Restoring felons' voting rights won't improve society
Letters to the EditorPublished February 21, 2005
Re: Restore felons' right to vote, editorial, Feb. 15.
Felons should have the right to vote? Yeah, right. Just what this country really needs are more rapists, thieves and arsonists picking the people and policies to run our country. Well, after all, haven't they "paid their debt to society" by serving a couple of years of prison time?
The answer is an obvious "no." A wake of victims has been left behind these felons, and society needs to watch their behavior for a time to make sure there truly has been a permanent change in behavior.
There is a good reason why convicts are called "cons." Many of these known criminals know how to talk the talk, but society deserves to know if they will really live up to at least the minimum standards of civilized living.
So do you really feel that felons voting for our school boards, judges, sheriffs and other public officials is a good idea? Well, do you also feel that your children and family deserve the society you build for them?
Our society will not be a better place with felons voting for candidates and policies.
Douglas Fairbanks, St. Petersburg
A policy with racist roots
Re: Restore felons' right to vote, editorial.
When I learned last year that Florida doesn't automatically restore felons' voting rights, I was surprised. When I learned the racist beginnings of this policy, I was shocked and embarrassed.
Any politician who doesn't support eliminating this archaic practice might as well have separate "white" and "colored" entrances for his/her office.
Patrick Moody, Brandon
Let felons pay restitution first
I recently read your article on restoring the rights of convicted felons. As a victim advocate for 15 years, I am disappointed that there was no mention of making sure that the offender pays all court ordered restitution to the innocent victim of crime. Instead the discussion - and the current Senate and House bills - centers around offenders serving the court imposed sentence.
Offenders are routinely released from prison and complete their probation without ever paying restitution to the victim. They also do not pay their court ordered fines and court costs. Let's make sure the victims recover at least their monetary losses, not to mention their peace of mind.
-- Mark Lazarus, Tallahassee
Reparations would heal the wrongs
Re: Misplaced anger thwarts healing dialogue, Feb. 16.
Eric Deggans wanted to have a discussion about slavery in America as a part of Black History Month. He wrote about "the only way to really heal these wounds: open communication. That means listening as well as talking."
The legacy of hundreds of years of slavery, followed by years of Jim Crow laws, terrible poverty, low wage jobs, thousands and thousands of lynchings, and a lack of civil and voting rights even now impacts the lives of African-Americans. Where is the inheritance of black Americans? It is in the hands of the descendants of the slave sellers, plantation owners, insurance companies, industrialists, etc. Yes, real pain still exists because of current conditions that are the consequence of this history.
Surely more than a discussion is needed to heal these horrible wrongs perpetrated against human beings. Wouldn't payment of reparations rectify the real, tangible inequities more than a conversation?
It sounds to me as though the young man who questioned the academics wasn't against education, but wondered, where is your common sense?
-- Anne Hirsch, St. Petersburg
Allow direct shipping of wines
Re: Crist sides with retailers on mail-order alcohol law, Feb. 2.
As the owner and operator of a family winery in St. Petersburg, I was dismayed to read of Attorney General Charlie Crist's opposition to direct wine shipments into Florida.
A decade ago, there were just four states that allowed for direct interstate shipments of wine or other alcoholic beverages. Today there are 26. Today 39 states allow their in-state wineries to ship wine directly to their residents, and all cite no problems with underage access.
Government officials have gone on record that underage access has not been a problem in legal shipping states. The Federal Trade Commission's July 2003 report thoroughly debunked the underage access myth along with the myth of decreased tax revenues and compliance. All wineries know they have a responsibility to avoid underage access and always support adult signature at delivery. They also support payment of all taxes due any government authority.
The issue here is not one of underage access, it is one of protectionism. The wholesaler industry's attack on free enterprise and the Constitution masquerades as a false concern for underage access to alcoholic beverages.
I urge everyone to resist the pressures from the wholesaler industry to ignore fundamental principles of freedom, choice and capitalism and to support free enterprise and our state's family wineries on this important issue.
-- Vincent R. Shook, president, Florida Orange Groves Inc. and Winery, St. Petersburg
First Amendment doesn't protect a job
Re: Professor may be wrong, but it's his right, Feb. 16.
Of course professor Ward L. Churchill has the right to say whatever he likes. He just does not have a "right" to be a professor at the University of Colorado. He may or may not have a contractual "right" to keep his job regardless of mindless declarations he may make, but his constitutional free speech rights are not affected by his firing. Let him write letters to the editor, speak on a downtown corner, contract sky writing, or whatever. He can express himself all day long without anyone infringing on his free speech rights.
-- James C. Slack, Tampa
Consider caffeine and stress
Re: Serenity, stat! Feb. 15.
Several years ago I found I was stressed on the job and had the uncanny feeling that something unpleasant was about to happen. I finally went to the company doctor and he prescribed a calming drug. On a bad day, I took a couple of tablets and got so dizzy that I decided I didn't need that.
It just so happened that there was an article in the paper about the effects of coffee and its caffeine on the nervous system, which in large amounts would cause stress. I had been drinking four to six cups of coffee a day, so I decided to quit and see if that solved the problem. It did eliminate the stress, but it also gave me terrible headaches until my body was able to adjust to the lack of caffeine.
So, instead of looking for complicated solutions to stress, it may be that a simple solution like too much caffeine in coffee or soda is the answer.
-- Bob Cooper, Seminole