Monday's letters: Costly regrets of childhood, tackling red tide toxin

Old baseball cards and spilled milk

I’m Michael Sanders, Ph.D. In 1952, I was 8 years old, and I owned six brand-new 1952 Topps Mickey Mantle rookie baseball cards, now considered by Heritage Auctions “the finest known example in the world.”

A Mickey Mantle card from the collection of Alan Rosen sold in August 2022 from the collection of Alan Rosen for $12.6 million.

Now, back to 1952. You see, in 1952, we did not collect baseball cards! We used the cards (now this is going to hurt) to put in the spokes of our bicycles to make a sound like a motor.

More: How to send a letter to the editor

Before we go any further in this story, I need to tell you that I received a baseball scholarship to Temple University. Wow!

Now back to the story. I ruined the cards by putting them in the spokes and my mom threw them away!

And you thought you were having a bad day! Live each day. Enjoy each day.

Dr. Michael Sanders, Sarasota

We need help attacking red tide toxin

Aerosolized red tide toxin not only causes respiratory symptoms in humans but has been found in the liver of people dying from unrelated causes.

More:Red tide: High risk of respiratory irritation forecast for some Sarasota County beaches

The toxin level has increased this winter despite cooler water and will worsen as water temperatures warm seasonally. It is time for Florida’s west coast communities to ask for help from federal and state agencies to study the algae and determine if something can be done proactively to reduce its concentration.

Although applying chemicals to large areas of the gulf is problematic, the toxin itself destroys aquatic life in its vicinity. The danger posed to people by the aerosolized brevetoxin has not been thoroughly studied. It may very well be significant, probably at least as significant as the chemicals released in the East Palestine, Ohio, train wreck, although it is naturally occurring, not man-made.

We can no longer assume that the red tide toxin will simply go away on its own and tolerate the damage to our people and commerce that it produces. Our turtles will soon have to swim through this. Let us get some help now.

Philip H. Zweifach, M.D., Longboat Key

Welcome demise of left at New College

I am an attorney and former college history professor who has followed the Herald-Tribune’s coverage of Gov. Ron DeSantis’ changes at Sarasota’s New College, and the related letters to the editor.

Florida’s governor appoints public college trustees, voters elect the governor and, as another politician once said, “Elections have consequences.”

Opinion:A stronger, more diverse school

New College and other public colleges are not the property of the left-wing academics and administrators who are opposed to these board appointments and the challenge they present to the radical orthodoxy the left seeks to impose on students.

The “fundamentalism” of Hillsdale College, said to be the inspiration for the changes, is simply the Great Books, classical liberal arts curriculum with varied perspectives that once was commonplace throughout academia, including at Princeton, my undergraduate college, in the 1960s.

It is sad, but illuminating, that so many academics and partisan letter writers are quick to attack the cure, but never criticize the sickness.

More:Interim president outlines vision

In light of all this, the Feb. 27 article on New College’s interim president, Richard Corcoran, was refreshing in presenting a reasoned educational reformer with a reasonable plan: let many schools of thought contend.

Let’s give him a chance with his mission.

Douglas P. Seaton, Longboat Key

Free education in authoritarianism

New College students thought they’d found a place where they could flourish academically and explore their identities fully without the adolescent societal pressures of high school.

Now they can’t sleep, not because of the normal pressures of coursework, but because they’re being crushed by the weight of government authoritarianism.

More: 7 things to know about New College

Parents are traveling to the school, and some parents are living in hotels near the campus, so they can support their child while trying to stop the wreckage of a school they thought would be the place their student would find acceptance and success.

The destruction of New College is taking place both with blitzkrieg speed and by a death of a thousand cuts. Almost overnight, handpicked political sycophants of Gov. Ron DeSantis are appointed to the board of trustees, the president is kicked out and a high-dollar replacement inserted.

More: New College board fires president, installs DeSantis ally

Meanwhile, public meetings are held to maintain a pretense of transparency and to discuss the prearranged dismantling of aspects of the college.

The students of New College of Florida are getting an education – in the power of authoritarianism and the influence of dark money, cronyism and the use of religion as a disguise for the lust for power and money.

Christine Hervig, Sarasota

This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: Don't cry over old baseball cards; give interim president a chance