Letters to the Editors

Courtesy and careful driving grow scarce

© St. Petersburg Times, published July 3, 2000

Re: A note to Pinellas' drivers: Try being nice, by Howard Troxler, June 26.

Howard Troxler, in his inimitable way, has said it just the way it is in Pinellas County these days. On the major highways and in the quiet subdivisions, there is an absolute disregard for traffic laws, and even common courtesy has been lost.

The longer I live here the worse it gets. The perpetrators are definitely not the elderly drivers. They may be slow to react, but they stop for red lights and for stop signs.

As a former neighborhood watch coordinator for my subdivision and later president of our homeowners association for several years, I have been astounded at the large numbers of young and middle-aged men and women who not only run stop signs, but also do so in the face of elderly people trying to cross what should be a residential street.

I have taken advantage of the Clearwater Police Department's Citizen Ride Along Program and have been shocked to see the brazen behavior of drivers even when a police car is in plain view. It is obvious to me that these drivers feel they are above the law and are even defiant of it.

On occasion in my subdivision when I have been at a cross street while walking my dog, I have seen as many as two or three dozen people run a stop sign within a matter of a few minutes. I called this to the attention of Lt. Nancy Miller, and she dispatched police cruisers to watch our stop signs, subject to time available. A number of citations were written.

I have been cursed and even threatened by many drivers, (none of whom were elderly) when I admonished them for breaking the law. But I continue to do so despite the fact that it isn't working.
-- Sam Lasley, Clearwater

Those thoughtless drivers

Thank you, Howard Troxler, for getting down to the root of our horrible roads: thoughtless drivers who endanger the rest of us! The roads in Sarasota are just as wicked as those in Pinellas and Hillsborough counties, only with more speed bumps.

I have two added thoughts on the problems with our drivers:

1. Teenagers and 20-somethings who learned to drive on video games drive exactly as though the road is the game. They go waaaaay too fast, tailgate, change lanes without signaling, etc. The real road is not a video game!

2. SUV stands for two possible things: Stupid User Vehicle or Stupid Useless Vehicle! We really need those 4-wheel drives to get around these speed bumps in Sarasota, let me tell you. Every time I look in my rear-view mirror and see an SUV bumper that practically rests on my roof, I think of how silly those vehicles are in a city. Also, the engines in these things are so powerful that those of us who drive regular sedans that don't leap ahead at green lights seem to irritate the cell-phone-wielding drivers of the SUVs. Is it really necessary to squash my Subaru like a tank running over a motorcycle?

I'm doing more and more of my household purchases over the Internet so I can avoid those dangerous idiots on the road. I hate to think what the U.S. Postal Service and UPS drivers must deal with in their careers!
-- Elaine Dunkleberger, Sarasota

A self-inflicted energy crisis

Complaining about gas prices is like having cancer and complaining about the cost of aspirin -- while continuing to smoke. We have a real energy crisis in this world, with all its contingent pollution, which needs aggressive and direct treatment. Continuing to "smoke" in the form of driving larger and larger gas-guzzling passenger vehicles will just make us sicker, both physically and economically.

Perhaps if the cost of gasoline tripled, it would change our desire to be truck drivers and we might at least dream the impossible: getting meaningful cures from our public and private sectors.
-- Stewart Davis Jr., Safety Harbor

A helmet won't make much difference

Re: No-helmet law adds to burden on the taxpayer and The public good takes a back seat, letters, June 22.

I have ridden a motorcycle since I was 15. In all that time, I have owned only one car. I have received only one ticket on a bike in 23 years. I have ridden in Columbus, Ohio, and Miami and St. Petersburg, and I think this qualifies me as a knowledgeable rider.

I have ridden with the knowledge that one day I might be an organ donor, but that is because of idiots who drive while using a cell phone or putting on makeup or reading the paper. I am 260 pounds and 6-2. I was told drivers couldn't see me when they pull out in front of me. Bull!

I have rights. I am a licensed driver, and I demand the same respect as anyone else on the road. I see the doctors who wrote these letters complaining that the county or government services will pay for my medical care when I get hit. Excuse me! The offending driver should pay. And if I am hit, do you really expect me to live? If a 4,500 pound car hits me, it won't matter if I wore a helmet or not. I have enough problems trying to dodge the elderly, the snowbirds and the rich drivers who think they own the road. That the helmet will make much of a difference is baloney.
-- Bill Martin, St. Petersburg

No helmets, no problems

The doctors who wrote the June 22 letters are missing the Machiavellian or Darwinian implications of the no-helmet law. One said it well: "Non-helmet-wearing motorcyclists are known . . . as "donercyclists.' " Those who choose to not wear a helmet are far more likely to be DOA (dead on arrival) at the trauma center than to survive their accident with head injuries and require additional care. Thus, there should be a net savings in health care costs (DOAs require no additional care) and a rich source of organs for transplant.

The $10,000 insurance coverage should just about cover the cost of retrieving the body and delivering it to a hospital for organ harvest. It is a win-win-win-win deal. Those who choose to ride without a helmet get to do so. Those who make that choice increase their chance of being removed from the gene pool. Those in need of organ transplant have an increased chance of survival. Net health care costs go down.
-- Charles Palmer, Lutz

The drought-development connection

Re: Drought vs. development.

I guess we still don't get it. Or I should say, the powers that be don't get it. Our drought situation is not over. Recent rains have been barely a drop in the bucket. We are still desperately low on water, folks. But the people who give approval to development, especially large-scale projects, are going full steam ahead and letting west-central Florida get turned into one gigantic parking lot.

Recently, letters to this and other local papers have stated that a complete building moratorium is needed, and I agree 100 percent. Until we have come completely out of these drought conditions, which may take a few years even with steady rains, there should be no new subdivisions built.

But now, another 800-1,000 acres have been annexed into Tampa near the Pasco County line, and scores of homes will soon, apparently, bring in thousands of new, thirsty residents.

As I said, nobody gets it -- besides the happy developers. They will ride off into the sunset right after the last of the concrete dries, cash in hand, leaving us to fight over water that is disappearing faster than green space in Hillsborough County. Again I ask: Will anybody ever get it?
-- Ron Thuemler, Tampa

Government has failed us

After reading a number of articles about green lawns and the lack of water to keep them green, I began to wonder who's really at fault here. And the answer came quickly.

The fault lies with the government politicos who were aware that there were limited water resources down here in Florida, and they still allowed more and more homes to be built. These politicos knew way back when that building homes should only be allowed when there is sufficient water to meet all needs and that we should not send excess water to other counties that continue to build and don't have enough water to supply the homes already there.

So the truth of the matter is that we are overbuilt and that the building needs to be stopped now -- that is, until we can come up with water resources to supply each building. And let's not forget that property owners were never advised that when we built down here in Florida that one day, when droughts would occur, we would have to limit watering our lawns. That being the case, the government should be held accountable for the cost of replacing dead grass -- yesterday, today and also in the future.
-- Sonny Gibbons, Port Richey

Why ridicule a religion?

Re: Who'll save the serfs in the Land of the Lost? by Mary Jo Melone, June 27.

It is fascinating that the Times would publish a column so filled with religious bigotry, hate and invective as the one written by Mary Jo Melone attacking the Church of Scientology.

She is obviously ill-informed about the Church of Scientology which, for decades, has been recognized as a bona fide religion, not only by governments throughout the world but also, and more important, by the leaders and practitioners of other faiths, from Jesuits to Shintoists.

I doubt if the Times would ever publish such an article ridiculing the practices of Taoism, Hinduism or Native American faiths. Why the editors allowed such a narrow-minded and prejudiced opinion piece to be printed would be a mystery if the same intolerant mind-set were not so readily apparent in the paper's "news" coverage of virtually anything related to the church.
-- Irma Jeanis, Clearwater

An uninformed viewpoint

Re: Who'll save the serfs in the Land of the Lost? by Mary Jo Melone.

I read with interest Mary Jo Melone's column. The ignorance with which she writes never ceases to amaze me. If I were writing a newspaper column, I would at least research the facts of what I was writing. However, Melone's column was so devoid of fact that at first it made no sense whatsoever to me.

Having been familiar with L. Ron Hubbard's writings for more than 20 years, I find Melone's viewpoints are not only based on complete ignorance but are so inane as to be laughable.

It is fortunate indeed that the average citizen in Clearwater does not formulate his or her own opinions of things based on innuendo and histrionics but rather will go into any bookstore and read what Hubbard has to say to his readers.
-- Joanie Sigal, Clearwater

A matter of freedom

I just read Mary Jo Melone's column Who'll save the serfs in the Land of the Lost? It is shocking that such a vicious and slanted article is allowed to be printed and distributed through a newspaper. I thought columns printed in the paper were to be instructional or entertaining. This article is neither.

Mary Jo should read up on the Constitution and why our forefathers felt religious freedom was very important for every individual in this land. Maybe an article is needed to outline the difference between the French and American governments. Personally, I like my freedoms and would not want to live in a pseudo-socialistic country. Average Americans do not want their government controlling every aspect of their lives -- thank goodness for that!
-- Debra Witter, Dunedin

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