Letters to the Editor

To send in your Letters to the Editor, email them to News Editor Robin Hartill at [email protected]. Letters pertaining to local issues receive priority. Letters may be edited for grammar and space.

+ Disabled hospitalized veterans deserve our support
Dear Editor:
For the past six years, Temple Beth Israel and Sarasota’s Disabled American Veterans (DAV) Post 97 have been partners in helping our hospitalized disabled veterans at the Bay Pines Veterans Hospital in St. Petersburg and the James Haley Veterans Medical Center in Tampa.

Your generous contributions have enabled us to purchase Xbox units to provide both entertainment and physical rehabilitation for wounded veterans. Last year, we purchased four Xbox 360 systems — two for each hospital — complete with interactive sports and exercise DVDs.

These Xbox systems have been an enormous success and are much in-demand by the veterans at these hospitals. As a matter of fact, the James Haley Medical Center has just completed a new wing where each wounded veteran has his or her own room and would like each room to be equipped with an Xbox system. Each system costs approximately $500.

In addition to Xboxes, last year, we were able to leave a $1,000 check at each VA hospital. These funds were requested by the VA staff to enable them to meet the emergency needs of disabled homeless veterans for food, short-term lodging, etc.

Here is how you can help: Make your check to DAV Post 97, and mail the tax-deductible contribution to Al Grossman at 5525 Chanteclaire, Sarasota, FL 34235. Write “Temple Beth Israel” on the memo line. My wife and I will personally deliver the Xbox units and donated monies to the VA hospitals.

We know you receive solicitation from many so-called veterans organizations. Unlike those groups, 100% of your donations to DAV Post 97 are distributed to the Sarasota-area VA hospitals for the direct benefit of injured veterans.

We were proud of our efforts last year, but the need goes on. It is the least we can do for our hospitalized veterans.
Al Grossman
Sarasota

+ Wastewater pipe should be town’s top priority
Dear Editor:
According to Town Manager Dave Bullock, speaking at the Republican Club meeting on Jan. 9 (as reported in the Jan. 15 Longboat Observer,) the 42-year-old pipe that carries Longboat Key wastewater to disposal in Manatee County “has never been shut down or inspected,” and “currently there’s no storage and one pipe that carries all the waste. If it fails, untreated water will come up in the bay. We don’t know if it’ll last another 20 years or another 20 minutes.” He also noted that “the town is in the planning stages of installing a new pipe, which will be the longest of its size in the world.” Permits could take five to 10 years to obtain.

Faced with this known monstrosity of a health problem and potential legal liability for the town and its residents, why is the board of commissioners and Mr. Bullock even thinking of spending money on studies and other projects such as underground utilities or a new town center or anything else but what could erupt in the next 20 minutes? The potential health problems and legal liabilities for the town and its residents could literally destroy Longboat Key as a place to live.

Let’s put first things first!

Frances Robinson
Longboat Key

+ America must fight Islamic terrorism
Dear Editor:
The reason that Islamic terrorism is forbidden to be spoken in the White House is because the idiot living there is a Muslim. As he has stated in the past, the most beautiful sound to his ears is the daily Muslim call to prayer. If you can get a handle around this insight, you will then understand why America with this idiot in charge has only waged a half-hearted war against radical Islam, which is and has been for centuries the scourge of all humanity. 

Unleash our military to wage the most necessary war against the jihadists until they die and we win and they remain dead. This will be a decades-long struggle against the most evil curse upon humanity since Hitler. But they are more dangerous because they want to die for their cause no matter how long it takes. 

Wake up, America and the Western world. Identify the enemy as your enemy and go for the kill. There is no other solution.

Milan Adrian
Longboat Key