Managing Editor
Late state senator battled for river
State Sen. John Thrasher, elected last year to fill the seat of the late Republican Sen. Jim King, pledged on Wednesday to carry on King’s advocacy of the St. Johns River.
“Absolutely,” Thrasher said when asked if he would continue with King’s legacy of supporting the river.
Thrasher, one of the guests invited to the Southside Business Men’s Club to honor King and his work on behalf of the river, said the economy plays a role in funding.
“As soon as we can get the economy back in shape, the river will be a No. 1 priority,” he said.
Thrasher also was elected chair of the Florida Republican Party in February.
The club invited King associates and observers, as well as his widow, Linda, to talk about the late state leader who died in July. Linda King accepted the club’s “Outspoken Citizen of the Year Award for 2009.”
“The coverage of the legislative session was boring because you didn’t have the quotes of Jim King,” said Times-Union columnist Ron Littlepage. “You’ll have to get your game up,” he told Thrasher and the two Florida House members at the table, Charles McBurney and Lake Ray.
King’s quotes were legendary, some at his own expense: “Some may look at me and see Jackie Gleason. I look at me and see Sean Connery.”
St. Johns Riverkeeper Neil Armingeon said King loved the river.
“He recognized the importance of the river and set about doing what he could do ... to protect that river,” he said.
Armingeon said King was willing to see both sides of an issue.
“’Neil, I don’t always agree with everything you say, but I always enjoy hearing you say it,’” Armingeon said, quoting King.
Quinton White, executive director of the Marine Science Research Institute at Jacksonville University, said King was master of ceremonies for the annual Kingfish Tournament and referred to himself as “the round mound of sound.”
White said that thunderstorms are prevalent during July, when the tournament takes place. During one tournament, lightning hit a barge near King.
“He was off that platform and into the tent and I didn’t know he could run that fast,” White said. “He said, ‘I didn’t know I could run that fast.’”
Last year, the tournament site was renamed the Jim King Park and Boat Ramp at Sisters Creek.
St. Johns River Alliance Executive Director Mark Middlebrook credited Jim and Linda King for the St. Johns River license plate approved last week by Gov. Charlie Crist. Funds will help the alliance, whose mission is to preserve and protect the St. Johns River as an American Heritage River.
“Jim was a real battler for North Florida. He worked tirelessly that there be equity,” said Middlebrook.
King spoke out in the debate over sending water from North Florida to Central and South Florida.
Middlebrook said King was asked why he hated South Florida.
“’I don’t hate South Florida. I love it,’” King replied.
“’I love the culture, I love the beaches, I love the restaurants. And it’s so close to the United States.’”
McBurney, who represents District 16, said that when he was elected to office in 2007, King was a powerful senator.
“He was extremely effective. He was able to get allocations to the river in millions of dollars,” said McBurney.
He said in 2008, budget problems reduced state funding for the river to zero. “He got us together as a delegation. He said this was unacceptable.”
Then King went into action. “Lo and behold, shazam, he was able to find $6 million for the river,” said McBurney.
Ray, from District 17, called King “a hallmark and a landmark that we will long appreciate.”
Ray, a former City Council member who holds the House seat once occupied by King before being elected to the Senate, said King responded to the proliferation of campaign sign-waving in vintage fashion.
“It got so ridiculous that he put a horn on the sign, ‘honk if you think this is silly,’ and he would honk back,” said Ray.
Ray said he sponsored the river license plate bill with King last year, but it didn’t pass. It was modified this year and signed last week by Gov. Charlie Crist. Linda King wants the first one.
Thrasher said King was a legend in Tallahassee. He and King were both avid Florida State University fans and he talked about an FSU booster trip, a Mediterranean cruise, when King was asked to negotiate the purchase of some rugs from a merchant in Turkey.
He said King went in twice and when he returned, he was high-fiving his friends to celebrate the great deal he struck. Behind him, “the Turkish merchants were high-fiving each other” as well, said Thrasher.
“It’s a little embellished, but close to the truth,” he said.
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