Letters to the Editor, Monday, Aug. 27, 2018

Sportsmen pay most for wildlife conservation

I’m always amused by the holier-than-thou attitude of vegans and vegetarians when they write letters to the editor. Let’s look at that.

What do they think was on the land before their farms? There were woods. But don’t worry about all the trees and underbrush that was cleared for farming, killing or displacing birds, animals and insects, because I’m a good guy, I don’t kill animals, I’m a vegetarian.

Then every year when it is time for the new planting the field has to be mowed, chopped and plowed for the new crop. Don’t worry about the quail, rabbits and baby deer being chopped and killed during this process because I’m a good person, I don’t kill animals, I’m a vegetarian.

Then when the crop is coming up it has to be sprayed for insects. Don’t even think about the birds that eat the poisoned insects and might die, because I’m a good person, I don’t kill animals, I’m a vegetarian.

Then you have the organic crops with no insect control, which takes even more land because more crops have to be planted to make up for the loss from insects. So, more animals are killed, but I’m a good person, I don’t kill animals, I’m a vegetarian.

Please, don’t get me wrong; I love my vegetables too. Animals’ rights groups contribute two things: violence and controversy. They do nothing else. Sportsmen are the ones who pay for the vast majority of wildlife conservation programs. Don’t believe me? Google the Pittman-Robertson Act of 1937.

The bottom line: We are all in this together.

Bucky Flowers, Naples

Overly sensitive

The escalation of racial oversensitivity continues unabated and now seems to want to disallow people from even voicing their opinion, regardless of its outward harmlessness.

In People in the News, in the Naples Daily News on Aug. 15, Page 2A, an item says British singer Sam Smith, whoever he is, apparently lost the privilege to offer his opinion when fellow musician Adam Lambert, whoever he is, recorded Smith on video saying that he didn’t like Michael Jackson (egad!), but that the song by Jackson they were listening to was good.

Lambert posted the video of this conversation on the internet, then retracted it soon afterward. No matter. The internet trolls quickly reposted it, evidently to Smith’s detriment. You see, nothing ever goes away once it’s on the internet, especially expressing dislike of a person of color, and really especially if said person is none other than pop star and Pepsi pitchman Michael Jackson. That is the nature of the instant notification- and even quicker repudiation-driven society we live in today.

Stephanie Mills, whom the article cited, was a Grammy winner and had been in “The Wiz,” otherwise I would have asked who she was, offered the snappy retort that Smith should wish he had sold as many records as Jackson has. Presumably, Smith hasn’t. In any event, it is also presumed, and certainly hoped, that Smith does not also wish to match some of Jackson’s other endeavors, such as catching his hair on fire, dangling babies over balcony railings or dying from an overdose of Propofol.

Howard M. Nulse, Naples

Proposed tax can’t compensate for poor decisions

Last week I received a “Notice to Property Owner” announcing a Sept. 6 public hearing on the subject of stormwater service fees/assessments.

I am what is typically called a “snowbird.” Though now in Naples only about six months a year, I still pay a full year of property taxes, the majority going to schools I never have — and will never — use. Like so many others, I have quite a light footprint at my condo. I pay assessments for Florida vendors, and make routine purchases of entertainment, meals and local goods and services, with all being taxed. Retirees such as me also typically have health insurance and, overall, rarely make demands on public entitlement programs.

So now comes yet another proposed tax on we golden geese. This one to cover stormwater, which must be managed owing to rampant new construction creating a loss of drainage area and referred to by the county as “impervious areas.” It is therefore difficult to understand how Collier, despite this problem, continues to approve new construction at an alarming rate. This raises a further question: the water department reports that Naples water needs already exceed projected capacity. 

Naples’ future may be in question. The Collier County commissioners’ focus on additional taxes is a futile attempt to deal with their own shortsightedness. Consider just one example, their recent focus on dedicating now open land to affordable housing.

The drainage problems and unchecked proliferation of impervious areas are the direct results of years of Collier County’s ongoing approval of countless new construction projects. This new tax, indeed no added tax, can compensate for their poor decisions.

I oppose this latest proposed tax and urge the commissioners to focus on a comprehensive, long-term plan for managing our community growth.

J.W. Holcomb, Naples

Security clearance not a right

Like many readers, I find myself appalled, shocked and dismayed at the revocation of John Brennan’s security clearance.

Shocked. Why? Why did this former CIA director still have a security clearance? His clearance should have been revoked a long time ago based on cause for saying that the president of the United States committed treason.

Why does any former official keep their security clearance when leaving their position? Sure, someone will say, to allow communication within the government concerning national security matters. But allowing them to keep it automatically without some review process?

When you leave an employer you give up your access to everything from internal emails to the washroom keys. Yet many officials that have openly opposed President Donald Trump keep their clearance thinking that it is their right. No, it’s a privilege, not to be abused.

Jeffrey Brown, Bonita Springs

Disgraceful statement

I was stunned, to say the least, to hear Andrew Cuomo, governor of New York, say, “We’re not going to make America great again because it was never that great.”

Who does this privileged snot nose think he is? He has enjoyed the freedoms and luxuries that have been handed to him by his capitalist, wealthy family, while people from around the world are trying so desperately to cross our borders to get a fraction of what has been handed to him from birth. Shame on him. I cannot see him succeeding in the future after this disgraceful quote.

I can’t begin to tell you how angry I and many others are. Regardless of all the problems that we have, we are still the country that allows people like Cuomo to say the thing he says. Please write to him in his lavish New York office and tell him how you feel. I will.

Judy Branch, Naples

FPL statements misleading

I am writing in response to several untrue statements made by a Florida Power & Light spokesperson in your Aug. 9 article about solar energy (“Florida cities embracing solar power, but Naples isn’t one of them yet”). Taken together, these comments hide the fact that rooftop solar is a viable economic option across the state.

The spokesperson claims that Floridians aren’t rushing to go solar. This simply is not true. Florida is one of the fastest growing markets for solar. The number of installed systems doubled between 2016 and 2017. Also false is her statement that an investment in solar is too long for homeowners to see a return. A presentation by the University of Central Florida’s respected Solar Energy Center finds that Florida homeowners who go solar can find themselves cash-flow positive in as little as a year.

Lastly, her claim that condo associations are blocking people from going solar is also wrong. Florida law prohibits homeowner associations from forbidding homeowners from installing solar.

Sadly, this deception is par for the course from utilities like FPL. They are worried that homeowners going solar threaten their monopoly. It’s why FPL and others spent millions of dollars in 2016 on the misleading Amendment 1. Dressed up as a “pro-solar” initiative, had it passed it would have significantly strengthened their ability to block our right to go solar, something they even admitted in a secret recording.

Going solar empowers homeowners to save money and take control of where their energy comes from with a clean source of energy. It’s a shame that rather than trying to compete on a level playing field, FPL would instead mislead its customers.

Patricia Forkan, Naples

Environment Committee chairwoman,

Collier County League of Women Voters

No comparison

It is safe to say that columnist Cal Thomas’s views and mine are usually diametrically opposed, but I usually read his column to see what the right is thinking. However, I found his recent column in which he argued that the Anita Hill-Clarence Thomas disagreement was Act 1 with the Omarosa Manigault Newman-Trump mess as Act 2 to be particularly offensive. 

Hill is a lawyer and distinguished professor at Brandeis University, while Newman was a reality TV star who helped make Donald Trump a household name by appearing on “The Apprentice.” Hill is famous for her accomplishments; Newman is famous for being famous.

If Hill were to make the same charges that she made against Thomas in 1991 in today’s #MeToo world, it is highly unlikely that Thomas’ nomination to the Supreme Court would be confirmed. Note that in 1991, several other women besides Hill came forward to speak about harassment by Thomas, but the Senate declined to hear their testimony, so Thomas’ nomination was confirmed. 

Thomas is, in my humble opinion, the least qualified justice to sit on the Supreme Court in my lifetime. The fact that he occupies the seat once held by the late, great Justice Thurgood Marshall is especially annoying.

David Goldstein, Naples

Explanation sought

While some white football players kneel for the national anthem, it seems to be more of a black issue. I don’t understand why only football players have a problem with this issue. I also don’t know why baseball and basketball players are not protesting the issue.

Can anyone explain this to me?

Peter Fraser, Bonita Springs

Will flip-flop for greatness

I’ve lost my political certainty. I’ve always maintained a socially progressive bent, but I was certain that given all the variables, conservatism would win the day. 

Then came President George W. Bush. In his eight years, Bush never saw a spending bill he wouldn’t sign. Bush saw weapons of mass destruction in Iraq where there were none. And did I mention Bush left office spending more than any president before him, a lot more? 

After that, President Barack Obama accomplished two things. He passed Obamacare, but in a country where 39 percent of the population can’t come up with $1,000 in an emergency (https://protect-us.mimecast.com/s/3KtyC4xv1RfvqvDXsOc03U?domain=money.cnn.com), how would they come up with $4,800 health care deductible? Who suffers from this? The least among us (https://protect-us.mimecast.com/s/sdEYC5yw29hD2DXBCOMQ8k?domain=money.cnn.com). 

Obama also accomplished spending more than Bush ever thought possible and when President Donald Trump took office, America had a $20 trillion deficit.

Were Bush and Obama alike? Obama inherited Bush’s war and financial meltdown and Trump inherited Obama’s health care and unbelievable deficits as a direct result of the Bush/Obama excellent failure to further America’s greatness over a 16-year span. Lots of lecturing, posing, and, yes, offending: Remember “people hiding behind their guns and religion”? OMG!

Going forward, I will support politics that “make America great” for all Americans. Don’t misunderstand this political-campaign catchphrase; I’m talking about positive achievements, period, regardless of who furthers greatness: prosperity, rule of law, equal opportunity, reasonably priced education, comprehensive immigration solutions, actual affordable health care and a healthy respect for opposing points of view. 

Do I sound like a proverbial flip-flopper? Indeed, I will flip-flop for greatness any day.

I’ve regained a better place in my clarity, and of that, I am once again “certain!” 

Michael Padworski, Bonita Springs

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