Septic-to-sewer; Vero Beach parking; wokeness; DeSantis' future plans | Letters, March 15

Septic-to-sewer conversions will make water cleaner

We all want clean water in our canals, inlets, rivers and estuary.  It is so important for the health of our fish, oysters, sea grass and manatees.

Looking at the flow of water into the St. Lucie River, there are many pollutants, some of which can be mitigated. Many of the houses along the banks of our canals and waterways are using septic systems that work by separating the solids which decompose and the liquids which flow into leaching fields.

Often, a house will not have enough land to really leach the outflow into the soil. There is also the problem of medicines, antibiotics, vitamins and hormones, which go into the liquid effluence.  A hard rain can wash the flow of the leaching fields before decomposition into the river.

The county is making it mandatory to convert septic systems to the county sewer system. The cost to the house owner comes to around $7,000, but can be spread over 10 years by adding to the property tax.  If the property is sold, the new owner would take on the expense of switching to the sewer system.

Using the sewer system would help remove many of these pollutants from the St. Lucie. The pollution runoff of herbicides, fertilizers and pesticides from the golf course and homes lawns would still have to be addressed.

Overall, though, converting to the sewer system would help to clean pollution in the St. Lucie and the estuary. The county should work to speed up the septic- to-sewer process.

Liz Piel, Stuart

Use local landscape ordinances to protect birds

Since 2014, I have recorded 205 bird species from my coastal Vero Beach neighborhood. Despite the community covering 40 acres, the bulk of this diversity owed to a mere two acres of undeveloped property interspersed amongst the grid of homes.

Eventually, recolonized by native vegetation, undisturbed vacant lots serve as oases in an often treeless landscape of cinderblock and sod for thousands of migratory songbirds arriving to our shores after completing arduoustransoceanic flights from the Caribbean.

In the last three years, I’ve painfully witnessed the loss of these fragmented enclaves of nativehabitat in my neighborhood to development as part of a bullish housing market that saw single family residence inventory plummet 46.5% in coastal Indian River County during 2021 alone.

Unsurprisingly, bird diversity has followed suit as migrants are deprived of the last remaining tracts of critical stopover habitat, forcing them to disperse into the scant exotic vegetation now inhabiting yards. Municipal landscape ordinances are a common tool wielded by cities across Florida to preserve the ecological and aesthetic character of private landscapes for the benefit of biodiversity and humans alike.

With extensive legal precedent, landscape ordinances are among the most practicable means of preserving and restoring habitat in private yards.

As booming residential development accelerates habitat destruction and migratory bird displacement, it’s imperative that the city of Vero Beach update current landscape ordinances to 1) stipulate a minimum percentage of existing native tree cover that must be preserved on lots set to be developed and 2) specify a minimum percentage of native tree and shrub cover in newly landscaped yards.

Will Johnson, Vero Beach

Gov. DeSantis, Trump has unfinished business as president

Of course we want to see Gov. Ron DeSantis run for president, but not in 2024, for a number of reasons.

My family believes President Donald Trump should have his stolen/missed four years as president again to get our country back where it belongs.

Florida is not D.C., and after President Trump's numerous business deals, it seems, even he was taken aback by just how evil and deep the D.C. swamp is. He experienced much of it in his first four years as president.

We think Gov. DeSantis should finish his term in Florida, learn the ways of the D.C. swamp, then run for president in the next election. Otherwise, we see the lifetime political swamp-mates chewing him up and spitting him out, all while flashing their big white toothy smiles.

Bob and Joan Hall, Vero Beach

Don't use parking meters to punish everyone in Vero Beach

A local real estate agent suggested in a letter to the editor that parking meters should be installed in Vero Beach’s oceanside business district because some of her out-of-state clients are getting parking tickets for parking for more than two hours when she gets apparently gets busy and  “distracted.“

So let me see if I understand this logic. So that this real estate agent can avoid complaints from her out-of-state customers about parking tickets because she is fortunate enough to be busy, we who live here, pay taxes here, spend money in the community, and everyone else, should all be inconvenienced with parking meters?

Perhaps this real estate agent should hire more people, find a parking lot for her clients or places to park a bit farther away with fewer restrictions, or move to an area with more parking. Why should everyone else have to suffer because she gets busy and  “distracted“?

Tom Going, Vero Beach

Get's get back to the basics on American values

As well it should be. It has been the indifference of parents that has permitted this pernicious left-wing, anti-American,  anti-capitalist atmosphere to permeate education at the secondary and collegiate levels. It is time to re-establish the values that allowed this country to excel ― freedom of speech, respect for authority, minimum government interference with day-to-day living, belief in the family as the basic and important social unit.

T.F. McDonough, Vero Beach

Let's keep 'woke' literature out of our schools

I’m writing in response to articles written on March 5, "Kids" and “Banning." I find it interesting in both articles that the general tone is that banning books that don’t speak to the basic premise that our children are sent to school to learn reading, writing and arithmetic is contrary to education.

I say it is not in the schools mandate to teach our children about pornography, queerdom or other topics that are clearly outside the realm of educating. The articles tend to use hyperbole (when was a teacher found guilty of breaking this law, NEVER) to make their point while sidestepping the real issues.

Why do schools exist and what is the role of the parent in their child’s education? If they had taken the time to recognize those issues, a more reasoned discussion of this law (House Bill 1467) would have been made.

The comment that Gov. Ron DeSantis wants to do away with AP courses is another example of hyperbole. He simply suggested that there may be other organizations that offer similar opportunities for learning without a "woke" agenda.

Which brings me to my final point. That is, these articles are simply another attempt to justify "woke" ideology and not an attempt to ensure our educational programs are educating our children in the fundamentals to ensure our students are prepared to succeed in the real world.

One need only look at how our educational standards have fallen in the world ranking to understand that our educational system is failing. It is because of warped ideas espoused in these articles that have caused our schools to fail our students.

Can we do a better job of censoring our books? Yes! But let’s not throw the baby out with bath water.

Ron Wnek, Vero Beach

More:State rules in favor of Costco, reversing judge's ruling against Stuart in lengthy appeal

More:Vero Beach parking woes: Challenge for councilman, technology, walk might help | Opinion

OpinionGov. Ron DeSantis, don't let future foes label you a hypocrite on environmental issues

More:St. Lucie County's $18 million septic-to-sewer project nears final approval in April

Costco would be an asset to Martin County at planned location

The flaws in a recent letter about Costco are numerous as well as humorous!

One being that she expresses the wonderful NIMBY attitude often found in these letters. I wonder how she thought some of us felt when Willoughby was being proposed. Does she think we all thought it was a fantastic idea to build this massive golfing community on a small street?  And how does she think the residents of Costco-based communities feel when she drives into their towns to shop?

She is another one who moved here, increasing our population, but now wants the door closed to others so that no one else can enjoy the perks of her fiefdom!

She then goes on to want Costco moved to the fairgrounds and that would be a good thing, because? Oh yes, I forget, if it moved to the fairgrounds, those shoppers won't crowd downtown and take up parking spaces, or increase traffic.

Her next  erroneous statement is that Costco will "require many, many workers who will move here." Oh, the horrors of the riff raff coming up here to work!

I ask where she gets her information from. I believe that Costco will hire many, many current residents and will pay them good wages with good benefits. And then perhaps they will be better able to afford to live/stay here!

The monies both in salaries and taxes, in my opinion, are a plus for this area. The good salaries will allow more of our residents to work and live here rather than driving elsewhere.

Costco had proven itself to be a positive impact on communities, donating to local organizations and supporting the cities where it locates. Martin County has been discovered and I dare say we will be unable to stop progress. Hold it in check, maybe.

Jan Belwood, Palm City

Why the double standard for pharmacies regarding Viagra?

It is most unfortunate that Walgreens, Walmart and other pharmacies have caved to the pressure of a self religious minority who seek to control the reproductive choices of women because of their pro-life religious agenda. Note that these pharmacies still sell Viagra, so it is another case of men play and women some times rape and incest victims pay.

I think a solution is for women, including women of the evening, to start denying sex to any man who works for the companies that dispense Viagra but not birth control.

Joan Fox, Vero Beach

A bleak look into our (possible) future regarding China

The following is an outline for a Clive Cussler-type of novel: The year is 2024, and the two most powerful countries in the world are the U.S. and China.  For years, China has been secretly planning to become the most dominant country, regardless of what it would take to do so.

Its leaders realize that to attain that lofty goal, they must weaken and neutralize the U.S.  Accordingly, they develop a deadly virus and release it upon the U.S. and the rest of the world.  The American president is compromised by his family's previous secret financial dealings with China, and is reluctant to confront that country in order to avoid political fallout and possible criminal charges.

Knowing his weakness, China forms an alliance with Russia and its allies, resulting in World War III.  The U.S., being inadequately supported by its NATO allies, is defeated, and our world as we once knew it becomes lost forever.

If such a novel were to be written, it may be not fiction, but a sad prediction of the fate of our once great country.

Herb Brennan, Fort Pierce

This article originally appeared on Treasure Coast Newspapers: DeSantis' ambitions; Vero Beach parking; wokeness | Letters, March 15