Letters and feedback: Feb. 19, 2020

Florida Today

Tolls 'only proper way' to fund roads

It's wrong to make hotel tourists pay for roads in Brevard County. Collecting tolls is the only proper way to fund our roads. Every gated community should have a toll booth collection site for those entering onto our roads. Every railroad crossing on our roads should collect a tax on autos at these crossings. This type of tax collection has been supported by Republicans as a great idea, as Beeline users can attest to.

Sadly, Florida does not do this all across the state. We need users to pay for use they now get free. "No Free Lunch" is the GOP motto and just look at high school parking lots — there should be a toll collected for every car entering or leaving each school and then we could pay teachers more.

Stop commissioners from shifting tourist funds and stop their efforts to use lagoon taxes to fund free stuff for developments and their pet projects.

Louis T. Freeman, Merritt Island

Where are dads in proposed abortion law?

There is a glaring gap in the abortion laws that exist and those that Florida legislators are proposing, and I assume it must be due to their lack of sex education. Do they not know that a sperm donor is necessary to produce a baby? Where are the laws defining the responsibilities of the sperm donor? 

Fair is fair. If the mother has to notify her parents, the father must be identified, he must inform his parents, and get their permission for the abortion.  

The father must watch any required video on abortion that the mother has to watch. 

The father must share the cost of an abortion. 

If it is a case of incest, the accused must be criminally charged.

If the mother has medical expenses related to her pregnancy, the father must share the expenses. If she is unable to work, he must support her. 

The father must pay child support until his child is 18, and contribute to post-secondary education. 

Please, legislators: Step up, enact just laws, put teeth in them, and enforce them.

Ann Coburn, Cocoa

In an Oct. 23, 2019, photo, about two dozen House Republicans enter a secure room, called a sensitive compartmented information facility (SCIF), where the House Intelligence, Foreign Affairs and Oversight committees took private depositions in the impeachment inquiry at the U.S. Capitol.

Guest writer had 1 fact in whole column

There is only one fact — Romney voted to impeach — in a recent guest column by Stacy Patel, chair of the Brevard County Democratic Executive Committee. The remainder is opinionated fiction and partisan hatred for Senate Republicans. 

The column basically says, "GOP Senators to blame for failed historical test as a nation."  

Ms. Patel makes no mention of the Democrats' secret sensitive compartmented information facility, where hidden hearings were conducted by House Democrats in the basement of the U.S. Capitol to cherry-pick witnesses for the impeachment. No Republican witnesses were allowed in SCIF. Only after Democrats selectively found witnesses that would serve their agenda did they proceed with the impeachment. The cherry-picked so-called "witnesses" testified mostly hearsay.  

Democratic witnesses could not come up with direct evidence; therefore, one Democratic congressman, Mike Quigley, went so far as to insult the intelligence of all Americans by stating  "hearsay can be better than direct evidence."

The following are not-unexpected, sad and disturbing words by Ms. Patel: "cowards" used six times regarding GOP senators. "King" used twice, and "authoritarian government." "Spit" and "poison" used in a derogatory sense about Republicans and, slightly less venomous, "heartburn and "stomach ulcers."

House Democrats are the true "cowards," propagating the impeachment hoax.

Sen. Rick Scott, in a Feb. 15 FLORIDA TODAY column, eloquently explains the damage done by Democrats to our nation by their trivialized partisan impeachment.

Sixty-three million Americans will not accept our 2016 votes being torn apart like another official document was shamefully torn by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

John Bell, Merritt Island

Just say vote

Our president never disappoints. Just when you think he can't get any deeper into the gutter, he gets deeper. And our friends Rubio, Scott and Posey sit silently as he destroys our nation's institutions, one at a time. 

Vote, people; vote.

Joe Tierno, Melbourne

Feeling the love from commissioners

Wow. How lucky and appreciative I feel for the marvelous management job our county commissioners are doing for us all.

Let’s see. They were marvelous putting our tax dollars at risk by continuing invocations after being threatened by predator atheists, Americans United for Separation of Church and State. It was foolish at best to disregard legal counsel and continue this practice. Cost: $490,000 insurance payout and $50,000 out of our pockets.

Then there is the ever-growing number of deliberate work-arounds to the charter cap which restricts the amount of money that can be raised from property taxes to 3 percent, to fund Sheriff Ivey's ever-growing financial need due to runaway growth in this county. Although I am not disputing the sheriff’s need for a budget increase, the way it was done and approved by the board was a deliberate work-around of the 3% cap. The commission walked away from fiduciary responsibilities, and granted an emergency hike for the sheriff’s budget needs instead of working the budget to include the need. How nice, I feel so lucky.

Of course there is the half-cent sales tax increase for six years to fund school infrastructure needs that should have been funded properly all along.

And last, how about the 39% hike in the new trash removal contract? But wait, that’s considered a fee, not a tax, on your tax bill.  

OK, taxpayers: See the trend?

Gary Neff, Melbourne