If the County Commission adopts the ordinance, which seems likely, it will be the first such law in the Florida Panhandle. Meanwhile, some Gulf County officials have indicated that they'll look at the Franklin ordinance as a possible model for an ordinance there. Beach lighting is a threat not to mature turtles, but to turtle hatchlings. The small turtles are programed to head towards the brightest horizon once they hatch. Ordinarily, that bright spot would be light reflected off the surf.
Manmade lights change all that.
The biggest problem before was beach driving, but now we have a ban on nighttime driving during turtle season. In 1990 there were two disorientations. There two again in 1992, and just one in 1994. In 1997, there were 37 - almost double the combined total of the previous seven years. There's both good news and bad behind those numbers.