Letters to the editor for Sunday, March 26, 2023

Neglect for women and children

The New York Times review article: States With Abortion Bans Are Among Least Supportive for Mothers and Children (March 18) reveals the political will that is limiting the basic health care to Florida women. It may not be well known to Floridians that the Florida political leaders actually lost free federal money by rejecting the Affordable Care Act's Medical Expansion Program. This would have included the Postpartum Extension that would have extended Medicaid to women for a full year after giving birth. The article rates the states that do not offer basic health care for their women and children. Florida has had a bad reputation for years with no plans for improvement. Florida is 46th in the nation for uninsured women; 29th in maternal mortality; 30th in infant mortality and 33rd in child poverty.

Many women and children experience stress, sickness, poverty, hunger and even death in Florida. The governor and legislators should have the will to use their power to improve decades of political indifference and neglect for the women and the children of Florida. Many people say that they enjoy living in Florida but many women and children would say that they don't, and would be better off in another state with better medical outcomes for them.

Tim Diegel, M.D., Naples

A teacher's story

In reading the latest comments on young girls discussing their periods I am reminded of a spring day back in 1971, Canton, Ohio, where I was a teacher. On the second floor of the old school I saw a girl from another class in tears. Thank the dear Lord it was before hugging school children was outlawed, I went over, put my arm around her and asked her what was the matter. She started to cry a bit more then stated "I started my period." I was amazed at the confident maturity of this fourth grader. ( I started mine at 14, my sister at 16) so this alone blew me away. Nonetheless I asked if she wanted me to call her mom, the principal to let her go home. She said, "My mom is in the hospital having a baby." So I proceeded to take her to a quiet place with a bathroom, school children all out for recess at the time. In our walk I learned how well prepared she was for use of feminine necessities. We arrived, I gave her what she needed, she went in and took care of herself, returned to the classroom. To this day I marvel at that young 9-year-old's mother preparing her for menstruation. And NOW you are telling teachers the topic is taboo!Better you take a serious look at the violent TV shows, movies shown in theaters, and listen to the music that adds to violence in our culture as well as degrades women and get all of this cleaned up so society can be free to live in peace.

Diane Koster-Marquard, Bradenton

Exceptional leadership on Sanibel

I am writing to express my deep gratitude for the exceptional leadership demonstrated by our former Sanibel Mayor Holly Smith in the aftermath of Hurricane Ian. As a resident of this city, I have personally witnessed the remarkable efforts made by her in coordinating relief and recovery efforts.

During the disaster, Mayor Smith showed unwavering commitment to the people of our city. Her tireless efforts in providing guidance, support, and comfort to those in need were truly remarkable and inspiring. The remarkable dedication and hard work that she put into helping our community recover is something that will be remembered for years to come.

In addition, I would like to commend Mayor Smith for her crucial role in securing funding and resources from the state and federal government. The mayor’s persistence and determination in advocating for our city’s needs ensured that our community received the support it deserved. This was instrumental in ensuring that our city could rebuild after the devastation caused by Hurricane Ian.

As a former mayor who will remain on the Sanibel City Council, Council person Smith’s continued presence in our local government is a great asset to our community. Her experience, knowledge, and leadership will be invaluable in helping us face any future challenges that may arise. We are all aware of her unwavering dedication to our water quality issues and look forward to her continued efforts on behalf of our city.

On behalf of myself and my fellow citizens, I would like to express our sincere appreciation for Mayor Smith's leadership and dedication to our community during one of its darkest moments. Her service to our city has left an indelible mark, and we are deeply grateful for her contributions.

Robert Brooks, Sanibel

Spreading the word

I am writing to you as a high school student at Lorenzo Walker Technical High School in Naples to bring attention to an important initiative taken by a youth-led grassroots group called Climate Cardinals, where I volunteer as the director of fundraising. This nonprofit has translated over a million words of climate and environmental information into 100 languages.They've recently translated the United Nations climate science body's latest report into 25 different languages, including Hindi, Urdu and Swahili, helping youth activists worldwide understand scientific discoveries and communicate them to the public. This is crucial because 80% of scientific articles are written only in English, even though 75% of the world doesn't speak English. Climate Cardinals is doing important work to make climate education more accessible to people who don't speak English.They have 15 directors and 9,000 volunteers in 41 countries, with notable partnerships including the UN Environment Programme, the Italian government, UNICEF, and Yale Climate Connections. I urge everyone to visit their website and take advantage of their resources. Their efforts deserve recognition and support.

Selvin Perdomo, Naples

Hands off our books

Soon libraries will be able to put  a sign on the door "Closed… no books."

My guess is those wanting to ban all these books from our libraries seldom if ever visit a library and probably have never liked to read. Get your hands off our books and maybe you might try reading a few of them and learn something.

C. Kay Best, MSW, LCSW, Lehigh Acres

Social Security gap

I am amazed that more women are not outraged by the fact that they are receiving less Social Security to live on than men. Maybe it is because the men have also outlived the lower paid women wage earners! I do not think that is the fact. According to Morningstar in 2020 the gap widened between men and women executives. Women earned 75 cents for every dollar of men executives. Ergo in retirement women have less to live on then men. I know I am not the only woman living with this problem!

Why are women not upset by this disparity?

Marjorie Hancock, Naples

Incentive to serve is gone

Enlistment in the U.S. military is down. No surprise watching some states impose new laws, antithetical to democracy.

Why would anyone risk their life in support of anti-democracy, autocratic policies. As someone who has served (Korean War) and a strong supporter of the military, I wouldn't volunteer again. Why get killed fighting Russia or China?

Let them take control of the U.S., then states won't have to enact these autocratic laws. Already built in!

Henry S. Kolesinski, Naples

Targeting the weak

I am very concerned about the parallels I see in some states with Nazi Germany in the 1930’s. State legislatures are targeting the LGBTQ community, voting rights, banning books that they don’t agree with, endangering women’s health, threatening the medical community’s ability to treat patients under threat of criminal prosecution, arming teachers in our children’s schools and banning medical practices for children struggling with their sexual identity. They target the weak and the minorities who don’t have the resources to fight back effectively.

Ultimately it is because we voters continue to accept gerrymandering that allows minority positions to elect representatives who don’t reflect a majority position. We have also allowed enormous amounts of campaign financing from outside of the election district. It’s time to stand up to these absurdities while our vote still matters.

I am reminded of German Lutheran minister Martin Niemoller’s prose:“First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out because I wasn’t a socialist. Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out because I was not a trade unionist. Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out because I was not a Jew. Then they came for me and there was no one left to speak for me.”

Doug Zwank, Fort Myers

Suppression of history

The often-quoted admonition of philosopher George Santayana that ”those who cannot remember  the past are condemned to repeat it” seems to be forgotten by Governor DeSantis and his legislative and administrative cronies.

By suppressing  school textbooks and curricula that address unpleasant features of American history, their censorial  actions prevent students from learning about past inequities and deprivations, especially racial bias, discrimination, and other maltreatment.

These deprivations create a high likelihood that those degradations and other improprieties will continue to exist and intensify.

As another sage, William Shakespeare, reminds In "The Tempest": “What’s past is prologue.”

Those imprudent authorities trying to run Florida education into the ground ought to familiarize themselves with these  wise observations.

Marshall H. Tanick, Naples

Legal or not?

From what has developed this week, it would appear likely that many members of the Biden family accepted money from the Chinese Communist Party for favors as yet to be revealed.

Much of this money was received while Joe Biden was vice president.  It remains to be seen whether these monies were legally gained or not.

What has not been mentioned by the media is whether these sums of monies received by the Biden family were declared on their respective tax returns or whether taxes were avoided.

Michael Adler, Miromar Lakes

GOP insurgency

Rest easy everyone, the guy who said to rake the forests, nuke a hurricane, told us that Hitler "did a lot of good things," was impeached twice, stole more classified documents than anyone else in history, incessantly lied about election fraud and incited a violent coup attempt then called those seditionists "patriots" and "peaceful people" is the leading candidate for president.

The GOP is no longer a political party, it's an insurgency.