Chair of the Hendry County Commission responds to the Sierra Club's indictment of Big Sugar in this op/ed piece. Click title for link. Here are some excerpts:
As a Hendry County commissioner and as a local business owner, I am disturbed by a Sierra Club representative’s remarks in a recent Palm Beach Post article. I am disturbed but not surprised at the complete disregard of the employment reality, and as usual the apparent assault on the U.S. Sugar/Sugar Hill Sector Plan — “to get the sugar company gone.”
Let me make it perfectly clear to the Sierra Club and anyone else that is able to read and comprehend the reality of life around the Hendry/Glades communities. Getting rid of or destroying the sugar industry and/or agriculture in pretty much any way, shape, or fashion is synonymous with getting rid of or destroying Clewiston and most of, if not all of, Hendry County and the Glades. We exist because of agriculture. If agriculture does not directly employ you or your family, it employs a subsidiary industry that supports agriculture.
[Later...]
From where I sit, The Sierra Club’s remarks were a typical misinformed and biased shot at agriculture (namely the sugar industry).
I will end like I end with most of the people I meet in this world. I invite anyone to come on out to Hendry County and take a tour of our backyard. You will be amazed at the natural beauty and sheer volume of wildlife — all perpetuated by generations of agriculture producers.
![Dr. W. H. Cotton’s ode: “Oh, My Lake Worth, Florida!” [circa 1920].](http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-yhHyCn84ZIQ/WezjlEL-0tI/AAAAAAAAPZ4/CzkhriK6zpEJJ3d9Je1495d49gIhnMlxACK4BGAYYCw/s1600/LakeWorthPioneers.JPG)
