Letters to the editor for Wednesday, November 15, 2023

∙ Editor's note: Got a message you'd like to share in our Thanksgiving edition Nov. 22? The deadline is early so send it by Nov. 17.

Uninformed, knee-jerk decision

As a retired English teacher and frequent user of the county library system, I am dumbfounded by the Lee County commissioners’ vote to cease the county’s annual membership with the American Library Association (ALA).

Commissioners have made vague statements about “concerns” from parents, using terms such as “agenda” and “ideology” regarding the ALA, but nowhere do commissioners publicly articulate a particular issue.

For those unfamiliar with it, the ALA is a nonprofit organization founded in October 1876 by several men including Melvil Dewey, who established the Dewey Decimal system of library classification. It’s the oldest and largest library association in the world.

Its stated mission, according to its website: “to provide leadership for the development, promotion and improvement of library and information services and the profession of librarianship in order to enhance learning and ensure access to information for all.”

Membership in the ALA includes subscriptions to professional journals, access to awards, grants and scholarships, and access to early literacy programs.

Doesn’t sound too scary after all, does it?

Not sure what our local parents and commissioners find so controversial about the ALA, since they can’t seem to explain it themselves, beyond offering nebulous statements.

I’ll bet our commissioners didn’t think to ask the county’s professional library director her thoughts on membership in this important organization, how it impacts our local libraries, and what it would mean to cease membership.

Sadly, our commissioners appeared to simply react in knee-jerk fashion to uninformed citizens lodging misguided complaints about a widely respected professional organization dedicated to literacy and the sharing of knowledge. What they all need  – ironically – is a trip to their local library to inform themselves.

Katy Odell, Cape Coral

Neo-Nazis are celebrating

Sieg Heil Charlotte County. 400 banned books!  America's neo-Nazis are celebrating. You know who's not celebrating? The 400,000 Americans who died in World War II to stop Imperial Japan and Nazi Germany from conquering America and instituting one of their principal fascist practices, banning books. 

Robert Hilliard, Sanibel

State-of-the-art care

I am surprised the city is giving NCH a hard time about their Heart and Stroke Center. We have a wonderful hospital-based medical system built by the community when rallied by Mrs. Briggs. In 1983, I came to Naples to practice Critical Care Medicine. There was a time when Collier County had the lowest mortality from heart attack in the State of Florida. I know this because we were involved in an international study and, as the local investigator, I was presented all the data. In this day of progressively forced mediocrity in medical care by the government/insurance company complex, it is more important than ever to have a truly local hospital. A truly local hospital that, because of its location in Naples, with such generous civic minded citizens, can and does provide everyone with state-of-the-art care. This is rare. I view this as an issue of being a necessity, not a business opportunity.

Everett Alsbrook, Naples

Unwise site development plan

The badly planned, short-sighted, and unwise site development proposal for the Naples Community Hospital state-of-the-art Heart Center must be rejected and modified.

The well-meaning, passionate proposal provides all the benefits for the hospital while failing to provide quality of life benefits to the well-established neighborhood to the west.

The proposed development plan fails by not locating the Heart Center on the southwest corner of the hospital parcel, directly across 8th Street North, where it could connect to the existing institutional parking structure with a pedestrian access bridge above the road.

What then becomes of our dearly loved memorial garden on that corner?

Locating the Heart Center on the southeast corner and relocating the memorial garden to the southwest corner of the hospital parcel promises to be the long-sighted and wise plan that will benefit the well-established neighborhood to the west, enhance the city's quality of life, and make the hospital expansion a win for the Naples community.

David Driapsa FASLA, Naples

Silt fences protect canals

My business takes me all over Cape Coral. Many of my accounts are right next door to new construction sites of single-family homes on canals.All new homes should be surrounded by silt fences, especially along seawalls and storm drains. I noticed a new construction that did have silt fence up but it was removed, and it rained the night before. I called the construction company and asked them to put the silt fence back up unless their sod was coming the next day. When I returned the next week the silt fence was still down and it had rained again. Raw silt was flowing over the seawall and into the storm drain. I then called Cape Coral Code Compliance. I gave them my name and address and the address of the construction site. Each week when I returned, no silt fence no sod. This went on for one month following the same procedure, calling Cape Coral Code Compliance every time. By the time the sod was installed the canal had turned milky brown color. I did not receive any call from the construction company or Code Compliance. My phone number was also given every call.

John Simon, Cape Coral

Accidents happen daily

Florida has a very high mortality rate for automobile crashes and it is in the top five for motorcycle deaths by most surveys. SW Florida has many reasons for these statistics. We all know the obvious causes which are distracted driving, speeding and “trying to make the light.” SW Florida has many unique reasons for such a high number of crashes. Nationally, left-hand turns are a cause of at least 25% of automobile crashes. Some of the delivery companies tell their drivers not to make left turns. Frequent left hand turns are in the basic design of Highway 41. They force a driver to frequently turn into oncoming traffic traveling at least 60 mph when there is a gap in traffic. The turn causes the car to basically slow down to a stop and accelerate very quickly. For the average car, it takes 8 seconds to go from 0 to 60 mph. If a motorcycle is traveling at 80 mph, it takes 11 seconds to travel 1/4 of a mile to reach a car turning in front of the motorcycle.

In addition to the many left hand turns, SW Florida has other risks. Speeding and changing lanes is very common compared to other cities. Enforcement appears to be lax on many roads and highways in Florida. The higher age of drivers in our area relates to physical limitations. For example, cataracts limit not only acuity but also perception: how fast is the oncoming car or motorcycle actually traveling? Many older drivers have difficulty turning their necks or having a quick response when hitting the brakes. Also, they are less apt to quickly accelerate after a turn onto the highway. All these habits, limitations, and highway design problems combine to add to our own risks driving. Try to be vigilant and be safe. Accidents happen daily in SW Florida.

Tim Diegel, MD, Naples

Hotter than Baghdad

Besides being touted as the "best place to live in America" (I would agree), Naples this week also has the distinction of being one of the hottest places on the planet: hotter than Baghdad, hotter that Cairo, hotter than any other American city except Miami. Our TV meteorologists never explain why this may be happening right now, in November!R. N. Williams, Lely Resort, Naples

Stop the carnage

We hear daily about the carnage on our streets due to gun violence. Where is the outrage for the carnage on our streets due to law-breaking drivers who run red lights and speed 20-30 miles over the speed limit killing innocent victims? I have complained to the Lee County sheriff traffic division about speeding drivers on my street and also about the illegal muffler modifications that affect our quality of life. That was over a year ago and I’ve yet to see a police presence. When is the last time that you saw a speed check in your neighborhood? We’re only ten days into November and Estero has seen two fatal accidents resulting in six deaths. Speed was the factor in one accident and running a red light caused the other fatality. I live a mile from US 41 and when I sit on my porch, I hear what sounds like the Daytona speedway on US 41. The amount of revenue that could be generated by hiring additional traffic patrols would pay for the employees ten times over. Collier County began enforcing the state limits on noise from modified exhausts this past summer. Lee County doesn’t seem to care about our quality of life regarding the noise from these vehicles. More presence from the state highway patrol is needed as well.

David Simmons, Estero

Trump king of the 'vermin'

I find Donald Trump to be repugnant and reprehensible, and I greatly resent that he, in a Republican rally this weekend, associated himself with our veterans in a pledge to rid America of those whom he considers to be "vermin." There is no way in hell that the veterans in my family would ever associate themselves with this deeply disturbed, despicable and dangerous individual, and I must now tell you about them. It's a common story from the "greatest generation."My dad and seven uncles enlisted in WWII and were combat vets in Europe, serving in the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marines. Uncle Leon's plane was shot down over France. Uncle Warren made it through Omaha Beach and got back home but was forever changed in a not-so-good way. My dad and the other five also made it home without injury or the tragic emotional scars that so many experienced, except that they would never talk about "over there."

They were grateful to have survived, used the GI bill to get training and education and grew their families. They were close, smoked a lot, drank a little more than their share of beer, and partied often. They were heroes to my 21 cousins and myself but we could never find a way to get them to talk about their wartime. We had to learn some of it by watching the weekly news updates at the movies, or by watching Hollywood productions that started coming out in the early 1950's. They all voted and lived into their 80s and 90s.Bonespurs Trump and his cronies like Senator Rick Scott, Senator Lindsey Graham, Senator Ted Cruz, and House representatives Matt Gaetz, Jim Jordan, Marjorie Greene and Elise Stefanik are leaders among the very best of America's vermin. My family fought for their right to contribute to the abuse of our democracy; isn't there something wrong with this picture?

Tony Penge, North Fort Myers

Doing the right thing

I recently read a story that has stuck with me and serves as an important reminder to us all. There was a teacher who told his students he had to leave the classroom. In that time he instructed the students to remain seated or face expulsion. Before leaving, he removed a fish from the classroom fish tank, put it on his desk and walked out. The students observed its suffering as it flopped around gasping. It would soon die out of water. Finally a girl raced from her seat to put the fish back in its tank. Soon after, the teacher returned. He stated that was the lesson for the day. He explained the importance of worrying less about getting in trouble and more about doing the right thing. He cautioned that group think often prevents us from taking the necessary stand and we should strive to ACT when we KNOW we should.

Heather Hart, Naples

Defend America's borders first

The Biden administration is supporting the borders of Ukraine and Israel.  Israel is a democratic, U.S. partner in the Middle East.  Ukraine is still trying to rid itself of Soviet era corruption and is not a NATO partner.  Israel's neighbors are wealthy but for obvious reasons will not support Israel.  The Ukraine has many wealthy EU neighbors that should provide more support and assistance.  The U.S. has already spent $113 billion in aid to Ukraine. Israel has been a reliable ally and deserves our support.

What about our borders?  Who is defending them? In the last fiscal year, according to The Heritage Foundation, the U.S. encountered 154 aliens from the terror watchlist.  Prior to Biden that number was three per year.  There are also 1.6 million known “gotaways” that have evaded the Border Patrol during the Biden administration.  How many of these aliens are terrorists? The DHS has no idea. The ongoing demonstrations by Hamas supporters demonstrate that there is a good chance the U.S. will be attacked at some point.  We may get lucky and avoid an attack but why does Biden allow that chance to occur?

Is it just incompetence or will this administration hang onto the crazy idea that the borders are under control? Like him or not, Trump showed that the borders can be controlled.

When will this administration put America’s safety and interests first?

Nick Blauwiekel, Naples

Book bans, online smut

Banning books from the shelves of public school libraries because they contain references to a range of human sexual thoughts and actions is slamming the barn door after the cows have escaped. These young people can and do have access to nearly unlimited sexual material online, and I’m guessing they’d rather watch than read about it anyway.

If we wanted to be perfectly candid about the reasons for these bans, real concern for these kids’ intellectual, psychological and moral development would be way down on the list if they made it on the list at all. If the overall welfare of our young people was the actual motivation, we’d be living in a very different, healthier society, and the titles in public school libraries would be the least of our concerns.

So as Aristotle might have said if he spoke Yiddish: “tuchas offen tisch.” It’s all about the parents, their hangups, prejudices and myopic vision of what it’s like growing in today’s America. Instead of aggressively pursuing the highest pedagogical standards in order to equip our kids with many of the basic tools they will need to live satisfying lives and follow their dreams, our school boards, administrators and teachers are made to play defense.

We all know that all it takes is a handful of cranky malcontents to mess up any organization and spread their chronic misery to others.

When I studied fencing, we were taught that the best fencer does not fear the second best fencer as much as the worst fencer. Wild persons rushing down the piste flailing their foil or epee pose a greater danger to the trained and disciplined dueler because they’re impossible to deal with and they could get lucky. You just get out of the way.

So it’s not merely the extremists who find their way on to school boards that are the problem. It’s the moderate, even-tempered board members, school principles and librarians who feel the need to get out of the way of the onslaught of that handful of bent-out-of-shape parents and voters who refuse to color within the lines. Those cranks need serious therapy, not compliance.

So while the 11-year-olds wade through a sewer pipe of smut on their smart phones, the adults are pulling Steve Martin books off the school shelves.  Go figure!

Bruce Diamond, Fort Myers

Compromise, moderation

It seems like the Republicans are seeing how far they can move to the right and the Democrats are seeing who can be the most left wing. Republicans seem to want abortion for no one and guns for everyone. Democrats want abortion at any time and guns for no one. Common sense would show that there is a logical middle ground.

No woman should be forced to have a child she does not want, but to abort a child who could live out of the womb is murder. Certainly abortion within a certain time limit should be acceptable.

I know a number of people who own guns. I would consider none of them to be a danger to the general public. But, there are obviously people who should never be in possession of a firearm, in spite of the Second Amendment. Rational thought can enact laws to keep guns away from the people who should never have them. Yet, the dogma of the political parties and their rush to the left or right will not allow compromise or moderation.

Anthony Riviezzo, Marco Island

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