I must take issue with your editorial. While I am no fan of Sen. Jim Sebesta and the Republican horde in Tallahassee, one must give credit where credit is due. Sebesta is addressing the neglected issue of traffic safety, and while your editorial board has cast a cynical eye toward his proposal - at least he has bothered to take notice that our roads have become a slaughterhouse where innocent lives are rubbed out every day.
If we built a memorial like the Vietnam War Memorial in Washington, D.C., but instead etched the name of every innocent person killed by reckless driving in Florida over the last 25 years, our new memorial would have to be 24 percent larger (to accommodate the 72,000-plus names for Florida highway deaths as opposed to the D.C. Memorial's 58,000-plus names). A national highway death memorial 10 feet tall would stretch on for almost a mile.
Yet, we seem not to make the connection between speeding and horrible death and injury. We have a happy-go-lucky/slap-on-the-wrist attitude toward hurling a one-ton projectile at 80 miles per hour down a residential street.
I fully support Jim Sebesta's proposal and would recommend even stiffer penalties: Those caught driving over 45 mph on a residential or urban street should have their licenses suspended and their vehicles impounded. Anyone caught driving faster than 80 mph on any road for any reason should also be fined $5,000 and spend one week in jail where he would be shown a daily slide show of autopsy photos of traffic fatalities. We should, at the very least, build the Florida traffic death memorial and place it right in the middle of Tampa's Bayshore Boulevard so everyone has to slow down to drive around it.
-- Jason K. Jolliff, Clearwater
What's wrong with enforcing the law?
Re: State of Waldo?
You folks in the "writing business" should give more of a balanced view of fines for the misuse of auto speeds.
It is clear that no one is fined for speeding through the fair city of Waldo, Fla., unless he is exceeding the speed limit. Now, what is wrong with that? Regardless of what that city does with its "fine," money is really not the point. It is too dad-gummed bad more cities in this state do not enforce the traffic speed laws as does Waldo (and Lawtey, too).
I was born and raised in Gainesville, and even as far back as the '40s, when I was a teenager, we all knew that if we drove through Waldo and Lawtey, you better believe we would get a ticket if we exceeded the speed limits in those towns.
So, I ask again: What is wrong with that concept of law enforcement?
-- Bobby Deen, Ormond Beach
Put traffic offenders on road crews
Re: State of Waldo?
If state Sen. Jim Sebesta truly wishes to reduce the death toll on our roads caused by those who violate traffic laws, the answer is simple and effective. Punish offenders with community service time on a level commensurate with their crimes.
Fines disproportionately hurt the poor who can rarely afford the cost of their mistakes. Fines, no matter how onerous to the poor and middle class, are useless, however, against persons whose wealth protects them from such methods of punishment.
The thought of joining a sheriff's road crew on the side of the road will do more to discourage dangerous and aggressive driving than any amount the senator might propose. Additionally, such punishments would avoid the charge that the punishments are designed for reasons other than road safety.
-- Jude Michael Ryan, San Antonio
More news, less opinion
Given 30 free days of the Times, I decided to give the paper another chance. After all, it has been years since I decided I no longer needed or wanted a newspaper editorializing every news item it printed. Has there has been a change? No! Your articles on The Passion of the Christ, along with the article on Prayer Rooms and other coverage (noticeably political) show no difference.
For instance, coverage of The Passion on Feb. 24 begins with "wrenches faithful." The film "pushes," there are "graphic depictions," and "bloody" suffering. It is a "test of endurance." I am not denying that this is a graphic movie. It is the editorial slant of your coverage that bothers me. The news on Channel 10 and 8 covered the story and did an excellent job on balancing the comments. I have never seen the Times come out about the "bloody, graphic" nature of Scream 1 and Scream 2, or Friday the 13th, etc. These movies and many others far surpass, I am sure, The Passion in gory detail.
Your political negativity against anything Christian or conservative is constant. Witness your front page coverage on Feb. 24. of President Bush's campaign starting up. In a mere 4-line summary with title, you used three negative messages - "campaign jolts into gear," "Bush defends record and attacks Democrats."
I could write my own coverage with my own slant. It would read like this: "Bush campaign swings smoothly into gear. President Bush underlines his record and puts Democrats on the defensive."
Hmmm . . . sounds different, doesn't it? The power of the written word! Please! Let's try a little more news and a lot less opinion!
-- Linda K. Rodante, Tarpon Springs
Republicans hit below the belt
Re: His new mission: Elect Kerry, Feb. 23.
Your story on former Sen. Max Cleland and Sen. John Kerry was magnificent in its portrayal of both the lasting bond between these two veterans of war, as well as how low Republicans will go in attacking their opponents.
I agree with most Democrats in that former Sen. Cleland stands as the greatest symbol of just how low this administration and its allies will go to win. President Bush, a man who ran as a "uniter not a divider," ran aggressively against a man who supported many of his key programs in education, taxes and foreign policy. However, Bush and the Republicans did not just "run aggressively" against Sen. Cleland. Rather, they ran ads comparing Sen. Cleland, a man who lost his right arm and legs in Vietnam while President Bush and the vast majority of his administration somehow did not serve, to Osama Bin Laden and Saddam Hussein. President Bush said that Democrats like Sen. Cleland are not interested in the defense of this nation.
The Bush administration and its allies have what is, in my view, a sad and sorry record. Time and time again, the administration that promised to unite and never divide took opportunities to unite, such as the aftermath of the 2000 election or Sept. 11, and instead divided us through a surprisingly right wing agenda. However, it is in the administration's shameful and degrading treatment of the likes of former Sen. Cleland, Republican Sen. John McCain and the now allegedly "treasonous" Sen. John Kerry that we find the administration's most shameful record. The spectacle of the chicken hawk trio of Rove-Cheney-Bush taking on this Band of Brothers is too much for me to bear. May God bless Sen. Max Cleland.
-- Luis Viera, Temple Terrace
Coulter's uncivil discourse
Re: His new mission: Elect Kerry.
Regarding Max Cleland's war injuries, Ann Coulter is quoted as saying, "He saw a grenade on the ground and picked it up. He could have done that at Fort Dix. . . . Luckily for Cleland's political career and current pomposity about Bush, he happened to do it while in Vietnam. . . . There was no bravery involved in dropping a grenade on himself with no enemy troops in sight."
Good thing Ms. Coulter was there so she could report firsthand and accurately the circumstances of Mr. Cleland's injuries, and of the challenges faced by our troops in a war zone.
How dare this small, small woman, who has all her extremities, demean and devalue the military service of anyone who served or serves on active duty on foreign soil! I am sure her views are of great comfort to the loved ones of soldiers killed or injured by friendly fire or other military accidents.
Her ego knows no bounds. She seems incapable of civil and thoughtful discourse. But worst of all, she subverts intelligent discussion at all levels. It seems to be the only way she can stay in the spotlight.
-- Saundra Curry, Clearwater
Don't gloss over his voting record
Re: His new mission: Elect Kerry.
Articles like this one make me wonder if I forgot to take an elective in journalism school - you know, the one where they teach you how to do subtle hatchet jobs so you can advance a particular viewpoint in the guise of a news story? Had it appeared in Sunday's Perspective, I wouldn't have had a problem. That it appeared on the front page only makes me laugh harder when news folk cry, "What liberal media?"
One need look no further than how writer Adam Smith glosses over those 11 times Cleland voted against the Homeland Security Bill. Those "civil service rules" in Cleland's version of the bill - the ones that sound so innocuous in the context of the article - actually went to the heart of how the president wanted to organize Homeland Security. Bush wanted the freedom to hire and fire personnel in the new department, the same freedom he has with other agencies that involve national security, without the entanglement of union rules. Cleland, beholden to his labor union supporters, voted against that. In a clear choice between unions and national security, the former senator chose his unions - and that issue was fair game for Saxby Chambliss during the campaign.
That Cleland (and Mr. Smith, it would seem) are crying foul over the issue ads that attacked him is unseemly, especially in a time when Democrat support groups are creating ads that compare Bush to Adolf Hitler without batting an eye.
No, it seems that Mr. Smith's point is to paint Republicans as a whole in a negative light, for daring to have the audacity to call Max Cleland on his record. That his service in Vietnam was noble is indisputable, and that his bravery in overcoming his wounds is inspirational - but none of that is a shield against his voting record.
-- Marc Giller, St. Petersburg
On racism, speak for yourself
Re: Play probes the demons that weaken race resolve, Feb. 23.
I'm writing in response to Mary Jo Melone's column in which she writes about the play Spinning into Butter. I have not seen the play, so I don't have an opinion regarding it. However, she purports to speak for all whites, apparently, when she says that we are "infected" with the "disease" of racism.
I beg to differ. I was raised from birth (and I am a Southerner) to believe that any kind of racism is abhorrent, and I believe that to my bones! I agree that if there is any racism anywhere, that is too much! But to imply that all whites are racist is way out of line, and I believe that people should speak for themselves if they feel they are.
If you feel the need for a mea culpa, please do so, but don't include everyone else in your psychoanalysis. If you are trying to say you find disgusting and repulsive some of the things that have happened recently, I agree. But I believe those are the acts of the dregs of society, not the norm.
-- Lucy C. Lack, Tampa
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