Deal slightly increases mangrove protection

Sarasota County has periodically toyed with the idea of hiring additional enforcement inspectors to help uphold the state's weak mangrove protection regulations but always walked away from the responsibility because it would cost money and ruffle local feathers; on Aug. 22, the county commission took a baby step in the direction of more local vigilance when it endorsed a two-year trial program of faster responses to complaints and public education, but it left the authority to prosecute exclusively in state hands - Aug. 30, Venice Gondolier