After I enjoyed the moment, that is. And because her arrest was on a beach-related offense — tampering with a sea turtle nest — my enjoyment of that arrest was all the more sweet, I admit.
After all, Schultz, 73, is infamous as the most hyper-territorial resident of South Manasota Key. She calls the cops and berates people if they dare treat her little stretch of private beach as a public one, or even if they assume it has the usual mandatory strip of public access starting at or near the mean high water line.
Schultz has long claimed her beach neighborhood to be an exception that has no such public easement. Nothing presses her buttons more than those who act like some law, real or imagined, gives them a right to sit on her sand or, heaven forbid, set up a chair and umbrella.
So this newspaper and others have written about Schultz coming out of her house to shoo people away, and about at least one trespass arrest made at her request. That person was acquitted when expert testimony made it clear there was no way anyone — the arresting Charlotte County deputy included — could be sure which sand near Schultz’s home was legally off limits that day.
Because of Schultz’s attitude and insistence that the law is on her side, I and (I have to suspect) many other fans of public shore access got a wicked kick from news of her arrest this week.
But an arrest is no laughing matter, and on reflection, I wonder: Was it really right for a state wildlife officer to take a 73-year-old woman and her tenant to jail for the offense of smoothing over a turtle nest mound?
That’s what state wildlife officer Ron Howard says Schultz did.
Though she may not have harmed the eggs, it does appear Schultz treated the sea turtles with the same disdain she shows other uninvited beach visitors. The arrest report says she also removed stakes marking the turtle nest and that, even after Howard told her that was illegal, she removed the stakes again.
I’m not sure why a physical arrest was necessary, especially when we can be pretty sure this territorial woman would never go on the lam to avoid a trial. Who would keep the terrible trespassers from her beach?
But in the case of the arrest of this particular 73-year-old woman who has threatened and urged the arrest of others for the far lesser offense of sitting on her beach, I’ll admit I can’t honestly say I mind.
Tom Lyons can be contacted at tom.lyons@heraldtribune.com or (941) 361-4964.
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