Re: School days might be numbered for Cokes, Feb. 19 Times:
The Hernando County School Board's hypocrisy on the Coca-Cola issue is compounded by its flippant demand to raid the purse strings of the public via the half-penny sales tax proposal.
While certain board members are declaring war on the presence of Coke in our school vending machines, they blithely ignore the empty calories from fast-food type meals served in school cafeterias. Fried, fatty foods are as guilty as soda pop when it comes to convicting the culprit of contributing to the ill health of our children.
Spearheaded by board members Robert Wiggins and Jim Malcolm, this crusade against Coke takes no issue with other deleterious factors available to schoolchildren in their nutritional content on campus. Suffice to say that given this lack of scope, the argument against soda is tangential at best.
While drinking soda pop shouldn't be encouraged as a lifestyle beverage, it is important to realize that these vending machines provide a source of revenue for the school districts. If little Johnny and Katy aren't getting their soda from school, then I guarantee you they are getting it from the 7-Eleven down the road or at home. I am assuming the School Board does not require any more revenue to cover district expenses if they can give away millions from vending machine revenues by replacing Coke with expensive water or highly concentrated fructose/sucrose based "fruit" juices.
While pleading for money a la the half-cent tax - a tax that we would not need according to Malcolm before the last referendum on a tax hike - Wiggins and Malcolm have failed to offer a solution to offset the losses that soda vendors provide. Both members have significant tenure on the board, but they are displaying limitations in their ability to create a solution where a problem lies.
I would suggest they reassess the personal wellness curriculum that teaches kids the harmful effects of Coke-like drinks before they offer empty solutions that only create further fiscal problems. After all, are they going to start suspending kids who bring Coke or Pepsi to school in their lunch boxes?
Wiggins sends his kids to private school. Malcolm no longer has children enrolled in public school. Neither member is significantly registered on any of our schools' campus visitation registers. If they don't see a problem, how can they fix one?
-- Jim Webb, Spring Hill
Incorporation can mean more government, more taxes
Re: Spring Hill is ready for incorporation, Feb. 19 Times:
Editor: I don't believe incorporation will get Spring Hill out from under the county, nor result in less taxes. Spring Hill incorporated would still be within Hernando County, with double government and double taxation.
I grew up in Miami and saw that happen when Miami-Dade County was voted in under the promise, "One government would replace multicity taxes and services, thereby reducing taxes." It didn't happen. The result was more government and more taxes.
I hope Spring Hill does not incorporate.
-- Bobbie Lynch, Spring Hill
County has bigger concerns than mere animal licenses
Editor: Having lived in or near Hernando County nearly 40 years, I was fairly sure I had witnessed some very eye-opening changes. However, when I received a blue post card in the mail informing me I needed to obtain a license for my old cat, I was stunned.
He's too short to drive and he doesn't have a viable occupation, and actually, he was retired. Unfortunately, when I informed him of his obligation to be licensed, he fell over dead, obviously more shocked than I was.
I read the Times in the morning and the Tribune in the evening and apparently I missed the notice of the commission agenda as per animal licensing, because I certainly would have attended the meeting. I probably would not have been granted much of an opportunity to express my views, but at least the considerations of our esteemed commissioners would have been entertaining.
It seems that the county Animal Services department realized I once owned a cat because I cared enough about him to have him neutered and given all his shots. The vet notified them, as required. Now, my deceased cat's medical history is public knowledge.
It's a good thing for the taxpayers that he died. I know he would have sued.
You know, the $10 doesn't bother me nearly as much as the irony of the whole thing. If I get another cat, preferably a young one so he can get a permit, I just won't take him to the vet. I'll imprison him in my home. At least he won't be subjected to the indignity of having to be licensed to reside in Hernando County.
I thought our commissioners were much too busy exploring new ways to spend the available money, and some money not available yet, to be bothered with licensing a cat. But I guess with the new half-cent sales tax referendum undecided and the new bond acquired, every $10 will be needed.
Tell you what. Being my old cat, Chester, died, I'll use his $10 for gas so I can drive to the polls and cast my vote for those I believe will be fiscally responsible and use some old-fashioned common sense.
-- Richard E. Sweade, Brooksville
[Last modified February 22, 2004, 01:45:26]
