Stop killing dogs; Brightline stop; books brouhaha; Walton bridge? | Letters, March 26

Fort Pierce should 'fix' issue with dogs humanely

The notice read: "Dog Tax now due and payable at the City Offices. All persons are hereby notified that after March 1st, all dogs running loose on streets without tag will be captured and killed. J.M. Smith , Chief of Police."

This notice was published in 1924 in the Fort Pierce News Tribune and was featured in an article about our police department in Fort Pierce magazine. Thankfully, we've come a long way in our city regarding animal welfare! But we're not finished yet.

I've been actively lobbying for many months for the next important step in our city's progression in becoming increasingly more humane. I have repetitively asked that "strays" that are not fixed and are picked up roaming by animal control officers be spayed/neutered before returning them to their owners.

This would have a major impact in animal impound reduction at our local shelter by decreasing breeding risks. Unaltered stray dogs, especially males, often roam in search of females in heat. This is a logical policy that needs to be enacted now by our mayor and commissioners. If they implement this policy, they would be lauded as responsible and humane leaders because over time it will result in less killing of unwanted, homeless, irresponsibly bred animals at our city shelter.

Considering that in 1924 it was "policy" to kill dogs for the lack of tags, punishing irresponsible owners by this cruel method, it should be considered kinder, smarter and more humane to make it policy to "fix" strays that have been picked up roaming before returning them to the owners.

I say forget focusing on tags and look for the obvious signs of unaltered males and ask owners of proof of their females' status.

If they could kill them then, we can fix them now!

Susan Parry, Fort Pierce

Place Brightline stop where it makes most sense

Those lobbying for a potential stop for Brightline in their area should look at the needs for all residents of the area, just not those in the downtown areas of Stuart or Fort Pierce.

Should a stop get placed in one of the already overcrowded downtown areas, it will just make congestion worse and eat up already short parking availability. I think a stop should be placed in a low-density area halfway between Fort Pierce and Stuart where there is plenty of cheap parking available and room for growth. Then more  people could afford to park a car for a week or two after flying away for a vacation from one of three major airports served by Brightline: Orlando, Fort Lauderdale or Miami. 

Sure, putting a station in a downtown area will raise property values, the economy, and add more small shops that sell ice cream cones, etc., but we already have good economies in those areas and I see no need to boost our good economies. Instead, the site should be chosen to service all the citizens in a 60-mile radius, just not one's own neighborhood.

Jim Knape, Jensen Beach

Be careful what you wish for on Brightline

A March 12 editorial suggested downtown Fort Pierce seemed like the most logical Treasure Coast location for a Brightline high-speed train stop.

Prior to being named president of All Aboard Florida, now called “Brightline,” Michael Reininger served as executive vice president and chief development officer for AECOM. Reininger is the signatory on the AAF Private Activity Bond application filed with the Florida Development Finance Corp. AAF was a wholly owned subsidiary of Florida East Coast Industries.

In June 2012, AECOM published a report titled, “Port of Fort Pierce Master Plan Update Phase 1.” Highlights of the plan suggested enhancing the port to expand trade with the Caribbean basin and improving rail connectivity to the FEC to enhance the port’s operations and potential for new market expansion, such as Cuba and the Bahamas.

The plan also suggested establishing the port as a “niche” shipping port and that the Florida Department of Transportation develop a freight mobility and trade plan by July 1, 2013, including proposed policies and investments to increase the implementation of CNG, LNG, and propane energy to reduce transportation costs.

The plan noted that Caribbean markets were well poised as compatible partners with the Port of Fort Pierce, including Jamaica, Columbia, Panama, Dominican Republic, Bahamas, Spain, Puerto Rico and Cuba.

American LNG Marketing began exporting containerized liquified natural gas from Port Everglades on Feb. 5, 2016, with the first rail transport to the port in March 2017. Destinations include the Bahamas, Haiti and Jamaica.

The LNG is produced at New Fortress Energy’s liquefaction, storage and distribution facility in the Hialeah Rail Yard in Miami. An affiliate of American LNG, LNG Holdings (Florida), LLC, secured the approximately 13-acre LNG site from FECI. American LNG Marketing and LNG Holdings (Florida) are subsidiaries of New Fortress Energy, an affiliate of Fortress Investment Group.

Cecile Scofield, Palm City

Get Doug Smith to talk about Walton Road bridge

With the present traffic traffic on Jensen Beach Boulevard and Causeway, it seems as though Martin County Commissioner Doug Smith would have the concerns most JB residents have and somehow use his political influence to get a Walton Road bridge to Hutchinson Island under way.

As it stands, it will take many years and dollars to start and complete a massive project such as this. Even though it is a St. Lucie County issue, we in Martin have to deal with the traffic, including two-thirds that come from other counties.

Does Commissioner Smith even think this is an issue?

With all the development he has approved, and as all the apartments under construction become occupied, it will add to the traffic nightmare. This not only applies to Martin County, but St. Lucie County has much more development to add.

Most of the new residents from both counties move here for our beautiful beaches. Most of Hutchinson Island residents in St. Lucie County have to access their residences via the Jensen Beach Causeway, so Jensen Beach and Martin have to bear the brunt of it.

Don Page, Jensen Beach

More: Brightline, it's time to pick Treasure Coast station for Orlando-West Palm Beach service

More: Moms for Liberty targeting pornography, diversity, both? Clear message essential | Opinion

Book brouhaha real or contrived controversy?

The current brouhaha regarding the “banning of books” appears to be either one of journalistic intent or that of a disability in reading comprehension on the part of letter writers.

Incidentally, Ray Bradbury's “Fahrenheit 451,” is a must-read book for those interested in the subject of banning books. That title is the degree at which books burn auspiciously.

In the March 16 newspaper, a headline says Martin County schools pulled a series from "school shelves.” However, the article says, indeed, a series by James Patterson was removed from elementary schools. Patterson's nine-book series, "Maximum Ride" for young adults, is available at middle and high schools, where it is appropriately shelved.

Taxpayers in Martin County are indebted to Julie Marshall for alerting the school board to this waste of money and lack of attention. Although she claims not be to a teacher, she certainly displays common sense. I am a certified teacher, administrator and retired professor of education and I applaud her.

According to U.S. Department of Education, 54% of American adults read below a sixth-grade level. Perhaps this is a problem to be explored?

Audrey Taggart, Hobe Sound

Why pay attention to person filing book complaints?

Help me understand this: Stuart resident Julie Marshall, who admits that she has not read or viewed the "Maximum Ride" book series by author James Patterson, requested that the books be removed from elementary school libraries. She claims that these books do not belong in elementary school libraries. How would she even know?

If that didn't sound crazy enough, I then learn that Jennifer DeShazo, public information director for the Martin County School District, said that Patterson’s "Maximum Ride" series was removed from the district’s elementary school libraries after Marshall's request.

As it turns out, Marshall, who admits she not a licensed teacher, librarian or media specialist, and has not had the time to consult with one, has filed most of the challenges to the Martin County School District’s book titles. So then why is anyone in our Martin County School District seriously paying attention to her?

Jim Weix, Palm City

Patterson books removed only from elementaries

I am a lifetime resident of Martin County, a 1988 South Fork graduate, parent of current Martin County students and the co-chair of the Martin County Moms for Liberty. I am writing in response to the recent article I read on TCPalm, “Author James Patterson: Write to DeSantis after ‘absurd’ removal of Maximum Ride books."

The book series was ONLY REMOVED from ELEMENTARY schools because the content has been rated “young adult.” My own kids read this series in high school and loved it, but it is completely inappropriate for kids in elementary school.

I also would like to clarify that 99% of books removed from Martin County middle and high schools contained pornography. The pornography is so graphic the video of the last school board meeting at which book excerpts were read is age-restricted on YouTube.

As an adult, I have to verify my age, but any child under the age of 18 could access these books in our public school libraries just a few short weeks ago. As a parent, I have to sign a release for my child to watch a PG-13 movie in school, I’m positive an R-rated movie would never be shown even with parental permission and I expect the same restrictions on books in our public library.

Lisa Miller is co-chair for Moms for Liberty in Martin County.

Let once marginalized folks study on their own terms

I’ve attended five universities — and graduated from a few — and I’ve never had a professor attempt to indoctrinate me. To suggest this is widespread “liberal practice” is asinine.

As a doctoral student in the 1970s, I enrolled in the inaugural women’s literature course offered by The Ohio State University. As an English major, I was interested in the female authors listed on the syllabus. The instructor, a popular literature professor, eventually became the first director of women’s studies at OSU.

I dropped the course before the end of the second week (as did the only other male in the class). My decision had nothing to do with the professor’s focus. It had everything to do with the female students taking the seminar.

You see, this was the first time these young women were offered a course of their own. They considered it “their” course, not “ours,” and they had an intrinsic right to lay claim to it.

Since the establishment of colleges and universities in the United States, women were either excluded from enrolling or marginalized once they were. Literature courses designed specifically for women didn’t exist until the 1970s, and women were eager to take them. As Virginia Woolf explains in “A Room of One’s Own,” women need their own private space to learn, grow and discuss their experiences with other women, as is natural.

I’m sick of Ron DeSantis’ war on “wokeism.” The women in that seminar were finally given the opportunity to awaken to a new world that appreciated them for who they were. The same can now be said for Black and LGBTQ students.

Let them sing their own songs unhampered by a crass politician waging a mean-spirited culture war designed specifically to win presidential primaries at the expense of marginalized individuals.

Cray Little, Vero Beach

Media should focus on Biden, not Dominion

The March 12 newspaper had some interesting letters, especially those that attacked Fox News.

How some writers see only lies and hostility in the Fox News hosts and yet see nothing wrong with the mainstream media refusing to either research or print stories about the Hunter Biden laptop or what’s going on at the southern border amazes me.

For many of us, “The Big Lie” is that Joe Biden, from his basement, won the election with more votes than either Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama. Changing voting laws as they did in Pennsylvania, my home state, using COVID as an excuse, was one of many ways people feel that the election was “stolen.” Perhaps if the media actually reported the news and didn’t act as an arm of the Democratic Party, then Fox would become irrelevant.

If it wasn’t for Fox, our illustrious transportation secretary, Pete Buttigieg, might never have visited East Palestine, Ohio, to see what the people were going through with the toxic chemical train derailment. Joe Biden doesn’t seem to want to go, perhaps because he doesn’t want to be seen anywhere close to a catastrophe, such as the southern border. It took him two years to go there; then the small area he visited was cleaned up.

It is amazing how no one said a word when Donald Trump was lied about (remember the Russian collusion) and ravaged every day. We now have a weak, ineffective president in the White House the press continues to coddle.

Rather than following the Dominion trial, perhaps people should pay more attention to what this administration has wrought: a bad economy, a war, and in spite of his promise to bring us all together, a more divided nation than ever.

Patricia A. Perrone, Stuart

This article originally appeared on Treasure Coast Newspapers: Brightline stop; book ban; Walton bridge; watch Biden, not Dominion