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Letters to the EditorsYeshitela sounds like a politician© St. Petersburg Times published February 20, 2002 Re: Rhetoric about race, crime threatens hope, Feb. 17. In his guest column, Omali Yeshitela sounds like your typical politician. He says one thing and does another. A government, whether a city or a nation, is only as good as the people who live by the "laws of the land." If you feel a law is wrong, you do not change it by breaking the law. You seek change in a peaceful and legal manner (the Martin Luther King way). About the force police officers used to subdue a young man, Yeshitela says a man is presumed to be innocent until proven guilty. Why doesn't the same standard apply to an officer? Condoning the throwing of stones and bottles at officers while they are making an arrest is assuming they are guilty of mistreatment. A person who resists arrest is breaking the law and most likely guilty of a crime. An innocent person has no reason to resist arrest. It is my personal belief that many people pulled over for a minor infraction of the law would be let off with a mild warning if they acted in a "civilized manner." I would like to see Yeshitela demonstrate how he would subdue a suspect who is running away from and fighting law officers. We (most of us) celebrate Martin Luther King and his philosophies. Why doesn't Omali Yeshitela?
Neighborhoods should welcome policeRe: Critics blast law-and-order resolution, Feb. 10. St. Petersburg City Council member Bill Foster does not have a mean bone in his body, and his resolution speaks volumes. If some of the people of Midtown think their neighborhood is safer than the resolution makes them sound, they are mistaken, in my opinion. The Fossil Park neighborhood is fairly safe, but I sure wouldn't walk it by myself at night. While we have to contend with prostitution, drugs and vagrants, I welcome the police. Bring them in, and I will feel so much safer. How can anyone argue that fact? Eventually the neighborhood will be ours once the terrorists are gone. Yes, terrorists. People who try to take over and feel they are above the law are terrorists. Bill Foster, Rene Flowers, Earnest Williams and Darryl Rouson are all working for the same thing, and that is safer streets that we all own. We should all be on the same side.
Just say no to school vouchersRe: Promote vouchers, not school "lottery," letter, Feb. 10. I'd like the letter writer to please inform us which private schools have the equivalent of a medical magnet, arts magnet and the other magnet programs in which students compete for places using a lottery. The only program that has any equivalent in the private sector is the fundamental school program. Did you know that many private school students bail the second they are accepted into the IB program? When my wealthy cousin lived in an very nice area of Valdosta, Ga., he told me that Pinellas County's economics program was wonderful and asked for a copy of the Economics Fair rules to introduce it into his daughter's school. What we need is a fair, less regressive tax system so we can expand the wonderful programs that are models for the entire country instead of throwing money into vouchers for the rich to subsidize their private school tuition.
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