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Saturday's letters: Community responds to Lee fire

 
Published Sept. 15, 2017

Fire destroys Lee Elementary | Sept. 13

Community support after fire

There are times in your life when you truly can't believe your eyes. Tuesday night — as we watched fire turn Lee Elementary, one of our community's oldest schools, into a shell of burned brick — we all lived through one of those moments together.

We're still not sure what caused it. Tampa's firefighters (extraordinary people, still standing after days on duty during Irma) told us there's no sign of foul play.

We treasure the building's historical significance, but we're still not sure what will happen with the structure. Months of study and discussion are ahead. Here's what we are sure of: The outpouring of support for the students and staff who call themselves "Fami-LEE" has been overwhelming.

Neighbors brought trunkloads of crayons. Strangers in Chicago called: "Can we send a shipment of desks?" Book drives in boutiques, collections in churches, Facebook groups full of families saying "I'm here to help!" — for a school and school district that are shaken, it has meant so much.

Lost were the teaching tools that made each teacher's classroom one-of-a-kind. To help replace them, the Hillsborough Education Foundation is organizing a Lee Elementary Relief Fund (website: educationfoundation.com/lee); the phone number for the foundation is (813) 574-0260.

And our own district's staff leapt up to help, despite exhaustion after sheltering 29,000 evacuees from Irma.

An "academic army" of 200-plus educators from surrounding schools descended on Lockhart Elementary, the campus Lee will share for at least this year. They've turned vacant classrooms into welcoming places where anxious students can find comfort.

The morning after the fire, I asked our team to envision students walking into their new shared school Monday feeling totally at home — stepping into decorated classrooms, fully stocked with supplies, and looking ahead, ready to learn. Thanks to our incredible community, that's not something they'll have to imagine — these students will be able to believe their eyes.

Jeff Eakins, Tampa

The writer is superintendent of Hillsborough County Schools.

No excuse for deaths of seniors | Sept. 15, editorial

Solutions for senior care

The Times got it right: It is beyond outrageous that eight nursing home residents can die after their nursing home loses cooling, across the street from a hospital with functioning air conditioning.

But we risk more lives if we focus only on nursing homes. We must consider all the places where at risk frail or disabled Floridians live — assisted living facilities, memory-care units, 55-plus high-rises and communities and family caregivers.

AARP Florida suggests these solutions:

• Treat nursing homes' power supply like hospitals. Give nursing homes the same priority for restoring power and require each nursing home to have backup generators capable of providing emergency cooling.

• Require assisted-living facilities to have backup power, cooling capacity for frail patients and clear lines of communications with county emergency managers.

• Independent-living apartment complexes should once again be required to have power for elevators and medical devices, plus cooling for common areas.

• Millions of older Floridians do just fine, thank you, when the power is on. But let's encourage neighbors and communities to come together in times of crisis.

Florida can emerge from this terrible hurricane season stronger than ever.

Jeff Johnson, state director, AARP Florida, St. Petersburg

After Irma, be patient | Sept. 13, editorial

Thanks to New Yorkers

One of my favorite expressions in the world is: "Don't tell me you love me, show me."

On Wednesday in South Tampa, I saw a new word for "love" printed on the side of a large electrical repair boom truck: "ConEdison."

ConEdison is one of the kind and generous power companies, this one being from our spring training Yankee friends, faraway New York state, no less, that are teaming up with our local and other out-of-area "powerhouses."

Thank God and please protect all these wonderful "electric power heroes" who are working 24/7 to bring us back to safety, as well as comfort, in our beautiful, but currently hot and humid, Sunshine State.

Dale Kimball, Wesley Chapel

Hurricane Irma

Welcome calm in the storm

Watching Irma's path for a few days on TV, and switching channels, we found Ch. 13 Paul Dellagatto's reporting on the storm far superior than any other weather station or reporter. He kept it simple, with a demeanor that we felt made us not as scared. His approach was the most professional we have seen.

Frank Calafiura, Port Richey

Light breeze, then outage

Like many customers in the Duke Energy coverage area, my community lost power. I cannot adequately express my appreciation to the men and women who are working diligently to get us back online. As disasters go, no air and loss of the contents of my fridge certainly don't compare to the catastrophic losses of others caused by Irma.

On the 300 block of Second Street, two blocks from Duke's offices in St. Petersburg, we are no strangers to outages. No fewer than seven times in the last year we have had outages when it rains, even when all of the surrounding blocks have power. Sunday at 4 p.m., hours before Irma, in light rain and breeze, our power went out again. It is apparent that the transformer serving the block has been malfunctioning for more than a year and, despite numerous inquiries, Duke Energy has neglected the problem. Customers deserve better.

J.A. Booker, St. Petersburg