Earlier this week, I was proud to have been among the dozens of residents from the Glades communities who traveled to Stuart to have our voices heard as part of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ public input process for the next Lake Okeechobee lake level plan. I was disappointed to see that Colonel Andrew Kelly, who is in charge of the entire process, attend the Stuart meeting, but not the meeting we had the week prior in Clewiston. If he would have been in attendance at the John Boy Auditorium, he would have seen our communities united like never before to ensure the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers considers the concerns of us living in the Glades communities directly south of Lake Okeechobee. Although his attendance in Clewiston probably wasn’t mandatory, it would have been a nice gesture to show the Corps is taking the concerns of every community seriously.

While we may be outnumbered by the people living in coastal communities, our concerns are just as important and must be treated equally. We do not want to see the lake driven by the Corps down to 10.5 feet. We need a healthy Lake Okeechobee, not a lake that will be starved at the request of a single Congressman (Brian Mast) who is looking to punish our communities and all of South Florida because of a hidden agenda. We must remind everyone that our lives matter. We should not be trying to solve water problems in one community at the expense of another.

If you have not done so already, please let your voice be heard and stand up for our communities by requesting that the Army Corps reject calls to lower Lake Okeechobee to 10.5 feet. You can submit comments by e-mail at: LakeOComments@usace.army.mil
or by mail to:
Dr. Ann Hodgson
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Jacksonville District
P.O. Box 4970
Jacksonville, FL 32232-0019

Reverend Moses Wilson
Glades Lives Matter