Jury Restores Access to Scenic Waterway

After a five-week trial that featured as evidence the recollections of a Seminole Indian leader, a jury decided that scenic Fisheating Creek in Glades County was a navigable waterway 152 years ago, when Florida became a state, and thus cannot be closed off to the public. The verdict marks a victory for the state and a coalition of environmental groups that sued Lykes Bros., a Tampa-based hot dog manufacturer that owns most of the land bordering the creek, after it strung fence and felled trees to block access to the creek in southern Florida. Lykes Bros. attorney Buddy Blain said the company will appeal.