| For quite a while a convoy of big yellow earth-moving machinery was parked idle down near where the beach begins and the village ends. Big signs were posted and everyone was aware that some serious money was at work with the idea to tear out all the mangroves next to town, fill all that land up and build an inland boat basin apart from the community- An enclave for the priviledged. There was plenty of protest from many agencies who felt that ripping out an area that harbored such abundant life was some kind of sin or something and that the birds and bugs and the rest of the critters who lived on the 27 acres in question had some right to exist unmolested and that the mangroves had some intrinsic value being wet-lands and nurseries and part of the bay ecology and all that etc. etc. - But everyone knew where the power lies. For a long time the talk continued and the machines sat there quiet and then one day in May while the morning crowd were having coffee at the corner the machines came awake. They began right at the beach where a narrow plank bridge crossed the little creek that emptied into the bay. The coffee drinkers and paper readers and up-early excercise folks all gathered in silence as four tall palms fell and loosed a swarm of creatures fleeing up down and everywhere. The big catepillars and backhoes and draglines growled and wrenched and did what they do best- and so began the removal process and first step in the construction of what is now known as the marina. An effort was made to replant some mangroves at the far end of the beach. The little bridge across the creek was replaced by a draw to allow the big hatteras trawlers entry and keep trespassing skiffs out. Guards keep watch. All the arguments and discussion came to an abrupt end and the silence continues as the marina continues to grow and more walls go up around it, protecting it from incursion by any who cannot pay the price of membership required to enter the kingdom within it's inviolable ramparts. About all that can be said about it is, 'It's there.' |
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