Transit needs massive improvement, 2/10
Letters to the EditorPublished February 10, 2007
This article lays out vividly the extreme difficulty of getting from here to there by mass transit in Hillsborough and Pinellas counties.
Just in my neighborhood of Countryway, a couple of miles east of Oldsmar, we have 1,553 families, many of whom would use the bus if it were convenient and timely.
In our travels to Vietnam, Malaysia, Thailand, China and Japan we find all these countries have better mass transit than do Hillsborough and Pinellas counties.
Even a trip to the international airport, only 15 miles from my residence, is impossible.
I beg the county and city officials to give us some relief.
Del C. Revels, Tampa
It's even worse
Congratulations on your feature on the inefficiency of the bus system in Pinellas County.
In one example you demonstrated that Williams Park to Tampa International Airport by bus took three buses and three hours.
But this is only because the original bus left from a transfer point with a direct bus to Gateway Mall. Most of the city is not that convenient and you would have to add one more bus.
Add to that waiting times for the buses, which run only every 30-60 minutes, and the time could easily expand to four or five hours for a trip that is 27 minutes by car.
Yes, changes are necessary.
John Royse, St. Petersburg
Try Greyhound
The Feb. 5 article on intercounty bus service is the second one I recall "bemoaning" the fact that there is no public bus transportation between St. Petersburg and Tampa on weekends. A previous article quite some time ago mentioned a woman who resorted to the airport shuttle to visit family in Tampa on weekends.
So I am finally prompted to write that there is an inexpensive solution already in existence: Greyhound. A quick look at schedules online lists five Saturday departures and four returns from St. Petersburg to Tampa.
On Sundays there are four departures and five returns. From Clearwater there are four Saturday departures and three returns, and four Sunday departures with four returns.
Duncan Smith, Seminole
Tighten rules on wildlife Feb. 7, editorial
Agency should focus on actual conservation
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission should outlaw wildlife as "pets" - period. A conservation-minded government would decry the cruel practice of caging wildlife, whether it's a snake or a hyena.
But it seems the commission is familiar with inhumane practices. The agreement between the commission and developers that allows for the "incidental take" (inhumane death) of hundreds of gopher tortoises in Florida is unconscionable.
For example, in October, developers of SilverLeaf in St. John's County agreed to pay the commission about $520,000 for the incidental take of about 468 gopher tortoises. The tortoises will be crushed or maimed by heavy equipment or entombed - it can take up to 90 days for the tortoise to die of suffocation. The money the commission receives is supposed to be earmarked for tortoise habitat, but that's not happening. Relocation efforts are stifled by lame regulations.
Where is the money the commission has collected from developers throughout the state? The gopher tortoise is about to be upgraded from a species of special concern to threatened. The public needs to pressure the commission to immediately eliminate the practice of incidental take. We need to find a humane solution.
Florida's abundant wildlife is a draw for many visitors. The continued destruction of wildlife habitat could mean that eco-minded tourists also are among Florida's threatened species.
Marylou Doehrman, Spring Hill
Tighten rules on wildlife Feb. 7, editorial
A distracting attack
After reading this article, I had only one thought: Enough is enough! As an avid snake collector, I've grown tired of all the backlash collectors of exotic pets are receiving in this state as of late. The fact of the matter is, more humans are attacked and severely injured or killed by domestic dogs each year than by any other animal. It's also a fact that more people receive severe bites from fellow humans than from snakes.
When tougher laws are enacted in order to protect innocent people from "man's best friend," I'll buy into this whole thing. Until then, it's nothing more than a thinly veiled attack on a minority in order to distract people from the real issues.
Chris LaViola, Weeki Wachee
Our goal is bigger than Iraq Jan. 31, column by Richard Lugar
Look at big picture in Mideast involvement
Sen. Richard Lugar hit the nail on the head. At a time when Iran is trying to build an atomic bomb with the help of Russia and sending its Revolutionary Guards to Iraq to help Saddam Hussein's followers fight the U.S. troops and also bankrolling Hezbollah and Hamas terrorists, many senators and congressmen ask President Bush when he is going to withdraw the U.S. troops from Iraq. Do they not see farther than the tip of their nose, or are they just trying to get votes from those who think that if the United States withdraws from Iraq, there would be peace?
But Sen. Lugar is also naive if he thinks that keeping the U.S. troops out of the fighting in Iraq will make our soldiers safer. As long as U.S. troops are in Iraq, they will be attacked by Muslim extremists, just as they are attacked continuously in Afghanistan. We must be on the offensive.
When President Bush said after 9/11 that we are in for a long war against the forces that support terrorism against the United States, he was correct. However, he went into Iraq and Afghanistan unprepared for the long war that he predicted. As a matter of fact, early in the war, he told the American people that the war was already won. He failed to see that the followers of Saddam would not disappear. They just went into hiding and are now using the same tactics as the Viet Cong used. In Afghanistan, the Taliban are doing the same.
How blind are our senators and congressmen who recommend the withdrawal of our troops from Iraq, and how irresponsible are the media by keeping the facts from the American people? When a majority here wants us to withdraw from Iraq, the terrorists have won the propaganda war. Their claim that the United States doesn't have the guts for an extended war, unfortunately, seems to be somewhat correct. But it is our leaders' responsibility to change this attitude, and the media have an important role to play.
Francis Dukes-Dobos, Clearwater
Get out of Iraq now
The United States went into this war poorly prepared, ill-advised, and on specious grounds. This is all past, and we can set it aside for now, accountability to be reckoned later.
We need to get out now for the best of reasons. The administration is not a prudent steward of our resources. It has depleted our finances and stretched our military as one scrapes too little butter over too much bread.
We are squandering our greatest resources - economic, diplomatic and military - in an effort to achieve nothing more than a worsened geopolitical situation.
It is sacrificing the lives and futures of our troops for empty political gain. The waste of life is horrendous, and is in response to a wholly imaginary Saddam Hussein/al-Qaida conspiracy.
The damage to our country is not imaginary.
We need to get out of Iraq now.
John Hartnett, Tampa
Don't forget real motive for our attack on Iraq Feb. 7, letter
Disrupting the balance
Since even Saddam Hussein's generals thought Iraq had weapons of mass destruction, our saying Iraq had them doesn't qualify as a "lie." Hans Blix wondered why Saddam made his job difficult.
Likely, Saddam wanted the threat of WMDs to help maintain a balance of power with neighbors such as Iran. Our disrupting that balance of power is regrettable.
Tom Miller, Clearwater
Military finds no abuse at Gitmo base Feb. 8, story
Army report questionable
Why am I cynical about the report that says an Army officer investigated abuse at the Guantanamo base and found nothing? For one thing, all he did was question "suspects and witnesses," those who apparently had bragged to others about their abuses and those who heard them. At no time did he talk to any detainees or see what kinds of physical evidence there might be. And then he went on to accuse the one who reported the talk of abuse.
However, even if Guantanamo were a model prison with everyone totally respected and all treated with the utmost concern, it would still be abusive. The real abuse is simply that it is there, and many of the prisoners have been detained for years without trial and often without true reasons.
When will our government see what a blot such a prison is on our international reputation?
Lucy Fuchs, Brandon
Soldiers need real support
My husband is currently serving in the Army National Guard. He serves his one weekend a month and two weeks a year. In the meantime he can work, and needs to work, like most other citizens. However, he has yet to find employment. He has looked for the past six months, with no responses. Why?
It leaves us to assume that employers do not want to employ someone who has to be away from work one weekend a month and two weeks a year, not to mention more than likely being deployed overseas. Employers can't come forth and say that - that's illegal. The usual response is, "We've decided to go with someone else."
This is a problem across the nation. Men and women are being forced to re-enlist, volunteer to go to the battlefield and leave their families behind because businesses will not hire them. These men and women are risking their lives and sacrificing their families to serve this nation. And yet when they are home, doors are shut in their faces.
You see "Support Our Troops" magnets on almost every vehicle, but are we really "supporting" them? People need to step up and help these soldiers out. There are a lot of men and women out there who are trying to do the right thing, and they are getting rejected by those who wouldn't have anything if it wasn't for these soldiers standing up for this country. Support our troops.
Heather Moffett, Spring Hill
Unfair taxation Feb. 8, letter
The price of a luxury
The letter writer is the owner of a second home here in Florida and is upset that he doesn't get the 3 percent Save Our Homes cap or the homestead exemption. The letter writer notes that he pays more than $4,000 in taxes a year, spends money here and takes "nothing from the state."
I guess the letter writer feels that "taking from the state" doesn't include the roads, highways and traffic controls that are maintained so he can safely get to and from that second home. I guess it doesn't include the trails, rights of way and sidewalks he may use, or the firefighters, rescue services, 911 emergency centers and various police units that are on call 24/7 in case of emergencies. I guess it doesn't include support for public parks, libraries, and beaches or the government services and bodies that are needed to run everything smoothly.
I live here full time and am entitled to my tax exemptions, because my home is considered a necessity. The letter writer's "full time" residence, by choice, is outside Florida and his second home here is considered a luxury. So there's no tax break.
A good analogy on how I feel about this tax problem can be summed up like this: If you can afford to buy a second new Cadillac, don't complain about the price of gas to drive it around town.
David Gliewe, Clearwater
Second homes don't count
Judging from the letters appearing in the paper, it seems that many seasonal residents of Florida do not understand how Florida's homestead exemption works. They don't grasp the fact that you can only get the $25,000 exemption on your primary residence. Nonresidents with second homes in Florida do not get the homestead exemption on their second home, but neither do Floridians.
What if you are a Florida resident who has a home inland and you've scrimped and saved so you can also have a small home close to the beach? Only one home gets the exemption. How about a Florida resident who has one home and purchases a smaller home in anticipation of retirement? Does the Florida resident get the exemption on the second Florida home while he or she still owns the first one? No. Only on the primary residence.
The bottom line is: It's not just the fact that you're an out-of-stater that's costing you, it's the fact that you own two homes. Floridians are paying the full rate on their second homes, too.
D. Heintz, Palm Harbor
Astronaut Lisa Nowak
It could happen to you
With the jokes and speculation going on right now about Lisa Nowak, the astronaut, I must protest. Please understand that I am not advocating her crime, just speaking up for her illness.
Obviously, the woman had some mental health issues. Would it really matter if psychological screening for astronauts became more stringent now? Mental health issues can happen at any time in one's life. Things such as stress can be a trigger and cause one to begin thinking irrationally.
The National Alliance on Mental Illness states that "23 percent of North Americans will suffer from a diagnosable mental illness in a given year." So those of you who believe you are exempt, heed my warning: It could happen to anyone, and it could happen to you!
We as a nation have got to learn to stop stigmatizing people who suffer from mental health issues with jokes and ridicule. Educating oneself is the key, and only through education can we become a more empathetic nation when dealing with our population's mental health issues.
Evelyn M. Spaar, president, Gulf Coast Stamp out Stigma campaign, Tampa
Maverick crane survives Feb. 5, story
An inspiring bird
Who would have ever thought that a whooping crane would teach me the best life lesson that I have ever learned? Your paper chose to call him a maverick. I choose to call him brilliant.
Good old No. 615 first showed signs of greatness in December when he flew off on his own, leaving Big Brother and siblings behind. And, in a life-saving move, he somehow opted out of being penned up for his own protection by the same Big Brother. In a stupid move to protect birds from the elements, Big Brother cornered them where they could not escape.
Now, how often after a storm do you see birds lying around dead? When, oh when, will we realize that the government doesn't need to "take care of us for our own good"? Where were these "protectors" that penned the whooping cranes when the rains came? Why wasn't someone assigned to watch them?
God, please, oh please, make me a maverick so I can save myself from the "don't-smoke, wear-a-helmet, buckle-up" protectors.
Barbara Tourtelotte, Seminole
1 year later, happy reunion ends this doggy tale Feb. 2, story
A dog tag can do it
I am a supporter of microchipping of pets, but I do not believe that microchipping is the sole solution or the most effective way to get your lost pet back. A simple, affordable "inscribe it yourself" pet ID tag for the collar is invaluable (PetSmart has a machine).
If your lost pet becomes dirty and smelly, or hurt and skittish during its ordeal, a potential rescuer would be less likely to attempt, or be successful, in putting the animal in his vehicle to take it to a microchip-reading facility. Or maybe the potential rescuer has no vehicle to transport the animal.
A simple tag with the animal's name and the owner's phone number can help ensure a speedy reunion of pet and owner. My dogs are microchipped, but it was the $6 "inscribe it yourself" ID tag that was responsible for our reunion with our lost dog in 24 hours.
Kelli Lineberger, St. Petersburg
Crist casts a ballot for trouble Feb. 2, editorial
Stick with touch screens
I agree with this editorial. Reverting to any form of a paper ballot is a bad idea. I can foresee people examining optical scan ballots to see if the voter really meant to fill in the whole oval.
Touch screens remove the need for recounts. An invalid ballot cannot be cast. Erroneous or no votes can be corrected when the voter examines the ballot prior to casting the vote. Therefore the intent of the voter really is what the ballot says. I hope the Legislature rejects going backward and sticks with the better and more accurate technology of touch screens.
Joseph Bullers, St. Petersburg