Letters to the Editor

+ Who benefits from the development plan?

Dear Editor:
In your “Negotiate What?” June 25 editorial regarding the expansion of the Longboat Key Club, you opine that the disagreements between the residents of the Islandside community and the club are “short-term narrow interests versus a greater, long-term gain for all.”

The interests of the Islandside community, as we have stated clearly, are to preserve the quiet enjoyment of our residences as we have for the past 25 or more years.  The interests of the Loeb Group and Key Club are to earn as much profit as they can.  The interests of The Longboat Observer, a free, weekly newspaper whose sole source of income is advertisements placed by the business community, is to increase the number of business enterprises and to profit from their advertising.

Rudy Meiselman
Longboat Key

Editor’s note: You are accurate on all three counts, in a simplistic on-the-surface sense. As we all know, however, there are other “interests” beyond the three you articulated. To profit, every business enterprise must offer a service or good that benefits others. If untempered, selfish, maximum profit is the sole interest, the enterprise likely will fail (Madoff, Nadel). As Adam Smith wrote of the butcher, baker and candlestick maker: “By pursuing his own interest, he frequently promotes that of the society more effectually than when he really intends to promote it.” Longboat residents are all wise enough to judge which of the interests you articulated best suits their own needs and desires.

+ What will the Key Club try to do next?

Dear Editor:
It is no surprise that the Longboat Key Club would fly in the face of town regulations to accomplish its goals.

If it had engendered any confidence before, it has certainly shattered it with this unilateral decision to destroy tennis courts and convert a recreational building for its special needs. What will it attempt to do next?   

Jane Newman
Longboat Key

+ Dog photo on Key was a lasting memory

Dear Editor:
This letter is in response to Kevin Fitzgerald’s letter and the possible illegal activity occurring with the “Patriotic Pooch” photo, which ran in the June 18 Longboat Observer.

This was a professional photo shoot, and it was well east of the dunes and not on the beach but at the end of the Broadway walkover.

My dog, Montana, and now- departed dog Nick had their paws on the sand no more than five minutes.

This photo will be a lasting memory for me, and it’s unfortunate that someone has to spoil what was a fun event The Observer sponsored. 

Verna Ritter
Longboat Key

+ Newspapers should use common sense

Dear Editor:
In response to Kevin Fitzgerald’s letter regarding the Spirit of America photo of the “Patriotic Pooch,” I have to say The Observer is in good company.  The Sarasota Herald-Tribune recently published a photo regarding the county passing the doggy-dining ordinance for a second time, along with a photo of a cute dog being petted by a waitress/server — a direct violation of one of the rules governing the doggy-dining ordinance.

Where is the common sense we were supposedly given by our parents, or is it that you give a dog owner an inch and they take a mile? Kevin, you and I should be looking for a new job ... possibly editors in charge of common sense in publishing pictures in the news.

Steve Harris 
Longboat Key

+ Photo of dog depicted a happy event, holiday

Dear Editor:
I just read Mr. Fitzgerald’s letter about the photo of Montana (the dog featured in the “Patriotic Pooch” photo). Great photo on a great holiday, a happy event. The photo brings a little pride and nice smile to one’s face. But, of course, there is a — thankfully — a tiny minority who thrives on trying to rain on parades.

We will not allow that letter to distract us from the nice photo you put in your paper. You have your reasons I am sure, but it is a pity you had to print that letter.

David Siegal
Longboat Key