Opinion: Scanning of fans is an offense to our rights

What is it about the Fourth Amendment to the Constitution that the city of Tampa, the NFL and the Bucs don't understand? "The right of the people to be secure in their persons . . ."

Every person who was scanned -- and "in milliseconds, each facial image was digitized and checked against the computer files of known criminals, terrorists and con artists of the Tampa Police department, the FBI and other state and local law enforcement agencies" -- was in fact digitally detained without just or reasonable cause.

The police, the Bucs and the NFL made every person they scanned electronically prove they were not a known criminal, terrorist, con artist and otherwise a wanted person.

"The right of the people to be secure in their persons . . ."?
-- J. Michael Moss, Tampa

Big Brother is gaining

Re: Cameras scanned fans for criminals.

I am appalled. The use of cameras to "check" the crowd at Raymond James Stadium -- or any public venue -- should be unthinkable. And anyone who believes that the images or information are not saved for later use should think again. After all, the authorities didn't tell the people in the crowd in the first place that they were being watched!!

Big Brother, take another step forward! And if anyone wants to complain about those of us who do not support public monies being used for "fun" big business events like the Super Bowl, they can remember this: It ain't always pretty to stand up for everyone's basic rights, including yours to "just have some fun."

I've heard plenty of jokes about how the criminals were "actually on the field." I think the criminals were behind the cameras, in the surveilance booths and making these paranoid deals to criminalize the public.
-- Audrey Colombe, Tampa

There's no expectation of privacy

Re: Cameras scanned fans for criminals.

How can anyone claim an expectation of privacy in a stadium filled with 80,000 to 100,000 fans? I think it is a great and innovative measure to scan fans at all such large gatherings. Terrorists and other assorted malefactors do their evil deeds under the cloak of anonymity. We obviously have no objection to camera surveilliance in airports, here and abroad as well as at shopping malls and in stores.

When we lived in communities of 10,000 to 15,000 people, it was hard to be anonymous. Strangers and criminal acts were frequently and promptly detected. Those days are gone forever! We have the McVeighs and the Middle Eastern terrorists with which to contend and contain. To claim we have some expectation of privacy at a gathering such as the Super Bowl is absolutely absurd. Even the Warren Supreme Court would agree with that, given our present day circumstances of bombings, subway terrorism and other acts of violence, random or organized.
-- Robert H. Schultz, attorney at law, Bradenton

Tampa showed its ineptness

Mary Jo Melone's two columns on the drunken orgy called Gasparilla couldn't have been more accurate, but she only began to convey the utter insanity that this "celebration" produced. Adding to the already heady atmosphere of the Super Bowl, the Gasparilla invasion led Tampa Mayor Dick Greco to comment that the events "showed off the city" to visitors, or something to that effect.

You're right, Mr. Mayor; it showed Tampa for what it is -- a bumbling, backwoods city with little infrastructure and even less leadership, trying to move up among the elite to capture an Olympic spot. Yet what Tampa actually accomplished was its own epitaph for the Olympics. No principled Olympic committee members in their right mind (not that all committee members have principles) would give a second thought to Tampa as an Olympic games site.

My advice to the people around Tampa Bay is to save your money and your collective breath by squelching the thought of the Olympics until we can grow up, get organized and manage our own affairs without having lap dancing, bare breasts, inebriated and callous behavior and traffic gridlock as the hallmarks of our area. Tampa for the Olympics? Not in your lifetime.
-- G.W. Cantrell, St. Pete Beach

Don't blame the organizers

The recent column by Mary Jo Melone (Gasparilla: rude and, yes, drunk, Jan. 30) condemned "the organizers" of the Gasparilla celebration for the behavior of the participants. How is it that the organizers are responsible for the behavior of those attending? While I have only recently moved to this area, I am originally from Indianapolis, a city playing host to two major events of this caliber each year: the Indianapolis 500 race and the Brickyard 400. It has long been known that on the day of these races, and for at least one or two weeks leading up to these events, spirits and celebrations run high. There are several hundred thousand people who attend each of these races, and yes, they park in the local neighborhoods, drink, get rowdy and, in some cases, publicly relieve themselves. While this is not acceptable behavior, in no way are the organizers of these events held responsible for those things that very obviously out of their control.

The persons who should be held responsible are the people themselves.

It is my understanding that the Gasparilla celebration has been taking place for a number of years, and these things should not be coming as a surprise to the local residents in and around the area of the celebration. Don't blame "the organizers." It is the citizenry who can't behave themselves out in public who are at fault.
-- Jennifer Adams, St. Petersburg

Raining on the parade

Re: Fending off Gasparilla's drunk mob; this is fun?, by Mary Jo Melone, Feb. 1.

Thank goodness no one had a good experience attending the Gasparilla parade. This will ensure that Tampa City Council member Bob Buckhorn and friends will have an easy time banning future parades.
-- Rick Bodette, Tampa

Groups deserve diabetes grant

Re: Front Porch's choice for grant raises eyebrows, Jan. 14.

An article recently appeared in your paper related to the "Reducing Racial and Ethnic Disparities: Closing the Gap Grant Program." Gov. Jeb Bush and I feel very strongly about this initiative to eliminate disparities in health outcomes for Florida's racially and ethnically diverse communities, and we would like to set the record straight: The DIPPER project's strong coalition of grass-roots organizations and medical community commitment, along with a good analysis of the diabetes problem in their community, makes them a more than worthy recipient of the grant they received.

As your article stated, four local non-profit community-based organizations came together and proposed the "Diabetes Intervention Prevention Porch Empowerment Resources" (DIPPER) project, with one of the four -- St. Petersburg Neighborhood Housing Services (NHS) -- serving as the fiscal agent. The article, however, failed to mention that the DIPPER project is obligated to implement a 19-month work plan that outlines major objectives of the project and activity steps with a time line for completion. Upon completion of services each quarter, the DIPPER project submits a report detailing the activities of the preceding quarter.

Without sufficient documentation and approval of the Department of Health's contract manager, invoices submitted by the project will not be paid. Additionally, your article failed to mention the specific projects and services -- 100 percent of which will be in the Front Porch community -- that the DIPPER project will provide with the grant money.

The DIPPER project, whose application scored fourth out of 43 applications for diabetes grants, is implementing a nationally recognized education model of using health promoters who are community members trained to provide information on diabetes. This approach, which uses peer educators and community partners such as the faith-based community, is a nationally recommended public health strategy for reaching at-risk populations in communities. Services and projects that the DIPPER project will provide include the following:

Holding at least 10 health events, with a minimum of 500 people screened, educated and offered referral services for diabetes.

Recruiting 80 to 120 women between the ages of 25 and 40, and countless others through door-to-door home visiting, to recruit, educate and connect to DIPPER and the health care system.

Providing diabetic nutrition counseling to 300 diabetics and their families.

Implementing age-appropriate exercise and treatment programs to 500 teens and young adults, to encourage healthier eating and lifestyle choices.

I'm encouraged about the services that the DIPPER project will provide under this "Closing the Gap" grant. I'm even more encouraged to know that there will be better-trained, better-informed citizens in the community when their project implementation is complete. These citizens will not only be working to eliminate current health disparities through a grass-roots, community effort, but also preventing them in the future and assuring all Floridians the good health and long life they deserve.
-- Robert G. Brooks, M.D., secretary, Department of Health, Tallahassee

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