Letters to the editor for Saturday, February 18, 2023

Bill arrives but still no power

Our community of 320 homes was devastated by Hurricane Ian in September. To this day, we are still without power and water. We paid our FPL monthly bill in October for September's usage. October no power no bill. November no power no bill, December no power no bill. January no power no bill. February 16, still no power and a bill arrives! We are being charged for having an account the last few months! Losing our homes and possessions wasn’t enough? Now you have added insult to injury. Yes, I could and should have canceled the account, but without notification from FPL telling us power would not be restored, and following up every month to verify we were not being billed, it came as a shocking insult to receive this lump sum bill February 16, 2023.Florida Power and Light shame on you.Kimberly Kania, Century 21 Manufactured Home Community, Fort Myers

Governor risks students' futures

Gov. DeSantis's threat to replace Advanced Placement tests by The College Board is an ill-conceived plan that will put Florida high school students at a significant disadvantage when it comes to admissions to the top colleges and universities in the United States. The current program not only offers our students the opportunity to select more rigorous coursework if they desire to but also provides our students with the opportunity to demonstrate their mastery of certain subjects for college admissions. Yes, there are other programs such as The International Baccalaureate Program and the Cambridge AICE Diploma Program, but these programs are not as widely recognized in the national educational community. Let's not play with the future of Florida’s high school graduates.

John Johnson, Naples

Showtime for fear, phony freedom

Floridians are darn lucky we have a Republican governor and majority Legislature that tackles important issues. Millions of your money to move migrants around the country, just new ones, not the ones that pick your crops or clean your house. Instructing teachers what to teach and how to teach. Literally burning books and classic literature by removing them from school libraries because they make folks uncomfortable. Telling you that science is fake and conspiracy is possible. Removing elected officials who think differently. Weaponizing school boards that makes McCarthy look timid, that’s Joe not Kevin. The list goes on but this is all to distract and feed fear. What’s not important is the unaffordable housing, homes and rentals. Certainly not the absurd homeowners and car insurance where we rank #1. Polluted shorelines and dirty water. Literally swimming in our own filth. Our neighbors still getting sick and dying from COVID. Not saying climate change and it’s impact on shorelines and catastrophic storms and not taking care of own own. Every day brings a new showtime in fear and phony freedom, parents' rights and neglect. Maybe this is just a cycle that needs to be repeated but we know from history, it doesn’t end well

Laurence Jacks, Estero

Time to ban assault weapons

I have no problem with gun manufacturers, the NRA, or gun owners. And there has been more than one mass shooting per day in 2023 so far. It appears that no one is safe anywhere from gun violence -- schools, universities, supermarkets, churches, concerts and theaters.There is no place in a civilized society for assault weapons, other than to arm soldiers during wartimes. Ban these assault weapons and let us live in peace!

I worked 35 years, paying into the Social Security fund and Medicare to provide some level of protection and livelihood during my retirement years.Social Security and Medicare benefits are not handouts. They are insurance policies against poverty in old age.Do not mess with our Social Security and Medicare benefits.

What has our government come to? Is this the fascist 1984? Gov. DeSantis is banning books in schools and libraries, and prohibiting the study of Black history in high schools and colleges. Education is meant to expose students to many ideas and develop creative thinking skills.

The Florida governor is tying the hands of educators, making it a felony to have books, ideas, and teaching in the classroom,

For shame, Gov. DeSantis! You have lost my vote.Linda Lindquist, North Fort Myers

Students help clear trail

I am a high schooler at Florida Southwestern Collegiate High school. I am also an active member and officer for our school's Key Club. Key Club is an international, nonprofit club promoting community service all the while teaching leadership skills. Recently, our club partnered with our sponsoring Kiwanis club, the Fort Myers-Metro McGregor Kiwanis.Even though we were impacted by the devastation of the most recent hurricane, this club is on a mission to bring our community back to normal. On Jan. 21, their club hosted its annual BUG Chase. The Kiwanis BUG Chase 5K Run is a race to benefit the Bring Up Grades programs in local Lee County elementary schools and other Fort Myers Metro-McGregor Kiwanis club-sponsored children’s projects. The weekend before the big event, both our club and the Kiwanis club, spent our mornings clearing the path for the trail and preparing the Calusa Nature Center & Planetarium.

This collaboration held significant importance because it shows the dedication high school students and the Kiwanis adults have to improve the general welfare of our community after such devastating events.Shayna Symonds, Key Club editor, Cape Coral

Individual liberty on life support

When a politician stands before us and states he will only select a black female for a high office, it should be a red flag for every lucid American voter. This is discrimination at its worst, eliminating all males, and all red, white and yellow Americans of both genders. This is the exact opposite of a colorblind society, and was designed to divide, not unite. And the constant inane appeasement we see and hear on television is likely making behavior and race relations worse on purpose.Many other government officials were appointed from the alphabet soup group using similar false reasoning and further divides our population. This strategy of “divide and conquer” goes back to Julius Caesar. Why is the history of Western civilization largely unknown today?

Now we are seeing what happens when the best qualified people for governing are not selected, and we have another tainted first-family attempting to govern with the help of their puppeteers who are intent on undermining all the values that made America the greatest.America is not dead but individual liberty and free enterprise are on life support. Fortunately, a large segment of the public is waking up. The worst purveyors of misinformation in news media are now being punished by huge losses of revenue and subscriptions. Most of us are fed up with officials and reporters bearing false witness. We just want the facts. We must demand the whole truth and nothing but the truth, or put them out of business.

Robert Strohaver, Naples

Collier started in Everglades City

In response to the article, about the centennial celebration of Collier County: How do you write an entire article with information and events about this celebration and not include Everglades City? Everglades City is where Collier County started, and was the original county seat. The first courthouse, the first bank, the first jail, and the first school all started in Everglades City, oh and let’s not forget the first golf course!Jim and Leafy Thompson, my maternal grandparents who were from Chokoloskee Island and later Everglades City, were the first couple in Collier County to receive their marriage license and be married there. The Collier family originally settled in and developed Everglades City. Naples was but a mere dot on a map until 1960 when Hurricane Donna decimated that small town and the county seat moved to Naples. Many locals, including our family, still live in the area and I’m sure they could help you with the area history.Please, if you are going to discuss the centennial celebration of Collier County, start at the beginning.Lynn Davidson Krueger, Hayesville, NC

Hateful agenda attacks Naples Pride

There is an anti-LGBTQ movement currently taking place in Naples, and they’re trying to bring a stop to Naples Pride. The family-friendly event is fun for all and does no harm to children. In fact, it teaches them about acceptance and celebrates diversity. There is no "grooming" or corruption. You see more sexuality on TV and in movies than you do at a Pride event. I have yet to see a single image or hear of a single story that involves children being exposed to anything harmful at Naples Pride (or any other local pride, for that matter). These people fighting against Pride are promoting their own hateful agenda and are fabricating a story as they try to convince others that there is anything wrong with a Pride event. Please don't allow these people to make Naples a more oppressive place. They are a select few and are trying to dictate the way everyone else lives their lives. If they don't want to take their kids to the event, they don't need to. It's a personal decision and shouldn't be forced upon everyone else in the area. Ironically, these same groups against Pride are the ones that tell you to look away if you don’t like something. Our kids deserve better -- they deserve a loving community that won’t shame them for being different.

Danielle Hicks, Bonita Springs

Democrat spending, fearmongering

Maybe instead of sounding the alarm about hitting the debt ceiling, Janet Yellen should reach out to the president and let him know since he has announced his refusal to negotiate with the GOP. When the house is on fire with a $31T national debt, Democrats want to throw more fuel on the fire and spend even more. Their answer to every problem is more spending. A child could see the results of that strategy: the highest inflation in 40 years. It's not rocket science. The Federal Reserve has to intervene, raise interest rates and create a recession due to the reckless spending strategy. How many jobs will be lost in this avoidable recession? This constant fearmongering by Democrats to put pressure on the GOP to sign a blank check and get nothing in return is unconscionable, but alas, not unexpected.

Allison Spataro, Naples

Prejudicial language

It will be interesting to see if the NY TImes and others can write about Sen. Fetterman without prejudicial language.

He is not "brave" to seek help any more than someone with a broken leg is "brave" to seek help. Please do not invoke the term "stigma," the Times' editors have a long habit of so doing.

We have come a distance since Sen. Eagleton, let your vocabulary keep up with that distance.

Harold A. Maio, retired mental health editor, Fort Myers

Opponents of genocidal regime

While I deeply appreciate the passion in Mr. Finkel's Feb. 15 letter "Bonhoeffer's warning remains relevant," it grieves me to point out that the famous "First they came..." quote which he attributes to Pastor Dietrich Bonhoeffer in fact belongs to Martin Niemoller, another German pastor the Third Reich regarded as an enemy of the state.Pastor Niemoller survived his years as a political prisoner in Nazi concentration camps and lived to be 84 years old. In the post-war years one of his main themes was that he and other men of conscience did not do enough to oppose a genocidal regime.Bonhoeffer died at the age of 39 on the end of a Nazi rope just a few weeks before the regime surrendered and collapsed, accused of being an accessory in a plot to assassinate its "leader."

Bruce Diamond, Fort Myers

DeSantis the worst

Michael Finkel's letter to the editor Feb. 15 is the best you've ever had. Period. I wasn't aware such thinking existed in Florida now governed by Baby Trump, the name Al Sharpton gave him. You ought to print it once a month for the brilliance that it reveals about the demonic laws currently enacted by Gov. DeSantis, who will go down in history as the worst, same as Trump was the worst president in history of America. Bravo Mr. Finkel.Rochelle Lynn Holt, Fort Myers

Governor and education

Governor DeSantis is fond of bragging that Florida schools have one of the highest AP (Advanced Placement) participation rates in the U.S. While this may be true, there are other arguably more important statistics that the governor fails to mention. A recent study conducted by research group Scholaroo compared public schools on three criteria: student success, student safety and school quality. Using these measures, Florida public schools rank a dismal 41 out of 50 states.

Gee, do you think banning books from school libraries and classrooms will improve our ranking?

Gail Hermosilla, Estero

Purely political stunt

It always makes me nervous when multimillionaires start messing with my pension. This purely political stunt should concern anyone relying on the FRS to pay the bills. Throwing out any way of measuring investability other than the last return is playing Russian Roulette with my pension that I earned by working for Florida for 30 years. If DeSantis had enacted this policy two years ago wouldn't Florida be heavily invested in cryptocurrency? His supporters included a gun nut who is mad that a bank thinks he is a bad risk and a sheriff who is obviously more concerned with his financial situation than traffic control. I just hope in 10 years we aren't broke because Florida bought the Brooklin Bridge from "some guy."

Steve Solak, retired teacher, Fort Myers

Social Security, Medicare

I keep thinking to myself, there has to be a reason no House or Senate people will touch or enter into a conversation about Social Security and Medicare. With a debt exceeding $31 T, not since the end of World War II has America been is such debt compared to our GDP.

The way out in the late '40s was a booming economy and an America expanding faster than spending. Let's stay on this topic: baby boomers. Born in the high times of the 1945-1960, this was an explosion of births and prolonged life expectancy. And the Ponzi scheme was born. The idea to fund Social Security was a tax on people and companies through the IRS. The fly in the ointment is the future generations stopped having kids. There was no longer a pipeline of young working people financing the retirement of the boomers. That's why we are broke. Fewer people supporting a large aging population.

So, the thinking must follow, as the boomers die off in the next 15 years or so, will not the payouts diminish? There will be a time soon that the equation is flipped back due to the influx of migrants to make up for the lack of births by Americans.

And to answer the question asked up top -- there is not reason to lose an election over Social Security and Medicare because 90% of our lawmakers will be dead too!

Jack Holt, Cape Coral

Guns and drugs

I have to question the focus of many of our government officials. Because of a bunch of mass shootings, politicians who are trying to make a name for themselves, including Whitmer from Michigan, Newsome from California and even President Biden, have publicly demanded that something be done about guns in America. Here are some facts. Approximately 40,000 people die each year in the U.S. from gun related events. A little more than half of these are suicides. These politicians make a big deal about their concern about guns simply because these mass shootings receive a lot of publicity and it helps their political profile to get publicity. However, around 100,000, mostly younger people, die each year from drug overdoses and these same politicians seem to have no interest in doing something about that. No political speeches or demands from Whitmer, Newsome or President Biden. In fact, they seem to openly encourage it by doing nothing about controlling our border. Why is that?

Ron Wobbeking, Naples

This article originally appeared on Fort Myers News-Press: Letters to the editor for Saturday, February 18, 2023