Letters to the Editors

Microchips in pets an effective, efficient option for county

Re: County license tags could save your pet's life, July 14 guest column.

Editor: I am disgusted with Pasco County's Animal Control demonstration of concern for homeless or lost animals without identification. Several years ago I attempted to acquaint the directors and associates of Pasco County Animal Control with the now nationwide practice of microchipping pets for identification. I met with great resistant and indifference.

Two major manufacturers, Home Again and Avid, provide qualified veterinarians with this small injectable identification system. Once injected during a routine office visit, the chip can easily be scanned for by a hand-held scanner passed or waved over the pet's back. It is similar to a grocery checkout scanner. The serial number read off the chip is unique for each pet and corresponds to a national directory. Whoever scans for the chip can locate the owner by a toll-free call to the directory. This system is accepted for use in all pets, including birds and exotics.

From my experience, Pasco County Animal Control has refused to implement a practice of scanning for these microchips. I offered to donate the universal scanners and was informed that they had already been donated. The then-director of Animal Control advised me that scanning for such chips was a waste of time and said the scanners would not be utilized.

Individuals should be held responsible for licensing their dogs per county ordinances. I am not in anyway indicating that owners should not properly license their pets. However, Pasco County is very narrow-minded in thinking that the only proper form of identification is their self-supplied license tags.

Collar breakage or removal is a common problem resulting in lost tags and therefore lost identification for escaped pets. Further, there is neither current acceptance nor expectation of licensing cats. Cats also are notorious for removing their own collars and are far more likely to be found without proper dangling tags.

I am a licensed veterinarian in Pasco County and have microchipped all of my own animals. If I were to lose my beloved pet in Pinellas County I believe it would be returned to me through the use of the microchip. Pinellas County has fairly uniformly accepted the microchip as a valid identification system and actively employs the scanners for identifying lost and stray pets. However, if a good Samaritan were to pick up one of my cats in Pasco County and deliver it to Animal Control, it would still be considered just another stray. Despite the microchip, it would be up to me to actively travel to Animal Control every two days to ensure my cat was not arbitrarily destroyed due to lack of what they consider proper identification.

According to Pasco County Animal Control, "It is impossible for anyone to know who the owner is without the animal wearing ID." This is a grave disservice by our county officials. It takes only 30 seconds to scan a pet.
-- Dr. Patricia A. Sterling, New Port Richey

Hot pepper a solution for animal pests

Re: Stray cats.

Editor: I had lovely neighbors in Long Island, N.Y., who had three cats. These animals found a winter haven under the jut-out of my dining room windows, facing south. I found their mewing funny until one of them sprayed the cellar window and the odor wafted through the house. Wow!

I crawled behind bushes and spread hot red pepper over the area. No cats. Once they licked their paws, they left.

I did the same thing to a hanging pot of petunias on a corner of the garage roof. Squirrels would scamper over the roof and sit in the petunias. One dose of red pepper and the pot-sitting ended.

This procedure is not harmful to any animals. Now if I can get it to work with raccoons!
-- Eileen Wisnieski, New Port Richey

Turn lane is reserved for select group

Re: Ticket trap shows lack of concern in officials, July 16 letter.

Editor: My husband and I have lived in Bayonet Point for 16 years and use Fivay Road to go back and forth to our church on Maryland Avenue and other points north. We have never given it a thought to trespass on the service station's property from U.S. 19 to get to Fivay Road on our way home.

The turn lane that letter writer Lee Henley referred to is strictly a U turn for residents of Club Wildwood and for customers of the service station. The left turn lane at the intersection of U.S. 19 and Hudson Avenue is the legal and proper turn to access Fivay Road.
-- Marie Maas, Bayonet Point

City officials' tax increase destructive

Re: Bummer budget for New Port Richey, July 2.

Editor: City Manager Gerald Seeber said an increase in the property tax rate from 6.25 mills to 6.42 mills and fees for city services and the library are needed. The amount of this fee is up to the City Council to set.

Then your paper published, on July 11, Hacienda Hotel plan survives budget ax. I understand Gulf Coast Community Care officials really do not want to sell. It's a historical building that will need a lot of work, and if it's not done to original specs, the building ceases to be historical.

Do we really need another church? It was historical, too. It cost more to move than the city planned, it was placed in the wrong direction, then the price for the foundation was ridiculous. When work crews finally got inside, they found it was termite-infested.

Seeber, the mayor and the City Council shouldn't spend money on unneeded things and give no thought to residents.

They chased the hospitals away and they are nickel and diming us to the poorhouse. I called one of the council members about all this and she said don't believe everything you read in the papers. Who should we believe? After the stupid things our officials have done, I believe the papers! Gee, sure wish you people would wake up and see they are destroying our lovely city.
Ann Bully, New Port Richey

Be safe: look around before backing out

Editor: I am an avid walker and biker. I have had some close calls with people backing out their driveways. One particularly close call had the driver coming out the garage like he/she was shot out of a cannon and racing backwards down the driveway.

I think the majority of drivers look one way as they are backing up and never concern themselves with what is happening on the other side or in back of them. My advice to them is, before even venturing out the driveway, take an additional five seconds and look left and right, using the rear and side view mirrors.

It just might avert a tragedy.
-- Dolores Soss, New Port Richey

Grandfather clauses pop up elsewhere

Editor: I do not live within the city limits of Port Richey, but Pasco County is just as bad with the grandfather clauses.

Anything they want to change, they just drop in the clause, so what good are the changes?
-- Nancy Davis, Port Richey

Pay attention to neglected spot on road

Editor: Except for the half-mile area between old State Road 54 and new SR 54, the widening of Little Road appears complete, with one other exception.

The center plot between the north and south lanes from Massachusetts Avenue and Old 54 has been totally neglected. There are no flowering bushes and shrubs, compared with the rest of the highway.

Is there a plan to eliminate this center section and add more driving lanes? Or doesn't the local community pay enough in taxes? This section of the highway deserves more attention by the county government.
-- George Montgomery, New Port Richey

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