Letters to the editor for Friday, April 1, 2022

Open primaries, expand home rule

Here's what I would like to see in our elected officials' agendas.

First, how our primaries are run. Today I changed my party affiliation on my voter registration. I do not keep blind loyalty to any one party, but will change my party affiliation so that I can vote in the primary where I think I can do the most good. I am in favor of this state having open primaries so that all voters can participate in the democratic process. When I say open primary, I mean one that on primary election day and you have no party affiliation, you say which party you are voting with at that time. Currently Lee County has 158,679 voters registered with no party affiliation. That means 31 percent of our electorate can have no voice in the early stages of the democratic process. This must be a good democratic idea since both parties oppose it.

Second is the issue of home rule. Some claim that we have the most free and democratic state. We will not put up with others from the nation's capital telling us how to run our state. In other words we want home rule when it comes to the state. However, when it comes to municipalities, it is a different story. Cities, towns, communities cannot decide what is best for the quality of life in their area because special interests lobby our state elected officials to pass a law that only the state can regulate the issue. It is time to elect representatives who care about the people and communities who elected them and not the lobbyists who give the most money in Tallahassee.

Harold McFarland, North Fort Myers

Social Security, Medicare threatened

Do your homework before going to the polls next time around, especially those retirees, seniors and others on fixed income as well as those on Social Security, Medicare and the other government programs that you have come to rely on.

Our Republican friends some our voters have sent to the U.S. Senate have a surprise in store for you.

Rick Scott, who made his millions in schemes that took advantage of Medicare, now wants to sunset, which could lead to ending, Social Security, Medicare, etc. within five years. This would affect not only Floridians, but everyone even if you make only minimum wage or are living solely on a small pension.

This might be the beginning of a taste of what an oligarchy would be like if our former leader and many of these conservative candidates and incumbents who still worship him could have their way in our peoples congress.

Fred Jodice, North Fort Myers

Anti-lynching law better late than never

The enactment at long last of a federal anti-lynching law evokes the old aphorism "Better late than never.” It also constitutes a reminder of this state’s ignoble participation in lynching practices.

The measure, a derivation of one originally proposed 122 years ago, was signed by President Biden Tuesday after a unanimous voice vote in the Senate and an overwhelming 422-3 vote in the House of Representatives, a form of bipartisanship usually reserved these days for the naming of post office buildings.

The proposition, initially raised by a North Carolina lawmaker in 1900, was beaten back some 200 times, mostly due to antagonism by Southern segregationists.

In the meantime, from the end of the Civil War through recent times, there were nearly 5,000 recorded lynchings around the country, and undoubtedly many more undocumented ones. Dispelling the misconception that Florida was relatively insulated from this scourge, an exhaustive University of Georgia study three decades ago uncovered that Florida had the nation’s highest per capita lynching figures, The researchers detected some 350 victims of vigilante injustice, more than 10 percent of them white men, with the vast majority occurring in the northern part of the state above Orlando as the unofficial dividing "lynch line."

Although predominant in the South, the heinous practice was not confined to this region. Sanctimonious Northerners also experienced it. In Minnesota, where I have lived and practiced law, there were several lynching incidents, some quite notorious. Like the national figures, they were mainly of Blacks, but there were occasional whites and Native Americans hung by mob violence, too.

The new statute, known as the “Emmett Till Anti-Lynching Law,” is named for the 14-year-old Black youth whose lynching in Mississippi in 1955 was one of the precipitators of the civil rights movement. It now makes it a federal offense, punishable by up to 30 years imprisonment and a large monetary fine (if the perpetrator has any assets), to commit a “hate crime” causing injury or death, whether in the traditional hanging form or otherwise.

Marshall H. Tanick, Naples

Use new warehouse roofs for solar power

Sunday’s paper touted Amazon’s expansion across Florida alone to the tune of millions square feet of new warehouses/distribution centers, equivalent to 161 Walmart Supercenter roof areas! All are recent or newly constructed facilities (79), with more in the pipeline (32) for Florida alone. While I celebrate the jobs created, it is sad that this expansion is happening without utilizing our greatest resource, the sun. I saw huge flat roofs, none of which utilize their roofs with solar panels. On average warehousing costs an average of $0.70/ft. sq. to operate, of which 50 percent is just for electricity. Industry-wide, solar could cut a warehouse’s energy costs by 50 percent! Now one can even rent their roof space to offset solar costs (see Prologis.com). We need to retrofit existing structures with more energy-efficient systems also. How much more companies save, while also reducing pressure on an outdated electrical grid system which uses fossil fuels. New Jersey passed a bill for commercial rooftops requiring newly-constructed warehouses be designed as "solar-ready." New Florida building codes could greatly reduce emissions if we required solar or other alternatives. Let’s make our buildings greener and we will all save!

Loren Coen, Fort Myers

Biden cuts fossil fuel without ready alternative

Without doubt as soon as Biden closed the pipeline down we were headed for higher gas prices! Quite frankly he doesn’t know what’s he’s doing, being coached by the progressive left's Green New Deal!

He’s is trying to shut fossil fuel down without alternative energy readily available!

Jay Vincent, Naples

Putting politics ahead of progress

First regarding Flocking to Florida, Lee is the ninth fastest growing county in the U.S. but Florida politicians voted in block against the Build Back Better plan proposed by President Biden. Talk about putting politics ahead of progress! That will leave Florida homeowners to pick up the tab. I wonder how many of our brave politicians would have voted no if the same bill had been proposed two years ago by Donald Trump?

Second, on When Will Florida Lead on Climate Change? Unfortunately not until multimillion dollar estates on Marco or Naples are underwater!

Finally regarding Marlette's cartoon, did he really need to use Dopey to represent Florida Democrats? Wouldn't Goofy be just as good? Also Cruella de Vil would better represent Florida Republicans, don't you think?

Steve Solak, Fort Myers

This article originally appeared on Fort Myers News-Press: Letters to the editor for Friday, April 1, 2022