Sounds like Johnny Carson’s old hunter character, “Floyd R. Turbo, American,” was being channeled the other night at a public hearing in Plant City. The issue: Should hunters have more access to Swiftmud land?
Those in opposition: Those who don’t much care to be around people with guns when they are bird watching or horseback riding. Plus those who can’t help but see a correlation between disappearing wild life and more hunters. Plus those, presumably, who just can’t embrace the concept that hunting is a “sport” and there are those who actually enjoy killing, even if it’s usually limited to “mere” animals.
Those speaking for hunters included: Newton Cook, executive director of United Waterfowlers of Florida, and Chuck Echenique.
Cook’s best lines:
* “There’s always some people who are against hunting on the (state water agency) staff. They think it’s dangerous or whatever.”
* “Horseback riding is multiple times more hazardous to the rider and the bystander than hunting is.”
Echenique’s best line:
*”Hunters are hikers.”
You can’t make this up. Whatever else is killed, Floyd R. Turbo lives.