I went to Suwannee River State park today to dive with our little team. One of the girls who runs the office was very upset. It seems that someone saying they were a cave diver showed up and demanded to be allowed to dive Falmouth. He insisted that I had gotten Falmouth closed to add it to our park permit and started telling the girl "just how she is". He started raising his voice and got pretty abusive to this women when she pointed out that Falmouth is owned by the County and had nothing to do with the State Park system. She didn't get the name but I know who it is and I will post it to the public and to the group that he teaches for if this happens again.
First, I did not get Falmouth closed to add it to our permit. Suwannee River State park does not run Falmouth. It is owned by the County and ran by SRWM.
Abusive treatment of the DEP personel is not going to help anybody.
The manager of Suwannee River Park also manages Madison Blue Springs and the newly opened Lafayette Blue springs. The manager is not going to tolerate abuse of his employees. Lets think about what can happen here if this continues.
Our little team of cave divers has spent three years at Suwannee River park. They know me far better than anyone can "know" me from an internet post. I am a founding member of the CSO over two of these parks. Our team has done talks for them, collected data, cut roads etc. We have never denied a cave diver from joining our team. We need new members! We would love to have more people up there. We have two rules mandated by the park system, you have to be there with one of the team members and not get killed. We don't force people to carry tanks. We have had around 35 people come out to dive but most don't stay. Why? Because I kid you not we dive in silty caves with a lot of bad vis. We work very hard. We do that because we enjoy it, we like the park and the people there. Please, if you have a beef with me, keep it against me and not some poor women who works part time at a park. If you want to dive out there, just call me, I can get you in Suwannee River State park. I can not dive Falmouth myself so don't ask.
I just don't know what else to say, except I am very disappointed.
Cindy Butler


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