Letters to the Editors

Story on fire official unfair and dishonest

Editor: Re: Firefighter employed by board member, Jan. 15 Times:

As a business owner and resident of the Tampa Bay area for more than 12 years, I refer to your newspaper daily as a source of information. I am compelled to write to you in reference to the article by staff writer Robert King. While I do not know the politics or chain of command in writing a newspaper, I do know decency.

Mr. King could not have come across more biased or hostile toward Spring Hill Fire Rescue District Commissioner Tommy Marasciullo. Skewing an article might come across to many as good reading or a good story, but it is unfair and dishonest. Stating Mr. Marasciullo was the "swing vote" was a lie. Mr. Marasciullo was fourth in line to vote, which left the swing vote to chairman Jeffrey Hollander. To imply impropriety on the part of our fire commissioner for voting to agree with prosecutors when they stated they did not have sufficient evidence to file charges against these men is not only biased, it's absurd.

On that same pretense, Mr. King should do another article on the lawmakers or the justice system for not making some false charges to prosecute these men.

I am not taking sides in the legal matter itself. I trust our government and prosecutors to let us know what is just. That is why we vote them into office. To assume that everyone, including the courts, prosecutors, judges and police, is involved in Mr. King's conspiracy theory is absurd. The other two fire commissioners -- Gene Panozzo and Jeffrey Hollander -- also voted in line with Mr. Marasciullo, yet there is nothing written by Mr. King about a conspiracy theory with these votes.

This leaves me two choices to believe. 1. Mr. King is trying to make a conspiracy theory about Mr. Marasciullo -- which belongs in a tabloid, not in a trusted newspaper. 2. Mr. King has a hidden alliance with former fire commissioner Robert Kanner (who seems to have a vendetta against some of his own people). Either of these choices is unacceptable for me to view this article as valid and Mr. King as a valid writer for my source of local news.

Shame on Mr. King and whoever allowed this article to enter the newspaper I once regarded as a source of information. Mr. Kanner also should be ashamed of himself for comparing his own transgressions with the legitimate act of voting, especially when the vote coincided with the decision of government officials and prosecutors.

To quote Mr. King's article "Former Fire Commissioner Bob Kanner, who faced conflicts of interest allegations while on the board, said Marasciullo's relationship to (John) Ferriero is more extensive than anything Kanner was ever criticized for."
-- Dan Mitchell, Spring Hill

Firefighters should have been fired

Editor: Re: Firefighter employed by board member, Jan. 15 Times:

I'm sorry, but this just smacks of a good ol' boys club. Frankly, all should have been fired.

It boggles the mind that the powers that be are not differentiating between "rape" and "consensual (and apparently extramarital) sex." Considering the position these firefighters are in and the image they should be projecting to the community, they have all earned an F-minus. But all they seem to have received was a slap on the hand.

Meanwhile, the alleged victim has to go through life being labeled a "firehouse groupie" and God knows what else. I wonder how any of these "upstanding citizens" would feel if this happened to a female family member of theirs.

I seem to recall a previous article that said the accused firefighters apologized to the their community and families. I can tell you, if I was any one of these guy's wives I just don't know if an apology would cut it. On one hand you would always know your husband was unfaithful to you, no matter what. On the other hand, you would always be wondering whether your husband was a rapist.

Nice choices.
-- Susan D'Aquino, Hudson

Portable air incinerator a bad idea

Editor: Re: Brush burning business opposed, Dec. 20 Times:

My wife Dolores and I are strongly against this portable air incinerator proposal.

We fought a similar incinerator problem in Naperville, Ill., which was going to burn used photographic film. The mayor of our town never got re-elected because engineers proved how toxic the fumes would be, and it would have been located three blocks from an elementary school.

If we make enough noise, this plan will be scrapped, too. Thank you for bringing this to our attention.

I also am sending this on behalf of some close friends who do not have Internet access and want to voice their opposition to this proposal. They are Eugene and Alice Connelly, Mary Guerriero and Rita Slaven. All live in Ridge Manor.

They ask that I remind the county commissioners that if this proposal goes through, they will remember at election time and vote them out.
-- Walter and Dolores Sindewald, Ridge Manor

County ignored opposition to Wal-Mart

Editor: This is for all the elected commissioners and such in Hernando County.

You have destroyed our county by going against the people. Wal-Mart was opposed by the people, yet you just went ahead and approved and rezoned areas. They now monopolize the area.

In no other city would you find so many Wal-Marts within such short distance. You keep rezoning and damn the people. Even when the building of Wal-Mart on U.S. 19 and Spring Hill Drive was under review, you still allowed them to build. Their only purpose is to close businesses and put people out of work.

This is not what you were elected to do. It is about time voters show their views, vote them all out and have new elected members remember that government is supposed to be "for the people, by the people." Somehow this has been lost in our rights as Americans.

Let's wake up before it has no meaning at all.
-- Jo Vetere, Spring Hill

Emergency phone recording welcome

Editor: Re: Missing man found by deputies, Dec. 31 Times.

I am a part-time resident of Timber Pines. I usually live in London. I received the recorded message. I thought it was a mistake and went straight back to bed. Once I read the newspaper and realized it was not a mistake, I thought it was a brilliant idea for the community. I wish we had such a system in London.

To complain because one was woken up for a few seconds by such an emergency is terrible. I am a foreigner, and to know that some of the Timber Pines residents behave like this makes me feel more than ashamed to be part of it. I just want to make clear that while some complained, other residents did not.

Well done, Sheriff Richard Nugent; and should it happen again, I hope I will be able to help, too.
-- Francesca Caiselli, Spring Hill

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