Letters to the editor for Wednesday, May 3, 2023

Not informed about refund

I just had a visit from a representative of the Lee County Property Appraiser asking me questions, about the hurricane. How much water I had, what had we lost to the flood water, was the house habitable, etc. I explained to the representative that I was not able to live in my house for three months until my son and other family members had cleaned up the mess and carted out the damaged goods, which was about 85% of what we owned. I told him I had initially tried to get a renovation company to come in and clean up but they would not come, since we had no power. That is when my son and other family members pitched in, drove down and did the initial cleaning, disinfecting, mold blocking, and moved all infected furniture and possessions out to the street for collection. As we were talking, the representative mentioned that I could have gotten an exemption on my property taxes for 2022 and received a partial refund. EXCEPT that exception expired last month and was no longer available. The information was available on the news, but I didn't hear it, and on the radio, which I do not listen to. Why didn't the Property Appraiser send out a letter indicating this exemption was available? After paying property taxes for over 20 years, a few dollars given back from last years property taxes would have helped in our recovery process, both emotionally and physically.

Helen Dorothy, Cape Coral

Marco pollutes turtle nesting site

Oxygen levels in Marco Island’s waterways have declined 33% in three years. Phosphorus in “reuse” water from the sewage plant is the direct cause of low oxygen here.

Reuse water is partially treated human sewage used for irrigation at Marco Island golf courses, condos, and hotels along the beach. This source of cheap fertilizer saves golf courses money. This pollutes Marco Island. Have you noticed the algae, loss of sea life, no seagrass, and stinky water in the canals? Do golfers care?

The estuary oxygen levels were monitored over the year 2022. The Marco Island average oxygen level was unhealthy at 4.4 mg/L. Healthy levels of oxygen are greater than 5 mg/L.

Oxygen levels North of Marco in Rookery Bay were a healthy average of 6.25 mg/L or 42% higher than Marco. Oxygen levels South of Marco in the Ten Thousand Islands were 4.5 mg/L or about the same as Marco Island.

The ocean current immediately off Marco Island is southerly and is dragging Marco pollution into the Kice Island sea turtle nesting grounds.

Rookery Bay Research Reserve Sea Turtle Program has been monitoring sea turtles on the uninhabited islands of Kice and Cape Romano since 2003. According to sea turtle monitor, Sarah Norris, the Reserve has counted and monitored approximately 1,654 nests!

Florida residents must add an amendment to the Florida constitution for a Right to Clean Water (RTCW). Please sign the petition: floridarighttocleanwater.org

Eugene Wordehoff, Marco Island, Collier County captain, Right to Clean Water

Short-term rentals on Marco

I wanted to reach out about this new change that is coming regarding short-term rentals on Marco Island.

My wife and I just bought a home on the island for retirement and closed on it in Jan. 2022. We visited many places in Southwest Florida before deciding that Marco was the place we loved most. To help offset the mortgage, we decided to rent it to other families so they could enjoy the benefits of the island that we love so much. Before we purchased in Marco, the rental factor was a major determining element of where we would buy a home. Naples was another location we looked at. One of the many reasons we chose Marco over Naples was the rules and ordinances that were enforced when it comes to renting. Naples requires renters to stay for a 30 day minimum. For many families, that’s not possible. By allowing families like ours (with kids) to come and visit on a weekly basis, it’s also allowing reinvestment back into the city.

I understand there may be some negative instances with renters but that shouldn’t overshadow the many, many positive experiences. By eliminating the ability for families to visit the island for short term vacations, there’s great potential it will hurt the economy there, not just us as homeowners but restaurants, grocery stores, tourist attractions, etc. Taking a young family on vacation is expensive as it is with flying, lodging, food, etc. so renting for a month is not an option for most. By eliminating short term renting, you will eliminate the business coming to the island from this demographic.

Without our rental income, we will have to sell our dream home. In addition, we are using a rental agency to watch the home, take care of it, make sure it stays up and running. Without rental properties like ours, this small business may not be able to sustain their livelihood and be forced to close their doors. We hope the few people who have negative views on short term rentals won’t ruin it for the rest of us. We are looking forward to enjoying our retirement when we get there. We love Marco and can’t wait for it to be our home one day.

Matt Hunter, Greenville, WI

Save water, native plants, wildlife

I am very concerned about water shortages here. According to the Washington Post,"Turf now covers some 50 million acres in the United States. These lawns suck up water and they don't sequester as much carbon as forests." We residents need to focus on Florida Friendly Landscaping and cut way back on planting and maintaining lawns. Lee County Extension Service has FFL classes at various times and locations. I sincerely hope we can become more interested in saving water, native plants and wildlife.

Jean Richtfort, Fort Myers

Column about Fox appreciated

Many thanks for printing the column Your Turn of 4/23, by Ret. Marine Colonel Thomas Minor. I would recommend that anyone who missed it, go find the article and enjoy reading what most of us have been thinking since the deposition of Rupert Murdoch and Fox.

The colonel couldn’t have said it any better than “Fox, chooses as always, to treat their audience like mushrooms, keep you in the dark and shovel manure your way” and Mr. Murdoch couldn’t have made it any plainer when he said, ”it is not red or blue, it's green," meaning money.

That’s why Fox News is an oxymoron and the words "Fox" and "news" should never appear in the same sentence.

Roger W. Quagliano, Estero

Democracy need not fear hate speech

As a retired college professor, I was saddened to read recently where university students "threatened," "harassed," and "intimidated" controversial speakers when delivering their opposing views. Blocking traffic and surrounding vehicles have also been cited as tactics by angry students seeking to disrupt the expression of conservative messages. My concern is two-fold: (1) such obstruction of free speech provides grist for the far right pandering their angst of "liberally educated" students and (2) denial of hate speech poses a slippery slope that conceivably ends in widespread censorship.

Hate speech is opinion and, as distasteful and amoral as it sounds, it must be protected. However, its content and rationale need not be accepted nor summarily dismissed. Freedom of speech ends when words encourage others to break the law -- all other vocal expressions are enshrined in the First Amendment.

So, how should students respond to speakers exhorting ideas contrary to justice, diversity, equality and inclusiveness? Rather than rewarding these misguided folk with sought-after attention, ignore their theatrical hyperbole by sponsoring and attending another lecture/seminar on campus at a site far removed from the hate mongers. The college experience is designed to engage students in discussion, analysis, debate and argument about ideas, including offensive rhetoric that is contrary to values esteemed by university stakeholders. Such discussion among students and for students should take place in the classroom under the watchful guidance of the professor who eschews proselytizing and models critical thinking.

A true democracy need not fear hate speech when offensive ideas advanced are subject to clear, rational, evidence-based, open-minded examination. Education is the mechanism that ensures that process and, ultimately, uplifts the human condition by nurturing those cherished ideals embedded in the Preamble of the Constitution: justice, domestic tranquility, promotion of the general welfare and the blessings of liberty.

James L. DeBoy, Fort Myers

Frustrated by Lee agency

Contacting Lee County government is a lost cause. Three days with seven phone calls and holds of 6 to 12 minutes for the Tax Collector's office. Got lucky and answered today after third call and on hold for 17 minutes only to be told property tax records go back just ten years so I’m out of luck for important property info I'm seeking, sorry but nothing we can do.I asked why it takes so long for telephone answering with the response; "Sir, we had a hurricane and over 1,300 people a day are moving to Florida." What?Right, and don't forget the pandemic and it’s raining out and the pythons are in the Everglades! If this happened to me every time I called, it’s got to be affecting hundreds of callers to an inept Tax Collection agency and unfortunately, since the position is elected, it’s up to voters to call for change. I'm selling my three properties in Lee County because I won't be one of those moving there.

George Brock, Largo

No abortion, breast cancer link

In her op-ed article about the heartbeat act Dr. Trandem states that there is a 40% increased risk of breast cancer after even one abortion. This is a made-up number. According to the American Cancer Society,"Breast cancer risk is increased for a short time after a full-term pregnancy (that is, a pregnancy that results in the birth of a living child).Induced abortion is not linked to an increase in breast cancer risk.Spontaneous abortion is not linked to an increase in breast cancer risk.

Kenneth Wetcher, M.D., Naples

Overbearing rules on Marco

Welcome to the People's Republic of Marco Island where the city is taking away fundamental rights of freedom of speech and assembly. The city government crackdown on daily life continues and includes police investigations of all festive occasions including birthdays for gramma and babies.

The government is in your home checking your invitation list for Christmas Eve and telling you how many people can be there until the curfew. You can't have a conversation or family dinner on your lanai for fear of a police investigation. Your kids can't swim in the pool, or play on the dock either because any noise in your outdoor area including your lanai, pool, dock could be an infraction. So just tiptoe inside and don't say a word.

If your trash can is out too late, your neighbors might rat you out and become government informants then boast about it on social media. You will certainly get a "scarlet letter" taped to your wall for all to see. The blue tape they use on your stucco takes forever to scrape off so everyone who drives by knows you've done something wrong for weeks. Make sure not to run your sprinklers on the wrong day or park an inch over the sidewalk because the police will swoop in immediately.

This is more like the hell of North Korea. Certainly not paradise for anyone, and absolutely not the United States of America, where we are the land of the free. Yet this is all happening on Marco Island right now.

J.R. Stark, Marco Island

Library becomes daycare

Why is our downtown library being forced into daycare for the children getting out of the school next door.I always thought a library was a place of quiet, for reading, not having children run loose till someone picks them up.This makes the library workers traffic directors and cops for children just running loose.Why can't they be given a place in that same school, till their ride comes.Someone has assigned a guard to help, hate to say it but it’s not working.It’s not fair to library volunteers, workers or patrons.

Leonard Wassmer, Naples

It's policy, not popularity

Let us start with the hypotheses that the majority of people who subscribe to and read the Naples Daily News are well educated and above average intelligence.

How can I stress to readers that the general election is not a popularity contest. I quite like Biden as a person but his communist-like policies have ruined this country. I am not that fond of Trump as a person but his policies when president were absolutely fantastic. We had a booming economy, peace everywhere, fantastic peace deals in the Middle East, low prices everywhere, almost no inflation etc. etc. Total reverse under Biden.

So please voters do not treat the next election as who you like better. Vote on the ideology.

Michael R. Adler, Miromar Lakes

Drag queens demean women

I ask myself if there are other women who read your newspaper that also find the coverage you give to drag queens puzzling? We are supposed to see these as “performers” and what they do as “artistic expression.” There was a time in our country when white entertainers wore black face as an “artistic expression,” but no one today would consider that as anything other than offensive to African Americans. It is simply not done! Yet this last weekend you as a newspaper gave three pages starting on page one of your Sunday edition to a feature article spotlighting drag queens! I, a real, biological woman, am deeply offended by the purposely outlandish and exaggerated portrayal of womanhood these drag queens put out there for the world to see. What they do in their private clubs is their business, but as a newspaper don’t promote this offensive behavior. Can’t you see how demeaning this is to us women?

Mary Ann Louis, Bonita Springs

Airport move voted down

I'm sure some of the people complaining about the noise from the airport are the ones that fly in on their corporate jets every weekend. When I play golf at Naples Grand it's unbelievable how many jets land and take off. It seems like they are only five minutes apart. When there was a plan in the Eighties to move the airport to the Estates and make a bridge connecting Radio Road to Central Avenue it was voted down because of the one penny that it would add to the sales tax for ten years. I bet they would like it now.

Joe Arciere, Naples

Confined to a neighborhood

I just finished reading a fascinating article discussing 15-minute cities. The interviewee is Christine Anderson of the European Parliament. The article discusses the 15-minute city and the name is straight forward. From one central point in your "neighborhood" you will have access to all your needs; grocery store, department store, hardware store, etc. but only one of each. And your neighborhood, without leg shackles, will be geofenced and control where you go, when you go, and how you get their. And with everything within 15 minutes, walking by the way, there will be limited "passes" for you to travel outside your neighborhood. No joke!

No need for individual cars, public transportation only, high density apartments, public schools, only one church (religion not discussed), parks are designated and appointments are required. Police are more like computer technicians where they can disable your phones, bank accounts, autos, buses, anything electronic. Work will be remote keeping you within the neighborhood. No joke!

This EU experiment was inspired and tested via the COVID-19 strategies used in Europe. They had QR codes and VAX passports. They controlled movement via these documents. Poor people were trapped and rich people bought access and much like Marie Antoinette -- "let them eat cake." And this is all wrapped in the climate crisis blanket. NO JOKE!

Jack Holt, Cape Coral

This article originally appeared on Fort Myers News-Press: Letters to the editor for Wednesday, May 3, 2023