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Don't second-guess deputies who face danger daily

Re : Deputy who shot dog deserves more than a day off, Aug. 19 letter.

I never knew how bad off we were here in Pasco if not for the highly trained letter writers who think they are remotely qualified to judge a deputy's reaction when they were not a witness to it.

Have they researched the actual reports? Surveyed the yard to find out how large it is and how far the dog charged? Know how much of that ground that particular dog was able to travel within the time frame in question?

Once you have that information, you still need to find out when the deputy first noticed the dog charging him. This is how an informed opinion is reached. Not by the second-hand, selective print version of what happened.

How can a letter writer attempt to compare his job as a surveyor to that of a deputy sheriff? When was the last time he went to a domestic dispute where everyone was drunk and out of control? Or, pulled over a car with darkened windows in the middle of the night on a dark rural road?

I have family in law enforcement and I know for a fact if a deputy receives a call, the deputy responds to the call. Regardless of the type of call, deputies must first protect themselves or they are useless in helping us. If a deputy waited in the car for the dog to leave, the owner to come out or just left like he was a land surveyor, he would lose his job.

County's indecision keeps runoff situation unsolved

Re : Woman on 2-year-old quest for dry land, Aug. 14.

The story mentioned other neighbors were being affected. Well I am one of her neighbors and we at the east end of the road are mainly being affected by Pasco County's inability to make a decision. After the hurricanes we put in ditches to control the runoff from heavy rains that washed out our dirt road. It was not passible unless you had a four-wheel drive truck.

An unnamed neighbor called and complained that the ditches were flooding her property, which lies downhill from the rest of us. So we got a visit from Code Enforcement, who contacted engineers who were supposed to help us with our problem. The engineer said we had to put the road back the way it was without ditches. Code Enforcement slapped a seven-day notice on all of our doors to return it to original condition.

Now, we are back to problems that we had before and no drainage. My property is 5.47 acres. I am on a hill and half or more of my land is under water. I have a small pond that is considered wetlands and when it overflows, it runs down the road and usually washes it out causing large ruts.

This unnamed neighbor claims that when the ditches were put in, it was to drain my pond. That wasn't the case. We were attempting to keep my pond's runoff from taking out the road.

All we want is Pasco County to tell us what we can do to control the runoff so it doesn't wash out our road and the count can't seem to do that.

We are at our wits end. Some neighbors are talking about moving because of this and they don't really want to.

Sticking to the rules sets good example for kids

I recently read an article about the local Hudson Little League team that was "called out before the game."

This was surely such a sad day for those kids, but why did this really happen? This is not a unique situation by anybody's imagination. There are guidelines and rules for every player, but somehow the grass always looks greener on another ball field, so rules get bent and twisted to fit someone else's needs or desires, not the players needs.

The kids don't care where they play; they just want to play, be good sports and learn more than just how to hit a ball. We, as parents, should be thanking people like Chris Burgan for making rules count. Isn't this why we try to elect the best person for this?

You must know this was not brought forth to hurt those children. She was elected to do a good job for all involved. What kind of example do we set for our children if we let them think it's okay to break rules as long as no one gets caught?

PSC ignores pleadings of Aloha's customers

Regardless of all the evidence of an inferior product, Aloha continues to pump its black dirty water to its customers.

In response to a petition of more than 2000 customers who requested to switch to Pasco County water, the PSC and Aloha ignored us and Aloha threatened that it would spend unlimited dollars to appeal any decision to force it to supply clean acceptable water.

Any other business supplying such an inferior product would have been out of business long ago. Surely the health department in many parts of the country would close such an operation.

The public has been able to curtail development of businesses like Wal-Mart and others, however when the public (Aloha customers) complain and show proof of a bad product the PSC continues to ignore the public.

Consumers sick of Aloha's bad water and attitude

Three cheers to Milton Chojnowski and Sen. Mike Fasano for their efforts against Aloha Utilities! The residents of Veteran's Village are just as consumed with this detestable water.

Aloha claims that, after 10 years, it's now going to fix this problem? Why has it taken 10 years? How many more years is it going to be stalling, disputing and driving up the legal fees?

And after all of this, we are supposed to bear the cost? Aloah needs to, not us. It hasthe monopoly, not us! We are the ones who need to change water providers, and soon. At least we would have some decent water for a change. (What a concept that would be.)

Maybe the state Public Service Commission needs to again read its mission statement and try to remember it is a public service commission and should not be on the side of corporations.

Sexual offender escaped justice for his horrible acts

Re: With support, sex offenders can change , Aug. 12 letter.

I cannot believe someone had the nerve to write such a letter. Whether a sexual offender can or cannot be rehabilitated is subjective. I am sure there are some who might have changed their ways, however, I am very sure the majority have not.

My main concern is that this alleged sexual offender got away with a serious crime without any consequences. It makes me sick to the stomach to now know that for all these years those two little boys had to live with what happened to them. Who took care of them? Who counseled them? Who calmed their fears? Did you, Mr. Bailey? I think not.

This person was never caught because no one turned him in and he was too much of a coward to do it himself. Those boys never knew their attacker. They had to live with the fear that he knew them. They had to live with the fear that he might return and do it again, or do worse. They never got justice for something they had no control over.

The worst part was that it was Christmas, a holiday so special for children. I would imagine that Christmas was never the same for them again.

Is the letter writer friends with this person? Do you live near him? Do you visit him on a regular basis? Do you ever talk to him, and I mean more than once or twice a year? Would you leave your children in his care?

He might have sexually assaulted other children before and after the incident described. There is no way the writer can know, and don't tell me his counselor is so certain.

Sexual offenders have proved time and time again how clever, cunning, manipulative and devious they can be. If he wanted to offend without the writer knowing, I am sure he would. The only way we will ever know is if he is caught.

There are consequences for actions. He committed a horrible act for which he should be punished. He has to live with this on his conscience. I am happy for that, but the victims will never have closure because of this coward.

You stated that he knew enough to seek advice from an lawyer before turning himself in to the police. He should have known better than to assault those two children. He never turned himself into the police because he was smart enough to come to you so he could escape justice and the punishment he really deserved.

Rehabilitation starts by taking responsibility for your actions and then seeking treatment so that the behavior will not continue. If he had turned himself in, he would have been punished, then he could have sought the same treatment you led him to. Then the justice system would be able to monitor him to help ensure he would not offend again. If he would have taken that path, then the letter you wrote would have held more credit than it does at this time.

I do not know how you can be proud about referring this unknown sexual predator to help, knowing that two little lives might have been devastated because justice was not served to them.

Glad I am not a lawyer!

[Last modified August 29, 2005, 03:00:19]