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Letter to the editor

Today's Letters: Former mayor deserves a chance

By LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Published October 11, 2007

Re: Former mayor plans to run story, Oct. 6

Personally, I'm not at all surprised that former Mayor Rita Garvey plans to run again for Clearwater mayor. Maybe she really did get herself together and straightened up her act since her arrest and drunken driving conviction. And more power to her if she did. This is the 21st century and more people than ever are reinventing themselves in one way or another.

And besides, Garvey's paid her dues to society and, hopefully, she's learned from her past mistakes. After all, we all make mistakes. I wish Garvey well on her mayoral campaign.

JoAnn Lee Frank,Clearwater

Garvey will stand up to Scientology

Rita Garvey for mayor. That has a nice ring to it. She is probably the only politician in Clearwater who would stand up to the cult of Scientology as she has done in the past.

C. O. Wells, Clearwater

Re: One dead after wreck, shooting story, Oct. 9

Clearwater needs youth program

My wife and I, through our ministry, Ervin's All American Youth Club, for 20-plus years worked in the North Greenwood/Betty Lane community to make it a safer and better place for all citizens, but we got very little support from the present Clearwater mayor, City Council members and the Police Department. We officially left the community in March 2006.

Do the math and you will see that things have truly gotten out of control since we were run out of the community due to the lack of support from the city officials. This is not a black thing, nor will it stay confined to just this community.

If any of you no matter what your ethnicity are sincere about seeing some real changes in the community and would like to be a part of the solution. Please e-mail us at: eajamu@gmail.com

Ajamu Babalola,Clearwater

Re: To break from malaise, return to the heavens guest column by David Tamm, Oct. 4

Peace is in the soul, not in space

I may be way off base in my understanding of Mr. Tamm's column, but I don't think so. He's probably right that our world is sick, but it's because of the people who no longer care what happens and would just as soon ignore any problems as to stand up for what's right or wrong.

How can we talk about returning to space to solve our problems, when the average person can't even get along with the neighbor that they already know?

He says most of us can rekindle our connection with the infinite through the conquest of space. If people have decided to exclude God, our creator, from their lives, how can we consider conquering space when he created that space? You can't ignore him and then think you can go higher up and find peace and contentment. True peace has to come from within each person and if we have no godly peace in our hearts, exploring the universe will not give us that peace.

Yes, everyone is searching for that pot of gold, and that's where our biggest problems start. We think if we have dollars, we can do anything and that's just not true.

We have practically sold our soul to others for the almighty dollar and we have destroyed American family values in exchange for money, which will never be enough. And even if we had all the money we wanted and continued to ignore our creator, what would we accomplish? What have we gained, if we win the whole world and lose our own soul?

Today's parents want children, but once they are here, then they want to earn more money and buy them all the things they never had and thus others end up caring for those children, and they never get the love and direction they need more than any possession in the world.

Children do not mature without parental love and guidance. Oh, they may grow up, but they will not be well adjusted like the child who has the love and guidance of his parents. God blesses us with a family and we ignore them. So sad.

If we just look back 20 to 30 years when dollars were hard to come by, we still got by and the children were home every night after school for dinner with the whole family. Today, Mom and Dad are both tired and the kids eat at fast food joints. In those days, God was still the head of most households, but today he's an afterthought. If there are no games or no practice and someone's not having a get-together, they might get to church, who knows?

If we could ever get the people of this world to return to the Lord and follow his word, then and then only will real peace and contentment come to mankind. Outer space is still a mystery, and unless we love God and our neighbor, we are already lost.

Fran Glaros-Sharp,Clearwater

Your voice counts

You may submit a letter to the editor for possible publication through our Web site at www.tampabay.com/letters, or by faxing it to (727) 445-4119, or by mailing it to Letters, 710 Court St., Clearwater, FL 33756. You must include your name, address and phone number. Letters may be edited for clarity, taste and length.

[Last modified October 10, 2007, 23:03:05]