Letters to the Editors

Water shortage should put stop to development

© St. Petersburg Times,
published July 30, 2001

Editor: Recently, I had the pleasure of attending a meeting at New Port Richey City Hall with two state representatives. The information they imparted was very interesting. They also fielded questions from the audience. They gave answers to these questions to the best of their ability.

I posed a question that involved Pasco and surrounding counties. My question and talk was about the drought. I told them the people of Pasco and surrounding counties were well aware of the drought, all of us with the exception of a few people. Those few are our commissioners and commissioners from surrounding counties.

I mentioned that there was a law or ordinance regarding building and development on the books. I also mentioned that when it puts the general public welfare at risk, something should be done. That is they should curtail all development.

As a past commissioner from up north, I know this can be done. I also said when I ran for office, I paid for my own ads. At no time was I beholden to anyone. In my opinion, the developers have them in their back pockets.

In the Pasco Times, there was an interesting article on building permits. In the first six months of this year, 2,021 permits were issued. At that rate, they will surpass 1999, which was a record year for permits. More than 7,000 permits are on the books.

When will the commissioners put a stop to all this until we have enough water for the present population?
-- Gus Harris, New Port Richey

Humans are the worst predators

Re: 10 kittens dead in 3 animal abuse cases, July 25

Editor: Alligators and sharks seem to be making all too many headlines lately. First, an alligator attacks a woman who swims into its own territory. Second, a shark (which spends its entire life in the gulf) gravely injures a boy in the Gulf of Mexico.

People fear these creatures and make movies about how horrible these prehistoric, small-brained creatures are and how they attack innocent people. Those shark and alligator attacks are rare, and those creatures would prefer to be left alone rather than feast on or attack most people at all. Many of the attacks are brought on because people invade the places where these creatures reside. Often in self-defense, these creatures attack people who invade their territory or seemingly threaten their offspring.

The real horror lurking in this world today are the two-legged "sharks," " alligators," "rats" and other such predators who drive cars and often use cellular phones! The real monsters out there are people themselves. Who needs to make films about sharks in the ocean? People attack one another for pointless, petty reasons regarding race, gender, ethnic background and so forth.

They allow people in poverty to wander the streets and they treat one another in the manner that they try to attribute to animals such as pigs or rats. When was the last time you heard about a pig in the barnyard killing the chickens in the henhouse? How many sharks rob convenience store clerks in the middle of the night?
-- People attack innocent animals such as those small kittens who can't even fend for themselves and didn't choose to be born into a household to be severely abused. The suspect told the deputies that it was better to kill the cat than his son. If his anger was directed to his son, what did a defenseless, innocent kitten have to do with it?
My own 6-month-old old kitten wandered innocently in the backyard trying to catch geckos and was shot and paralyzed by a man with a .22-caliber pistol.
What is wrong with people who go after innocent animals who don't have the ability to harm anything? The real terror out lurking in the woods can be found easily if people just look in the mirror.
Enough stories about alligators and sharks! There are many more terrifying attacks committed by Homo sapiens!
Fawn Lerner-Gilli, Tampa

Democrat's attack sounds all too familiar

Re: Thurman has done an excellent job, July 16.

Editor: Mr. Dom Cabriele's pompous attack on letter writer Mary L. Wright in the July 16 paper left me believing that he has certainly been watching too much TV (The Weakest Link). His vicious assault was uncalled for in any venue. Informed voters know that HMOs are under the jurisdiction of the federal government, U.S. Rep. Karen Thurman's arena.

Cabriele is chairman of the Hernando County's Democrat Party. His malicious words toward one he disagrees with sound all too reminiscent of the last eight years of lying lackeys, spinning stories regardless of the truth.

High-profile Democrats, nationally and locally, have shown, as Mr. Cabriele proved through his rant, that most are truly the "missing link" to the voter.
-- J. Heard, Brooksville

Might patriot have an ulterior motive?

Editor: A self-aggrandizing letter was published July 4 from Lawrence Scaduto letting the world know that he and his partner, Laura Wiegman, placed 1,000 flags in the Beacon Woods neighborhood for the past three years.

He challenged a story about the Navy reservist who had only placed 100 flags around a country club. He mentioned that if you thought it was great, come see 1,000. The Navy reservist, I'm sure, did not have an advertisement attached to each flag allowing it to be written off as a business expense.

Were Mr. Scaduto and Ms. Wiegman motivated by pure patriotism or profit?
-- Rosemary C. Wright, Bayonet Point

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