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Nearby airports are noisy, but they were here first

 
Published June 30, 1995|Updated Oct. 4, 2005

If you live near an airport, you are going to hear the roar of the engines, you can be sure of that.

The management of the airport can do its best to reduce the noise, but it sure can't make it go away. That's the reality airport neighbors have to accept. The people deserve to be heard and the airport management should listen and work with them.

In the June issue of the Tropical Breeze newspaper (a monthly newspaper in Safety Harbor), there was a letter about aircraft noise. It was a good article, but I took exception to one point about it being a good idea for all Tampa Bay communities if the FAA would allow planes leaving the St. Petersburg-Clearwater International Airport to gain altitude more quickly and thereby reduce the noise.

This sounds great, but has anyone thought about the dangers of having a plane climb too fast? This could result in a flameout, the engine could stall and you then have the possibility of a catastrophe. I'm sure everyone wants safety first for all those on board those planes. It could be us or our loved ones.

If people don't want to hear airplanes taking off over their homes, they shouldn't buy in close proximity to an airport. St. Petersburg-Clearwater and Tampa International have been in their present locations since World War II or before. We moved in on them, they did not move in on us.

George Costage

Safety Harbor

Why Dunedin police

need to be kept

It was December 1993 that we remember the question was raised regarding the cost of maintaining the Dunedin Police Department. Here we are 18 months later, having tried every reasonable way to show our commissioners the fallacy of replacing a top-notch crime control organization with the Sheriff's Office.

Oh, they're okay for wholesale coverage, but we would never get the personal protection that our highly educated and experienced men have.

They've kept the undesirables out. They've been working as one solid unit seven days a week, and if our commissioners had given them the four new men, most of the overtime pay would have been unnecessary. After all, the federal government recognized the need and has approved the hiring of four new men and will pay their salaries for their three-year training period.

As to the alleged savings the sheriff claims, the figures are way out of line. The sheriff could never replace the top-notch force we have.

We are experiencing an influx of criminal problems now which we never had before. Recently, we even had a drug-related shooting. Our remaining men are working around the clock to keep our city safe, which is a tough job considering the morale of our present force.

We are working on a series of corrections to the many claims that are improperly interpreted or compared. Some of these facts are powerful connections that will show why we should keep our police.

Arthur P. Ives

Dunedin

Pro-sheriff activist

"overlooked some facts'

Reference Kathy Deely's June 14 letter, in which she blames Dunedin's Save the Police Committee for the "thousands of dollars the city and county must now spend in defending lawsuits."

I believe she's overlooked some crucial facts.

The chairman of the pro-sheriff group lists her occupation as "political consultant" in Dunedin city documents, and the treasurer stated at a recent City Commission meeting that his committee would "take the matter all the way to the 2nd Appellate Court" if our petition language was approved by the court.

This is the same group that solicited funds from taxpayers to legally challenge Dunedin registered voters' right to petition their government officials for a referendum, one of the most basic rights in a democratic form of government.

Kathy Deely is correct in saying it is time to "re-evaluate." But the subject of the re-evaluation should be: Who is it who wants to "win at all costs?"

William M. Douglas

Dunedin

Patch up those

potholes in Dunedin

Dunedin gets funds for street improvement from a federal Community Development Block Grant of $164,500.

Robert Ironsmith, the city's Community Redevelopment Agency director, should be reminded that filling in the holes along Michigan Boulevard will benefit all of us _ the city, pedestrians and motorists.

John Kravetz

Dunedin

Idea for beach tower

outrageous, moronic

Paradise lost?

The proposal to build a 300-foot observation tower on Clearwater Beach is as outrageous as it is moronic. In addition to being a waste of tax dollars, it would completely destroy the natural beauty of Clearwater Beach.

Does this tower idea have any socially redeeming value at all? Just one! If it was built, on a clear day, you could climb to the top of it and see Clearwater Commissioners Sue Berfield and Fred Thomas throwing the taxpayers' money out the windows of City Hall.

Robert Snow

Clearwater

Scientologists set

a worthy example

Since all you hear or read about Scientology seems to be negative, I think it's time the community takes a step back and recognizes the positive impact of this organization from a layman's point of view.

I recently had the opportunity to work with these people and I find that they are an aggressive, well-organized group interested in spreading their message, not unlike any other missionaries.

They have acquired property in downtown Clearwater that would have decayed for lack of interest and turned it into beautiful facilities. For such a large group, there is seldom, if ever, any taint of scandal. They work together as a team with a common purpose, which is a lesson that could be learned by the bickering city fathers.

W. Nicholas Hoban

Clearwater

Watch out! Here comes

beach pass system

Notice to all visitors to Clearwater Beach: Shortly, registration booths will be erected at all roads leading to "our" beach. With the proper identification you will be issued a pass. Tampa and Pasco will have red passes, Oldsmar and Hernando _ yellow, St. Pete _ black (bad people), Clearwater _ white (good people) and so on.

All tourists will get gold stars. Identification will be credit card or fat wallets and black socks.

For the gold star they must be willing to put up with some of the shoddiest motels and with bottles, cans and open and foul-smelling garbage containers.

All fees will be distributed to the overchargers and underachievers who own "our" beach and said fees will be used to improve their property.

Please, last one out _ turn off the gas lamps.

E. Bertsche

Clearwater