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Remember to recycle those campaign signs

Wondering what to do with all of those campaign signs once the election is over? Recycle! Do your part to protect our environment and keep campaign signs out of the landfill.

A new program has been established in Pinellas County to provide a collection point for campaign signs. Whether you are a candidate collecting signs after the election or a citizen with signs in your yard or neighborhood, you can make a difference by recycling your signs.

The donated signs will be made available to schools and other organizations that have a use for them, and to companies that can recycle the signs into new materials or products. Donating signs is free, and it's free for schools to use them.

The drop-off location in Pinellas County is at the Keep Pinellas Beautiful facility, located at 4707 140th Ave N. Suite 214, Clearwater Airport Business Center. Signs will be collected Nov. 8-26. Candidates also have the option to give a donation to local high school clubs and have students pick up the signs.

Don't let your campaign signs take up space in a landfill. Please join this endeavor to protect our environment and keep Pinellas County beautiful.

Paula Dockery, state senator, District 15, Lakeland

(Dockery sponsored the legislation that created this pilot program in 2005.)

Stop political litter

Political signs have appeared everywhere during the last few days before this election, including places they shouldn't be. Any sign on the public right-of-way or on public property has been placed illegally. Friday at 5 p.m., quitting time for most code enforcement workers, was the start of the most blatant violations of our rights-of- way.

Code enforcement officers in our cities and counties have been overwhelmed in removing these signs. In every precinct I visited Tuesday, it seemed that this problem did not have a political party affiliation. Violations of our rights-of-way were blatant, and happened countywide.

How ironic is it that the very officials who want to uphold the laws and constitution, to serve us and to help our communities, would violate our laws and ordinances with their signs.

I'm sure many candidates would attribute this to overzealous volunteers, but the responsibility is with the campaign managers and candidates.

To the candidates in Tuesday's election, victorious or not, please return to these sites where your signs were placed and remove them. If you have aspirations of running for this same office again, please keep and reuse your signs, reducing waste and recycling your materials. This will also save our state, county and city time and money by not having to remove these signs for you. Please help us Keep Hillsborough County Beautiful.

Michael Brown, president, Keep Hillsborough County Beautiful, Tampa

Hussein gets death Nov. 6

There's little cause for celebration

Saddam Hussein this week received a sentence of death by hanging. President Bush praised this and stated, "Saddam Hussein's trial is a milestone in the Iraqi people's efforts to replace the rule of a tyrant with the rule of law - it's a major achievement for Iraq's young democracy and its constitutional government."

Many Americans are celebrating along with President Bush. I, for one, as a natural-born American citizen and Vietnam veteran, see no glory or reason for celebration in Hussein's death sentence nor will I feel any safer from the threat of terrorist attacks because of his execution. He and this Iraq war had no correlation with the real war against terrorism and the events of 9/11 to begin with.

So let President Bush, his big corporate allies and the rest of the Republican die-hard supporters bask in glory and a bit of victory. I will mourn for the continuing loss of brave and dedicated Americans dying in yet another needless political war. There will be speeches given (which all veterans deserve) by our hypocritical politicians on this Veterans Day holiday, but the "words" will be as far as it goes.

Saddam Hussein may deserve execution, but at what cost in American lives? And how may years will Saddam stay alive under appeals?

Jack Burlakos, Kenneth City

Hussein gets death

A dangerous precedent

Unlike President Bush and many others, who are praising the death sentence on former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein, I find no jubilation in the verdict. If Hussein had been both captured and tried by his own people, without any U.S. involvement, perhaps my sentiments would be otherwise. As far as I am concerned, our country is setting a dangerous precedent with the procedure used in removing Hussein from power.

And it should come as no surprise that other countries (Iran and North Korea) are developing nuclear weapons. Since the Bush administration appears to be gung-ho, they most likely fear that they too will become another victim of a U.S. invasion. As a result, Iran and North Korea are preparing to defend themselves against U.S. aggression.

Let us all thank President Bush for a job well done.

JoAnn Lee Frank, Clearwater

Muslim bashing in Hernando

Un-Christian words

Tolerance is an important cornerstone of our democracy. But when a faith community lashes out in hate again and again, we of course learn to associate that faith with hate. If you allow people to speak hatefully in the name of your faith and do not respond, then you are clothing your faith in hatred.

So here goes: As a Christian, I renounce the hateful speech of Tom and Mary Ann Hogan against my Muslim brothers and sisters. Jesus reached out across huge cultural barriers to commune in faith with everyone he met. So should we. "God is love," he taught. "And he who abides in love abides in God." That is the faith I learned. I don't know how these people were raised, but their hateful ideas are neither Christian nor patriotic.

M.J. Williamson, Tampa

Crist, Davis criticize Muslim bashing Nov. 4

Hogans are right

I guess being a politician means never having to speak the truth or the facts.

Give the Hogans an "atta boy" for not backing down and for saying what the rest of us are thinking. The right to speak freely applies to all of us, not only to the minority.

Glenda Pittman, St. Petersburg

Muslim bashing in Hernando

Bizarre thinking

I am a 20-year retired military veteran, having defended our country many times at the highest levels (NSA and the Pentagon), and in combat three times. I am also a Muslim.

Mary Ann Hogan's comments are extreme and bizarre. It is frightening to think that people in the mainstream like her and her husband, with such key influence, can have such a perverse view. As a Muslim, I have grown accustomed to a certain amount of bias and discrimination, normally born of paranoia and prejudice, but not from this level or from educated people.

Perhaps just as disturbing is their claim of alignment with Christianity, yet totally in disagreement with the message of Jesus (peace be upon him). But now the shoe is on the other foot, for we have a few Muslims in disagreement with the message of Mohammed (peace be upon him). It seems we all have our work cut out for us.

It is reassuring to know there are people out there, like yourselves, helping to bridge the gap and overriding a message of hate instigated by the minority.

C.J. Strohmier, U.S. Navy , retired, and Muslim, Tampa

Intelligence is required, letter Nov. 3

Dumb and dumber

The letter writer starts out by saying that he is offended by Sen. John Kerry's remark about an uneducated military. Yes, that was dumb of Kerry!

Then the letter writer finished his remarks by saying that maybe you could be dumber than a rock when Kerry was in the military, but not today.

Now, that is dumber. I was in the military before, during and after Kerry served and you could not be dumb during any of the period. The letter writer may not consider himself uneducated with his degrees, but he did miss out somewhere on keeping his foot out of his mouth and emulating John Kerry.

Victor Bartholomew, U.S. Air Force, retired, Tarpon Springs

[Last modified November 8, 2006, 03:13:05]