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Yes, Virginia, There Still Are Golf Courses

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The Tampa Tribune

Published: December 24, 2008

With apologies to Francis P. Church, who was editor of the New York Sun in 1897 when "Yes, Virginia, There is a Santa Claus" was first published.

The famous Christmas letter starts out this way: "We take pleasure in answering thus prominently the communication below, expressing at the same time our great gratification that its faithful author is numbered among the friends of The Sun."

That was in 1897. Now, in 2008, we might look at Virginia O'Hanlon's letter in a different way, although the first paragraph as written above stays the same. This paper is always looking for 'friends of The Sun.'

Dear Editor:

I am 68 years old. Some of my little friends say there are going to be no WCI golf courses here. Papa says, "If you see it in The Sun, it's so." Please tell me the truth, will there be golf courses here in SCC?

Virginia O'Black

Virginia, your little friends are wrong. They have been affected by the skepticism of a skeptical age. They do not believe except they see. They think that nothing can be which is not comprehensible by their little minds. All minds, Virginia, whether they be men's or children's are little. In this great universe of ours, man is a mere insect, an ant in his intellect as compared with the boundless world about him, as measured by the intelligence capable of grasping the whole of truth and knowledge.

Yes, Virginia, there are golf courses in Sun City Center and they will continue to exist as certainly as love and generosity and devotion exist. Alas, how dreary would be our world if there were no golf courses.

So ends the lesson, now for the facts and just the facts, ma'am. WCI is making money on its golf courses here. Not as much as they would like, but they ARE making money. I've got it on good authority, Virginia. If they lose money, they will first threaten to close the North Lakes Course, but in the meantime, as I've mentioned before, WCI would like to open up the 1984 agreement between the Community Association and itself which would sort of make the North Lakes Course into a public or semi-private course.

A new Community Association task force, chaired by outgoing CA president Paul Wheat is starting to study what we should give WCI and what we should ask for in return. Wheat recognizes that a large part of the attraction here is that it is a golfing center. More than that, he is aware that much of our ambiance (for golfers and non- golfers alike) lies in the golf courses and that losing them would terribly affect the value of our homes.

I'm not excited about the way Wheat appointed himself chair of the task force or picked the members thereof. He packed the committee and ignored the democratic process. The Board of Directors was faced with pressure for fast passage of the motion to bring the task force into being but with no say in its chair or its membership. However, the task force is needed, that much is clear, and it's never advisable to throw the baby out with the bathwater.

The task force recommendations will shortly come before the Board and Wheat will no longer be able to ramrod his agenda - good or bad as that agenda may be. The Board will vote on the proposal(s) and then the CA membership will get an opportunity to vote on any changes to the '84 Agreement.

Here then, Virginia, are the lessons to be learned: (1) We probably need to open up the North Lakes Course to some degree in order to keep it profitable for whomever owns it - WCI or a successor organization; (2) When inventing committees or task forces in the future, the Board should insist on a democratic process in choosing the makeup.

From observation, I think that incoming CA President Ed Barnes will be less autocratic than his predecessor.

Finally, Virginia, for all the turmoil I've had with Paul Wheat over the years - both as a reporter and later as a board member, Wheat has done one heck of a job for Sun City Center. His ways may have mirrored his military career, but his heart has always been in the right place and Sun City Center has been in the center of his heart.

So, Virginia, let's hear it for Paul Wheat.

Bob Black is a longtime journalist and member of the Sun City Center Community Association board of directors.

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