Letters to the Editor: June 8, 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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The last straw

Editor, Daily News:

I found it very disturbing to read that because of a deal made by the state of Florida in 1990, our public schools cannot inquire as to any student’s (and by implication, their parents’) legal status to be here.

I know the feds have sold the citizenry down the drain to Vincente Fox, but now I see even the state has no intestinal fortitude.

Just who is in charge here?

It is supposed to be the citizens/taxpayers who our officials work for (supposedly) as we are the paying for all the excesses allowed by the government — over our protests.

I, for one, am fed up with all elected state and federal officials and will vote against all incumbents in 2006.

It’s time to look for a third party that backs its citizens and has that platform in 2008.

If so, count me in.

Bill Confoy/Naples

Great coach and gentleman

Editor, Daily News:

Next year will be my 39th in the classroom. I have also had the good fortune to have played soccer for 49 years, before stopping at age 59 because of knee problems.

Because of both activities, I have known Manny Touron as an educator, soccer player and coach. Simply stated, he is the epitome of excellence in both areas. In my opinion, Manny is the best principal, soccer coach and educator in Collier County Public Schools.

In addition to that, he is the classic gentleman.

His departure from the coaching ranks will be a great loss to all who care about soccer, the students at Immokalee High School and, in particular, the Immokalee High School soccer players.

Regarding the current problem, Ray Baker and Eric Williams should do all they can to make sure that the children do not suffer further by losing the coaching expertise of this outstanding individual. His resignation will do nothing good and will do much harm to our students. I can think of no one who is a better role model for our kids.

Thomas A. Briscoe/Teacher, Lely High School; Co-chairman, SOS (Save Our Schools)

Just the facts

Editor, Daily News:

I am writing in support of Dr. Wendy Humphrey, who is involved in a malpractice case filed by the estate of Marlaina Leigh Kim.

It is always sad when a young mother dies for any reason. My mother died of cancer at the age of 36.

We did not sue the doctor.

Dr. Humphrey is a very caring and qualified doctor who has her patients’ health and well-being as her primary focus. I am proud to be one of those patients.

Cancer is sometimes a very elusive disease which eludes many professionals in being correctly diagnosed and treated. Let’s allow the facts of this case to speak for themselves and let the jury decide on the guilt or innocence of the parties on trial.

Emotions should not be the determining factor in deciding this case.

Linda Slade/Naples

Getting very old

Editor, Daily News:

Letter writer John Riccio is paying the price for his delusional “Bush lied” rants.

For all aging liberals, viewing old, anti-Vietnam war movies is the only thing left to bolster their emotional motors of hatred toward Bush.

Incapable of confronting his own uncertainties regarding WMDs, the ever pompous Riccio has entered into the liberal realm of perpetual incompetence with his predictable distortions of reality.

As a fan of Google searches, Riccio no doubt cringes when he reads pro-Bush administration quotes from political leaders around the world, including those from both Clintons, Gore, Kerry, Carter and the U.N. Security Council regarding Iraq and WMD.

Despite an overwhelming world consensus that Iraq possessed WMDs, liberals like Riccio still miss the “larger issues” of the justification for the war in Iraq.

So-called intellectuals on the left are incapable of defending their positions countering those “larger issues.” Like cockroaches after a nuclear holocaust, they keep coming back with their “he lied” mantra.

Of course, that strategy became fashionable around the same time killing babies became popular among liberals, so what else is new?

The smug satisfaction Riccio derives from character assassination is a warped reflection of his disturbing theme of envy, resentment and hate. Sooner or later, merit in what he espouses must play a role.

Barry Willoughby/Bonita Springs

Silence is golden

Editor, Daily News:

I would like to commend your paper for not covering the trial against Dr. Wendy Humphrey in Wednesday’s paper.

The sensationalist reporting over the past week of this trial, similar to the O.J. Simpson or Scott Peterson trials, is only fostering the malpractice crisis in this state that is driving away some of our finest physicians.

Rebecca W. Lambert, M.D./Naples

Odd coupling

Editor, Daily News:

“Thank the Lord for Planned Parenthood.”

To some that may seem a dichotomy.

My experience: 1973-75 EMT/ambulance, Steubenville, Ohio; Gainesville Police Department, 1976-1984; rape crisis volunteer/Project HELP, five years, Naples.

My job with Project HELP was to meet and assist the victims. Initially, we met our victims at hospital emergency rooms. Our ERs have wonderful personnel but were naturally extremely busy. At times we waited three to four hours or more for an examination and a “rape kit” to be completed.

Planned Parenthood opened their arms to these victims by having their nurses meet us at their office — most times in the middle of the night. They gave comfort, compassion and medical aid (providing there weren’t major physical injuries), in a much-needed private and calm atmosphere.

In almost 15 years, I can’t begin to imagine how many times I had to look into the eyes of women who were the victims of incest, rape and spouse abuse. Thirty percent of rape victims are also incest victims and do not tell their families for that very reason.

I won’t argue that abstinence may be the best form of birth control, but maybe your letter writer from the Abstinence Council should be preaching abstinence to the rapists in our prisons. Due to revolving-door justice, they will surely be returning to society and bringing with them one of the highest rates of recidivism.

Don’t disparage Planned Parenthood to further your own views.

E.J. LoPresti/Naples

Under construction

Editor, Daily News:

In response to Mr. Lingsch’s letter about the birdhouse and housing, here is where he went wrong:

1. He didn’t get a permit from Collier County to hang this birdhouse.

2. He just can’t let these bluebirds move in without a county inspector looking at it first.

3. The woodpecker was sent by the county to destroy this illegal house for eminent domain. This tree was meant for snowbirds, not local birds.

Ted Smith/Naples

Downhill fast

Editor, Daily News:

Ban the amendment, not gay marriage!

Have we forgotten this is America, land of the free? What happened to freedom? Equality? Tolerance? Respect for individual differences?

How can America remain a free country if its Constitution allows government to dictate the feelings of its constituents?

America is under attack not by Iraq or Afghanistan, but from its own self-righteous “terrorists” within who wish to impose personal likes, dislikes and beliefs on the population and selectively deprive citizens of their civil rights.

History shows that destructive leadership never makes a clear announcement of its real intentions. Misery increases by barely perceptible increments. A group loses a few rights one day, a bunch of people lose their jobs the next day, a business or two “moves away,” a neighbor loses some property ...

One day someone realizes the sorry state of affairs and wonders, “How did we get here?“

Our choice of partners varies with our individual differences. America used to be proud of the way it integrates its people and their differences into a single beautiful, powerful entity. We claimed this integration of differences is what gives America its strength.

Look at us now! Shame on America! Shame on its pandering politicians! Shame on the insecure citizens who demand safety of sameness and who cannot appreciate what America stands for! Shame on the current administration using fear and ignorance to manipulate voters instead of real ideas and solutions!

Shame on anyone who writes discrimination into our Constitution!

Jessica Schreier/Naples

Better them than us?

Editor, Daily News:

Please, pray, tell me why we are so accommodating to the citizens of Mexico and their president.

On May 31 your paper carried a letter to the editor from Robert Jenkins, who is a veteran.

Seems he has been waiting for more than three years to receive surgery for a service-related injury.

Fast-forward to the next day.

An article from New York tells us that the city hospitals are distributing letters assuring immigrants that no one will question their legal status when admitted. If workers reveal this information, they could lose their jobs.

So, I guess, forget our veterans and gung ho forward with the illegals.

I, for one, am totally disgusted with this injustice.

Renate Kelly/Naples

Fighting back

Editor, Daily News:

Three random thoughts:

First: Kudos to letter writer S.A. Scheiner, M.D., on his opinion that it is a shame that an HBO documentary, “Baghdad Emergency Room,” is being hidden from the public by the Pentagon.

I agree this show — I’ll call it contemporary “M*A*S*H*” — should be required viewing for all adult Americans.

There has not been nearly enough public awareness of those American heroes who are suffering indescribable wounds as well as death in this Iraq debacle.

Second: I think that there has not been nearly enough emphasis by the media as to our failures in Afghanistan. The war there against al-Qaida should have been brought to completion before we committed our forces in another war unless there had been proof of an imminent attack on the U.S.

Third: Sen. Harry Reid should be ashamed of himself. Even though it was apparently legal for him to receive ringside (a $350 freebie) seats for a boxing match, as a senator he should have held himself to a higher standard. He would have not been given the look of impropriety if he’d shelled out the cash.

P.S.: It is good that the 6-year-old girl was arrested for kicking her teacher. Maybe we can make it a felony too when preschoolers in daycare spill their milk. That will keep them in line and improve their behavior.

Robert Friedman/Naples

Timing and everything

Editor, Daily News:

If you are President Bush and the news doesn’t fit your agenda, you can always change the news.

So, while total chaos appears to reign in Iraq, with things getting more and more macabre every day and body counts continuing to rise, our president decides to tackle the imminently dangerous and must-be-addressed-right-now issue of same-sex marriages.

And, while gas prices hover around $3, oil company profits set all-time records and Iran thumbs its nose at us, he decides to get serious about border security, five years after 9/11. (A little late to close the barn door, Mr. President.)

I am sure President Bush would rather talk about issues that appeal to his political base and which other people do agree with him about. With a 70 percent disapproval rating, that’s only natural. And no doubt those Republicans looking to get re-elected would also like to see that.

But I wonder why FDR never addressed the same-sex marriage issue? Perhaps he was too busy fighting a war and didn’t have time to placate a political base.

Call me old-fashioned, but I put a much higher priority on supporting our troops by getting them out of needless harm’s way than obsessing whether homosexuals receive equal treatment in this land of freedom and equality.

With elections coming, President Bush is sending out more political smoke than an Everglades fire. Let’s hope we see through it.

Art Herman/Bonita Springs