Letters to the Editors

Taxpayers pick up the tab for baseball teams

© St. Petersburg Times,
published July 30, 2001

I read in your paper where our Pinellas County commissioners are toiling over a 4.8 percent tax rate increase so our county services will not have to be cut.

In the same section I read where the city of Dunedin is looking to the county for an additional $400,000 to $500,000 for improvements to the Blue Jays stadium. To this, County Commissioner Susan Latvala was quoted as saying, "Anything is possible; but we had not planned on it, so they better get to it quick."

Why quick? So they know how much to raise our taxes to pay to support another baseball stadium?

It seems Pinellas County and its cities think we citizens want to pay increased taxes to support baseball -- not just one franchise, but three in this county alone. Maybe our city commissioners and county commissioners should consider that the reason baseball must be supported by our tax dollars is because the sport of baseball itself will not afford the multimillion-dollar contracts it so generously pays the players.

Maybe it would appear different if they increased your taxes to increase my wages.
-- Terril Fisher, Clearwater

With God in charge, we must accept his punishment

Re: God doesn't cause tragedies, story, July 7.

How could God open our eyes and our hearts to let us know he is in control if he did not let tragedy occur? Whoever wrote the Cox News Service story evidently does not study their Bible too often. God has inflicted many tragedies and has at many times warned the people that he was about to do so, and in some cases they returned to him, and worshiped him and ended their evil ways and thus avoided the tragedy.

As to the children killed by their mother, their father, Russell Yates, was 100 percent right when he said, "The Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away." The story stated Yates' grief was understandable, and who wouldn't be upset by the loss of their whole family in one day? But we must remember that God knows what he is doing, and there is always a reason for everything that happens, even when we as humans can't see or understand. In Isaiah 57:1-2,it states, "The righteous perish and no one ponders it in his heart. Devout men are taken away and no one understands that the righteous are taken away to be spared evil. Those who walk uprightly enter into peace; they find rest as they lie in death." So maybe this was God's way to spare these precious children another moment of their mother's torment. Maybe this happened to open the eyes of the rest of this family, who knows?

In Job 5:17-18 it states, "Blessed is the man whom God corrects; so do not despise the discipline of the Almighty. For he wounds, but he also binds up; he injures but his hands also heal."

We must all remember that God is in charge, and we cannot accept his praise and his goodness unless we are also ready to take his punishment.

I know those who read this will say, "But she never lost a child;" but I did. And he had his whole life ahead of him; and with God's loving mercy, I pray he is now with God in his eternal and peaceful rest.
-- Fran Glaros, Clearwater

Roundabout makes driver steer clear of the beach

Re: What's next for roundabout? A fix for the fix? and other letters, July 18.

After reading your letters, I can't help but write what I have thought from the beginning: Get rid of the roundabout or reduce it from an outrageous fountain to a decent roadway.

Driving through Tampa, Atlanta or any large city is a breeze. For me to go to Clearwater Beach and fight the roundabout makes me a wreck. I seldom go out there now because of the mess.

If the wind is blowing, you are sure to get a "free" car wash from the huge fountain as you bounce in and out of traffic.

Our fountain in Central Park in Largo is in good taste. Good idea from a couple of letter writers on their thought of marine sculptures in the center of a bubbling pond. See what Citrus Park Mall did inside to display the recreation ideas of Florida? We still have plenty of room to move about, yet enjoy the sculptures.

I have lived here 32 years; and it was always a pleasure to go out to the beach, if only for a ride. Now it's a nightmare.

What a "quick fix" it was to take away our pleasures.
-- Suzy Hunt, Largo

Some proposals to solve the roundabout problem

As a retired professional civil engineer and land surveyor, I am appalled by the recently proposed shortsighted changes for the Clearwater Beach roundabout. Mere removal of the fountain and some minor tweaking do not adequately address the overall faulty geometry of the existing area traffic pattern.

I suggest the following:

The existing two lanes of westbound Causeway Boulevard extend straight to a T intersection with Mandalay Avenue and Coronado Drive, limited to left turns only.

The existing northern portion of the roundabout be used for a third right turn-only lane for access to Mandalay Drive and areas north of the roundabout.

It is critical that the existing portion of the roundabout between westbound and eastbound lanes of Causeway Boulevard be eliminated.

The existing southerly portion of the roundabout will continue to serve as egress easterly from the area via Causeway Boulevard.

The critical T intersection must have adequate traffic signal controls and signing. To say that it will be "obvious" what cars should do simply will not do.

The westerly lane of Coronado Drive should include a left-turn northerly egress to Mandalay Drive through the T intersection. A short, third right turn-only lane from Coronado Drive at the roundabout would be advisable.

This area is too valuable for the city of Clearwater to continue to play such games.
-- Leslie Nafis, Dunedin

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