Letters to the editor for Wednesday, May 22, 2024

Petition for clean water

As a business owner and mother to two teenagers living in Florida, water quality is important to me. When I moved here from Wisconsin in 1995, going to the beach and weekends on the boat were a major source of happiness.I never would have dreamed that one day I’d feel anything other than joy about being near the water, much less concern over my kids going in that water! Checking the news for the fecal monitoring report and hoping the blue-green algae coming from Lake O won’t ruin a vacation for visiting friends and family is now part of life.Rainy season is coming and massive amounts of Lake O’s polluted runoff water will be sent to the Caloosahatchee River. When they last stopped the release it didn’t take long at all for me to notice the difference while driving over the bridge to Sanibel − pale blue is much more inviting than smelly reddish-brown.We have many groups in Florida trying to tackle these growing issues with some success, but we have laws that have been in place that regulate the amount of pollutants − like agriculturally sourced pollutants, septic runoff or fertilizers – that need to be enforced! I found an effort that looks to do just that.Go to Floridarighttocleanwater.org. Print out the petition. Match your signature to your voter registration card and mail it to the given address. If you want to help with our efforts to get this amendment on the ballot, please email LeeRighttoCleanWater@gmail.com

Carrie Cremia, Cape Coral

Local vet in D.C. parade

On Memorial Day, hundreds of veterans who served during Operation Desert Storm in 1991 will be in our nation’s capital to honor those who have died during their military service. Michael C. Derner of Naples will march in one of the largest groups of veterans in the National Memorial Day Parade beginning at 2 p.m. EDT on Monday, May 27, on Constitution Avenue in Washington, D.C. The parade is broadcast live and produced by the American Veterans Center. Less than one mile from the parade route is the land where the Desert Shield and Desert Storm Memorial will be constructed. Projected completion and dedication of thememorial is fall 2025.

Cee Freeman, vice president of the National Desert Storm Memorial Association, said, “During Operation Desert Storm, I served with the finest fighting force ever assembled. 33 years later, I am honored to be in the official reviewing stand on Memorial Day to witness their commitment, honor, and veneration for the men and women who died while serving.“

Michael C. Derner, a U.S. Army veteran, served in Operation Desert Shield and Operation Desert Storm with the 82nd Airborne Division.

Gretchen Shansky, Naples

Mail-in ballots are safe

Are mail-in ballots safe?Political candidates in some states have said ballots are being brought in by thumb drives and in wheelbarrows and contend that mail-in ballots are phony or forged.Florida law states all registered voters are permitted to vote by mail.There are also many ways to get a vote by mail ballot from the election office, in-person, by email or phone.A legal guardian or immediate family member can also obtain ballots for another. To get a ballot, submit the voter's name, address and signature, driver's license (if available), relationship to the voter and signature. When signing the form, the signature must match the election signature on file.USPS tracks vote by mail ballots through Ballot Trax, a service utilized by Lee County to enable voters to be notified when their ballot is received, counted or if there is an issue with the vote. It is free of charge to the voter.Keep election integrity! Mail in your vote. Ballots are safe. VOTE!

Kathleen Callard RNBS, North Fort Myers

Wildlife in decline

I received the most outrageous email. They claimed there was a petition from some group in Naples asking to remove (kill) all alligators over 4 feet in length from ponds. These people move down here and want to sterilize our environment according to their ignorance. They are the reason development has run rampant with the destruction of our natural environment. Since I moved here 10 years ago the bird population has markedly declined and so has the panther population. Now our governor has made it easy to kill any nuisance bears. Introduced pythons are eating our small animals so what remains? If you don’t like our nature go elsewhere to play golf.

Benjamin Glick, Naples

Students and controversy

Many thanks to Michael Andoscia for his important column about parent-teacher partnerships or the lack thereof. We can see the results of the current trend to not bother students with controversial material by what is happening on college campuses. Instead of being willing to have an open dialogue between pro-Palestinian students and pro-Israel students the solution that the campus encampments present is to cancel the Jewish students and their voices while allowing non-student infiltrators to hijack the campuses and cause mayhem for everyone else on campus but most particularly against the Jewish students, some of whom may be pro-Israel and others may not be, but no one wants to hear their point of view because they feel "triggered" by any point of view that is different from what they have been spoon fed by the infiltrators on campus.

Kenneth Wetcher, Naples

Teacher pay

A recent article claimed that Florida ranks number 1 in education (I believe it was information taken from US News and World Report). That same outlet also said Florida ranks last in teacher pay compared to cost of living of all 50 states.

Based on this, are all other states drastically overpaying their teachers for substandard results, or is Florida drastically underpaying its teachers for excellent results?

People talk about how pay should be based on performance. In Collier County (one of the top districts in the state) a single person starting teaching does not earn a livable wage for Naples' cost of living. Seasoned teachers don’t make much more.

Best teachers, worst pay. Maybe this is an issue that needs to be addressed.

Frederic Laderer, Naples

Inflation and profits

The SWFL Voices on Wednesday, May 15 had two letters discussing inflation and took a political position. I'd like to address the selected data used in those letters without making it political. The first letter points out that Publix's net profit increased from $2.9B in 2022 to $4.3B in 2023 and the company is therefore raising prices, ripping off customers, and causing inflation. The author fails to mention Publix had a net profit of $4.4B in 2021 on much lower sales than in 2023 and its net profit margin percentage declined over the three-year period. The second letter focuses on the profits of Walmart and Albertson's as well as Publix with incorrect data. Walmart did not earn $157.9B in profit in 2023 as the writer states. Walmart had net income of $11.3B on sales of $611.3B. In other words, Walmart earned less than two cents on every dollar of sales, hardly an obscene profit and almost 30% lower than the net profit margin in 2021. Likewise, Albertsons information was incorrect as the company had a net profit of $1.3B on sales of $79.2B in 2023 also yielding less than two cents of net profit for every dollar of sales. The author makes the mistake of confusing gross profits with net profits, two entirely different financial measures. Yes, we have had significant inflation, but let's not lead the public astray with bad data to try and make a political point.

Jerry Solomon, Naples

Byron Donalds photos

In the May 20 News-Press online, there was an article “Who is Byron Donalds? Photos of congressman help tell this Republican's story.” Even for The News-Press this was a remarkably lopsided puff piece. Now that The News-Press has expounded on the life and times of Byron Donalds, we should certainly expect the media source to do a similar piece on his Democratic opponent in the November 2024 election, Kari Lerner.

Daniel Becker, Fort Myers

Repetitive letters

The repetitive nature of Saturday’s letters seems to have been written on command by Democratic headquarters in Collier County. The negative tone of the letters and the similarity of the selected content and the individuals mentioned were specific in condemning (of course) Trump, Byron Daniels and Rick Scott too. Save space on your page and save the ink — one letter would have sufficed.Give me a break Democrats! You can do better than that.

Richard Piccirilli, Naples

Where democracy goes to die

Govenor DeSantis is famous for his line that Florida is where woke goes to die. Florida is now where democracy goes to die. Our Florida Republican politicians are lining up to support a charlatan who wants to become the first dictator elected president of the U.S. Trump wants to follow the play book of Putin and Victor Orban. The Heritage Foundation is leading these politicians to form a government with no future elections. The Supreme Court they have put in place says that the president cannot be held responsible for his acts. Now the Florida Republicans are calling the trials against Trump a sham. After years of buying lawsuits against his victims he is using the Republican Party to discredit his victims and his trials. They are working hard to make this look like patriotic acts to protect the American way of life. If we let this happen the people of Florida who put these people in office need to apologize to the veterans and all the families of veterans who fought and died to protect democracy in the United States. The State of Florida is no longer a democracy. The Florida Republicans now want fascism to replace democracy in the United States.

Mike Phillips, Naples

Sycophants in red ties

Wasn’t a pleasure to see the red tied sycophants supporting the defendant and trying to intimidate the court proceedings. Instead of being in Washington to do the business they were sent there to do. Most of them were there auditioning for the VP job. It is absolutely pathetic what has become of a once respected Republican Party. Let the court and the jury consider the evidence and make a determination. After all this the United States of America and justice will prevail.

Dennis Flynn, North Fort Myers

Embarrassing display

I am a long-time conservative who is incredibly embarrassed by the display which occurred in New York where Trump sycophants, vice president hopefuls, as well as the speaker of the House who is trying to hold onto his position, spoke out, denigrating the witnesses, the judge and our entire legal system since Trump is under a gag order! What a charade, with all of them wearing the same "costume." How shameful!As far as I am concerned, they, and many other Republicans in office, have sold their souls and integrity to the devil. This is a very sad and dark time for our country and will be unfavorably written about for years to come.

Gwyn Baker-Steiner, Marco Island

Biden's balanced position

Joe Biden has a well-balanced position on the student protests over the Israeli government’s strikes on Gaza.  In a recent commencement speech, he stated: “In a democracy, we debate and dissent about America’s role in the world.  I want to say this very clearly. I support peaceful, nonviolent protest. Your voices should be heard, and I promise you I hear them.”

“What’s happening in Gaza… is heartbreaking,” he said, with “innocent Palestinians caught in the middle” of a fight between Hamas and Israel. He reminded them that he has called “for an immediate ceasefire… to stop the fighting and bring the hostages home.” His administration has been working for a deal, as well as to get more aid into Gaza and to rebuild it. Crucially, he added, there is more at stake than “just one ceasefire.” He wants “to build a lasting, durable peace. Because the question is: What after? What after Hamas? What happens then? What happens in Gaza? What rights do the Palestinian people have?  I’m working to make sure we finally get a two-state solution — the only solution — for two people to live in peace, security, and dignity.”

Biden went on to say: “This is one of the hardest, most complicated problems in the world.  Leadership is about fighting through the most intractable problems. It’s about challenging anger, frustration, and heartbreak to find a solution. It’s about doing what you believe is right, even when it’s hard and lonely.”

Sally Lam, Naples

Character of the president

What kind of character do we want our presidential leader to have?

∙ A man who cares about and supports legislation to help working people?∙ A man who cares about and supports legislation to reverse the impact of rising temperatures on our Earth?∙ A man who cares about and supports NATO and other democratic countries?∙ A man who cares about and supports the people in countries being attacked by militant neighboring nations?∙ A man who combated the COVID-19 virus and returned our economy and health to our people?∙ A man who is investing in rebuilding the safe infrastructure of roads, railroads, air travel, bridges, internet services, and water services?∙ A man who demonstrates family values and decency?∙ A man who believes in the separation of powers, the rule of law, and the U.S. Constitution?∙ A candidate who supports "we the people," our liberties, and our freedoms?

This is the dossier of a person I would choose to lead our government.

Linda Lindquist, North Fort Myers

Presidential debates

Are you looking forward to the presidential debates. I am.Trump will be alone, forced to answer complex questions without lying like a blanket and going off topic. The moderator will try to get him to focus on the question asked because that is their job. After the debates, faux news will claim these are "attacks" on Trump, that he wasn’t allowed to answer his way. That he was debating the moderator instead of or along with Biden.Biden will also be alone. Except he has a really good record to run on, a vibrant economy and huge job growth that even now, Faux Snooze is loath to report. The numbers don’t lie. Trump does. Biden doesn’t have to. And Biden has a vision for the future he can articulate.Trump can ramble but he can’t thread together complex policy or a platform because his vocabulary is weak and he repeats himself, wasting valuable debate time. He will instead rely on his go-to style of short sentences and off tangent personal attacks of his opponent rather than using facts or real numbers. It will literally be word salads with repetitious slogan statements and the primary focus will be himself.His greatest hits will be all the lies about his term. "Greatest economy in world history," "We did the best X this country has ever seen," "I made the greatest X since Abraham Lincoln." None of it true. Fact checkers and other news agencies rebutting him in real time. Trump can hold a rally. Trump can bloviate about windmills and Hannibal Lecter and make bold proclamations but when it comes to these debates, his rhetoric will be upended by a simple question. How..? How Donald..? How will you implement anything you promise when you failed to deliver while in office? By being a dictator?

Steve Wolfson, Fort Myers

Why support Trump?

For the past eight years I've pondered the question of "WHY." Why when Trump continues to show you who he is, why do so many good people continue to support him. I've come to the conclusion that it all revolves around the word "hate," hate of Democrats, hate of liberals and the hate to admit that they have been wrong all this time. I'm 85 years old, I have friends of 70 years that cling to the Trump illusion, and I attribute it to groups of people they associate with that reinforce their refusal to see the truth.

Roger W. Quagliano , Estero

This article originally appeared on Fort Myers News-Press: Letters to the editor for Wednesday, May 22, 2024