Letters to the Editor, April 30

Marco Eagle
Editorial cartoon

Beach access too limited

Goodbye, Marco Island. We love you, but you don’t love us anymore.

After 10 years of winter or spring renting on Marco, the Residents’ Beach restrictions have made vacation with our grandkids unsafe. Crossing Collier Boulevard with five small ones is too hard on my wife and me and somewhat dangerous. We gladly paid the fees to park at Residents’ Beach and enjoyed lunch there as well. We drive by now and see dozens of empty spots, while we try to time our arrival at one of the two other spots on Collier.

We will leave Marco for the last time May 5. In the past, we have signed a rental agreement for two months, but not for next year. We’ll miss the folks at Marco Island Vacation Properties; they always made our vacation time easier. I wish the Marco Island Civic Association had felt the same.

Ken and Patty Cupp, Marco Island vacationers from Plymouth, Mass.

For retirement, ‘if it works, don’t fix it’

The Legislature’s move to change from a well-funded employee defined-benefit retirement plan to a defined-contribution plan — 401(k) — ignores the advice of the very person who first conceived the 401(k) in the 1970s.

In an article in The Wall Street Journal over a decade ago, he noted it did not work out as he had expected as it resulted in less retirement assets than necessary and that it never was intended to be a standalone retirement plan but was

intended to supplement the existing defined-benefit plans. Fast forward several decades and it has become the plan de jour.

A defined-benefit plan works well if the sponsors (legislators) are making honest projections and not skipping required payments when returns are very high — the market fluctuates and returns will at times be correspondingly low.

Like much of what is happening in the Florida Legislature this year, if it works, don’t fix it.

David C. Maturen, East Naples

In chronic pain without oxy, marijuana

At age 55 I was struck with the debilitating disease known as axonal neuropathy. My nerves had been eaten away in my legs below my knees to my feet, leaving only minimal feeling and 30% loss of feeling in my hands.

It presents as 24/7/365 constant tingling, numbness, the weirdest chronic pain, fatigue and my feet are on “fire.”

I was given every drug under the sun, but oxycodone was the only medication that would provide some relief. After what I call the Opioid Pandemic Over-Reaction Act of July 2018, I was placed into a category of miscreant. I was treated as a criminal and vilified by the major drug chains and doctors who look at me as some kind of junkie.

I would drink to try to shut down my brain. I obtained medical marijuana and would smoke golly gosh forbid three times a day. Well, apparently, you can’t do either with oxy. I “get” the alcohol (prohibition), but marijuana is bad? They put me on 1,600 mg per day of acetaphetamine/Tylonol for two years, which did untold damage to my liver, but no, don’t smoke that evil weed.

My pain management doctors treat me like I’m dead meat, and I’m sick and tired of it. In my former life, my little company of guys and gals put $35 million into the economy and helped raise $1 million for charities in my hometown of Annapolis, Maryland. I’m at my wits’ end and have no options to turn to.

Dan Powell, East Naples

Crackdowns on protesters

Almost in the wake of the heart-wrenching George Floyd case, Gov. DeSantis signed House Bill 1, which, in part, (authorizes) crackdowns on protesters. He has created a piece of legislation no one asked for.

As a former Republican who voted for this man, I am shocked, appalled and incredibly disappointed in DeSantis. What other ideas will he be signing into law? We can only imagine.

Emily Walz, East Naples

Bogus premise for election legislation

I still can’t fathom why anyone buys the loser’s allegation that the 2020 election was rigged and stolen from him. Look at the facts: He didn’t win the popular vote in 2016 even with Russia’s help. He never had a majority approval rating in any of the Gallup polls taken in his four years in office. Indeed, the loser had the overall lowest rating Gallup had ever found since it started polling in 1938. By the 2020 election, his approval rating hovered in the mid- to low 30s. This was not surprising, given how he mishandled the COVID crisis at every step.

So stop whining that the election was stolen. The Republican-controlled state legislatures need to stop enacting laws to fix a problem that doesn’t exist. It’s apparent these new laws are intended to ensure Republicans are in control.

Bill McMaster, East Naples

More:Letters to the Editor, April 16