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© St. Petersburg Times, published March 1, 2002
Re: Deputies draw guns on teen babysitter, Feb. 27.
It is an unfortunate situation for someone's 15-year-old daughter to have guns pointed at her by people she should trust. It is unfortunate that this situation happened in the first place.
Let's start by pointing a finger at the homeowner, in this case Tish DiFelice. She is the one who knew the alarm had gone off. She failed to notify the alarm company personnel and advise them that everything at the residence was okay. Had this simple task been done, I'm pretty sure the Sheriff's Office wouldn't have responded.
But the reality is that the alarm did go off, and that deputies responded to find red danger flags waving. The first red flag was an open window, and the second was a person unknown to the deputies. Yes, it was Chris Savas' innocent daughter who was just babysitting, and, of course, I'm sure he expected the deputies to know that. Unfortunately the deputies aren't mind readers.
In this situation the deputies did what I'm sure they thought was right, and that's ruling out any danger before letting their guard down. It is unfortunate that their radios may have been turned down and that they possibly missed being informed that the girl was just the babysitter. It would seem that a logical person would understand: The deputies probably don't want any bad guys hearing their radios and giving them away.
Unfortunately we live in a society where kids have guns, and they use them. And kids burglarize homes as well. With these logical things in mind let us use a little common sense and mark this one up as a lesson learned.
-- Tanya White, Dunedin
Re: Deputies draw guns on teen babysitter.
I am a mother of four, and if I felt the need to install a alarm system in my home I would certainly expect police to respond. After all, isn't that their job? The fault here is with the mother, not the sheriff's deputies. This mother should have taken one or two minutes to make the call and let the security company know it was a false alarm, especially when she knew that the alarm had been going off. Did she take a minute to check the house prior to her leaving to make sure that there was not an intruder and that the home was truly safe for her children? Isn't this why the alarm system was put in in the first place?
The deputies did not know the person coming out of the house was a babysitter. Do teenage girls never commit crimes or never lie to get out of trouble? What does a criminal really look like? I feel it is better to be safe than sorry. How would this young girl's parents have felt if they had gotten a phone call telling them something horrific had happened to their daughter and the children she was babysitting because the deputies didn't respond to the alarm?
I don't believe hand-cuffing someone for five minutes is considered "Rambo-like" treatment. It sounds as though someone is watching way to much TV. To the deputies, I say thanks for protecting this home, its residents and all of us. Good work!
-- Diana Wubbena, Dade City
Re: Deputies draw guns on teen babysitter.
It is a misfortune that the young babysitter was frightened by sheriff's deputies during an alarm call. Before her father goes too far with the blame, he should stop and be thankful that the deputies were there to protect his daughter and her charges from some horrible intruder!
He should ask first: Why would a mother leave her family at home alone after an alarm had sounded? The alarm is there to protect and warn her about trouble. Yet, she did not call into the security company, check the house or even tell the babysitter of the possible threat. Her only excuse was an appointment? That came before her concern for her kids?
We cannot expect law enforcement officers to do their job if we don't let them protect themselves and follow their guidelines. It was straightened out in a matter of minutes with no injuries. They put their lives on the line to save this family and their home. What would this father be asking if his daughter had met some harm and the sheriff had not responded quickly to an alarm call?
-- W. Jane Miller, Palm Harbor
This incident regarding drawing guns on the teenage babysitter shows that Pinellas County sheriff's deputies lack common sense. The sheriff needs to look at who he is hiring and who is training them at the police academy. The cowboy attitude has been displayed by Sheriff's Office many times. Who can forget when a deputy arrested a man for wearing an LAPD baseball cap?
Apparently the lawyers will have plenty of work in litigation due to the lack of common sense and compassion that the Sheriff's Office displays constantly.
-- Richard Hayward, Largo
A dozen armed deputies versus one little girl: It was macho tactics and poor excuses from our sheriff. Nothing will come of this. The little girl will get a settlement from the taxpayers. Her lawyer will get 30 percent, and the system won't change.
Call the police? Not if you think for a second that the sheriff will respond in a rational manner. It's time a grand jury looked into police tactics. But that won't happen either. The state attorney won't let it occur.
What can a citizen do but complain and watch elected officials find excuse after excuse for use of deadly force. Thank God the little girl is alive. Perhaps our sheriff might find it reasonable to apologize to her and her family.
What in the heck is going on in our community?
-- James Barr, Safety Harbor
I am a National Certified Playground Safety Inspector and am on the committees that write the national standards on playground safety. I do not manufacture equipment any longer and am in fact an advocate of children's safety as a consultant. In my entire 21 years in this industry, there has never been one reported death, injury, illness or even so much as a claim related to arsenic poisoning through contact with treated lumber on a playground. The EPA study that was done should take into consideration these facts, as well as the fact that we actually consume arsenic when we drink our water.
Even if it were smaller amounts, it is still the contact (and ingestion) of it that escalates it to a far greater level than the amount being contacted if and when a kid plays on a playground. And in their final totals of arsenic in those soil samples, did they subtract the amounts already found in the soil naturally?
We need to focus on the real problems with playgrounds. Not ones we think "might someday" be a problem: problems like head and neck entrapments as well as entanglements (kids die this way yearly); sharp points and edges as well as crush and shear points (fingers get cut off); head concussions and fractures (lack of proper surfacing); rotted wood going undetected (equipment falls onto kids); unsafe design (even on brand new equipment); not enough use zones, etc. These are the real problems with playgrounds that go undetected.
I have inspected equipment all over this country and overseas, and not one playground site has ever been able to fully pass a vigorous inspection. Our kids are worth more than that.
The importance of play is also being overlooked and overshadowed by this arsenic "non-issue." They need playgrounds to develop socially, mentally, physically and emotionally.
-- In addition, the small manufacturers of playground equipment and the buyers will be faced with a new dilemma: Rising costs of lumber can put the suppliers out of business because the buyers will no longer be able to afford the more expensive equipment. I have seen that happen. All for the purpose of a perceived risk that is not a hazard? The kids don't consume dirt all day, and if they did, it would have to be in such a great amount, for decades, for there to be a "chance" they might get cancer. And if there is a report that says that there is enough arsenic that can be dislodged (wiped off) from the lumber to cause harm, why not seal it or paint it to prevent that from occurring?
Let's report on the real hazards that are killing 15 to 32 kids each year and injuring more than 200,000 of them -- long known and identifiable playground hazards that can be easily corrected and eliminated.
Scott Burton, president, Safety Play, Inc., St. Petersburg
Re: Striving to meet standards, Feb. 18.
Wes Allison's article on Florida State University's medical school clearly illustrates how our country's medical doctors continue to ensure their own high income at our expense.
As Allison points out, FSU has the nation's first new medical school in 20 years. Ask yourself why there are so few new medical schools? Medical schools in the United Staters total only 125! That partly explains why so many U.S. medical students attend medical schools outside the United States.
The article goes on to quote FSU provost Larry Abele, who felt that starting an FSU physician's group would have jeopardized relations with Tallahassee's medical community, "which would have seen it as competition." He added that "It would have been hard on everyone to bring in a large number of new physicians . . ." In other words, having more physicians means cutting up the patient pie into more pieces. Who would that be hard on?
Allison goes on to inform us that the FSU medical school's creation, "was marred by a nasty fight." Can you guess what segment of our society fought hard against the creation of a new medical school?
I worked 12 years in the medical profession as an implant salesman and saw, firsthand, the various levels of greed on display by many doctors whose paycheck was more important than their patients.
Why do we continue to allow "regulators" like the Liaison Committee on Medical Education to deny FSU's accreditation when such an obvious conflict of interest exists? The message the committee sends is that we don't need or want another medical school. The committee, the AMA and other doctor groups strive to limit the supply of American graduating doctors, notwithstanding a growing supply of patients, for one reason: to ensure their own high income.
It is absolutely shameful that the only country on earth that produces millionaire doctors is the United States. Let's open up more medical schools and allow our best and brightest who truly want to serve patients become our next generation of doctors.
-- Jack Moore, Ozona
Speaker Tom Feeney and his cohorts in the state House of Representatives refuse to allow the tax reform measure to be voted on by the people of Florida.
It seems that these members of the House are forgetting just who they were elected to represent. Aren't they supposed to be doing the will of the people who voted for them rather than that of the big business and special interest groups?
As each representative who voted against the tax reform bill comes up for re-election, the voters should remember just who he or she chose to represent and vote accordingly. I for one will vote against any member of the Legislature who was unwilling to let me vote for a tax reform bill.
-- Ellen Ellis, Wesley Chapel
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