Desperate Georgia Hates North Florida's Families
by mlmintampa on Jul 24, 2009 8:24 AM EDT
in Football
15 comments
The hate Georgia has for Florida usually never leaves the boundaries of sports. But now, thousands of families in North Florida are squarely in the cross hairs of a state obsessed with trying to out-do their more popular neighbor. All because they want the Florida-Georgia game moved out of Jacksonville. (HT: Miss Genevieve)
The State of Georgia has been in a water crisis for about two years. To deal with this crisis (caused by Georgia not practicing conservation as Florida does), Georgia is draining Lake Lanier, which drains into the Apalachicola River and benefits the multi-million dollar fishing industry in North Florida. If there is less water coming down down the river, that means less fish are spawned, and the fishing grounds die, killing an industry and families that have existed in Florida for decades.
Georgia has already been told they cannot drain more water than previous agreements allow. Yet they seem to think, despite being shot down under President Bush, they have a right to the water. The proposal floated by a lowly State Senator in Georgia is to move the Florida-Georgia game to Georgia every other year, in exchange for North Florida having access to water they have had since the beginning of time. Think of how absurd that is; Georgia is telling Florida you cannot have what you've always had. That it is more important to have people to be able to water their lawns in Atlanta, than it is for families to make a living in Apalachicola and Port St. Joe. Not only that, how can Georgia even claim a chance to make a deal? They were already told they have no case. But when you think your state is more important than it really is, I guess you can make whatever claims you like. (The last time Georgia was important was 1996.)
The clock is ticking for Georgia to come up with a deal with Florida, as President Obama has already decided, "To Hell With Georgia," and sided with Florida during the campaign. (Which makes sense; Florida had 12 more electoral votes in 2008 than Georgia and possibly 13 more in 2012.) If Obama has to jump in, it's more than likely he'd stick with Florida on the issue.
Of course, this is another chapter in the latest complaining by Georgia fans about the game being in Jacksonville. A complaint they never had when they dominated the series in nearly every decade. As I have said, I'd like to see the series made into a home-and-home, playing the game in the South's premier college towns. But moving it because your program cannot keep up with the Gators or because you've blackmailed North Florida's families, is ridiculous. I guess that is expected when you're desperate and 3-16 in the last two decades against your biggest rival.
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oh my god
you rep obama wayyyyyy too much. georgia fans are obnoxious. i know this cuz i lived in south ga for years. then i lived in jax. i liked the game in jax, it brought a neutral crowd which made for better conversations and experience.
Bills make me wanna SHOUT!
water issues
Your posting has so many lies I do not know if they are intentional or if you just are young and not very wordly….or educated. If you are young, then I apologize.
First, Atlanta really doesn’t use that much water from the Chattahoochee. We clean it and put it back into the system. Nearly all of the water that is lost from the system is used by the power plants in Alabama, south Georgia and north Florida. Don’t believe me? Check out the US Geological Survey site. Do a search for Chattahoochee water use. This will be an education for you.
Next, during the drought of 06 – 09 people in metro Atlanta could not use any water outside. No watering lawns, gardens, plants…no washing of cars or pressure washing. If you did so and got caught you would have your water cut off and be charged $1000 to have it turned back on. It was during this time that Georgia asked if we could keep a little more water in Lanier because the lake was dangerously close to being drained for water use. Of course Florida and Alabama pitched a fit, even though they were being sent twice as much water as they would have been sent during a drought if there wasn’t a dam.
Do you know what water restrictions Florida and Alabama enacted during the drought? NONE…and worse, they joked that they didn’t need to have any because they were being sent plenty of water.
Do you know that in the wake of the water ruling the joyful citizens of Dothan Alabama are planning to build a reservoir that draws water out of the Chattahoochee.
Do Georgians hate north Florida families? No, but we are very angry that our neighbors to the south and west have falsely portrayed the water issue as an “Atlanta water grab.” We also are hurt that our neighbors want to cut our water off. What kind of people do that to their neighbors?
I love the state of Florida. I have spent much of my life there and my family owns large tracts of land in the panhandle, but I will NEVER spend another cent in a state that has such hatred and disregard for me and my way of life.
The idea of moving the game out of Jacksonville is part of a growing wave of people in the metro area who are sick of being mistreated. You can only kick around your neighbor for so long before he stops wanting to visit your house. For many of us in Atlanta that day has come.
Do you know what water restrictions Florida and Alabama enacted during the drought? NONE…and worse, they joked that they didn’t need to have any because they were being sent plenty of water.
During the dry spells we have water restrictions are enacted.
Current Phinsider Feud Points: 23
of course I live in South Florida where we get our water from Lake Okechobee so I'm not sure how low water levels in the lake would affect the Northern regions of the state if they get water from the Apalachicola River.
Current Phinsider Feud Points: 23
by Patssuck456 on Jul 25, 2009 10:36 AM EDT up reply actions
Not true
The communities in the Florida panhandle did not enact ANY water restrictions during the drought of 2006 – 09. I even called the Chambers of Commerce in the towns of Apalachicola, Panama City and Tallahassee during the drought to find out. They all said, “We don’t currently have any restrictions because we don’t see a need to.” However, they all told the citizens of Atlanta (who lowered consumption by an average of 25%) that we needed to conserve more. Telling that to us during our natural disaster was like telling Floridians after a hurricane that they needed to get a bigger mop.
Pumping Lake Lanier impacted fish spawns, not the water table in North Florida. Had it, you would have seen the same restrictions in place that Tampa, Orlando and Miami are always under. (There is a state law that says all new buildings must use low-flow water fixtures. The law was made in the mid-90s.) Much of North Florida is still on well water, especially in the communities along the Apalachicola River.
I believe in the time span you mentioned, Florida had relatively normal rainy seasons. But, rain or not, the fishing areas in North Florida need the runoff from Lake Lanier and down the river. The runoff carries nutrients and flushes out the riverbed. A lower runoff slows that process, killing fish.
All that said, it’s still absurd that Georgia wants to use a football game’s location to determine how much water Florida gets. Water that Florida is already given.
mlmintampa
UF C/O 06
you sort of missed t he point
Atlanta doesn’t really consume that much water. the vast majority of the water that is consumed…thus lowering the fresh water content in Apalachicola Bay occurs south of Columbus.
mimiintampa
Did you realize that during our drought we were sending twice as much water downstream as would have gone downstream if there were no dams, lakes, power stations, etc? In other words, Lanier was being drained in order to keep the water level in the Apalachicola artificially higher than it would have been.
GA/FL vs water
I really don’t see how these two have anything to do with each other.
Anyways, this complaing talk is really getting old. No one from UGA wants the game moved. Everyone from UGA loves going to Jacksonville. No one is complaing about the location. Richt made one comment in an attempt to explain the recent Florida domination and now he has been labeled a complainer. I gotta stand up for our team here. Without exception, players, coaches, and fans alike have said nothing other than location has nothing to do with the outcome, we are focused on the game and only the game. but if thats really the best “knock” against Richt i guess that says a lot about him as a coach.
Play a home-and-home for two seasons and when everyone realizes how great Athens and Gainesville are, Jacksonville will go the way of the dodo bird.
mlmintampa
UF C/O 06
Even assuming Gainesville is "great" ...
… the game’s going nowhere because both schools make more money off the Jax deal than they would make with a home-and-home. Of course, the hometowns are missing out.
And, by the way, I don’t know any Georgia fan who wants the game moved out of Jacksonville, and I know a lot of Georgia fans, having spent seven years in school there and living in Atlanta.
Finally (to mimintampa), who said anything about using the game’s location to determine how much water flows past Lake Seminole?
Ok. Done. That assumption about Gainesville’s being great was making my head hurt.
Good Lord
What does any of this have to do with the purpose of this site? I come here to read about Gator sports, but this site has become woefully short on anything meaningful regarding Gator sports and a little too long on political and other meaningless posts.
We have the unanimous #1 ranked team heading into the 2009 campaign (and quite possbily the most talented team in Gator history), yet 3 of the last 6 posts on this site involve political water struggles, State Sunshine laws, and First Amendment Freedom of the Press discussions.
If this has morphed into a site for political science students, please let me know so I can promptly leave. I would just prefer to continue discussing Gator sports. Please don’t make me resort to reading only other teams’ sites for Gator discussions or O&B Hue, which posts a new item about once every other month!!!
How many days until kickoff?
36. But if you can invent news out of thin air, go for it. Hell, it’s not even August yet. Chill my babies.
Also, the three stories you mentioned referenced the Florida-Georgia game being used a political bargaining chip, FSU getting their asses handed to them by the NCAA, and how writers and bloggers can blow up Meyer’s Notre Dame comments. They were my attempt to write less about college football games and more about the culture surrounding it.
mlmintampa
UF C/O 06
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