Homosassa River

“Homosassa is a mostly poor town of 2,600.  Regionally, its waters are know for manatees and its streets for drug addiction.”  Yeah, that was on the front page of the Tampa Bay Times yesterday. A nationally respected newspaper.  Ouch.

The article was about the Huggins family that shuck scallops for the rich people that come into town.  While Cletis, “the first of his siblings to graduate from high school”, sits at the bar swigging his Bud Light after a day of shucking, “in the lawn of MacRae’s motel, three broad-shouldered men played bocccee with their children…..their wives smiled and sipped glasses of white wine.” 

Okay, I’m possibly taking this a little too personally, but I totally love living here.  I’ve not felt endangered by all of the drug addicts or the poor that are referenced in the article.  I have to admit that the whole article totally PISSED me off.  The Times Staff Writer, John Woodrow Cox, would serve the area better by coming in and writing an article about the impact that those scallopers and their boats are making on the river and on the community. 

This is an update to the above mentioned article.  I did send an email to the writer.  Click here for the letter and his response. 

And on a better note, our local newspaper, The Citrus Chronicle also ran a story on the front page about Old Homosassa but that one was about the “Ramp Rangers”.  First time I heard that term, but it’s apt.  Many of the Old Homosassa residents have been asking the county to help out during scalloping season with boat traffic at the county boat ramp, additional sheriff patrols in the area plus the presence of the State Fish and Wildlife department on the water. 

The Parks Department has been here with two men every weekend and holiday–directing traffic at the boat ramp. Unless you have been here, you will not believe how much these two guys have helped us. They are the “Ramp Rangers” and we saw them in action on Saturday morning.

So here’s the two rangers on patrol, first time for the green safety jackets….

This truck, trailer and boat had Boulevard blocked when we arrived on our bikes so we zipped up the sidewalk.  Then they backed down from the intersection to the front of the line of boats waiting to use the ramp. Kind of weird to have “professional” fishermen out on a Saturday morning with all the “amateurs”–they typically try to avoid the chaos.

When the fisherman brought the boat to the other side of the dock, the Ramp Ranger went over to talk to him.  Don’t know what he said, but the fisherman was a bit angry.  Okay REALLY ANGRY!  The only word I heard out of the captain’s mouth that wasn’t a curse, was YANKEE! (which could be considered a curse around here)  The Parks guy just walked away.

And in a heartbeat, we had one,

two,

and three Sheriff Deputies on site!

The people with the boat were a father and his two sons well known for their bad attitudes.  I heard the deputies mentioning handcuffs.

And then the boat was gone.  Which I thought was odd since it usually takes the deputy longer than that to write me up for “pausing” at the stop sign instead of stopping. 

Chatter from our neighbors at the “coffee club” at MacRae’s is that the deputies called the Fish and Wildlife Patrol to arrest them on the water.  Guess that these guys just decided to leave without permission.

We hung around awhile but didn’t get to see the end of it. We did thank the Ramp Ranger  for being here.  And Terry thanked the deputies. 

And that’s why we don’t have our boat on the water during scallop season! Love me some Homosassa entertainment.

Bad boys, bad boys, whatcha gonna do?