Sunday's letters: No COVID protocol, border protection, finding solutions, more

Historical Society ignores pandemic history

The Historical Society of Sarasota County provides the community with wonderful information about Sarasota’s history. Additionally, the society renovated and maintains historic Crocker Memorial Church and the adjacent historic Bidwell-Wood House.

Ironically, the Historical Society is ignoring history. I was planning to attend a recent Conversations at the Crocker and realized the announcement said nothing about masks, vaccinations or COVID-19 testing.

I emailed and was startled to hear back, “We are leaving that up to the guests.”

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Is history repeating itself? Even though the population of Sarasota-Manatee was only 2,500 when the devastating 1918-19 influenza pandemic hit, killing an estimated 675,000 in the United States, cases were reported in the Sarasota Times, along with health warnings.

How could the Historical Society ignore scientific evidence about the transmissibility of the omicron variant and not take steps to protect its program attendees, predominantly seniors?

Worse still is the society’s failure to state that wearing masks is optional, which would alert prospective attendees to the fact that there are no COVID protocols in place.

Hopefully, when events resume, it will adopt the Arts and Cultural Alliance of Sarasota County’s SafeArts Protocol, requiring a negative COVID-19 test or proof of vaccination.

F. Lowell Curtis, Longboat Key

Learn how officers protect us at border

I refer to it as the Silent Service because its members do exceptional things every day, with no mention of it in the media. It is the Customs and Border Protection Service.

I ask readers to do me a favor. Go to https://www.cbp.gov every day for a month, click on “Newsroom,” read the Media Releases and note what the CBP did that day. After a month add up how many illegal immigrants, sex offenders and other criminals, and the amount of illegal drugs, officers have intercepted and how many lives they have saved.

Why would I request this? To bring to light the fact that although the radical left and radical right keep feeding the media about the horrors of our immigration policies, there are men and women out there every single day protecting Americans.

If your readers get the facts, I believe they will have a better appreciation of those who serve as the Silent Service.

James R. Hesse, University Park, retired chief intelligence officer, Immigration and Customs Enforcement

Solutions to satisfy the great majority

We currently face numerous mega-issues that are solution resistant. Let’s bridge the chasm by crafting solutions acceptable to 80% of us.

Consider abortion, clearly a 2022 forefront issue. Let’s replace “pro-life versus pro-choice” with “pro-compassion,” which recognizes each party’s heartfelt position.

While I’m forever thankful my adopted son’s birth mother chose life, I’ve always honored the right to select a different path. Yet, late-term abortion is unacceptable to most of us. My 80% solution allows the woman 90 to 120 days to decide, after which abortion is no longer an option.

Immigration demands a long-term solution that replaces border encampments with a compassionate, safe vetting process. We should decommission Guantanamo Bay and convert the space to a clean, safe, humane clearing center. Yes, this will cost, but what’s the cost of the debacle currently in place?

Finally, forget critical race theory and focus on teaching truth. CRT is divisive and the truth should never be. How did I not know about the Tulsa Massacre until 2020 – or that just before the Civil War, 44% of Florida’s residents were enslaved?

Abraham Lincoln said, “Let the people know the truth and the country is safe.” I am not afraid of the truth, just its sanitized version.

Bob Robinson, Venice

Check out candidates before you vote

I totally agree with “Politicians should listen to the people,” a letter Jan.12 that urged us to vote for new officials.

One cautionary note: Investigate the candidates thoroughly. Read and understand their positions. Find out who is donating to their campaigns.

As we saw in the last Manatee County Commission election, just because someone is new doesn’t mean they are not beholden to their contributors.

While I applaud anyone who runs for a public office (it is a thankless job), I urge voters to investigate their motivation to run and who or what is behind their candidacy.

Judy Stahle, Bradenton

Ensure confidence with voter ID

Whether you think a voter ID requirement is a good idea or not, you cannot ignore this fact: without some confidence that we have a legitimate and secure voting system, we will have continuous lawsuits based on “stolen” elections and lack of acceptance of election outcomes.

Amanda Simmons, Sarasota

This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: Ignoring pandemic history, border officers protect Americans every day