Perspective

As this is written the news on the oil leak in the gulf has slightly improved for Gulf County.

British Petroleum has managed to place a tube inside one wellhead and reduced the flow of oil directly into the Gulf of Mexico by about 18-20 percent, according to reports.

A band-aid for sure, but a start toward getting control of this thing that should have never been out of control.

And according to Jeff Masters, a meteorologist and tropics expert writing on www.wunderground.com, the Weather Underground, the oil sheen has apparently reached the so-called loop current and he predicts the first Florida beaches likely to be impacted are those in the Keys, not the Panhandle.

All of which calls for a little perspective as it relates to the No. 1 industry in the country right now: those beaches and tourism.

Tim Kerigan, you sought the job of executive director of the Tourist Development Council and despite questions in the community about qualifications, the job is yours.

Welcome to a baptism of fire.

The fire needing tamping, however, is the wildfire that is allegedly keeping tourists away from beaches and in turn raging through the economy from restaurants to shops to grocery stores.

The Kids Win Fishing Tournament alone, a rousing, enjoyable day of fun under the sun while dipping line in water, was proof enough that while Chicken Little may have arrived in the area the sky has yet to drop.

And all those unsubstantiated claims being made at various special county meetings the past several weeks, about huge losses in room cancellations, etc.?

Well, they are apparently just that, unsubstantiated.

As of last Friday, a poll of seven of the largest rental agencies and hotels in the region from Mexico Beach to St. George Island, representing rental units that run close to five figures combined, have had a total of 81 combined cancellations for Memorial Day weekend or later in the summer.

Some of those lost rooms have been re-booked. Some were lost for reasons other than an oil spill.

Even without the lost rooms, bookings for Memorial Day and the summer are high and remaining relatively steady.

The El Governor Motel is near 100 percent for Memorial Day. Fickling Rentals on St. George Island has had one cancellation.

And while it does seem a question of “when” and not “if” some of that surging oil reaches our beaches, that “when” seems to be pushed a little more into the future every week.

The county could go the entire 2010 tourist season without seeing any evidence of the Deepwater Horizon leak save the booms deployed around St. Joseph Bay and Indian Pass.

And if that is indeed the case, the word has to get out that the beaches and waters are open and safe and that Gulf County is prepped for business.

The TDC must partner with local rental agencies to bolster the sound of that word.

The TDC could accomplish that while fulfilling the Gulf Coast Workforce Board’s charge to put 300 people in Bay, Gulf and Franklin counties back to work through Sept. 30, at the minimum.

The TDC should consider hiring temporary employees through the Florida Back to Work program in sufficient numbers to have a person in every rental office in the area.

That person would be there with the most updated information on the spill and the condition of county beaches.

And for those who call and have questions or seek to cancel a trip based on information they have received through national media concerning the leak, right there in the office would be somebody who could take the phone, representing the county, and provide the most accurate local information.

The employees could be paid a decent wage, $12-$14 an hour if need be, because the TDC would be on the hook for just 5 percent of that salary through the end of September, or more to the point through the tourist season.

No money out of local property taxes, the word would get out that the county is open and the TDC could be shown as proactive in what could quickly develop into a crisis that may or may not have a foundation in fact.

Maybe the 2011 season is going to be a rough one, maybe the oil will have impacted our beaches, the bay, the pass, by that time. Possibly the impacts arrive in July or August of this year.

But right now, the county’s beaches, sunshine and waters are postcard perfect. The county could go the entire season without seeing one tar ball or oil splotch on our beaches.

The hue and cry in the national and regional media may be rendered hollow sounds here in Northwest Florida by the time summer ends.

If Masters, who has proved unerringly correct in his hurricane predictions in recent years, is on the mark, the true impacts to Florida’s beaches this year could occur well to the south, hundreds of miles away.

The county, through the TDC, needs to be aggressive and not just put on a smiling face, but have facts and words behind the smile, a true look at the ground to provide any and all who question whether to venture to Gulf County or not.

A little perspective would prove far more effective for the tourism industry and all it sustains than the continued shrieks of Chicken Little.