zone, well, laws are there for that.

They are highly migratory and move from one place to another. They tool up and down the coast, following the food supply, females and even showing their calves where to go to be safe. You are definitely in manatee habitat in the Putnam County area.

They often venture out, go farther than the closest available food resources. But it's a concern that the closest food source won't be available to them this year. They have energy budgets that they don't want to overuse, and if the closest source is in bad shape, they'll have to travel farther to find food.

This is a really ambitious exercise and it was intended to stress our system so that we can find if there are weaknesses.

I think we're getting a lot of hits from it, because we'll have people who read it or saw it and they're wondering about how to handle an insurance agent or adjustor or how did I get through the night. This is very much a good complement to our business.