Letters to the Editor

+ Income tax supporter sounds off
Dear Editor:
Your editorial advocating the repeal of the income tax is among the five dumbest editorials I have read. I should respond, but two sources of comment inhibit this. “Life is short and the impulse strong to let the asses bray,” and from the Bible, “Answer not a fool according to his folly.” I believe the King James version substitutes the word “fool” for a less-flattering one.
Respectfully,
Donald A. Semisch
Longboat Key

+ Cell towers are outdated
Dear Editor:
No cell tower in a residential area on Longboat Key.

Sister Keys, maybe? But, this is outdated technology. Approval of a cell tower project in a Longboat Key residential area, meaning the church parking lot, would be divisive and likely to progress in this order: Unpleasant disagreements among neighbors; lawsuits; a settlement with which nobody is happy; and hard feelings.

By the time all that is finished, cell phone technology will have completely bypassed the use of towers.
It’s difficult to not see the irony in this situation: a cell tower in a church parking lot; guaranteed to be divisive; for profit, to a tax free organization; for a church whose congregation itself has been divisive, and has resulted in several internal splits over the last few years with a new pastor.

One can only hope that the new minister’s sermons, pointing out how the Bible justifies this endeavor, will be online, for those sermons would certainly be interesting.
George Rauch
Longboat Key

+ DAS is a viable alternative
Dear Editor:
The money-hungry speculation cell tower protagonists have been at it again. It looks as if they gave you the picture used in your front-page story about placing a huge cell tower at the Longboat Island Chapel.

People selling old-fashioned cell towers often provide incorrect information, and this time is no exception. The picture purported to show a DAS tower juxtaposed against a cell tower was totally misleading, for it made a 150-foot tower appear no higher than the 35-foot utility pole. The man from Verizon was reported to have said that his company would not use a DAS system. They are using DAS systems in many other places and have recently started promoting an even more unobtrusive small cell system.
Ron Platt
Longboat Key