Letters to the Editors

Planning is part of all parents' responsibility

© St. Petersburg Times,
published October 7, 2001

Editor: After having recently been a volunteer ticket taker at a school sporting event, I noticed a math discrepancy.

Let's say two teams play -- junior varsity and varsity, maybe 12 players per roster. That's 48 children. Two parents, that's 96 tickets. More realistic, one parent, that's 48 tickets.

Maybe 20 of the tickets -- one-third of the attendees -- were taken by parents. Now to add a little salt to the wound, parents arrived 30 to 45 minutes late picking up the players.

Who is waiting with your child? The coaches, who have also started their day at 6 a.m., some with children of their own.

Too busy, too many children in too many places? Then make arrangements for the child you leave waiting. Not only did they not have your support, imagine how they feel knowing their coach also wants to go home and can't because they are the reason. Easy for me to say? Yes, because I've been there. Many times with four children playing four different locations and, at one time, at two different high schools. We ran and ran and ran.

Why? Because we chose to have children and we chose to have them participate in sports. Come on parents, take responsibility!
-- Lynette Leber, New Port Richey

Specialty plate can save lives

Editor: What a great idea! A Second Amendment license plate with the proceeds going to pay for gun safety classes in our schools! Mr. Bill Bunting, Rep. Ken Littlefield, and Sen. Ginny Brown-Waite should be applauded for their efforts.

Many children and young adults are interested in or are attracted to firearms, both historic and contemporary. As a high school history teacher, I see this on a frequent basis. What worries me is that the students are attracted to firearms, but have not had the opportunity to learn basic gun safety. This Second Amendment specialty plate can change that. It can save lives.

Another plus with the Second Amendment license plate is that it will serve as a reminder of our proud heritage by showing a Revolutionary War soldier and reminding people of our Bill of Rights and the first 10 amendments to the U.S. Constitution.

To Mr. Hayhoe, who opposes this idea, I respectfully ask you to reconsider. Do not forsake the lives of our children for what you call a "controversial political idea." Our children and our nation's heritage are much more important.
-- Eric Stallworth, Holiday

Flying the flag adds beauty

Editor: It breaks my heart and literally brings tears to my eyes to hear and think that U.S. citizens are offended where we are placing the American flags.

I praise God that we have truly become a United States of America in these troubled times. We need to be able to place the emblem of our unity wherever anyone in this world can see it. The American flag adds beauty to whatever it is attached to. Let it fly freely. Don't take the wind out of our freedom.
-- The Rev. Rusty Holbrook, Spring Hill

Fairness needed in tough times

Editor: I want to thank Jan Glidewell for his insightful comments in his column titled These times demand reason, not hate, Sept. 21 Times).

I am a Sikh and an American citizen living in Hernando County for 22 years. Like everyone else, I watched, in horror, the events of Sept. 11 unfold. Then, later in the day, as the TV commentators speculated on the perpetrators of this unspeakable crime, pictures of Osama bin Laden and Mohammed Omar, the Taliban leader, flashed on the television screen and as I watched I was filled with another kind of fear -- the fear of persecution.

Here we go again, I thought, back to the years when the shah of Iran was deposed and Ayatollah Khomeini rose to prominence. Khomeini wore a beard and a turban. My husband wears a beard and a turban. Many people called him Khomeini and yelled "bomb Iran" if they happened to spot us.

We are not Muslim and neither are we from Iran. We are Sikhs from India. . Now I have two teenage sons who also wear beards and turbans, and in the weeks since the attacks, I have been consumed by anxiety for them. They are both attending college away from home. I call them several times a day just to make sure they are fine.

I applaud Mr. Glidewell's efforts to bring reason to these tense times. The things I have loved the most about America are its people and their senses of humor and fairness. I am counting on that sense of fairness.
-- Amrita Bedi, Spring Hill

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