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Saturday's letters: Let's keep drilling far from our shores

Saturday's letters to the editor
 
Published Jan. 18, 2019

It's heartening to see that our newly elected 116th Congress moved quickly to protect our treasured coast from dirty and dangerous offshore oil drilling, as communities on the Gulf Coast wait for further word from President Donald Trump and his administration on his proposal to bring new offshore drilling right off our beaches.

On Jan. 8, a bipartisan group of U.S. House colleagues led by Reps. Kathy Castor and Charlie Crist introduced legislation called the Florida Coastal Protection Act, which would make permanent the offshore drilling moratorium slated to expire in 2022.

I am chairman of the Treasure Island and Madeira Beach Chamber and a member of the Florida Gulf Coast Business Coalition, and we supported the passage of Amendment 9 and were delighted to see an overwhelming approval by voters. I'd like to thank these lawmakers for hearing Floridians loud and clear and for working to protect our coast, economy and way of life from the threats of offshore drilling.

Expansion of offshore drilling is incredibly unpopular. Floridians and the coastal business community have zero appetite for it. We encourage elected officials up and down the political spectrum to stand with us and ensure that rigs do not come one inch closer.

Joe Dise, Treasure Island

Motown's legacy at 60 | Column, Jan. 12

My favorite music

Kudos to Mark Anthony Neal for walking me down memory lane in his article about Motown.

I grew up during the growth of "the Motown sound," and that R&B style still resonates as my favorite style of pop music — and music and harmony it was.

Interestingly, as the writer alludes to, Motown founder Berry Gordy attempted to avoid political and cultural statements in Motown music. Until, that is, one Marvin Gaye came along with What's Goin' On, an album touching on political, racial, and environmental themes. The 1971 release of my still favorite album took place despite Gordy's opposition. I am thankful for Gordy's acquiescing in regard to Gaye's brilliant work and for his contribution to the American music scene.

Kenn Sidorewich, Oldsmar

Agencies failed toddler | Jan. 17

A guardian ad litem's view

The unnecessary death of little Jordan Belliveau is heartbreaking to be sure, but let's put the blame where it belongs: on a state government that grossly underfunds the critically important job of protecting abused and neglected children.

As an underpaid Pinellas County teacher of 23 years, I decided to dedicate a portion of my retirement years to continuing to help children as a guardian ad litem. What I encountered at the Eckerd agency was disheartening, to say the least: highly dedicated, college-educated caseworkers who struggled with mountains of paperwork for thousands of clients for astonishingly low wages.

There is absolutely no way a caseworker can keep tabs at all times on the day-to-day lives and actions of hundreds of children and their parents, particularly when so many of the parents are willfully deceptive about their drug use and domestic violence.

If we want these children to be safe, we need funding for many more caseworkers over which to divide the mammoth caseloads. We also need communities that applaud and support their hard work.

I would add that we need to pay caseworkers a decent professional wage but, like teachers, their dedication is unrelated to their paychecks — they do their jobs to serve children.

Lynn Lemmon, Dunedin

Government shutdown

E-verify would fix this

Real people are starting to get hurt in the government shutdown. Amazingly, there exists a solution that works, one that cannot be tunneled under, cut through or climbed over. It also catches those who fly here with a valid visa and simply overstay. That is how the majority of illegal immigrants come into the country, and where the vast majority of potential terrorists come in. It doesn't stop drugs, which are mostly mailed here or come in on trucks through legitimate crossings, but neither does a wall. Did I mention that it already exists and is therefore cheap?

It is called E-verify. The federal government maintains a database of all people in the United States eligible to work here. Employers sign up, submit the name and qualifying Social Security information online, for free, and find out immediately if that person is eligible to work here. Why do you think they came? The problem is that there is neither a penalty nor urgency in not using it except when working on federal contracts.

It will require only two things to maximize the effectiveness of this cheap, existing marvel of a modern wall: enforcement and substantial penalties on employers attempting to circumvent the system. If you knew you would be fined several thousand dollars or risked jail time, you might think twice.

Peter Cohoon, Bradenton

For Epiphany, why don't girls get the glory of diving for the cross, too? | Sue Carlton column, Jan. 13

What about the men?

We have another uprising about a religion that limits a tradition of "boys only" diving for a cross to secure a year of good luck. They also have a tradition of a young girl releasing a dove. Why isn't that being addressed? It appears that only "male-only" traditions, or whatever, are off-limits.

Girls can now join the Boy Scouts, play on football teams and so on, especially if there is no equivalent for girls. Boys on the other hand are not allowed to be on female teams if there is no equivalent team — volleyball for instance.

Seems like a lot of females want everything that men have exclusively but do not want men to have the same for their private institutions.

Tom Craig, Riverview