Tallahassee is about to lose another historic landmark. In 1909 Tom Reeves started the historic Reeves Fish Camp with a dirt ramp on the shores of Lake Miccosukee. He and his descendents have improved the site and kept the camp open through good times and bad, the Great Depression and many other economic downturns, natural drawdowns and floods, good fishing and bad. The camp never was a great moneymaker, but the Reeves clan managed to keep the lights on...until now.
It seems like the government is out to get the camp and have their way with the land, even though the Reeves family has already donated property for roads, a boat ramp, water-control dam, and a fire hydrant (with easements). Over the past few years the Government has drawn down the lake twice, keeping all the water out so the bottom could be cleaned (which it never was). With the water gone there was no reason to go there to fish. Business was essentially shut down. But Eli Reeves, who currently runs the fish camp (born, raised and living on the property for 60 years) stubbornly hung on, spending all his savings and selling personal property just to keep the place open. He was never compensated for loss of revenue when the lake was drained (as called for in Florida statutes).
The water is finally back and the fishing improving, but Reeves is still twisting in the wind. So what does the Government do? Why they levy a new (and inaccurate) fire tax on him that, if not paid soon, will cost him the 100+ year old historic spot where many Tallahassee anglers first learned to fish. Reeves has been knocked down and pulled himself back up so many times over the years that he sometimes feels like Kipling's Gunga Din, valiantly blowing his bugle while taking bullet after bullet.
So, who wants to help this last of the pioneers fight off the greedy clutches of Leon County? He can't pay much, but you'll damn sure have a place to fish if he prevails. And if he looses, somebody will buy it for taxes and probably build condos, or start a pig farm.
Legal help really needed
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