After the storm cleared, we were left with a lot of tree damage but very little damage to the buildings. The entrance was blocked with a tree and the cook station had a tree. By a chance encounter, I ran into Jesse Ennis at the rear of the lodge. She got with the D2 major and the “cut team” was sent to the lodge. The driveway was cleared and they were able to do a lot of cutting trees.
They had no way of removing the cut wood so it was placed along the fence line. I plan on getting with the county to see if we can it all removed. I am working on getting Hillsborough county road crew in there and do some more cutting, but that may not be possible. The state FOP has a disaster fund so I contacted them about the down trees. Last year the Governor allotted $500,000 to the fund. This year he only allotted $100,000. This is for all the FOP members in the state to assist the homes that were lost etc…I doubt we will get any state funds, but not having a home trumps our tree situation.
I am in the process of getting bids to have the trees cut. As you well know, the biggest cost is the dumping fee. I am working on trying to get some of the fee’s waived. We may end up selling fire wood as a fund raiser. The lodge is without power and we really did not lose that much food. I contacted TECO today, I told TECO we have a line on the tree (which is true) and we can not remove the tree as long as there is a line involved.
The November dinner/meeting is a go…………………..Turkey and Ham…..
Fraternally,
John Couey