Letters: ECUA is a poor environmental steward and is not protecting Escambia Bay

Opinions expressed in Letters to the Editor are those of our readers and not the Pensacola News Journal. In order for letters to be considered for publication, they must be 250 words or less and include name, a full address and phone number. Only your name and city of residence will be published. Email submissions to opinion@pnj.com.

ECUA poor environmental stewards

I live on Escambia Bay and have enjoyed the bay waters of Pensacola for a number of years. Our water is a jewel to be cherished and protected. However, there is evidence that ECUA does not share that belief. The dates may not be exact, but close. Last March, some 22,000 gallons of raw sewage came down Skinner Mill Creek, through my subdivision, and emptied into Escambia Bay.

As if that were not bad enough, two months later another sewage spill of 450,000 gallons occurred. Then in about September, another spill of 15,000 gallons came pouring into the creek and the bay. Just last week, another spill of 48,000 gallons occurred. Our HOA has pleaded with the EPA, ECUA, and our county commissioner, but nothing is ever done to clean up the mess or correct the problem.

What used to be a fun area for kids, fishing, and boating is now a sewer and this half million gallons of raw sewage has migrated to all our bay waters.

— Judith Lightfoot, Pensacola

Stay out of classrooms, DeSantis

I am a retired teacher who taught in high school for 30 years and subbed in middle school for four years in a nearby school.

What is the teacher to do when a student walks into the classroom and announces that they are gay? Do you immediately send that student to the office and, if so, what will administrators do with the student? Call a parent and put their student on suspension for using the word “gay” or use duct tape.

I had a student who did this several times and I talked to that student in the hall one day and explained in a sharp tone that none of the students in the class nor I cared about his sexual preferences. He apologized and never said that word in my class again.

We don’t need a “law”. What we need are professionally trained teachers who know how to handle situations such as this. It certainly works if handled appropriately.

No governor or politician is needed to stop it.

Wish the governor would focus on these: We are No. 1 in the nation in trafficking and No. 3 in deaths to opioids in 2022. Our governor and legislature should be focusing on these instead of trying to tell teachers what to say in their classrooms and attacking Disney.

— Myra Ward, Pensacola

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Country needs strong leader

When is it going to end? President Biden’s premature withdrawal from Afghanistan resulted in the deaths of both American and Afghanistan soldiers.

His closing of the keystone pipeline has resulted in him having to deplete our oil reserves which we had so wisely built up. He has allowed China to buy land near our military bases. His delayed response to China’s harvesting of our military secrets (China’s spy balloon, TikTok). His reactive response to the China-Russia alliance. Respond don’t react!

Let us elect a strong leader in 2024.

— David Burson, Pensacola

Parking mess drives patrons away

Just read the April 3 front page articles regarding parking in downtown Pensacola.

I have the perfect solution. I just won’t bother myself with the parking issue by completely avoiding downtown Pensacola all together.

The parking authoritarians, both private and city controlled, and those who are promoting this greed-driven debacle, seem to be doing their best to keep patrons away. The public already has to pay city taxes for every good and service acquired in downtown. Where does that tax money go? Who is the lucky beneficiary?

Yep, avoiding the use of the city’s parking seems to be the best solution. And that relates to avoiding downtown businesses. Fortunately, I have very little need for downtown Pensacola services. So, thankfully, I will have very little need to deal with the parking game show nightmare the city has created.

— Clifford Jackson, Gulf Breeze

Legislature passing head-scratchers

The recent Florida legislative actions to end concealed carry requirements and to subsidize private school education with public funds have me confused.

The confusion starts with the “Stop W.O.K.E. Act” that was passed last year by the Florida legislature. This law regulates the content of instruction and training in schools and workplaces. It is being used to remove or ban books in some public school districts.

Are private schools in Florida affected by the, “Stop W.O.K.E.” Act? And is it “legal” to carry a concealed weapon on an elementary or high school campus in Florida after Gov. DeSantis signs it into law? Asking for a friend (me).

— Harold DuCloux, Pensacola

DeSantis hurts us to get to Disney

Well folks, I wrote back on Dec. 11 that “...I wonder if Disney has any plans to drop a surprise on Tallahassee”? Frankly, my thought last year was that Disney would close-up shop in Florida.

It seems that thin-skinned DeSantis has not only been caught off guard but is now throwing good Florida money after bad and ramping up what could be costly “investigations” of Disney. I therefore predict that he will find that he is absolutely powerless to change the Disney action and will somehow find a way, probably in violation of our Sunshine laws, to shield the cost of these “investigations” from Floridians.

If he does this, Disney’s claim that DeSantis’s actions are both anti-business and anti-Floridian will come true. Stay tuned everyone! The show ain’t over.

— Jeffrey Elliot, Pensacola

DeSantis getting pass with Disney

If Joe Biden seized EXXON for profiteering, he would be condemned as a socialist. When the governor of Florida seized control of a private business, like Disney World, DeSantis is given a pass by the legislature and the Republican Party.

— Dave Walby, Midway

Escambia missing big picture

The Escambia County Commissioners are missing the bigger picture of Mr. Dan Scheblers’ goal for District One Medical Examiners. We are seeing record population growth in the Panhandle, and with that, death tolls that arise from accidents, murders, suicides and unattended deaths.

Per state statutes, it is the responsibility of the medical examiner’s office to determine the cause of death and issue a death certificate, which in many instances include an autopsy report. It only makes sense that the four counties share the cost and establish a free-standing autopsy facility that does not share a morgue with a hospital to maintain the appropriate legal chain of custody and be situated in a accessible location just north of I-10 in Santa Rosa County, as Mr. Schebler as proposed.

We shouldn’t view this as a county issue but as a larger Panhandle district problem that needs to be addressed for the future of our area in the years to come.

— Andres Candela, Gulf Breeze

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This article originally appeared on Pensacola News Journal: Letters to the Editor: ECUA is not protecting Escambia Bay