Letters to the Editor: June 1, 2006

Daily dose of comment and insight from our readers.

The Naples Daily News welcomes letters of up to 250 words. We reserve the right to reject letters or edit for clarity, brevity, good taste and accuracy, and to prevent libel. No poetry, attacks on private individuals, or letter-writing campaigns, please. Writers should limit submissions to one letter every two weeks. Include a phone number and make certain you have signed your letter.

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Not that much in a name

Editor, Daily News:

Editorial Page Editor Jeff Lytle’s comments regarding the gift of Mr. and Mrs. Miles Collier to Eckerd College should go down as “the cheap shot of the week.”

Eckerd College is a private liberal arts school and not the St. Petersburg public school system.

The article in your paper regarding the gift stated it was a challenge gift directed toward specific needs of the college.

For you to suggest that Miles Collier and his wife should have some obligation to eliminate illiteracy in Collier County just because their name is Collier is off base.

As the editorial page editor I think you can better serve your readers. Generous people should be encouraged to be generous without cheap shots from editors like you.

Robert W. Navarre/Naples

The little big things

Editor, Daily News:

While at Lowdermilk Park on Sunday, I had a brief conversation with a man I had never met.

He asked if I had been in the armed service. I told him I had been in the Navy.

I was deeply touched when he and his son shook my hand and thanked me for being a veteran.

In the afternoon, I went to Home Depot to buy some fencing. They gave me a 10 percent discount for being a veteran.

Maybe Memorial Day weekend isn’t all hot dogs, beer and big sales — at least to some.

Ted Petterson/Naples

Keeps getting better

Editor, Daily News:

On Memorial Day my husband and I were overwhelmed by the beautiful and touching program at Naples Memorial Funeral Home and Cemetery.

Thank you, retired Capt. Jim Elson, U.S. Army, for putting together this program in remembrance of those who have sacrificed and given their lives to protect our freedoms.

Thanks to all the groups who participated and thank you to the hosts at Naples Memorial.

Every year the ceremony exceeds the previous year’s ceremony in all aspects.

We have to thank Capt. Elson for all efforts.

Frank and Gil Erlichman/Naples

Please rethink

Editor, Daily News:

Collier County transportation official Jay Ahmad’s position on the safety of removing median access to our neighborhood without first installing a traffic light at 68th Street Southwest is unreasonable.

Ahmad states in a May 10 Daily News story that turning left onto 70th Street Southwest from the median is “very unsafe,” yet this is the same road across which he asks us to make unprotected U-turns.

He states that the traffic volume at 68th Street is insufficient to justify a traffic light, but a traffic light that only triggered when traffic queued up would have minimal effect on Golden Gate Parkway while protecting U-turners.

Finally, for the many residents who keep boats and RVs on their lots an unprotected U-turn would prove even more dangerous.

I realize we must learn to adapt to the explosive growth in Collier County as more people learn of the paradise that is our backyard. Nonetheless, by removing our median access and forcing the neighborhood to make unprotected U-turns, the transportation department and the county commissioners will create a very unsafe situation. It is only a matter of time until there is a fatality due to this decision, with lawsuits against the county and the commissioners sure to follow.

I ask Ahmad to reconsider the installation of a traffic light prior to removing our median access. This would best serve and protect not only our neighborhood, but the traveling public as well.

Dan Carter/Golden Gate Estates

Help?

Editor, Daily News:

A comment on the concerts at Coastland Center put on by Fletcher Music Center.

Where were the other merchants?

They benefit from these fine presentations, yet they could not come up with $3 each so the show could go on?

If the owners of the mall are that broke and have to charge $150-plus, maybe they can put out donation cans to help them through the lean times.

Thank God someone out there is still giving something free.

Gervase Audette/Naples

What about the child?

Editor, Daily News:

I have a very difficult time understanding why you found it necessary to publish the story of the 6-year-old who the Collier County Public Schools and Sheriff’s Office found it necessary to arrest on a felony charge.

In New York, a child under the age of seven cannot be prosecuted at all. Nor can a child under the age of 16 be identified in any way unless he or she has committed the crime of murder, rape or first-degree robbery.

There is a very good reason for this.

I fail to see how the complete identification and picture of this child is anyone else’s business, in view of the fact that this negative event will stick with her for a very long time and certainly will not benefit her. Why couldn’t she simply be referred for counseling without being arrested, and her story published on the front page?

These things happen all over, and teachers deal with them quietly. I realize this is Naples and not New York, but if this is the most newsworthy item available, and it is detrimental to a small child’s future, perhaps the laws in Florida regarding minors are seriously flawed, and those who would take advantage of this situation need to examine their collective consciences.

Suzanne E. Dossinger/Naples

What’s not to like?

Editor, Daily News:

Fort Lauderdale is usually used in these parts as an example to describe what we don’t want the Naples area to become. However, after a trip over there for the weekend, there is one aspect of Fort Lauderdale I wish we could have here in Naples: Clean water.

The water by the Fort Lauderdale beaches is clean and clear. There are no mounds of dead fish, seaweed, algae or other organic material piled by the waterline.

No one is sneezing and coughing from the effects of red tide.

You can stand waist deep in the water and see your toes instead of the murky green tint we enjoy here in Naples.

The water in Naples was noticeably cleaner as recently as five years ago.

It’s a disgrace the Gulf of Mexico is being destroyed through our own apathy and ignorant actions. Shame on us.

Shawn Duffey/Golden Gate Estates

Can’t look away

Editor, Daily News:

Re: “Baghdad Emergency Room”

The program is “too graphic” for the American public, so decided the Pentagon.

Every American of voting age should view and be exposed to the possible horrors of combat. The reality of war is not the menu John Wayne helped to portray to the public mind-set.

Such knowledge would temper our quick decision to go to war and give more energy to decide our problems by exhausting diplomatic means.

An informed citizenry is the cornerstone of a free people’s power of decision-making.

Stanley A. Scheiner, M.D./Golden Gate Estates

Name a good day for it

Editor, Daily News:

The headline of Brent Batten’s Memorial Day column suggests it is not a good day to protest the current war.

Mr. Batten failed to let us in on what day is the right day for protesting a failed war.

Perhaps Independence Day? How about Christmas? Columbus Day isn’t good for much else these times.

Batten reminds us that we have had other wars that seemed to be going badly but turned around and ended in victory. He didn’t mention Vietnam as one of those. Iraq has given us 2,400 more soldiers to remember for Memorial Day. Vietnam gave us 50,000 soldiers to memorialize in that failed initiative. It left a bitter taste with many of us Americans who grew up during that sad period. Most of those American soldiers died because they were stuck in a war that should never have been begun but lasted what seemed to be an endless number of years.

The use of military force is an extraordinary measure. Any day set aside to bring attention to military matters should be a time for complete reflection of the issues. We certainly shouldn’t ignore what we believe to be a terrible injustice by our government on Memorial Day, Veterans Day or any of the other military celebrations.

When our military is misused it should be objected to on these most sacred days.

Louis Erickson/Naples

Fundamentally sound

Editor, Daily News:

The Daily News is to be commended for recognizing the problems in trying to change the airport lease.

Legal obligations related to the lease between the Naples Municipal Airport and the city of Naples are based on federal regulations long in place and universally applied.

The Naples Airport Authority members have no options here but to uphold their oath of office to obey the laws.

Changing authority members does not change this responsibility to the law.

All this ground has been gone over several times before. Every few years some uninformed newcomer gets the “great” idea to increase revenues for the city, and perhaps serve his personal agenda.

The city attorney would be well advised to review Airport and Airways Improvement Act of 1982, Public Law 102-122, and Grant Agreements Special Assurances before he gets City Council members to “rise to the bait.”

Hopefully, City Council gets all the facts on other matters before they come to conclusions.

J.A. Bawduniak/Naples

Don’t look now, but ...

Editor, Daily News:

If we don’t speak up for America, who will?

Time for another pop up to look around and spur our elected representatives in Washington to worry about more than anointing themselves with criminal investigation exemptions that none of us as mere citizens are afforded.

A freezer full of cash bundles? $100,000 bribe conversations on tape?

Democrat or Republican, it’s time to resign when you break the law with impunity!

What’s not getting attention is Russia just confirming its intention to deliver and install 29 super-sophisticated ground-to-air missile systems in Iran for $700-plus million.

The timing of this sale stinks. It’s in direct defiance of U.S. efforts to stop the world’s leading terror-supporting state from becoming ever more dangerous.

Pressure on Iran is crucial and sanctions with teeth can be most effective for a country with few gasoline refineries.

Washington, wake up to real security issues. It’s not paranoia if they really are out to destroy us.

Say “no” to Iran’s “unilateral talks” hand puppets and “yes” to collective international pressure before it’s too late.

J. Mark Strong/Naples

Sign here

Editor, Daily News:

I think it is wonderful that our president is in support of English being our approved and legal national language.

I only wish that our fine leader could speak the language, and not sign his name with an X.

Oops, I mean a W.

Daniel Pavone/Naples