Letters to the Editor: 08.18.11

+ Pay cuts for Congress and all federal workers
Dear Editor: 
Vern (Buchanan) has a chance to do the right thing (as we keep hearing “for the American people.”) All we ever hear is, “We know we are going through tough times, many hard working people are out of jobs ... we feel your pain.” No fooling. The folks in Congress, both parties for the most part, have shown their newfound ignorance.

I have been in the broadcasting business for many, many years, mostly in sports and news, and am in the Sports Hall of Fame at the University of Georgia. Most networks lean left, and print follows the same course. What is needed, I think, is for one person in Washington to stand up and say, “We really feel bad about the shape the country is in and how hard times are for the American people.” Now is the time, right now, for all members of Congress to take a 10% cut in their income, for the American people and all people employed by the U.S. to take a cut of 5% (not any member of the Armed Forces). These cuts will add a great deal of money to cut our debt and, above all, will be, for the first time, good for the American people.
Stan Raymond
Longboat Key

+ Kudos to Robin Hartill on her new appointment
Dear Editor:
Congratulations to Robin Hartill and the Longboat Observer on Robin being named city editor. We got to know Robin personally when Claudia grumped about the garbled printing of the bridge column. Jessica and Robin came to our house and said, “Show us.”

Since then, it has been a real pleasure to observe this beautiful young woman grow and mature into a versatile and skilled professional reporter and writer. As your announcement indicates, sometimes it seemed like she was on every page.

Congratulations are due to the publishers and editorial staff for recognizing and nurturing her talent, especially because Robin seems quiet and rather shy — just the opposite of the brash, pushy type we think of as the typical reporter.
Chuck Fuller
Longboat Key

+ Longboat Key is no place for cell phone towers
Dear Editor:
News stories on cell tower(s) on Longboat Key appear in the Longboat Observer on a fairly regular basis.
Longboat Key has inconsistent cell-phone service. Even at the south end where there are antennae on buildings.

When I was a town commissioner, the commission approved $7,500 for the town to do a thorough study on the cell-phone signals on the north end. To my knowledge, the study was never done. Let’s do a study and find out what the facts are before a ruinous decision is made to put a cell tower somewhere on Longboat Key.

Our neighbors to the north are reviewing and tightening their cell-tower ordinances. Why? They don’t think they belong in their community.

Current technology is available for one to have whatever level cell-phone quality one wants. 

Cell towers are not the answer. They are obsolete. Cell towers will ensure that Longboat will no longer be known as the “Naples of the North.”

There is no place for them on Longboat Key.
Jeremy Whatmough
Longboat Key