Thursday's letters: Students divided, puppeteer in control, GOP candidates mum
Sarasota growth split student body
As a student at Brookside Junior High School in 1960, the end of ninth grade was a sad experience for me and many of my friends.
The Sarasota County School Board had established attendance districts. About half of the student body at Brookside started high school at Sarasota High and the other half at Riverview High. Friends such as Danny Bailey and Jeff LaHurd were sent to SHS, while I was sent to RHS.
As an avid newspaper reader over the last 60 years, I have been a fan of many columnists. My all-time favorite columnist was Bill Copeland, author of “Cope’s Column,” which appeared in The Journal, formerly an afternoon paper.
More: How to send a letter to the editor
In recent years, I have become a fan of my Brookside classmate and current Herald-Tribune columnist Jeff LaHurd. However, in Jeff’s Oct. 16, 2022, column, a correction is needed (“The rise of Riverview High and the modernist schools”).
Andrew J. Crew did not form the Kiltie Marching Band the year Riverview opened. As a matter of record, Jack Crew came to RHS almost a decade later.
The founder and band director for many years was Harry Putt. He had the vision to begin the Scottish-themed band and the “Scottish Lassies” dancers.
Ron Carr, Sarasota
Puppeteer controls Manatee commission
A new twist on the concept of one person, one vote. In Manatee County, it’s one person, one commission.
The person is Anthony Pedicini (“Meet the man who transformed Manatee County politics,” Oct. 13). In effect, he has elected six of the seven commissioners in Manatee County.
And he might elect a seventh in November. What a shame it would be not to have incumbent Reggie Bellamy on the Manatee County Commission.
As voters we must look carefully at not only the candidates on the ballot but also the people behind the scenes. In this case, it is one person pulling the puppet strings and controlling who serves on the Manatee County Commission.
Like a good puppeteer, Pedicini pulls the strings not only to select his right-wing candidates, but also to carefully shepherd them through the electoral process.
Watch this new Manatee County Commission in 2023. Use the Manatee League of Women Voters website, https://lwvmanatee.org, to learn what the puppets are up to.
Speak out to your friends and neighbors about their actions. Write letters to the editor. Blow the whistle on incompetence and right-wing extremism.
As The Washington Post so aptly puts it, “Democracy Dies in Darkness.”
Paul Dain, Bradenton
Find purpose in preamble to Constitution
The members of the current right-wing majority of the Supreme Court seem intent on imposing their “conservative” agenda for the country based on their understanding of the “original intent” of the U.S. Constitution. That’s a fool’s errand.
There's no way of divining such “original intent.” The best we can do is read and apply the words in the Constitution in the light of its purposes clearly stated in its preamble. Among those purposes are to “form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility,” and “promote the general Welfare …"
Is it plausible that, hidden in those stated purposes, is the “original intent” found by Justice Samuel Alito to justify his opinion for the court's Dobbs v. Jackson decision overruling the decades-old, repeatedly affirmed Roe v. Wade decision that established a limited constitutional right to abortion?
I think not.
Harry W. Quillian, Bradenton
Another sign of Republican Party’s downfall
I would like to thank the writer of “No GOP candidates respond to voter guide.” She wrote exactly what we were thinking after reading the insert produced by the League of Women Voters.
The LWV is a nonpartisan, thoughtful, well-managed group of Americans that tries to give us information about using our right to vote, with knowledge about the candidates.
Why would the GOP candidates not respond to this? Why not tell us how they feel about these important questions?
What are they afraid of? Are truth and honesty too horrible in their estimation?
To us, this is just one more indication of the arrogance and downfall of the Republican Party since its association with Donald Trump.
Gloria Peretz and Ian Illingworth, Osprey
Picking up what Ian left behind
I would like to give kudos to Sarasota County for its quick and efficient response to collecting the enormous amount of yard waste from this latest storm in our neighborhood(s).
Considering that the southern portions of the county were hardest hit, I did not have any expectations on when our debris would be picked up in North Sarasota County.
The contractor who did the pickup was courteous and attentive, and workers cleaned up as they went.
Very impressive and greatly appreciated. Job well done.
Gil Schulze, Sarasota
This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: With second high school, students divided, puppeteer behind scenes
