Port St. Lucie council disses Juneteenth; free trees in Vero Beach; Florida schools solid

Port St. Lucie City Council makes bad excuses for dissing Juneteenth

After watching the Port St. Lucie City Council meeting, I noticed my city has never held a Juneteenth celebration. This worries me very much because Juneteenth is a national holiday celebrating the abolition of slavery and should be acknowledged because of the hardships it took to get to that point of freedom.

The part of the meeting I was most taken aback by was the council’s response: “The city should preferably have a celebration in collaboration with a third party.” It troubles me very much as a citizen to see that my own city is cautious about hosting a celebration of a particularly important holiday of our country's advance towards equality.

I am worried that a third party would charge for entry for the celebration, or even make it so that very few individuals could attend the celebration. We elected our council members so that they could take charge of solving the problems of our community. Seeing how the council has been denying responsibility for hosting an event is incredibly troublesome.

I hope you take this letter into consideration by helping nudge the city and the council to take more responsibility for the problems that many citizens have.

Matthew Waldrop, Port St. Lucie

Planting free trees can avert climate degradation

Want to save humankind? Reduce global warming?

Let’s plant trees to reduce our heat and produce more oxygen to breathe.

Trees in our yards and parks and roadways cool us and even reduce the cost of running our air conditioners. They reflect 70% to 90% of the sun’s heat back to the atmosphere. They not only cool us on land, but the fish and other plants and animals in our rivers and lagoon.

Cooling our rivers will also cool our oceans and the animals that live there, too. In addition to us, trees are the most important organisms influencing the future of our Earth. Trees are essential to the well-being of humans and wildlife.

Besides being beautiful, trees provide food, fruit, nuts, maple syrup, chewing gum, Crayons, paint, soap, dyes, medicines, paper, tools, shelter, jobs and better health. Trees make us feel good and they only wish to thrive. We are killing trees worldwide for development and agriculture, but are not replacing them where they could be planted.

Aren’t we in a Holocaust to kill nature, especially trees? Why not have a law to plant two trees for every one cut? Let’s make a law to not clear-cut trees on any lot or land.

Get one free Southern Live Oak, which are known to have more than 395 insect species that are essential for our birds. Mahogany and Bald Cypress trees are also free at the Audubon House Nursery, 195 Oslo Road, Vero Beach 9-11 a.m. Sundays, Wednesdays and Fridays. Our goal is to have others plant 100,000 native trees and plants. So far, we have distributed more than 25,000 native trees and plants.

Kudos to Jonathan Dickinson State Park, which recently planted 400 of our Bald Cypresses. Why not at the Vero Beach Three Corners?

Richard Baker, Sebastian

Magazine ranks Florida well in education

I just finished reading the US News and World Report educational rankings by state, and Florida's results were all right.

For the higher education (colleges/universities) sub-category, Florida ranked first based on the following individual metrics and their rankings: #1 tuition and fees, #2 two-year college graduation rate, #2 four-year college graduation rate, #25 educational attainment and #26 low debt at graduation.

For the pre-K-12 sub-category, Florida ranked #10 based on the following individual metrics and their rankings: #5 college readiness, #12 preschool enrollment, #19 high school graduation, #21 National Assessment of Educational Progress reading scores and #32 NAEP math scores.

Massachusetts was ranked #1 overall in pre-K-12 category.

US News and World Report also ranked states in a best overall category based on the following: Education, economy, crime and corrections, natural environment, fiscal stability, infrastructure and opportunity. Florida ranked #9 and Utah was ranked best overall.

Ron Bowman, Port St. Lucie

Stores need to hire police to stop thefts?

I see where police will be used at Walmart to prevent thefts. Really?

Not only do taxpayers help recipients of those low wages, now we add publicly funded police in positions that should be covered by Walmart employees. Bring back real checkouts and have more eyes on the floor who see something. Call in security (Walmart employees).

All department stores had in-house security people who dealt with shoplifters informally or handed cases off to the police.

Walmart reports record earnings, doling out huge amounts to shareholders, but keeps tapping the public purse. It's outrageous.

Beate Hunton, Port St. Lucie

Two presidential records, but you get one choice

Imagine if you were president what would you like to accomplish?

If you were president:

Would you keep open borders allowing unvetted illegal immigrants or even possible terrorists to enter into our country?

Would you want us to be energy independent or depend on our adversaries to supply us with dirty, expensive fuel?

Would you want to be respected and feared by our adversaries, keeping sanctions on them?

Would you abide by the Constitution that we the people not we the government have rights?

Would you deport violent illegal immigrants who break our laws and not allow them back into our country?

Would you rather fly in a plane with a well-trained qualified pilot or a DEI pick?

Would you promote sensitivity classes for military rather than teaching combat skills?

Ronald Reagan once said: “Some people get into politics to be somebody and some get into politics to do something.”

Our next president should be somebody for the good of its American taxpayer and citizens, period.

Still undecided?

Which presidential candidate has no wars or limited loss of American military lives while in the White House?

One candidate, a known pro-lifer, agrees to 15-week abortion, while the other candidate promotes “abortion on demand” of the unborn little one. Both candidates will make the mother’s life top priority.

Of two candidates with a history in the White House, which were you better off with? As far as food and gasoline prices? Who releases criminals by giving them a slap on the wrist and who would keep them locked up?

Vote for the candidate or party that will take care of your concerns and needs. Search your heart for the right choice.

Janet Wenz, Palm City

Biden, socialists have it out for the rest of us

Our president is responsible for protecting the safety and sovereignty of this nation from foreign adversaries.

Our Constitution has been broken twice.

This president has allowed open borders to 10 million unvetted immigrants from all over the world for more than three years, lying to us saying the border is not open. Joe Biden: Strike one.

Welfare and expense of these immigrants falls on the pocketbooks of we the people through taxes and inflation. We pay for their food, shelter, education, clothing, transportation and health care.

Immigrants replaced our veterans and homeless for Biden’s New Democrats.

Generations are taught to live within our means. If you chose college, you were expected to pay for it. No more government loans.

The Supreme Court on June 30 ruled Biden's college forgiveness loans unconstitutional. Biden: Strike two.

Our Constitution is 248 years old. The United States is a beacon of light around the world, envied and hated.

Socialism has reared its ugly head. It’s being taught in elementary schools through college. Socialism leads to Marxism and dictatorship, which incurs stagnant growth.

Socialists hate our Constitution. They want only two classes, the elite, who can control our country, and the poor. The vociferous middle class must be silenced.

Now enters the woke ideology, which undermines military readiness. It detracts from the purpose of our military, keeping America safe at a time when the FBI states serious threats to our nation have never been greater.

Japanese Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto wrote in his World War II diary:  “I fear all we have done is awaken a sleeping giant.”

George Washington wrote: “There is nothing so likely to produce peace as to be well-prepared to meet the enemy.”

Electric tanks? Really?

June Hewitt, Palm City

This article originally appeared on Treasure Coast Newspapers: Plant trees at Vero Beach Three Corners to make it cooler; PSL council