Letters to the editor for Saturday, July 9, 2022

Rental ordinance would cost taxpayers

The pricey rental ordinance proposed on the Aug. 23 ballot comes at a very high cost and is NOT self-funded. Ask Fort Lauderdale which had to hire 12 people to implement the mountain of work it caused. Every city nationwide already has rules for noise, garbage and parking. Why are you raising my taxes to fund a duplication of noise, garbage, and parking rules that are already in place? Vote NO! August 23.

Karen Twyning, Marco Island and Wisconsin

Marco economy would be damaged

I recently fell in love with Marco Island.

Myself and my family came out to Marco Island for one week in January, renting a condo at South Seas. We absolutely fell in love with the area and decided that it would make a great retirement spot for us. In March we purchased a condo.

Marco Island and the business owners, as well as the residents (which we will be one day), would be very much affected by getting rid of vacation rentals. The tax revenue would then have to be made up by collecting higher taxes from residents. I'm assuming, the weekly renters spend more money on the Island than the monthly renters, so only allowing monthly rentals would also have a negative affect.

The long-term effects would be devastating for the Marco Island economy and would affect everyone. If I could vote, I would vote "NO."

Marvin Mullins, Marco Island

Kathy Fanny for Lee school board

I recently decided to learn more about the Lee County school board candidates. I live in Cape Coral, in District 1. After hearing some of the candidates speak, and reading their websites and literature, it became clear that’s there’s one best choice for school board in District 1, and that’s Kathy Fanny.

Lee County schools are not doing well. We are drastically short of teachers (900 short at last count), and the majority of Lee County students can’t read or perform math on grade level! The schools are underfunded and the teachers and support staff are disrespected and subjected to the threat of lawsuits.

Kathy Fanny is one candidate who can really make a difference. She is a retired teacher with 38 years of experience. She spent 26 years as a reading specialist -- who better to improve our reading performance?

Kathy Fanny spent decades working in Title 1 schools (schools serving lower income students). Title 1 schools are entitled to extra federal funding and Kathy Fanny knows how to follow state, local, and federal mandates to get the most our of Title 1 resources. I learned that 100 percent of District 1 schools are Title 1 schools -- we need Kathy Fanny to help our schools get everything they’re entitled to.

Ann Hayes, Cape Coral

Michelle McLeod for Collier commission

I am writing to share my endorsement of Michelle McLeod as our next Collier County District 4 commissioner. Michelle is the most qualified, knowledgeable and empathetic candidate to step forward, with the intent of actually improving our way of life. She is indebted to no one but the voters and will introduce a thoughtful, conservative approach to the overdevelopment of our beautiful county, to the wasteful spending on unnecessary or unneeded projects, to the government involvement beyond what government should be doing, and to resident representation. All these things are currently lacking and are responsible for the decline in the quality of life we enjoyed just a few years ago.

Please access Michelle’s website, mcleodforcommissioner.com, for details.

Bud Horenci, Naples

Kids, not politics

When is something that is nonpartisan really nonpartisan? Years ago, the Florida Legislature, in Title IX, Chapter 105 of Florida Statutes, agreed that school board elections should be nonpartisan. The purpose was to make sure that school board elections are about kids and not about politics. Therefore, it was quite shocking that one of the political parties has endorsed and provided financial assistance to three candidates for the Collier School Board. Political parties have a political agenda and, unfortunately, in the state of Florida, the political agenda is often co-mingled with education.

School is about KIDS, not political parties. And it’s apparent that people need to be reminded.

That’s why, as a former educator of 38 years, I am endorsing the three incumbents for the Collier School Board: District 1 – Jory Westberry; District 3 – Jen Mitchell; District 5 – Roy Terry. The Collier School District is once again rated as an “A” district because of the outstanding leadership of Dr. Patton and the collegial, cooperative attitude of the current school board members. They listen, question, do their research and always work in the best interests of our students. That’s what “nonpartisan” really means.

The students and parents of Collier County need these outstanding school board members back to continue the excellence of our educational system. On Aug. 23, vote for Westberry, Mitchell and Terry for Collier County School Board.

Remember, it’s about kids, not politics!

Bill Korson, Naples

Protect current Riviera homeowners

Riviera Golf Estates has been the home to a 55+ community for decades offering desirable golf and water views to residents. It is a friendly, quiet, peaceful and safe neighborhood to those who invested heavily to ensure serenity for their senior years. Equally important, the Riviera Golf Estates provides a clean environment for nature’s wildlife that shares the same landscape with Riviera homeowners.

Recently, the owner of the golf course shut down the operation. Prior to this action, the owner had organized a team of developers, engineers, attorneys and designers to convert the golf course into a development of 300 plus homes cutting right through the middle of this lovely community. Understandably, this has created much anger and fear among the residents.

This dramatic reconfiguration of the golf course would be the potential cause of serious flooding to the existing homes due to the drainage of the already established lakes which currently absorb heavy rainfall. In addition, RGE is in a flood plain: therefore, any new construction must be raised a minimum of four feet in order to adhere to the federal flood control requirements. This will cause major flooding to the existing homes. An important question: Will the developer be responsible for water damage to any of the homes in Riviera Golf Estates?

I urge the county commissioners to vote NO on the proposal in order to protect the residents' homes, thereby maintaining throughout the existing layout of RGE.

This money-making proposition may be legal, but in every sense of the word it is not right.

Michele Mirlocca, Ludlow , MA

Crisis Pregnancy Centers do positive work

All of us pro-lifers were elated at the decision of the Supreme Court to return abortion decisions to the individual states. When the ultrasound became common, prospective mothers and fathers could view the development of their unborn child and really see that the fetus was actually a living human being.

Thank you, Mississippi, for having the courage to challenge the Roe decision at the Supreme Court level. And thank you, my fellow prayer warriors. We had faithfully witnessed and said our rosaries, weekly, at the Planned Parenthood for the last 30 years to end abortion -- first at the downtown clinic on Highway 41 and then at the Creech Road facility. I might add that this was always peaceful. The reaction of the passersby was mostly positive, some stopping to thank us.

The reaction nationally by the abortion advocates has been appalling! Fifty of our Crisis Pregnancy Centers across the country have been attacked. Why? Crisis Pregnancy offers help, an ultrasound, counseling, and is free of charge. I think it would behoove your newspaper to not only investigate these attacks, but to interview our Crisis Pregnancy Centers to see the positive work they are doing.

Mary DePrisco, Naples

Abortion right recklessly abandoned

It’s ironic that one week prior to Independence Day weekend, the Supreme Court abandoned 50 years of precedent by refusing to support a woman’s right to control her reproductive health. By turning the abortion question over to the states, SCOTUS assures that trigger laws will force women to give birth against their will by criminalizing safe, medically accepted protocols. SCOTUS’s originalists overturned Roe, in part, because the Constitution makes no mention of abortion. At the time the Constitution was written (1780’s), bloodletting was common, viruses were unknown and germ theory was not widely accepted — certainly not a period of scientific enlightenment in the U.S. Now over 250 years later, the U.S. continues to demonstrate its lack of commitment to reproductive health by ranking first in maternal mortality among the 10 most developed nations. And yet, six justices recklessly abandon the right to abortion; a procedure which is 14 times safer than carrying a pregnancy to term. This decision also throws the medical landscape into confusion as physicians struggle to address treatments for ectopic pregnancy, miscarriage, fibroids, or the fate of IVF embryos — issues that did not exist in 1787 or the mid-1800’s when states wrote anti-abortion laws.

To bring some sanity to this egregious decision, the federal government 1) must assure the right to travel to receive needed medical care (interstate travel/commerce) and 2) secure a woman’s access to FDA approved medications for evidence-based reproductive medical protocols regardless of where one resides.

Kim R. Finer, Naples

Parenting teenagers is hard

I wish I didn't know so much about this personally, but I do and it's worth sharing.

Where to begin? With this, for sure. As you know, parenting teenagers is hard. When you're a single parent its harder, especially if you work. Harder still is when a teenager has serious psychiatric or emotional challenges.

We do our best to keep them safe and get them to a point where they can take responsibility for themselves and become as self-sufficient as possible. And from the earliest age we give them a moral core that might keep them safe when we're not there to provide direct supervision and guidance.

Teenage sons and daughters present their own separate challenges and relentless concerns for their parents. But it's sons that I know about.

Boys in their late adolescence often become violence prone for a range of reasons. Looking at why that is would take me off what I need to say here. But it's true, so the parents of older teenage sons not only have to try to keep them safe; they also have a duty to try to keep others safe from them.

Now I don't want to or need to talk about the kind of father who would sign a waiver to let his underage son own firearms and then buy them for him after the cops needed to be called because the kid threatened to murder his family and then kill himself! No law can ever protect society from that kind of parent and his sons even if there was one on the books.

I'm talking about well-intended parents who make some sort of effort to remain engaged with their sons. Unless they are constantly monitoring all the social media outlets these kids use and routinely inspect their rooms and vehicles (good luck with that!) they are probably flying blind. If the parent is lucky, the kid may have some decent friends who might share concerns with the parent if the boy is going off the rails, but don't count on that.

There's not much long-term good the cops can do. In an acute situation cops can confiscate the kid's guns that you might not have even known about when they "Baker Act" him. They get sent for a psychiatric evaluation for three days (or longer if a judge signs off) and then they are released. But here's the kicker: The cops have to give them back their guns. It takes a judge's finding to declare a person incompetent to own firearms, and that can be a long, tedious and expensive undertaking for the parent.

As long as he is living with you and you have a solid relationship with the boy, you might be able to exert enough influence/pressure to get him to sell his guns. But you'll never know for sure. Guns are notoriously easy to get (and hide).

And when they move out, all bets are off. All that might be protecting them and others is the moral core and character you'd helped them develop. That and maybe a good soul that is lurking under all that muck. I was blessed that way with my boy.

So I don't know what kind of village it takes to raise a child, but I do know that going one-on-one with a troubled, depressed and angry older teenage boy is hard. Very hard.

Rabbi Bruce Diamond, Fort Myers

Biden lacks empathy

If you traveled over the July Fourth holiday you most likely paid for gasoline just shy of $5 a gallon. It was not that long ago when we were energy independent. Remember those days? On his first day in the Oval Office, Biden canceled the Keystone pipeline. He banned new drilling permits and leases, discouraged companies from investing in more capacity, threatened banks to stop financing American oil, gas and coal, and tried to install a climate activist as vice chair of the Federal Reserve.

Biden knows that his hostility to fossil fuels discourages any long-term investments from oil and gas companies that would increase supply and reduce prices. When he sent his letter to oil company executives last month complaining that they were making too much money and not producing enough oil “at a time of war,” the feedback was brutal. Chevron pointed out that the administration continues to “impose obstacles to our industry delivering energy resources the world needs.”

Biden is steering the doomsday climate change theory into the ground. So he does the opposite of what America needs, and blames inflation on greedy gas stations and oil companies, or the other villain, Putin. Biden demanded that gas stations “Bring down the price you are charging at the pump to reflect the cost you’re paying for the product. And do it now.”

He has no understanding of economics and he has no empathy for the American people. He is purposely causing chaos and we are suffering because of it.

Nick Blauwiekel, Naples

Support Collier school board incumbents

Voters need to be informed in order to decide what candidates best support their beliefs and the needs of children. With a school board election coming up in Collier County, here are some basic facts about public, private, and charter schools in Florida.

Public schools must accept all students who live in the district, and provide for their special educational needs, if necessary. Private and charter schools can and do not accept students for a variety of reasons and can expel them at will.

Public and magnet schools must be accredited by the state and hire certified teachers. Private and charter schools do not. Of the 2,100 private and charter schools in Florida, 70 percent are non-accredited. They also do not have to adhere to state testing guidelines.

When a student leaves a public school for a private one, the state loses 7K per student. This money never comes back, as private and charter schools keep the money even if the student leaves.

Private schools, religious schools and charter schools also are funded by taxpayers through the voucher system. In Florida, 80 percent of vouchers go to Christian religious education. These schools are non-accredited, don’t have to conform to federal anti-discrimination statues and go to a majority of white students.

How do you want to see your tax dollars spent?

The current incumbent board members have a track record of supporting public education.

Please support Roy Terry, Jory Westbury, and Jen Mitchell in the upcoming August school board primary.

Statistics from ACLU Florida education lawyers

Kristin Muschett, Naples

This article originally appeared on Fort Myers News-Press: Letters to the editor for Saturday, July 9, 2022