Today's Letters: Make sure we keep this grandmother safe
By LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Published April 14, 2007
What's going on in this world? Your article seems mainly about the pets of Barbara Morris with a brief mention about the care that her grandson "could" receive. I say "could" because nothing sounded established.
How about the grandmother? As I understand it, the child was adopted by the grandmother because the parents were unfit. Mrs. Morris' generosity and love for her grandson have made her the real victim here.
Her grandson is mentally challenged and is only a few short steps away from becoming one of those people you read about who end up murdering their relatives or worse. He needs institutionalization for an extended period of time. He is a potential danger to others, and the state needs to take action now to put him in an appropriate institution.
As much as Mrs. Morris loves her grandson, she is has become justifiably terrified of him and needs the state's help to protect her.
How can we just wash our hands of the matter and say it's too sad? Who has the power to see this boy ends up in state custodial care? Give me the name of the final decisionmaker and his number and I'll call him right now.
By the way, I felt the adorable picture of the boy was quite appropriate if you meant to convey the image that this little cherub wouldn't hurt a fly. I wonder what he looked like at the moment he was killing the animals mentioned or stabbing his grandmother.
Let's put our sympathy where it ought to be: with the grandmother.
Brian Sutton, St. Petersburg
Manatees may lose status April 10, story
Floridians shouldn't let manatee protections slip
Should we be surprised that the Interior Department of this administration seeks to downgrade protection for the Florida manatee? No, but we should be outraged. The official from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service casually admitted that his staff ignored the agency's own scientific criteria for changing the manatee's federal status. Such arrogant disregard for science has been a hallmark of the Bush administration.
Floridians have a unique responsibility to protect the Florida manatee. We must not let selfish commercial interests in boating and dock and marina building drive important, scientific decisions for its protection.
Sens. Bill Nelson and Mel Martinez have been leaders in opposing petroleum drilling in Florida waters. I call on them for leadership in protecting the Florida manatee as well as for them to denounce the shameful, politically driven actions of the federal bureaucrats.
Keith Hope, Holmes Beach
Kurt Vonnegut: 1922-2007
The passing of a hero
The world has lost one of its most vibrant freethinkers, a lover of peace and a standard of human excellence and compassion. Kurt Vonnegut Jr. was a true humanist, one of the few novelists of our times who had the ability and the guts to point at the most horrific aspects of human existence and the most beautiful in a single sentence. And he could still make the reader giggle on every page.
If I feel as if I have lost a good friend this week, I can't think that that makes me overly dramatic. I'll always be an idealist. I still believe, even against the overwhelming evidence otherwise these days, that human beings are inherently good and that we as a species can learn from the centuries of mistakes we've made, to become loving and compassionate toward one another.
Although like obstinate children, we learn slowly, perhaps one day we will wake up and realize that war is just murder with a different name, that oppression of others based on nationality, religion, sex, race or social class only makes us into monsters, and that hatred is a disease that we have the ability to eradicate, if only we would try.
Kurt Vonnegut Jr. was a seeker of truths, and more than that, he was a teller of truths. I'm sad that he did not live to see the day when the message of love for all human beings was more important than the message to fear anyone who seems different.
He was one of my personal heroes, and one of the great intellects of the past century. But who will take his place? Who are our heroes today? Does anyone else feel that there is something disturbingly wrong in our world today when the great intellects of our time die with a whisper and everyone in the world knows when the life of a vapid starlet ends?
Think of your own heroes today. What do they stand for? Are they a reflection of you? And if not, find those who are. Pay attention to those who are acting on your behalf, find the answers to the questions you have and if you see someone else speaking them, support them.
When the value of human life plummets worldwide, the value of your own life does, too. And when the value of our planet's life plummets, your "property value" goes with it. We are all in this one together, like it or not.
Most of the great intellects and idealists of our age, the peacemakers and those dedicated to finding and relating the truth to the people, are passing on. Who will replace them? Maybe you, maybe me, or maybe no one at all.
Rest in peace, Kurt Vonnegut Jr.
April J. Czerepak, Lakeland
Don Imus
An insidious message
More than 60 years ago, Kenneth B. Clark and Mamie Phipps Clark showed that African-American children as young as 3 already had learned that black is not beautiful. When presented with black and white dolls and asked to pick the one that looks like them, the children selected the black doll. When asked which doll was pretty, nice, and the one they preferred to play with, they chose the white one. The Supreme Court's 1954 decision against school segregation in Brown vs. Board of Education was based in part on the Clarks' findings of the toll that such separation exacts.
That insidious message of black as inferior and unattractive was perpetuated by Don Imus and his sidekicks in their statements about the Rutgers women's basketball players. That the comments were made so casually shows how much this point of view still permeates American culture. The Clarks' study was groundbreaking. Who would have thought it would also be timeless?
Marcie Finkelsein, Tampa
This is important?
It certainly is comforting to know that I live in a country that is such a well-oiled machine that its biggest concern is the public lynching of a radio talk show host.
Congratulations. You've made the men and women coming home in coffins at Dover Air Force Base proud!
Richard Wall, St. Petersburg
Imagine a different insult
All the debate about whether Don Imus is racist or sexist obscures a larger point. His paid comment about the Rutgers basketball players was just plain wrongheaded and gratuitously cruel, and for that he deserves to be excoriated.
Still, the racism/sexism charge is not just another outbreak of "political correctness." White folks who think it is should ponder how they'd feel if Imus had used a different stereotype. Imagine if the women's basketball team were all-white, and he called them a bunch of "blond sorority sluts." I don't think even Imus would insult an innocent group of women like that, and if he did, the outrage would surely be even more universal.
It's ugly and wrong, any way you phrase it. It's a shame that part of our media culture rewards and defends this sort of stuff.
Jim Harper, Tampa
On radio, let the idiocy be heard April 12, commentary by Michael Meyers
Keep speech free
I have never heard the Don Imus program, but as sexist and racist as he may be, it seems we have a clear question of a constitutionally guaranteed right in this whole "flap" - the right of freedom of speech, radio, or no!
Michael Meyers has made the point excellently in this commentary. He is well aware of the "censors and pressure groups" that leap into action when they feel they are offended in some manner, and who too often verge on being willing to set aside our constitutional rights in these issues, in order to censor what they object to.
Yes, in the name of freedom of speech, let the idiocy - and the idiots - be heard. And if you don't like, or agree with, what you hear, as Meyers says, "Turn the dial!"
John B. Kelley, Clearwater
A better corrective
Instead of firing Don Imus, wouldn't it have been better if he had been required to interview at least one successful black woman per month?
That would have shown his hundreds of thousands of listeners that he was so wrong!
Jackie Gavrian, Brandon
Global warming
Take serious steps
The April 6 Times contained two notable articles related to global warming: Warming threatens natural wonders and the editorial Keeping an eye on hurricanes, the latter of which deplored the lack of funding for hurricane research and forecasting. Neither article specifically mentioned the forecast rise in sea level resulting from the melting of ice sheets and glaciers worldwide, but that threat was implicit.
One solution to proper funding of the National Hurricane Center would be to stop wasting millions of dollars rebuilding New Orleans, which is already below sea level. If the number and severity of hurricanes increases as predicted, New Orleans will be reflooded or blown away soon anyway.
We should put that money to use in the National Hurricane Center, and on other means of reducing CO2 emissions, and to alleviate the devastation that will result from rising sea levels and increased temperatures.
We need to cease thinking of stopgap measures, like ethanol, and start thinking how we will feed the world population when (not if) our wheat belt and corn producing areas become arid. We need to stop rebuilding homes and factories on the coasts and, as they become obsolete, relocate them on higher ground. We need to stop worrying about the turtles (I can't remember the last time I had turtle soup) and start thinking about the millions of people.
Alfred J. D'Amario, Hudson
For help, look to yourself
I keep hearing about affordable housing and the millions of dollars that are to be earmarked for this cause.
I dropped out of school at 16, became a father at 17, got a job and bought a house at 18. I had no help from the government to do this. I am now 57.
In my early 20s I returned to school (at night, while I worked a full-time job) got an education and have been on the same job for 33 years. I have bought another house and again had no help from the government or anyone else to accomplish any of this.
When are people going to be expected to be responsible for themselves and not have the government hold their hand through every phase of their life?
If I was able to do this without any help from Big Brother, why should my tax dollars go to make life easier for people who don't have the initiative or motivation to make their own way in this world?
As the old saying goes: "The first place to look for a helping hand is on the end of your own arm!"
David Hollingsworth, St. Petersburg
Wireless a lifeline for homeless April 9, story
No cell phone sympathy
I just can't believe what I read in this Times article concerning homeless people not being able to afford their cell phones. I realize what "down and out" is as I have had to work day labor on more than one occasion to make ends meet until I found regular employment. I can relate to the homeless who are actually trying to make something of themselves, but to lay back and now blame the situation on the loss of their cell phones is just too much to digest.
The growing number of homeless in Florida is due to many factors about which average-wage-earning people have little choice. Florida has become the land of developers' greed and grossly overinflated real estate values, driving out hundreds, perhaps thousands, of residents who had some kind of home - as in mobile home parks - and now cannot afford the cost of new housing, let alone insurance to meet new mortgage requirements.
Don't try to make me feel sorry for the homeless because they are losing cell phone access. Instead, address the real question of why thousands of Floridians are becoming homeless, the answer to which is just plain and simple: They can't afford the escalating cost of living in this state sanctioned by our own representatives who are bought by big business.
What's next? The homeless being denied laptops?
Jack Burlakos, Kenneth City
Get to work
I've never felt sorry for the "homeless" when I saw them smoking and drinking beer and wine.
Now, cell phones? Really?
Now, more than ever: "Get a job."
Glenn E. Noble, St. Petersburg
Alone, she fears boy's homecoming April 10, story
Living in fear
While I can only go by the printed article, it seems obvious that this child has no place in a private home. Even sadder is the fact that Barbara Morris fears for her life, and the lives of her beloved pets.
What about the neighbors? Their children, their pets? What happens if this child attacks them?
From the article it appears that this boy needs long-term care, not a short-term in a facility where he can't get the help he needs.
What is wrong with this picture? No one should have to live in fear of being attacked by a 9-year-old child, or anyone for that matter.
As I have said before, violence on animals usually leads to violence upon humans. In this case both animals and a human have been violated, and the state expects Mrs. Morris to either rescind her rights to the child or bring him home.
I can only hope that this story brings some relief for this woman.
Nancy Dively, Tarpon Springs
Sickening situation
A woman alone in her 60s should not be forced to take in a child who has already killed animals, as well as hurt humans. This is a child who has threatened to kill her. Someday when he is older and stronger, will we be reading about this woman injured, or worse, by a person who needs institutional help?
This grandmother's life is about to go down the tubes. Life as she knew it seems over. At her age, peace is what she deserves, together with her beloved pets. Now she is told she can visit her pets! Wow! I am sick to my stomach.
B.J. Mitchell, St. Petersburg
Alone, she fears boy's homecoming April 10, story
Safe places for all
Where can we start to comprehend the situation of a grandmother who fears for her life because of a severely ill little boy?
First of all, the boy should not be allowed to go home. As a society, we should protect our people as well as we protect our animals. But the solution always calls for money, doesn't it, and we always seem to fall short there when it comes to cases like this. (And Iraq goes on and on.)
If there is any common sense among those in charge, a group home or residential treatment center will be found for Christopher before we have to read about the death of his grandmother.
Let's find a safe place for him, and let his grandmother have her dogs, the one thing that gives her unconditional love.
Marie Chapman, Palm Harbor