Todays Letters: Print watering rules in Spanish

With more and more Hispanics moving into Florida, and therefore Hernando County, wouldn't you think the Southwest Florida Water Management District would have watering restrictions printed in Spanish?

I have Hispanic neighbors across the street who water just about every day. I attempted to speak with them on several occasions and even called to report them as violators. I was told that nobody in the department speaks Spanish and there was no literature available to mail them, either.

Come on! Everyone needs to learn the rules and follow them.

I was born and raised in this state. I am anxious to move just so I don't have to see the waste going on, and very little in the way of policing the offenders.

Wake up, everyone; that is your drinking water being used to keep lawns green.

Margie Lane, Spring Hill

Re: Motorcyclist dies in U.S. 19 crash Dec. 12 story

Give motorcycle riders road room

There it was, just an innocuous little article in the Hernando Times, but newsworthy enough to be repeated in the Metro section. Randi Lavikoff of Brooksville was run down by a driver headed north on U.S. 19. In itself, this is considered by many to be worthy only of the 71 words of print it got in the Times. But to many other of us in the motorcycling community it was much more.

I didn't know Randi, but I'm almost sure she was someone's partner, mother, sister, cousin or daughter. Randi was most certainly a strong woman who enjoyed the lifestyle most others do not or cannot understand - a biker. No, not the biker almost all of us have seen in the movies as ruthless, crazy, hell-raising drunks, but a woman who enjoyed riding her own bike, a 56-year-old independent woman.

The man who ran down her and her riding partner, Linden Gates, is from Pennsylvania and was given a ticket for careless driving. I don't claim to know all the particulars of the accident, but I think this gentleman got off lightly. But the laws in Florida, as incredulous as they are, permit just a ticket.

This is why I need to write you. During the winter, and especially the holiday season when we have a lot of out-of-state visitors, it is imperative that we all need to be more careful in our driving habits. Give us, motorcycle riders, a break; be aware we are there. We have just as much right to the roadway as you do. Stop being distracted, know your surroundings, be careful and just give that biker a break.

He or she may be someone's, mother, father, sister, brother, aunt or uncle, but certainly they are someone's loved one. Randi was a sister of mine, not by family, but by being a fellow biker. Please be careful out there.

Milton Gonzalez, president, Freedom Chapter, ABATE of Florida Inc., Brooksville

Pulmonary rehab a need in our area

As a concerned resident and wife whose husband suffers with COPD/emphysema, and who resides in the Hernando/Pasco county area, I feel it is the duty of our medical society to supply residents with an area for pulmonary rehab.

We travel three times a week to Morton Plant Mease Hospital in Clearwater for these treatments. It is proven this rehab works and my husband is a prime example. He has gone from being on oxygen and in a wheelchair, to walking with some assistance of oxygen. His vitals are normal and he is a new man.

We have cardiac, orthopedic and many other types of rehab. Bayonet Point Regional Medical Center had a pulmonary unit at one time, but decided it wasn't cost effective. If area doctors and hospitals are so concerned about the many patients they have in this area, please help us and help our loved ones breathe better; open a rehab in this area.

Kathleen Harnden, Spring Hill

Your voice counts

We welcome letters from readers for publication. To send a letter from your computer, go to www.tampabay.com/letters and fill in the required information. Type your letter in the space provided on the form, specify that you are writing the Hernando section of the newspaper, and then click "submit." You also may cut and paste a letter that you have prepared elsewhere in your computer.

If you prefer, you may fax your letter to (352) 754-6133, or mail it to: Letters to the Editor, Hernando Times, 15365 Cortez Blvd., Brooksville, FL 34613.

All letters should be brief and must include the writer's name, city of residence, mailing address and telephone number. When possible, letters should include a handwritten signature. Addresses and telephone numbers will not be printed. The Times does not publish anonymous letters.

Letters may be edited for clarity, taste, length and accuracy. We regret that not all letters can be printed.

[Last modified December 13, 2007, 20:23:40]