Show some respect for property owners on Siesta Key

Respect private ownership on key

As a previous property owner on Siesta Key, I disagree with the author of “Siesta Key belongs to all county residents,” a letter published Dec. 12.

Siesta Key does not "belong to all county residents.”

My property was not bought with “deep pocket” money (I paid $40,000). It fronted on the bay with a bayou out back. Fortunately, I was never challenged by the likes of the writer as some of my neighbors were.

There exist many public sites on the key – some on the gulf, some on the bay.

Privately owned property on the key does not “belong to all county residents,” nor does it need the public's footprints, partying or discarded trash.

Bill Morgan, Sarasota

Protecting Siesta in everyone’s interest

In response to two recent letters, please know that Siesta Key’s residents are concerned about protecting the key.

We believe it should be accessible to Sarasota County residents (“Siesta Key belongs to all county residents”). The fact is about 20% of Siesta’s beaches are public; the rest have been privately owned for decades.

While condo and homeowners have allowed visitors on their beaches in the past, the proposal to add high-density hotels has caused some concerned property owners to close off their areas to visitors.

These owners pay high taxes and the cost of maintaining, cleaning and securing their beaches. They don’t want to share their properties with a potentially large number of hotel guests.

The county has not approved new hotels for Siesta Key.

The county approved allowing a developer to go through the process of making changes to the decades-old Comprehensive Plan laws that have protected our barrier islands, including Siesta, Casey and Manasota keys.

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While Siesta Key will be most impacted by the proposed addition of mega hotels, the fact is the removal of these protections will affect all of us.

Increases in allowable hotel guests will flood our limited public beaches and increase the risk to public safety by adding more people to evacuate in an emergency.

Cator Hartley, Siesta Key

Questions remain in Ziegler sex scandal

To me, the real mystery in the Ziegler case is why did Bridget Ziegler apparently tell the Sarasota Police Department she had participated in a three-way relationship with her husband, Christian, and a woman who has accused him of sexual assault?

Did she believe that would prove the woman’s sex with Christian was consensual? Or did Christian believe it would and asked his wife to tell the story?

Either way, it calls into question the intelligence of both members of what used to be a powerful couple in the local and state Republican Party.

Here are other questions that must be asked:

Why has the governor called for Christian to resign as chairman of the Florida Republican Party – based only on an accusation – yet has not challenged Bridget Ziegler's continuing service on the Sarasota County School Board?

Does the governor feel she is a good role model for children in the school district?

Why hasn't the governor sought Ziegler's resignation from the board overseeing Disney?

I am pretty sure that if Disney still controlled the board overseeing its family-friendly theme parks, Ziegler's resignation would have been required once she acknowledged taking part in a threesome.

John Blue, Parrish

This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: Siesta Key's property owners deserve to be treated with respect