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What ever happened with the sale of Madison Blue Spring? The last info I have
stated that Mike and Anna Bruic would sell in September. Did they sell this
beautiful spring, and if so will it still be divable in the future under the new
owners?

The only info that I have is from the beginning of July 1999 and is certainly
dated.

Michael Fisch

Attached info:

>
>A spring loved by generations is pristine again but also for sale
>
>
>     For generations, Blue Spring has been as much a part of life for
children
>and adults here as the courthouse, the church or the tobacco station.
>
>     ``I remember it from the 1920s,'' said Louise Zipperer, 91, a lifelong
>resident of Madison County. ``It was such fun, it was a gathering place.''
>
>     Whether another generation will be able to create its own memories
there
>remains to be seen.
>
>     The spring is for sale.
>
>     Bids from $2.2 million to $2.6 million have been placed for the 60
acres
>surrounding the turquoise waters, which flow today as they have done for
>     thousands of years, from limestone caverns by the banks of the
>Withlacoochee River in Madison County, about 50 miles east of Tallahassee.
>
>     It is a race to see who will buy the last privately owned
first-magnitude
>spring in the state. Florida has 27 first-magnitude springs, meaning they
>     discharge more than 100 cubic feet of water a minute.
>
>     A Saudi banker, a mineral water bottler and the state have made bids
to
>control the property.
>
>     Owner Anna Bruic and her son, Mike, bought the spring in 1992 for an
>undisclosed sum and spent years cleaning it, building picnic tables and
>     pavilions and turning the landmark into a park for families.
>
>     It's a far cry from what the Bruics found when they bought the place.
>Motorcycle gangs had used it as a hangout and place to party. Madison
County
>     set up two trash containers here and, because there was no garbage
pickup
>in neighboring Hamilton County, residents there began bringing trash to
>     Blue Spring. The overflow was horrific.
>
>     ``I've got pictures of it. You wouldn't believe it,'' Mike Bruic said.
>``There were rusted-out cars abandoned here, refrigerators, toilet bowls,
>disposable
>     diapers lying on the ground everywhere, broken beer bottles - we still
have
> to do a glass sweep of the woods after every rain, to [pick] up the
>     fragments.''
>
>     Getting rid of the litter was one thing; getting rid of the litterers
was
>more difficult.
>
>     ``I had tobacco juice spat in my face,'' Anna Bruic said. ``I was
cursed
>out more times than I care to say.''
>
>     There's not a speck of litter on the property now. With its $3
admission,
>Blue Spring is one of the cheapest, prettiest parks in the state.
>
>     Beneath the springs lies a labyrinth of limestone galleries - at least
6
>1/2 miles of passageways, said Mike Bruic, a cave diver.
>
>     But there is danger in these beautiful, submerged caverns. Two
scuba-diving
> airmen from Warner Robbins Air Force Base drowned here in the
>     1970s. An 11-year-old boy committed suicide here about 40 years ago,
and
>the incident still lives in local memory.
>
>     The possibility of incidents and accidents like these compelled the
Bruics
>to put Blue Spring up for sale.
>
>     ``It just takes one lawsuit, one award of $5 million, to put you out
of
>business and in debt forever,'' Mike Bruic said. ``We just couldn't handle
the
>     possibility of that.''
>
>     The final decision on a buyer will come in September. Anna Bruic said
she
>hopes it ultimately will remain open to the public.
>
>     ``We're talking to everybody,'' Anna Bruic said. ``The state, the
county,
>the Suwannee River Water Management District, Preservation 2000, the
>     Florida Communities Trust. We really want to keep the place open to
the
>public, as a family gathering place. We would even like to manage it for
the
>     state or the county, if a way can be found.''
>
>
>

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