Today's Letters: Give nonprofits a break at the dump

By LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Published July 1, 2007

Re: Trash rules will now be enforced June 26 story

I will not apologize or say I am sorry for throwing water on the county's stance of enforcing collection fees or sending others to the "main landfill." But I am quite insulted by the county and the Times not looking at the other side of this issue.

I am the developer and chairperson of the Christmas Angel Program. We have been in existence since 1989, serving kids through teens in Hernando County by providing not only gifts, clothes and such to needy families at Christmas, but throughout the year we also provide used computers, as do other computer clubs and nonprofit organizations.

It certainly has been very pertinent to our second love and cause to provide computers for families in need so that middle and high school students don't have to drag a whole family unit to the library. It also has been my understanding from some families that if they can use school equipment, they must sign a form of contract that if any damage occurs to the school's computer, the student would be responsible. That becomes very frightening to families already stretched out financially.

We have been joined at the hip by the Spring Hill Computer teaching club in requesting used, working computers (and equipment) 500 MHz and above, to place with students deemed in need by their respective schools.

That said, not all equipment donated to us works. When we started collecting years ago, we had to pay a storage unit to hold our "booty." Then we filled my living room floor with all those machines. Those outdated were stripped for usable parts. We then proceeded to load our skeleton machines to head up to the Spring Hill dump, only to be told they must go to the main landfill. The next day my husband took them to the main landfill, and it was demanded we pay a per-pound charge for our items.

We tried to convince staff we were a nonprofit, but they would not give us any break on per-pound dumping of these old machines. I contacted one of our current commissioners, who promised she would approach this issue that nonprofits would get a "free or reduced card" to leave unusable items. That never happened.

So, my flip side of this letter is if nonprofit charities take donations, and they are unusable (and we already have attempted a hearty recycle), why should we be charged to leave such items?

I have a volunteer technician (and the club donates its time to clean up donated computers) who reformats, upgrades memory and sends out some great computers for kids. All members or volunteers of our organization are volunteers; no one is paid, including me.

Taking such items at the Spring Hill site was at the county's discretion for many years. Signage is there for TVs, household furniture, etc. So, whenever they first allowed that to happen, shame on them! That can be undone, and residents need to do their part to try to place good, clean, usable items with nonprofits.

I am asking for a reduced or free ticket for not only our organization, but others that are surviving on donations given by our wonderful citizens who wish to make it better for those without.

Mary L. Scarff, Weeki Wachee

THE Bus is vital to people's lives

THE Bus is in trouble, but we all can help if we all know people have to get to work and use THE Bus, or maybe just get on with their lives with a visit, to shop in all the new stores coming to Hernando.

The bus drivers, the working people, will all lose out with no paychecks for their families to live and enjoy our American dream. THE Bus is a great, beautiful sight to ride and see. In Hernando it is the American dream.

Let's all pull together and save THE Bus. I have ridden THE Bus since the first day, and believe me, we need it for all those who will come to stores. People will be proud we were a part of this great county. Save THE Bus!

Rosemary Sonnenberg, Spring Hill

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[Last modified June 30, 2007, 21:02:16]