Item Q02
BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS
AGENDA ITEM SUMMARY
Meeting Date: March 19, 2003
Division:
District 1
Bulk Item: Yes
No
Department: Mayor Dixie M. Spehar
AGENDA ITEM WORDING:
A Resolution of the Board of County Commissioners of Monroe County in recognition of the Late
Anna Dagny Johnson.
ITEM BACKGROUND:
Dagny Johnson was a role model for those determined to protect the fragile coral island chain of the
Keys and the hardwood hammocks of Key Largo. She was the president and co-founder of the Upper
Keys Citizen Association and led the campaign that culminated in the $67 million purchase by the state
of more that 8,000 acres of hammock for preservation.
PREVIOUS RELEVANT BOCC ACTION:
CONTRACT/AGREEMENT CHANGES:
STAFF RECOMMENDATIONS:
TOTAL COST:
BUDGETED: Yes
No
COST TO COUNTY:
SOURCE OF FUNDS:
REVENUE PRODUCING: Yes
No
AMOUNT PER MONTH
Year
APPROVED BY: County Arty _ OMB/Purchasing _ Risk Management
DIVISION DIRECTOR APPROVAL:
~ ?n. l .fu.;/"u}
Mayor rft'xie M. Spehar
DOCUMENT A TION:
Included X
To Follow
Not Required~
DISPOSITION:
AGENDA ITEM # tf'eJ ~
Revised 1/03
UAR-1.-03 16,28 FROM,MONROE COUNTY ATTY OFFICE 10,3052823516
PAGE
1/1
MAYOR DIXIE M, SPEHAR
RESOLUTION NO. 2003
A RESOLUTION OF THE BOARD OF COUNTY
COMMISSIONERS OF MONROE COUNTY IN
RECOGNITION OF THE LATE ANNA DAGNY JOHNSON
WHEREAS, Dagny Johnson passed away on March S, 2003, at the age of 85; and
WHEREAS. Dagny Johnson. who was born in Norway and C8.J1te with her family to the United States when
she was a young girl, grew up in a Chicago suburb, attended Mount Holyoke College. and studied in Paris in 1937 as an
exchange student. earning a law degree from the University of Chicago, and moving to the Keys after working as a
labor lawyer in Chicago and Washington. DC; and
WHEREAS. Dagny Johnson was a union organizer, an active civil rights worker and an adaman~
environmentalist, and friends remember her as a well-connected "warrior," and ''the voice of environmental sanity;" and
WHEREAS, DaSOY Johnson was known as the environmental conscience of the Upper Keys by local
politicians. developers and other adversaries because of her tenacity in protecting the island environment $he dearly
loved; and
WHEllEAS. Dagny Johnson was a role model for those detennined to protect a coral island chain as beautiful
as it is fragile; she was a pioneer and matriarch of the environmentaJ moyeRlent in the FlOrida Keys, and she foresaw the
crunch that our natural resources were running out; and
WHEREAS. Dagny Johnson as president and co--founder of the Upper Keys Citjzens Association was at the
forefront of efforts to protect the hardwood hammocks of Nonh Key Largo. a campaign rhat culminated in the S67
million state purchase of more than 8,000 acres of hammock for preservation; and
WHEREAS, in honor of her tireless work in saving thousands of acres. in 200 I an II-mile stretch of pristine
hammock was renamed the Dagny Johnson Key Largo Hammocks Botanical State Park; and
WHEREAS. Dagny Johnson is survived by her brother. Arthur Johnson, three nephews, a cousin, Hennan
Riley Stein of Islamorada, and many grateful environmentalists throughout the World; now, therefore
BE IT RESOLVED THAT THE BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSlON'tRS Oll" MONROE COUNTY,
FLORIDA:
Section 1: Hereby adopts this Resolution as an expression to the family of their deepest sympathy in the
passing of the late Dagny Johnson, and in great appreciation of the service she gave to her community.
Section 1; Mayor Dixie Spehar forwards a copy of this Resolution to the family of Dagny Johnson
expressing the Board's sorrOw and gfatitude.
PASSED AND ADOPTED by the Board of County C()ftlmjssioners of Mcmto~ County. Florida, at a meeting
of said Board held on the day of , A.D., 2003.
Mayor Dixie M. Spehar
Mayor Pro Tern Murray E. Nelson
Commissioner George Neugent
Commissioner Charles "Sonny" McCoy
Commissioner David P. Rice
(SEAL)
Attest: DANNY L. KOLHAGE. Clerk
By
BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS
OF MONROE COUNTY, FLORIDA
By
Deputy Clerk
Mayor/Chajnnan
I11'T"