It's that time of year again on the Island, when thousands of visitors from around the country arrive to spend a few moments in paradise and experience the quaint, old-Florida existence that has so often been lost to the bulldozer elsewhere.

Locals look upon these few months of tourist season with mixed emotions, knowing that both good and bad can result when so many people crowd into such a small place. On the one hand, the cash infusion the visitors bring is vital to the survival of our economy, but the traffic jams and long lines at restaurants and grocery stores are enough to try the patience of virtually anyone.

For the most part, full-time residents here make the best of it and remain a friendly bunch, which makes this an even more attractive destination for out-of-towners.

But things can go wrong on even the best of trips, as one motorist from Michigan learned after getting a speeding ticket while driving into Anna Maria from Holmes Beach. The speed limit there drops from 35 mph to 25 mph, and while the signs clearly mark the change, the limit is strictly enforced - at the insistence, we might add, of Anna Maria city officials. The motorist was understandably upset at receiving a ticket, but didn't mention in a letter to The Sun that she was going more than 40 mph in the 25 mph zone. And if the deputy seemed in a rush to write the ticket that night it may have been because he saw another car speed past on Gulf Drive at a high rate of speed with no lights on.

We hope the visiting motorist comes back to our Island and gives it another try. It is, after all, a pretty nice place, where the pace of life is a little slower. Just remember that so is the speed limit.