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IgA 1 SUNDAY, APRIL 15, 2018 1 TREASURE COAST NEWSPAPERS tc
<br />Python hunter, designer team
<br />up for `Glades to Gallery' show
<br />Carlos R. Munoz
<br />.ara_14—m-Tribune
<br />SARASOTA - A Venice Bower dealer
<br />moonlighting as an elite python hunter
<br />is collaborating with a Sarasota fashion
<br />designer to create a line of snakeskin
<br />clothing to help raise awareness about
<br />the threat the invasive snakes pose to
<br />the Everglades.
<br />The "Glades to Gallery" collection in-
<br />cludes samples of clothing, accessories
<br />and jewelry made from Burmese py-
<br />thons, a snake native to Southeast Asia,
<br />but accidentally introduced into Flori-
<br />da s ecosystem.
<br />Dusty and I are friends and he was
<br />telling me about what be was doing,"
<br />said Nikki Sedacca, co-owner of 530
<br />Burns Gallery. "He had originally
<br />brought me a sample of the skin. Imme-
<br />diately, being a designer, I had a zillion
<br />ideas on what to do with it."
<br />Sedacca is primarily a jewelry de-
<br />signer but also designs accessories. It
<br />took her about six months to come up
<br />with the 75 items for the first collection.
<br />Itincludesvests, clutches, handbags,
<br />and briefcases for men and women.
<br />Dustin "Wildman" Crum is one of 25
<br />hunters who work with the South Flori-
<br />da Water Management District to hunt
<br />snakes. He gets minimum wage for up to
<br />eight hours daily, plus an additional per -
<br />python payment that starts at $50 for
<br />snakes of four feet or less and goes up by
<br />$25 per foot for longer specimens.
<br />An additional $200 is paid for any
<br />eliminated python found guarding a
<br />nest with eggs.
<br />Crum, who stalks pythons barefoot
<br />through the Everglades and tackles
<br />them with his hands, caught the biggest
<br />snake ever seen in Florida last year - a
<br />16 -foot, 1
<br />0 -inch Burmese python.
<br />While Crum has caught hogs, alliga-
<br />torsand pythons
<br />,hedocru tcall himself
<br />a hunter. His girlfriend challenged him
<br />to catch pythons to protect his passion
<br />for Florida wildlife.
<br />"I used to go hunt with a camera and
<br />take pictures of wildlife, but this is an
<br />invasive hunt; Crum said. 'It's an envi-
<br />ronmental hunt. These snakes are de-
<br />stroying our ecosystem"
<br />Burmese pythons were first brought
<br />to Florida as pets but were released, el-
<br />ther intentionally or accidentally, into
<br />the wild when they grew to an unman-
<br />ageable size.
<br />"Miami has always been a hub for ex-
<br />otic pets and trade," Crum said. "There
<br />was a breeding facility in Homestead
<br />that got leveled by Hurricane Andrew.
<br />We know for a fact there were 900 baby
<br />pythons that literally got blown into the
<br />Everglades National Park."
<br />The snakes began to reproduce and
<br />wiped out around 95 percent of the
<br />mammal population in parts of the
<br />park, according to Crum, who said py-
<br />thons eat marsh rabbits, raccoons, gray
<br />squirrels, bobcats, deer, birds and
<br />sometimes alligators.
<br />Hawks can eat python hatchlings,
<br />but the larger snakes have no local natu-
<br />ral predator. They can travel long dis-
<br />tances and females have been found
<br />carrying over 100 developing eggs.
<br />Python growth could cause Inevers-
<br />ible damage to the Everglades, said
<br />Crum, who first participated in the Py-
<br />thon Challenge in 2013. He caught nine
<br />snakes the first time out and 33 in 2016.
<br />The South Florida Water Manage-
<br />ment District put him on the payroll last
<br />year.
<br />Hunting the massive reptiles can be
<br />dangerous.
<br />"I've had these snakes at 11 o'clock at
<br />night in the water," Crum said. "I could
<br />only see a little piece of it. I have to dive
<br />In the water and grab the snake off the
<br />bottom of the water. The only thing I
<br />could do to stop it was put the tail in my
<br />mouth and bite down on it I floated up
<br />in the water and wrapped my legs
<br />around it like a figure -four leg lock"
<br />Pythons have been found in the Na-
<br />ples area eating livestock and chickens.
<br />"It's a buffet. They have an unlimited
<br />appetite," Crum said.
<br />The flowerdesigner and pottery re-
<br />tailer said he used the skins for belt
<br />buckles, wallets and Converse -style
<br />sneakersbefore Sedacca offered towork
<br />with him.
<br />I'm a flower guy and then I'm a
<br />swamp guy," Crum said. "It's kind of out
<br />of my clement in this fancy gallery."
<br />Sedacca said this is just the first.1 a
<br />continuing line of products.
<br />"I'm excited. This is definitely going
<br />to evolve," she mid. 'The more you do
<br />the better you get. This is where we are
<br />starting and I'm very pleased with it....
<br />The skins are just naturally beautiful. 1
<br />tend to love black and white and grays"
<br />Crum will continue to hunt pythons.
<br />"Being out in the Everglades, it's like
<br />being out in God's creation" Crum said.
<br />"it's a beautiful piece of earth and it's
<br />just paradise, nature and it's very se-
<br />rene. That's what I've come to know and
<br />love. I'm trying to protect that down
<br />there."
<br />South Africa bids farewell to `Winnie'
<br />Krista Mahr
<br />JOHANNESBURG - Tens of thou-
<br />sands of people sang, cheered and cried
<br />as the Flag -draped casket of anti-apart-
<br />heid activist Winnie Madikizela-Mande-
<br />hi —a escorted from her official funeral
<br />on Saturday, after supporters defended
<br />her complex legacy with poetry and an-
<br />ger.
<br />Thunder rumbled and it began to rain
<br />as the casket left the 40,000 -seat stadi-
<br />um - a blessing, witnesses said.
<br />Heads of state joined the five-hour
<br />celebration of the powerful figure who
<br />wit l be burl ed as a nafi oval hero followi ng
<br />lively debate over how she should he re-
<br />membered after her death on April at
<br />age 8L
<br />Often called the "Mother of the Na-
<br />tion" and "Mama Winnie," Madikiula-
<br />Mandela fought to keep South Africas
<br />anti-apartheid struggle in the intema-
<br />tional spotlightwhile her husband, Nel-
<br />son Mandela, was imprisoned.
<br />"Long before it was fashionable to call
<br />for Nelson Mandelas release from Rob -
<br />ben Island, it was my mother who kept
<br />his memory alive; elder daughter Zenani
<br />Mandela-Dlamini said as the crowd
<br />erupted in cheers.
<br />Many South Africans have stood up
<br />for Madikizela-Mandela'. memory
<br />against critics who characterized her as a
<br />pmblematicfigurewho wasimplicated in
<br />political violence after she returned from
<br />years of banishment in a rural town.
<br />"Proud, defiant, articulate, she ex-
<br />posed the lie ofapartheid," President Cy-
<br />ril Ramaphosa said during his tribute.
<br />"Loudly and without apology, she spoke
<br />truth to power."
<br />He recited MayaAngelou's poem "Still
<br />I Rise"
<br />And as the casketleft the stadium, an-
<br />other speaker read outAlice Walker's po-
<br />em, "Winnie Mandela We Love You."
<br />Since her death, supporters have vis-
<br />ited Madikizcla-Mandelas family home
<br />in Soweto, the Johannesburg township
<br />where she lived, and condolences have
<br />poured in from around the world in re-
<br />membrance of one of the 20th cantury s
<br />most prominent political activists.
<br />Many memorializing Madikizela-
<br />r
<br />The coffin of Winnie
<br />Madikizela-Mandela is carried
<br />Saturday Into Orlando stadium for the
<br />official state funeral In Soweto,
<br />Johannesburg, South Africa. Ern -Ere
<br />Mandela recognized her as a political
<br />force in her own right.
<br />"In apartheid South Africa, the combi-
<br />nation of patriarchy and racism together
<br />meant that black women confronted
<br />enormous obstacles from the cradle to
<br />the grave, making her own achievements
<br />all the more exceptional," U.N. Secretary-
<br />General Antonio Gutenes said Friday at a
<br />memorial in New York not mentioning
<br />Nelson Mandela at all.
<br />Mandela divorced her in 1996, claim-
<br />ing infidelity and saying that after his re-
<br />lease from prison, his wife made him "the
<br />loneliest man"
<br />Though she fought fiercely for demon
<br />racy, Madikizcla-Mandela Floundered in
<br />a political career after the first free elee-
<br />tions in 1994. Mandela, South Africas
<br />first black president, fired her as one of
<br />his deputy ministers. Her stints as a law-
<br />maker, a post she held until her death,
<br />were lackluster.
<br />Mandela-Marrim accused the media
<br />of being complicit in a long "smcar cam-
<br />paign" against her mother.
<br />"Praising her now that she's gone
<br />shows what hypocrites you are," she said
<br />during her speech.
<br />Ramaphosa said the traumas that Me-
<br />dikizela-Mandela endured as a target of
<br />the powerful apartheid state inflicted
<br />"deep wounds" that never healed - and
<br />went largely ignored by many peers.
<br />"She bore witness to our suffering. We
<br />did not do the same for her," he said. "To-
<br />day is a moment to heal those wounds.
<br />Today is a time for healing as we put Ma-
<br />ma Winnie to rest"
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<br />BEFORE THE BOARD OF COUNTY
<br />COMMISSIONERS
<br />INDIAN RIVER COUNTY
<br />NOTICE OF REZONING - PUBLIC HEARING
<br />The Board of County Commissioners of Indian River County, Florida, will consider the
<br />adoption of a county ordinance rezoning land within the unincorporated portions of
<br />Indian River County. A public hearing at which parties in interest and citizens shall
<br />have an opportunity to be heard, will be held on Tuesday, May 1, 2018, at 9.00 a.m. In
<br />the County Commission Chambers of the County Administration Building A, located
<br />at 1801 27th Street, Vero Beach, Florida. The proposed ordinance to rezone the
<br />subject property is entitled:
<br />(Quasi -Judicial)
<br />AN ORDINANCE OF INDIAN RIVER COUNT, FLORIDA, AMENDING THE ZONING
<br />ORDINANCE AND THE ACCOMPANYING ZONING MAP FOR APPROXIMATELY
<br />111.96 ACRES LOCATED WEST OF US HIGHWAY 1, SOUTH OF 73RD STREET,
<br />EAST OF OLD DIXIE HIGHWAY AND NORTH OF 71ST STREET FROM CL, LIMITED
<br />COMMERCIAL DISTRICT TO CG, GENERAL COMMERCIAL DISTRICT, AND
<br />PROVIDING CODIFICATION, SEVERABILITY, AND EFFECTIVE DATE.
<br />The rezoning application may be inspected by the public at the Community
<br />Development Department of the County Administration Building A, located at 1801
<br />27th Street, Vero Beach, Florida, between the hours of 8:30 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. on
<br />weekdays. For more information, contact Bill Schutt at (772) 226-1243.
<br />The Board of County Commissioners may adopt another zoning district, other than
<br />the district requested, provided that the adopted zoning district is consistent with the
<br />county's comprehensive plan.
<br />Anyone who may wish to appeal any decision that may be made at this meeting will
<br />need to ensure that a verbatim record of the proceedings is made, which includes the
<br />testimony and evidence upon which the appeal is based.
<br />Anyone who needs a special accommodation far this meeting must contact the
<br />County's Americans with Disabilities Act Coordinator at (772) 226-1223, at least 48
<br />hours in advance of the meeting.
<br />Indian River County
<br />Board of County Commissioners
<br />By: -s- Peter D. O'Bryan, Chairman
<br />Eddfeg lonfng Map
<br />HF Properties, LLC Rezoning Request[
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