Readers comment on abortion, Children's Trust funding, inflation, nuclear war and more

Put pregnancy tests in schools

While I am concerned with the recent Supreme Court ruling overturning Roe v Wade, I am also concerned that the media has made it seem that the Supreme Court has banned the legal right to an abortion. What they said was that the U.S. Constitution does not have a say on the legality of abortion.

What this does is give the issue back to the individual states. Until now, our more right-wing state legislators have voted against abortion with the knowledge that federal law overruled them. Now they will have to put their money (voting record) where their mouths (voters) are.

The current Florida law passed restricting abortion allows for no abortion after 15 weeks — a time that many young women do not yet realize that they are pregnant. Also, The Sun reported that many less affluent female students miss a lot of school due to an inability to afford feminine hygiene products.

My suggestion is to place sanitary supplies and pregnancy kits in the bathrooms at middle schools and high schools and encourage students that are sexually active to test regularly. With early pregnancy detection they can start earlier prenatal care or make the difficult decision for abortion.

Evelyn Jones, Gainesville 

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Irresponsible funding

I was saddened and shocked at the irresponsible funding for Camp Cuscowilla by the Children’s Trust of Alachua County. This camp does not hold American Camping Association accreditation, which is the gold standard in camping. Now this program is closed.

I would like to think that the Children’s Trust of Alachua County only funds programs that are properly licensed, but I am not confident about this after this recent fiasco. The interim executive director seems to lack basic business acumen, and those are our property tax dollars being spent in waste. I tried bringing some of my concerns to the current board chair with a very defensive reply.

Do the property tax payers of Alachua County really need this draw on our tax dollars when the folks in charge aren’t doing their due diligence? This might need a voter review.  

Matthew Paul, Gainesville 

Inflation or rip-off?

The U.S. produces enough oil that it doesn’t have to import any. According to a 2022 survey, the average oil producer needed a minimum of $48 a barrel to make a profit when drilling a new well. For existing wells, the breakeven price was $23 per barrel. So, when Russia invaded Ukraine and the world price of oil went over $100 per barrel, our domestic producers saw enormous profits.

What did they do with all this profit? Kept it. After all the stockholders come first — after the managers get their stock awards and cash bonuses. Exxon made $5.5 billion in the first three months of the year — an increase of more than $6 billion from the same quarter in 2021. The company made an $8.9 billion profit in the last three months of 2021. Chevron reported a $6.3 billion profit, up from $1.37 billion in the same quarter in 2021.

Never mind the knock-on effect of higher fuel prices on transporting goods, producing fertilizer for farming and at the gas pump. They could and are claiming it’s all due to inflation and the ineffectiveness of the administration at controlling inflation. Nothing to do with them.

Bud Jones, Newberry 

Professional group

I'm an avid bird watcher and I visit all our local nature parks daily. The nature department in particular has the best, most professional group of men working the parks I've ever seen.

I stop and speak with them periodically and I've noticed they work five days a week. I've spoken with other parks employees who work four days a week. Wouldn't it be best to give all employees that same perk? Surely it would be a morale boost for those hard-working men and women. They deserve it!

Let's give those employees four-day work weeks.

Lisa Sanders, Gainesville 

Nuclear war is unacceptable

Vladimir Putin knows if he were not hiding under the deterrent nuclear umbrella shield, he would likely lost already with the combined power of the U.S., NATO and Volodymyr Zelenskyy against him.

Ex-Russian leader Mikhail Gorbachev said in 2017 that we should focus on preventing war, phasing out the nuclear arms race and reducing arms, but we need to adopt a resolution stating that nuclear war is unacceptable and must never be fought.

We can all agree to that, but unfortunately the military spending and buildups get bigger and bigger.

Tom Pennisi, Gainesville 

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This article originally appeared on The Gainesville Sun: Letters on abortion, Children's Trust, inflation, nuclear war and more