Reader views: Panic at Buchholz game showed 'what has become normal for our schoolchildren'

Shocking event

I attended last week’s Buchholz vs. Columbia football game. It was the first high school game for me since the 1990s and the first ever for my son. I found that the experience had not really changed and enjoyed the game and the student’s spirit, until the four-minute mark in the fourth quarter. This was the point of the game when there was panic because people mistakenly believed an active shooter was at the game.

The students knew exactly what to do and the school officials and officers handled themselves very well. For me, it was a shocking event. I was witness to what had become normal for our schoolchildren. They were well drilled in how to react to a shooter. What an utterly shocking and sad event to see firsthand.

I suspect that most readers are like me and have never had to experience this type of event. What has our culture come to that our children have to be taught to react to gun violence and fear for their life at school or school events? We are better than this.

Robert Harris, Gainesville 

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Federal funding

The Sun recently published a news story describing how Gov. Ron DeSantis announced that Micanopy received nearly $3 million to address broadband deficiencies as part of a program addressing community development needs. Micanopy is one of 10 communities in Florida getting part of $22 million distributed through the Community Development Block Grant program.

What The Sun article, and Gov. DeSantis, failed to mention is that this is a federal program — not something that DeSantis championed through the Florida Legislature. It seems that Gov. DeSantis wants to take credit for a program funded by the federal government which he is so quick to criticize, yet another example of the hypocrisy of this governor.

Dennis Comfort, Newberry 

Expert in the field

Interesting to read that Gov. DeSantis recently referred to Dr. Anthony Fauci as the "elf." Dr. Fauci is an expert in his field, a respected scientist who — as did many others — made wrong assertions concerning COVID. Few could have predicted what has happened in the United States, and all over the world, with the mismanagement of the disease, its causes, its treatments, the illnesses and the deaths. As they say, hindsight is 20-20.

I wonder what the doctor would call our esteemed governor. Let's see how that develops as DeSantis deals with criticisms of his edicts and decisions. We will wait and see what happens.

Barbara Collett, Gainesville 

Disdain for rules

For the first time in our 246-year history we had a president that ignored the law and carried official documents out of the White House to his home. Donald Trump’s disdain for rules and officials challenged the nation’s records and secrets.

Methods short of a search warrant had already been taken before taking the step of going to a judge with probable cause to execute the search warrant. Sending FBI agents to Mar-a-Lago to retrieve material deemed sensitive in nature related to national security was the last effort to retrieve documents that should never have been taken out of the White House. Trump had the hubris to complain about the FBI entering his property and retrieving the documents that belong to the American people and are kept by the government archivist.

The Presidential Records Act, passed in 1978 and updated in 2014 by then-President Trump’s administration, mandates the preservation of all official records of the presidents and vice presidents be received and maintained by the national archivist.

So now it appears we can no longer trust in the integrity of our elected leaders, so I suggest another amendment to the archivist act that requires at least two federal non-partisan guards be appointed to enforce review and record all material leaving the White House. How sad that it has come to this.

Lisa Holley, Gainesville 

Common sense

A recent letter to The Sun advocated starting a common-sense political party. Common sense is hard to find in individuals. Why would anyone think it could be found in a political party?

Still, it could not hurt to have a Common-Sense Party. But joining should be done with a healthy degree of skepticism. The terms "political" and "common sense" are mutually exclusive.

Steven Mossburg, Gainesville 

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This article originally appeared on The Gainesville Sun: Letters on panic at Buchholz football game, Gov. DeSantis and more