Letters to the editor for Saturday, January 7, 2023

Reduce panther carnage on roads

The killing of Florida panthers on the highways is a travesty. Twenty-four panthers a year on average are killed on Florida roads year after year. It shows that we need more law enforcement on the roads that panthers frequently use.

How do we get more troopers and deputies on our roads to stop this panther carnage? The Conservancy of Southwest Florida and other environmental groups need to pitch in and give the Florida Highway Patrol and county deputies grants of several thousand dollars to patrol panther habitat roads on their free and patrol time with a goal to cut the death toll of panthers on our roads in half each year. Right now we have about 125 panthers in Florida. If we kill 25 panthers a year on our roads and have about 25 kittens born a year we are just maintaining that 125 panther population. If we save just a dozen a year, our total population will go up by 12 to grow our panther counts year after year.

Other things we must do is put panther-proof fences in all panther and deer habitat roads but especially on all new towns in eastern Collier County and along Corkscrew and Alico roads in Lee County. All other counties that have panthers as well. All wildlife corridors will have wildlife underpasses under them designated by FWC and federal wildlife officials. This would also go for Babcock Ranch. County commissioners in all panther counties and FWC should help with this and heartily endorse these panther saving edicts and pass legislation to protect our panthers.

Carl Veaux, Cape Coral

COVID vaccines available

COVID is still alive and thriving in Southwest Florida. A friend became very sick this week after attending a holiday gathering. She was vaccinated in 2021, but didn't have the bivariant booster. Like many folks, she was under the erroneous impression that Omicron just causes mild cold symptoms. That isn't true in all cases, and she developed pneumonia. Boosters are available at CVS and Walgreens. I personally would like to thank the staff at Collier County Department of Health in Naples for administering the flu shot and COVID booster to my adult son who is on the autistic spectrum. The nurse was patient and he got his shots. The DoH doesn't advertise, but vaccines are available at the main office behind the Courthouse.

Thais Tepper, Chokoloskee

Keep rent-hike notification rule

Right before Christmas, in a Grinch-like mood, four of our five county commissioners thought it might be a good idea to rescind the recently enacted requirement for 60 days' notice to tenants of an upcoming rent increase. “How would it be enforced?” they pondered. “Isn’t it government overreach?” wondered another. “It won’t help us with affordable housing!” proclaimed a third. All this in a county where 40,000 workers commute daily from out of the county to their jobs because they can’t afford to live here. Long drives for our essential workers — public safety workers, teachers, health care workers. Not to mention the service workers in the shops, hotels and restaurants. The cost of housing in our county has been bid up beyond what local workers can afford because of the influx of wealthy retirees. Over the past couple of years, rental costs have increased by double digits a year. If you are a renter in this market, a 60 days notice of an unaffordable rent increase could help you find alternate affordable housing closer to where you work. Without such notice, rent increases become coercive and force workers to move farther out. This is not only an affordable housing issue, it is a workforce issue and rescinding the notice requirement is actually anti-business. Just ask Arthrex and the Chamber of Commerce. C’mon commissioners. Have a heart!

Mary McLean Johnson, Naples

Why has library remained closed?

I am one of hundreds of patrons that use Lakes Regional Library often. Or at least we used to.

When it closed because of the hurricane, we all took that in stride.

However, since it has now been 14 weeks since its closure, the patrons are beginning to wonder what the details might be that is continuing to keep our library closed?

We are told that FEMA had taken it over. But that's all we know. What might be wrong with simply sharing with the public a smattering of details, regarding such a lengthy closure and when or if that library will ever reopen?

Transparency is something that is touted all over local governments, and yet, we are smart enough to see that often is simply a fallacy. The county commissioners make it very difficult to attend meetings on important matters regarding the county's out of control growth. This lack of transparency in all county matters has become routine, and the citizens of the county are the ones suffering because of its lack.

Since the county is responsible for keeping Lakes Regional Library closed to the public, I believe it is imperative that they lift their veil of silence and simply tell the public the facts of why Lakes closed and how much longer it may be closed OR if it will ever open again.

We all should be deeply concerned when an issue like this is not publicly addressed!

Sarah Wilmarth, Fort Myers

No smoking at the VFW

Friday, Jan. 13, 2023 begins a new era at Golden Gate VFW Post 7721, 13131 Collier Blvd., Naples, Florida with the first day of no smoking at the VFW Post. Please join veterans at the post to enjoy an all new, tobacco-free environment.

Dr. J.B. Holmes, Naples

Shrimp industry story well done

Compliments to Janine Zeitlin on her Southwest Florida shrimp industry article. So very well written and informative! It reads like a short story.

Carol Rohde, Naples

Reject DeSantis’ demagoguery

At his swearing in, DeSantis gleefully reminded us that "Florida is where woke goes to die!"What is “woke?”While unsuccessfully defending the “Stop W.O.K.E.” Act, DeSantis’ counsel defined Woke as “the belief there are systemic injustices in American society and the need to address them.”Not bad! Too bad people like DeSantis use it to gin up hatred against those opposing injustice and ignorance, rather than learning with them.“Woke” people acknowledge that a variety of intersecting prejudices based on race, gender, sexual orientation, social status and class, disabilities, hostility to science and some others are holding America back.Ignoring this network of oppression is expensive.For example, that bastion of socialism CitiGroup (just kidding) published an extensive analysis of the price of racism in 2020 entitled “Closing the Racial Inequality Gaps: The Economic Cost of Black Inequality in the U.S.” Authored by Citi’s global economist, Dana Peterson, and its chief economist, Catherine Mann, it concluded that, “if racial gaps for Blacks — wages, education, housing, and investment — were closed today, $5 trillion can be added to U.S. GDP over the next five years.” Ron DeSantis’ kind of thinking about race alone costs everyone in the Florida $3K/year.Each of DeSantis' prejudices is very pricey.Floridians, reject DeSantis’ opportunistic demagoguery! That path leads to tragedy. Wake up! Curiosity about problems and opportunities will create a different and a better future. They are fundamental to a first rate educational system. If you build it, great teachers stop leaving and start arriving.

Michael Sales, Naples

We need a grownup in Congress

Regarding electing a Republican as Speaker of the House on Jan. 4, Rep. Byron Donalds is simply causing problems and being rebellious with his other 19 Republican rebels who voted for Donalds as speaker. Obviously, he cannot win the speakership with only 20 votes. Their grandstanding is simply a protest against Kevin McCarthy and delaying the work of Congress.

In my opinion it's an embarrassment. How many embarrassments do the voters of Southwest Florida have to endure? Ex-congressman Curt Clawson was a rebellious embarrassment who didn't last long. Ex-congressman Trey Radel was horrific with his cocaine arrest. What a nightmare!

Why do voters in this area keep voting for immature, irresponsible candidates? We need a grown-up!

Rep. Donalds and his group should stop the play-acting and give those 20 votes to Kevin McCarthy.

R.T. Becker, Fort Myers

The political chameleon

On Jan. 6, 2021, Representative Kevin McCarthy made a point of decrying the treasonous behavior of his mentor. Yet, only a few days later, he found himself in Mar-a-Lago, kowtowing to his leader and returning to his role as “My Kevin.”

In the surgical pathology lab of the university hospital where I had trained, a placard attached to the microscope contained the mordant message “Don’t change your mind. Why be wrong twice?” (The surgical pathologist was charged with the responsibility of communicating critical diagnostic information to the surgeon in order to facilitate intra-operative decisions.)

Seems McCarthy has changed his mind at least twice, and is now reaping the consequences.Our Congressman Byron Donalds is apparently using the same playbook.The political chameleon walks a tricky path.The maneuvers are fascinating to watch, but by no means edifying. Machiavelli would have wept.Frank Scarpa, M.D., Naples

Political donations at work?

I read with dismay and disbelief the details of the “sweeter deals” insurance companies will receive as a result of recent legislation passed by the Florida Legislature. One critical question went unasked: How much money do the insurance companies donate each year to their Republican friends in the Legislature? It sure looks like a case of “he who pays the piper calls the tune.”

Gail Hermosilla, Estero

Explore tax on wealth

The author of "Wealthy Pay Their Fair Share," made an important mistake. He said "wealthy," and then argued about income. Those are two separate things. Income is annual while wealth is cumulative. Income is taxed while wealth is not. In that context the wealthy do not pay their fair share.

According to Forbes magazine there are over 300 people in this country whose wealth is greater than a thousand million dollars: some with multiple thousands of millions. This money is not taxed, and usually continues to grow annually, as does the wealth of people with only a few hundred million dollars.

We have a massive, growing, unequal distribution of WEALTH here in this country and I feel that is the number one contributor to most of our economic and social problems. In the last presidential primary, two candidates spoke of a tax on wealth. I feel it is an issue we should continue to explore and discuss.

Wayne Walter, Fort Myers

Taxes paid by wealthiest

On Jan. 4 a letter writer from Naples wrote a very long letter explaining how much the rich pay in taxes. Let's cut to the chase. According to the IRS from 2010 to 2018 the 400 wealthiest Americans paid 8.2 percent in taxes while the average American paid 13.3 percent.

Cornelius Cahill, Lehigh Acres

Here come the layoffs

The Fed is driving us right into a recession!

Now come the layoffs! Happy 2023!

Jay Vincent, Naples

'Street preacher' at Beach

I read with interest, the letter to your editor from a party who was upset by the "street preacher." The "street preacher" ruined the fun and hope for all in attendance at "Light Up Times Square" celebration at the Beach. The people were not there to attend a "church event" but a "Christmas event." I guess the "street preacher" should be happy that history from 2000 years ago didn't repeat itself; when a "preacher" was crucified for disrupting celebrations when he preached by the seashore!Lee Bomgaars, Fort Myers

Trump’s support for McCarthy

Trump’s support for most electoral candidates was a kiss-of-death, condemning them to failure in recent elections. Will his support for Kevin McCarthy produce the same outcome? My Republican Party is in disarray as illustrated by their unique failed attempts to elect the next speaker of the House of Representatives. Why?

The reason is simple; it is the loss of respect for truth equals lies. The day after the Jan. 6 insurrection/attempted coup by Donald Trump, Kevin McCarthy stated definitively on nationwide TV that Trump caused the insurrection. Weeks later after visiting Trump he lied about the insurrection and continued to do so. Trump lied about his loss in the presidential election and his followers believed him; some even still do.

It is not surprising that there is a handful of representatives whose character precludes them from participating in the world of lies characteristic of the conservative extremists who dominate the party. With Trump announcing support for McCarthy Wednesday the handful of representatives with some quality of character may have no alternative. They may simply have to vote for Democrat Hakeem Jeffries to restore functioning to the House of Representatives.William Pettinger, M.D., Bonita Springs

DeSantis-Justice Thomas; what's up?

One portion of the end-of-year and probably final revelations last week by the January 6th Committee of witness testimony that attracted the most attention consisted of remarks of Ginni Thomas, the wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas. While the combative arch-conservative activist expressed regret at the wording and tone of some of her post-election remonstrations to White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, she did not back down from her oft-expressed regurgitation of the Big Lie that the election was stolen from President Trump.

But focusing on her beseeching Team Trump not to accept the electoral result overlooks even more ominous and suspect communications uncovered last spring in a trove of Meadows’ emails. In one of them, the justice’s spouse mentions that her husband has been in touch “on various things of late” with Gov. DeSantis.

What in the world they would be discussing and why present intriguing questions that warrant further inquiry. Now that the committee has completed its work, Congress won’t do it.

Perhaps the media or other investigative forces here ought to try. A request under the state Freedom of Information Act might provide some sunshine on this subject.

In the words of the motto of the Florida-based National Enquirer supermarket tabloid: “Enquiring Minds Want To Know.”

Marshall H. Tanick, Naples

Immaturity at work in politics

For many years during my teaching experience in Lee County, I found myself in charge of a school-wide, disciplinary management system, one that, together with the guidance of a progressive, inspired principal, some say, actually ran the school.

The experience involved countless interviews with young people who’d come into conflict with something in their surroundings, the consequence being they had been removed from a classroom and sent to a central location for interviewing and disciplinary intervention.

The program succeeded, yet for me with a degree in Behavioral Psychology, I was interested in what sorts of response students made when confronted with having to take responsibility for their misbehaviors. There appeared to be a continuum of such reactions that ran from denial to rationalization and everything in between: Denial – I didn’t do it. Projection – Someone else did it. Rationalization – Everybody’s doing it. Question the rule – What did I do wrong? You see what I mean.

Today, considering the conflict between the political Left and Right, this potentially dangerous disparity between viewpoints leaves me with the feeling I’m deciding who is at fault in some teenager’s brush with school rules. See for yourself.

One side uses every excuse, lie, deception and bit of chicanery you can imagine, just to get away with breaking rules. The other side, though genuinely uninspired, seems fixed on pointing this out. The whole thing is so childish, so immature, so insulting, yet we have no disciplinary management program except my vote.

Ed (Mac) McCoy, Bokeelia

This article originally appeared on Fort Myers News-Press: Letters to the editor for Saturday, January 7, 2023