Letters to the editor for Monday, March 21, 2022

Unsafe situation on Orange Blossom Road

I am a four-year resident of Bridgewater Bay, a community that is located on Orange Blossom Road. I am writing to express my concerns about the reconfiguration of Orange Blossom Road due to the recent construction of Siena Lakes (an adjoining property).

Traveling west on Orange Blossom, I have had two near head-on collisions within the past week. Cars traveling east on Orange Blossom seem to be assuming the road converts to a two-lane eastbound road at the end of traffic barrels. And these cars move into the westbound lane. This situation is unbelievably unsafe. A head-on collision with two cars each traveling at 35 mph results in an effective 70 mph collision.

I have been in touch multiple times with Collier County Department of Transportation with no progress to show for these efforts. The apparent lack of interest in correcting an obviously unsafe situation is discouraging, to say the least.

John Mitchell, Naples

Postal system broken

It’s well known that the United States Postal Service has a poor record when it comes to delivering mail on a timely basis, but a couple of recent events have me scratching my head. Recently a homeowner in my HOA mailed their monthly payment to the HOA from Palm Beach County Florida on Feb. 26. It arrived at the bank in Tampa on March 7. That’s 10 days to travel 200 miles across South Florida. More recently a reimbursement check was mailed from our accountant’s office building on Tamiami Trail to my home less than three miles away and took 25 days, only to get returned to the sender and never made it to my mailbox. My address consists of a house number and a street name. Nothing complicated about the address. The check was returned to the sender after two attempts to be delivered. Reuter’s reported on March 9 that Congress passed a $50 billon U.S. Postal Service relief bill. I sure hope that $50 billion dollar check moves through the U.S. Postal Service system faster than my little reimbursement check did. We seriously need a reliable alternative to U.S. Mail instead of constantly funneling money into a severely broken system.

Jack Hedenstrom, Naples

China, Russia must be stopped

Every day, all we hear are the effects of COVID-19 and 6 million people who have died, globally, from this tragic disease. Over 1 million in the USA. Why are we letting China off the hook? Why are we not investigating deeply into the labs in China? Why are we not holding China responsible for the chaos the last two plus years? China is sitting pretty and watching the illegitimate war in Ukraine with possible ambitions to pursue invasions of its own. The world has to step up and stop all this.

Russia has continued to heap destruction on a neutral country. Killing Innocent people and the destruction of historic buildings. Between China and Russia our planet Earth, in my opinion, will become a socialist, communist, territory for our children, grandchildren and beyond.

We need strong leadership, not only at the top, but all our senators and representatives of both parties to step up, stop the feuding, and protect the USA. China and Russia appear to be our lethal enemies. They must be stopped.

Anthony Farina, Fort Myers

Sick of DeSantis-bashing, liberal media

Since the “Letters to the Editor” section of the News Press frequently displays numerous DeSantis-bashing articles, I am finally, out of frustration, compelled to offer my own opinion.

Millions of Americans across our country are envious of the state of Florida having Gov. DeSantis at the helm. The vast majority of my Floridian friends and neighbors feel quite blessed, as I do, that we have a governor who is opposed to government over-reach, and who is a strong supporter of our Constitution. I, am a strong supporter of Gov. Ron DeSantis.

Gov. DeSantis continues to be demonized by the liberal media. Ordinary people like myself are equally criticized and demonized for having convictions that directly conflict with the liberal left’s agenda. I am truly sick of it.

My perception is, that throughout the past few years, journalistic bias has become the norm. For this reason, however, some good has evolved, at least from my perspective. I have discovered multiple news sources that offer an opportunity for folks who really care about what is going on, to actually see both sides of complex situations. I do not need nor will I allow the mainstream media to influence my my thoughts or the way in which I choose to live my life. My God-given intellect allows me to make choices based on fact, and not on someone’s biased opinions. For those who disagree with me, I am not suggesting anything other than what is needed in this imperfect world, is the tolerance it requires to become educated with the whole picture rather than to be accepting of only a piece of it.

Sharon Dendinger, Fort Myers

Democracy threatened by once-great GOP

We’ve gotten comfortable with the notion that democracy is inevitable and self-perpetuating. That notion must be modified when the following events are considered. Trump tries to coerce Georgia’s secretary of state to "find" 11,780 votes in a fraudulent attempt to alter election results. With Trump’s Big Lie that inspires the Jan. 6 Capitol violence a core tenet of our democracy, the peaceful transfer of power, is endangered. Republicans' unproven claims of election fraud result in election officials receiving death threats from deluded Trump supporters. Texas’ tortured redistricting map ensures that Republicans retain power by diluting the voting strength of minorities. Not satisfied with voter suppression, Republicans enact a law to make it easier to overturn election results that go against them. Crazy conspiracy theories peddled by QAnon and right-wing social media personalities are believed and acted upon. Traditional institutions that have acted as guardrails are weakened. Ideas that previously found consensus through negotiation are so politicized that bipartisanship is seen as weakness. And finally a once-great party, hijacked by a thin-skinned narcissist, is checking all the autocratic boxes.

Joe Frassetto, Naples

Biden an embarrassment

President Biden is an embarrassment. It’s anathema that we are tolerating his ridiculous statements. Where are all those pious Trump critics now? Really? What is our country becoming? 2024 can’t come soon enough!

Sylvia Wong Herscher, Naples

Paper lives in a little woke bubble

I read in a recent edition of the Naples Daily propaganda machine that Gov. DeSantis somehow got his agenda through a conservative-led Legislature. Amazing! Because of that you have determined that his efforts are polarizing. On the other hand if the actions of President Biden and his merry little band of climate experts get their agenda through it is good and righteous. Who could not love high crime and five-dollar gasoline? You folks need to get out of your little woke bubble and mingle with the people. You may just get another definition of polarizing.

Don Rader, Naples

This article originally appeared on Fort Myers News-Press: Letters to the editor for Monday, March 21, 2022