Letters to the Editors

Teen deserves punishment for llama beatings

This letter is in response to the article (Teen enters guilty plea in llama beatings, Nov. 20) concerning Brandon Eldred and the llama attacks.

Kudos to prosecutor Bill Burgess for his attitude toward this case. It is about time that the justice system serves its purpose to prosecute and sentence violent attackers of animals (or humans) to the fullest extent of the law.

I can understand this young man's need to "move on with his life," as his attorney stated; but I feel that in order to really get on with his life, he must suffer the consequences of his acts by serving prison time and offering restitution to the true victims of his crime.

The true victims are not only the llamas but their owners.

They are the ones left behind to feel grief, loss, pain and fear for many years to come.

They are the ones who had to see their maimed pets suffer, as well as watch one of them die on the way to the hospital. They are the ones who must wake up each morning thinking, "Could this happen again?"

College? Soccer scholarships? Olympic dreams? Please.

These opportunities were lost when Mr. Eldred, under his own volition, brutally attacked and killed defenseless animals. He violated what we all hold dear: the right to live in peaceful enjoyment.

Although I know and believe that everyone deserves a second chance, I also feel that in order to receive that chance you must first right your wrongs and prove to society that you deserve to be free to find your way and achieve your goals.

In today's world, prisons can serve as a steppingstone to rejoining society. They offer opportunities for higher learning, counseling and help in job placement upon an inmate's release. Should Mr. Eldred serve prison time, perhaps he will use these tools to rehabilitate himself and then move on with his life.
-- Nancy Dively, Tarpon Springs

Life's not easy once you choose to beat and torture a llama

Re: Teen enters guilty plea in llama beatings, Nov. 20.

I am so happy to read that Brandon Eldred is ready to move on with his life. According to Times accounts, Eldred pleaded guilty to beating and torturing three pet llamas. Two were severely injured and a third died as a result of the attacks ... but back to Brandon Eldred.

It seems his life hasn't been the same since he was arrested. Being a public figure isn't always easy, you know. And his Olympic career has been badly disrupted by all the commotion. The whole affair has been stressful to him and his family (not to mention the llamas). At least, Eldred is able to put his life back together.

He's going for his GED and plans to attend junior college on a soccer scholarship. He's even working two jobs! I am so glad he is doing everything he needs to do to be able to move on. Soon he (and everyone else) can forget about those three llamas. After all, he's really good at soccer.
-- Philipp Michel Reichold, Largo

If public is unhappy about closed polls, you'd never know it

Re: Largo's decision to close polling places a bad one, editorial, Nov. 28.

I find I must disagree with your editorial.

As Largo Commissioner Marty Shelby stated at the Nov. 20 meeting, "There is only one person sitting in the audience; no one is present to say they are unhappy with this decision." Even the city clerk admitted she had received only two phone calls -- and they only wanted to know where they would be voting.

So if the general public is unhappy with the decision to close polling places, they certainly are not expressing it. If they are waiting until March to show how unhappy they are with the closings (by not voting at all), shame on them for not speaking up.

I am interested in your comment that voting is being made "less convenient." For whom? For the retirees who seem to be able to navigate every street in Pinellas County day in and day out with no real purpose in mind? For the working people who may actually drive past their polling site going to or from work? Are we making it less convenient for the residents of mobile home parks? Who is it exactly that is being inconvenienced?

Polling places have too many precincts, which will cause confusion at the polls? Then staff the polling sites with extra people -- people who are competent enough to handle the confusion that is envisioned.

Largo has not given up on its voters. For several years, every tactic in the book has been tried to encourage citizen participation, with little success. How much can they be expected to do? I agree that better use of the city's government access television channel to inform the residents of the candidates is an excellent forum.

For those people who feel they are being so inconvenienced, I would strongly urge they become absentee voters. How much easier could it get than to have the ballot delivered to your home? Of course, you will be required to put a stamp on it and put it back in the mail.
-- Gigi Arntzen, Largo

Eliminating lanes could be a disaster on Clearwater-Largo

Re: Road will smooth out, slim down, story, Nov. 3.

Has the state Department of Transportation adopted the hue of the Taliban to take us back to the Middle Ages, reducing a major route from Seminole through Largo to Clearwater?

Clearwater-Largo Road not only carries heavy traffic through that area, it is a main hospital route. With the four lanes it now has, rush hour traffic is slowed every day; and for emergency vehicles, eliminating two of those lanes could be a disaster.

It is about time that the powers that be in this area stop thinking about serving themselves and start serving the public. I would hope that there would be a major rethinking of this project before going onward and backward.
-- Gladys R. Schwartz, Largo

Response to vandalism showed Sheriff's Office's true colors

I must question some recent actions by the Pinellas County Sheriff's Office.

Earlier this year my mailbox, along with the included mail, was destroyed in an act of vandalism. I called the Sheriff's Office to file a report, and they said a detective would contact me.

An officer apparently called but would not leave a message on my answering machine. After several hours, I again called the Sheriff's Office to find out why I had not been contacted and was told that they only try to contact the person once. In other words, if I had not called back to insist that my report be taken, this federal felony (mail tampering) would not have been logged as a crime.

To me, this lack of effort to contact citizens to merely accept crime reports, let alone actually investigate crimes, is nothing more than a way of cooking the books to make it appear that there is less crime than there really is in the county. Of course, low crime rates are important to an elected sheriff.

About a week after the attacks on New York and the Pentagon, during a period when the president told all law enforcement agencies to be on a state of maximum alert, the Pinellas County Sheriff's Office had enough officers available to run a four-car radar speed trap on U.S. 19 near Ulmerton Road. There are only three possible explanations for this activity: One, we have too many deputies. Two, the Sheriff's Office is more interested in revenue than public safety. Or three, the department is grossly mismanaged.
-- Colin Povey, Clearwater

Maybe speed bumps would prevent roundabout wrecks

I think a half-dozen speed bumps should be placed around the Clearwater Beach roundabout. It would prevent the hundred or more fender-benders that will happen in the next year.
-- H. Solari, Clearwater

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