PAGE 4B U SUWANNEE DEMOCRAT/LIVE OAK FRIDAY, JULY 21, 2006 Too continued d From Page 1B won't change, a review of Florida law shows Endan- gered species receive more protection than Threatened species." The commission claims the Management Plan they'll devise will protect the manatees, but Rose says Florida's Legislature will be pressured by powerful lobby- ihg interests to reduce the agency's authority and fund-' ing used for manatee protec- tibn efforts. "'According to FWC's scien- tists, the manatee population tould be reduced by as much as 50% in the future from growing human-related threats, red tide, and habitat loss. Statistics also show boat strikes continue to kill mana- tees in near-record numbers. During winter months, manatees use the warm water discharges of power plants. As aging plants are closed, these discharges will no longer be available to mana- tees seeking refuge from the cold. Similarly, the natural springs that manatees also de- pend on for winter refuges are being degraded from pollu- tion, and spring flows are de- creasing from development pressures within spring water- sheds. There are mounting concerns that the loss of these winter habitats could cause catastrophic future losses in the manatee population. Rose, who officially as- sumed the title of Executive Director on July 1st, is no stranger to the manatees' plight or to the organization. He has been Director of Gov- ernment Relations for the Club since 1996 and has over 30 years' experience working with manatees. His extensive background includes advocat- ing for manatees before the Florida Legislature and Gov- ernor and Cabinet. Rose was the first federal Manatee Re- covery Activities Coordinator and Florida's first Manatee and Marine Mammal Coordi- nator. Working at the state's Marine Research Laboratory in St. Petersburg he imple- mented and oversaw Florida's manatee and marine mammal research and management programs. He also went on to head the state's Office of Pro- tected Species in Tallahassee where he provided overall policy guidance and direction for statewide recovery efforts for endangered and protected marine species until 1996. Rose served as a member of each federal Manatee Recov- ery Team and is a former member of the I.U.C.N. World Conservation - Union/Sirenia Specialist Group. He has won numer- ous professional awards and has a Master's degree in aquatic biology from the Uni- versity of Missouri at Kansas City and a Certification in Public Management (CPM): from Florida State University. .Oklahoma kennel trains hun 4i4 f. ..... ~i" fif.- lijk~ 'I .1. i j,~ - it g* Nov ~r~~ r1 ti~E;.4m. . Dogs enjoy shade and mist while in the "classroom" at Ronnie Smith kennels in Big Cabin. Photo: Melissa McClendon Z The Daily Times Ronnie took over the Kennel Melissa McClendon operation in 1982 and has ex- lear CNHI Newa Service panded. He takes in two rota- to w I CNI Na Serv tions of dogs each summer for tion BIG CABIN, Okla., For 50 three months at a time. The first ogn years Ronnie Smith Keiels. in rotation begins .n- Ma and mar Big Cabin, has proven to be continues through the end of and respected name in the bird dog July. The second begins in Au- you training world. Ronnie Smith gust and ends in October. O Sr., passed down the family Smith likes for the owner to ed ti business to his son Ronnie join the dog for an initial con- asked Smith Jr. Ronnie and his father suit, before the training begins. trair are not the only ones in the Owners who send their dogs to sp Smith family to get involved in .from out of state often fly them a tra te dog training business. into the Tulsa airport where S3Delmar Smith, Ronnie's un- Ronnie picks them up. whe Ol, is a Field Trial Hall of The dogs are evaluated be- go r Famer known for his training fore being accepted into the iors, nd quality:dogs. Ronnie and program for prey drive, intensi- shaF his cousins Rick and Tom ty and socialization. Once a H Smith have continued the fam- dog has been accepted the regil ily tradition. Training dogs is training is a three-level process. mus inore than a business for Ron- The first level is foundation. tion, tie. It's a way of life. The foundation level establish- exte S"This is'all I know," said es points of contact on the neck ing i .onnie. "I started out doing and flank of the dog. By using H' Chores when I was 5 years old." the points of contact, condi- opm ( STORMS & Long before a storm or hurricane three When the storm hits, our employees restore power interruf Customers who lose power should contact SVEC. When the call is answered, the location of the outage is recorded automatically by SVEC automated outage-reporting system. i customers can also speak directly to a Company representative if available. i SVEC brings in additional employees to respond to customer calls during major storms, and it has dramatically Increased the number of incoming Telephone lines for its outage- reporting system. But customers may h experience busy signals and longer- than-normal waits during times of high call volumes. SHere are a few tips to follow for your safety: If someone In your home is dependent on medical equipment Requiring electricity, make arrangements in advance for and alternative power source for emergencies. SIf rising water threatens your home, turn off the power at the circuit breaker panel or fuse box before water enters your home. Have an electrician Inspect your system before turning the power Sback on after flooding. * Never replace a fuse or touch a circuit breaker with wet hands, or while standing on a wet or damp surface. * If you see a downed power line, call SVEC to report its location. * Avoid driving over downed power lines. Avoid puddles near downed power lines. SPlug only Individual appliances Into portable generators. Never connect a generator to wall outlets, building wiring or your home's electrical system. tioned responses are taught. This shapes the be- havior of the animal. The second is the inter- mediate level. The inter- mediate level "transitions a dog from mechanical cues to remote cures in the field," said Ronnie. Ac- cording to the ronnie- smithkennels.com Web site, at this level dogs are becoming steady on game, learning to honor another dog's point and quarter. on cue. This is also when work is begun on the dog's natural re- trieve. In the advanced level, the dogs reach a point of ned behavior. "They learn rork scent in adverse condi-. s, how to look for and rec- ize backing situations, k and huint dead, retrieve, take direction and go \\lt i in the field," Smith said.. )nce the dogs have complet- heir training the owners are d to come to the 40-acre ling facility in Big Cabin, spend time with their dog for msitioning period. 'hey're just like kids .- n the owner shows up they ight back to the old behav- " said Smith. "We're re- ping their behavior." e also has a strict health me for the dogs. The dogs t have proof of vaccina- s and be free of intemal and rnal parasites before com- :o.his facility. e also offers puppy devel- ent for young dogs. The OUTAGES eatens, SVEC stands ready to respond. roll up their sleeves and go to work to pted by the sorm's fury. Judith Vallee, who was Save the Manatee Club's Ex- ecutive Director for the past 21 years, handed the torch over to Pat so she could pur- sue other interests, but she will also continue to be in- volved with the Club as a part-time fund raiser. "I'm happy that such a dedicated and qualified professional will lead the Club," Vallee said. When Rose isn't busy working, he often can be found diving and taking pho- tos of manatees or enjoying a day fishing with friends and family. "Ever since the fourth grade, I knew I wanted to work with manatees," said Rose. "They are victims of our fast-paced, non-stop growth. With good, long- range plans, we can and must ensure a place.in Florida's future for the mana- tee. The FWC would have you believe that manatees are doing just fine, but their own ting dogs training gives the puppies ex- posure to birds in the field and helps them develop their prey drive. When Smith's not training dogs he's traveling to seminars to speak. His cousin Rick also gives seminars. Ronnie Smith Kennels can host about 50 dogs per rotation. The kennel runs are 5 foot by 15 foot. A stake out chain or the "classroom", is shaded and has a misting system to keep dogs cool during training. The training begins early and ends before the heat of the day sets in. Ronnie gets help from his kennel manager, Chris Lar- son. Larson said one person cleans the kennel and catches homing pigeons, which are used for training, while the oth- er brings the dogs out. They also take care of any grooming e, dsof long ,hired dogs. , Smith also takes appendices. This rotation, Smith has ac- cepted apprentice Jeff Vincent of Canada. Vincent brought along two of his dogs for train- ing. Vincent, involved in oil field consulting, said he heard about Ronnie through the Inter- net and word of mouth. He hopes to one day open his own kennel when he retires. "This is a program that puts you knee deep in the operation of running a kennel," said Vin- cent. In the winter Ronnie contin- ues to stay busy. He and Rick lead guided hunting tours on the Mariposa Ranch in South Texas and leads hunts on the 6666 Ranch in Texas. Mariposa Ranch offers commercial hunts while the 6666 Ranch hunts are private. Melissa McClendon writes for Pryor (Okla.) Daily Times. data show that in some parts of their range their numbers are already decreasing. With the human population of Florida growing by leaps and bounds, the future of the man- atee is far from secure," stated Rose. Helen Spivey, Co-Chair of Save the Manatee Club's Board of Directors said, "I have known Pat for years and can assure everyone he will work diligently to ensure that manatees are actually recov- ered and help others under- stand that manatees are just not ready to be downlisted or have protection measures weakened." Jeff Continued From Page 1B car's spot in the chase. "We've always been good here, but we want to be good enough to win and get ourselves in a good posi- tion, and qualifying always helps that," Gordon said. "We're feeling pretty good about the way things are go- ing about the car, and about the team and perfor- mance. We've had-some wins, so we're hoping we can carry some of that mo- mentum and bring that here to the Brickyard in August." In town last week for a rain-plagued three-day test- ing session, Gordon got in 96 laps in his two test vehi- cles, as he was limited to just one afternoon of action. It wasn't the workout he had in mind, but the four-time Brickyard winner recog- nized the value 'of just get- ting out there. "It was very important," Gordon said. "Obviously we wanted to get a full two days in, to get as much in- formation as we could, but we'll take what we can get. I think we got enough laps done to learn what this tire is going to do and get some good data for the race team and their telemetry. Now we can go back and look at it all and hopefully we can come back with a good package." When he arrives at the In- dianapolis Motor Speedway following the Pennsylvania 5,Q9ptPoconoJTiil, 23. G.or-I don will ear up to j.ii some elite company. With his four wins at IMS, he's currently tied with A.J.. Foyt, Rick Mears, and Al Unser for the second-most major wins on the track. With a victory, he'll join Formula 1 great Michael Schuiacher winner of five Fl United States Grand Prix events at IMS as the all-time leader. Still, Gor- don said it's not really fair comparing the Brickyard or Grand Prix with the tradi- tion-rich Indy 500. "As much as I love this race and am glad that I've , won here, I still don't com- pare those wins to what those guys have done in the Indy 500," he said. "Same way I kind of look at the Fl race. It's just a totally dif- ferent event and totally dif- ferent types of cars. I think LIVE OAK 5:00 AM- E. HOWARD STREET STEAKS & SEAFOODS Friday & Saturday Nights Prime Rib "Good Home Cooked Meals" 364-2810 /I *To prepare for outages, It Is wise to have plenty of fresh batteries for flashlights and radios. * If you have a gasoline-powered electric generator, use It in well- ventilated areas and only plug In Individual appliances. Never connect a generator to a wall outlet of your home or building's electrical system since that can cause damage to your equipment and can be a life-threatening danger to your family, neighbors and repair crews. Be sure to have adequate fuel for your generator and manage consumption by running it for only a few hours at a time. * Prepare a list of essential items you would need In case you are evacuated from your home and have them readily available. Some of these Items could include medications, Insulin, contact lenses/supplies, extra eyeglasses and denture needs. If your power goes out, wait at least five minutes before reporting it to SVEC office in order to give our * If you require transportation assistance during an evacuation, auuiilati qulpment time to restore power. register in advance with the Civil Defense and Office of Emergency Listen to your local radio and TV stations for Management in your county Listen to your local radio and TV stations for ge i weather updates and information from SVEC. ILive Oak, FL 32060 Phone (386) 362-2226 Live Oak, FL 32060 Phone (386) 362-22261 "11 that you have to take each series and compare every- thing to that series. If you look at that, obviously SMichael Schumacher's in a totally different field or comparison range. He's just set a bar that's oing to.be almost impossible for any- body else to match." Gordon was again forced to address his spin-out of Matt Kenseth at the USG Sherlock 400 at Chicagoland Speedway, which led to his third victo- .ry of the season. Both loved and loathed nationwide, Gordon's actions led fans to shower the track with debris after he took the checkered flag. Even following a phys- ical confrontation with Kenseth at Bristol Motor Speedway back in March, Gordon said it wasn't exact- ly how he wanted to win, but that it's still just racing. "My thoughts haven't changed, I take full respon- sibility for it," Gordon said. "I know that I didn't inten- tionally intend to wreck him. I also know that I had a great run on him, we were, running down to the final laps, and he'd already shown me the sign a couple of times how hard he was going to fight for the posi- tion. I definitely stepped the aggressiveness up,there a notch, and obviously I got into him and spun him. I didn't mean to spin him." While Gordon was at IMS, news broke that Indy Cr di i\ er Danica Patrick ist considering q r ve to. :I.; NASCAR. It's a st- itch that the four-time series champi- on indicated is easier said than done. "Any time that some- body's gone from a high- downforce, open-wheel, rear-engine car and moves to the stock car, there's a huge transition period there that some people adapt to and some people don't," Gordon said.-"No matter what, you don't adapt to it quickly, not on the ovals. "I think it would be great. Anything that helps the sport draw more fans and bring more excitement and have a storyline like what she's brought to the IRL - everybody's seen what she's done for the IRL." Brent Glasgow writes for the Hendricks Co. Flyer in Avon, Ird. Great Steaks! 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