Not why they fought

Senate Dems work to circumvent Tuberville’s blockade on military nominees | Nov. 2

My uncle, Robert Ostrander, earned a Purple Heart during World War II when he lost a leg while serving as the rear gunner in an armored car that took a direct hit in Germany. My uncle, Harry Cleveland, won a Purple Heart and a Bronze Star in World War II while serving on Okinawa when he crawled up a hill and took out a Japanese machine gun that was killing members of his infantry platoon. My father slogged his way through months of combat in the Philippine jungles and then on the slopes of Okinawa. My family is not unique in those facts. Other families share the same history. What I do know is neither my uncles nor my dad put their lives on the line so that decades later Sen. Tommy Tuberville, an Alabama Republican who, in my mind, was a second-rate football coach with a third-rate mind, could potentially damage U.S. security by objecting to military promotions to score unrelated political points. This not only disrupts American military families, but it must also please the dictators of Russia, China, North Korea and Iran, who I am sure are among the gang of world leaders enjoying the senator’s ignorant political stunt.

Ronald Vierling, Odessa

Let the kids play

Schools may curb recess | Nov. 15

If you ask me, the reason that so many adults are screwed up is that they took recess away from us.

Tyler Brahm, Clearwater

Restrict growth instead

Lawn watering restrictions OK’d | Nov. 15

We will have to limit watering lawns and landscaping to once a week. I have a novel idea. Why don’t we limit the number of new building permits to stem the tide of runaway development we are seeing in the state?

Sam Jordan, St. Petersburg

Kindness as medicine

If you really don’t understand English, I’ll just speak louder! | Column, Nov. 11

When I was a boy, my family lived in a small town in Virginia. One of the town’s two doctors was a friend of my father. One day our families had a picnic on the side of the mountain. I was sitting at a picnic table with my father and the doctor when the doctor said something quite profound. “As a doctor, I can’t heal anyone. I can’t even help everyone. But I can be kind to everyone.” He knew that kindness is powerful medicine.

Ed Bradley, Boynton Beach