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Sunday's letters: Lack of morals, magnified

 
Published July 28, 2017

Health care

A lack of morals and its huge toll

Most Americans were horrified that five teenagers not only did nothing to try to save a drowning man in Florida, but gleefully taunted him as he lost his fight to live. Authorities say the teenagers could get away with that because it is not illegal to refuse to render aid nor to express one's joy to others about their suffering and dying.

If we are outraged by the lack of morals and compassion of those five teenagers, should we not be even more outraged by those in the House and Senate, and by the president, who are working feverishly to keep over 20 million Americans from receiving needed medical help? It has been estimated that approximately 200,000 more Americans will die from otherwise treatable medical issues if the Senate repeals the Affordable Care Act.

The president and congressional Republicans are doing to vulnerable citizens the same thing that those five teenagers did to that drowning man in Cocoa except on a much larger scale. Sometimes scale becomes so large and overwhelming that the public loses perspective of what is happening to all the individuals and their families.

Sen. Marco Rubio would not be caught laughing at a drowning man for obvious reasons, and yet he boasts about working hard to change the law in a way that will allow tens of millions to needlessly suffer, hundreds of thousands of them eventually dying as a result. In comparison, 3,000 died on 9/11 and one man drowned as the teenagers denied help.

Steve Ericson, Bushnell

Cost of ignoring science | July 18, letter

Water district's scientists

This letter is ironic because it ignores the South Florida Water Management District's "we need science" plea. Climate change never actually entered into the debate, as proven by letters between the water district and the National Academies of Sciences' Everglades committee.

Their disagreement is over the district's assertion that NAS inserted its distinguished scientists into matters of budgeting and policy, when their mission is to provide the agencies in charge of Everglades restoration with the science needed to complete projects. Executive director Pete Antonacci's July 5 letter pleads with NAS to stay focused on science, not decisions that are made by Congress, the Florida Legislature and the water district's governing board. In fact, Antonacci didn't restrict any topic; quite the contrary, as he stated, "Everglades restoration actually needs the application of real science and the topics to that end are virtually limitless."

The water district operates in the sunshine and relies on 200 scientists and engineers. These collective minds have dedicated their lives to studying and modeling the best way to achieve Everglades restoration.

Mitch Hutchcraft, Fort Myers

Finding another path | July 23, letter

An independent thinker

The writer laments the fact that we suffer from a two-party duopoly and wishes for "an independent thinker emerging and saving us from ourselves." Let's think about that. The current occupant of the White House is not the stereotypical politician many of us have come to disdain. He connected with the voters in a huge way, beating 16 professional politicians at their own game.

He is getting tremendous pushback from the establishment, from both sides of the aisle, because he is not one of them. He has dramatically reduced the business-strangling government regulations that have shot out of control for the past eight years. The stock market has hit record highs. Illegal border crossings are down over 60 percent. Several CEOs of Fortune 100 corporations have pledged billions of dollars in U.S. investment instead of going overseas, and job growth has seen strong increases.

The Russian complicity has proven thus far to be baseless. The letter writer calls this a "disastrous beginning." It's only been six months. I'd say that is a pretty good start. The independent thinker has arrived. Hopefully it's not too late.

Bill King, Gibsonton

I got the wrong drug. And $2,500 | July 23

Check your prescriptions

Thank you, Josh Max, for sharing your story. My husband experienced a similar medication error a few months ago when he was given someone else's prescription bottle. Because he is on a post-bypass drug regimen that requires he take five pills per day, he looks at his bottles of pills frequently, and in this case caught the error before taking the wrong medication.

We returned the bottle to the pharmacy and the pharmacist said, "That's not good." Also like Max, we received neither an explanation nor an apology. We now check the pill bottles before we leave the pharmacy.

Hopefully, as our electronic health records systems mature, there may be some applicable technology that can help reduce, if not eradicate, medication dispensing errors. In the meantime, let's all benefit from Max's wake-up call and check our prescriptions before leaving the pharmacy. This one simple step can make a huge difference in our collective health and well-being.

Kim Pepitone Cottrell, Spring Hill

No drought at lush homes | July 24

Use the power of pricing

Most water consumers try to limit their consumption, not only to keep their bills as low as possible, but to help, in their small way, reduce overall consumption of this fragile resource. How frustrating it is to read about how those with big bucks apparently consider themselves above all this.

How can we truly protect our limited and expensive water supply? Cajoling doesn't work. Conservation campaigns apparently are ignored by big bucks.

There's only one practical way to conserve water. Charge for it on a sliding scale. Determine the amount the average person needs. Consumption beyond that amount should cost more. For example, people consuming the "average person baseline" might pay, say, $3 per 1,000 cubic feet of water. The next level might be $5, then $8, and so on. The increase in prices must be enough to make water hogs sit up, take notice, and do something about it.

Dick German, St. Pete Beach