Monday's letters: Insults reveal School Board member's strength of character

Attacks on Democratic official fit agenda

When I read about the personal attack on Tom Edwards at the School Board meeting March 7, I was sickened. Then I read that it happened again at the board meeting March 21 (“Board member leaves meeting after attacks”).

School Board Chair Bridget Ziegler’s explanation for why she didn’t put a stop to the hateful public speakers is at best disingenuous but is more likely based on who we have seen her to be.

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It is no surprise that she allowed Edwards, a fellow board member, to be attacked. It is a well-publicized fact that the right wing of the Republican Party wants to see the end of public education and it is apparent that, in Sarasota County, attempting to run a decent and honorable elected School Board member off the board fits right in with that agenda.

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Edwards does not need me to defend him.  His record of public service and his commitment to supporting our children and our public schools is defense enough.

But all of us can make sure that the kind of behavior we’ve seen at recent School Board meetings stops by voting the enablers of hate out of office.

Josephine Bloom, Sarasota

School Board meetings hit rock bottom

Can public discourse possibly go any lower than what happened this month at the Sarasota County School Board meetings, where the board chair deliberately allowed personal attacks on her peer, Tom Edwards?

The board chair, Bridget Ziegler, said there’s a line between keeping board decorum and infringing on someone's right to petition their government.

More:School Board member walks out during anti-gay insults

Those attacks are akin to yelling fire in a crowded theater when no fire exists. The late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia famously said there are constitutional limits to ugly speech.

Ken Shelin, former Sarasota city commissioner and vice mayor

Edwards a role model of courage, integrity

I have resided in Sarasota for 30 years. The external beauty of the place was intoxicating but I didn’t realize, until recently, that its soul is unattractive, indeed.

It is therefore critically important to honor an example of personal courage and commitment as demonstrated by Sarasota County School Board Member Thomas Edwards.

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So many people of conscience and goodwill have now been silenced by fear and intimidation. It’s appalling how readily hatred has gained advocacy and the word “freedom” means enforced conformity to a vocal minority’s beliefs and lifestyle.

Edwards is a beacon for all of us who love this city and cherish the foundational principles of democracy but are losing resolve and hope. I want to thank him for his strength of character and willingness to be a role model of private and public integrity.

Christine Michaels, Sarasota

Move monuments off public property

As an African American, must I view these monuments and memorials to people who took up arms against America and wanted to secede and form the Confederate States of America?

Senate Bill 1096 would prohibit damaging or destroying such statues.

After losing the Civil War, the Confederate states were reunited with the country and America was whole again.

These monuments and memorials started to gain prominence in the late 19th century and early 20th century, the same time as Black people were gaining our freedoms, including voting rights and civil rights, as promised in the Constitution.

The monuments and memorials were primarily erected to cause fear and intimidation, and to create a false narrative of the “lost cause” of the Confederacy in the psyche and minds of African Americans.

Historical monuments and memorials have a generally accepted place on private – not public – property, as well as in museums and appropriate historical parks.

This is what I learned in American history in a public school. I feel we should teach the Civil War and American history on a complete and comprehensive factual basis.

Gene Crump, Venice

Require builders to save some trees

I am deeply disturbed about the severe clear-cutting of all trees and shrubs by builders in Sarasota County. Besides the loss of aesthetics and beauty in our landscape, we human beings need trees and plants to breathe.

Trees convert carbon dioxide into oxygen. Birds and animals need a place to live.

Do we, as citizens, care at all about this? I feel it should be a law that builders leave at minimum 25% of all landscaping as it is. This creates a more beautiful and healthier environment for all of us.

Instead of being swallowed up by negativity, let’s care about our health and well-being.

Christine Cooper, Venice

This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: Attack reveals role model of courage, developers must save trees