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Ignorance, not homosexuality, is the cause of HIV

Re: City deserves no praise for events promoting gay lifestyle, letter by Henry L. King, Aug. 23.

This is in direct response to the letter where the author states, "Haven't you heard (homosexuality) is a leading cause of HIV?"

It is important to correct ignorance when it presents itself. The leading cause of HIV is not homosexuality; it is ignorance and stupidity. It is unsafe sexual contact, and it is the sharing of needles.

Please don't lump all gay men and women into the stereotype your church may have taught you. We are not all sex-crazed people having unprotected sex while shooting up with used needles.

Maybe it's the ignorance and the backwardness of this community that causes the Tampa area to have 1 percent of the nation's HIV cases (which doesn't seem like much, but if each state had its fair share, it would be 2 percent for all of Florida).

Let's be smart and teach our people about the real causes of HIV. It's not being gay, it's being ignorant.

Don't assume others oppose gay lifestyle

Re: City deserves no praise for events promoting gay lifestyle, letter by Henry L. King, Aug. 23.

I was struck by Mr. King's letter. In it he claims that homosexuality is the leading cause of HIV. In actuality, according to Ortho Women's Health: "Although at first, HIV mainly appeared in male homosexuals in this country, the epidemic is a leading killer of women. While the majority (64 percent) of AIDS cases diagnosed in women in 2000 were attributed to heterosexual contact, one-third of AIDS cases were attributed to injection drug use."

Mr. King also claims that 99 percent of the citizens of Dunedin would be against praising the city for its "Pride in Our Diversity" event. Given that the latest census shows that Dunedin is home to 35,691 people, that would mean that Mr. King is speaking for 35,334 citizens. That's amazing. I wonder when Mr. King found the time for his exhaustive survey?

His claims that homosexuality is "immoral and antibiblical" are interesting. I assume that all 35,334 citizens he represents subscribe to his brand of religion, let alone his version of the Bible (the King James version, I assume).

Mr. King, with regard to your offer to move, there are some places on the planet that subscribe to ideals of xenophobia and intolerance with which you may be more comfortable: Pockets of Afghanistan, Iran, Asmara, or maybe Uzbekistan are more to your liking.

Truly, it is better to keep quiet and be assumed a fool than to open one's mouth removing all doubt.

Mobile homes can be assets to the area

It has been interesting watching the Largo and Pinellas County commissions as they attempt to deal with redevelopment issues, in particular the relocation of mobile home residents when the property is sold. No easy answers.

In the 1950s and '60s, Florida, Pinellas and Largo eagerly invited folks to retire in paradise. "Trailer parks" sprang up all over Largo and Pinellas, encouraged by the political leaders of the day.

Many of these park residents retired on modest incomes, but they could live out their lives in a somewhat safe and secure environment. This trend continued until the mid 1980s, when property for development became scarce and property values started going up.

Today in Pinellas County, we have many beautiful, well-maintained mobile home communities that are certainly an asset to the entire area. We must do all we can to make certain that these modern communities are kept as assets, just as housing and townhouse developments are.

Not many of those early "trailer parks" remain today, but for those that do, life is not the paradise of years gone by. Most of these early parks are rundown, little if any maintenance takes place, and most mobile homes are old and beyond repair. However, people still live in these old parks - real people who live, breathe and walk among us. We can't hide from that, and we certainly can't ignore it.

The folks who live in these villages of a bygone era are some of the poorest of us in terms of wealth. Cities and counties have not enforced codes over the years, and park owners have taken profits and not reinvested in the property, and with that has come the deteriorated state of today.

As a former elected official, I did not do all I could or should have done, but I urge the elected officials of today to take action now to avoid what will become a moment of shame if we take no action. Florida has had too many "harvests of shame." Let this not become another.

I am no "bleeding heart liberal" asking for handouts. Reaching out to help these people is the right thing to do. I applaud Largo Mayor Bob Jackson and Pinellas County Commission vice chairman Ken Welch for keeping this issue before their legislative bodies.

My grandparents were of that generation who retired to Largo in the 1950s in a mobile home. They passed away long before the park they lived in became rundown and, in fact, torn down. I think we must remember that these early parks were the redevelopment of their day.

Community has lost a remarkable citizen

Tarpon Springs is grieving the loss of a remarkable woman, pioneer, advocate, neighbor and friend.

Carole Mann Camerlin loved this town as much as we all loved her. I first found her as a close neighbor, then working at the library, often visiting her mom, Jessie Mann, two doors away from us, or at the Universalist Church with Bob and Elizabeth Mann, giving parties, even bringing fudge to my parties!

We sat side by side through the City Commission's infamous Wal-Mart meeting - all 12-plus hours, then we cried in our eggs together at Rhodie's right after.

She was a consummate traveler, cultured, elegant, thinking globally, acting locally, and all the while exquisitely supporting what really matters in this burg: people, the arts, our unspoiled ecology, history, separation of church and state, and commerce. Many's the time she hit the brick pavers, petitions in hand, on our block and others for all our good causes.

Carole embodied the model citizen and, better yet, the best of human beings.

She left behind her fudge dish, her book of Sandro Botticelli's Drawings for Dante's Divine Comedy, and her father's old wooden painting boxes - gifts that our household will long treasure, but not as much as we treasure her loving-kindness and the legacy that she gave all of us in Tarpon Springs.

A ballad for Memorial Causeway

Ode to the old Memorial Causeway bridge:

I shall miss you.

[Last modified August 25, 2005, 00:52:33]