Today's Letters: Rays' plans are preposterous

As a longtime resident in downtown St. Petersburg, I have numerous questions regarding the prospect of building a new stadium for the Tampa Bay Rays.

Will a new stadium encourage our players to play better? Doubtful. Will a new stadium increase our chances of winning the World Series? Probably not. Will a new stadium guarantee that every seat is filled? No. This scheme to build a state-of-the-art stadium will not improve our team's standing in the major leagues.

The Tampa Bay Rays' projections are speculative and highly unrealistic. First, the Rays predict that a redeveloped Tropicana Field will create thousands of jobs and generate millions in revenue. Florida is in a serious real estate recession and any attempts to redevelop the Trop will leave us (the taxpayers) with more debt and an empty building.

Second, the Rays will need 12,000 parking spaces downtown. Even if the team garnered enough spaces from the city and privately owned garages, what would happen to other downtown events? Outdoor concerts, the theater and restaurants would suffer and eventually die because parking availability would disappear. There would be traffic gridlock.

Third, an open-air venue will not work in Florida. A fabric roof could lower the summer temperatures but it does not eliminate the high humidity. Only air conditioning can do that.

The truth is, Stuart Sternberg needs a new "spin" on his lackluster team, but modifying the team's name and building a new stadium amount to just a facelift, a very expensive one that will cost us, the taxpayers, dearly.

Instead of making everything pretty, the Rays need to focus on the internal mechanism: Recruit better players, pay them more and create a winning team of which we can be proud.

Tropicana Field is a perfect indoor venue with plenty of parking and need not be replaced. I can only hope and pray that our city and county leaders will not be wooed by this preposterous idea and that the voters will vote against it.

Kimberly Caminiti, St. Petersburg

Use of gas on mentally ill prisoners must endNov. 18, and End wasteful, cruel policies on mentally ill Nov. 19, editorial

Prisons treat mentally ill in a professional manner

I agree with Talbot "Sandy" D'Alemberte and the St. Petersburg Times editorial, as well as Gov. Charlie Crist, who have emphasized that statewide improvements in mental health treatment are needed, particularly in regard to addressing community needs before and after the mentally ill become involved with the criminal justice system. I also agree that within prisons and jails, we should treat mental illness like any other chronic disease and take special care to protect the mentally ill from harm.

For these reasons, the Department of Corrections has increased the number of inpatient beds for the mentally ill to almost 1,200 (well beyond the 500 cited by D'Alemberte) and now employs 300 psychologists, 60 psychiatrists and more than 500 specialized mental health workers (and we have scores more contracted positions). Furthermore, we train all of our security staff to recognize the signs of mental illness, to respond to such signs in nonthreatening ways and to call for mental health staff whenever the illness manifests itself.

In regard to specific concerns about the use of pepper spray, our policies strictly disallow any such use as punishment or discipline. When pepper spray is used, it is only to prevent further risk of harm (chemical use results in less than half as many injuries as physical force). Its use is expressly forbidden on inmates in inpatient care, except in the case of dire emergency (e.g., hostage situations, escape attempts, seizure of a health unit, etc.) For outpatients, it is used only as a last resort after all other nonforce efforts to quell a disturbance have been exhausted. Whenever it is used, the incident is videotaped and reviewed at several levels (to include mine), and if use was inappropriate, corrective action is swift.

Questions are always raised as to why such spray would be used on inmates in one-man cells, the implication being they cannot hurt anyone there - that they are merely acting out with no one at risk. In a prison setting, that supposition is untrue. They tend to hurt themselves, for one thing and if we let them, at alarmingly high rates. For example, our suicide rates are well below statewide norms, and less than a third of comparable populations (i.e., adult males). Often, disturbances are used to cover inappropriate behavior elsewhere in the cell block or wing (such as murders, beatings, preparations for escape attempts, and so on). The only inmates in such outpatient single cells, by the way, are those who clinical evaluation determines are able to understand and follow established rules of conduct. If they believe their condition has worsened, or if we observe that it has, we move them directly to inpatient care.

In short, we take every care to provide adequate treatment and to restrict the use of force (such incidences are down markedly in recent years). We train toward professional treatment of the mentally ill. When pepper spray is necessary to maintain safety and security, the duration of spray is limited to a one-second burst, with no more than three bursts maximum. Showers are encouraged and offered as soon thereafter as possible. Despite more than 16,000 cases of mental illness (over two-thirds of whom are in close management and have committed murder, rape and other violent crimes), we have greatly reduced the number of incidences and the amount of injuries to both inmates and staff. Bottom line: To completely ban the use of pepper spray would reverse such trends and would be an unwise policy.

James R. McDonough, secretary, Florida Department of Corrections, Tallahassee

Churches practice, preach a green lifeNov. 18, story

Stewards, be wary

I agree that Christians should be stewards of God's creation and should work to reduce pollution and care for the environment. But Christians must balance environmental stewardship with Jesus' command to love our neighbors as ourself.

Everyone knows that Earth is in a warming trend and that humans put CO2 into the atmosphere. But science doesn't confirm that humans contribute anything significant in terms of temperature rise. Nor does science support the scare tactics used by Al Gore, Leonardo DiCaprio and others who push the idea of catastrophic, man-induced global warming.

John Coleman (founder of the Weather Channel) said recently that man-made global warming claims are a "manufactured crisis" by "dastardly scientists with environmental and political motives" that have "manipulated long-term scientific data to create an illusion of rapid global warming."

The media continue to ignore evidence that solar activity (not CO2 emissions) is the main cause of planetary warming and cooling trends and that there is good evidence for 1,500-year cycles of warming and cooling.

Churches must consider the validity of global warming claims, how badly economies will be damaged because of Kyoto-like treaties, how developing nations would suffer from the actions of richer nations, and the futility of following something like Kyoto which (if followed by every country) would affect temperature by only a fraction of a degree.

Christians must consider all sides of this issue, because they may unintentionally increase hardship, suffering and poverty for the people they are commanded to love. And churches have no business showing Al Gore's documentary, which a judge ruled against for its one-sided format, its exaggerated claims, and about nine blatant scientific "errors" (including Gore's fantastic claim that seas would rise 20 feet - which is in contradiction to the predictions of the left-leaning (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) of about 16 inches in 100 years).

Randy Goggin, New Port Richey

Looking on the bright side

After learning about the U.N. report on global climate change, I just wanted to thank all the drivers of gas-guzzling vehicles while I ride my bicycle around St. Petersburg. The way I figure it, in a little while I will have waterfront property as the sea level rises. Then I will be really happy to have Save Our Homes since my property values will rise dramatically.

Keep up the good work, Floridians.

Michael Logan, St. Petersburg

Tourist turned away

My wife and I invited my mother and my brother to visit us in Florida for two weeks. As my mother is an elderly person my brother wanted to accompany her. My brother was denied a tourist visa by the U.S. consul in Prague, Czech Republic. So much for their trip to Florida.

I wish to congratulate the consul and his enlightened staff on the vigilance with which they defend America against Czech Republic tourists ready to spend their money in Florida.

In Florida, one often runs into large crowds of illegal aliens from south of the U.S. border and packs of visitors from countries whose nationals have been known to be hostile toward Americans.

Why a friendly European tourist is kept from seeing his family, while those who don't even respect American lives, let alone American laws, are let into this country remains a deep mystery to me. Am I missing something?

Mirek Katzl, Dunedin

Pricey, sweet shriekfest Nov. 20.

Ridiculous dental imagery

In response to Sean Daly's review of the recent Hannah Montana concert, I was appalled at his description of the thousands of shrieking girls. In his review, he uses the analogy of "1,000-dental-drills-excavating-your-brain sort of noise" to describe the sound emanating from the crowd.

As a practicing general dentist for 11 years, I have spent countless hours with apprehensive patients trying to alleviate fears they have with treatment, and to have Daly use this description doesn't help my cause. How would this affect a teenager and her perception of dental treatment? For a person reading his column, the negative imagery toward our dental profession is reinforced, which is the complete opposite of what I try to do on a daily basis.

Dentistry is an honorable profession and with the technological advances in recent years, we can only hope that public opinion is shifting. But when I read ridiculous dental references like the one Sean Daly wrote, it makes our job of promoting a positive image that much more difficult.

Dr. Michael Fernandez, Seminole

Romney's key ingredient Nov. 21, story

A man of character

Your article about Ann Romney, Mitt Romney's wife of nearly 40 years, should dispel any hesitation that Republicans may experience when considering the Mormon candidate. While his religion may differ from the Christianity typical of Republicans, Romney is undoubtedly a man of character. He has had only one wife, and she is every bit as wholesome as he is.

Andrew Szarejko, Palm Harbor

Lies vs. monkey bread

What's important? Is it former White House press secretary Scott McClellan's incriminating accusations that Karl Rove, Scooter Libby, Dick Cheney, Andrew Card and George Bush all played a role in the outing of Valerie Plame, which is buried on Page 9A (Ex-aide blamed Bush in CIA leak)?

It apparently pales in significance to the four-column front-page article and picture of Mitt Romney's wife, Ann, making monkey bread.

In my opinion nothing is more relevant than separating lies from truth when our leaders are concerned. Monkey bread is section "E" fodder, at best.

Bruce Caplan, Redington Beach

This team isn't worth it

Let's see: In 1990, the city spent nearly $140-million to build Tropicana Field, and in 1996, they spent another $63-million for renovations for the Devil Rays, and now, Tropicana Field is not good enough for them.

Well, the Rays aren't good enough for it! They stink! Anyone who thinks the Rays deserve something better than what they have now is crazy. And has Gov. Charlie Crist ever been to any of the games? If so, he would know that this team does not draw anyone other than a handful of locals.

A new stadium is not going to change the attendance and bring in the money Crist thinks it will. We've heard all that before, and it didn't happen. And if the city has that much money to throw away, why not give it back to the burdened taxpayers? If the Rays really want a new stadium, let them pay for it - all of it!

Dianne Castelli, St. Petersburg

The tax equation

The need for revenue to run the government does not go down. When someone gets a tax break, someone else must pay more tax to take up the slack. The unequal property tax gives a break to some and charges a lot more to others. Because some businesses are exempt from state sales tax, the tax rate has to be higher on everything else we buy.

If the Rays get tax breaks, the rest of us must make up the difference. A small minority of St. Petersburg and Florida citizens are Rays fans. All citizens should not have to subsidize a professional sports team. The Rays ought to pay their own way.

Schuyler Brown, St. Petersburg

Learn from the past

About 20 years ago the people of St. Petersburg were "sold a bill of goods." In daily "news" stories the St. Petersburg Times unabashedly promoted the taxpayer-financed building of a domed stadium. The stadium was going to pay for itself and cause a golden age of prosperity and culture for St. Petersburg. Now, the taxpayers of St. Petersburg still owe $100-million for the stadium and the people of Pinellas County cover for the absence of property taxes from the Trop. And there's a spiffy sports bar nearby.

Since the announcement of plans to build a new stadium and demolish the Trop, we have seen a near daily barrage of front page and page 1B "news" stories promoting the new stadium.

The Times' subheadline on a recent story (Rays tout Trop site's value, Nov. 17) read, "Thousands of jobs, millions in taxes are forecast." Yeah, right. If we've learned anything from history, a more accurate headline would be, "Highest taxes in Florida; millions upon millions of tax dollars to bondholders, developers and contractors; tens of thousands of empty stadium seats; budget crunches for schools, police and roads; and a couple of new sports bars can be expected."

As George Santayana said, "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it." Hopefully, the rallying cry for the new stadium debate will be the Who's 1971 rock anthem, Won't Get Fooled Again.

Marshall Reissman, St. Petersburg

[Last modified November 23, 2007, 21:31:28]