Letters to the Editor: Jan. 23, 2022

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How will Brightline get around local speed limits?

Regarding the Brightline trains through Fort Pierce and neighboring areas, I have noticed that no one has asked a pertinent question.

Through the Fort Pierce area the speed limit on trains is currently 45 mph. This is due to curves and other issues. Would someone please ask the question of Brightline how they plan to get around this safety restriction?

Jim Mooney, Fort Pierce

Mike Smith
Mike Smith

Highway traffic enforcement seems to be a low priority

Another horrific accident, three people dead and three injured on U.S. 1 near South Vero Square on Jan. 8.

I wish I could easily search the sheriffs’ databases to find out how many accidents over the past few years (deadly or just messy) have occurred along the U.S. 1 corridor from Harbor Branch to 4th St., but getting permission to see that data is akin to finding chicken's teeth.

Of course, one fatality is too many. But both the St. Lucie and the Indian River County Sheriff Departments feel there is not a problem.

Anyone can tell you that the actual speed (not posted) on U.S. 1 between these two points is closer to 60 to 70 mph or more. So if a car were traveling at 45 or maybe 50 and saw a car turning in front of them and hit it, there would be injuries, but 60 mph-plus is much worse, as we saw that Saturday.

We give our local law enforcement millions of dollars; where does that money go? Traffic enforcement must be the last thing Sheriffs Ken Mascara and Eric Flowers want their deputies to concern themselves with. It's a heavy lift unless it's their mother, father, sister, brother, or child. This is not my first letter to the editor concerning traffic enforcement. It will probably take more deaths before Ken and Eric ask their deputies to do their jobs. My respect for them is, unfortunately, waning.

Don Biscoe, Fort Pierce

Rising inflation: a hidden tax especially hard on low-income families

According to Webster’s dictionary inflation is defined as “A continuing rise in the general price level usually attributed to an increase in the volume of money and credit relative to available goods and services”. The United States now is in one of its greatest inflationary periods in nearly 40 years according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, bls.gov.

The sharp increase of energy prices, one of the biggest drivers of inflation, has affected nearly every middle- and lower-income family. Since the cost of energy touches virtually every product and service, it is critically important to keep it in check. However, this administration has done little to avoid the increases. and may have made them worse. The U.S. went from a net energy exporter to an energy importer.

In addition to skyrocketing energy costs, this administration has pumped billions of dollars into the economy in the form of payments to individuals, grants, and PPP loans, along with hundreds of millions to schools. This doling out of money appears to have kept people out of the work force and thus contributed to the supply-chain crisis.

According to John Maynard Keynes (one of the most well-respected economists in our history) “By a continuing process of inflation, government can confiscate, secretly and unobserved, an important part of the wealth of their citizens.”

This invisible tax needs to be addressed immediately. Energy costs need to be normalized and the government needs to incentivize people to go back to work, not pay them to stay home. Again, inflation hits the middle and lower income families the most.

Richard Geisinger, Stuart

Gov. Ron DeSantis addresses the Legislature on Jan. 11, 2022, in Tallahassee.
Gov. Ron DeSantis addresses the Legislature on Jan. 11, 2022, in Tallahassee.

What would those who attack DeSantis for his speech want Florida to be like?

Ron DeSantis delivered his "State of the State" address on the first day the Legislature met in Tallahassee this month. As usual, the left attacked with venom and vigor.

Could the state of our state be the reason that thousands of families flocked here to Florida so their children could attend school as other states closed their schools? Could it be that Florida has no state income tax? Could it be that Florida was and is open for business?

Would the attackers want Florida's school children to lose one or two years of instruction as children did in so many states? It seems so.

Another attack on DeSantis is for whacking the Biden administration for its immigration policies. Does this mean the Democrats and Progressives support ignoring U.S. Immigration policies? Does it mean they want illegal aliens here to bankrupt our schools, health care, welfare department, etc.?

DeSantis also proclaimed there would be no defunding police, nothing that could be construed as being soft on crime. Does this mean we ought to continue to kowtow to criminals?

Exactly what is the left proclaiming?

They criticize him for using the words "free" or "freedom" a number of times in his speech. Shouldn't the governor whose state has been proclaimed to be in the top five for freedom (as opposed to New York and California, who are listed in the bottom five) on the lists of three different think tanks lists be proud to share that information?

Those attacking DeSantis must be called to justify their support of the left wing.

Audrey Taggart, Hobe Sound

This article originally appeared on Treasure Coast Newspapers: Letters to the Editor: Jan. 23, 2022