Letters to the Editor

+ Colony assessments could be put back in Klauber’s hands
Dear Editor:
The Colony Association members are now looking at an assessment north of $50,000 per unit to pay the Klauber-owned entities the damages on the Partnership plus further damages sustained for lease payments on the recreational ground lease, which was reinstated. The Klauber entities will most likely wind up with the whole ball of wax, because it is unlikely that each association member will find it prudent to fork over. Unless the unit owners’ form of ownership is in an LLC or corporately owned, there is the possibility of personal liability. No wonder Jay Yablon, the association president, is hiding under a rock.
Lee Pokoik
Longboat Key

+ Klauber, Moulton are getting what is owed to them
Dear Editor:
 A few years ago, when The Colony Beach & Tennis Resort unit owners and their attorneys first began their slanderous campaign against Murf Klauber and his daughter, Katie, over the The Colony resort, I wrote words of warning to the unit owners and their attorneys in response to their initial filings: “Be careful what you wish for.”

Today I am able to say: “Boy was I right!” Now I can once again say with equal certainty: “Your day of reckoning is near! Let justice be swift and disproportionate.”  

Once again, greed, by the unit owners (I believe it was only a few who poisoned the majority) and their attorneys, led them down a costly road. But just as damaging were the shots taken at the very two people, Klauber and Moulton, who have devoted much of their adult life to giving back to the Sarasota community. The unit owners and their attorneys single-handedly destroyed a Longboat Key institution. Few people have had the vision, intelligence and energy that Klauber had more than 40 years ago when creating what was once an iconic town treasure. Money damages will never give back to Klauber and Moulton what was taken away from the entire Klauber family. Your costly attempt to smear and hurt the Klaubers has failed. Your propaganda against the Klaubers has been ruled unjust, inaccurate, baseless and completely wrong by the courts now. You rolled the dice, and you lost. Stop the attacks. Go to mediation, settle, and let The Colony become what it once was. After the association and unit owners write a large check to Klauber, they also need to write Klauber an apology for the failed attempt to ruin Klauber, Moulton and the Klauber family.
Kevin I. Miller
Sarasota 

+ Longboat Key at risk with cell tower
Dear Editor:
Longboat Key lost a good man threeweeks ago, Jim “The Greater” Brown.

Jim “The Greater” Brown, served our island paradise well, and we all owe a lot to him for his planning and hard work, which produced a quality island community and a great place to live and be proud to call our homes. He will be missed.

Now our town is at risk.

I live in Emerald Harbor, and because of the proposed “smoke stack” cell tower, many homes on the north end remain on the market and don’t sell because those that would like to move to Longboat Key will not purchase a home here because they do not want to live near an ugly “smoke stack” cell tower.

This tower would be the tallest structure on Longboat Key. Jim Eatrides is not worried about the loss in value in our homes, because he recently sold his house. I have several friends who came to Longboat Key to buy and will not move into Country Club Shores because of the great wall of concrete proposed for the Longboat Key Club.

They said that they didn’t want to move here because of the “Great Wall of Longboat” that they would see as they drove north over the New Pass Bridge for their first impression of Longboat Key. The tranquility and beauty of our island home would be lost and we would become just another crowded Florida island. Longboat would not be Longboat if that were built.

Now the same thing is happening on the north end of the island. Who would want to purchase a home near a 150-foot cell tower “smoke stack” that is almost 4 feet wide at the top?

I have been on Longboat Key since 1999. My cell service with Sprint then was poor, I told them I was unhappy, and they said to come in and they would provide me with new phones for free that would work. The new free phones worked fine, and my problem was solved.

Last year I bought an iPhone and an iPad. I was unhappy with the service with AT&T. I called AT&T, and they said they were improving their service. Now I have full service on the north end but not the south end.I have never had a dropped call in more than 10 years on Longboat Key, because I have better free cell phones.

If the “smoke stack” cell tower is approved, I will encourage those who live on the north end to go to the county and ask for a reduced appraisal for our homes, which will reduce our taxes in this bad economy.
I was raised as a Christian, and remember the teachings: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” Is the church doing this? Throw the money-changers out of the temple? I don’t think so. To me, the $35,000 the church will get paid makes me think about the 30 pieces of silver that Judas received.

Don’t destroy with greed what we have built with our dedication.
Bob Craft
Longboat Key

+ Cell tower ad was misleading
Dear Editor:
Advertising revenue is the lifeblood of a newspaper. An editor cannot be expected to censor advertisements: a little exaggeration in a real-estate advertisement, for example, is normal. However, an editor must avoid publishing an advertisement that is downright misleading. The advertisement asking for support for a 150-foot speculation cell tower, published on page 10A of your Oct. 6 issue, fell into that category.

The tower was described as a “stealth” tower, giving the impression that it would be almost invisible. The town staff specifically told the speculators that it could not be described as a stealth tower after their application was received. It is ludicrous to use the word “stealth” to describe a structure 15 stories high and 6 feet wide at the bottom, 42 inches, the size of a dinner table, at the top. In addition, there would be an elevated structure of more than 2,000 square feet with generators and machinery.

The advertisement contained a simulated picture of the tower in place, which was extremely deceptive. It made the tower appear only about 10 feet higher than a telegraph pole, whereas it would be almost four times as high. It does not show the 67-foot church steeple at all — the tower would be more than twice as high (150 feet) and would dominate all the surrounding structures.

I hope that you will require corrections to be made before the advertisement is published again.
Ronald Platt
Longboat Key