David Hale wrote:

> My point is I don't want the "security" of having the
> dive shop hold onto my driver's license. I want the
> security of a dive operator making sure that the boat
> leaves a dive site with the same number of divers it
> left the dock with. This does require the crew to be
> able to count, or better, maintain a passenger check
> list.

Hopefully I didn't indicate that it was an either or situation.  If I did,
it was a mistake.  They do both.  It's just one more check to make sure that
they're not in the news as the operator that left people behind and didn't
notice the gear left on the boat after everyone else had departed.

> If the shop doesn't make sure that the licenses are
> returned to all of their customers, how do they tell
> the difference between a lost customer and a customer
> that just failed to get his/her license back? Are they
> going to start an SAR operation over a customer who
> drove off without getting their license? Yeah, right.

Yeah, right is correct, sort of.  What they do is start checking things,
beginning by checking the boat for gear and other indications that somebody
didn't come back.  Then they call the phone numbers provided by the customer
to see if they can locate them.  If all else fails, they have started SAR
operations, or at least some operators have.  There's been at least one SAR
operation that was later aborted when the diver turned up at home.

> My opinion is that if the shop asks me to give them a
> license or card, it CERTAINLY IS their job to give it
> back. Your opinion is different, fine.

Perhaps you think it's too much to expect you to step through the door to
pick up your ID as you leave.  My opinion is different.  It's not like
they're hiding it or something, but if you walk straight past them, load
your gear and head for other parts, they're not going to chase you down the
road to return your card.  You might have a problem down here.  You have to
do the same thing to use the shoes at bowling alleys, skates at the roller
rinks and ice skating establishments and to be issued balls at the better
pool halls.  Requesting your driver's license is a fairly common practice
here.

If you don't like the system, don't use the operator.  It's Lady Cyana.  I
think you can find them in the most current Rodales top 10 list.  They're
the most frequently recommended operator in Islamorada, but they may not be
your first choice.

> And finally: Lee if it makes you feel better to sit in
> judgement over the state where Mike and I live, have
> at it. Alabama's an easy target, even though it is NOT
> the state whose dive operators are being discussed
> here.

Lighten up David.  Nobody is seriously sitting in judgement of your state
any more than you're seriously sitting in judgement of mine.  You have to
admit, however, that a state that uses a social security number on a primary
source of identification wasn't thinking real well.  I may be mistaken, but
I think it was Alabama that, until a few years ago, didn't have auto titles
either.  A remarkable number of stolen vehicles passed through there.
Neither practice was very well thought out.  Both resulted in a lot of
probems for honest citizens in and outside of the state.

You want to get even, criticize Florida to your heart's content.  It isn't
hard to find things to say.  You can start with the Palm Beach County voting
fiasco in the last presidential election, our wonderful governor and his
daughter who just got arrested on drug charges or even the Elian Gonzalez
incidents a few years ago.  If those aren't enough, I can help you find
more.  Knock yourself out.

> I don't know why you chose to insult me and Mike. This
> is where we live and I think it's a good place to be.
> I imagine that Mike does too. It seems I owe Strike an
> apology, because I used to wonder why he has so little
> tolerance for you. But now that I see you needling me
> when I have done nothing except to disagree with your
> opinion, I do begin to understand...

I think Mike can speak for himself.  I don't recall anybody asking you to do
it for him.  As for insulting you, I don't think I did.  I just responded to
the topic you initiated.  It was you that brought up the fact that Alabama
used social security numbers and, if I'm not mistaken, that it was an
identity theft problem.  As it happens, Alabama is one of the states I cover
and identity theft happens to be one of the crimes I both investigate and
assist in developing ways to avoid.  I was hardly needling you, but I think
you'd have to agree that the system we were discussing could use a bit of
needling.

For the record, I mentioned something extra that a Florida dive operator
does to ensure the safety of it's customers in a thread that was discussing
problems with abandoned divers.  You attacked the system and then the
messenger.  I'm not the agressor this time.

Lee