Finally, my tax dollars are being used for something that will improve the quality of my life and those that I share my Hernando County home with - my dogs! Maybe now I will feel like I truly live on the Nature Coast as I will be able to enjoy a county park with all the members of my "family."
Thanks, county commissioners and employees of our parks department, for recognizing the needs of our most compassionate citizens and best friends.
-- Brian Hemminger, Spring Hill
Decision shows priorities misplaced
Editor: Re: Dog parks.
Melanie Woods of Palm Harbor (Times opinion, July 14) was right on. Here we are discussing a park for dogs; meanwhile our children are getting an education that is below standard, not to mention going to school in trailers.
I don't have any children going to school here, but these are all our children. They are the future of America. Will America be buried like the ancient Greeks and ancient Romans? It's about time we decide what comes first.
I am a flag-waver, and I want our country to be the best. You can't get that without a great education.
-- Lee DeCristo, Spring Hill
School system can't bear degrading
Editor: Re: Shortcut good for classes, bad for students, editorial, July 16 Times.
Your editorial comes across as a wimpish failure to treat this serious subject seriously. Please sit down and ponder the gravity of further degrading our educational system, which has been on a slide for many years.
May I suggest again that we separate sports from education by assigning them to the municipal government so educators can focus on education and not be the first to get chopped? At the rate that we are going, we may eventually run out of well-educated foreign doctors and specialists to support our society of fluff and misguided management.
-- George Warren, Spring Hill
Issue unleashes a pundit of doggy puns
Editor: Re: Proposed dog park.
Hernando County commissioners, understandably, are dog-tired by the dog days of summer. However, these top-dog officials should respond promptly to the hounding and dogged demands for a dog park by underdog dog owners.
Paved paths would enable dogs to ride their dog carts. A dog sled area would be appreciated by dogs visiting from the North. Dogwood would be planted wildly. Regular maintenance would be necessary to prevent the park going to the dogs. Security would be provided by dogs on a dog watch. Lectures on, for example, Dogmatics 101 would develop dogs' cultural understanding. Park rules would require dogs to wear a dog collar and a dog tag. Such rules would be written in government-style doggerel to make them difficult to understand. Page corners would be reinforced to prevent them becoming dogeared. Violators of the rules would be in the dog house.
Every dog would have its day by inviting dog owners to attend the opening ceremony. Hot dogs and dogfish would be served. Owners for a while thereby would live a dog's life.
Establishment of this park will not be dog-cheap. Nevertheless, proponents and opponents should drop their doggone dog-eat-dog and dog-in-the-manger attitudes. Only then will a Hernando dog park become a Dog Star on the canine map.
-- James A. Willan, Brooksville
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