Letters to the Editor, May 29
Support Jared Grifoni
Marco Island is rightly proud of its small-g government, especially as compared with the nearly exactly similarly sized City of Naples.
Marco’s city councilors are paid $6,000 annually. In Naples, the pay is $40,000. Same population, same number of dwellings, same square miles, same road miles, same canal miles. This disparity cannot be addressed without a voter-approved change in our city charter. I will leave that for others and for later.
Right now, I want to call to the attention of every Marco Island citizen the remarkable and selfless service of councilor and city council vice-chair Jared Grifoni. Every day he compiles and publishes summaries of the government’s reports on the Coronovirus in the state, in Collier County, and on Marco Island, and posts the results on Facebook. (Just search “Jared Grifoni,” ask to be his friend. Everybody is his friend!)
Jared Grifoni’s service goes far beyond his dedication to providing valuable community information.
Jared and his wife Elsa have three lovely children, and their family exemplifies the future of Marco Island in every respect — business commitment, family-first posture, public service, community participation, social involvement, and youth engagement.
Jared is running for re-election. I urge you to support him with your vote, and if you are able, to contribute to his campaign. He stands for all the conservative values and beliefs that were fundamental to the founding of our republic. Now, more than ever in these feverish times, we need a calm, steady, and steel-eyed leader like Jared Grifoni.
Larry Honig, Marco Island City Council
'Irony' of Trump boat parade
Regarding the Trump political rally boat parade: The parade [passes] through one of Collier County’s most prized natural wonders, the waterways of Rookery Bay Reserve, which was mentioned in an article titled 'How President Trump's budget could affect Southwest Florida' (Naples Daily News, March 25, 2017).
“The proposed cuts could prove devastating to the Rookery Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve … one of 29 national estuarine reserves in the country. Trump’s budget would eliminate federal funding for all of them,” the article states in a section about Rookery Bay Reserve.
I hope those participating … [took] a moment to absorb the beauty of this section of the parade route and reassess the cause for which they are marching (boating). The irony of the moment should be self-evident.
Luke Larson, Isles of Capri
'Idol worship' of Trump 'disturbing'
It was a little disturbing to see hundreds of boaters displaying garish Trump paraphernalia from flags to life-size cutouts of the Dear Leader.
It’s one thing to support a political candidate based on serious, thoughtful judgment of their qualifications; it’s quite another to support a candidate who has a record like Trump’s with idol worship. There is really no other word for someone flying four large Trump flags from their half-million-dollar boat.
One person, when asked their reason for supporting Trump, replied, “He cuts my taxes.”
These people seem only interested in blindly following a hate-spewing, ignorant, govern-by-gut, anti-science know-nothing as we approach 100,000 COVID-19 deaths in the U.S., which a recent study concluded was made much worse by the government's slow response.
It seems these Trump supporters desire not to be part of a “great generation” but the last generation, riding the wakes of expensive boats right up to the whirlpool of climate- and virus-expedited doom.
Randy Camp, Naples
Fuel for boats or food for jobless?
Just think, the vast amount spent to fuel this armada could have been spent on something frivolous, like a donation to a food bank or helping unemployed people who have tried but been unable to get their benefits.
Clayton C. Peterson, Cypress Lake
Masks in stores
We are a long way away from a vaccine or cure for COVID-19, so the only protection that we have is to wear a mask.
If you won't do it for yourself, then do it for others. We are no more safe than we were in March.
I went to get breakfast at Seed to Table on Saturday morning, and to my surprise, almost none of the employees were wearing a mask. I found a manager and asked him why they didn't require employees to wear masks.
'It's not the law,' he replied.
Everyone at Dunkin' Donuts wears a mask, everyone at Publix wears a mask, and you can't even enter Costco without a mask.
It's not too much to ask. It's just common sense.
Jeff Rodgers, Naples