Letters to the editor for Wednesday, January 19, 2022

A glimmer of balance on opinion page

A refreshing, objective column by Cotterell on the filibuster. And further, The News-Press published several letters critical of its balanced (lack of) publication of readers' letters. There might be hope, after all. Last time I checked, the counties served by The News-Press are not Democrat-dominated. Accordingly, a reader would expect a consistent, balanced representation of published letters.

Robert Monastero, Fort Myers

Look forward to food writer's articles

Friday's piece by Annabelle Tometich was priceless. We always look forward to her articles, which display a warm sense of humor and a real grasp of serious issues. Our hearts go out to all of the restaurant owners who are trying to stay afloat during this protracted pandemic, and to their employees who continue to work hard to provide service in a time of nervousness and incivility.

Since my husband is a mathematician, he was -- with some effort! -- able to solve the equation: (KN95 + 2XBinax at home) = 2 reusable paper bar coasters + 4 Rolaids.

Annabelle, keep them coming. You are a jewel in The News-Press crown!

Christine Fisher, Fort Myers

Keep Big Brother out of classrooms

Floridians continue to endure baseless campaigns about issues that are not taught in Florida public schools, notably, Critical Race Theory and the 1619 Project. While politicians try to whip up their bases with these baseless stories, the school boards and teachers catch the full brunt of public agitation.

Parents of all political persuasions want effective and accurate educations. Gov. DeSantis's antics with his Anti-WOKE Act are problematic enough, but now Rep. Rommel (R-106-Naples) wants to throw more gasoline on this educational Dumpster fire with his proposed HB-1055, Video Cameras in Public School Classrooms, which “Authorizes school districts to adopt to place video cameras in public school classrooms for viewing video recordings; provides DOE, school district, school and certain employee responsibilities.” Were this bill to become law, teachers would have to wear microphones, and cameras would be installed in the front of the classrooms. An interruption in a recording would require a written explanation. Rommel’s justification is that this will protect students and teachers from incidents that may happen between students or between students and teachers.

Setting that smokescreen aside, it is obvious that this is an attempt to intimidate teachers from saying anything that the governor and his party might dislike, and to intimidate students against questioning issues that are glossed over or sanitized.

Big Brother does not need to be in Florida classrooms! “Liberty lives in light,” not under threat of intimidation or in the darkness of ignorance. “Whenever a child learns critical thinking, somewhere a conspiracy theory dies.”

Michael F. Finkel M.D., Naples

Unreasonable GOP manipulation

When Martin Luther King was advocating for civil rights legislation the situation was that senators were using a filibuster to prevent passage.

Fast forward to today and what do you find: The Republicans are threatening the Democrats if they change filibuster rules to pass voting rights legislation.

I hope you find this unreasonable, or is it just me that finds it unreasonable, and realize how manipulative the Republican Party is.

The Republican senator from the state of South Carolina who happens to be a minority who is discriminated against every day says there is no racism. He also says this is not equivalent to Jim Crow 2.0. But of course he’s got his pockets full. What a country.

Lewis Robinson, Fort Myers

Context needed on deficits

For the second time in less than a month, a left-wing contributor to the mailbag has written statements that can be easily put in context by examining the evidence. He states that, between 1981 and 2020, every Republican administration increased the deficit and every Democratic administration reduced it. The fact is that each and every administration during that time frame has spent more money than they took in. Clinton had two surplus years, totaling $194.88 billion; George W. Bush had two also, but his total was $364.48 billion. Every other year during the last 40 suffered a deficit, for reasons that the letter writer didn't see fit to divulge. (Can you say, "Democratic Congresses?") Who put in the only tax breaks during this period of time? George W. Bush and Donald J. Trump is the correct answer. Who instituted the largest tax increase ever, up to 1993? William J. Clinton. Who had the first trillion dollar deficit? Barack H. Obama. Who proposed the biggest tax increase in history? Joe Biden. Thank the Lord for the one and only Democrat in the Senate who had the courage to tell the president to his face that it was just too much -- Joe Manchin!

Dave Bridgeman, Alva

Help them survive in wild, not cages

What happened at the Naples Zoo to Eko, the Malayan tiger, should never have happened. The 1973 Endangered Species Act prohibited zoos from importing animals from the wild which was a good thing. But instead, zoos such as the Naples Zoo, specialize in breeding endangered species which they trade with other accredited zoos. Eko was part of that. Certainly no one wants an endangered animal to become extinct, but breeding animals that can never be released in the wild is wrong. They have none of the behaviors that are vital for survival in the wild. They have become attractions. Why not make sure they survive in the wild through sanctuaries or contributing dollars to acquiring land areas where they can roam, rather than be kept in an enclosure -- a glorified cage.

As a former volunteer at the Naples Zoo, I know that security measures are not adequate. The tragedy that was unfolding with the cleaning worker was not noticed because there are no video cameras near the tiger enclosure. Why not? As a volunteer, there were many times when I had to ask people not to knock on the glass, sit on the fences or holler at the animals. The Naples Zoo needs to step up in this area.

Diane Johnson-Traenkle, Naples

Drastic action needed on voting rights

Emboldened by the Big Lie of the disgraced former president, state legislators across the country have enacted draconian voter restriction laws. Some lawmakers have even proposed legislation that could allow legitimate elections to be overturned. In this regressive environment, the most important action we can take as a nation is to stamp out those egregious laws with the passage of the John R. Lewis Voting Rights Act of 2021 and the Freedom to Vote Act.

As these vital bills remain bottled up, state lawmakers are more emboldened to invent new ways to deny people the vote as effectively as ever! These newly enacted voter restriction laws are reminiscent of 1957 and transparent efforts to disenfranchise voters of color. In a growing number of statehouses and courtrooms around the country, voting rights are under attack.

President Biden has called for an end to the filibuster which is being used by opponents to prevent the Senate from even debating the bill. In a political environment poisoned by the Big Lie and just a year after armed rioters invaded the Capitol in an attempt to overturn the election, drastic action is needed.

Doris Brown, Fort Myers

This article originally appeared on Fort Myers News-Press: Letters to the editor for Wednesday, January 19, 2022