July & August 2004

The Father of South Walton County Mosquito Control

            As I stood on the property of Mr. Vernon Bishop, on the south shoreline of the Choctawhatchee Bay, overlooking a saltmarsh, away from the noise and bustle of Highway 98, the serenity was a welcomed feeling. Vernon Bishop is a man of little need and even less want. In a recent interview I talked at length with Vernon about what South Walton was like before “civilization” settled into this beautiful area of Florida.

            Vernon Bishop was born and raised in South Walton, he is now in his early 80's, so he has seen it all. Grayton Beach, one of the area’s oldest communities, just celebrated its 114^th anniversary, it is just a little older than Vernon. He was a young boy when the hurricane of 1926 hit, the storm credited with creating Destin’s East Pass, connecting the gulf with the bay, turning the Choctawhatchee Bay into a saltwater body. As a teenager, in the 30's, Vernon saw South Walton become much more accessible with the construction of the 331 bridge, Highway 98, and the dredging of the intercoastal waterway through Walton County by the Army Corps of Engineers. Prior to these improvements the only transport to South Walton was by boat, ferry or on roadways of oyster shell and dirt. Vernon’s comment of traffic on Highway 98 after its construction was, “you could lay down, go to sleep and not get run over.” It’s a little different today. Prior to the paving of roads, cattle and hogs roamed freely, it was open range. When the state required livestock to be fenced, South Walton’s days as cattle country were over. Vernon’s memories of the cattle are linked with how they reacted to the dog flies that plagued South Walton every fall. “Back then the swarms of dog flies were such you could see a black cloud of them coming. They were so fierce cattle would go into the bay or gulf, if the water was calm, all you would see is their eyes and nostrils sticking out of the water. When cattle herds were not in the water, they would actually stampede to get away from the flies.”

            In the 40's electricity arrived in South Walton courtesy of the Choctawhatchee Electric Cooperative and so did World War II. Before serving his Country, Vernon married Loyce Brown on May 20^th, 1941, a marriage that has endured for over 63 years. Vernon left soon after to participate in the war effort in the Army, stationed in England. His greatest memory of the war was during D-Day, “The sky was filled with planes, thousands of them, from horizon to horizon, coming and going, hour after hour.”

            When the war ended, Vernon returned to South Walton to his waiting wife and opened a grocery store. Vernon remembers “there was also a Postal Office and general store in South Walton, however, after a heavy rain or major storm, you would need a rowboat to get to them. There were no phones, I had to drive to Freeport and use a crank up phone to order supplies or talk to anyone. The first phone in South Walton came in 1950, a pay phone at a service station in Frangista Beach, everyone made their phone calls from there. Delivery of supplies came from Panama City or Pensacola by freight truck that came through once a week, so supplies took at least a week to get here.” In addition to starting his own business, Vernon and Loyce started their family. They parented two sons, Terry, born in November of 1946 and Michael, born in August of 1951.

            In 1952 Vernon opened a service station and got his own phone. The service station business provided the means by which to raise his family. He continued operating the service station until 1969. The first hotel on the beach was also built in 1952, marking the start of the tourist industry in South Walton. Vernon was fully involved in the community, helping in the construction of several area churches and a member of the South Walton Lions Club. In the early 60's, with roads being paved, hotels being built, telephones, electricity, and tourism expanding, the Walton County Chamber of Commerce and the Lions Club could see the potential for South Walton. The problem with South Walton was the insects. Noseeums in the cool months - October to April, deer flies from May to July, mosquitoes from April to November, and dog flies from September to December. South Walton, north of the sand ridge that runs parallel to the beach, was basically a swamp, God’s country, insect heaven, all the way to the Choctawhatchee Bay. Vernon stated “if you were outside working during the day you needed to be in smoke to keep the insects off of you. The saltmarsh mosquito, Aedes sollicitans, would drive people off the beach, even when there was a good breeze. If you wanted to go outside and work in the garden you had to wear long sleeve shirts, pants, socks, gloves, and an insect net over your head.” Something needed to be done if South Walton was to ever amount to anything.

            Vernon Bishop and his fellow Lions understood what needed to be done. According to Chapter 388 of the Florida Statutes, better known as “The Mosquito Control Law”, counties or parts of counties could become independent, tax supported, Mosquito Control Districts by petition. The petition required 15% of the signatures of property owners that reside within the proposed District. To get the petition signed the members of the South Walton Lions Club went door to door to get the required number of signatures. With 15% or more of the residing property owner signatures in hand, the petition was presented to the Walton County Commission who approved it and set a date for election to determine whether or not the voters within the proposed district, wanted a mosquito control program. Well, they did and the South Walton County Mosquito Control District was officially established on May 26^th, 1964. The approval of the Mosquito Control District by the voters, also included the first Board of Commissioners, Miss Lois Genevieve Maxon, Mr. Edwin R. Walline, and Mr. Vernon Bishop.

            The first order of business for the newly formed Board was to set a millage and establish a budget for the purchase of equipment, supplies, and to hire employees. The millage assessed was set at the maximum allowed, 10 mills, an additional dollar of tax for every $100 of valuation of property on property owners with over $5,000 of assessed value, the Homestead Exemption level in 1964. The District’s initial budget was about $23,000, $11,500 generated from local taxes and $11,500 from State Matching Funds. Even by assessing property owners at the maximum level allowed, it was difficult getting the program off the ground. The Lions Club of Santa Rosa Beach and the Walton County Chamber of Commerce voted to fund the newly formed District until funds from taxes started to come in. With funds from these organizations the Commissioner’s bonding fees were paid, a couple of mosquito surveillance traps were purchased, and the Commissioners were paid $5 each, per meeting, Vernon was the Commission Chairman. In December of 1964, Major Johnson and General Gorby out of Eglin Air Base, presented an honorary Master’s Degree in Arthropod Control to Mr. Bishop.

            Planning and organization of the program was started immediately. Within a year the Commissioners hired a Director, purchased property for their headquarters, bought equipment, and started spraying for mosquitoes. The property was 10 acres of land, purchased in February, 1965 from Mrs. Elizabeth C. Rouden, with one stipulation, that the lumber could be harvested from the property prior to its sale. The District’s first Director, Mr. Aubrey Gilbert, Jr. was hired in March, 1965. The equipment purchased was a dragline and a bulldozer, and the initial mosquito control spraying was done by Eglin Air Force Base. General Roberts, the Commander of Eglin, provided, free of charge, aerial spraying with DDT, twice a year. This cooperation by the Air Force was initiated by Congressman Bob Sikes, a Florida State Representative with a lot of influence in Washington, D.C.

            The Mosquito Control District’s responsibility included the control of other pestiferous insects, not just mosquitoes. Fly control was becoming a problem. Tourists and places of business that served them would dump their garbage throughout the woods. The result was hordes of house flies. To solve the problem the District got permission from the St. Joe Paper Company to use their land, free of charge, to operate landfills. The dragline dug the trenches, the trash was dumped, and the bulldozer covered it with dirt. Initially, there were 4 landfills located throughout the District; one in the Eastern Lake area, one off Blue Mountain Road, another at Mack Bayou Road, and another off East Point Washington Road. In 1974 the landfills were consolidated into one central location, the Blue Mountain Road site. It was open 7 days a week and continued to provide for garbage disposal to South Walton residents, free of charge. In the early 80's the County took over the landfill and operated it as a non-hazardous waste landfill until its closure in the early 90's.

            The foundation of the program was established - the employees, the facility, the equipment, and program activities were in place. When Mr. Gilbert resigned his position as Director in February, 1969, Vernon, after serving 5 years on the Commission, stepped down to become the Director for the District. Realizing that the mosquito habitat in the District was extensive and knowing source reduction was the only permanent way of controlling mosquitoes in South Walton, Vernon went to work. Working hand in hand with the Florida Department of Health and Rehabilitative Services (HRS), Office of Entomology, the Florida Department of Transportation (D.O.T.), and the property owners in the District, South Walton Mosquito Control began what would not only reduce mosquito populations on a permanent basis but also provide what would become the flood control system for South Walton. Vernon would plan the ditch system, HRS would approve it, the property owners would give permission, and if the ditch connected to any of the main drainage ditches D.O.T. dug for Highway 98, D.O.T. would dig them. Ditch systems that didn’t connect to D.O.T. ditches were dug by South Walton Mosquito Control using their equipment and manpower.

            Today there are 47 ditches maintained by the District. These ditches have lowered the water table allowing water to percolate instead of stand on the surface, thus eliminating mosquito habitat and making land developable. Also, because their outfall is to the bay, stormwater is quickly conveyed, avoiding the flooding of property that would occur without them.

            In May of 1968, The Audubon Society was pushing for the elimination of DDT. The “miracle” pesticide that was being touted as a possible means of eradicating mosquitoes and other insect pests, was showing development of resistance in insects and harmful effects to the environment and non-target organisms. South Walton started using Dibrom, an organophosphate pesticide, for adult mosquito control. Today, South Walton uses a synthetic pyrethroid for adult mosquito control but the State of Florida still uses Dibrom to aerially spray for the control of dog flies. Vernon summed it up by saying “Praise the Lord for Dibrom and diesel fuel, without it we would have had no way of controlling mosquitoes or dog flies.” Vernon continued as Director of South Walton County Mosquito Control for 17 years, instilling a sense of conservativism and continual improvement of the program.

            Dog flies were a major scourge to the Florida panhandle beaches. They were thought to be coming from north of the bay from dairy farms. Vernon knew and worked closely with Dr. John A Mulrennan, Sr. and the State research laboratory in Panama City, the laboratory that was eventually named after Dr. Mulrennan, a pioneer of mosquito control in Florida. Together they discovered a major aspect of dog flies. Using a flourescent dye to mark adult dog flies and releasing them in southern Alabama and southern Georgia, then collecting them on the beaches of South Walton, they were able to prove that dog flies were migrating in from over a hundred miles away. So in order to reduce the dog fly problem on the beaches of the Florida Panhandle, dog fly production areas, manure piles and waste lagoons, had to be eliminated in Georgia and Alabama, not just across the bay in North Walton.

            Because of Vernon Bishop’s initiative, dedication, effort, and perseverance, South Walton is what it is today. Without insect control and a drainage system that conveys floodwater and allows property to be developed, you could imagine what South Walton would be like today. When asked what was most important to him, he said, “my health, all the money in the world can’t buy your health and doesn’t buy you value. What is truly valuable in life is family, health, having spiritual values, doing what’s right and living a good life.” Asked what he felt he has accomplished with his life, he said, “my greatest feeling of accomplishment was to be able to give back to the community - accomplishments in life are more valuable than money. Giving gives me pride, don’t just sit on your can... make an effort to help others and your community.”

            Vernon Bishop is an example of what an individual can do when they set their mind to accomplishing something. He is a person who exemplifies the saying “If you do your best, whatever happens will be for the best.” The creation of South Walton Mosquito Control also shows how communication and cooperation between private business, governmental agencies, civic organizations, and individuals can turn thoughts, ideas, and dreams into reality. Vernon Bishop is not only the Father of South Walton County Mosquito Control but has also created the foundation on which South Walton has been able to grow, develop, and prosper.