REASON: Commissioners want to change urban boundaries to develop agricultural lands. My Letter proposes developing lands as organic food source.

CONTACT: Commissioners by phone at (772) 288-5440 or e-mail - commissioners@martin.fl.us

DEADLINE: July 14 - August 1, 2009

July 14, 2009

Hello,

My Letter to the Editor (attached below) is in the Stuart News today, July 14, about developing organic farming in western Martin County, Florida .and NOT to develop our agricultural land for residential or commercial use.

The Commissioners are voting today, July 14, and again on Sept 1st. It only takes THREE votes to change our land use in Martin County FOREVER.

Please notify everyone in your mailing lists to respond and support the need to develop organic food sources. I need as many people as possible to bombard the Martin County Commissioners phone lines and email in-baskets to let them know how many of us care about our health and healthy food sources. We need a healthy future and so do our children.

Help us protect and develop our land as an organic food source for our County and beyond. This local decision will affect all of us. We have spent years protecting our comprehensive plan to keep Martin County a rural and pleasant place to live. We fought to keep fluoride out of Martin County and won..

Please contact everyone you know across the country to speak up for Martin County’s future.

We need to let the Commissioners know how many people care about the future use of our agricultural land.

We all need to speak up NOW.

Dr. Julie K. Bjornson

Palm City, FL

NeuroSecretary1@cs.com

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Letter: Tell Martin County commissioners to protect comp plan, promote organic farming

Reader submitted
Monday, July 13, 2009
TCPalm.com/news/2009/jull/13/letter-tell-martin-county-commissioners-to-comp/

County commissioners, don’t do it! Don’t change our comprehensive plan.

A mere three votes cast on July 14 and Sept. 1 will determine the future of Martin County’s growth and development, as valuable agricultural land is at risk of becoming sprawling development complete with higher taxes for roads, schools and services. We need to protect our rural land and expand organic farming to produce a steady supply of nutritious food.

Most of our food travels more than 1,500 miles from industry farms run by multi-national corporations. This food has a huge hidden cost: lower food quality. How many more e-coli poisonings, salmonella outbreaks and obesity reports will it take for us to realize this country’s food supply is in big trouble? Can we depend on outside sources to feed us once our agricultural land is gone?

Naturally grown organic food is the best source of nutrients for maintaining our health, not the genetically modified, irradiated, processed, pesticide-laden, patented and chemically altered food that is currently in our stores.

Health-care plans, independent or national, will not keep us healthy. Tim Russert, Billy Mays, Kelsey Grammer, Bill Clinton — how many more deaths and near-deaths do we need to hear about before we realize pesticides and prescriptions are not answers to our health problems?

Commissioners, get serious. Organic farming can be Martin County’s future. Organic farming outweighs the developers’ path to higher taxes. Save our agricultural land and put us on the map as the Southeast Mecca for organics.

Instead of our rural heritage becoming history, let’s make history. Save our comprehensive plan.

Contact the commissioners by phone at (772) 288-5440 or e-mail them at commissioners@martin.fl.us before the July 14 vote and let them know your position on the comprehensive plan and organic farming.

Dr. Julie K. Bjornson

Palm City, FL