Today's Letters: Pinellas failures all around

Two views on Smith report Aug. 30, story

Churuti should go

Pinellas County Attorney Susan Churuti should be fired and disbarred. At first it had seemed to me that the St. Petersburg Times was sensationalizing a badly blundered but essentially routine civil real estate transaction out of proportion to its relative importance. In addition, because I have a slight acquaintance with the attorney in question (we once attended the same church), I had felt it prudent not to publicly share any opinions on the matter. However, upon reflection and in the wake of Churuti's completely unrepentant attitude, I have re-evaluated my perspective on all this. I'm afraid the Christian gentleman in me has been overtaken by the outraged "public-citizen" side of my nature.

As a voter and taxpayer, I am angered that a public official who makes close to $200,000 a year can exercise such small regard for basic ethical propriety, and then take no ownership at all for it. It may be that pressure was placed on Churuti to expedite this deal, but it seems to me she always had the option of taking action in more open and honest ways. But what I find more appalling still is that she blames others for her bad choices.

This is unacceptable behavior for a responsible public servant and indeed does raise questions about how the county government conducts the people's business.

John Feeney, St. Petersburg

Grand jury critical of Smith Aug. 29, story

Unseen abuses

As a citizen of Pinellas County, I am concerned when public officials are caught abusing their positions. However, I am even more concerned about the possibility that there may have been many such abuses in the past, and they weren't caught.

I look forward to the report from the state Commission on Ethics.

Robert Coffey, Belleair

"Rock" puts Crist in hard place Aug. 29, story

Very little trim

I just received my TRIM notice from Pinellas County. Unfortunately, I did not get a Jim Smith deal. My taxes will go down about $90.

Drop like a rock?

"Sorry, Charlie."

Also I cannot believe the salaries of our officials. What a waste of money, but it's a great place to trim way back to help the budget.

John G. Wilson, Belleair Bluffs

Democrats would wreck economy, Giuliani says Aug. 26, story

Rudy's economics

I wish Rudy Giuliani would please tell us, the American people, how the Democrats could possibly wreck the economy any more than the Republicans have done the past seven years. We are so far in debt that we will not be rid of it until our great-grandchildren pay it off. Even with our tremendous debt, Giuliani wants to continue to give tax cuts to the rich.

I wish I could run my household with this kind of economics: Spend more than you make, borrow against future generations, and make someone else pay for it.

Typical Republican thinking. The only problem with this theory is that we, you and me, the working class, will have to pay it off.

Margaret Hyde, Clearwater

Republican Sen. Larry Craig

Bathroom joke

Why are people so upset about Sen. Larry Craig, who pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct in a rest room at the Minneapolis airport? In retrospect, he says, he "should have had the advice of counsel in resolving this matter."

It is important to remember that although he is a member of the world's foremost lawmaking body, he is not a lawyer. So how could he have known that, merely because he was facing a possible fine and jail term, he should seek legal counsel? As a layman, how could he have known that a plea of guilty means admission of guilt? Besides, it was only eight weeks from the time of his arrest until his court date. He was probably way too busy to talk to a lawyer. So when he flew back to Minneapolis to plead guilty, he understandably had no idea what he was doing, right?

Craig wants us to believe that he is an ignorant, bumbling fool, but not another hypocritical Republican pervert. Maybe he's half right.

Gregory A. Morgan, Lutz

Doing real harm

Whatever Sen. Larry Craig did at the Minneapolis airport restroom, no one was hurt or killed. Vice President Dick Cheney got Judith Miller to run articles in the New York Times about nonexistent Iraqi weapons of mass destruction and then used those articles as justification for the invasion of Iraq. As a result, we have lost thousands of brave young troops and billions of dollars.

Please contact your members of Congress and urge them to co-sponsor Rep. Dennis Kucinich's House Resolution 333, articles of impeachment against Vice President Dick Cheney, before Cheney sells us a war with Iran as if it were a used car.

Ron Kuhler, Lutz

Antiwar vets get school access Aug. 29, story

Poisoning minds

The Pinellas County School Board voted Tuesday to allow "peaceniks and malcontents" to poison the minds of our youth. The Pinellas County School Board voted to allow antiwar groups such as Veterans for Peace to present alternatives to the "service to country" message delivered by the U.S. military recruiters visiting county high schools.

I am upset by this poor decision of our elected officials. Our high schools should be beacons of learning and patriotism, not cowardice. I hope members of our county's veteran service organizations are alerted to this travesty. May God save our Republic.

David L. Prior, Army veteran, St. Petersburg

Iraq's refugees

Give them a home

Thousands of Iraqis have served the U.S. government honorably and face death for their allegiance. I have no problem with allowing properly screened Iraqis and their families refuge in the United States.

The area around Crawford, Texas, offers large settlement territory and climate much like Iraq's. I see this initial Texas settlement area as a win-win situation and refugee solution.

D. W. Stiles, St. Petersburg

On a gut level, we're in trouble Aug. 28, story

Distorting our health

Although I agree that more people need to hit the treadmill or the pavement (including me), using the body mass index (BMI) as an overall factor in determining the health of America will not paint an accurate picture.

Example: Two Tampa Bay Bucs players most of us know, Michael Pittman and Derrick Brooks, are extremely in shape and healthy, but according to the BMI have ratings of 30.9 and 31.9. Both would be classified as obese. How accurate is that?

There are better tools than the BMI to determine America's health. One tool is your eyes: Just look around, especially when you're at McDonald's.

Just using height and weight is not a sound way to determine a person's health. Bone mass and muscle mass are two factors that need to be considered.

Scott Kadlub, Wesley Chapel

Beyond a large amount of placating words in statements by the players, nothing is being extended toward the repayment to the Penny for Pinellas fund of the money the property appraiser received in this land deal.

As a reader, citizen and taxpayer, I see no effort in government to recover any of these funds. Why?

Doesn't our court system have provisions to cover this? If not, then the rule of law is also at fault. The citizens should be able to recover these misdirected, misspent, misappropriated taxpayer funds.

If the property appraiser has to take out an additional loan or mortgage on his newer family residence, then so be it. The money should be repaid. The findings indicated and found where the faults were, so let us start back at Square 1.

Corrective action is not complete until the root of the problem has been eradicated.

Donald Kreis, Largo

[Last modified August 30, 2007, 23:08:41]