Letters to the Editor: June 5

Letter of the Day: Who cares?

Editor, Daily News:

What has happened to customer service in Naples lately?

Just last week I took our new $45,000 convertible (our fourth new car of this particular make) to the dealership to have some work performed under warranty.

When I got the car back from the service department, I noticed some of the finish on the center console had been rubbed off bare by the service technician. When I brought it to the service manager's attention, he vowed that they didn't do it — and subsequently blamed me!

Don't they want me to come back after my car warranty for service and eventually buy another new car?

I'll tell you what many believe the problem is: It is the fact that Naples' rapid growth has been its own worst enemy. People who are supposed to provide service and cultivate customer loyalty for their businesses just don't care about their customers anymore. They know that if you are treated badly and walk out of their business for the final time, there will be a hundred new and naive customers ready to take your place.

Unfortunately, this problem seems to be a growing trend here. It seems that hurricanes are not the only factor that is driving some people out of this area and giving it a bad reputation.

Kirk Johnson , Naples

Letter of the Day: Spell this ...

Editor, Daily News:

Where were Tom Hanson's handlers when he wrote his article on the Scripps National Spelling Bee that appeared in Wednesday's Daily News?

I usually read the entire paper, and must admit that Hanson's name was not familiar to me. As such, I can't say whether his prior columns have been impressive or not, although "not" seems the most likely since his name wasn't familiar.

However, his Wednesday column will ensure that his name will be familiar in the future. In an age where television has hundreds of hours a week devoted to poker, "reality" shows, music videos, celebrity "infomercials" and other mindless drivel, Mr. Hanson seems to think that two hours of live coverage on network television of the spelling bee is excessive.

Further, he implies that "losers will be psychologically damaged for life." "Losers?" Every one you'll see on television has already won at several levels of competition. And I dare say they are probably more inured to "losing" than they are to someone of Hanson's ilk belittling their efforts.

Since there is a relatively young age limit for participants in the spelling bee, perhaps Hanson felt safe in picking on someone half his age.

Just in case his excuse for this demeaning column was that it was done tongue-in-cheek, then he is as poor a writer as he is a judge of honest effort by these young men and women.

Barry J. McCall , Bonita Springs

Letter: See for yourself

Editor, Daily News:

Re: Mary Stuller's May 29 letter.

In February I presented a Laureate dissertation favoring comprehensive sexuality education as opposed to the abstinence-only approach.

While researching this topic I learned a few key things about abstinence and abstinence education.

Continuous abstinence is 100 percent effective in preventing unwanted pregnancy. However, the percentage of teenagers who continue an abstinent lifestyle after an abstinence-only program is extremely low.

Research from the Alan Guttmacher Institute has found that there have never been any "methodologically sound studies that demonstrate the effectiveness of curricula that teach abstinence ... only."

There have never been any legitimate studies proving abstinence-only education is effective at all; in fact, teaching abstinence-only education can be dangerous.

According to Dr. S.P. Hertweck, a pediatric obstetrician-gynecologist at the University of Louisville, "Teaching abstinence but not birth control makes it more likely that once teenagers initiate sexual activity they will have unsafe sex and contract sexually transmitted diseases."

Abstinence is the best form of birth control. However, the problem is that the majority of teenagers will not remain abstinent, and that is why it is crucial to provide teenagers with every bit of information we can.

Planned Parenthood is far from anti-abstinence, and even promotes abstinence as the safest form of birth control. Do not let misinformed people skew the positive impact that programs such as Planned Parenthood have on teenagers everywhere.

I've posted the entire dissertation at http://nancyrosespector.blogspot.com .

Nancy Rose Spector , Marco Island, Lely High School graduate, 2006

Letter: What gives?

Editor, Daily News:

I have worked in industries using union employees for some 40 years. I worked in one union for 36 years. In that same union I was a salaried official for 12 years.

I only mention this so my union brethren will know my background.

I have always believed that the purpose of unionism was to ensure that workers received more compensation than employers are willing to give — employers like those who presently employ people who are not here legally.

The recent support by unions of the Senate immigration bill baffles me. The American worker, who the unions claim to support, is being shut out because employers are hiring people whom they pay a substandard wage with no benefits. This is the unmasking of the false claim by unions, that they are for higher wages for the working man.

Cheap labor is the antithesis of unionism. So, to my union brothers I ask this: What is motivating the union leadership? Could it be that they are more interested in the Democrat Party than promoting a better wage for American workers?

Tom Macchia , Naples

Letter: Simple fun fades away

Editor, Daily News:

There's not much to do for a 20-year-old mother of two kids. However, I love to fish.

My husband has fished the Marco Island bridge since he was 2 years old (up until the hurricane).

So we'd go to the open lots with the kids and have wonderful "fishing-family time."

But now they've changed a few laws that many people, including us, were not aware of. Now, unless there is written permission from the homeowner or lot owner, you cannot fish there.

You pay a $100 fine or go to jail, starting next month.

For those with boats, you cannot be within 300 feet of a bridge or dock.

Sure, we could go to the Naples Pier or Bonita, but what about Marco? The best times I've had have been on Marco.

I wish there were some way to meet in the middle. However, money talks.

Crystal Keeling , Naples

Letter: Bumper crop of taxes

Editor, Daily News:

Outrageous! Windfall tax increase? All tax increases must be the result of a public vote by the elected tax spenders.

Pigs at a trough will eat all the corn we throw at them. The tax windfall is the corn.

Hey, we need a referendum requiring the "rollback rate." If the tax spenders want to spend more, let them go on the record for it.

Consider the reverse. Suppose the tax base falls 25 percent. The tax spenders would have to vote for a tax-rate increase.

Let's put a rollback-rate referendum to a vote.

I am an irate taxpayer.

Michael Gaynor , Marco Island

Letter: Then and now

Editor, Daily News:

My letter of Aug. 30, 2004, needs to be re-evaluated.

The installment of a pacemaker at that time was $18,635.19 for a 30-hour stay at Naples Community Hospital.

Today we are considering the status of 12 million illegal immigrants in our country. If we give them immunity or citizenship, the press is informing us that the figure, with their families wanting to join them in the United States, could very well reach 30 million.

Now think about that. The illegal immigrants only have to visit the emergency room at NCH to receive free medical care. A patient advocate at NCH sent me a letter in 2004 stating that the charges on my bill "are a reflection of three things — our costs, shortfalls in reimbursement for Medicare, Medicaid and managed-care companies, plus write-off for charity care."

With the federal government spending billions of dollars a day for the war in Iraq and billions for defense bills, are they going to pass this burden of health care for the illegal immigrants upon us, the working and retired middle class? Heaven forbid!

Won't Medicare be broke in a few years? We are in trouble if the government doesn't find a solution.

Keep the telephone numbers of your congressmen handy.

Daniel H. Lee , Naples

Letter: Here we go again?

Editor, Daily News:

A thick head and a thin skin are a scary combination. They lead to irresponsible behavior — like betting the rent money at the poker table or picking a dumb fight with the next-door neighbor. Unfortunately, we have three more years of a president with this kind of personality.

Even though his domestic policies have led us to economic disaster (one-half trillion dollars in the hole this year and bigger numbers to come) and his invasion of Iraq is the worst foreign policy decision in our history, we have more to fear from George W. Bush.

Now the Bush administration is pitching the same nonsense about Iran that they used to start a phony war with Iraq. It starts with lies to raise the fear level.

Our State Department accuses Iran of supplying the Sunni insurgency with roadside bombs to kill our troops; no evidence is supplied. Iran is Shiite. They have no love for the Sunni, whom they believe to be heretics, much less desire to arm them.

The lie is intended to make a war.

John Bolton, U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, claims that Iran "has concealed a large-scale covert nuclear weapons program for over eight years." Yet the International Atomic Energy Commission has found no evidence that Iran even has a weapons program.

Bush wants to attack Iran. Two aircraft carriers are sailing to the Persian Gulf on standby. Standby for what? Shore leave for the sailors?

It's time to raise our voices to keep Bush from going off the deep end again.

Buck Blessing , Naples

Letter: Cue for the jury pool

Editor, Daily News:

I read with great interest the letter by LeRoy Huenefeld regarding being called for jury duty several years in a row.

I too have just received my yearly notice to serve.

Coincidentally, I have known LeRoy for 15 years and have now figured out why we keep getting called when nobody else we know gets summoned.

We're both bald.

See you in the waiting room with all the other "hairing impaired" jurors, LeRoy.

John Bartoldus, Naples

Letter: The rest of the story

Editor, Daily News:

Regarding Ben Bova's global-warming thoughts in his article about not acting when we know a crisis is looming, he clearly shows he is part of the apocalyptic doom-and-gloom media.

He states scientists have been warning the global climate is warming, and we should be prepared for significant climate change, i.e., "when sea levels start to rise steeply and every coastal city in the world is threatened, and Florida and the Gulf coast start to go underwater ... ."

Ben knows that scientists also have told us that these alarmist predictions are very suspect. They are based on global climate models run through computers that produce a wide range of results from controversial theoretical inputs. Some scientists skeptical of apocalyptic results do not now believe a crisis is looming based on a rise of human-induced carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.

Ben and his fellow alarmists must only be considering the most dire projections of warming effects. They never mention the other computer-produced scenarios which many renowned atmospheric physicists and climatologists believe are more likely to occur, are less costly to adopt sensible policies to combat and would allow the world to more efficiently use resources to adapt to climate change and other problems until we have more hard data pointing the way to real solutions for global warming.

After all, Ben, we are talking about trillions of dollars. But books which show how global warming might inundate the Earth probably would sell better than hard scientific data and real solutions.

Jim Van Pelt , Naples

Letter: Back in action

Editor, Daily News:

Having contracted a serious case of "outrage fatigue," I have been disabled from letter-writing for some time now.

However, the news of the Supreme Court trimming "whistle-blower" rights is the last straw!

If wrongdoing or misconduct by government cannot be cited by government employees, who are the primary persons able to witness such deeds firsthand, then the government is completely immune to all accountability. It can do no wrong! There is no recourse!

Until now, routine intimidation of employees has stifled feedback Those who have dared to speak truth to power have been demonized and fired. From here onward, it's official: it's see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil!

The politicization of the Supreme Court has come to roost. Justice Samuel Alito has cast the deciding vote. Where is Justice Sandra O'Connor when we need her?

Welcome, "1984"!

Flo Beckler , Naples