Letters to the editor for Saturday, January 21, 2023

Thin GOP majority, dangerous game

Now that they have a scant new majority of four seats in the House, Republicans are going to play Russian Roulette with our debt ceiling and decimate our full faith and credit and threaten a shutdown at the worst possible time as we are clawing back from COVID. Because Kevin McCarthy promised everything to hardliners to get the gavel after 15 votes, we now have election deniers, conspiracy proponents and QAnon proponents like Matt Gaetz, Marjorie Taylor Greene and Lauren Boebert sitting predominantly on the Government Oversight Committee and Jim Jordan heading up the Judicial Committee. Their first order of business should be the debt ceiling and helping our economy bounce back but, instead, they’re going to concentrate on impeaching Joe Biden and investigating his son. The well-being of their constituents and the electorate is way on the back on the list of possible achievements. They probably will have their very thin majority for two years so this is what we have to deal with till then but it could be too late.

Glenn Chenot, Cape Coral

Vote Democrat, reap what you sow

I am sure most readers are aware that many of our fabulous companies including Microsoft, Amazon and Google have laid off thousands of workers this past week. Whilst I have empathy for anyone who has lost their job, I can guarantee that many of those laid off voted Democrat and therein lies the problem. The inept Biden administration has put us into recession and ruined a once great economy. So you reap what you sow.

Perhaps next time around you will vote Republican so you can get your jobs back.

Michael Adler, Miromar Lakes

We'll all pay the price

Thanks, thanks to those who across the country and here in Lee and Collier who pushed the levers for Republicans. And let me not leave out the Villages, a Republican STD stronghold where Dear Ron has announcements. So now we have some really questionable (crazy) Republicans assigned to committees. You know the Q folks, the guy whose family says he’s basically nuts. No worries. They’ll crush the debt ceiling, default on U.S. obligations and Social Security and Medicare go out the window. We told you so, you didn’t listen. You didn’t turn off Fox News and now we pay the price of selfish stupid. But you’ll pay as well.

Laurence Jacks, Estero

Could Bowman's Beach be polluted again?

In 2007, contaminants flowing from a wastewater plant serving the Heron’s Landing and Sanibel Bayous communities forced the closure of Bowman’s Beach on Sanibel. Thankfully, the city stepped in, bought the land from the operator, and decommissioned the plant pursuant to prevailing regulations.

Fast forward to 2018. A group of Heron’s Landing residents raised the alarm about noxious odors rising from a lake adjacent to the decommissioned wastewater plant. At the request of the city, SCCF conducted testing and found high levels of phosphorus and nitrogen at both the site and in the lake. They concluded nutrients from the site were responsible for the problems at the lake, currently one of the most polluted lakes in Sanibel.

Fast forward to last week. At the Sanibel Planning Commission meeting on Jan. 9, the commissioners considered a developer’s proposal to build six homes directly on top of the site of the former wastewater plant. At the hearing, the commissioners heard the following facts: first, despite the best efforts of the city, the site is still contaminated 15 years after it was decommissioned. Second, the Florida Department of Environmental Protection has recommended extensive testing at the site before approving the development. And third, according to the planning staff, the addition of impermeable surfaces will make the problem worse.

One commissioner said, “the need for testing is self-evident” but worried testing would “open a can of worms.” Another recognized these nutrients can lead to the development of blue-green algae, which can cause neurological problems in humans. She voted against the development, noting “I wouldn’t want to buy a home there.” A third commissioner said, “until the environmental problems are resolved, I can’t support this development.” Yet the commission provisionally approved the development without the DEP-recommended testing or any of the conditions proposed by concerned neighbors.

What does that decision mean for Lee County residents and vacationers? The development will move ahead without any further clean-up. Excavation will disturb the soil. The houses and pools will increase impermeable surfaces and reduce the natural filtering process. Unfiltered groundwater will carry more nutrients to the nearby lake, jeopardizing the health of the neighbors and the highly productive rookery there. The groundwater may travel further to Clam Bayou, polluting that beautiful body of water. And maybe it will travel 4,000 feet to Bowman’s Beach, as it did in 2007.

The Heron’s Landing HOA will ask the Planning Commission (which has two new commissioners) when it meets again on Jan. 24 to delay this development until the recommended testing is done to determine how serious the problem is. If the results confirm the presence of high levels of hazardous nutrients or heavy metals, doesn’t it make sense for the developer and the city to consult with DEP and water experts to determine what can be done to clean up the site once and for all?

Sarah C. Peck, president, Heron’s Landing HOA Board member, Committee of the Islands (COTI)

Realties of Collier County development

I am jealous of writer Greig McCallum (Jan. 18). He wrote exactly what I would like to have written about development in Collier County.

The only missing link is that most development seems to be represented by the same lawyer, Rich Yovanovich. His biography (from home page of Coleman Yovanovich Koester, his law firm, states "As an Assistant County Attorney he focused on land development and constructions matters. Mr. Yovanovich has an extraordinary amount of experience in real estate zoning, construction and land use, including projects ranging from residential and commercial projects to large developments of regional impact."

Couple this with the background of several county commissioners like Bill McDaniel, attorney and developer; Commissioner Hall, real estate investor; Commissioner Saunders, lawyer; Commissioner Kowal, former Collier County deputy.

Suffice it to say that while all of the gentlemen have excellent backgrounds to serve as county commissioners, it is hard not to believe there is a sort of Old Boys club even if unintentional which added together has created an orgy of development in Collier County without regard to much input from residents who do not benefit from such development, and like myself, continue to endure the Immokalee Road torture chamber. Congratulations to Mr. McCallum for having the courage to address the realties of Collier County development. It's time to stop this high dollar growth which is obliterating our green space, our panthers, clogging the roads and failing time and time again to redirect the focus to lower-cost housing, which continues to be kicked down the road with no real solutions, in spite of the palliative words to the contrary.

Charles Berry, Naples

Egregious development over-reach

Thank you for publishing Greig McCallum's excellent (Jan. 18) guide for developers in Southwest Florida. While so very informative, I regret to advise that he missed a couple of important items: For one, the purchase doesn't always have to be commercial/retail. It can be agri/rural. If you're out of state, like the State of New York where they have no idea that agri/rural might mean something other than two lots without a building, you'll be able to have county staff give you all kinds of ways to put 200 homes in a small rural area where sewer is not available and wells are the only way to bring water into your home. Claim ignorance based on Northern restrictions. No one wants Northern restrictions here. It's a huge claim in your arsenal: Remember: we're the FREE STATE OF FLORIDA. State this often as you reiterate NORTHERN RESTRICTIONS.

Addition two: While you're snoozing as commissioners pretend to listen (with a straight face) to residents' claims that the Comprehensive Plan and this development represent an egregious over-reach, occasionally have one of your experts mention the words "Bert Harris." Once the commissioners emerge from hiding behind their chairs, the chairman will bang the gavel with "development approved." They'll even follow with: Can we give you another 2,600 acres?

Patty Duncan, South Fort Myers

The not-so-free State of Florida

Florida is often described as the “Free State of Florida” by Gov. DeSantis. Well, that is not completely true. Here are a few things you are NOT free to do:

. Read books that the governor has banned and ordered removed from libraries.

. Access the full range of reproductive health care when needed.

. Talk to your students [teacher] about anything that might make them “uncomfortable” such as the accurate history of our government’s treatment of indigenous peoples.

. Use the bathroom that matches your gender, rather than your “sex at birth.”

. Walk into a grocery store and feel safe because you know guns are not allowed there.

. Require masks to protect your customers and staff if you are a small business owner.

Etc., etc., etc.

Gail Hermosilla, Estero

The importance of commas

Recent letters to the press have mentioned the improper use of words in the English language. I notice improper punctuation as well.

I stress the importance of a comma to my grandchildren.

Do you mean “Let’s eat, Grandma.” or “Let’s eat Grandma!”

Rose Doffing, Fort Myers

New wave of commercials

Forget mesothelioma and Camp LeJune. In the near future expect these commercials:

If your home was damaged by Hurricane Ian and you were forced to live in the home months while local government provided building permits and you now suffer from illness caused by mold...

If you went swimming on Fort Myers Beach after Hurricane Ian and contracted a flesh-eating bacteria...

If you were involved in an auto accident in Fort Myers because a warning sign had not been replaced after Hurricane Ian.

Stranger things have happened.

Steve Solak, Fort Myers

Ukraine and the light of freedom

In a Jan. 14 letter to the editor, Mr. Sterdjevich asks the reader to evaluate the current “conflict” in Ukraine by responding with a simple yes or no to two questions. Based upon the wording of the questions as well as the 1984 style of “Newspeak” employed, the author seems to announce his support for the aggressive actions of Russia and the Putin Regime.

In his first question, Mr. Sterdjevich refers to the so-called eastward expansion of the military and nuclear presence of the United States and NATO. Yes, the number of countries in the EU and NATO have expanded. Faced with thinly veiled Russian military and economic threats to their independence, the former Soviet satellites have looked to the West for support. They have chosen to move toward democracy and away from dictatorship.

When the Soviet Union imploded in the early 1990s, many of the former Soviet republics declared their independence from the USSR and re-established their own sovereign countries. A number of the former Soviet satellites embraced democracy and found a home in the West. Many have joined the European Union in search of economic cooperation. Also, many have joined the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) for protection from Russian military aggression.

Mr. Sterdjevich’s statement referring to the presence of nuclear weapons in the area also demonstrates his support of Russian aggression, he seems to forget about the fact that Ukraine dismantled and destroyed its nuclear weapons more than 30 years ago. There is no mention about recent Russian threats concerning the possible use of nuclear weapons against Ukraine and Finland.

Yes Mr. Sterdjevich, the people of Ukraine as well as many other countries in Europe continue to seek out the Light of Freedom as an alternative to the Darkness of Authoritarianism that presently exists in Russia.

Lloyd M. Leschuk, Naples

Common law abortion -- some history

When the United States was founded and for decades thereafter, Americans recognized the English common law. Common law acknowledged that a fetus did not exist separately from a woman until the woman felt fetal movement, called “quickening,” which occurred as late as the 25th week.

William Blackstone, a British jurist, in 1765, made this point: Life "begins in contemplation of law as soon as an infant is able to stir in the mother's womb." Under the common law, Blackstone expounds, legal penalties for abortion occurred "if a woman is quick with child, and by a potion, or otherwise, killeth it in her womb."

Blackstone's work influenced America's founders. As they read Blackstone, they understood that abortion was legal during the early stages of pregnancy. Because all the early states followed the common law as described by Blackstone, the states did not possess the power to prohibit abortion before “quickening”: This was the original Roe v Wade.

Because the states followed the common law at the founding, the freedom to end a pregnancy before quickening was recognized as a woman’s right to health. This right falls within the original meaning and understanding of a right "retained by the people” under the 9th Amendment. Justice Alito ought to familiarize himself with history. It has something to teach, namely, that a woman’s right to health existed prior to our Constitution and is clearly a right contemplated by the 9th Amendment which states: “The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.”

Women should also note history. Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas set women up for the removal of a common law right in the Dobbs decision which overturned Roe v Wade. They are now setting women up for the elimination of the right to birth control. Texas has introduced legislation to eliminate the right to birth control which will be litigated before the Supreme Court in hopes of removing yet another one of women’s rights.

Joe Haack, Naples

Hypocrisy of the Left

We have had attacks on our power grids in Washington, Oregon and North Carolina. You would think that our government would be applying significant resources to investigate the idiots who are doing this, but it seems that our government's major issues are adding 87,000 IRS agents, Trump tax returns and investigating Jan. 6 and I can't forget sending money to Ukraine. Then you have the massive storm that has killed dozens of people, shut down cities and hundreds of thousands have lost power. After having been without power for only about 36 hours when Hurricane Ian hit Florida, being without power is hard to live with. I can't imagine what it would be like if you had the severe cold along with it. And, by the way, in the midst of all these events, our president heads off to St. Croix to show his leadership capabilities. I remember when Ted Cruz left Texas to go to Mexico during last year's storm and power outages and the left-wing media was all over him, but they seem to be silent on Biden slipping away. Just another example of hypocrisy of the Left.

Ron Wobbeking, Naples

Serious business for America

I am sure glad the Republicans finally selected a speaker so now they can get down to some serious business for the American people and the country, like investigating Hunter Biden's laptop and the FBI and Afghanistan and probably Hillary's emails and Benghazi. Maybe if they have time they could even look into "irregularities" in the 2020 election.

Vic Boberg, North Fort Myers

This article originally appeared on Fort Myers News-Press: Letters to the editor for Saturday, January 21, 2023