Re: Council learns the fine art of frustration, Nov. 30 Times:
Editor: I have been working with the press in Hernando County since 1986. I have always found that the St. Petersburg Times has been fair to me. I also believe that Arts and Entertainment Editor Barbara Fredricksen sincerely believes she was fair in her treatment of me and the Fine Arts Council's project.
I also will not use this forum to clear up any misconceptions about strategies that were taken. To do that might imply that I was pointing at others. The Hernando County Fine Arts Council is my client. I am a marketing and public relations consultant. With all my clients, that pattern is the same: I suggest, my client decides for or against my suggestion, and once the decision is made it becomes mine to promote. In good times and bad, my client is my client (just as with an attorney or any professional client-consultant relationship).
Having said that, there are some personal issues I feel compelled to address.
First, there is the issue of my motivation. I believe it is very presumptuous and judgmental to say what is in anyone's mind. All who know me know that I have always believed that promoting the arts in a community makes the community a safer and better place. With the exception of a brief appearance with the Hernando Symphony Orchestra, I have not appeared on stage in the past five years. This would not appear to be the best path for someone who simply wants to act.
Yes, I said I'd quit my job to portray Tevye on Broadway. I was talking about the role of Tevye, a father of girls struggling with a changing world, and not a career.
My next point refers to a style of journalism. In the past 18 years I have been accustomed to being told by reporters what specific conclusions they have drawn and then asked, "Do you have a comment?" I then appreciate the opportunity to tell my side of the story.
In this case, throughout my entire interview with Fredricksen, I never once realized that I was the subject of so much of the story, so I could not adapt my responses accordingly. In other words, I could not adequately tell my side. This was unique to this interview compared with the hundreds of other interviews in which I have participated.
Thank you for giving me the opportunity to address these concerns.
-- Vince Vanni, Brooksville
Mariner Boulevard is dangerously crowded
Re: Mariner Boulevard traffic problems.
Editor: Well, it finally happened: a fatal accident on Mariner at Quality Drive. Many residents of Hernando County have predicted that the section of Mariner Boulevard in Seven Hills was an accident waiting to happen.
Now the county may approve an apartment complex off Mariner, which will only make the traffic situation worse.
When is the county going to use some common sense about our roads? The elementary school on Quality Drive also uses these roads for its bus routes. Do we want the kids who use the buses to end up in the hospital, or worse?
I don't have the answers, but they should be obvious.
-- George E. Miller, Spring Hill
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