Letters to the editor for Sunday, October 15, 2023

Letters to the editor should be 250 words or less. Include your name and city or community of residence. Guest opinions should be 600 words or less and include a brief summary of the author’s credentials relevant to the topic. Guest opinions may include a head shot of the author. For the Fort Myers News-Press, email submissions to mailbag@news-press.com and for the Naples Daily News to letters@naplesnews.com

Appalling views

Jerry Rutherford got off to an attention-getting start last year as a Collier County School Board member. First he called for the reinstatement of corporal punishment. Then he proposed bringing prayer into classrooms and school board meetings. This fall, after Mr. Rutherford expressed a desire to ban seven “ideologies” from the schools, many community members, along with some students, spoke in protest at the September meeting.

Perhaps all that dissent surprised him. In a kind of political table-tennis, Mr. Rutherford then wrote a letter to the editor of this paper, which pulled back the curtain on what he believes: that the schools are in the grip of a Marxist/socialist/humanist/communist plot to overtake America. In his letter, he referred for “proof” to a document entitled “The Communist Agenda.”

A quick check on Wikipedia links that document to a book, "The Naked Communist," written by W. Cleon Skousen. Mr. Skousen (1913-2006) was an anti-government, faith-based conspiracy theorist who lectured to the John Birch Society. He “wanted to repeal the minimum wage, eliminate unions, nullify anti-discrimination laws… [and] remove the walls separating church and state….” In 1987, Skousen suggested in one of his books that “American slave children were freer than white non-slaves.”

So this is the ideological neck of the woods in which Mr. Rutherford has pitched his tent. Apparently, he dreams of overhauling the Collier County public school system along “anti-communist” lines. His views, once considered “extreme” and “fringe,” now thrive in red states like ours, where the word “Democrat” is a curse word. In Texas, conservative “Christians” have commandeered some school districts, to the detriment of student freedom, education and well-being. So we must take Mr. Rutherford (and his constituents) seriously, even as we shake our heads in disbelief.

Keep a close eye on the school board. Speak up if you disagree. Mr. Rutherford has considerable support in Collier County, so it's important for the board to know that many residents find his views not only ludicrous and appalling, but also unconstitutional.

Melanie Wicker, M.A.T.S., Naples

Paranoia on school board

Mr. Rutherford, it pains me to read your letter and think that you are a paid member of the Collier County School Board. Your logic fails to impress. I am not really sure what you were trying to prove. Was it that the insurrectionists on January 6th were brainwashed by the modern public education system? Or perhaps that the Boston Tea Party, American Revolution and Civil War were all figments of some Marxist educator trying to foment a future revolution of the proletariat against the establishment? Your paranoia should be kept out of my children's education and left for the MAGA red meat radio shows you seem to subscribe to. Peace and love and please leave these kids alone.

George Buonocore III, Naples

Jaycee Park plan

The revised concept for Jaycee Park has arrived. Did you see what has changed? More trees, fewer parking spaces. BUT the unwanted bandshell and bar/restaurant remain in this residential area. The pine trees, picnic tables and benches at the water’s edge are gone. (The current parking under the pines at the river's edge is extremely popular for families, seniors and handicapped folks who drive directly to the spot of their choice, unload their supplies and enjoy outdoor life). Concrete replaces orthopedically friendly asphalt. The concrete overlook and costly seawall replace river access to natural habitat.

More than 5,000 taxpaying citizens have already spoken up with their objections to these plans (thousands of winter residents will soon return to voice their opinions). The mayor, council and planners have continued to push these plans forward even though it comes with a price tag upwards of $12 million and at a time when the Yacht Club park will be unavailable for the foreseeable future. Is this good planning and timing? Are they representing citizens or developers, Realtors, commercial interests and investors who don’t use the park? Listen to the residents who voted you in (upcoming election?) These residents love Cape Coral, Jaycee park and the healthful passive green space it offers to everyone, every day.

Pat Germinario, Cape Coral

Mature representative, please

In reference to “I break things,” October 8, it takes someone who is either manipulative or of low intelligence to call the president of the United States an “idiot.” But Rep. Byron Donalds got what he was seeking from his horde of admirers in Naples – enthusiastic applause.

I don’t want any more mean-spirited, rebel reps. I want a mature House representative whose personality doesn’t change depending upon what crowd he’s facing, who doesn’t resort to exaggerated, immature pejoratives, like “idiot,” who can introduce a bill and see it through to the president’s desk, and who doesn’t engage in deceitful voting antics.

R.T. Becker, Fort Myers

Stand with Israel

William Tecumseh Sherman said, “I am tired and sick of war. Its glory is all moonshine. It is only those who have neither fired a shot nor heard the shrieks and groans of the wounded who cry aloud for blood, for vengeance, for desolation. War is hell. You cannot qualify war in harsher terms than I will. War is cruelty, and you cannot refine it. Those who brought war into our country deserve all the curses and maledictions a people can pour out.”

Those that call for a proportional response by Israel have not witnessed the massacres and beheadings carried out by Hamas. Its attacks have resulted in the largest loss of life among Jews since the Holocaust. Massacres are acts of murder and pure evil. In the face of murder and such evil, what is a proportioned response? When Hamas wants you dead, wants your people extinguished from the face of the earth, you fight to survive.

Will we never learn? You cannot reason with a tiger when your head is in its mouth. The hundreds of Israeli dead and injured headed towards their graves or physically compromised by their wounds and mentally tortured by their family losses point to this truth. I will stand with Israel and the total destruction of Hamas.

Chris Corrie, Bonita Springs

Partnership Against Antisemitism

On October 7 the Jewish State of Israel was attacked by scores of Hamas terrorists. In the bloodiest day since the Holocaust they murdered a population adjusted equivalent of 40,000 Americans.We know who they are and what they did because they gleefully recorded and posted their war crimes even as they committed them.

The English language buckles at the attempt to describe their atrocities. We need to understand that this was not a case of collateral damage or soldiers losing control in the heat of battle. The sole purpose of this invasion was to rape, kill, maim, desecrate, and kidnap as many Israeli civilians as possible.Out of this human disaster, perhaps the West will finally come to understand that the Palestinian “liberation” movement, whether represented by Hamas in Gaza, the PLA or PIJ in Judea and Samaria, Hezbollah in Lebanon, the Muslim Brotherhood across Africa, BDS and SJP on American campuses, Islamists in the halls of Congress, or their useful idiots on the streets of our cities is a gigantic fraud. It has nothing to do with the aspirations of Palestinians. It exists exclusively to annihilate the Jewish State of Israel, foment Jew hatred anywhere it can, and ultimately destroy America. Conceptually and in deed it is the inheritor of Hitler’s final solution, and a totally owned subsidiary of the Islamic Republic of Iran.

Hamas’ grandees living luxuriously in Qatar and their orcs in Gaza, need to know that there is no hiding place for them in this world. They will be hunted down and killed like rabid dogs. But that is not necessarily what will happen.By the time this is published Israel will have done everything humanly possible to rescue its hostages and will probably be involved in a ground operation in Gaza, and perhaps Lebanon.

Demonstrations in support of Hamas have already spread around the world and Israel is being held responsible for the war online, on campuses, by the Squad, the UN, and segments of the media. Before the IDF even entered Gaza there were cries of “disproportionate force,” and calls for a “cessation of hostilities” from enemies and allies alike. Given the circumstances they are obscene.In the past, attempts by Israel to defend itself have inspired hate propaganda and choreographed spikes of antisemitism. There is no evidence of an imminent threat here in Naples but we are vulnerable. We need to prepare for the worst.The Christian-Jewish Partnership Against Antisemitism Conference at the Jewish Federation Iser Cultural Center, 7 p.m. November 30, will begin to do just that. Please join us. Registration link: christiansandjewsunitedagainstantisemitism.eventbrite.com Allen Menkin, MD, project coordinator, Naples Christian Jewish Partnership

Dysfunction in the House

Dysfunction is not operating normally or properly, or deviating from norms of social behavior in a way that is regarded as bad.Dysfunction is all around us: dysfunctional families, churches, schools systems, state and city governments, now the U.S. House of Representatives.The House of Representatives make their own rules and this rule was passed June 10: Only one member of Congress Democratic or Republican is needed to bring a motion to oust the speaker of the House. Kevin McCarthy you gave away a level of control to the conservative wing of your party. You fell for it! Now this has been put up to a vote. The gamers caused a frozen function of our political democracy!In our government we need checks and balances, but the House of Representatives has created its own mess, which is causing concerns around the world.What about Ukraine and Israel?What about democracies that are forming?What about freedoms for women's rights?This is no step forward in the eyes of the world, but a step backwards.I am sure no bills will come out of our House of Representatives unless the adults in the room take care of the business of running our government.Kathleen Callard, RNBS, North Fort Myers

No justification for atrocity

Condemning the Hamas attack is a no brainier for most people. Yet, across America there are those who are blaming Israel, including the group of congressional progressives referred to as "the squad," and at the elitist Ivy League schools such as Yale and Harvard. I don't care what your politics are, to endorse a terrorist attack and murder of civilians, you must have loyalties to terrorists and murderers. I don't understand how anyone protesting and has seen the videos from the past week could possibly support terrorists, much less do so publicly. There is NO justification for slaughtering families and kidnapping and torturing women, children, and elderly. I don't care what your politics are, if you can't condemn this atrocity as a horrific crime of monumental proportions, then you really need to do some soul searching.

Lou Walker, Cape Coral

Buying votes

Years ago the law, in many cities, closed bars and taprooms so that politicians could not buy your vote by buying you a drink.

Biden has taken buying votes to a whole new level. He erases your student debt by forgiving the debt people chose to take on to further their education. The fact they failed to produce a positive career is only their fault.

I wonder how painters, landscapers and electricians and other hard working Americans feel that they have to carry the load for these freeloaders.

The majority of working Americans assume debt and work to pay it off. But, Biden and his administration aren't ever going to get the roofers' votes. But, the freeloaders will gladly pull the Democratic levers in the next national elections.

A beer supposedly would buy a vote. Paying off thousands of dollars in debt will buy a landslide of votes.

Michael Zubrow, Naples

Long-standing border problem

The U.S. has needed border reform forever, it seems. No congress has attacked the issue regardless who was in control. It almost seems like the opposition party wants to maintain the status quo to make the other look weak and non-committal. With the recent upswing in asylum-seekers, which cross into the USA predominantly in Texas, the transfer of these poor folks to “blue” states and cities with pie-in-sky promises has got to change. Cities like Chicago and New York are inundated and, with cold temperatures coming, their ability to cope is, and will be, next to impossible. A large portion of the crossers are children which exacerbates their needs commensurately with schools, clothing, and food etc. If there is an increase of asylum judges and they determine certain immigrants do not qualify for asylum, they’ll need to be sent back to their country of origin.

Glenn Chenot, Cape Coral

Worst president

As we seemingly watch the destruction of America led by a bumbling marionette and a totally inept vice president, perhaps carrying out the third term objectives of Obama, it is becoming increasingly clear that after only two years, he is earning the distinction of becoming the worst president in American history.While there are myriad reasons for this pathetic achievement, the opening of our sovereign borders to 7 million (and counting) unvetted illegal aliens, and attempting to support this massive foreign invasion using our citizens’ borrowed tax money, while our government is teetering on the brink of insolvency, are sufficient reasons by themselves.

Sneaking out of Afghanistan leaving behind American citizens, NATO partner citizens and loyal Afghan allies to face execution, abandoning a strategically important air base, and leaving $7.12 billion of military equipment, latest technology and supplies for the enemy Taliban, is another stellar reason and perhaps treasonous. It also telegraphed his weakness and lack of integrity and has destabilized the entire world.Tragically, women especially should take note that this debacle eliminated the basic human rights (including education and voting) for over 20 million Afghan women, caused by the party that claims to champion inclusion and women’s rights.

Thanks to several habitual letter writers in these pages for unwittingly admitting, by their often-ludicrous anti-Republican rants, the prima facie evidence that they voted for this deceitful puppet who is deliberately trashing our country and should be impeached along with the other corrupt swamp creatures who pull his strings.Robert Strohaver, Naples

Water taken for granted

When was the last time you drank a glass of water.  Did you think at all about how important and precious water is?  Or, did you, as most do, just take it for granted?  Did you think about how necessary it is for our survival?

Think about the manner in which our politicians treat our water.  Is there anything in their conduct that makes you think they consider it to be of any importance?  If they do/did, why are almost all of the waterways in Florida contaminated?  If they do/did, why would Lake “O”, one of the largest freshwater lakes in our country, be in such abysmal condition?

Here in Lee County, the problem is just as bad, if not worse.  The county commissioners routinely override the plans, rules, regulations, and laws that were set in place to protect the integrity of such an invaluable resource.  They allow complicit developers to run rampant in the race to pave over “paradise”.  High-density housing developments are being allowed with very little regard to our environment.

To present such a problem places a burden on the presenter to provide a possible solution.  Knowing that developers orchestrate the whole process, I would like to present some solutions, which while they will not be a total cure, might provide a slowdown of environmental degradation until we elect new people to office who approach governing with a modicum of common sense and healthy respect for the voters who allow them the honor of being of service.

See that all irrigation is provided by retention ponds.

Have all paved and unpaved surfaces deliver this liquid gold into the retention ponds.

Direct all run-off from all structures into the retention ponds.

Reduce the footprint of grassy areas to reduce the amount of irrigation water used.

Provide a listing of native trees, shrubs, and flowers that may be used in new developments.

Plant at least one shade tree per residence for both aesthetic and environmental reasons.  If commercial is involved plant more shade trees.

Employ micro irrigation in the bedded areas.

Assure that paving materials of the highest porosity be used allowing more rain water to enter the aquifers below.

Work with the developers to assure that all building materials be environmentally friendly.

Utilize colors, everywhere, towards the white end of the spectrum

Install “Energy Star” rated appliances.

Have all structures meet Florida Gold Star Water Certification.

If the politicians, in cahoots with the developers, are insistent on continuing to pave over our county, the very least we can do is slow their destruction of life as we all want it to be.

Norman Cannon, Fort Myers

Immigration havoc

Here's a quote from Ronald Reagan submitted from a recent contributor (Reagan on immigration -10/7).

"Other countries may seek to compete with us; but in one vital area, as a beacon of freedom and opportunity that draws people of the world, no country on Earth comes close."

Now here's a quote from the contributor "Thanks to the wave of new arrivals to this land of opportunity, we're a nation forever young, forever bursting with new ideas, and always on the cutting edge, always leading the world to the next frontier."

I do hope the contributor understands that President Reagan was talking about LEGAL immigration, not the hordes pouring over our southern border daily.

And just what "new ideas" are these illegals bringing into our country?  A better system to bring in fentanyl or a better way of human trafficking? Heck, we're not even vetting them and have no idea where most of them are going!

I have no doubt that the majority of them are good people but it does not change the fact that they are jumping the line coming here illegally.

Has the contributor seen the havoc it is wreaking on sanctuary cities?

Even those liberal mayors are finally coming around to the utter chaos and drain on our social services this is causing.

Let me give you two examples of an invasion:

1. An incursion by a large number of people or things into a place or sphere of activity.

2. An unwelcome intrusion into another's domain.

As for number two -- it might not be an unwelcome intrusion into Joe Biden's domain but it sure is an intrusion into Governor Abbott's Texas.

I know the liberal media doesn't like the word "invasion" so they just may want to change the meaning of it.

One more quote from the contributor "Sadly, President Reagan wouldn't recognize his Grand Old Party today."

I say as a man who respected law and order, President Reagan wouldn't recognize his own country today.

Rick Manuel, Dade City

Fooled big time

Instead of the Where's Waldo game; we have Where's Our Governor? I admit, I was fooled by this politician big time. So much so; I sent him a letter asking him to add Byron (another one that fooled me) Donalds as his lt. governor when he first ran for governor. I have friends and family from all over these United States. They now are having fun mocking me for supporting these two.

As a patriotic American first, who just happens to be a Democrat, I feel I have a responsibility, as a democracy and rule-of-law loving patriot, to say:

“If Hunter Biden broke the law… indict him!”

I trust my fellow patriotic Americans first, who just happen to be Republicans, feel they also have a responsibility, as democracy and rule-of-law loving patriots, feel the same about Donald Trump.

(We owe this to the memory of the Greatest Generation who, without their sacrifices of lives and limbs, democracy and its rule-of-law would be a long forgotten ideal.)

J. Cant, Naples

This article originally appeared on Fort Myers News-Press: Letters to the editor for Sunday, October 15, 2023