Letters to the editor for Saturday, September 23, 2023

Impressed by responders

In this time of great division I wanted to share my recent experience. Having lived here for just about 20 years, I called 911 for the first time after being overpowered by an unknown substance in the air around my house.  The person that provides the maintenance for my pool texted me saying she had to leave due to her exposure to whatever the substance was. In checking behind my house I was exposed to that same powerful substance and within a few minutes experienced a headache and dizziness resulting in the 911 call. Very quickly EMS services along with firetrucks from the Iona McGregor district arrived. The substance was quickly identified as well as any consequences. The purpose of sharing this is due to the level of professionalism, thoroughness and concern exhibited by each of the responders. I remain so impressed with the wonderful service they provided, I wanted to provide a public thank you to them all and an acknowledgement of the work public employees perform.

David Aiken, Fort Myers

Noxious proposals for schools

It's an odd feeling to go somewhere, speak passionately about something, see many others doing the same -- and then find absolutely no mention of it in the local paper, and see no mention of it whatsoever on the organization's website. (If I missed an article in the NDN, I apologize....)

So this is what "invisible" feels like. "Unheard." Maybe even "erased"?

I'm referring to the Collier County School Board meeting on Sept. 11, where I along with many others (including students! hurrah for them!) waited for hours just to speak against Jerry Rutherford's noxious proposals. And by the way, I did not hear one person speak in favor of Mr. Rutherford's agenda. Not one.

I got home at 9 p.m.; apparently, the meeting ended at midnight. I have since learned that the board postponed a vote on Mr. Rutherford's proposal to start the meetings with an invocation. (Really? You need time to think about whether "separation of church and state" applies in a public school system?)

Mr. Rutherford's list of seven "ideologies" to be "banned" wasn't even on the Sept. 11 agenda, as it turned out. But we spoke up against it anyway. I mentioned Emmett Till, Harvey Milk, Jim Obergefell, Trayvon Martin, Breonna Taylor, George Floyd -- people that Mr. Rutherford doesn't want our students to discuss. And did you know that, according to Wikipedia, the term "woke" was coined in 1938 by the blues musician Hudie Ledbetter? Yes. He was warning Black people to "stay woke" because the legal system is dangerous for people of color. That might become forbidden information, too, I guess.

Invisible. Unheard. Erased. Just the way Mr. Rutherford and his supporters want it.

I bet they wish the dissenters would stay home and be quiet, too. Well, ain't that a shame.

See you at the next school-board meeting!

Melanie M. Wicker, Naples

American Climate Corps

As a leader of the Collier-Lee Chapter of Citizens Climate Lobby (CCL), I receive many inquiries from young people about how they can volunteer in ways that could ultimately lead to careers in fighting climate change. CCL is mostly focused on educating its members so that they can cogently talk with their elected representatives about passing legislation to mitigate climate change. The American Climate Corps, launched this month by the Biden Administration, is a paid workforce training and service initiative that will ensure more young people have access to careers in the clean energy and climate resilience economy. The initiative will put to work more than 20,000 people conserving and restoring our lands and waters, bolstering community resilience, deploying clean energy, implementing energy-efficient technologies, and advancing environmental justice. This training will create pathways to good-paying jobs in the public and private sectors. Those interested in applying should go to whitehouse.gov/climatecorps for more information.

Patricia Duncan, Bonita Springs

Not the answer

Can we do better with the climate change and fossil fuels problem? Who could argue against the reduction of CO2 and other pollutants? However, man has been burning fossil fuels since survival instincts began and now wants to do better. The banning of our production of fossil fuels has consequences. Wouldn’t it have been better to have had South Korea pay us the six billion dollars for our oil rather than pay Iran? That is what made this a terrible deal. In order to sell the end of fossil fuels the proponents must come forth with a timely plan demonstrating how and when this is going to be achieved. Will the goal be achieved in 50, 100 or 1,000 years? Show, with bench marks, every 5, 10 or 50 years failure or success. Will some fossil fuels always be necessary and if so, have a reasonable limit set? What about our need for defense? Armor is very heavy and planes must be fast and maneuverable, can this be achieved with batteries? Necessity may be the mother of invention, but arbitrarily stopping production of oil and hoping for a miracle is not the answer.Col. (Ret.) Ted Raia, M.D., USA, Naples

DeSantis craters

Our governor gets his due. It appears that the rest of the country is not as bigoted, racist and reactionary as Florida Republican voters. Pander as he might his race to the bottom campaign is not going over well in more enlightened areas of the country. In New Hampshire he has cratered to near the bottom of the primary field and heading to Trump's right has turned off many Republicans and independents. Unfortunately we here in Florida will have to suffer his autocratic spite for several more years unless our state Legislature develops a spine. Good luck to us.

Albert King, Naples

What about Floyd-related riots?

Thank you for the front page, above the fold alert and update on the escaped January 6th rioter, Christopher Worrell. Might it be possible for you to give the readers an update on the prosecution of the hundreds if not thousands of rioters who burned cities after the Floyd killing? Neighborhoods were burned and individuals including police officers and fire officials were injured and killed. Thinking back to the January 6th riot, as I recall, one person was killed. It was an unarmed protester, who was shot by a federal officer. Fair and balanced reporting; that’s the ticket!

Bruce Foster, Naples

Voters, wake up

With a government shutdown looming on the 30th, the radicals Kevin dealt with after 15 votes are making him pay the price by opposing everything already approved by the Senate.

They want to finish the border wall but reduce government spending. They don’t want to aid Ukraine any more and defund the FBI along with the Justice Department. Called a “clown show” by members of their own party, there is no chance the Senate will capitulate to these demands, and, after stripping the most egregious items, they will send it back to the House and put the ball back in McCarthy’s court.

And mind you, this is just a short-term fix so how in the hell would they be able to cope with the real legislation. After watching the Republicans grill the poor Attorney General Garland on Wednesday, they STILL accused the Justice Department  of weaponization trying to accede to their orange leader’s wishes while the country’s ability to fund the government is near at hand. When will the American voters wake up?

Glenn Chenot, Cape Coral

Cheap labor

They come, crossing our borders without consequence; no accountability, no history that we can document and yet, here they are: mixing and mingling with citizens in the USA who have their own challenges in terms of the economy as we try to help other nations with their problems: Ukraine's Russian invasion, Israel and Palestinian struggles, the many uprisings in African nations, the threat of China, Russia and other authoritarian regimes.

And we have wildfires never experienced to the extent today, droughts (historic), floods (historic), and water infected with fecal bacteria  throughout our local waterways.

Why do we allow this? Let me offer a simple explanation: No one in our elected body would allow deportation and a ban on border crossings with consequences commensurate with an all-out invasion of another country.

Why? The illegal immigrants provide cheap labor for agribusiness and construction industries. We all look in amazement at the Hispanics on roofs in the very worst heat of the year; we applauded their bent backs in our tomato fields; we wink at the weak suggestions of "how to deal with the illegals" and hire, without documentation, cheap labor to do our yard work, our house cleaning and on and on.

We have ourselves to blame for these illegal immigrants who are walking with determination across our borders, flaunting our so-called resolve to put up a wall, harden our borders, make Mexico responsible and on and on.

One could easily chide in unison: blah, blah, blah. Until we understand that cheap labor for the construction/developer interests and agribusiness is a price we all pay for, immigrants will continue to cross our border with only lip-service to "stop it! We mean it this time."

Patty Duncan, Fort Myers

Insurance proposals flawed

Senator Rick Scott, a governor with more red tide on his face than other Florida governors, is now proposing three insurance fixes to cure Florida’s property insurance problem (Op-ed Tampa Bay Times 9-16-2023):

1.    Grow the private insurance market that increases competition 2.    Implement additional reforms on the private insurance market to ensure that Florida families are treated fairly 3.    Shrink the size and scope of Citizens to again make it the insurer of last resort, drive down insurance costs Senator Scott is as naive as a senator as he was when governor.The natural disasters in Florida are too big of a risk for private sector insurance companies. Climate change has totally changed the circumstances: hurricanes with devastating surge, winds, rainfall, flooding bring risks which no insurer in his right mind would cover the risk except by demanding extreme, unaffordable, unrealistic premiums.

The fixes which Scott should propose are fixes to control climate change, especially the elimination of fossil fuels from our industrial diet. The fixes which he proposes are “pie in the sky”; they are merely words of comfort with no foundation in reality.

Scott cannot bring himself to face an immediate, true fix: a federal national insurance program, much like the mutuals from which current insurance providers evolved. He cannot face this fix because it pulls control from the states and smells like socialism. He cannot face this fix because it offends his plan to eliminate Social Security and Medicare.

Joe Haack, Naples

Never signed a check

It is not surprising to see and hear Bernie Sanders demanding that any employer pay more than their employees may deserve or than the employer can afford.

Sanders was campaigning with the UAW demanding that the auto manufacturers give the workers what they want. Not that the workers shouldn't gain something. But their leaders are the negotiators not the politicians.

This from a man who has never signed the face of check. Never has Bernie ever been responsible to maintain a profitable business. He has progressed from community organizer to U.S. senator always pointing his shaking finger in a threatening manner as though he is the one to determine a business's success.

He, Biden, Warren, AOC are always the first to demand employers reduce their profits and always the last to go into their own pockets. Perfect examples of hypocrisy. These people want one thing, to have the government control everything, changing the U.S. into a communist country.

Michael Zubrow, Naples

Correct use of words

Today’s public discourse is little more than chaos in the streets, the aftermath of Babel itself, where towers of idiom rise and fall through faulty design, arrogance and neglect of definition. Many of today’s so-called linguistic authorities have no doubt given up, retreating to their towers of academic insulation from the common, ordinary world of communicative expression. Take for example the lack of discussion on the confusion of ordinary words used widely all the time. My two, most favorite pairs are “sympathy and empathy,” and “median and mean.” Used correctly:

Most of us may have sympathy for those poor souls whose only security is the corner where a building touches the concrete, where a coat, a blanket, or a cardboard box are the only comfort for the loneliness of the cold, fresh hours in the coming light of another day. We cannot empathize with them because for those who have never been homeless there is no common, shared experience.

We hear experts telling us the median this or that changed by some percentage over some given period of time, as if that meant that the average changed, but a median is not an average and comparing median changes is not the same as comparing changes in the mean, or mathematical average. Let’s hope those programming the math in our national defense systems know the difference. We may empathize with their mistakes, but we might have little sympathy for them and a much shorter future, if they mess up.

Ed McCoy, Bokeelia

What's in and what's out

Baby boomers if you remember back in the 60’s it was called being part of the IN crowd We are living in a country where people are judged by what and how they believe, and then deemed either IN or OUT.Allowing over 7 million Illegal aliens into our country through open borders-IN. Believing in a secure border and entering the USA legally-OUT.

Teachers taking control of our young children’s lives and minds when making decisions about their gender- IN. Parents being contacted when children want to make life changing decisions- OUT.Government investing trillions in green energy companies that go belly up.-IN. USA being energy independent with clean burning fossil fuels-OUT.Removing 2nd Amendment rights for law abiding citizens-IN. Following the U.S. Constitution for all rights-OUT. Believing in climate change-IN. Believing that world weather is a natural occurrence-OUT. Our major cities being ravaged by crime and their DA’s not prosecuting criminals IN. Using laws on our books for prosecuting criminals by taking them off our streets-OUT. Finally using the mainstream media to support one political party.-IN. Reporting the news equally for both political parties-OUT.In conclusion I am a 1951 baby boomer and was never in the IN crowd.

Arthur Maranian, Naples

Modern-day Pied Piper

Every day as I read the paper and watch the news, I get a vision of the Pied Piper of Hamelin. Trump masterfully plays the piper, and most Republicans seemingly continue to support him. This support will likely lead to Trump’s securing the presidential nomination for 2024.

The problem that I have with this scenario is that it leads to a no-win situation for Republicans. In all recent presidential elections, Republican candidates have lost the popular vote, and in my mind, Trump is the least likely Republican nominee to capture the hearts and minds of enough independent and Democratic voters to be victorious. In fact, many Republicans like myself would not consider voting for Trump for president or dog catcher. The values espoused by Trump definitely are not those that we seek in a leader.

If enough Republicans who vote in primaries don’t see this, I believe we will wake up on November 6, 2024, very disappointed.

John Johnson, Naples

Capitalist's advice

Capitalism at its best. If capitalism is so great for the American society as a whole, why would the capitalist tell citizens in one sentence, “All you have to do is work three times as hard as we do to get somewhere” and in the next breath, tell them to just accept their “lot” in life?

Kathrine Hamilton, Estero

Author overlooked

Neopolitian featured an article on SWFL authors, yet no mention of Dan Petrosini? Dan writes crime / mysteries that all take place in Naples. I see a missed opportunity to expand his readership. A lot of locals and non-locals would enjoy his books. I know I do.

John Houldsworth, Naples

This article originally appeared on Fort Myers News-Press: Letters to the editor for Saturday, September 23, 2023