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Better Pasco gas prices are a thing of the past

I've lived in Pasco County since 1992, and it's been a known fact that if anyone needed to buy gas in either Pasco or Pinellas and wanted to save money, you would buy it in Pasco. That's not the case now!

All you would have to do is travel from State Road 52 in Hudson to past Mitchell High School and turn to East Lake Road and beyond. You would find the opposite is true.

Dec. 9, I saw a station on East Lake Road, just before Palm Harbor, that had gas for $2.03 a gallon. In the same day the gas prices on this route were between $2.05 and $2.12. The rest of the stations had prices from between $2.05 and $2.09. They used to be 10 cents higher than Pasco stations.

So my question is have taxes gone up 10 cents a gallon in one year in Pasco County?

Good people don't need guns

Here we go again, another Pasco County tragedy involving local youths, guns and death. The quote from a 15-year-old who knew both involved was, "They were both really good people."

Let me be the first to tell you, really good people of any age do not and have no business carrying around a .38-caliber pistol in their waistband or anywhere else for that matter. I do not believe that New Port Richey has yet become that unsafe!

Both sides of aisle back state's gun laws

Re: Agenda of lawmakers mirrors that of NRA, Dec. 13 letter

It certainly is an invalid assertion that supporting positive gun laws has been a one-party effort or that a political cartel of some sort, composed of a small band of renegade party members, has been responsible for ignoring public safety, because the facts clearly show differently.

The Castle Doctrine Law, for example, passed the Florida Senate by a 39-0 vote, with the House voting 94-20 in favor. Obviously, many Democrats agreed that the law was a good one. The writer's obtuse letter describes that law as encouraging "irresponsible, aggressive and even illegal use of a firearm."

Factually, 133 Florida legislators disagreed with that assertion out of a total of 153, which comes to 87 percent. Hardly a cabal.

Another fact is that Florida's Legislature and governors have taken strong and positive steps in curbing violent crime in Florida, beginning with the Jack Hagler bill of 1987, which gave law-abiding people the right and the means to proper self-defense. The more recent 10-20-Life law has been another important contribution to public safety. Violent firearm crime has declined greatly since the implementation of that law, according to recent statistics published by the Florida Department of Corrections, which states "10-20-Life has helped drive down Florida's violent-gun crime rates 30 percent since 1998. State's 2004 index crime rate now the lowest in 34 years, and the violent crime rate the lowest in a quarter century".

See you at the ballot box.

Preventing animal abuse protects society

Re: Little pup Miracle hangs on, with help, Dec. 8.

Not only do we need to find the perpetrator(s) for the horrific pain and suffering they caused to this little pup but also so that people will be safe.

In study after study, there is a huge body of evidence linking animal abuse to human violence including child abuse and elder abuse. Battered pets are a serious component of family violence and animal cruelty is an indicator of social and emotional problems that often lead to acts of interpersonal violence.

A high incidence of animal abuse is found in the childhood histories of violent criminals such as Dennis Rader, the "BTK" killer who terrorized people in Kansas. He wrote in a chronological account of his life that he hanged a dog and a cat. And, most disturbing of all may be that many of the school shootings that have happened in the past few years show that animal cruelty was a common link. Springfield, Oregon, 15-year-old Kip Kinkel, tortured animals before starting a shooting rampage at his high school. Columbine High School students Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, who shot and killed 12 classmates before turning their guns on themselves, spoke of mutilating animals to their classmates. No one had ever reported the animal abuse, even though many knew about it.

If a person witnesses or suspects animal cruelty, they should contact the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Tampa Bay, Animal Control or the Humane Society and, if it is an emergency, call the police or Sheriff's Office immediately.

Communities have to recognize that abuse to any living individual is unacceptable and endangers everyone. Early identification and intervention can help break the cycle of violence. Courts should aggressively penalize animal abusers, examine families for other signs of violence and order perpetrators to undergo psychological evaluations and counseling.

Prevention! The SPCA Tampa Bay believes being proactive through humane education is key to ending abuse and neglect toward animals and people. Its Against Cruelty Together program informs middle and high school students about how to recognize and report abuse, that animal cruelty is against the law and about living with compassion and respect for everyone.

"Commentary' insults Catholic Church

Re: Losing Purgatory, finding the Gospel would be true gift, commentary by Steve Gushee (Palm Beach Post), Dec. 10 religion page.

I can barely believe that your newspaper saw fit to print Steve Gushee's commentary.

In addition to containing misunderstandings about the Catholic Church, it is full of insults and accusations. Witness the following: "The church has long been preoccupied with rewarding the saved - good baptized Catholics - and damning everyone else. Limbo, Purgatory, and even Hell grew out of the need to intimidate Catholics and eternally punish those who fail to measure up to the church's standards."

Would you dare to print such a diatribe concerning the beliefs of any Protestant denomination, or for that matter, any other faith? Is anti-Catholicism the last acceptable prejudice? Can any rubbish be printed as long as it is labeled "commentary?" What business is it of the St. Petersburg Times what the Catholic Church teaches about the afterlife? Is your newspaper prepared to be the forum for a full debate of the issues of the Reformation? I think you owe your Catholic readers an apology.

For the record, the Catholic Church does not condemn non-Catholics. Limbo is a theological theory that attempted to account for souls who are were not "born of water and Spirit" (John 3:5), as Jesus said was necessary to "enter the kingdom of God." The Church does believe in Hell (see Matthew 25:41). Don't most Protestants? Purgatory is implied by a variety of Scriptures and in the practice from Apostolic times of praying for the dead. Non-Catholics can find an accurate explanation of Catholic beliefs in the Catechism of the Catholic Church, instead of relying upon Mr. Gushee's caricature.

America's Christian identity under attack

America was established as a Christian nation. But now there are destroyers at work, whose purpose is to destroy Christianity. The entire Western world consists of Christian nations. In America, Christmas and Easter are national holidays. Our calendar is based on Christianity. This year is 2005 AD: that is, 2005 in the year of our Lord.

But now the destroyers say we are not a Christian nation and any religion is equal to Christianity. Even our local politicians seem to have been brainwashed into believing the destroyers.

Last year, a Pasco library branch was told to remove a Christmas tree. It was told that if it wanted to display a Christmas tree it would have to provide equal space for a Jewish symbol, a Muslim symbol and perhaps even for a Buddhist symbol.

Even "Merry Christmas" seems to be against the law.

America is a Christian nation but with freedom of religion. Non-Christians have the right to practice any religion but they do not have the right to overthrow Christianity.

In Washington, D.C., the government puts up a giant Christmas tree every year but now they want to change it to a Holiday tree. The destroyers occupy high places in our governments.

The destroyers have changed the names of schools' Christmas and Easter vacations to "winter break" and "spring break."

By what authority do the destroyers exercise their perverted power? Surely they must be aware that the phrase "In God We Trust" is stamped on our coins. Do they know that Congress sessions are started with prayers and have been since 1777?

Do they know that federal court judges who order local courts to remove the Ten Commandments from their courthouses, are usurping authority that they do not have? The federal judges use "separation of church and state" as an excuse but they don't seem to know what that phrase means. That phrase means that people are not compelled to attend a government established church or to pay taxes to that church.

School children should be taught American history and the principles of freedom.

[Last modified December 16, 2005, 00:54:19]