Letters to the Editor

+ Dog photo on beach depicts illegal action
Dear Editor:
Please let me know where on Longboat Key I can bring my dog on the beach. We have seen (and read in your paper) over the years many people running afoul of the law by doing this same thing. Seems odd that you promote and publish a photo winner of what appears to be illegal activity (see editor’s note).

I would like to enter pictures of bonfires on the beach, people drinking alcohol and using fireworks, however not one of those activities is legal in this town.

Please go to any beach access and you will see a long list of do not’s. One of the top ones is no dogs on the beach. And seeing that the dog appears to be well past the dunes, it seems that it is well past any private property line. Maybe next week we can see a picture of a bunch of teenagers drinking alcohol from bottles at a bonfire and blasting off fireworks at the beach as the next photo winner.

Kevin Fitzgerald
Sarasota

Editor’s note: Mr. Fitzgerald is referring to our first online photo contest, “Spirit of America,” for which we asked readers to send in photos that represented the Fourth of July. Hey, we thought the “Patriotic Pooch” photo was cute and clever, but, yes, we failed to inquire if the dog was sitting on public or private beach. To each their own.

+ Economic spending addiction is treatable
Dear Editor:
Our economy has a huge hangover — market crash, bank failures, foreclosures, unemployment, government intervention in banks, car manufacturers and other businesses, etc.

We are in physical, emotional and spiritual pain — this from a long binge of reckless spending, debt accumulation and greedy, self-indulgent behavior.

We also found ourselves in a brawl (terrorism, Iraq and Afghanistan) and have sustained physical and emotional injuries, along with growing societal fear and political division.

Even with all this evidence of pain, sickness and “family” destruction, we are still in a haze of denial (a key symptom of addiction) about the severity of our situation and where it is leading, i.e. death.

We heard about and hired a new “rehab doctor” in town and his clinic that treats this condition in a softer, easier way. With addiction, you must stop using, i.e. stop spending, eliminate deficits and debt, go to meetings, read the addiction book (economic history), look at your character defects and begin to lead a new and more disciplined life, i.e. create a new economic model.

Based on our founding principles, this would include such concepts as limited government, individual and fiscal responsibility and fundamental economics, such as don’t spend more than you take in. This is not an easy task, given our accumulated poor-living habits.

This new “doctor” with this new and provocative treatment has given us hope and a sense that we can change our life for the better, which is a good thing. What is really cool is his treatment technique allows us not only to keep spending but to spend more!

What a doctor. All we have to do to feel better is spend more, a lot more, and do it without stopping. That way we we don’t feel the hangover! Brilliant!

Robert Gault
Longboat Key

+ Thank you for Fourth of July event success
Dear Editor: 
The Longboat Key Garden Club is much appreciative of The Longboat Observer’s contribution to our Fourth of July butterfly release in the Butterfly Garden at Bicentennial Park. Your efforts toward the town celebration reinforce our pride in the Longboat community. It was great fun for all and is another special Longboat memory.

Many thanks for your support of this event.

Jackie Salvino
Garden Club president

+ Key Club project will change Longboat
Dear Editor:
Last week, a full page color ad promoting the Longboat Key Club expansion. This week (June 25), your opinion endorsing the Longboat Key Club expansion proposal and an article on page 3 suggesting the economic benefit to Longboat Key by Fishkind and Associates. He’s been wrong before.

The residents of this residential community will not benefit from this proposed expansion. I don’t think anyone objects to renovation, but this proposed expansion changes the whole character of the island.

I understand the economic benefit to the commercial interest. More readers and higher circulation certainly benefit your newspaper. One-hundred-seventy-six more condominiums will generate millions of dollars in real-estate commissions, in addition to generating a considerable return on their $400 million investment, as well as increased membership fees and dues.

It will certainly also generate more visitors to the restaurants and retailers on St. Armands Circle.

It’s time to start listening to the residents … the voters of Longboat Key.

The 20-year plan: “The shared vision for the future is to preserve, protect, reinvigorate and retain the special nature of Longboat, (Keeping Longboat, Longboat, Sec. 1).

“Fortunately, Longboat Key has recently had a reasonable balance of residential, tourism and commercial land uses, such that we are not trying to reinvent the wheel or establish totally new segments,” (Sec. 2).

Ray Rajewski
Longboat Key

+ Resident appreciates kids’ thoughtfulness
Dear Editor:
I wish I were on the island the day they were selling their lemonade (visiting grandkids who were selling lemonade to raise money for cancer). I would have bought them out. It’s a wonderful thing they did. It seems cancer has been affecting so many people recently, including myself in my 30s.

Should you see the kids, or have any contact, please pass along the appreciation of a survivor, and let them know people like me are alive because of people like them.

K. S.
Longboat Key

+ Article onTasti D-Lite seemed like a promotion
Dear Editor:
Your July 2 edition appears to be an insert for Tasti D-Lite. It is not even a business that has opened on Longboat. The only thing missing were Sylvia and Irwin Pastor’s wedding pictures. Was this a paid advertisement? Should Kilwin’s have been mentioned as an alternative? What about Poppas in Westfield?

I think there is news worth publishing and not promoting. This is not news to 99% of the people.

Steve Fromkes
Longboat Key

Editor’s note: We featured the Pastors, who are Longboat residents, along with their son, who lives on St. Armands (which is also included in our coverage area), for opening a new business in this economic climate.

+ Important founder of our country left off list
Dear Editor:
Your “Spirit of America” editorial in the July 2 Longboat Observer is well done except that one important name is not mentioned, and should be, along with Jefferson and Washington. The only reason I’m so “smart” is because I’m currently reading the outstanding book by David McCullough, “John Adams.”

It was John Adams’ leadership that, after days of effort, achieved the necessary votes to declare our independence from Great Britain in July 1776.

Virginia Sanders
Longboat Key

+ Tax burden on boat slip owners is intrusion
Dear Editor:
As an owner of two slips at Longboat Key Moorings, I read with more than usual interest the decision of the town to tax owners who rent their slips as a business. This is apparently an extension of the town’s decision to irritate an increasing number of individuals by classifying small slip owners as “businesses.” I sympathize with those who object to this program, but there is a much larger intrusion here that is being made by the town.

It is my understanding that the town will presume that each slip owner rents his slip and will charge everyone as a business if the owner does not prove that his tax should be abated. This is the most egregious and arrogant intrusion on citizens that I can remember. What right does the town have to unreasonably tax and place the burden on the citizen? Is this program fashioned after the Obama redistribution of wealth plan?

What next? Charge everyone a fee for employing a chauffeur and require each person to opt out? Perhaps we could tax everyone for running for Town Commission and place the burden on each citizen to remove the fee. Come to think of it, maybe more of us should run for office on a platform of putting reason back in our managers.

It is ironic that this letter is written on Independence Day — a reminder of what we were and how far we have fallen.

Stuart Scheyer
Longboat Key

+ Please do not remove any speed limit signs
Dear Editor:
As town management decides which of the plethora of road signs to remove from Gulf of Mexico Drive, for heaven’s sake, do not remove any of the speed limit signs. In fact, I encourage increasing the number of 45 mph signs to encourage our locals and tourists to nudge the dials of their speedometers from the current 25 to 30 mph all the way up to at least 45 mph.

Susan Loren Davidson
Longboat Key

+ Research flag code before displaying flag
Dear Editor:
It is Flag Day and I am shocked at all the people on Longboat Key who do dishonor to our beloved flag.

The flag code reads that the flag may be flown outdoors from sunrise to sunset, when it must be taken down. The flag may be flown from sunset to sunrise if it (the flag) is properly lit up during these hours.

This means a light must be on the flag and not on the flagpole. The code also reads the flag must not be allowed to touch anything while flying. I see flags on mailboxes flying and wiping the mailbox.

Before displaying the flag, people should become aware of the flag code and follow its regulations. I hope this letter makes those people who are dishonoring our flag to correct their mistakes.

L. Auslander
Longboat Key