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© St. Petersburg Times, published August 1, 2001
I would like to thank Florida's U.S. Reps. Bilirakis, Ros-Lehtinen, Boyd, Brown, Hastings, Meek, Thurman and Wexler for standing up for the Steel Industry in Florida and America with their co-sponsoring of H.R. 808 Steel Revitalization Act. At a time when young people find it hard to land good paying jobs and struggle to meet basic needs, our government is allowing steel be illegally dumped into this country and costing thousands of good-paying American jobs.
It upsets me to think about the loss of more jobs, but in this case we are going to lose a whole industry alone with the security of the United States. The steel industry is in trouble because of unfair and illegal dumping of foreign steel. What this is doing is not only putting over 24,000 steel workers out of work, but also jeopardizing thousands of retired steelworkers' benefits and health care coverage that they have long since paid for.
America has given away over 766,030 jobs due to the North American Free Trade Agreement, resulting in a loss of over 27,631 jobs in the state of Florida.
Now, what is next in the job give-away department? The White House has come up with a new deal called the Trade Promotional Act which is a new version of NAFTA Fast Track. I do not believe the American people will stand for any more job losses, in the steel industry or any other industry, so Congress should be aware that election time is getting near.
-- Greg England, United Steelworkers of America, Dist. 9, rapid response coordinator
Re: Gator that got dog is eluding trapper so far, July 19 and Trappers cart off dreaded gator, July 21.
According to Lt. Jeff Hudson of the Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, attacking a dog does not mean the gator is a threat to humans. "That's normal gator behavior." This was just a routine event according to Lt. Hudson. He states that a big one is "13 feet and almost a thousand pounds." His cavalier attitude about our community's supposedly small gator appeared to be no big deal -- and he's the Nuisance Alligator Program coordinator! They keep other animal populations in check -- including poisonous snakes, he said. How comforting!
Max was my deceased wife's 92-pound tan, male mastiff pet dog. He was gentle and loved other dogs, and even cats. He was extremely obedient and all who knew him loved him. This gator had made threatening moves toward people and pets during its recent eight-week stay here. No one was feeding it, and several complaints had been lodged to have it removed. Finally, after the death of a family pet, trappers were sent out to get the job done. It took three men three hours to capture this menace and remove it from our well-populated area. Many people fish from their seawalls and docks at night here, and others swim in the canals. I'm afraid Lt. Hudson and Gary Morse, spokesman for the Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, have become too insensitive about gators in areas like ours. Mr. Morse indicates they take no action if a gator is behaving "normally". And as mentioned above, Lt. Hudson feels attacking a dog is normal behavior. I wonder if they have children or pets? Perhaps we need to re-evaluate who we are really supposed to be protecting? My dog could have been someone's child! Maybe reacting in an appropriate manner before a death has to occur might be something to consider.
My thanks to my caring neighbors, the St. Petersburg Police Department, especially Officer Lich, and St. Petersburg Times staff writer Christina Jewett, who all gave me as much comfort as possible during this personally catastrophic event.
-- Joe Dougherty, St. Petersburg
Re: Expert opinions on manatees ignored, July 23.
Never have I seen such simple-minded and unfeeling actions by a state agency which is supposed to understand and be in step with nature. Not once did they consider the pain and suffering manatees experience when slashed by a razor-sharp boat propeller. A mother dies and a calf starves? Should we do the same for people? A very large number of people could be killed each year in Florida without our population diminishing.
Everyone who has watched a family of these gentle giants as they feed on the dreaded hyacinth, and nuzzle and train their young, understands they experience thinking, love and pain. And these days, most adult manatees have long scars from being struck by a boat. The solution is so simple: just slow the boats down so the manatees can be seen before being struck, and give them a chance to move away.
This is especially true in our rivers, where the manatees congregate to experience the warm water flowing from springs and to feed on such aquatic menaces as the hyacinth. Boaters do not have deadlines to meet or schedules to follow, so a top speed of 5 mph would not be detrimental, and the boaters might even smell the plant life and enjoy the scenery. In our narrow rivers, there is just not enough width for both speeding boats and meandering manatees.
-- Gilbert M. Brown, Dunedin
Re: Greyhound rescuers work on, letter, July 24.
As an employee for a company that breeds, raises, races and adopts greyhounds, I resent the comment that "Greyhounds make wonderful, loving, and gentle pets, not because of the handling they receive but in spite of it."
All industries throughout the world have both good and bad people working in them. To quantify them as either "all bad" or "all good" is an error in perception and reality. There are many kennels that don't do all they can to ensure their greyhounds find good homes, but there are many that do. We are responsible and accountable for the greyhounds we raise whether they are fast enough to race or not. Our greyhounds are handled lovingly from the time they are whelped to the time they go out for adoption. We have our own adoption program and Web site and network out of the state in an attempt to find these wonderful animals caring and loving homes when it is time to do so.
As the letter writer stated, they are "trying to find homes in an already overburdened pet population." This overburdened pet population is filled with unwanted and unloved animals from every species and breed. It is especially sad to think that many of these animals were once loved and cherished members of someone's home that became a burden. I know of older greyhounds that get returned after being members of someone's home because they don't want to deal with the inherent problems of advancing age. Am I to assume that all people who adopt dogs are bad because of these things? It's tempting to do so, but I know better than that.
There is one question I'd like to ask the animal activists: If your goal is to eliminate the racing industry, what is your plan for adopting out the thousands of greyhounds into that already overburdened pet population? Based on the breeding figures these activist groups put into print, they must have a wonderful plan lined up. If not, how many are those groups going to be responsible for euthanizing?
I'm not saying that greyhound racing as an industry couldn't improve itself because it could, and it has improved over the last few years. Each human acts according to what is in his or her own heart. Cruelty is as much an individual thing as love is and it is found everywhere. Just ask that existing "overburdened pet population."
-- Donna Moore, Lutz
Re: New take on Camp David collapse and Israel strikes at workshop in Gaza, July 29.
Oil and religion make the Middle East of special significance. Considerable coverage of events there is certainly appropriate. The media does, therefore, have a responsibility to provide balanced, unbiased, accurate and complete coverage of the current violence.
Unfortunately, the Times and the media in general have not lived up to responsibility in reporting as evidenced by these stories. The article, New take on Camp David collapse is an unabashed propaganda tract allowing a Palestinian, Ahmed Qureia, more than a half page to state his case. Nowhere is there any response from the Israeli, or for that matter, from the American perspective.
The frequent failure of local media to present fairly both sides of the issue was recently demonstrated. Dr. Ra'anan Gissen, a chief spokesman for the Israeli government, was recently in the area. The local media was not interested in interviewing him. Contrast this to the gratuitous account by Ahmed Qureia.
As for the companion article, Israel strikes at workshop in Gaza, could anything be more misleading than that heading? Indeed, the workshop is an extraordinary way to describe a place manufacturing munitions in violation of agreements. Readers might have been misled by the term which could have been clarified by adding the word munitions.
All in all the media, the Times included, continue to lack responsibility in Middle East reporting.
-- Norman N. Gross, Ph.D., president, PRIMER (Promoting Responsibility in Middle East Reporting), Palm Harbor
Re: Floridians' incomes remain in fast lane, July 25.
Why would the Times print such a misleading article? The article says: "Personal income grew 7.2 percent in Florida during the 12 months ending in March." One might think that most Floridians got raises of about 7.2 percent, but that's probably not true. I can believe that the average increase was 7.2 percent, but I'll bet most Floridians got much less.
Instead of average income, a much better measure of the economy is the median income, where half of the earners make no more than the median and half make no less. An even better measure is the real median income, which is the median adjusted for inflation. I believe that for about 30 years, the median income has not been keeping up with true inflation.
Since 1995, the U.S. median income kept up with the Consumer Price Index, but I believe recent CPI numbers understate inflation. It seems obvious that, since 1995, the median income did not keep up with true inflation, because more and more wives had to go to work, and because personal debt rose during that period.
The method for figuring the CPI was "corrected" about 5 years ago to give numbers about one percentage point lower than the previous method. I believe the earlier method of calculating the CPI was closer to the truth. Now, former Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan threatens to "correct the CPI" some more. If Congress wants to skimp on the Cost Of Living Allowance for government pensions, it has the power to do so. However, instead of distorting the CPI, Congress should frankly admit that the COLA no longer keeps up with inflation.
I believe the median Florida income increased by much less than 7.2 percent, and that the real median Florida income probably went down!
-- Jack Gregg, Largo
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