Letters to the Editor for Tuesday. Oct. 16

Murphy not for taxpayers

I am not pleased to see Bonita Springs Fire Control & Rescue District Commissioner James Murphy being supported by the local fire union in a letter-writing campaign and by full-page ads in the Bonita Banner.

Isn’t he my elected representative?

It’s just obvious that Murphy has demonstrated his loyalty to the union rather than to the taxpayers and he is being rewarded for it.

I will not vote for a fire commissioner who hasn’t spoken out in favor of a taxpayer issue in his entire four-year term and who is not known within the district for leadership or strong taxpayer protection.

I will vote for Bill Lonkart, who understands his total responsibility as a fire commissioner.

Albert Riccardi, Bonita Springs

Running on accomplishments

Why am I running for Marco Island City Council? Because I am committed to Marco Island and there is unfinished business and I believe I can make a difference. 

In my four years on City Council I initiated or helped:

1. Pass ordinances to make Veterans' Community Park a “real” park and avoid commercial development.

2. Eliminate density credit transfers to control growth and keep green spaces.

3. Eliminate the use of plastic straws (replaced with biodegradable ones) and their impact on our environment.

4. Propose legislation to protect burrowing owls and gopher tortoise habitats.

5. Approve the school resource officers program to protect our three schools.

6. Keep commercial parking away from residential areas.

7. Increase the council’s involvement in better stormwater management to improve the cleanliness of our waterways and beaches. 

There is unfinished business, namely hiring a qualified city manager; addressing water quality issues; improving swales; maintaining green spaces; maintaining beaches; solving parking problems; improving communications with our citizens/taxpayers; improving our city staff morale; helping to finally achieve the Veterans' Community Park improvements desired by our citizens; working with council to address high water and sewer rates, and improving county relationships.

I am proud that I have fulfilled my promises, that I have a verifiable track record of performance. Unlike other candidates who “promise,” I have “walked the walk and talked the talk” and, simply put, have “made promises and kept promises”

I humbly ask Marco Island voters to re-elect me so that I can complete the critical tasks outlined above.

Victor N. Rios, Marco Island

Professional knowledge

I am writing to urge voters to vote for Sandra Lee Buxton for Collier Mosquito Control District Seat 3. I have known her for a long time and I have seen her tackle any task she has undertaken with thoroughness and professionalism.

Buxton has been an involved citizen in our community in health care and numerous charitable endeavors for many years.

As a nurse, she has seen the effects that mosquitoes can cause to both children and adults. She can bring professional knowledge of health concerns to the Mosquito Control District Board. Health concerns are very important in the selection of what chemicals or insecticides are used in our county.

Vote Buxton and put her on our mosquito board.

Joan J. Curley, Naples 

Big sugar is to blame

In the Oct. 5 edition of the Naples Daily News, a representative of U.S. Sugar proclaims the industry has no culpability regarding our ongoing water quality issues.

Space is limited, so from a letter from an industry laden with distortion, let’s pick two items.

First is the claim that sugar farming can’t be an issue related to water quality because, if it was, then we would have seen similar effects over the past 70 years. This is analogous to a lifelong smoker succumbing to lung cancer in late middle age, only to be told by the tobacco industry “it can’t be because of tobacco; if it was, then you would have come down with cancer 10, 20 or 30 years ago.”

Second, the claim that “South Florida has been irrevocably altered” has a kernel of truth, while ignoring the fact that revoking sugar leases on state property and revoking the remainder by eminent domain would lead to a dramatic improvement in the quality of water and the environment in general, both on our coasts and in Florida Bay.

The truth: Florida cane sugar remains immensely profitable through a complex price support subsidy at huge taxpayer expense, both financially and environmentally. It is an example of corporate socialism at its worst; it needs to go.

The issues are too complex to fully discuss here. However, I recommend anyone with an interest in our local environment might enjoy a seminal book on the subject (“The Swamp,” by Michael Grunwald, Simon and Schuster, 2007), while the truth about the Florida sugarcane industry may be examined at https:/www.bullsugar.org.

Andrew Tyler, Marco Island

Sick and tired of entertainers’ opinions

I am so sick and tired of political opinions from our entertainment performers! Who cares? Who do they think they are? Are they really so self-absorbed to think that everyone else takes their personal choices as some type of researched and educated facts for us to act upon? Really?

Why not have a group of doctors or landscapers or painters profess their own political choices? At least they're in contact with the real world!

Dale Cohan, Naples

Fictional political theater unsuccessful

Never in my 70 years have I witnessed such superb political theater as I observed for nine hours while watching the Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh hearings.

I would have believed professor Christine Blasey Ford but for the fact that she is 51 and not a teenager or even in her 20s. I've worked with real victims of sexual assault and by age 51 they have worked through the trauma they may have experienced as a 15-year-old and can freely talk about it in a coherent and logical manner. Ford's body language was weepy, forgetful and tearful at times, To top it off, she was caught in lies by changing her story a few times. Plus, Ford's face could change from weepy to laughter when one of her attorneys spoke to her. Real emotional pain does not go away that quickly. 

The real tell-tale sign that this was political theater, instead of a true story, is that none of the four witnesses that Ford said were present could corroborate her well-rehearsed testimony. They did not want to perjure themselves. We and the Senate were simply witnessing fictional political theater that was proven to have no factual basis, according to the seventh FBI investigation of Kavanaugh and the witnesses Ford said were present.

We may never know if Ford's activist attorney and Sen. Dianne Feinstein used her or if Ford, herself, was part of this charade, but fortunately for America's democracy, political theater without a shred of factual evidence simply does not work.

Dionne M. Schwartz, Naples

Democrats rushed to judgment

Here’s a short history of assessing guilt without corroboration:

• In the Middle Ages, those accused were tossed into water to see if they floated.

• At the Salem witch trials, “spectral evidence” (testimony about dreams and visions) was accepted. Hangings ensued.

• During the McCarthy era, calling people communists without corroboration was enough for “blacklisting” or worse.

• During the 1980s and 1990s, there was a rash of day care sex-abuse trials. All these cases were based on bizarre accusations elicited from young children by interviewers who years later were found to have coaxed unfounded statements. Many innocent people were imprisoned for years.

• In 2011, President Barack Obama’s Education Department issued guidance to colleges on procedures for handling accusations of sexual harassment/violence that diminished the presumption of innocence and denied those accused legal counsel or the opportunity to “confront their accusers.” Lives of some innocent men were ruined.

• In 2018, the fragmented childhood recollections of molestation of a young woman, elicited by a therapist decades after the alleged event, nearly derailed the confirmation of a highly qualified judge to the Supreme Court. In this widely publicized case, the accusation was withheld by a Democratic senator until the hearings were nearly over, the woman could not provide any details as to where or when the assault supposedly occurred and none of the people she cited for corroboration could do so.

I have daughters and wholeheartedly agree all women’s accusations need to be heard, but those accused have rights too, including the presumption of innocence. Democrats rushed to judgment without any corroboration and do not deserve nor should be trusted with the reins of power. Vote appropriately.

Ira Cotton, Naples

Community pulls together

One can always count on this community to pull together. Case in point, a collaboration formed and centered around helping people with diabetes.

Years ago, a local couple, Joe and Tami Balavage, learned their child was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes and they chose to help others by forming a grass-roots, nonprofit entitled Help a Diabetic Child (HADC). HADC operates with volunteers.

Focused on assisting those who couldn’t afford insulin, the Balavage’s passion for a cure led them to network with world-renowned experts, many of whom now serve on their board. Their goal to share what they learned led to a community forum. Four years later, this has blossomed from Healthcare Network being the sole participating provider to a venue filled with experts from Lee Health, NCH Healthcare System and the University of Florida Diabetes Institute.

Philanthropists joining HADC’s effort include the Weny Charitable Trust, the von Arx Foundation, the Community Foundation of Collier County and the Richard M. Schulze Family Foundation.

Schulze’s foundation funds insulin, while the Weny Charitable Trust became a force behind HADC expanding to include an initiative focused on managing diabetes. Weny’s support allowed HADC to collaborate with Core Health Partners, an expert in medically integrated diabetes programming. Through Core Health Partners' participation with HADC, the National Wellness Institute (NWI) took notice and joined the collaborative movement. The NWI is now added to the slate of experts at this year’s conference, recently named in honor of the von Arx Family Foundation.

Restore your faith in people; check out HADC’s conference. It’s on Nov. 4 at Florida SouthWestern College (Naples campus). HADC has grown through passionate volunteers, who when faced with crisis respond by sharing everything.

Paul Thein, Naples

Devious Supreme Court

How stupid do the Florida Supreme Court justices think we are to allow state constitutional Amendments 6 and 9, which have two questions each, but only one answer on the voting ballot.

This is very devious to me. I wish that I could fire all of them.

Peggy Felice, Naples