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A Times Editorial David Caton's junk mail Pay no heed to the hateful mailings of Hillsborough crusader David Caton, who has shown a marked interest in Pinellas' School Board races. © St. Petersburg Times, published October 28, 1998 housands of Pinellas County voters have received a bigoted, deceitful piece of mail from an organization calling itself the Florida Family Association. In reality, the Florida Family Association is a vehicle for the one-man crusade of David Caton, a Hillsborough County resident who knows very little about Pinellas County schools and cares even less. Instead, Caton cares only about slandering the names of School Board candidates who do not share his virulently anti-homosexual agenda. Caton's mailing accuses incumbent School Board member Linda Lerner of advocating "a pro-homosexual counseling group in every school." That's a dishonest characterization of Lerner's views. In truth, Lerner and the rest of the School Board unanimously supported the existence of a support group for homosexual students at Largo High School. Given the frequency of discrimination and violence directed at gay and lesbian students, the value of such a group should be obvious. Why is Lerner being targeted? Maybe because she's a Democrat in a county dominated by Republicans. Maybe because she has a son who has had the courage to live openly as a homosexual. In any case, the Gay and Straight Alliance at Largo High is hardly the most important issue facing Pinellas County's schools. Neither are the other issues included in Caton's flier: a "safe-sex course for homosexual conduct," school prayer and voter approval of tax increases. There's not one word about issues relevant to student achievement. Pinellas County voters don't need obsessed outsiders setting the agenda for their schools. Caton, the former owner of a notorious Tampa punk-rock club, says he used to be addicted to drugs and pornography. Now he's addicted to hate. He has every right to attempt to inject himself into Pinellas politics, but voters should be aware of his motivations. And what of the School Board candidates who are the beneficiaries of Caton's mailing? Do Republicans Thomas Robbins, Tom Todd and Nancy Bostock really want to be associated with this garbage? If they remain silent, voters can assume the answer is "yes." Business | Citrus | Commentary | Entertainment Hernando | Floridian | Obituaries | Pasco | Sports State | Tampa Bay | World & Nation © Copyright 1998 St. Petersburg Times. All rights reserved.