Letters to the editor for Wednesday, February 22, 2023

Politicized, egregious, malicious vote

The unanimous decision by the Collier County Commission to refund $167,000 of the COVID-19 Extra Mile Migrant Farmworker grant and cancel the remainder of the $1.2 M CDC grant is egregious and malicious.

The takeaway of this decision is that underprivileged people of Immokalee, many of whom work to put vegetables on our tables and perform other services to enhance the quality of our lives, are not worthy of receiving health-related education that could save their lives!

A few individuals from the “Medical Freedom Sub-Committee” of the Republican Party politicized the COVID-19 component of the grant (comprising only 5% of the total grant monies), speaking of the harms of vaccination and the deceptive practices of the federal government and pharmaceutical companies.

In fact, an independent Commonwealth Fund study, comprised of world class experts, estimates that through November 2022, COVID-19 vaccines prevented more than 18.5 million U.S. hospitalizations and 3.2 million deaths, saving the country $1.15 trillion!

The CDC grant provided for community health workers speaking the same language as the underprivileged Immokalee workers to educate them about the importance of COVID-19 vaccination as well as a variety of other medical issues like heart disease and diabetes.

The Collier County Commission’s vote to cancel the CDC grant demonstrates the following: (1) a disregard for the value of the Immokalee workers’ lives and (2) a total disregard for science-based information.

Jeanne Goldberg, M.D., Bonita Springs

Nonsense rules in Collier vote

Isn't protecting the health and welfare of residents among the roles of local governments? How does that fit with the Collier County Commission vote to ignore its own investigative report in favor of unsubstantiated claims that COVID-19 and health information provided through a federal government grant is harmful and deceptive?

The commission not only accepted this nonsense, but voted to refund money already accepted and cancel the remainder of the $1.2 million grant. Perhaps if you make a lot of noise and put words like "freedom" in your title and the commissioners will roll over. Or might they be appeasing their "base" no matter how foolish.

Members of the pressure group also declared government grants were "evil" and more should be rejected. The grant funded programs to improve the health of migrant workers, most of whom may not vote although they harvest the food we eat. Did that influence the action?

Are the inmates are running the asylum?

Bruce Beardsley, Naples

Voices of absurdity prevail

I was dismayed to read that the Collier County Commission has refused a CDC grant to provide outreach medical information to the Immokalee migrant community because there are voices of absurdity (masked as fact) in Collier County. They speak of “harms from the vaccine and deceptions by the federal government that the vaccines are safe.”

One million people in this country have died from COVID-19. 641,000 died after the vaccine became available in 2020. Half of those who died after 2020 were unvaccinated. 319,000 people who might still be alive had they been vaccinated. (Research by Brown University)

The claim that the COVID-19 vaccine itself causes death has been debunked by many sources.

Why would the Collier County commissioners refuse grant money meant to provide medical information to an under-served population? Only 5% of the monies was designated for COVID-19 education. They believed the “voices of absurdity.”

I wonder how many of the commissioners are vaccinated but still voted to deny medical information that might save the life of another Collier County resident.

Rochelle Lieb, Naples

Hospital destroys mahogany trees

I’m sure if Naples Community Hospital had a patient with a bunion, they wouldn’t remove his leg. Well, that’s what our downtown hospital did with eight beautiful mahogany trees located at the cancer radiation center across the street from the emergency room. Word on the street is that a couple of patients had large seed pods fall on their cars and crack their windshields. Instead of using landscapers to simply remove the pods, the hospital chose to chop down the decades-old trees, with little regard for the environment or the residents who enjoyed the trees’ shade and beauty.

The entire area surrounding the two cancer centers already looked like a parking lot with out-of-control parking on 7th Street. Evidently, the hospital is not willing to provide enough parking spaces for employees or patients, so they just let them park on posted “no parking” areas or private residential property with total disregard for local residents’ rights or the law. Now with the trees gone, it looks even worse.

I’ve been a supporter of the new Heart Institute, but if the hospital can’t handle simple pruning without destroying our trees and won’t provide parking for their own employees or patients, then how do they handle major parking issues as they continue to expand?

Carolyn Brown, Naples

This is class warfare

It’s not about Immokalee workers’ immunization; it is class warfare.

In war “know thine enemy." The war is between the greedy, powerful extremely wealthy and the rest of us. If our democracy can survive, we will win because the ratio of middle and lower income people to the extremely wealthy is near 98/2. Thus, “the-other-side” in the war has already engineered extreme measures, even direct attacks on our democracy, January 6, 2021. Yes, they will lie (about the election), steal by gerrymandering and foment disorder to control power; establishing an autocratic dictatorship may be their only option.

Yes, we are at a disadvantage; our enemy knows everything about us, where we live, our TV programs, information sources, our financial status, etc. Armed with this information and use of artificial intelligence they identify emotional issues such as abortion, COVID-19 vaccination, etc. to control and alienate us, even within families.

Trump’s first step as president was rewarding his wealthy supporters by reducing their taxes, now a major cause of our federal debt. Our wealthy Senator Scott even attempted to shift that debt onto you and me by cutting Social Security and Medicare. Wake up county commissioners; are you just fools controlled by the 2 percent wealthy by voting against COVID-19 immunization for farm workers? By supporting a sanctuary city designation? Busing loads of attackers on our Capitol January 6? Know thine enemy and it is not Dr. Fauci and immunization.William Pettinger M.D., Bonita Springs

King Ron rules Florida

All hail King Ron, who rules his Florida fiefdom with an iron hand! He suspended duly elected county state attorney Andrew Warren for exercising his First Amendment rights. He threatened to fire school superintendents or take away their federal funding (with no authority) for violating his ban on masking during the COVID pandemic.

He’s throwing books out of school and public libraries and even teachers' home rooms that are too “woke” for his taste. He's meddling with the content of university courses that don’t conform with his anti-woke crusade, and even trying to undermine Sarasota’s historic New College for being too liberal. He’s used state funds to establish his “election police” to find and prosecute nonexistent voter fraud in Florida. And prior to the 2020 election, he rejected a redistricting map drawn by the state Legislature and substituted his own gerrymandered, unconstitutional version that heavily favored Republicans (no wonder he won by a 20% margin!).

I shudder to imagine the liberties he might take in the Oval Office!

James G. Goodale, Fort Myers

Proud of President Biden

Watching the news tonight, was so very proud of our President Joe Biden. He flew to Kyiv, capital of Ukraine -- a very long flight and then a very long train ride to the city, where he was received joyfully! Flying into a war zone with sirens in the distance. I think back to 2018 when Orange Man travelled to France -- Aisne-Marne -- to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the end of WWI! … oooh but he could not attend the ceremony at the cemetery because it was raining! Pathetic! No comparison between the two -- one a leader, the other a serial lying coward!

Ellen Robertson, Naples

Liberals should leave

It’s pretty obvious that this newspaper leans liberal as does most of the media. So to all of you Northern liberal transplants who bash our governor why did you come here? Let me see. No mask mandate, beaches, restaurants and bars were open, less crime, less taxes and don’t forget parents have the rights over their children’s educational structure. Also his stance on immigration is tough! If you’re not legal you’re not welcome. Those are some pretty good reasons. So for all of you that still think Biden has all his marbles I have only one thing to say, “Hit the road Jack!”

Maryanna Kleve, Fort Myers

Bigotry of extremists

A very vocal minority of people are beseeching City Council to deny Pride Fest a permit to celebrate Gay Pride Day in Cambier Park. Their argument appears to be that children should not be exposed to cross-dressers.What these extremists really seek is to stop public acceptance of gay people. If Naples City Council issues a permit, that is a statement by our city government that LGBTQ people have rights, are allowed to exist in our society, that discrimination and bigotry are unacceptable.

City Council should push back against the extremists and allow the permit. In fact, double down against bigotry. During the event, City Council should show a loop of clips from wonderful American drag film and TV classics on the Cambier stage:

Start with a play by Shakespeare, where the term “drag” originated. In Shakespeare’s time, male actors would wear long costume dresses that used to "drag" on the stage floor. During that time, women weren’t allowed on stage.

Here are only a few examples of American drag entertainment:

“Some Like It Hot” (Jack Lemmon and Tony Curtis); “Victor Victoria” (Julie Andrews); “Mrs. Doubtfire” (Robin Williams); “Tootsie” (Dustin Hoffman); TV clips of Milton Berle in drag (one including Bob Hope); Flip Wilson’s Geraldine; “Shakespeare in Love”(Gwyneth Paltrow); “Yentl”(Barbara Streisand); “Madea” films (Tyler Perry); “Bosom Buddies” (Tom Hanks); “To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything, Julie Newmar” (Patrick Swayze, Wesley Snipes and John Leguizamo); “Tango & Cash” (Kurt Russell); “The Birdcage” (Nathan Lane); “Back to the Future Part II”, (Michael J. Fox); “Hairspray” (John Travolta).

City Council members: protect the rights of LGBTQ people from the bigotry of these extremists. Grant the permit.

Judy Freiberg, Naples

Contorted logic of DeSantis

It just stands to reason, if one accepts DeSantis’s belief that “Florida is where woke goes to die,” then one must also accept, by woke’s definition, that Florida must also be the place where the belief that being “concerned about racial discrimination in society and other forms of oppression and injustice” must go to die. Is that a statement one would truly be proud to endorse and support?

It then stands to reason, if DeSantis disagrees with Webster’s definition of woke, he surely will ban the dictionary from schools and libraries.

It just stands to reason, if one accepts DeSantis’ dissolution of Disney’s special district, giving Walt Disney World the power to self-govern, he should also look closely at dozens of other similar arrangements in the state, such as special arrangements with The Villages and The Daytona Beach Racing & Recreational Facilities District. He has long found strong Republican support in The Villages. Does one truly think he will go after them as aggressively, or at all, as he has Disney?

It just stands, according to DeSantis’s reasoning, that he wants it both ways on so many issues.

Charles Gass, Naples

Political use of Florida’s taxes

If Gov. Ron DeSantis is allowed to make a blatant political statement by using the taxpayer’s money to move immigrants from one part of the country to another, the hard-working taxpayers of Florida should be allowed to do the same.Those taxpayers who disagree with the governor’s practice of using the power of the state to punish his critics and further his personal political interests should be given the same privilege. I propose we use our tax dollars in a much more efficient manner: Move Ron DeSantis to a different state.

Scott Nichols, Fort Myers

Brilliant article by Rep. Donalds

What a brilliant article in Sunday's paper written by Byron Donalds! He hit the nail right on the head. Yes, we are headed for a climate change which is following a cycle of thousands of years, and there is little we can do to stop it. However, the windmills and solar power are doing more harm than good. In fact, the windmills are adding to the problem by taking acres of our beautiful land and sea and turning them into ugly and costly boondoggles. They are killing birds, beaching whales, and ruining breeding grounds for fish and lobsters. Plus, they are undependable in case of ice storms and lack of wind. The raw materials for solar power are practically all made in China, a country we should not be dependent upon.

Representative Donalds wisely advises that we should go nuclear. No toxic waste is released, and no deaths have occurred from our nuclear power plants. The city of Baltimore gets a good percentage of its energy from nuclear power and the U.S. Navy has used it safely in our ships and submarines for over 50 years.

I believe that the safe future of power lies in nuclear energy.

Mary DePrisco, Naples

Where Donalds is wrong

Representative Donalds’ recent Naples Daily News incursion into the "fantasy of wind and solar" was caught up in its own fantasies. Nuclear energy is hardly “green energy.” Not only does nuclear energy pose catastrophic outcomes like Chernobyl and Fukushima, it presents the horrendous problem of what to do with the unused uranium after it is spent in producing energy.

It takes over 10,000 years for spent uranium to lose its deleterious effects. If it is stored above or underground, it threatens drinking water for millennia to come. Which state wants to be the dumping ground for uranium waste? Florida?

What Donalds did not address in his letter is an alternative to uranium as a source of nuclear energy. Thorium is a much better alternative. Thorium is one across from uranium on the periodic table. Thorium shares many of uranium’s qualities but does not carry uranium’s adverse effects. Thorium, a byproduct of mining, is four times more common on Earth than uranium. Scientists built a prototype reactor in the 60's, ran it safely for five years, but it lost its funding and was shelved. Thorium is walk-away safe. The operators can walk away and it will put itself in a safe condition without anyone doing anything. It is not a hazard to people or environment or the equipment at the power plant, and it produces energy.

Why did the government walk away from thorium as a nuclear source of energy? Why does Donalds ignore it today even after I flew to Washington this past summer, visited his office and left a white paper on this subject with his staff when Donalds was unable to meet with me? Because if a country wants to keep a stockpile of nuclear warheads, they need lots and lots of nuclear power stations to supply them with plutonium, a byproduct of uranium nuclear reactors. You won’t find a single operational thorium reactor in the USA, Europe or Russia. Instead, they are filled with uranium reactors, pumping out thousands of tons of deadly waste and fatal byproducts so that our supply of nuclear weapons grows to the point of plant, animal and human annihilation.

Sally Lam, Naples

This article originally appeared on Fort Myers News-Press: Letters to the editor for Wednesday, February 22, 2023