The Guy in charge of enforcing environmental laws in Venice FLA takes his redneck relatives off into the swamp through a hole in the fence despite the fact that it’s protected park land he’s ripping up. So the park eats his car.

Myakka River State Park is a mostly water - it’s a river in a state with an average land height of seven inches. Above the alligators and snakes the grass floats on a thin layer of slime and mud. I know, I spent many happy, youthful hours there discovering the joys of sex, drugs and small biting insects. Anyone who even thinks you can drive across this place demonstrates a sever cognitive deficit.

But of course, this is Florida, where brain death will always get you some free press.

Official caught off-roading in preserve

VENICE — In this 11-hour battle between mud and man, the mud won.

It beat Chris Sharek, the director of Venice’s utilities department, whose job is to ensure that the city obeys environmental regulations, though he apparently failed to do so himself.

A judge slapped Sharek with 25 hours of community service and probation last month for off-roading through a protected wilderness preserve with his wife and father-in-law.

When their vehicles got stuck in the mud at Myakka River State Park, Sharek phoned for help. Friends arrived and dismantled a fence so they could drive in to free them. Their cars, in turn, got stuck. Another round of calls went out. Another round of cars were trapped…

…”After talking with the deputies, I was able to get a picture of what was going on,” Hines wrote in his report. “By the time it was all said and done, there were two Jeeps, two Fords, one Hummer and one tractor in an area closed to vehicles.”

Sharek and the others had driven past several “No Trespassing” signs and others that labeled the area a protected wilderness preserve open to foot traffic only, the report said…

…”I think it reflects poor judgment on his part,” Black said. “It is not an action which relates to his employment with the city, so there is no need to take any disciplinary action.”

Sharek said the off-roading trip was a mistake. “It was a bad decision. I took responsibility for it,” Sharek said…

But did Sharek know he was breaking the law? “I suppose,” he said.

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