Opinion: Manatees cannot be corralled; this is their home

It was with delight that I read that on Friday, March 30, a Tallahassee panel approved changes to add waterway no-go and go-slow zones to help protect the beautiful and endangered manatees. Obviously, as manatee boat-related deaths increase every year, previous restrictions and putting responsibilities in the boaters' hands has not worked. In Brevard County, where these tougher restrictions apply, there are large numbers of manatees and the area has one of the highest number of boat-related manatee deaths.

It is obvious why boating industry representatives are against new restrictions to provide a safer haven for the manatees -- less pressure and more support from boaters.

But it was with disgust that I read state Rep. Bob Allen's, R-Merritt Island, comments that manatees should be corralled: "It's like cattle, You don't let them wander the highways." After this moronic statement, he went on to add that manatees found in recreational areas used by humans should be relocated. Do you even comprehend, Rep. Allen, that this area belongs to the manatees first? They have no other choice. This is their natural habitat, for God's sake! We raise cattle, and should control where they roam. How can you possibly compare the two? We have no natural right to "corral" the wild manatee.V.M. Browning, St. Petersburg
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We should be willing to pay more
Re: Boaters facing higher fees, March 29.
I just read the article about the proposal to raise boat registration fees to help protect manatees. As expected the boat owners are very unhappy. After all, no one likes to shell out more money than they have to. Money doesn't grow on trees!
However, manatees don't "grow on trees" either. People are continuing to show their apathy for the environment by insisting that they come first. That their personal fun is more important than wildlife conservation.
My opinion is that since the manatees and other animals are fighting for survival in this carcinogenic world we've created for them, we, the perpetrators, should be willing to spend a little more money to enjoy our "pleasures."
Steve Baetzner, Largo

Crist responds to FAU play

A few weeks ago the world watched in stunned disbelief as Afghanistan's extremist Taleban government ordered and then carried out the destruction of two ancient Buddhist statues that stood at the crossroads of the Great Silk Route. To all civilized cultures, it seemed an act of unfathomable callousness, wiping away in an instant irreplaceable artifacts that had stood for more than 1700 years.

To Buddhists the act had an added dimension of cruelty, for it represented not just the destruction of objects but the desecration of images held sacred by that religion. Appropriately, the media voiced its outrage at a governmental act so profoundly insensitive to the religious beliefs of others that it took on the flavor of a violent personal assault.

You can imagine my confusion, then, when a few weeks later a Palm Beach Post staff writer praised Florida Atlantic University for funding an event that desecrates the accepted image of Jesus Christ. FAU sponsored a play called Corpus Christi, in which Jesus is depicted as a homosexual who surrounds himself with a cast of lecherous and profane disciples.

As with the destruction of the great stone statues, the sponsorship by government of this enormously disrespectful act should appall any thinking person who honors the religious beliefs of others. For Christians, it is a personal attack, defiling the accepted image of the Son of God.

How could administrators at FAU have shown such poor judgment in spending taxpayers' money for this purpose? Reflexively, they cite "academic freedom" as the rationale. Of course "academic freedom" is the final refuge in which professors hide when confronted with the absurdity and arrogance of their decisions. It is a wasteland entirely unmoored from standards, where any activity can be justified if it exceeds our "comfort level" by "challenging" our preconceptions.

Unfortunately, Corpus Christi does not illuminate our understanding of divinity. Stripped of its shock value, it is simply a sophomoric treatment of the Crucifixion. And in the end, all it "challenges" is this: Our "comfort level" in the leadership of FAU.

Perhaps these leaders should have considered who would not sponsor the play before they decided to enfold it in the cloak of academic freedom.

First, no private organization in Florida was willing to pay to have the play presented to an audience. Why? Because the play is so ferociously unappealing that it would never turn a profit. Surely, in spending taxpayers' money, universities have some duty to reach the broadest possible audience with information.

Second, no newspaper would bring the play to the masses by printing its script because the language is so foul. If the Palm Beach Post thinks Corpus Christi shows great literary merit, why doesn't it print the text for its readers? Because if it did, it would lose part of its readership, and therefore its revenue. Instead, the newspaper encourages the university to do it. With your money.

If this bit of hypocrisy were not enough, the Palm Beach Post then rails against the Florida Legislature for threatening to withhold money from FAU in response to Corpus Christi. Apparently the newspaper hasn't heard of "legislative prerogative." It's a phrase that acknowledges the Legislature's ability to take almost any action without fear of limitation or consequence. In that sense, it's a lot like academic freedom.

Maybe FAU had a point after all.
-- Charlie Crist, Florida Education Commissioner, Tallahassee

Putting the lawsuit behind us

Many thanks to Mayor Rick Baker and City Council for ending the lawsuit between Bayfront Medical Center and the city from a very happy 21-year employee of Bayfront Medical Center.It has been an emotional and monetary drain on everyone, and now we can put it behind us. I can't say it enough: Thank you, thank you, thank you.
-- Barbara Gaebler, St. Petersburg

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