Letters to the Editor

+ Knee-jerk reactions
Dear Editor:
Tom Smith in a May 15 letter talks about Benghazi from the point of view of his experience of being in combat and his expectations from his time as a Marine in Vietnam. He says, “There is a sacred trust that if you get in trouble, I will come to help you. If I’m in trouble, you’ll come to help me.”

This is undoubtedly true for the uniformed services in a war zone 1) during a time of war where 2) our military presence is well established and equipped and 3) contingency plans are in place.
Benghazi was not a military facility, it was a consulate. The U.S. was not engaged in a war in or with Libya. We had no significant military presence nearby. It is unclear that we had any contingency plans to confront an uprising.

I have seen no indication that there was any military plan on how to deal with such a (potential) non-military problem, a war room prepared to manage it or detailed and current intelligence of the situation on the ground.

To send personnel into such an unknown situation in support of an unspecified goal for an unconsidered duration would have been dereliction of commanders’ duties to safeguard their troops.

As former Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates said in May 2013: “I listened to the testimony of both Secretary Panetta and Gen. Dempsey. And, frankly, had I been in the job at the time, I think my decisions would have been just as theirs were. We don’t have a ready force standing by in the Middle East, despite all the turmoil that’s going on, with planes on strip alert, troops ready to deploy at a moment’s notice. And so getting somebody there in a timely way would have been very difficult, if not impossible … Well, given the number of surface-to-air-missiles that have disappeared from Gaddafi’s arsenals, I would not have approved sending an aircraft, a single aircraft over Benghazi under those circumstances.”

Knee-jerk reactions often result in the loss of a knee.

David A. Coyle
Sarasota
 
+ Parking signs are confusing
Dear Editor:
I would like to address the recent article about parking on Avenida de Mayo. 

I have lived on the street since 1988 and was instrumental in requesting the parking restrictions.

It was a long process, but the restrictions are now in place. Parking is not permitted at all in the entire first block of the street, including the right of way, from the corner of Canal/Mayo to the corner of Cortez/Mayo. Parking is then permitted for 500 feet on alternating sides of the road the rest of the way down. 

The issue is the placement of the no parking signs.

If you are driving down the first block of the street from the corner of Canal/Mayo, the first two signs are not placed head on. They are placed so you have to turn your head to the right to see them.

This is causing a lot of confusion. The signs are simply not visible when driving. 

There also needs to be an additional sign in that first block because of the curve in the street.

I have spoken with officers from the Sheriff’s Department, and they too agreed the signs are confusing so they hesitate to write citations. 

The issue is easily correctable. I hope the county will consider repositioning the signs.

Marlene Merkle
Siesta Key

+ Consider other bus sites
Dear Editor:
In response to David Conway’s recent article on the progress being made in moving the downtown SCAT bus station, I continue to oppose the effort to relocate the station near Payne Park on Ringling Boulevard and School Avenue. I hope that I can convince others that this is a bad idea.

What immediately caught my attention in the article was news that county staff is working on the project. On May 16, your paper reported that Sarasota County officials announced at a workshop that they would like to relocate the county’s Central Energy Plant for the same surface parking lot proposed for the bus station. Why are county officials working at cross purposes for the use of this lot? 

I am not opposed to moving the downtown bus station if it makes economic sense. But it makes no sense to spend millions of dollars to move the station to another part of downtown with achieving better services while, at the same time, endangering children who use the nearby park, congesting the roadways around the courthouse and damaging the prospects for redevelopment of other properties in the area.

I would like to see some alternative sites considered if the county is going to continue to devote resources to the issue.

P. Christopher Jaensch
Sarasota

+ Are you are being played?
Dear Editor:
Two principles for navigating life are: (1) People will treat you the way that you teach them to treat you, and (2) Know when you are being “played.” 

This administration defends its decision to make the incredibly bad (five for one) of questionable legality Bergdahl prisoner swap with the repeated assertion “we leave no American behind.” Yet less than two years ago Americans were under attack in Benghazi and no help was sent; an attack that lasted almost eight hours with relief/reinforcements one hour away in Tripoli. No order was given to send aid (from anywhere) to those Americans under attack. Four died. Neither the president nor Secretary Clinton went to the Situation Room that night! I guess they get to decide when it’s a sacrosanct principle and when it’s not. If you accept the administration’s defense, then you are being “played.” If you teach them that they can lie to you, they will continue to do so. “If you like your plan, you can keep your plan. Period.” Sense a pattern?

There are more than 100 detainees in Guantanamo. Why not select a few who are evaluated low risk and swap them for Bergdahl? Why let the Taliban name the prisoners? The five highest ranking, greatest risk and most dangerous. Because Obama was “played,” that’s why. Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. Fool me three times, good grief! Elections have consequences.

Tom Smith
Sarasota