It is now Summer…maybe weeks away from the official start…but when the temperature is still in the 70’s at night…that is summer to this northern Illinois born boy.  

The latest projections for the coming hurricane season have just arrived via e mail. They state that the gulf waters are unusually warm and so are the Caribbean waters which indicate an earlier start to the season and may allow more storms to form. 

The gulf coast does not need a hurricane this year…but we didn’t need the economy going belly up and we certainly didn’t need the massive oil spill that is hanging over our beaches and our heads like a headsman’s axe. 

But with our recent “luck” we will probably get such a storm.  If one does come early, within the next 4 weeks, it could push the three million gallons of oil onto our beaches and into our bays and bayous and rivers destroying everything it comes into contact with. 

It might also destroy what remains of our fishing, shrimping and oystering industries along with our charter boat industry, our tourist industry and even a good part of our casino industry.  It will be a domino effect…with more business closures, more people out of work, more homelessness, more domestic violence, more child abuse, and more children in care of a State that is itself suffering from the economic recession.

As of now, it looks like the largest part of the spill will be pushed eastward into the Gulf Stream current that will take it through the Florida Keys and near the only tropical reef we have left.  This is a tragedy in the making and one that will be almost impossible to stop. 

We are all praying down here for something…anything better to occur with this spill. We ask that if you have a moment…offer a pray up for us as well.

Terry Latham
Director