Another school shooting
4 dead, 7 hurt in shooting at high school | Dec. 1
According to Education Week’s School Shooting Tracker (yes, Virginia, there is such a thing), there have been 28 school shootings in the United States this year where a firearm was discharged on K-12 property or on a school bus that resulted in an injury. The following schools have had a school shooting just since Sept. 1: Mount Tabor High School, Heritage High School, Fairfield High Preparatory School, Cummings K-8 Optional School, Newton Elementary School, YES Prep Southwest Secondary, Ben Davis High School, Timberview High School, Phillips Academy High School, East Chambers High School, Hinkley High School, Westmont High School, Cesar Chavez High School, Oxford High School. When is enough, enough?
Mary Hart, South Pasadena
Pay for where you play
Now that the Rays have invested in Wander Franco, you can, too | Column, Nov. 30
Congratulations to the Tampa Bay Rays player Wander Franco on his huge contract. Now is a great time for players like him who have big paydays from professional sports to buy in to the costs of building and maintaining a professional sports franchise. Maybe everyone on the Rays roster could help to purchase a new structure that they would use and profit from at the same time. The public, many of whom will never go to a game, are asked to support the cost of a new ballpark. Why not those who will directly profit from it?
Barry Koestler, St. Petersburg
A resolution
Highs and lows this week across Tampa Bay and Florida | Editorial, Nov. 27
Perhaps the Tampa Bay Times Editorial Board could adopt a New Year’s resolution to put aside its bias against our governor and praise his many accomplishments?
Kim “Mac” MacKellar, South Pasadena
Right to privacy
Restricting abortion access restricts women’s lives | Column, Dec. 1
Should the Supreme Court overturn Roe v. Wade, would it also have to overrule multiple right-to-privacy cases founded on the 14th Amendment? If libertarian-minded people don’t want the government sticking its nose in their business, they should remember it’s not just about abortion. It’s truly about liberty.
Arthur McTighe, Tierra Verde
Men’s rules
Has the conservative legal movement succeeded? | Column, Nov. 30
Edwin Meese wrote a lot but explained nothing. Why should men create laws governing women’s rights? Abortion is legal in most European nations. Why shouldn’t it remain so here?
Doug Hicks, Tampa