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© St. Petersburg Times, published October 19, 2001
Editor: I am not the Grinch or any other bad character, but I feel it is time to consider making Halloween a thing of the past.
A long time ago, as I was out trick-or-treating in Brooksville (Never mind how long ago!), we stopped at a lady's house and she came out with a frying pan full of pennies. We did not take the time to see she was holding the pan with a rag. It did not take us long to realize why! The pan was very hot, as was its contents! Needless to say, justice was served.
Today, unfortunately, things have changed. We have more than a few people with their heads wrapped in tinfoil to shield alien signals. You are going to find that most of the "white powder" terrorists are going to be individuals tired of taxes, highway speeds, wives, and alien influence. Not, of course, in that order!
But, the event of Halloween frightens me. We may have to assume there just might be some really bad guys among us and we might have to assume there are some people who like to imitate the bad guys and blame it on someone else. I just don't feel we should risk our children on either account.
Organized events in one place might ease my discomfort somewhat (not completely), but having the children going door to door just plain scares me. It breaks my heart to say that.
Halloween is a holiday of the past. I am afraid the world has moved on from such things. Buy the pumpkins; pass up the rest.
-- Jim Marsh, Spring Hill
Editor: Are you a Spring Hill lawbreaker?
Having driven around Spring Hill for more than 10 years, I've watched many of us break one or more of the following traffic laws. Check your own experience and see how you, and the drivers around you, score on the violations discussed below.
1. Running a red light when you had time to stop. This can be a real killer; watch the papers.
2. Slowly rolling through a stop sign or, worse yet, failing to stop at all. This is almost as bad as No. 1.
3. Speeding up when the yellow (caution) traffic light comes on. Many people do this even if they have time to stop. Many times, this results in running a red light.
4. Exceeding posted speed limits: 30 mph on residential streets and 45 mph (usually) on thoroughfares. The worst offenders are motorcycles on residential streets doing 60 mph or more.
5. Failing to use your turn signals to let other drivers know the direction you plan to go, or when changing lanes.
6. Driving around with your handicap parking placard hanging on your rear view mirror. The card specifically says to remove it before driving. A card hanging on your rear-view mirror can block your vision of a car or pedestrian.
7. Tinting your windows, especially the front ones, so dark that the passengers cannot be seen. This is dangerous in the event of an accident.
8. Driving around with your stereo blasting everyone's eardrums. At least close the windows and use the air conditioning so we're spared this agony.
Well, how did you score on these law-breaking actions? How many do you consistently break? How many do you notice your fellow drivers breaking?
Let us all make a serious effort not to break any of these eight. Corny as it may sound, the life you save may be your own.
-- Art McIntyre, Spring Hill
Editor: To the scum who found it necessary to steal the American flags off of the front of many homes in Seven Hills, I want to commend you for showing as much respect for this country as the people who bombed the World Trade Center.
-- Gordon Richardson, Spring Hill
Editor: It is time to get our priorities straight, Oct. 16 column by Jan Glidewell:
I have long believed it to be a sign of the decline of our civilization that we value more those who entertain us than those who provide for our safety and education.
As Glidewell pointed out in his column, our firefighters are often paid barely 1 percent of what a professional ball player may receive.
As a result of our recent national tragedies, I hope Americans will rethink their priorities. I enjoy sports as much as anyone, but I thank God for those who protect and serve us. When firefighters, police officers, nurses, paramedics and teachers earn what baseball players do, and vice versa, it will truly be a saner world.
-- Mike Koball, Crystal River
Editor: Re: Physician is neither heartless nor vindictive, Oct. 8 letter to the editor:
To those insensitive people who feel the way this doctor and his defenders feel -- that "We asked for it," referring to the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks -- here is what we asked for:
We asked for the world to send us their "tired and their poor." We asked for their "huddled masses yearning to breathe free." We asked for the "wretched refuse of their teeming shores."
Our "golden door" was open. And they came by the tens of thousands. And by their industry carved from this continent's vast and forbidding wilderness a cornucopia of plenty. With their vision of freedom they fashioned a government that derives its powers from the consent of the governed.
What we also asked for was the right to free choice in all individual matters, such as religion, art and dress. That is why we are hated by those who would deny those freedoms to their people. A free society with open doors will always be vulnerable to maniacs. I hope we never buckle under to terror and close our doors. That physician may not be heartless or vindictive, in your opinion, but he certainly is ungrateful.
-- James B. Sullivan, Spring Hill
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