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Get involved in insurance battle

We are truly blessed to have the two best legislators in Florida, state Sen. Mike Fasano and state Rep. John Legg. There is, however, far too much of the "ivory tower" mentality within our body of state lawmakers. There is some positive legislation being proposed addressing insurance reform, but no matter what happens in Tallahassee, next week or next year, it is too little, too late.

The homeowners insurance crisis that has been allowed to develop has now become an ongoing, long-term problem for which there may not be any favorable, permanent resolution. We will simply need to continually devise more creative means of addressing the plethora of issues involved.

It greatly concerns me that there were not at least 1,000 people standing with us on the steps of the state Capitol on Jan. 16. This is not somebody else's problem. If you live in, or own property in, the state of Florida, it is your problem.

Yes, it cost me a day of work and a $25 bus ride, but if the mere 200 of us who were there had chosen not to get involved, it's a safe bet that much of the positive legislation that has been proposed in recent days would not have been given serious consideration.

While reviewing the SB 4-A draft, Sen. Bill Posey of the Senate Banking and Insurance Committee had the audacity to suggest that the current problem probably couldn't get much worse. Well, hello up there, it can and it will get a whole lot worse if more residents and business owners don't start heeding the battle cry.

I am one of the countless homeowners who have experienced a 300 percent increase in property insurance over the past three years. There are people who have experienced far greater increases. People all over the state are losing their homes. If you have an adjustable rate mortgage, you might want to stop eating if you wish to keep your home. If you have not yet been negatively affected by the insurance crisis, you will be.

Please contact HAC Inc. (Having Affordable Coverage) to see how you may help, or contact as many of the Florida legislators as you can to insist on meaningful insurance reform.

Proposal SB 4-A may put a moratorium on rate increases during 2007, but unless the proposed anti-cherry-picking bill soon yields some good fruit, we could too easily be in a far worse predicament when the Legislature adjourns at the beginning of 2008.

Steve Davis, Port Richey

Mortgagees will have no option Jan. 19 letter

Legal gambling won't solve crisis

The letter writer has it wrong; you most certainly can have a mortgage and no sinkhole coverage. I have it right now for my home in Holiday. Forgoing sinkhole coverage was the only way I could afford to insure my home.

Legalized gambling is not the answer, unless the question is how do I saturate my community with organized crime and prostitution in the most expedient fashion? I've been to Las Vegas and Atlantic City. Thanks, but no thanks. I stayed one day in Las Vegas as a stopover to the Grand Canyon and in Atlantic City I didn't even make it one day.

In Las Vegas, while walking down the street, my husband and I were approached by multiple prostitutes wanting to know if we wanted to have a good time. Adult papers offering every sexual vice litter the streets there. We have offshore gambling already and if one can't feed one's need for gambling on the high seas I suggest a trip to one of the quaint cities that provide this service.

Legalized gambling to decrease our homeowners insurance would be the equivalent of the lottery to take care of our schools, and we all know how well that is working.

Shari Kotsch, Holiday

Ethics in government isn't occasional issue Jan. 16 editorial

'Cheap shots' on Port Richey issue

Your editorial stated that I should be "skeptical more often" and implied that I am not aware of state law dealing with when an elected official must recuse from voting. On the contrary, I knew exactly what I was doing at the Jan. 9 council meeting, and I was successful. Media attention was critically needed on the vote to dissolve the city, a very volatile issue, and your paper, along with the Tampa Tribune and the Suncoast News, generously provided the excellent coverage that I wanted. In your case, the comments were cheap shots, but at least you commented.

Now, may I remind you that dissolution has been tried, unsuccessfully, some four times in the past 25 years; the latest attempt may even be ruled criminal. If you want illegalities to be in the face of the people, that's the one you should focus on. In the meantime, the present-day players have been exposed and I thank you!

Your other comments about needing yet another punitive clause in our city charter is old and tired not to mention how it would be redundant. We have talked about this at length in the past yet you continue to demand that the council add something more, when the fact is the laws are explicit and enforceable in their present form.

As for your repeated criticism about the personal life of a council member, it is, after all, personal: not detrimental to the city, nor illegal.

Phyllis Grae, vice mayor, Port Richey

Is Fiorentino leaving? Maybe Jan. 18 story

Superintendent is underappreciated

Pasco County should pray that we do not lose our school superintendent. Gov. Charlie Crist knows Heather Fiorentino is of good quality; he is interested in her as head of the Department of Education.

Residents and School Board members crucified her because she wanted schoolchildren's safety above firing of an immoral teacher, who tried to commit suicide in the school. She was correct in putting children first, but only one School Board member stood by her. Feeling sorry for the teacher is human, but children's safety comes first!

Mrs. Fiorentino puts children and teachers first; she wants the best for them.

Ann Bully, New Port Richey

Is Fiorentino leaving? Maybe Jan. 18 story

Pro-gun stance is what Crist likes

Maybe, but if Heather Fiorentino becomes head of the state Education Department it will make the National Rifle Association and Bill Bunting very happy.

Since our new governor called Marion Hammer, the chief lobbyist for the NRA in Florida, a "freedom fighter" and had her inducted into the Florida Women's Hall of Fame, it should be renamed the "Florida Women's Hall of Shame." It looks like Crist will be the same as Gov. Jeb Bush and will never see an NRA bill he wouldn't sign.

What makes Fiorentino so attractive to Crist is the position she took while state representative to allow students to bring guns into school parking lots, which made the NRA and Bunting delirious with joy.

In addition, if she does leave, it will give Bunting another chance to concoct yet another scheme to disenfranchise half the voters of Pasco, which he did during Fiorentino's 2004 election.

Art Hayhoe, Wesley Chapel

Year of Lee sounds bugles of history, race Jan. 20 Andrew Skerritt column

Civil War wasn't all about slavery

As a military history buff with particular interest in the period of the War Between the States, I have read innumerable books on the war, its causes and its results. Although I was born in Pennsylvania and had a great-grandfather who served in the 167th Pennsylvania Infantry Regiment, my personal studies have led me to believe that the war itself had very little to do with the institution of slavery, and much more to do with economics, limiting federal control over the states, and a longstanding mutual distrust between the northern and southern states.

History shows that the North and the South were at odds over numerous matters from the 1770s on. The New England states considered secession shortly after our nation's founding as well as in the early 19th century, and it was generally accepted back then that the Union was a voluntary one that was entered into voluntarily, and could be left at any time the people of the various states believed it was not in their best interest to remain.

As far as slavery being the chief cause of the war, that is not historically correct. In 1861 (and for quite a few years prior to that), over 80 percent of the U.S. economy was derived from the South, but the majority of the U.S. population was in the North and had much higher representation in the U.S. Congress. Therefore, although the South provided roughly 80 percent of the Union's funding, the North received roughly 70 percent of the benefits.

By most accounts, slavery in the South would not have continued beyond about 1880-1900 because slavery is an expensive way to do business, and the further importation of African slaves was specifically prohibited by the Confederate Constitution.

The comment in the column that "To us, the stars and bars flag of the Confederacy still represents racism, Jim Crow and oppression" may be true from your standpoint, but in actuality slavery was legal in North America from approximately 1625 until 1866. All the slaves brought over here from Africa were brought on ships flying the British, Spanish, French, Portuguese, Danish, or U.S. flags - not the Confederate flag.

Jim Crow laws were enacted in 1890 - 25 years after the demise of the Confederacy. The Jim Crow laws were passed under the flag of the United States and sustained by the U.S. Supreme Court, so how is it that the Confederate flag is linked to that, but not the U.S. flag? Although you are certainly entitled to your perceptions and your own personal prejudices, I do not see the historical connection between the Jim Crow laws and the battle flag under which Confederate troops fought and died in defense of their homes and families.

I do not see a connection between the display of the Confederate flag or the honoring of Confederate heroes and the plight of black Americans today.

David A. Anthony, Brooksville

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[Last modified January 23, 2007, 07:21:46]