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Overtaxed Sand Key residents should join Belleair Beach

Re: City lowers tax rate more than expected, story, Sept. 23.

If you read the article carefully, you would have noted the poignant statement by Sand Key resident Christine Marriott.

Ms. Marriott mentioned secession as a means of saving money for Sand Key residents, to which I can only say: Amen!

I will offer something else for this tea party: Consider becoming part of Belleair Beach. Think about it for a minute. You have a functional, independent city structure already in place. Granted, we've got a problem with our city hall staffing at present, but it's nothing that can't be overcome. More important, we've got a significantly lower millage rate than Clearwater's egregious tax structure.

If you're a Clearwater resident, do you honestly feel grateful for the new 5.2088 millage rate? If so, try not to spend it all in one place.

In this proposed expanded Belleair Beach, we will have a more diversified economy (i.e. more total single-family dwellings and more retail), thus alleviating the tax burden on any one sector.

Another alternative is for Clearwater Beach and Sand Key to secede from Clearwater, and for exactly the same reasons.

Simply put, the status quo will not stand and the center will not hold.

Richard Pimley, Belleair Beach

DOT, school district haven't planned properly for Alt. U.S. 19 work

Unfortunately, we in Tarpon Springs are facing two interrelated and simultaneous construction projects and problems. Although these are in direct conflict, neither party seems concerned about the other.

The two projects are: 1) the Florida Department of Transportation is advising it will tear up Pinellas Avenue (Alt. U.S. 19) for the next two years from Meres Boulevard to Pasco County and 2) the school district is going to move the students from the central elementary school to the middle school on Florida Avenue in December and keep them there for 18 months.

This means we will have four student bodies - two grammar schools, the middle school and the high school - all on the west side of Alt. U.S. 19 within a five-block stretch on Florida Avenue and Gulf Boulevard with no way for school buses and parents to transport students east across Alt. U.S. 19.

The DOT statement that schedules have not been given to Tarpon because they cannot be predicted is in direct contrast to common good engineering practice where a detailed critical path schedule is prepared before the fieldwork begins and is updated continuously to account for variations in work progress.

As a long-term engineer, I have seen schedules that have as many as 25,000 items programmed and controlled over a three-year construction program. What is wrong with DOT's procedures?

Bud Margon, Tarpon Springs

Residents can protest insane insurance rates at group's rally

I am tired of property insurance premiums increasing by 100 to 400 percent. Hernando, Pasco and Pinellas counties are in the top five counties for high insurance premiums in Florida.

I represent a nonpolitical, nonpartisan, grass roots group that is fighting to get our insane insurance premiums lowered in Florida. HAC (Homeowners Against Citizens) is committed to fighting these insane rate increases we are seeing.

If you want your voice to be heard, please come to our rally that is being held at the West Pasco Government Center, 7530 Little Road in New Port Richey, on Saturday, Oct. 7, from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. This is not a county issue, it is a Florida issue, and we intend to keep fighting until we see rates lowered to a reasonable, affordable rate!

You can get more information on our Web site at www.hacfl.org.

Virginia Stevans, president, HAC Florida Inc.

Oral histories are a great way to preserve important WWII history

Re: Marked by WWII, now daily loss, story, Sept. 19.

I found the article by Dong-Phuong Nguyen about recording some of the personal histories of World War II veterans interesting and important.

One way to accomplish these recordings is by following an oral history format as I did. I used audio recordings when I interviewed nine of my siblings, two of whom were World War II veterans.

Although my purpose was to accomplish a family history rather than recording specific military activities, the important thing is to record how they describe the events that were important to them.

I would be more than pleased to share with anyone the procedure and problems that occurred during the years it took to conduct the interviews and eventually write the book based on the taped interviews.

Lute Lovely, Safety Harbor

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[Last modified September 29, 2006, 07:07:50]