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Today's Letters: Our kids should do more walking
Letters to the Editor
Published February 17, 2008
Re: More kids may have to walk Jan. 27, story
Well, let's now find an expensive, unnecessary way to help kids lose weight. One mile twice a day? Gee, isn't that like torture?
We (I'm 61 now) had a bus stop where we all got to meet and enjoy the time before the bus arrived. All the pent-up energy in children who sit all day could be eased by yelling, jumping, etc.
If there is only one kid walking alone, the mile may not work, as I am sure some parents will be afraid. But many kids now live in subdivisions, so there is usually more than one kid or parent nearby.
You know, it would help parents to get up and walk to a bus stop and meet other kids and parents. You'll know who your kids like on the bus. Some kids only get to socialize there.
Let's please start using plain old common sense. Kids today are so sheltered. Give them pedometers. They will burn more energy and maybe they won't need medications for being hyperactive. It would cost less for fuel, and cut back on pollution and traffic if parents weren't sitting in their cars idling to pick up their kids.
A growing county means more buses, more fuel, more too-heavy kids, more health care and more greenery bulldozed for roads. Let's keep our county green and healthy by walking. We are turning our future adults into fat, pale Pollyannas.
Linda Kirkwood, Spring Hill
Re: How about an American flag? Feb. 10, letter
U.S. flag should fly alongside
I totally agree with the letter writer regarding the American flag. I am a Puerto Rican veteran and I agree that if you choose to display the flag of your country you should display it alongside the American flag. It's the only respectable thing to do.
Al Marrero, Spring Hill
Re: Incoming official holds off on raise Feb. 6, story
Squeaking by on $175K per year
The Hernando County Board of County Commissioners is desperate to keep an administrator. Consequently, it has approved excessive salary and benefits, totaling $175,000, for David Hamilton, its latest administrator.
His $135,000 salary should be sufficient for survival. If not, commissioners could hold an occasional car wash to buy him a bag of groceries. Further, a department to administer elimination of unnecessary departments could be established to employ his family.
He will be reimbursed $3,000 annually to complete his education. Balancing the county budget should be his priority. Apparently, he commenced doctoral studies without sufficient money to complete them.
No allowance for home insurance is approved. Maybe he will rent whilst in Hernando to complete his education for job in academia.
James A. Willan, Brooksville
Re: Makin' the big spiel for keepin' free speech real Feb. 10, Jeff Webb column
'Rap' column makes good point
Webb's "rap" column is another keeper for its content and clever approach to a critical concern, noting freedom of speech in the context of propriety. Webb is a writer's writer with insights that go deep to the heart of America with its Bill of Rights attached to the oldest living Constitution in the world, a Constitution framed by brilliant men in the face of defiance against their homeland.
Journalists tend to lean more to the literal interpretations of our guaranteed freedoms under the Constitution, while recognizing the demographics across our landscape that build prejudice and bigotry based on religion, ethnicity and gender. Journalists then keep the faith that is built into the range and spectacle of our Constitution, chapter and verse, explicit in the Bill of Rights.
Many journalists take a more progressive approach to our guaranteed freedoms, sometimes to the ire of heavily laden conservative values conceived often without a clear exposition of the Constitution and its Bill of Rights. These values tend to separate large segments of the population in the courts, in schools, in churches, in communities, in legislation and in politics, where the final outcome affects us all.
We give cause to unite as a nation, however, when our freedoms, however interpreted, are threatened. Sept. 11 made that clear.
Deron Mikal, Brooksville
Re: Singing hip-hop leads to arrest Feb. 6, story
Teen has learned that filth is okay
Nowhere in the commentaries have I seen any fingers pointed at the origin of the problem. The young adult did not make up these lyrics; he heard them on a CD.
First Amendment aside, why was he arrested and not the singer of the disgustingly commonplace language?
We cannot expect our young to accept this as immoral if we don't start teaching them self-respect and respect for others as early as the crib.
Emilie Sladek, Masaryktown
[Last modified February 16, 2008, 20:29:27]
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