Opinion: I salute the brave whistleblower who put a stop to secretive plans to develop Florida parks

We live at a time where we must always stay vigilant. We know that we can’t go to bed thinking that the things we treasure most --like our state parks -- will be there when we wake up.

It was never more evident than recently when we learned, through a man named James Gaddis, 41, a two-year employee of the Florida Department of Environment Protection, that bigtime developers had bargained with our state government to bulldoze parts of nine of our beautiful state parks and their inhabitants, making room for 350-room resort hotels and golf courses, pickleball courts, and God knows what else.

Gaddis, who said the directive for the plan to do away with some of Florida’s most pristine property -- its national parks -- came straight from Gov. Ron DeSantis’ office. He broke the news of the state’s plan to the Tampa Bay Times on August 19.

In a Sept. 4 interview with the Miami Herald, Gaddis lamented the plan’s secrecy and said, “It was the absolute flagrant disregard for the critical, globally imperiled habitat in these parks.” He said his job was to make the proposed, conceptual, land use maps that depicted the golf courses and other developments. “... The secrecy was totally confusing and very frustrating,” he said. “No state agency should be behaving like this.”

I am thankful for Gaddis, a single dad, who was willing to put his livelihood on the line to do what was right by the people of Florida. I am glad that he had a good conscience and listened to it. By blowing the cover off the state’s plan, he gave the nature-loving residents of Florida their rightful opportunity to protest the plans.

Yet, his action did not come without circumstances. The state wasted no time in getting back at him. For his good deed, Gaddis came home Aug. 31 and found a letter of dismissal on his doorstep. He had lost his job. I’m sorry Gaddis lost his job, but I’m glad to know he had the gall to stand up for what is right. His conscience would not let him keep silent about a deal that included besmirching our own beautiful Oleta River State Park in Northeast Miami-Dade, and Dr. Von D. Mizell-Eula Johnson State Park in Dania Beach. Because of him, we can go on enjoying the parks’ natural beauty for a little while longer.

I hedge that because even while you and I sleep, those who care more about the almighty dollar than they do about our environment have not given up. They will find new ways to try to get what they want. Even while we bask in the victory of having stopped their project (for now), they are yet seeking ways to make big bucks off the land that was intended for us, and our children and our children’s children, to enjoy. That is why I say we must all stay vigilant.

Already, we are moving farther and farther out into the Everglades, upsetting our ecosystem. Because of this development, much of our wildlife has nowhere to go. This is why, I believe, alligators and crocodiles are showing up in the swimming pools of some private homes. We have stolen their natural habitat, building luxury homes too close to what used to be their home.

While he is without a job, Gaddis has started a GoFundMe to help keep food on the table and a roof over his and his 11-year-old daughter’s head. It pleases me to know that Gaddis’ good deed has not gone unnoticed. As of Wednesday morning, the campaign had raised more than $150,000.

As I see it, one good deed deserves another.

SUBHEAD

Every now and then and unforgettable person will walk into my life. Over the years, I have met many such people. Just knowing them helped to make me a better person.

That being said, let me introduce you to Pastor Ethel Mae Brown, 96, and still preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ. I met her right after I had accepted the Lord as my personal savior, back in the early 1960s.

She lived in Vero Beach but would come to Miami for the annual Pentecost meeting in the spring, and for the Holy Convocation meeting in the fall. I was in awe of her from the start. I was 23, and she was about 11 years older. What drew me to her was her unwavering faith in the Lord. She was married and the mother of six. Her baby was 2 and had been stricken with what her doctors calle, an “incurable” brain disease.

The first time I heard the story of how she came to the Lord -- she had bargained with the Lord. She said, “Lord if you heal my child, I will serve you for the rest of my days.”

The Lord healed her child and Sister Ethel (as she was called back then) kept her part of the bargain. She dedicated her life to the Lord, winning others over to Christ whenever she could.

A couple of years after here child had healed, Sister Ethel was called to the ministry and was appointed pastor of The Church of God Tabernacle (True Holiness), a small congregation in Vero Beach.

Today in Vero Beach, on her 70th pastoral anniversary, The Church of God Tabernacle family, in Miami, Belle Glade and Valdosta, Georgia, will pay special tribute to this feisty little lady, who embodies the word holiness. In doing so, we are honoring a woman who had enough nerve to bargain with the Lord and then have faith enough to believe that He would do what she asked of Him.

It was through faithful and loving people of God like Pastor Brown, that I learned to trust the Lord and to believe that He would answer my prayers. I was a newly widowed mother of two a year after I met Pastor Brown. I needed to hear her testimony. I needed to know that God was real and true to His word. She taught me that.

Like I said, some people come into our life, and we are better because we met them.

Pastor Brown is one of them.