Carts help me stand

Carts in chaos: Is this how we roll? | Column, July 17

I come in defense of shopping carts. I use a cane to help with balance and to avoid falling. In store parking lots, the terrain is rough and uneven. I’m overjoyed when I can park next to a stray cart. Holding on to that cart prevents me from tripping and falling. I do agree that folks who leave their carts should leave them in a safe area. But, please, don’t return a cart around a handicap spot.

Linda Gradual, Tarpon Springs

Masks and shots

How worried should you be about omicron BA.5? | Column, July 19

Columnist Faye Flam writes about the continuing studies hoping to better understand and protect people from COVID-19. She concludes that the public health community needs to send clearer messages. They have done that. The real problem is that too many people are not listening to that very message. So many elected officials have confused that message, as have others who are presenting themselves as experts. The answer remains: proper masks and shots.

Marc Yacht, Hudson

Photos make it real

“Show the bodies” | July 17

Showing the bodies from mass shootings would allow people to see the reality of deaths from weapons of war Without seeing the bodies, it just isn’t real enough to most people the horror these guns do. Just as napalm did in Vietnam, few people accepted the horrible facts until they saw the photo of the “napalm girl.” And perhaps that photo accelerated the end of the Vietnam War,

Peggy Millard, Tampa

Just don’t

Obscenities everywhere all the time

My wife was at a fast food restaurant in Seminole today and heard a mother tell her 5-year-old son, “What the f--k do you want?” As an umpire who does men’s slow pitch softball I have to hear this garbage all night. Are people so immature that they can’t talk without using vulgar language? There is no place for this filth. The worst thing is that these people don’t care who is around or to whom they are saying it. If you can’t speak in an intelligent way without using filthy language, then just keep your mouth shut.

James K. Mills, Seminole