Today's Letters: Get this teenoff the roads

By LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Published September 18, 2007

Under the radar no longerSept. 14, story

Linda Bollea wants us to believe that it's ordinary behavior for a 17-year-old to be cited multiple times for driving 30 mph or more over posted speed limits.

Reckless drivers kill more than 45,000 Americans every year. More than 30 percent of those deaths are caused by speeding motorists just like Nick Bollea. It is weak and irresponsible to dismiss this violent behavior with a "boys will be boys" attitude. Any responsible parent would suspend their child's driving privileges after one such incident. But since many won't do this, the courts should.

Nick Bollea has no business driving on public roads.

Scott Bravard, St. Petersburg

A parenting problem

Nick Bollea's mother asks, "What 17-year-old doesn't get tickets?"

The real question is what 17-year-old still has car keys after accumulating two serious speeding tickets in only four months? Sadly, the answer is a 17-year-old whose parents aren't doing their jobs. The result is a tragedy, which reasonable parental supervision should have prevented.

Dale M. Rhodes, Palmetto

Under the radar no longerSept. 14, story

School reality

It was disappointing, to say the least, to read last week that Nick Bollea was removed from Clearwater Central Catholic High School because, according to his mother, he was "exposed to drugs and fights." This article will no doubt span the globe, leaving readers with the idea that CCC may be a place where drugs and violence are common.

We have two teenagers who have been actively involved at the high school for more than three years. They claim to never have seen or heard of a fight or a drug bust on campus since they started going to school there. We as parents are also involved at the school and have never been notified by other parents or the school of a fight or a drug bust.

That is not to say that one or both have never occurred, but certainly not with any regularity. Furthermore, you may not attend CCC unless you submit to its mandatory random drug testing policy. It is one of the few schools in the area to have one. This policy is completely constructive in that any student who tests positive may not return to school until that student and his/her parents complete counseling.

CCC is a Christian community of responsible educators and typical, hard-working students from diverse backgrounds. It may not be perfect, but one thing is for sure: Discipline prevails.

Michael and Lee Anne Toups, Belleair

Under the radar no longerSept. 14, story

Don't be misled

I'm a senior at Clearwater Central Catholic High School. Friday afternoon in English class, our teacher brought up the article where Nick Bollea's mom said she pulled him out of CCC because "students were exposed to drugs and fights."

We got into a huge discussion on how there's only been one real fight on CCC grounds in the past 15 years and it was between two girls fighting over a guy. And sure there are kids who do drugs, but at what high school are there not? For the four years I've been at CCC, I have never been "exposed" to any drugs.

I thought that the comment Mrs. Bollea made about CCC gave the school a bad name. For people who don't really know the school, all they know now is that it has drugs and fights.

Trevor Campbell, Palm Harbor

15-year-old driver crashes; girl diesSept. 17, story

Raise driving age

How many more deaths will be required before our legislators learn that you cannot put a teenager behind the wheel of a killing machine (a car)?

It is time to up the driving age to 18 and get these irresponsible kids off the road. Learner's permits should not be issued prior to the 17th birthday, and only after the student passes a driver education course. And where were the parent of this young driver? Maybe they should be held responsible.

Henry D. Reiss, Tampa

Don't feed the birds

I read the Monday Metro section on Sept. 10 and saw the picture called In flight meals. The picture shows a man feeding seagulls.

I have been to numerous national parks and every one I've visited imposes a fine for feeding any sort of wildlife. Some people think that they are doing the animals a big favor, but it doesn't help the animals one bit, and it makes them aggressive toward people.

Here in Florida it causes the birds to go searching through people's bags while they are at the beach. The birds are looking for food packages they have learned to recognize. At Fred Howard Park the seagulls have attacked my 4-year-old brother while he was eating his lunch. They will do anything to steal sandwiches or rip open a bag of chips.

I think Florida should enact a law similar to that of the national parks and should educate the public about how aggressive birds may become toward humans because of being fed by them.

Mark Traester, Westlake Christian School, Palm Harbor

More on classes, less on buses Sept. 15, editorial

Grandfathering

should be required

in Pinellas schools

I support a student assignment plan designed to facilitate neighborhood schools. However I completely disagree with a quick rollout. The district will have had three radically different student assignment plans within five years. I think the proposed plan should make the most sense, but the frustration level of families in the district is at a boiling point.

Admittedly, a slow rollout will cost more. But let's be candid about what a quick rollout really means. It means ripping kids out of their schools and forcing them into a different place where they will know nobody. Put the money in the classrooms and not the buses? What could be more disruptive to a child's education than taking them out of a place they love?

Finally, I caution residents: The map has not been finalized. None of us know what the board members will consider to be "your neighborhood school." It may be farther away than you know, and they may decide to change it in another two years.

The School Board should make mandatory grandfathering and sibling grandfathering and rule that there will be no further changes for 10 years. This will prevent future half-baked ideas and instability in the system. Families should feel good about getting attached and involved in their schools.

Thora L. Cook, St. Petersburg

You can't please all

The Pinellas County School Board must demur from trying to please everyone as the system reverts to neighborhood schools. They should join superintendent Clayton Wilcox in standing up to those vocal parents who want their children grandfathered and bused to schools outside of their new local assignment zones.

Allowing certain students to finish out where they began under the choice plan but not providing transportation seems a perfectly reasonable accommodation. Parents can then decide to arrange transportation (as fundamental school parents have to do) or put their children through the overhyped trauma of changing schools.

The money saved on busing must be used to ensure that Pinellas children have access to an excellent education at whatever school they attend. If that is too much to hope for, high schoolers not having to wait for their bus in the dark at 6:20 a.m. would nonetheless make the changes worthwhile.

Eric Burns, Palm Harbor

[Last modified September 17, 2007, 21:59:57]