Tears of Tar

Well, there are tarballs on the beautiful beaches of Fort Walton Beach, Pensacola Beach, and Santa Rosa Island, all in Florida. I imagine these dreadful reminders of a tragic Gulf explosion will take years to remove, and maybe, forever create terrible damage on the fragile wetlands of Louisiana.

With the grace of God, may these sights repair quickly. Everybody is praying that the Gulf remain free of hurricanes while these thousands of gallons of oil float around. Maybe nature will eventually help dissipate this mess with time.

Whatever happens, it will be a very tricky, and a very delicate trip for all of us. Florida depends so much upon tourism, and things are so tight right now as it is. We all hate to see tourism suffer, and the fishing industry will be crippled. The Gulf waters supply 75% of the nation's supply of shrimp! Can't imagine going without shrimp for very long. And, it's so easy to have a wonderful fresh fish meal in this area; our chefs thrive on providing us with great fish meals at nice, moderate prices. Families that have fished for generations are going to suffer very much from this tragedy.