Classic Joe, simply classic.

animal abuse for sure

One picture that was missing is the person wade fishing by her. Real smart during bull shark mating season. Go ahead nimrods, put yourself in apposition where you are lower on the food chain. Thin the herd.

Can you replace a manatee as easy as a car ? Maybe you should park your car in a safer place

fetuses are indangered species.

Some of us believe in the right to make our own choices regarding our bodies, Bud, Being that you're not a female there's obviously no way for you to comprehend Free Choice. Regarding your tone about killing a cat, that too is horrendous abuse of an animal that is already alive, no longer a fetus and has a right to a safe and joyful life.

I had to read all comments before scrolling back to see exactly where the subject turned. Really Bud? WTH does abortion HAVE to do with this article? Way to go changing the subject to something irrelevant to the article..sometimes I wonder about people. As far as the other comments comparing the "hunt" for this woman to which crimes should be enforced... I totally agree!!! But then, I looked at the pictures again. This woman looks clueless, I'm sure she has no idea what she did was wrong. I also think there are a lot of other people that are unaware of this "law". I think a written warning (translation may be required) to this woman along with all the hype this has brought in the news will make people aware that this behavior is "against the law".

Catherine, in regards to the abortion comment, If women can choose to kill a baby, why not choose not to have sex, there is no chance of getting pregnant if you don't have sex.

In response to Jack's comment below:
Jack, the choice 'to not have sex' is not only that of a woman but her partner's as well; all too often men don't choose to not have sex and make that very clear to a female in manners that can be quite forcible. Ever heard of RAPE; this legitimately occurs much more often than reported.
On another note, this conversation is not appropriate to this article and I will no longer respond to yours or anyone else's comments regarding 'abortion' here.

C Shep

Please read our terms of use. That comment was something that could be very offensive.

Patrick, I don't care what you claimed you saw at UF. Youy can manipulate eggs and sperm to divide into cell lines without true conception , i.e. joining of sperm and egg, but you cannot create an entire human being from either.
It may be possbile in the future to create something similar to a true human from an egg, that is a more complete cell, but hasn't happened. So once again you are wrong, you cannot create a human life from a single spermatozoa.
Stop talking about that which you no nothing as if it is the truth.
That is the problem with the abortion debate.
Everyone wants to believe life does not begin at conception as some "rationale" for elective abortion not being equal to murder, but on purely bilogical grounds, it most certainly is.
Feel free to inject your moral relativism in here now, or your far right religious extremism, which I do not promote either, but it is an indisputaberl fact that life for all life begins at conception. To say otherwise is a lie meant to justify abortion as something other than murder.

Thank you Bud

i agree with steve , move on already , lady might have been messed up in the head or something , maybe she didn't know about the laws here , they didn't get injured they swam away , i just cant see hundreds of man hours hunting down this woman , so they can fine her and make more dough for the state . it's ridiculous to me , go hunt down the drug attics in the damn alley's feeding your kids dope , so they can take guns to school and shoot up the place , amazes me people followed her , took pictures of her to turn in , meanwhile the drug dealers are out there left and right and no-one wants to get involved

And you care less about the manatees, don't you ? The manatee probably thought, " Go away woman"

"Who made you the judge of what matters and what is worth getting unchilled about. oh right, nobody!"
==================
Respectfully, the same question could be asked of you...or anyone placing a post here. This is a forum for thoughts and opinions....anyone's.

Actually according to Federal Law it isn't. But if abortion is murder, wouldn't that also male masterbation manslaughter? I mean it is the same state of life at that point, plasmic DNA with the ability to beome life.

Who gives a crap what federal law say on the matter. Murder is murder. It is only for the convenience of "liberated" women that it is not considered murder. Life begins at conception. Period. If you were a biochemist and doctor like me, or anyone who can read and know biology, to say nothing of God's laws, which supersede the idiotic laws of man, you would know that life begins at conception. Has nothing to do with a woman's right ot her body, the baby is not her body, not for one second! On a side note, the budget crisis is due to too many old people taking and not enough young people contributing to the medicare and social security funds-which in turns is a driect result of decades of abortions and the resultant killing of millions of babies throughout hte socalled developed world skewing the demographics. So even from the selfish women's so called opinions of their rights to their bodies argument, those selfish women will mostly die in poverty in a broken socialist system as a direct result of the mass murder of the children who were suposed ot be born to suport them!
The manatees should be protected, but no bvlood no foul, move on people, more important things in the world.
Fewer cops = better society. If there are fewer cops, there would only be nough to go after real criminals, not people speeding by a few miles an hour at rush hour to get to work. We own this country, not the government, they work for us and there are too damned many of them.

Michael D. you are an idiot. Plasmic DNA is a totally incorrect description. Plasmic DNA is a bastardization of the termd plasmid DNA, whereas egg and sperm DNA is eukarotic/nuclear DNA. Plasmic DNA is in mitochondria and chloroplasts, whic are passed down directly from the nonnuclear cytoPLASM in the dividing cells of eularyotic species. I set the curve in Biology and Biochemistry at UF, while you are a fool who has choisen to open his mouth and remove all doubt. Further, life begins at conception for higher mammals, you can't get a human being to grow from a sperm or egg. Every single thing you said in your comment could not be more wrong, on both factual and ethical/moral grounds. Laws are not always just when made by man, and there can be tremendous difficulty in changing laws that should not be on the books, especially when the courts write laws from the bench, a bench they are often appointed on for life. Learn your biology, your civics, grow some morals at stop nitpicking about laws or edcits handed down from the courts for politically coreect reasons. Murder is murder.

Thank you Patrick. Stand up for the murdered millions!
I mispelled a few words in my biological primer for the idiot Michael D.
But you get the picture, he is wrong on every moral and factual and reasonable level.
it is a convenience for a modern woman to be on birth control and abortions and morning after pills are just another form of birth control for those who would rather kill their own children the be responsible for their actions and their children.
Their Judgement awaits them in the next world if not here as well.

Leave it to Michael D to say the weirdest thing here..living up to one of the things that Gulfports asks to be known for. If nothing else, it sure is amusing.

Patrick and Jim are trying to impose their religious beliefs on the rest of us; they are no better than the Taliban or the Muslim extremists who seek to do the same thing.

I don't criticize them for not wanting an abortion for their wife or their daughter, because their religion apparently tells them that it is wrong.

I do, however, criticize them for trying to deny to other Americans their right to act in accordance with their own religious beliefs, or in the case of those without religious beliefs, their own sense of ethics. Millions of other Americans have religious beliefs that are different than theirs.

One problem with all of this - aside from the fact that these extremists inserted the issue of abortion into a discussion about abused endangered animals - is that there are two groups of extremists who dominate the abortion discussions.

There are those who favor abortion at any time, under any circumstances, at one extreme, and there are those who favor banning abortion, whatever the time and whatever the circumstance.

Neither group represents the best interests of America, and the latter group, the so-called "right to life" organizations, are a plague on our society because most of them are opposed to the very thing that would prevent the need for abortions, namely, effective birth control.

[cont'd]

There are millions of Americans who stand in NEITHER extremist camp; these folks include committed Christians and Jews who believe in limited rights to abortion, with certain early time limits, and certain extreme situation exceptions. I am in this camp.

I accept the fact that someone has different religious beliefs than I do, and they hold that "human life" begins at conception; most of us in the middle don't, but we also don't believe that a late pregnancy should be terminated unless it meets certain tests (e.g., substantial risk for the pregnant woman, or a pregnancy which resulted from rape, etc).

You can argue what you like, but most of this is like trying to count the number of angels on the head of a pin.

But, those hypocrites who refuse to assist women (and men, and teenage girls and boys) in being educated about contraception and getting access to it, are a major cause of abortions.

Jim,
I'm not saying abortion is right or wrong, just it's not my right to make that decision for someone else. It's not the governments right to do it either. I find it funny that we feel the government should step in the arena of abortion rights, but not the arena of child medical care. Parents can deny a childs need for medical science due to religious reasons, and watch their kid die of perfectly curable deseases. But we want to stop them from having abortions. I appreciate you are a biochemist, I used to work in research hospital Shands at U.F. that dealt with the issue along with the biochemist, pre-nadial doctors, etc... so my opinion is formed from a similar but not the same knowledge as yourself. The definition of life, is dependant on your rationalization of life. In this area we have two distinct definitions of life. And yes, i have seen "life" as started in a testtube from just the male side of said DNA. As far as being an idiot, I'm pretty sure I'm not. But I don't need to childish name calling like apparently you do in a subject that is obviously more emotional to you than myself.

Grandpa, you too are an idiot.
First off, I said not one word about imposing my will, must be your guilty consicence for your indefensible opinion. See my other comment about you below.
And now to equate my comment that included indisputable biological facts and the moral imperatives that logically derive from them with me being as bad as a Taliban, who murder people by the thousands for not agreeing with them and helped the al Quaeda kills thousands of our brothers ans sisters on 9/11 and beyond is ridiculous. You are the extremistforthatstupid stupid , stupid comment. People speaking their minds in a just society is the same as being a feudalistic society that kills thousands of people per year and prevents the education of hte vast majority of its people including all women and dmeands a single religion for the whole country?
Grow up you moron and get a life. You are trying to impose your stupidity on others here and it's not going to work.
Go back to your moral relativism, which kills people every day for real.
I happen to save lives for a living, and my upbringing allows me to believe in the sanctity of life, even yours you fool.

Grandpa-know your facts . All life, not just human life, begins at conception. Biological fact. Anyone who claims otherwise is engaging in moral relativism to justify abortion as something other than murder of a life.
That is not a religious belief. That is a biological fact adopted as policy by some religions and religious sects , such as the Roman Catholic Church for example.
Big difference.
Get your facts straight.

Jim must be a democrat. And I don't like democrats

I DO like the Speeding/driving analogy. Is the manatee rider a jerk? Yes, I think so. But the law has more important issues than this one to work on.

I agree with this comment just as strongly as I disagree with your masturbation diatribe.
Half crediit to the Mastur(de)bator !

You know...they never identified the sex of the Manatee she was riding. Maybe we have it all wrong and the Manatee was riding her? I'm just sayin'...
Afterall...the article said she interupted them mating...and she pretty much looks real similar to a Manatee herself ;)

Let's not change the subject to speeding. She did wrong and she has to pay for it.

None of her business to mess with the manatee

Whew! exactly what I was thinking...more insults than facts. one wrong doesn't make it ok for hate-filled comments....

This is an open dialogue, if someone says something here that is idiotic as in factually wrong, it is the right of people who actually have a firm grasp of the facts to correct them. No forum should be dominated by ignorance.
As Thomas Jefferson said, all the has to happen for Evil to triumph is good men to do nothing.
I will not go peacefully into this night with stupid comments from Michael D., count on it!
Being PC does not cut it. moral relativism is at the heart of the decaying nature of our society, like an overwrought desire to persecute a misguided woman while millions of babies are killed, or while real crimes are ignored by the PC police and society members who nitpick on these nonsensical pieces of non-news to make themselves look or sound good, and for the lazy memebers of law enforcement who go after good citizens or incredibly minor things like thsi instead of going after the dangerous criminals they should be focused on. If you can't take the heat Mr. Armstrong, get out of the fire.

uh...Jim...you do realize that Leigh works for The Patch and this is his article? Obviously not. While I agree with your concern abount censorship ( I think that was part of your complaint), it's funny that you don't realize that your ealier use of the 4 letter word that sounds like the object that makes lakes is more likely to get you delelted here than anything. If you are really worried about Leigh's polite reminder to all of us to not get out of control, then you need to watch your language here. You can cuss all you want, for all I care...but I will tell you ''from experience here'', it may get you delelted. Even Michaels D's maturbation comments will ride here..although they do tempt many of us to make outlandish replies to him about it. That said, I just want to remind Leigh that the opening comment to his article here was: ''A cow riding a sea cow''..so it was only natural this thread would go downhill from there...lol. Frankly...so far...this has been the most entertaining Gulfport Patch since the Jay and Dreamer saga. I will say this to Michael D...while choking a monkey may sound like murder, it's not :)

nice

That smell doesn't come off either. You gotta wait for the skin to die.

CJ

I've removed your comment. Please refer to our Terms of Use. You're walking the line of offensiveness.

Jim,

Most of your comment was okay, it just contained masked cursing (using symbols to fill in the letters for a curse word). I've reposted without the masked cursing below.

CJ

first off, I did not swear and if you bother to look ath the author's comments, they preceded mine, so he was NOT referring to what I said.
Yes, I know he wrote it as well, doesn't matter.
You don't know how to read, because I never swore.
FYI, crap is not a swear word. It refers to the man who invented the flush toilet, one John Crapper.
No other 4 letter word in my reply that even remotely approaches a "cuss" word as you put it..

As for grandpa's response to what I said, I am not an extermeist and never once said I am trying to impose my religious beliefs on anyone.
What I did was point out the biological facts and moral imperatives that naturally derive from them, not once did I promote imposing will on others.
People who love abortions and abortion "rights" do not have the balls to come out and admit that in their hearts they know it's murder of innocent children and simply don't care, that their selfish beliefs supersede everything. At least if they admitted they know and don't care, they could claim to be honest in the debate.
Once again, most people act on a poor grasp of the facts and are totally incapable of dialogue based on their ignorance of the facts and the convenience of moral and legal relativism.

sorry Leigh...but I guess I misunderstood what Swiffer Wet Set meant about a ''scent''. I did not think I was the first one out of line on this tangent. I am not surprised you deleted my comment, though...again, I'm sorry...things are just getting so loose here, I did not figure it was not worth giving a try to see if the comment would stay. I was just trying to lighten things up here...some people here are get sort of stupid mad and grumpy here over a lady that was simply enjoying a gift that God gave us...despite the laws. I for supporting the laws, but also using descretion. This is not a bad lady. I can think of many laws, especially here in Gulfport and South St Pete that I wish were more enforced. One thing is for sure, compared to the Manatees...the druggies have it made around here.

I agree

If she had been a blonde beach babe, I don't think that this event would have ever even made the news (see the comment by Thomas Alvi). There is a lot of sexism rampant throughout these posts. Remember the blonde female teacher who sexually abused one of her male students but was "too pretty for prison"?

Cherylwithac..yes I do remember that story about the gorgeious blonde female teacher, but forgot what she looks like. Could you, for only the sake of clarifying of course, please send some pictures of her. Again, just for the educational aspect of being able to better relate to your comment ;/ You know what they say...a picture can speak a thousand words. All I remember about that teacher is ''wow''.

still wating for the pic

Right on the head Steve.

Well, then people who feed Wonder Bread to ducks should be be locked up. That's certainly a crime. In fact...anyone feeding Wonder Bread to their kids should be arrested. Where's Mayor Bloomberg when you need him???

;)

yeah..right on..everyone knows white bread is bad for you..it should at least be something with whole grain...

Well put

wow, Leigh...you left in the part where Kristen says ''wtf''...oh boy...now I can say that here too? Whatever it was she said that you deleted must have really been bad...lol... wft, wtf, wtf...I am ok now....I feel much better getting that out of my system...I'll be good now.

CJ

I'm trying to leave in as much as possible without it being too offensive. I'd rather not censor when I don't have to. I think "wtf" as a colloquialism isn't horrible as long as it isn't overused.

I am so glad you look at it that way...I agree. I know some other editors consider it ''masked cursing'' or something like that. I apologize for using it three times in a row, but it was still fun to do. I am just mainly teasing and messing around anyway, but I am sure you know that. I mean, what's a blog without a little fun and troublemaking. Thanks for the note.

Thank you Leigh.
You are right.
Let the dialogue continue within reason.
People hiding behind so called laws to go off on this lady who knows if she knew it was wrong and since the manatee surely was not harmed, interesting to see it happen and shouldn't have ahppened and if she was caught there then fine, let the law hit her, but since no one knows who she is, then let it go, so many more important things to take care of in the world and our fair city.
Kudos!

Wrong. It is not the size of the problem. If it is a problem than it needs to taken care of.

Jim, you make me sick. Do you live at Seaside Villas ?

Leigh, "wft" is NOT a COLLOQUIALISM. It's masked vulgar language. If it's not masked, then why are just the first letters of every word used??? Would you allow someone to spell it out in its entirety??? Obviously not--BECAUSE IT IS MASKED VULGAR LANGUAGE.

best comment here

I wish this comment had a "Like" button

Oh, and don't forget the cult of greed, and the cult of arrogance, and the cult of Congressional destruction of the nation( as long as you can impede a sitting President).

And as for radicals in religion, all religious fundamentalists are destructive and dangerous to democracy

DonJuan...while I admire your opinions in regard to women or the pleasure of certain cactus, I want to point out an Eagle or Panther will not come to you simply out of curiosity or even to be playful. What people need to know about Manatees is how the law is written to protect them. It would certainly be tempting to interact with them if you were fortunate to have one approach you while swimming. That tempatation needs to be controlled for the sake of the Manatee. If you are encountered by them, you are expected to try and let them be and not encourage them to be friendly with you. It is best they are left to remain wild rather than any form of domestification...which is what this woman's reaction is legally considered. They are not dogs or cats. More than likely, this Manatee was the one who approached her. They are big and powerful, and this woman weight was no where near enough to keep the Manatee from getting air...it was simply friendly. Good thing they are, because I have no doubt they could kill any human very easily if they desired to. It could have easily shook her off anythime it wanted, but was probably enjoying her playing with it...even though she was wrong to do so. It is a gift of Mother Nature they are gentle.

I imagine all the legal authorities would do with her is make sure she realizes what she did was not legal. I have a feeling she would be cut some slack on this. Intention would play a role on how this was delt with. If she had a big mouth like some others here, then it may be a completely different story and they'd fine and/or arrest her.

Well put

CJ
how did you know that the manatee approached the woman ? Were you there ? She approached the animal and she broke the law.

oh Matt...I do not ''know it''.I was just speaking casually about how it might have happened. I was not trying to make some profound statement. Afterall...this is simply a discussion...right? I don't think my assuming the Manatee ''possibly'' approached her is much of a stretch of the imagination. They ''are'' friendly, and they ''do'' often approach people. Do you really think a human is going to be able to chase one down in the ocean? Have you ever even been out in the ocean? I used to do competitive surfing when younger and do not have much experience with the Manatees, because I am new here to Florida...but I have considerable ocean experience and I can tell you firsthand...that Dolphines, Porpoises (not by accident, but on purpsoe...lol) and even huge Rays will definitely come right up to you to be petted just like a dog will.

Frankly, Zappa...NaNoo the Eskimo should make you eat yellow snow for saying that.

I had a manatee sandwich for lunch today.

Rachel when you say, " Crime is crime and all are equal.", I couldn't disagree with you more...LOL

Every police department has limited resources. A driver is carjacked, a manatee is "ridden", a child is abducted. All crimes are equal? Absolutely not. If they were, the resources of that law agency would be divided into equal parts and each crime investigated fully. We know that ain't gonna happen - nor should it.

Rachel? ''all are equal''?? You might want to re think that. Surely (sorry to call you that...lol) you are not serious that all crimes are equal? Some beleive the same is true about the 10 commandments, and how some believe all sins are equal. I can remember some heated bible study sessions on this. I know where I am going to end up if I murder someone...but doubt I will catch much heat at the pearly gates for saying wtf once too often.