News-Press from Fort Myers, Florida • A9

9A Belle Glade INCORPORATED 1928 AGE RACE DEMOGRAPHICS POPULATION NOTE: DUE TO REPORTING AND ROUNDING, PERCENTAGES MAY NOT ADD UP TO SOURCES: 2010 U.S. CENSUS, 2015 U.S. CENSUS ECONOMICS White Hispanic Black 45-64 20-44 5-19 2015 median household income $30,308 Unemployment rate Poverty rate 5,000 10,000 15,000 20,000 18,251 2015 1930194019501960 1970 1980 1990 200020102015 9 22 33.5 24 12 31 56 34 Clewiston INCORPORATED 1925 NOTE: DUE TO REPORTING AND ROUNDING, PERCENTAGES MAY NOT ADD UP TO SOURCES: 2010 U.S. CENSUS, 2015 U.S. CENSUS ECONOMICS 2015 median household income $40,172 Unemployment rate Poverty rate 7,505 2015 1930194019501960 1970 1980 1990 200020102015 2,000 4,000 6,000 8,000 AGE RACE DEMOGRAPHICS White Hispanic Black 45-64 20-44 5-19 9 28 29 24 10 61 13 49 POPULATION Pahokee INCORPORATED 1922 2,000 4,000 6,000 8,000 6,071 2015 1930194019501960 1970 1980 1990 200020102015 ECONOMICS 2015 median household income $27,348 Unemployment rate Poverty rate AGE RACE DEMOGRAPHICS White Hispanic Black 45-64 20-44 5-19 6 24 31 30 8 29 56 34 NOTE: DUE TO REPORTING AND ROUNDING, PERCENTAGES MAY NOT ADD UP TO SOURCES: 2010 U.S.

CENSUS, 2015 U.S. CENSUS POPULATION South Bay INCORPORATED 1941 2,000 4,000 6,000 8,000 5,101 2015 1930194019501960 1970 1980 1990 200020102015 NOTE: DUE TO REPORTING AND ROUNDING, PERCENTAGES MAY NOT ADD UP TO SOURCES: 2010 U.S. CENSUS, 2015 U.S. CENSUS ECONOMICS 2015 median household income $29,009 Unemployment rate Poverty rate AGE RACE DEMOGRAPHICS White Hispanic Black 45-64 20-44 5-19 14 52 25 5 25 65 23 4 2015 median household income POPULATION The people of the Glades DEMOGRAPHIC PROFILES the mostly rural area south of Lake Okeechobee, is home to the predominately black and impoverished tri-cities of Pahokee, South Bay and Belle Glade in Palm Beach County and the whiter, higher-income Clewiston in Hendry County, about 20 miles west. When U.S.

Sugar Corp. closed a Pahokee-area mill in 2007, it left behind only skeletons of buildings the company started building 45 years before. About 150 of Bryant Sugar 202 employees lost their jobs, according to news reports at the time. Glades residents fear the same thing could happen to nearby Belle Glade. The Sugar Cane Growers Cooperative of Florida said it would have to close its mill there if the state buys 60,000 acres of farmland to build a reservoir to curb Lake Okeechobee discharges.

Florida Senate President Joe Negron, championing the proposal, said he think it would affect the mill because the state could choose a site not heavily farmed and perhaps even contains some public land. The bill to carry plan requires priority for reservoir construction jobs be given to any displaced and qualified agricultural workers. Shuttering Bryant mill and two others in the Everglades Agricultural Area since 1999 had devastating consequences to nearby Pahokee, Belle Glade and South Bay, residents say. Their economies are so interwoven with agriculture that losing a mill can have ripple effects on other businesses, from restaurants to auto body shops. lot of people had their jobs (at Bryant) and had been working for a long, long said John McLeod, who works as a painter at Paint Body Shop in Belle Glade.

impacted Pahokee. It turned it into a ghost Blame game Stagnant sugar prices, high production costs and competition from countries that subsidize their sugar growers are among the factors that caused 44 sugar mills and refineries to close across the country since 1990, said Florida Sugar Cane League CEO Ryan Weston. U.S. Sugar blamed its Bryant mill closing on the North American Free Trade Agreement and other free-market agreements. The mill, which opened after the U.S.

banned Cuban sugar imports because of that communist revolution, have a refinery to produce sale-ready sugar, the Associated Press reported in 2007. So U.S. Sugar consolidated its operations at its modernized the Clewiston mill and refinery. Glades residents blame environmental restoration for a 1999 South Bay-area mill closing. Talisman Sugar Corp.

agreed to dismantle and remove its mill before selling 52,000 acres to the federal government and South Florida Water Management District in 1999, agency spokesman Randy Smith said. In its place is a reservoir to clean Everglades- bound farm runoff. Talisman made a business decision most likely tied to economic factors that cannot be blamed on environmental restoration, said Everglades Trust Exec- utive Director Kimberly Mitchell, who supports buying land for the reservoir. question should be why they sold in the first Mitchell said. they were making money, they have sold Not again Regardless of the reasons, automation and mill closings that reduce the workforce are having visible consequences in the Glades, locals say.

Empty and shuttered storefronts line Avenue a main thoroughfare in an impoverished southeast Belle Glade neighborhood. And Pelican Lake, a five-block Pahokee subdivision that once housed migrant workers, gave way to housing for registered sex offenders. Charity Matthew 25 Ministries set up in 2009 to help them re-enter society. Glades residents want to prevent more jobs from leaving Pahokee, South Bay and Belle Glade, which have an average 10 percent unemployment rate and 36 percent poverty rate. Another mill closing would leave them even more destitute, said Bishop Kenny Berry of Belle Grace Fellowship Worship Center.

want to have another hit like he said. GLADES RESIDENTS U.S. Sugar Bryant mill shut down devastated towns LEAH VOSS USA TODAY NETWORK FLORIDA John McLeod, of Clewiston, has worked at Paint and Body Shop for more than 20 years, but worked in packing houses as a teenager. His father and his son continue to work in the agriculture industry. ISADORA RANGEL USA TODAY NETWORK -FLORIDA lot of people had their jobs (at Bryant) and had been working for a long, long time.

(The closing) impacted Pahokee. It turned it into a ghost JOHN MCLEOD PAINTER, PAINT BODY SHOP The first Lake Okeechobee discharges were recorded in 1931. But long before that, in the late 1800s, people were settling along the coast, making way for the development of today. While discharges and urban growth are both to blame for pollution to coastal estuaries, south-of-the-lake communities say they would be unduly burdened if the state buys farmland to build a reservoir and direct excess lake water into Everglades National Park, as the Legislature is considering this session. They agree discharges are a problem that must be solved, but say they are weary of coastal communities blaming them without accepting their own pollution from septic tanks and fertilizer use.

have to realize all part of the said Ramon Iglesias, general manager of Roland Mary Ann Marina Resort in Clewiston. you have ever visited somebody in a gated community have you ever seen dead grass there? No they use Campaign wars Once part of the Everglades, the south-of-the-lake area known as mainly Pahokee, Clewiston, South Bay and Belle Glade was drained to make way for agriculture and rural development. Excess lake water that naturally flowed south was diverted east and west to the St. Lucie and Caloosahatchee rivers, sometimes causing toxic algae blooms. Reservoir opponents have launched acampaign to convince Glades residents that taking 60,000 acres out of agricultural production would mean the end of the Glades.

the water south means take our land, flood our communities and run us reads a mailer by Glades Lives Matter, a nonprofit former Hendry County Commissioner Janet Taylor created to oppose the land buy. The back of the mailer shows Facebook screenshots with comments such as, people who have bought land and built (south of Lake O) need to get Former Pahokee Mayor J.P. Sasser said social media comments like that give the impression Treasure Coast residents want to destroy the Glades, but Everglades Trust Executive Director Kimberly Mitchell said any such sentiments come from a fringe minority and even fake profiles reservoir opponents created to stir outrage among Glades residents. Treasure Coast Newspapers verify the authenticity of the posts, allegations of fake profiles or financial backing of such opposition groups as Glades Lives Matter because state public record laws require donors be listed. Sharing the blame Despite Glades condem- nations, coastal communities are addressing their own pollution sources.

Whether enough depends on whom you ask. Many have enacted fertilizer ordinances that are stricter than state standards and are switching residents from septic tanks to sewer systems, among other measures. They still have a long way to go, as scientists estimate there are as many as 600,000 septic tanks in the five counties along the Indian River Lagoon. important to note septic tanks cause algae blooms, but contribute to them. Discharges carry algae from the lake to the coast, and they bloom by feeding on septic tank bacteria in the estuaries.

Shared blame should mean coastal residents say. But that mean they want to annihilate the Glades, Mitchell said. vast majority of people respect and care about the people who live in Belle Glade and surround the she said, are not offended the communities are GLADES RESIDENTS Lakeside towns fear all painful decisions will only be hurting them MOLLY BARTELS USA TODAY NETWORK FLORIDA The water at Outboards Only in Jensen Beach was covered with toxic algae blooms that plagued areas along the St. Lucie River last summer. ISADORA RANGEL USA TODAY NETWORK -FLORIDA.