St. Lucie sheriff, Indian River Lagoon cleanup, newspaper's new format on readers' minds

St. Lucie County sheriff must be more transparent

As a former journalist and regular TCPalm reader, I am concerned about the lack of transparency at the St. Lucie Sheriff's Office and the unusually long delays in the release of news to the public. This was especially apparent April 9, when the sheriff's office still had not released information to a TCPalm reporter about a collision between a Brightline train and a vehicle on Midway Road two days earlier.

The reporter stated in his brief online report that the sheriff's office has not released information on this and several other requests over the past few weeks. The delay in getting information is very apparent and needs to be rectified.

The sheriff's office is funded through tax dollars, and it is responsible to me and other taxpayers for releasing news in a timely manner. Several days is not "timely."

I suspect the public information officer is being told not to release the information, forcing her to breach her duty to the public to keep citizens informed. This is not acceptable.

The interim sheriff promised transparency when he was installed, and he has so far failed to deliver. He needs to turn things around quickly if he expects St. Lucie County voters like me to support him in the coming election. At this point, the sheriff does not have my vote.

Glenn Henderson, Fort Pierce

Protecting Indian River Lagoon most important issue

The range of issues being addressed by the current city council in Vero Beach is impressive: Three Corners development, downtown revitalization, a new wastewater treatment facility, and the list goes on. However, in my opinion, the most important effort underway is the rescue of the Indian River Lagoon.

If the health of this vital estuary is not restored, all of our efforts to move forward will be bound to failure. As a community, we absolutely cannot continue to passively condone any action by any legislative body that will have a negative impact on recovery efforts now underway. This issue is too important to ignore.

I recently met with community leaders of the Indian River Neighborhood Association and the Clean Water Coalition. Mike Johannsen and Barbara Ruddy from the IRNA and Keith Drewett from the CWC discussed initiatives currently underway in the city of Vero Beach that will help mitigate the damage already done to the lagoon.

Clearly, it’s going to require a lot more investment than just our local action, but if we don’t do our part here locally, then we can’t really ask anyone else to do theirs. If you agree with that premise, and I do, then you would have to agree that the city of Vero Beach is a great example of a local municipality stepping up to the plate: the STEP program, the stormwater utility, the new wastewater treatment plant, and the John's Island pipeline from the Central Relief Canal, just to name a few.

Community involvement is one of the cornerstones of life here in Vero Beach. I believe we all should participate in efforts underway to restore the IRL to health: Riverside Theatre will have a panel discussion on April 29 at 5 p.m. I encourage your participation.

Dale Sorensen, Vero Beach

TCPalm's new look is fine, but content is still biased

Yes, your new format is OK, but so was the old one. At present, local news and cartoons are the only reason I subscribe to the Stuart News.

You have lost readership because you have abandoned impartiality in your reporting. I remember when you were once a proud, independent, nonpartisan voice in our community, with staff people like Ernie Lyons and Eve Samples.

As part of “the Fourth Estate,” your obligation should be to bravely and publicly provide the benefit of a free and impartial press to us citizens. All news stories do not require a ”liberal slant.”

Your job is to help safeguard democracy by reporting news events accurately and not turning every story into a Democratic Party talking point. Newspapers like yours should be a bulwark safeguarding our democracy, but only if you are committed to honestly and accurately reporting national news. You need to print all national news, not just the one-sided stuff we see that has been filtered through liberal censors.

For example, it roils me every time I see a TCN reference to Donald Trump where your writers are invariably compelled to insert a comment about “Trump’s false claims of election irregularities.” How can you seriously assert that there were no “irregularities” in the 2020 election?

I’m not an extremist. I’m one of the people that followed the aftermath of that election, saw documentaries like “2000 Mules” and watched state senate hearings where people reported Election Day anomalies ― all of which was swept under the rug.

Sadly, you and virtually all our national print and TV news media outlets have become untrustworthy spokesmen, promoting anything and everything that lies to the left of reasonable judgment.

Just keep your cartoon page intact, and you will keep e-subscribers like me ― at least for a while longer.

Paul Vallier, Stuart

See big picture and long-term view on climate change

When considering human behavior, it’s necessary to remember people have a distinct tendency to act in their own best interests. One aspect of such self-centeredness is that partisanship outweighs provable evidence (such as melting glaciers and rising sea levels).

For example, the North Sea has risen nearly a foot since 1900. The rate of rise has accelerated by two-thirds since the 1990s (The Economist). In spite of this existential threat, Dutch voters elected a “hard-right candidate, Geert Wilders, who wants to put global climate accords ‘through the shredder.’ ” (Note: One-quarter of the Netherlands is below sea level.) Throughout Europe, green parties wanting to prepare their nations for the inevitable effects of global warming “are getting hammered” by ultra-conservative politics.

People also tend to have short memories, and climate-change skeptics adopt obstinate opposition fortified by far-right groups that willingly sacrifice long-term planning for short-term political victories. Oftentimes, emotions and not reason undermine the urgency supporting actions that protect our planet (to the frustration of those who have the perception to look to the future for posterity’s sake).

An example of such obstinacy occurred last year in Switzerland. While the Great Aletsch Glacier could lose half its mass within a half-century, Swiss efforts to pass a climate law via referendum were opposed “by a group directly threatened by the Alps’ vanishing snow: hotel owners.”

Our world demands a new perspective that many individuals resist. As Thomas Kuhn noted, scientists who devote their professional lives to outmoded ideas are “emotionally and habitually attached to them. Even when confronted by overwhelming evidence, they stubbornly stick with the wrong but familiar.” (The Aquarian Conspiracy)

There’s an old saying that warns: “To the blind, all things are sudden.” Minds blind to reason cannot see the enormous consequences of failing to act decisively now.

Cray Little, Vero Beach

Biden's economic successes are undeniable

There was a time not long ago when there was a "help wanted" sign in every business in America. When the U.S. came out of the pandemic, the population was flush with cash and eager to spend.

Nearly every economist and every Republican talking head told you: "A recession is coming. (President Joe) Biden has ruined the economy."

That recession never happened. Other countries around the world are suffering lingering affects of the virus. Every major economy in the world is struggling, but the Biden economy.

I could cite the statistics, like Donald Trump did. Tell you Biden is pumping more oil than Trump ever did. How the unemployment is lower than Trump's ever was. How the stock market market is higher than Trump's ever was.

I could use factual numbers to back up these claims. But why bother? The cult does not care about facts. The cult cares about feelings.

But facts still remain. The Biden economy is thriving when no else’s is. There are a lot of economists on both sides who credit the influx of labor at the southern border for staving off the recession that cult economists told you was sure to come.

The vast majority of Americans have benefited from the cheap labor that has come across the border. Fox Entertainment has no other way to go after Biden than to scream "border, border, border."

America is the most stable and strongest economy in the world right now and failing to admit it or failing to realize that will not change the reality of the facts. Sad that will not change your beliefs, either.

Don Whisman, Stuart

Can narcissists even recognize what they are?

An overt narcissist is defined as "a person who exhibits a grandiose behavior, a need for admiration and a lack of empathy for others." I wonder if this term would "sink in" to the thoughts and souls of people who suffer from the complexes of this dramatic disorder.

When the secretive behavior, the bullying occurs daily, weekly, and has occurred dramatically for decades ― had this been a nurture process? Has a game of deceptive winning, ring-leading and taking over others' rights been a nurture process by a sibling or a parent? A friend's sibling? I can't not notice, nor not be aware of the tendencies, and secretive, sly behaviors people of this trait take part in.

Someone used to tell me "the wind goes up, the wind goes down." I guess I take this statement as the perception of an instigator, a role-reversal artist, or a person who is a catalyst of bullying behavior with malicious, overt narcissism.

This type of behavior is common among people who oppress others ― people with dualities, rivals. Not all people will continue to owe their attention to, nor not be aware of, such pathological issues. I know I would be immediately aware of a person with ulterior motives in my presence, like a chauvinist with severe ego and control issues.

Excuses related to personality disorder are usually ignorant ones. A person or group could go on for decades seeking ways to oppress. It's pathological and routine.

There isn't much of a state of appreciation with many narcissistic and oppressive thinkers. What could be appreciated is either reacted to with envy and jealousy or else dismissed by some destructive individual or group.

Anna Santacroce, Fort Pierce

Trump's followers are getting conned, yet again

The grifter strikes again. Whether it be golden sneakers or his "special" Bibles, the former president never misses an opportunity to take advantage of his cult, which believes his many lies and continuously feeds his coffers. There is no doubt that he will use these "donations" to pay for his attorney's fees, while he fights against the many charges filed against him, instead of using the funds as they were intended by his fans.

Although, conversely, perhaps they are so enamored of him that they don't really care how disrespectfully he uses their hard-earned cash.

He was correct in his statement that he could kill someone on Fifth Avenue and there would be no consequences or punishment for his actions. Years later, he has committed foul crimes against this nation and has besmirched the office of the presidency.

Now he is finally being held to account, although the stolen documents case in Fort Pierce is being led by a judge who was appointed by Donald Trump and expected to have his back. She is performing exactly as he desires and should be removed from the case as she can't hide her bias in the case. She apparently doesn't realize or doesn't care that our justice system does not work in this fashion.

No surprise that the current GOP is held in thrall by this mob boss, but how sad that its members have sold their souls because of their fear of his mean-spirited retaliation.

Sharon Garland, Hobe Sound

Border 'compromise' bill was a sham

The U.S. Senate border security "compromise" bill crashed and burned after the Federation for American Immigration Reform exposed it as a sham. The closely guarded bill was released late on Sunday evening, Feb. 4. FAIR exposed that it was not about border enforcement. Rather than offering real policy changes to stop the border crisis, the bill actually codified catch-and-release policies that encourage asylum abuse and was packed with giveaways to open-borders advocates.

The Senate plan also failed to end President Joe Biden's administration's flagrant abuse of parole authority, under which it has allowed hundreds of thousands of otherwise inadmissible aliens to enter the country.

Tom Tomlinson, Palm City

This article originally appeared on Treasure Coast Newspapers: Readers speak on St. Lucie sheriff, Indian River Lagoon, TCPalm format