Today's Letters: Not taking isn't government giving

By LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Published August 14, 2007

We can thank Jeb Bush for state's budget pinch Aug. 11, letter

The letter writer let it slip when he accused Jeb Bush of "giving away millions to the richest Floridians." This is a common error that liberals and socialists make, assuming that not taking money away from rich people or hardworking Floridians is the same as giving them money.

It is an all-too-familiar sentiment among people like the letter writer that money left in the pockets of those who earned it is a bad thing; it is somehow dishonest. The truth is Jeb Bush never redistributed wealth; it's one of the reasons he was a two-term governor.

Kelli Wright, Largo

Vote machine flaws fixed, Browning says Aug. 11, story

Reason to worry

This brief story was unfortunately buried in a back page in the second section of Saturday's paper.

Should Florida's voters feel reassured that a Republican secretary of state says that the opportunities for sabotage found by Florida State University can be remedied by local voting officials working with Diebold Corp.? How does that square with California's Democratic Secretary of State Debra Bowen's recent decertification of most Diebold machines in that vote-rich state?

The failures of Florida's voting machines in 2000 arguably led to the current mess in our national government. Why not do a little investigative reporting about the current reality of voting machines before 2008 is here and gone!

Anthony Branch, Madeira Beach

The drug case against Mark O'Hara

Prosecutors, move on

My 76-year-old mother lives with me, and she takes some serious medications. What am I suppose to do when I pick them up? Have the pharmacist break up the script into 10 bottles, so I can make 10 trips to the store in an effort to not cross some unknown threshold number?

I don't believe any person in his correct mind, if called to be on any jury where there was no crime committed and the prosecution's case was based upon a person having legally prescribed drugs, would even have to leave the jury box to find that person innocent.

Officials at the Hillsborough State Attorney's Office really need to stop wasting our tax dollars. They need to get over this one and move on to important cases.

You win some; you lose some. You lost this one, so move on!

Raye Minor, St. Petersburg

The right to drugs limited by court Aug. 8, story

Incredible decision

After the many failings by the Food and Drug Administration to protect American health and lives, in part due to our global economy (so ably depicted in Don Wright's Aug. 8 cartoon), the colossal gall of that agency to stop terminally ill patients from being treated with experimental drugs "for their own safety" is beyond belief. Having lost its case in a smaller panel of the District of Columbia Appeals Court, it appealed to the full court and won.

According to the full U.S. District Court of Appeals, terminally ill people do not have a constitutional right to be treated with experimental drugs.

The FDA spokeswoman, Susan Cruzan, said "the agency was pleased with the decision" which considered the public's safety. An appeal is pending.

Why do we have to fight so hard for our freedoms here in the land of the free?

G. Custer, Port Richey

Perseid meteor shower

Light pollution

As a St. Petersburg resident, I'd like to observe the annual Perseid meteor shower - but wait! The article on Saturday says to find a dark patch of sky far from the glow of city lights.

Good luck trying to find such a location anywhere around the Tampa Bay area and beyond. That's because Florida, like most of the rest of the country and other developed countries as well, is rapidly losing its star-filled night skies to rampant light pollution.

Why do our night skies look milky gray and washed out, with only a few stars visible? It's because most of our outdoor lighting is designed poorly or not at all. Inefficient fixtures, such as the common mercury vapor light, do not efficiently convert electricity to light, and then shine 30 percent or more of the light upward, where it is wasted.

Light pollution can be solved with good, shielded outdoor lighting, designed to illuminate the ground for safety, without causing glare and wasted energy.

Let's not lose our heritage of dark, starry skies. The nonprofit International Dark-Sky Association can give you more information (www.darksky.org).

Greg Simpson, St. Petersburg

A day to remember

We commemorate this day, Aug. 14, as V-J Day (Victory over Japan). Sixty-two years ago, on Aug. 14, 1945, Japan surrendered. This was the end of World War II.

The atom bombings of Hiroshima (Aug. 6, 1945) and Nagasaki (Aug. 9, 1945) precipitated the pivotal action that brought the war to a close. History was made by these two bombings, and thousands of American lives were saved.

I was a member of a B-17 bomber crew attached to the 486th Bomb Group of the 8th Air Force. We flew missions over Germany and France until the end of the war in Europe. After V-E Day, my group was slated to set up operations in Okinawa. We flew back to the States and were awarded a 30-day furlough. The last day of my furlough was V-J Day! Those of us who faced combat in Europe could now breathe a sigh of relief that we would not have to go to the South Pacific.

Thousands of American men and women who served in World War II will never forget V-J Day. And to the families and loved ones of veterans, as well as those who were not fortunate enough to return home, we all owe a deep debt of gratitude.

Jack Keller Sr., lifetime charter member, World War II Memorial Society, Belleair Bluffs

Good growth needs stronger

As a member of the local development industry, I do not support the elimination of the wetlands division of the Hillsborough Environmental Protection Commission.

The question that our rustic Hillsborough County Commission should be asking is not "How do we streamline greedy local yokel developers in their destruction of the environment?" The real question is, as architect and planner Andres Duany states in his book Suburban Nation, "Will we ever start building places that feel as good to us as the farms and forests such construction destroys?" How often have you felt the satisfaction of this good trade in our county? Probably seldom.

My own city of Temple Terrace has many thoughtful members of the local development industry (Realtors, developers, fellow architects, planners) who also think that lowering the bar in this time of increasing populations, unplanned and subpar growth, and water scarcity, is frankly "dumb." Regulations protecting our natural environment (and encouraging wise planning) should be strengthened, not weakened.

I strongly urge our Hillsborough County Commission to learn what "good growth" is (it does exist, but not here), and then learn how to encourage its creation.

The road to a better Hillsborough County is clear, but we won't get there by lowering the bar now, or ever.

Grant Rimbey, Temple Terrace

Hillsborough wetlands protection

The Sierra Club takes seriously the Hillsborough County Commission's effort to eliminate the wetlands division of the county's Environmental Protection Commission.

We feel that the initial vote by a majority of the board was done hastily and for the wrong reasons. In the not-so-distant past, wetlands were underappreciated and unregulated. But because we have gained new knowledge that confirms the importance of maintaining natural, intact wetlands, our local government responded by creating the EPC's wetlands division, its key provision being to stem the loss of wetlands by meeting with developers and agricultural owners during the planning stages of projects to avoid impacts while still allowing reasonable use of their property.

Dr. Rick Garrity, Hillsborough's environmental chief, has proposed a hybrid plan. While we at the Sierra Club would certainly prefer the hybrid plan to complete elimination of the division, we are concerned that the hybrid, by its nature, will result in weakened protection for wetlands in Hillsborough County.

We ask that the commission consider a third option when it meets on Thursday as the Environmental Protection Commission. Take no action on the motion. This will preserve the current status of the agency and the essential services that it provides to the county. We feel the majority of Hillsborough County voters would favor this result.

Bev Griffiths, chair, and Ryan Bose, conservation chairman, Sierra Club Tampa Bay Group, Riverview

[Last modified August 13, 2007, 22:53:44]