Fernery owners worry over future

3NJ0100A0523 FINAL 3NJ0100A0523 ZALLCALL
15 00:29:50 05/23/07
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PILOT FORCED TO LAND IN ORMOND AFTER FLYING OVER SHUTTLE LOCAL PAGE 1C
News-
TV’S DANCE CHAMPION
The Daytona Beach
Was it Joey the singer
or Apolo the Olympian?
NAMES IN THE NEWS, PAGE 2A
Journal
Dems drop
withdrawal
call from
spending bill
KIDS SET FOR LONGER VACATION
Democratic leaders on Tuesday
dropped their insistence that the
Iraq war-spending bill include a
timeline for U.S. troop withdrawal, clearing the way to end a
lengthy standoff with President
Bush.
The measure will include
benchmarks that the Baghdad
government must meet to continue to receive U.S. reconstruction aid, although the
president will be allowed to
waive those requirements.
Senate Majority Leader Harry
Reid, D-Nev., characterized the
compromise as progress in the
Democratic drive to bring the
U.S. combat role in Iraq to an
end, saying the bill was not a
‘‘blank check.’’
The House and Senate are expected to vote on the approximately $120 billion bill, which
funds military operations in
Iraq and Afghanistan, this week
before they take a week off for
the Memorial Day holiday.
A number of strongly anti-war
Democrats are expected to oppose the measure, so it will need
Republican support to pass.
‘‘There has been a lot of tough
A new pill that eliminates
women’s menstrual cycles
wins Food and Drug
Administration approval.
PAGE 11A
Keep your
visitors fresh
Horoscope 11D
Letters 4A
Movies 4D
Puzzles 6D,11D
Records 6C
Television 2D
Vol. LXXXIV
No. 143
4 Sections
© NJ 2007
News-Journal
Corporation
Weathering
The Numbers
ENVIRONMENT WRITER
Alfredo Amador hits his fifth-grade teacher, Christina Lang, with a whipped cream pie Tuesday.
It’s an annual ritual in Lang’s class at Sugar Mill Elementary.
Later start next year means more time off now
By RAY WEISS
STAFF WRITER
A tidal wave of humanity
today rolls out of Volusia
County’s public schools and
into neighborhoods, malls,
parks and the ocean for another summer break.
What’s perceived as freedom for 65,782 youngsters can
be anarchy for parents, especially those trying to balance
tight work schedules with
their children’s open schedules.
And this year, the scenario
is even more dire, or dreamy,
depending on one’s age and
perspective.
Schools will reopen two
weeks later than in the recent
past — Aug. 20 in Volusia
County and Flagler County
(where 12,209 pupils finished
Monday) — because of a
change in state law.
But what youngsters gain
this year they will lose next,
when public schools won’t
close until the first week of
June.
News-Journal/JESSICA WEBB SIBLEY
That payback is a long way
off, though, and everyone’s fo- Osceola Elementary Principal Earl
Johnson grabs a rebound over Kayla
cused on surviving until
Chadwick as he joins in a basketball
school bells again ring.
game Tuesday with pupils celebrating
at an end of school cookout.
ray.weiss@news-jrnl.com
Did
You Know?
No matter which weather forecast or model assesses the chances of a
busy hurricane season this
summer, they say the same
thing: Be ready to ride out
another conga line of tropical cyclones.
Two forecasts released
this week for the season
that starts June 1 call for
an above-normal season,
especially in Volusia
County.
Volusia is among 20
counties in the Southeast
facing the greatest risk of
hurricane-force winds, according to a forecast from
University of Central Florida statistics professor
Mark Johnson and his colleague Chuck Watson.
That’s not good news for
thousands of oceanfront
residents along eroded
shorelines or folks still trying to get homes and property repaired from the 2004
75%
chance of busier
than normal
hurricane season
1 in 6
chance of
hurricane force
winds in Volusia
13-17
forecast for
named storms
7-10
hurricanes
forecast
3–5
major hurricanes
forecast
28
named storms in
2005, the busiest
season on record
SEE ’CANES, PAGE 13A
SOURCES: NOAA;
hurricane.methaz.org
dinah.pulver@news-jrnl.com
MORE ONLINE: The latest NOAA hurricane predictions: news-journalonline.com
Raulerson Rd. No. 1
Alice Cooper’s classic
‘‘School’s Out’’ is a favorite on the radio this
time of year:
59, pictured,
born Vincent Furnier,
scored a top 10 hit in
1972 with his rebellious
tune about the end of
school.
P According to Cooper’s Web site, the
song was inspired by a
line in a Dead End Kids
movie.
P ‘‘School’s Out’’ has
been featured in movies as well as in a 2004
television commercial
for Staples in which
Cooper appeared.
P Cooper, known for
his shock-rock performances, is a bornagain Christian who is
addicted to golf.
Properties part of
proposed land-use
change
Active fernery
Former fernery
P Cooper,
Compiled by News
Researcher Karen Duffy from
alicecooper.com,
usatoday.com
Extended Summer Recess: What They’re Saying
ACCENT, PAGE 1D
Abby 6D
Accent 1D
Business 7A
Classified 8D
Comics 5D
Deaths 6C
Experts
agree:
’Canes
coming
By DINAH VOYLES PULVER
News-Journal/DAVID TUCKER
Birth control
BUSINESS, PAGE 7A
Forecast shows Volusia
at risk for wind damage
SEE WITHDRAWAL, PAGE 11A
Who are your choices for
athletes of the year?
THE SCORE
Will small bottles
pack same punch?
HURRICANE SEASON 2007
LOS ANGELES TIMES
Coming Thursday:
Cast your vote!
COMPACT DETERGENTS
50 cents
WASHINGTON — Congressional
Keeping you on track
for today, tomorrow
TODAY’S FORECAST
Can’t tap dance around rain chance.
High: Lower 80s. Low: Upper 60s. PAGE 8C
FINAL EDITION
By RICHARD SIMON
THE FAST
LANE
MAY 23, 2007
THE INDEPENDENT VOICE OF VOLUSIA & FLAGLER COUNTIES
www.news-journalonline.com
THE WAR
IN IRAQ
WEDNESDAY
‘‘It’s good
because you
get to play more.
Nope, I won’t
miss school.’’
‘‘I think it’s great.
I get to stay
in Montana longer.
We go fishing and
camping.’’
‘‘It gives me
two more weeks
to earn some money.
I’ll work until
school starts.’’
‘‘I just found out about it
the other day. I think it
would be better to have an
extra week at each end
(of the school year).’’
HAYDEN BIERI, 8, Palm Coast
STEPHON BLAND, 6, DeLand
GREGG LAMB, ERAU student
MELISSA LARGE, 37, DeLand
Cow Pond Rd.
Cow
Pond
Prevett Rd.
17
VOLUSIA COUNTY
To Seville
Map
Area
Miles
News-Journal
0
1/4
News-Journal
Fernery owners
worry over future
By JAMES MILLER
STAFF WRITER
SEVILLE — Bill Keebler brings his Range Rover to
a stop on a sandy track known as Cow Pond Road.
Ten acres of his plastic-shaded ferns sit to the
north.
One day, they might be gone, replaced by homes.
After half a century in farming — more than 20
years of it in the fern business, Keebler is ready to
make an exit.
Growers here in what’s been known as the
‘‘Fern Capital of the World’’ are badly and maybe
fatally pressed, he says, largely by overseas competitors who benefit from lower costs and looser
regulations.
On Thursday, Keebler and three neighboring
property owners plan to ask the Volusia County
Council to let them take the first step toward what
they think might be a better use for some wellplaced land off U.S. Highway 17: a partially lakefront subdivision of 2 1 ⁄ 2 -acre lots.
SEE FERNERY, PAGE 14A
james.miller@news-jrnl.com
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3NJ1402A0523 NEWS-JOURNALÀ 3NJ1402A0523 ZALLCALL
15 22:26:21 05/22/07
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CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1A
14A Wednesday, May 23, 2007
The Daytona Beach News-Journal
FERNERY: Proposal points out problems with fern industry
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1A
‘‘We’re not developers,’’
Keebler said. ‘‘We’re not about
to start building houses. We just
want the entitlement if we can
get it.’’
County staffers have recommended against the request — a
change from the agricultural
limit of one home per 10 acres —
saying it’s county policy to protect agriculture and citing potential lifestyle conflicts
between people who might
move to the area and remaining
farms. There are also concerns
about what type of precedent an
approval would set.
But, while the proposal would
impact only about 33 acres of the
thousands of acres of active ferneries in Volusia, it also highlights what experts say are
serious problems facing growers.
Those problems could be a factor in the council decision.
‘‘I do understand the argument that staff has, but I also understand what the future holds
in that area,’’ County Chairman
Frank Bruno said. ‘‘It’s a beautiful area, and I think a lot of people would love to have that
lifestyle.’’
In 2004, Volusia County had
almost 11,000 acres of cut foliage, which includes popular
leatherleaf fern, as well as other
ornamental plants used in floral
arrangements, said Dana Venrick, commercial horticulturist
with the University of Florida/
Volusia County Extension Service.
He estimated the acreage had
been reduced by 20 percent
County Council Meets
P WHEN:
Thursday, 9 a.m.;
public participation for
items not on the agenda
starts at 8:30 a.m.
P WHERE: Thomas C. Kelly
Administration Center, 123
W. Indiana Ave., DeLand.
P AUDIO: Real-time audio of
the meeting is available
through the county’s Web
page: Connect to
www.volusia.org/
countycouncil/
info.htm#audio.
P ISSUES:
ACT BUILDING: Purchase
of Act Corp. residential
treatment facility, $2.8
million, 9 a.m.
HOMESTEAD: Increase
homestead exemption for
low-income people over 65
years old from $50,000 to
$75,000, 11:20 a.m.
SCHOOLS: Adopt ordinance
creating school planning
requirements for local
governments and
developers, 11:25 a.m.
OFF-BEACH PARKING:
Purchase land for 73 offbeach parking spaces in
Ormond Beach and Wilburby-the-Sea, $1.8 million,
consent agenda.
since then, largely because of
the 2004 hurricanes which
ripped apart the plastic shading
houses that protected many ferneries.
Many owners, including one
News-Journal/PETER BAUER
Bill Keebler, along with fellow landowners, wants to change the Comprehensive Land Use
designation of several parcels along Cow Pond, north of Seville, from agriculture to rural.
Doing so will allow a single-family home on a 21⁄2-acre parcel fronting the prime waterfront of
Cow Pond.
going before the council Thursday, didn’t find it economically
viable to continue, though Venrick said he thought the industry’s struggles would work out
and the majority of growers
would stick to an industry that
had treated them well.
Still, sales have generally declined. In 1999, Florida growers
— in Volusia, Lake and Putnam
counties — sold almost $63 million of leatherleaf ferns, according to the U.S. Department of
Agriculture. In 2005, the figure
was almost $48 million.
‘‘A lot of it has been due to import competition from Central
America and the Caribbean,’’
said Alan Hodges, an associate
extension scientist in food and
resource economics at UF in
Gainesville.
Imports of ornamental foliage
and branches have increased
from $76 million in 1998 to $114
million in 2005, he said.
Other factors could include
such things as steeply increasing land costs and concerns that
immigration policy changes
‘‘could limit the availability of
immigrant workers legal or
otherwise,’’ Hodges said.
County planner Ron Paradise
said he could not think of any recent large requests for rezonings or land-use changes
involving ferneries, though he
said some property owners had
done larger lot-size subdivisions allowed with less regulation under county rules.
But Bob Stamp, a professor of
environmental horticulture at
the University of Florida’s MidFlorida Research and Education
Center, said there are trends toward developing fernery lands.
‘‘If you were to go to Lake
County, which was probably in
recent times the second-largest
county for cut foliage production, almost all that land has
been sold for development
now,’’ said Stamp, who has studied the fern industry for 28
years. ‘‘Most of those folks have
gotten out of the business.’’
That could be where Bill
Keebler is headed.
‘‘It’s not like (the local fern
business) is going to disappear
overnight like the citrus industry did with 10 degrees,’’ he said,
referring to freezes that devastated that industry in the
1980s.
The first freeze drove Keebler
from citrus to fern.
‘‘It’s a little bit like emphysema,’’ he said. ‘‘It takes a long
time to die. You get squeezed in
prices and you cut back and you
cut your expenses as much as
you can. You try to get a grip on
it and go one more year, but the
pressure gets more and more.’’
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