Letters to the editor for Saturday, April 15, 2023

Do something, commissioners!

The beginning sentence of Dr. Michael Finkel’s op-ed on Easter Sunday was only half right. He said “The actions of the Board of County Commissioners in Collier continue to be perplexing in content, in purpose and in jurisdiction.” Dr. Finkel left two words out -- “and inactions’. The commissioners do a lot of acting but accomplish nothing and that is “inaction.” They use many words; witness Rick LoCastro’s monthly report to East Naples residents -- many words and photos, but no results. LoCastro went on about how active affordable housing has been over the past year when, in reality, for that entire year, he ignored the agenda set by Joe Trachtenberg, the chair of the Affordable Housing Committee. He ignored it until he fired Joe Trachtenberg, and then, out of Joe Trachtenberg’s ashes, affordable housing could no longer be ignored.

Reality lies in the commissioners’ failure to create and maintain a better life for the present residents of Collier County whose infrastructure has become obsolete, whose workforce is relocating, whose developers continue to be provided with cart blanche to build, build, build everywhere with no concern for the future of those living here presently, for the future of those who will increase our population and for the future of those necessary to provide the services to accommodate Collier residents.

Sally Lam, Naples

Sexual identity not a choice

Recently one of the usual right-wing suspects accused The News-Press of following the "Woke religion" (March 29). He vented his spleen in response to the paper using the "Don't Say Gay" phrase in referring to DeSantis' bill that "prohibits school personnel from teaching sex and gender identity matters to children in grades K-3," pointing out that these are children "6 to 9 years old." (This shows how little the writer knows about ages in school grades. Five-year-olds have been in kindergarten for many years. In fact, my daughter was in K4 -- kindergarten for 4-year-olds. -- 40 years ago -- here in Florida.)

I suspect this is another of the right's red herrings, and I would challenge the writer to document the school district, the teacher, and the syllabus being used here in Florida at any grade level, let alone K-3, where such teaching is happening or is or was planned.

And by the way, as The News-Press article pointed out, DeSantis now wants to expand it through grade 12. Yes, heaven forbid that children in high school should learn about real life, even as they're going through it.

This all stems from the right's belief that sexual identity is something you can choose, that being gay or bi or trans is something that is "catching," and that if a young person learns about it, they might "choose" it. Any time I get told that, I always ask the person, "Well tell us about the day you 'chose' to be straight," and I never get a straight answer.

They don't have a straight answer because they never did "choose," because that's not how sexual identity occurs. It's something in our brains that determines what our sexual identity is and it will manifest itself as we grow from a child to an adult.

Then they will often respond with, "Well, what in the brain causes it?" and the answer is, "We don't know... yet." Just like we didn't know what causes a lot of things that show up after a child is born, and still don't know for many. Some are born with Downs Syndrome, Autism, cleft palate, spina bifida, etc., etc. Yet righties will accept that but refuse to accept the same thing about sexual identity. The result is they are dealing with an irrational fear.

I do know one thing -- if whatever it is in the brain that determines sexual identity is found, and if it can be determined invitro, the right's objection to abortion will disappear in a New York minute. Oh no, stalwart right-wingers can't have little Johnny come into the world gay or bi or trans if they know ahead of time it would happen. Mark my words.

Ken Brindle, Cape Coral

Picking and choosing our rights

Collier County Commission Chairman Rick LoCastro was quoted as saying about the newly adopted health freedom bill of rights: "I'm for choice. We are talking about rights." What about the rights of women to make their choices about their bodies? Is Commissioner LoCastro picking and choosing our rights for us, instead of letting us make our choices? That hardly seems like "freedom."

Heather Zavod, Naples

Oxygen drops in Marco waterways

Oxygen in the Marco waterways has dropped by 33% since 2019. Why?

Google search these words: “What is the cause of low oxygen in waterbodies in Florida?” Google answer: “Excess nutrients delivered to a waterbody can lead to both overgrowth of algae and eutrophication. As dead algae decompose, oxygen is consumed in the process, resulting in low levels of oxygen in the water.”

Then Google search these words: “What is the source of excess nutrients in water bodies in Florida?” Answer: “Because there are increasingly more people living in coastal areas, there are more nutrients entering our coastal waters from wastewater treatment facilities, runoff from land in urban areas during rains, and from farming. All these factors can lead to increased nutrient pollution.”

Six years of data from Marco’s Wastewater Treatment Plant (WWTP) reuse nutrients (phosphorus and nitrogen) was compared to oxygen in the waterways of Marco Island. No farming on Marco.

Statistically significant results show that phosphorus in the reuse water from the Marco sewage plant is the direct cause of low oxygen in Marco’s waterways.

The sewage plant on Marco does not remove phosphorus from the Marco reuse water. The City of Naples WWTP is an upgraded Advanced Wastewater Treatment (AWT) facility and DOES remove phosphorus from the reuse water. Marco Island must upgrade the WWTP to AWT!

Florida residents must add an amendment to the Florida Constitution for a Right to Clean Water (RTCW). Sign the petition: floridarighttocleanwater.org

Eugene Wordehoff, Collier County captain, Right to Clean Water, Marco Island

Ban Viagra

Recently a federal judge in Texas ruled that because of safety concerns, he was banning mifepristone. This drug has been used safely for 23 years. It is used to treat spontaneous miscarriages and can be used to treat endometriosis and uterine fibroids. The mortality rate with mifepristone is five per million where the mortality rate with Viagra is 49 per million; almost 10 times more deadly (FDA.gov). This judge with all of his pharmacologic expertise should now ban Viagra. This is just another assault on women’s health care.

Wendy Humphrey, M.D., Naples

Inflation bragging misleading

The Biden administration likes to brag about inflation coming down. However, this is very misleading. For example, the March 2022 inflation rate was 8.5%. This simply means that a basket of goods that cost $100 in March 2021 would now cost $108.50 in March 2022. The inflation rate in March 2023 was 5.5%. This simply means that that basket of goods that cost $108.50 in March 2022 now cost $114.47 in March 2023. Therefore, in two years, the cost of goods rose almost 15%. Certainly the inflation rate should come down as it is being applied to highly inflated costs from a year earlier. When Trump left office, inflation was well under 2%. If that had continued, the cost of those same goods would now be less than $104 versus the $114.47 we are paying now. This is simply the net effect of an additional tax that the consumer is paying thanks to the Biden administration.

Ron Wobbeking, Naples

Big Brother and radical far-right

A recent letter writer tried to pigeonhole every writer but himself! Ironically, his “political crusaders choosing a side then tossing brickbats at opposition” described him perfectly. Or how about the label “abolitionists seeking to end personal liberties.” News for you here; it’s not the “WOKE advocating control of all things”; it’s the ANTI-WOKE and your governor giving us book banning and curriculum control of uncomfortable studies. How Big Brother and radical far-right can you get?

Children in Florida will live in a bubble, only to be rudely awakened and embarrassed if they leave the state for further education or jobs. This and the anti-science agenda will definitely contribute to the “mediocrity” path suggested by another writer.

We have a governor who is anti-mask, anti-vaccine (although he was vaccinated) and who handpicks and rushes Dr. Ladapo through as our state surgeon general. Ladapo believes in anecdotal, unproven meds for COVID-19 versus vaccines given to billions (13.27) worldwide and studied profusely. Ladapo plans to restudy the incidence of myocarditis deaths from the COVID-19 vaccine, but his recent work was derided by the scientific community and criticized as poorly designed, unscientific, lacking transparency, and not peer-reviewed. Governor DeSantis’ grand jury will bring claims against entities that spread misinformation about COVID-19 vaccinations. Maybe he should start with himself and Dr. Ladapo.

Chris Friedrichs, adult nurse practitioner, Fort Myers

Dems dominate letters

Kudos to the Dems for their well planned, systematic efforts to write letters to the editor to demonize Trump and DeSantis.Where are all the Republican letters to champion their heroes? Republicans need to promote their heroeswith a well planned, systematic letter writing campaign to praise their leaders or refute Dem vitriol.Well, it might also be that Republican letters are rejected outright. I, for one, have written two letters recently but failed to get published. I wonder if was because I am a Republican which you can infer from my letters.The Republicans leaders need to make a concerted effort to follow the Dem campaign to inundate the press with their political thoughts.Richard Piccirilli, Naples

Anonymous caller rebuked

Regarding the anonymous caller reported by a letter writer, it is truly a shame that the colonel, or anyone, cannot express their opinion without this kind of attack. Often I see signs on cars that read "F--- Biden" or "Let's Go Brandon." I have commented to my wife that if we posted any type of anti-Trump or DeSantis message on our car it would soon be vandalized or worse. Too bad Southwest Florida is becoming a MAGA only club. Hang in there, colonel and thank you for your service.

Steve Solak, Fort Myers

Public safety should be priority

Growing up, I had a poster of a military cemetery on my bedroom wall overlaid with numbers of the dead and missing from Vietnam. The lyrics of “4 dead in Ohio” were on the cover of my journal. When I was in second grade, I peeked from underneath my desk while the siren announcing the drill for the possible atom bomb attack wailed in the background. The newspapers talked about stabbings from kids fighting together or with an occasional gunshot from a pistol. When I worked in the poorer, more dangerous neighborhoods, the problems were mostly hit and run theft, shoplifting, armed robbery. People hurt went to hospital emergency rooms. The gunshot wounds had better outcomes than the stab wounds.

It's different today. The bullets from today’s guns of war aren’t those kinds of bullets. They don’t go through the body and out the other side in a straight line. Or the damage of a knife depended on where the stab wound went in.Today’s bullet blows up inside your body, like the old sidewinder missile. It blows through the skin, immediately laying waste to the organs inside. That’s why a small child has so little chance. Uncontrollable bleeding, the affected organs become mush.Public safety requires banning military grade weapons, magazines, and ammunition. Or requiring fingerprint trigger guards and locked gun storage.Public safety is the primary job of our legislature. What makes it so hard to do that?

Beth Mattheus, Naples

Republicans want a dictator

I hope the nation was watching the recent Fox "news" Tucker Carlson interview with former president Trump, head of the Republican Party and their leading presidential candidate for 2024. Mr. Trump went full authoritarian, praising the brains, energy and “total power” of Russian dictator Putin, Chinese dictator Xi Jinping and Korean dictator Kim Jong-un, while criticizing our own democratic form of government. This is additive to his statement back in December 2022 in which he advocated overturning the U.S. Constitution. I keep looking for the Republican leaders, particularly here in Florida, to hold a press conference to denounce what borders on treason by the former president. Is this not giving aid and comfort to the enemy when a former president publicly longs for their authoritarianism over our democracy? Where are the voices of all Republicans disavowing these comments? As a 30-year Marine veteran, it made me physically ill. Our democratic form of government is the fuel which has allowed this nation to collectively power through numerous crises and emerge stronger on the other side. As the Republican Party finds its ideas less and less able to compete and win in the public square, there is a greater reliance on radical extremes of choose-your-voters gerrymandering, legislative sleight of hands to reduce the power of any opposition, silencing and expulsion of dissenting voices by any means necessary and exploitation of any and all culture issues to divide, regardless of the seeds of future divisiveness being sown. As in all things, there will be a culminating point to this type of governance and that time will not be advantageous to those who have promoted it. We are seeing it in many states that were previously reliably “red.” Inevitably our government is, as Abraham Lincoln so wisely put it, “of the people, by the people and for the people,” meaning ALL the people. The DeSantises and Trumps of the world have got it wrong. Republicans may crave an authoritarian form of government as a means of gaining and retaining power. The rest of America will not stand for it.

Thomas Minor, Colonel, U.S. Marine Corps (ret.), Bonita Springs

Biased letter selection

I am speechless, but let me try to put together a sentence (unlike our fearless leader). Wednesday's selection of letters is about as biased as I have seen since 2015. In 2015-2016, the news media were caught off guard by a charismatic business leader, and at one time, the toast of New York. Once the media discovered Hillary was boring, demeaning, lecturing, and a horrible candidate, the intelligencia of the deep state decided help was needed. Enter the skeletons of a controversial man, enter the media as the cheerleader and backed up by hoax after hoax. The kitchen sink was not far behind.

But today should be different. You have your messiah of progressiveness firmly in power, your fearless leader has led the country down a path of feebleness and confusion. Our allies don't know what we stand for, our enemies know we are vulnerable and the media provides cover for an 80-year-old career politician. And while the U.S. is burning, our fearless leader runs to Ireland with corrupt kids on board to shake down another country with trinkets and baubles, all at the expense of you, the American taxpayer.

The News-Press has one goal -- beat Trump and DeSantis. SWFL? Are you paying attention? Your wallet and freedom depend on it.

Jack Holt, Cape Coral

Hypocrisy on guns, abortion

Why is it that most of the anti-abortion legislators are pro AR-15? The spectacle of saying life in the womb is REALLY special but the gun that slaughters precious children is equally special. That is super difficult to make any logical sense of.

Elliot Kotler, Naples

This article originally appeared on Fort Myers News-Press: Letters to the editor for Saturday, April 15, 2023