STAR Seeks Dialogue on Turtle Lighting Ordinance

At the April 22 meeting of the Franklin County Commission, Bruce Hall, representing Sea Turtles at Risk, Inc. (STAR) announced that proposed revisions to the existing Franklin County beach lighting ordinances were being withdrawn.
"It is with great sadness that I must ask that the proposed revisions we provided to update and improve the Franklin lighting ordinance be pulled," Hall said. "I would like to make it perfectly clear that we stand behind the proposed revisions as being necessary changes in order to better protect Franklin County sea turtles and we appreciate those who supported the revisions as proposed.
"We do want to see the revision process proceed and we will participate with others in workshops. In our efforts to keep our appearances before you brief by just offering our suggestions, which are based on good science; we have inadvertently failed to recognize the need for this board and the public to work through the process of being presented with a problem and working as a group to solve it. In hindsight, we think this was a mistake," he said.
Bruce Drye, sea turtle licensee for St. George Island presented a summary of the documented damage to the sea turtle population caused by improper lighting over the last eight years. Drye said that 113 nests on the island are known to have been affected by lights, resulting in the disorientation of more than 5,500 hatchlings and the death of over 150 - By Lois Swoboda