Show respect for the US flag; who's protecting kids? Letters to the Editor, July 23, 2023

Brevard: marching back in time?

I’m afraid that most of the Brevard County commissioners and the Brevard County School Board consider the murder of the Moores in 1951 as an inconvenient fact.

I find it hard to imagine the Harry T. and Harriette V. Moore Memorial Park and Museum would be built today under the present county leadership. I attended Brevard County schools in Titusville, from Bayview Elementary until I graduated from Astronaut High School in 1973. I never learned of their murders in school there. I first heard about the Moores' murder in a social actions class in the Air Force years ago. I guess that is why some people want to end race relations classes in the military, too.

I had felt that Brevard County was moving forward. Maybe it is true you have to go backwards sometimes before you can move forward again.

Chris Rummel, Russellville, Arkansas

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Veteran: Respect our flag

I am 75 years old, a Vietnam era veteran with a military service-related disability (hearing loss due to firing M-14’s), and I am qualified to make the following comments.

Each year, around the Fourth of July, an organization in Brevard County (associated with veterans) plants American flags in front of homes along the Indian River in Rockledge and Cocoa.  This is kind, patriotic and generous. But please allow me to address the problem.

The month of July normally includes rainy and windy weather. And these flags (approximately 8 by 12 inches, on a 16-inch stick) take a beating. I walk along the river three days per week and during July (for at least 15 years), I pick up many flags from the ground; scrape the mud and dirt off flags blown into the road, lawns and puddles; place flags with broken sticks in mailboxes; and elevate flag stuck too far into the ground.

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Five years ago, I called this organization to support their ideas and efforts, but suggested adjustments (such as longer, sturdier sticks, and contributing flags to other neighborhoods rather than the same area every year). I was told my suggestions would be taken into account, which obviously, they were not.

I solidly support patriotism. But I do not condone disrespect of the American flag. As a veteran of the United States Army, I will never allow our flag to touch the ground and will continue to pick up flags along the river.  All I ask is please stop being disrespectful.  However, if you choose to continue this practice, a veteran will always trail behind and fix your damage.

James T. Kelley, Rockledge

Book bans vs. children's safety

After reading the July 18 FLORIDA TODAY story titled “Cocoa Beach man arrested, facing child sex charges," I realized that there are many people to thank for taking action on, and preventing, such horrible situations.

I am first thankful to the Volusia County Sheriff’s Department for taking this situation seriously and doing exactly what is in their job description, to protect and serve the public.

I am next thankful to the girl’s family, since they too, followed their job description which requires them to protect their children. For most parents, we do not need the “Parental Rights Law in Education,” or any parental law, because we know what we are expected to do in order to keep our children safe.

My final thanks go to the Moms for Liberty (M4L). By successfully banning books throughout the country that have “depictions of sex, violence, pedophilia,” we can now be confident that these sexual predators will no longer exist.  According to M4L, it is by reading or at least having access to these books that these problems are caused. By getting rid of the reading material is a way to “protect our kids from predators who want to steal their childhood.”  This reasoning is obviously a perfect example of “cause and effect.”

I personally think it is wise to be proactive. However, since much of our population has read many of these banned books in school (including M4L), and we have not become sexual predators, are books really the problem? Or should we be thinking about changing something else?

Anita Moore, Merritt Island

Hmm. About climate change ...

A recent opinion writer began by stating they were no climate expert. They should have stopped right there and the letter would have made more sense.

Aside from misquoting statistics about how much CO2 a human exhales per year and how much of this CO2 can be absorbed by mature trees, they neglected to state that what sequestration a tree accomplishes in its lifetime, most of it will be put back in the atmosphere when the tree eventually dies and rots as the vast majority of them do. Doing the math with the correct variables shows that human exhalation only contributes approximately 4% of worldwide CO2 per year.

By far, the vast majority of CO2 release into the atmosphere is from the combustion of fossil fuels, coal and natural gas power plants and internal combustion engines, no question. Efforts to curb deforestation and planting new trees, while noble, will do next to nothing to alleviate climate change.

Ed Dean, Merritt Island

This article originally appeared on Florida Today: Do book bans 'protect' children? Letters to the Editor, July 23, 2023