Letters to the editor for Saturday, March 1, 2025

In the Feb. 27 edition of Naples Daily News it is reported Senator Joe Gruters of Sarasota is proposing to rename Tamiami Trail to Gulf of America Trail. This causes me to wonder if the good people of Sarasota County elected Senator Gruters to spend his time coming up with this ridiculous idea. Is there nothing else for him to do? If not, maybe he should retire.

Reed Boone, Marco Island

I read in today’s News-Press that State Senator Joe Gruters (R Sarasota) filed a bill for consideration in upcoming legislative session to rename parts of Tamiami Trail, the Gulf of America Trail. Has he thought of how much it would cost taxpayers to rename the Tamiami Trail? This is a complete waste of taxpayer dollars. There must be more important items on the state agenda that he could be addressing.

Pat Van Cleve, Fort Myers

After seeing the front page of the February 27 issue of the Naples News I was hesitant to continue reading. Two crazy stories − Byron Donalds running for governor and renaming Tamiami Trail to Gulf of America Trail.  Are you kidding me? 

Donalds is a puppet of Trump and while Florida did vote for Trump, given all the crazy things Donnie has done in his first 60 days, we do not need Donalds to be a Trump clone. The GOP should not just go along with Donalds because the "Long Live the King" man endorsed him.

As for the renaming of the Tamiami Trail, that’s a joke right?  It’s bad enough the Gulf of Mexico has been renamed (I’m still calling it the Gulf of Mexico, sorry king Donald).  If our Legislature in Tallahassee has nothing better to do than think of insane ideas, then it should show all Floridians it’s time to vote them out and put people in who will do something constructive for the residents of Florida − maybe take on the homeowner insurance and car insurance premium inflation that is the highest in the country or control building as overcrowding is a huge issue. 

Let’s get real Floridians, both of these headlines must never come true. 

E.A. Blair, Naples

Last month we learned that the president rescinded the status of schools, churches, and hospitals as “sensitive areas” immune from immigration policing. We then learned that district policies leave open the possibility that a child may find him or herself alone in a room with a federal agent. Parents may not even be notified until after the interrogation.

Despite this, I have heard from my peers that some schools have forbidden teachers from conducting lessons on a student’s constitutional rights under such circumstances.

MAGA may celebrate the terrorism of children, but reasonable people do not. Here in Southwest Florida, local activists have mobilized in the interests of educating children and parents about their constitutional rights and the prospects that their children may find themselves alone facing a grown, armed adult.

The Purple Group, a local, bipartisan group supporting public education, has worked diligently to disseminate cards including scripts to help kids assert their rights to remain silent. Other local civil liberties groups and immigrant rights groups are disseminating Red Cards.

In the face of this mobilization, I have one question. Where are the so-called “Parents’ Rights” people? Can you think of a greater violation of parents’ rights than interrogating a child without notifying the parent? I have been on the Florida Citizens Alliance website, Mom’s for Liberty, and others. Nothing. Not a word.

They swarm like hornets when they hear of a teacher with a rainbow poster, but they are nowhere to be found in the face of a real abuse of power against children. It is almost as if they do not care about parents’ rights, or children, especially the rights of “those” parents and children.

While the Parents’ Rights people dedicate themselves to their war against rainbows, actual concerned citizens are taking action. Hopefully, these tools will not be needed.

Michael Andoscia, Fort Myers

I know, I know we are entering the New Golden Age as promised by the author of the "Art of the Deal." Things haven’t quite worked out yet. But he’s enlisted a Doge, which in Venetian times was the high magistrate. The Doge was the lead cheerleader of the first Cabinet meeting of the new administration dressed in goth attire. The looks on the faces of the Cabinet members were priceless, like what am I doing here? Marco was sleeping and Trump was picking his teeth. This was after the assembly started with a prayer and no one burst into flames, go figure. What’s incredible is that while not solving food prices, insurance crisis, health crises, climate crises, housing crises and a hundred more he’s been able to dismantle the underpinnings of the foundations of democracy and relative stability of just waking up and going to work. I’ve said before this will end badly for everyone. This isn’t the Golden Age it’s the Golden Fleecing.

Laurence Jackson, Estero

The way it works it that you throw out your exaggerated position and wait for a response. Eventually you know it is a fair deal when neither side is gloating. For example, you say Canada should join the U.S.  What you really want is minerals and trade routes (Shh). Net result. We give them Minnesota and Wisconsin (they are almost Canada already. People too nice and winters too cold) in exchange for lithium and a mineral to be named later.

Richard Stein, Bonita Springs

We all suffer from air and water pollution, intense hurricanes and wildfires, floods and droughts, and plastic pollution. They cause bad health effects, even death, to say nothing of billions in property damage.

The answer is not to move the responsibility to the states but to turn off the spigot of plastic production and greenhouse gases at the national and even global level.

I call on Ashley Moody, Rick Scott, and Byron Donalds not to cut EPA or FEMA or NOAA funding, or let the EPA rewrite the finding that greenhouse gases endanger public health and welfare, but rather to support important initiatives such as the Farewell to Foam Act, which would ban the sale and distribution of single-use plastic foam products in the United States.

Jean Chandler, Fort Myers

The 1st Amendment to the U.S. Constitution protects the right to petition the government for redress of grievances. Jenna Persons-Mulicka swore under oath to protect and defend the U.S. and State Constitution, but she is attempting to do the exact opposite by making citizen initiatives all but impossible to get on the ballot. She is doing this by introducing legislation “HB 1205 - Initiative Petitions for Constitution Amendments.” This bill will revise provisions relating to initiative petitions including handling petitions, sponsor and petition circulator registration, signature verification procedures, signature revocation, record retention, duties and responsibilities of supervisors of elections, and criminal penalties.

There are already strict requirements for getting citizen-initiated amendments to the Florida Constitution on the ballot for people to vote on. This bill does nothing to improve the current process, and is a response to her inability to govern on behalf of all citizens.

Call and write Jenna Persons-Mulicka and tell her to stop trying to squash voters' right to vote on issues, even those she disagrees with.

Daniel Becker, Fort Myers

This week, our governor spoke about individual audits of our public universities to ensure that our tax dollars were being used effectively and that there were no signs of DEI. As our president and his party leaders work diligently to remove DEI from our vocabulary and practice, I was remembering what it is. Sometimes when an acronym gets tossed around enough, it’s easy to forget its history and what it actually means.

“The history of DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion) is deeply rooted in the Civil Rights Movement of the mid-20th century, particularly the landmark Civil Rights Act of 1964 which prohibited discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin. In 2000-present, the emphasis shifted toward "inclusion" and "equity," aiming to not only diversify representation but also to ensure that everyone feels valued and has equal opportunities within an organization.“

So, DEI in practice means ensuring that our work environments and our educational institutions reflect our country’s population, that the process is fair, and that there is equality of opportunity. In practice it was intended to come into play when there were two equally qualified candidates. Seems to me like that reflects a powerful part of our Pledge of Allegiance which says, “with liberty and justice for all.”

As this concept is being swept into the dustpan because those who oppose it assert that it results in less qualified candidates being chosen for admissions to schools and hiring for jobs, ironically a new acronym has emerged. LTT: Loyalty To Trump.

Without summarizing each and every new Cabinet member or the head of the FBI, his second in command, ambassadors to France, Greece, to adjutants in the military as examples, one thing is clear. Other than Marco Rubio, none of them are the most qualified candidates. They do not have the knowledge or experience to serve in those positions, some have things in their background that should have disqualified them. Their selection is based on LTT and in some cases, large contributions to his campaign.

Goodbye DEI − liberty and justice for all. Hello LTT.

Susan Kaercher Meyers, Naples

So much for President Trump wanting to stop rapists and traffickers coming into our country. Andrew Tate and his brother landed on Florida after Trump’s special envoy, Grenell, spoke with the Romanian foreign minister, probably asking to have Tate’s travel ban lifted. For those who don’t know about Andrew Tate, think Jeffrey Epstein, only worse. He was detained in Romania accused of rape and trafficking, he also had similar charges facing him in the U.K. I remember Trump mentioning Tate’s name a few months ago and I wondered then why and how does Trump know Tate. People should be absolutely disgusted that Trump would want this self-proclaimed misogynist who has active charges against him here. Of course, one wonders why Trump wants Tate here and not in jail in another country.

Rhonda Thede, Fort Myers

I along with many other Americans really appreciate the major effort the Trump team has done in reducing waste, fraud, corruption, and forcing government employees back to work in such a short period of time. Even though the Democrat base is against these efforts and basically making fools of themselves. They have to remember Trump won the election and the voters want change in the way the government works in a day-to-day basis.

Jim Mcmenamy, Fort Myers

Trump 2  administration's decision to dismantle the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) effectively eliminates this federal watchdog that successfully held financial institutions accountable for delivering fair and equitable financial services. The now-defunct bureau had been charged with protecting consumers from deceptive or abusive practices and was authorized to take ameliorative action against banks, lenders and other financial entities that broke the law. Prices, risks, and terms of financial deals had to be clear upfront so that consumers could understand their options and comparison shop. Those protections now rest solely upon the individual consumer.

A quick perusal of the CFPB web site (consumerfinance.gov) shows that $21 billion in consumer relief was the result of CFPB enforcing federal laws and another $5 billion had been levied against these companies/individuals who violated the law. It now appears that everyday citizens' recourse for redress is to contact the offending institution, wait to "speak" with a computer only to be disconnected when a human voice is eventually located. Removal of consumer protections is a dream realized for proponents of unfettered capitalism. Clearly, that ideal ally for unregulated and deregulated capitalism is Trump/Musk's DOGE. 

James L. DeBoy, Fort Myers

Many U.S. government agencies were once considered more or less reliable sources of information: the FBI, CIA, CDC, HHS, etc. Now that Trump (a notoriously prolific liar, although not a good one) has put many of his spectacularly unqualified supporters in charge of these offices, I assume they too will follow his playbook and just support his lies to stay in his favor, probably even making up their own. The end result is that I (and probably many others) no longer believe any reports or statements issued by these agencies. I will just have to assume everyone is lying until I can verify the truth on my own, with the help of reliable media sources, which do not include Facebook, Instagram, X/Twitter, etc. Government credibility is just one more casualty of the Trump administration. The Achilles heel of democracy is an uninformed electorate.

Charles Lacy, USAF retired, South Korea

The inscription on the Statue of Liberty reads in part: "Give me your tired,... your poor,... send the homeless." With President Trump's anticipated $5 million fee for wealthy immigrants to buy U.S. citizenship, the inscription on America's century old welcoming beacon should have a statement that reflects the new American view. With a tear in her eye, Miss Liberty could now truthfully say: Write us a check you oligarchs of the Kremlin, Give us your minerals you bomb-weary Ukrainians. Criminals are welcome too, Because our felon is one of you. And for a price we will buy Greenland Develop Gaza and make it a Dreamland. The tired, the poor the homeless, will be left in the dust Because we have the caring Mr. Musk. But the wealthy should not fear Because Trump's America holds you dear.

Manny Cacciola, Fort Myers

On February 24, 2025, the third anniversary of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, President Trump completed a significant shift in U.S. foreign policy by voting against a U.N. resolution calling for Russia's withdrawal from Ukraine. This move signaled a departure from the decades-long stance of regarding Russia as an aggressor. Trump's approach, which involved sidelining Ukrainian President Zelensky in negotiations and conceding to Russian demands, has raised alarm. The invasion, which began on February 24, 2022, saw Russia attack Ukraine unprovoked. Ukrainians, despite facing a larger military force, have endured significant losses, with over 45,000 military casualties and 390,000 wounded. Civilian casualties are staggering, with infrastructure like hospitals, schools, and the Chernobyl nuclear plant under attack. Thousands of Ukrainian children have faced forced deportations to Russia, and multiple cities are in ruins.

Traditionally, the U.S. treated Russia as a Cold War adversary. President Reagan, for instance, strongly demanded Soviet leader Gorbachev, "tear down this wall," understanding that appeasement emboldens aggressors. Trump's weak position of kowtowing has puzzled European allies and divided the Republican Party. Senators like Lisa Murkowski and Lindsey Graham criticized Trump for labeling Zelensky a "dictator," while French President Macron reiterated in an Oval Office meeting that "Russia is the aggressor." As Russia's actions in Ukraine continue unchecked, concerns grow about which NATO country could be targeted next. The threat of intercontinental missiles means geographical distances offer little protection, highlighting the need for a robust foreign policy to maintain global stability.

Sandra McClinton, Cape Coral