Category Archives: Opinion

Quality of Life

Newberry Road development causing dangerous levels of traffic, diminishing quality of life

Mary Jo Banken
Guest columnist
 

Construction crews continue work on several apartment buildings being built off SW 17th Road and Tower Road near the attached to the Grand Oaks Subdivision in Gainesville, Fla. October 1, 2021.

 

Gainesville and Alachua County residents be aware: Continuing development along Newberry Road between Interstate 75 and 143rd Street in Jonesville continues to increase traffic to dangerous levels, destroying homes of native wildlife that live in wooded areas that are being demolished to build more and more multi-story apartment complexes and businesses. 

This continuing development not only diminishes the quality of life for residents adjacent to areas being razed; it also impacts everyone who travels on Newberry Road. Traffic along Newberry Road has reached a critical point. Enough is enough! Please join us in urging the Alachua County Growth Management department and Alachua County commissioners to consider the following before any more development plans are approved on Newberry Road:  

How can Newberry Road possibly handle the addition of hundreds of more vehicles from apartment residents and business customers when it already is dangerously congested? It is almost impossible and increasingly dangerous during certain times of the day to exit neighborhoods. We urge you to conduct a traffic study of this section of Newberry Road before any additional development plans are considered.   

Construction continues at the Nobel on Newberry apartment complex, on the corner of West Newberry Road and SW 122nd Street, west of Gainesville.

 

Consider how the quality of life of the residents adjacent to these development plans will be affected. Not only will it be more dangerous and difficult to exit our neighborhoods, but our quality of life will be greatly diminished due to sound and light pollution from four-story apartment buildings a mere 50 feet from existing homes in some instances.   

Consider the history of Alachua County and how you can make a difference in its future. Gainesville was once touted as a Tree City. Many of us moved here from other states because we believed that Alachua County valued natural habitats for animals and a good quality of life for its citizens. Please, we ask you to carefully consider these plans so that our history of retaining our natural beauty and thus, quality of life for our animal and human residents, may be maintained and continue into the future.   

I urge you to visit the sites of these additional development plans before you make your decisions which affect so many residents who rely on you to represent us. Please safeguard our neighborhoods, our quality of life and our native animals that live peacefully among us.  

Construction equipment at the site of the soon to be Mason Apartments off NW 20th Ave. in Gainesville, March 10, 2022.

 

I urge all Gainesville and Alachua County residents to get involved. If you are troubled by the destruction of woods, increasing traffic accidents along Newberry Road and diminished quality of life, write to our county commissioners and voice your opinions.

They are elected by us and are obligated to listen to our concerns and make decisions accordingly. Their address is: 10 SW 2nd Avenue; Gainesville, FL 32601. The Alachua County Growth Management department can also be reached by mail to the same address.

Mary Jo Banken lives west of Gainesville.

Listen to our Sheriffs.

 
National Sheriff’s Association Calls on Congress to Extend Title 42
 
Dozens of American sheriffs have asked Congress to take immediate steps to maintain the Trump-era Title 42 public health order to avoid even greater chaos at the southern border. Joe Biden has declared his intention to lift the order on May 23.

Law enforcement agencies have warned of a huge spike in illegal border crossings that will result from ending Title 42 enforcement. The public health order was put in place at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic and allows border agents to immediately expel illegal immigrants when they are apprehended.

The National Sheriff’s Association sent the letter to Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) on Thursday. It told the senators that Title 42 is the only remaining policy that can help stop border crossings without COVID testing by “millions of illegal entrants.”

The letter explains that with Biden’s termination of border wall construction and the Remain in Mexico policy, there is “simply no border left.” It says that there are untold numbers of immigrants inbound to the U.S. with unknown health conditions and potentially carrying COVID as well as other diseases.

The sheriffs state that the letter is about Title 42 and so they have not addressed the specifics of the amount of fentanyl, unmarked guns, and ammunition currently flowing into the county as well as the “more than a million migrants” encountered so far in the fiscal year.

Schumer has been a vocal advocate for ending Title 42, calling it a “disastrous” policy for persons coming here to “escape from the horrors” in their home nations.

McConnell has described Biden’s decision to end Title 42 as “outrageous.” He has warned that a “gusher” of illegals will come to the border when it is lifted.

Border officials have said that up to 18,000 illegal migrants per day can be expected when the order is terminated.

The letter from the sheriffs follows the introduction of legislation by a bipartisan group of senators that would delay lifting Title 42 enforcement by a minimum of two months. It would also require the Biden administration to develop a meaningful plan for handling the result of lifting the order.

A recent poll conducted by Morning Consult indicates that 56 percent of all Americans oppose the termination of Title 42.

Letter to Target from Sheriff Rick Staly

When Target Corporation directed the local Palm Coast Target to cancel the Flagler Sheriff’s Children’s Charities planned Shop with a Cop event, the Grinch paid a visit. The Grinch then found a heart and joined FCSO and others in taking 125 kids on a free shopping spree to Walmart! (Paid for by donations from FCSO employees and the community.) Thank you Walmart for stepping-up and supporting Flagler Sheriff’s Children’s Shop with a Cop event. See you next year!

𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐝 𝐒𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐟𝐟 𝐒𝐭𝐚𝐥𝐲’𝐬 𝐥𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐨 𝐓𝐚𝐫𝐠𝐞𝐭’𝐬 𝐂𝐄𝐎 𝐛𝐞𝐥𝐨𝐰:

Mr. Brian Cornell December 15, 2021
Chairman & CEO
Target Corporation
1000 Nicollet Mall
Minneapolis, MN 55403

Dear Chairman Cornell:

Like many law enforcement agencies across the country the Flagler County Sheriff’s Office partnered with Target for over a decade to provide a “Shop with a Cop” holiday shopping spree for local children who might not otherwise have Santa visit their home.

This year was to be the same. We worked with your local Palm Coast store, selected a date and your employees were once again excited to participate. Then on October 6, 2021 my staff received an email abruptly cancelling the partnership. We were told Target “retired” the “Heroes & Helpers” program and was “introducing a new give-back program to serve our communities, anchored to our purpose of helping families discover the joy of everyday life. We’ll be expanding our impact and reach, partnering directly with local nonprofits organizations across the country to provide families in need with essentials, gifts and more.” When we informed Target staff that Flagler Sheriff’s Children’s Charities was a nonprofit 501(C)(3) the email was ignored and no response was received.

A Google search quickly found many articles and carefully worded statements by Target’s Corporate public relations teams dating to 2020 in which Target denies it was “dropping its sponsorship of its annual holiday ‘Shop with a Cop’ event” (at least for 2020). When reviewing Target corporate policies under “Safety & Preparedness” we noted claims like:

• “We have thousands of public safety partnerships across the country.”
• “Target is a committed partner… Providing more than ‘Corporate Lip Service’ and genuinely reach out and engage the public safety community.”
• “Target is a shining example of public-private partnership.”

Your recent actions demonstrate these statements are little more than corporate propaganda. As with any attempt to deceive or influence the public your statements provide the tiniest grain of truth in an attempt to paint a false narrative. So far in 2021, we have responded to 428 calls for service to the Palm Coast store. Further, since I became Sheriff in 2017, we have handled more than 3,870 calls for service to your Palm Coast store. In this aspect, you have definitely “engaged the [local] public safety community.” However, as to partnering with law enforcement it is evident your organization has elected to follow the pathway of political convenience.

Chairman & CEO Brian Cornell
December 15, 2021
Page two

As the Target Corporation displayed “Grinch” like behavior in cancelling the partnership at the last minute we went to your competitor Walmart who welcomed us with open arms. On December 10, 2021, we took over 125 culturally diverse children partnered with over 125 law enforcement, corrections and professional support employees shopping. Starting with a party, train rides, face painting, crafts, games and much more they rode in patrol cars with lights flashing and sirens blaring to Walmart (ironically, we drove by Target on our way to Walmart).

I am very proud of our employees and their support for the nonprofit Flagler Sheriff’s Children’s Charities. Annually, our employees donate over $30,000.00 to support the two official charities of Flagler Sheriff’s Children’s Charities – Shop with a Cop and the Florida Sheriff’s Youth Ranches. For this event they donated almost $16,000.00. Community supporters donated as well and together each child received $175.00 to buy presents for themselves, their brothers, sisters, moms, and dads. Many “chaperones” took money out of their own pockets when the children selected gifts totaling over the limit to bring a smile to a child’s face.

After the shopping spree the children ate hamburgers and hot dogs and were then taken back home. For siblings who could not go shopping our team gave them bags full of donated toys so they did not feel left out and we made every effort to care for the entire family. This was a team effort, a partnership between the law enforcement community and Walmart. This is community policing and building bridges with our future at its best! A concept you have apparently abandoned by cancelling your partnership with law enforcement for the holidays.

In closing, I want to make it very clear this is not about your local Palm Coast Target store employees. We enjoy a positive relationship with our local store, which we will continue to build upon. Your employees were looking forward to this event before Corporate shut it down. Not only did the local Target employees enjoy seeing the big smiles on the children’s faces but they appreciated the thousands of dollars in sales this event brought to the store, which helped meet their revenue and sales goals. I do not take issue with our local store, rather it is your corporate decision to end a very successful partnership which I find to be ill-conceived and short sighted. The “Heroes & Helpers” program was a proven mechanism which built relationships with first responders, the community and Target. It appears the Target Corporation has taken the path of political expediency throwing away an established relationship and a proven program for no gain.

Please understand the purpose of this letter, it is not seeking financial support or backing, as you can see we take care of our own. Rather, this letter is designed to highlight the hypocrisy and double-speak which your organization demonstrates. Caving into divisive rhetoric does not build a community but erodes its foundation.

I support your right to end our partnership however, it comes with a price; while I doubt it impacts your bottom line you have lost a customer in both my wife and I. Further, I will educate my peers within the law enforcement community about your corporate action and decision. Finally, I will take the opportunity to discuss Target’s position in every public forum with which I have a platform.

Sincerely,

RICK STALY
Sheriff

Thanks Reef, great email!

With December 7th right around the corner, and Veterans Day just a few weeks behind us, I thought it would be a good time to remember some comments made by true American patriots when they were confronted with negative comments about our country:

1). JFK’s Secretary of State, Dean Rusk, was in France in the early 60’s when DeGaulle decided to pull out of NATO. DeGaulle said he wanted all U.S. military out of France as soon as possible. Rusk responded, “Does that include those who are buried here?” DeGaulle did not respond – you could have heard a pin drop.

2). When in England at a fairly large conference, Colin Powell was asked by the Archbishop of Canterbury if our plans for Iraq were just an example of “empire building” by George Bush. He answered by saying, “Over the years the United States has sent many of its fine young men and women into great peril to fight for freedom beyond our borders. The only amount of land we have ever asked for in return is enough to bury those that did not return.”

3). There was a conference in France where a number of international engineers were taking part, including French and American. During a break, one of the French engineers came back into the room saying, “Have you heard the latest dumb stunt Bush has done? He has sent an aircraft carrier to Indonesia to help the tsunami victims. What does he intend to do, bomb them?” A Boeing engineer stood up and replied quietly: “ Our carriers have three hospitals onboard that can treat several hundred people; they are nuclear powered and can supply emergency electrical power to shore facilities; they have three cafeterias with the capacity to feed 3000 people three meals a day, they can produce several thousand gallons of fresh water from sea water each day, and they carry half a dozen helicopters for use in transporting victims and injured to and from their flight deck. We have eleven such ships. How many does France have?”

4). A U.S. Navy Admiral was attending a Naval conference that included Admirals from the U.S., English, Canadian, Australian, and French Navies. At a cocktail reception he found himself standing with a large group of officers that included personnel from most of those countries. Everyone was chatting away in English as they sipped their drinks but a French Admiral suddenly complained that, whereas Europeans learn many languages, Americans learn only English. “Why is it that we always have to speak English in these conferences rather than speaking French?” The American Admiral replied, “Maybe it’s because the Brits, Canadians, Aussies, and Americans arranged it so you wouldn’t have to speak German.”
Finally,

5). Robert Whiting, an elderly gentleman arrived in Paris by plane. At French Customs, he took a few minutes to find his passport in his carry on. “You have been to France before Monsieur? “ the customs officer asked sarcastically. Mr.Whiting admitted that he had been to France previously. “Then you should know enough to have your passport ready.” The American said, “The last time I was here, I didn’t have to show it.” “Impossible…Americans always have to show their passports on arrival in France.” The American senior gave the Frenchman a long hard look. Then he quietly explained, “Well,when I came ashore at Omaha Beach on D-Day in 1944 to help liberate this country, I couldn’t find a single Frenchman to show a passport to.”

With all of the revisionist history being taught in our classrooms today, and with statues of great heroes being removed everywhere you look, it is easy for many to forget what a great Nation we are blessed and privileged to live in. Worse yet, our youngest generations are often taught that America is “The Great Satan” rather than the greatest Nation to ever inhabit this planet. America is a beacon of hope for the rest of the world, is the most generous Nation on the planet, and our youngest citizens need to learn this so that “the light of the World” doesn’t slowly fade into irrelevance and obscurity.

$450,000 for illegal immigrants?

For the thousands of immigrants who entered the southern border illegally in 2018, the Biden administration is considering awarding each as much as $450,000 for separating migrant children from their parents.

During its zero-tolerance approach to border control, the Trump administration stopped everyone crossing the border illegally and children were separated from their parents and put on a separate administrative tracNow, White House Deputy Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said President Joe Biden is “perfectly comfortable” paying migrant families who crossed illegally and were separated, the New York Post reported.

The Biden administration is in talks to offer immigrant families around $450,000 per person, according to people familiar with the matter, as a way to resolve lawsuits filed on behalf of parents and children, The Wall Street Journal reported.

The total potential payout could be $1 billion or more, The Journal said, as the American Civil Liberties Union is representing families in one of the lawsuits and has identified about 5,500 children separated at the border over the course of the Trump administration.

Around 940 claims against the federal government have so far been filed, The Journal reported. The suits allege the government subjected them to lasting psychological trauma, as some families were broken up with no way to track and later reunite them, government investigations found. The lawsuits claim some of the children suffered from heat exhaustion and malnutrition, and were kept in cold rooms and provided little medical attention, The Journal said.
 

While children — who had no say in being brought here illegally by their parents or by smugglers — should have their basic needs met while in government custody, there should be a resounding “no” to the idea of using taxpayer funds to settle for $450,000 a piece.

Where Our Donations Really Go

 

A timely reminder before our generous spirits open our wallets at  Christmas  

THINK BEFORE YOU DONATE!

SOMETHING TO THINK ABOUT BEFORE YOU MAKE CONTRIBUTIONS :   As you open your pockets to do a good thing and make yourself feel good, please keep the following facts in mind:

The
American Red Cross

President and CEOMarsha J.
Evans’

salary for the year was $651,957
plus expenses

MARCH OF
DIMES

It is called the March of
Dimes because

only a dime for
every 1 dollar is given to the
needy
.

The
United Way
President Brian
Gallagher

receives a $375,000 base salary
along with numerous expense benefits.

UNICEF
CEO Caryl M. Stern
receives

$1,200,000 per year (100k
per month) plus all expenses including a ROLLS
ROYCE.

Less than 5
cents of your donated dollar goes to the
cause
.

GOODWILL 
CEO and owner Mark Curran
profits $2.3 million a year.
Goodwill is a
very catchy name for his business.

You donate to his business
and then he sells the items for
PROFIT.
He pays nothing
for his products and pays his workers minimum wage!
Nice Guy.
$0.00 goes to
help anyone!
 
Stop giving to this
man.

Instead, give it to ANY OF THE
FOLLOWING

GO “GREEN” AND
PUT YOUR MONEY WHERE IT WILL DO SOME GOOD:

The
Salvation Army

Commissioner,Todd Bassett
receives a small salary of only

$13,000 per year(plus housing) for
managing this $2 billion dollar
organization.

96 percent of donated dollars go
to the cause.

The
American Legion

National Commander receives
a  $0.00 zero
salary
.
Your donations go to help
Veterans and their families and youth!
The
Veterans of Foreign Wars

National Commander receives
a  $0.00 zero
salary
.

Your donations go to help
Veterans and their families and youth!

The
Disabled American Veterans

National Commander receives
a  $0.00 zero
salary.
Your donations go to help
Veterans and their families and youth!
The
Military Order of Purple
Hearts
National Commander receives a
$0.00 zero salary
.
Your donations go to help
Veterans and their families and youth!
The
Vietnam Veterans Association
National Commander receives
a  $0.00 zero
salary.

Your donations go to help
Veterans and their families and youth!

Make a
Wish:
For children’s last
wishes.

100% goes to funding trips or
special wishes for a dying child.

St. Jude
Research Hospital

100% goes towards funding and
helping Children with Cancer who have no insurance and
cannot afford to pay.

Ronald
McDonald Houses

All monies go to running
the houses for parents who have critically ill
Children in the hospital.

100% goes to housing, and feeding
the families.

Lions
Club International

100% OF DONATIONS GO TO HELP THE
BLIND, BUY HEARING AIDES, SUPPORT MEDICAL MISSIONS
AROUND THE WORLD.THEIR LATEST
UNDERTAKING

IS MEASLES VACCINATIONS
(ONLY $1.00 PER SHOT).

 

Our Greatest Generation

COMMENTARY

The Tin Can Sailors of World War II

James Hornfischer, the historian who chronicled these naval heroes, dies at 55.


By Andrew Odell

James D. Hornfischer, a historian of the U.S. Navy, died June 2 at 55. The costs borne by Navy sailors in World War II seldom receive prime billing in history courses, but amid so much fresh attention on the Pacific, more Americans should thumb through Hornfischer’s work about the Navy’s “finest hour,” off the coast of Samar on an October morning in 1944.
Hornfischer’s “The Last Stand of the Tin Can Sailors” (2004) is dedicated to about two hours of action in the Battle of Leyte Gulf, mostly on “tin cans,” the Navy term of endearment for destroyers. The scene on Oct. 25 was grim. Adm. Bill Halsey and his carriers were lured away by a decoy, and the 13 ships of “Taffy 3” were exposed to the largest force of surface combatants the Japanese navy had ever assembled. The Navy’s tin cans, as Hornfischer said in a 2004 speech, “fought in broad daylight at point-blank range against Japanese battleships 35 to 60 times their size.”Hornfischer’s work isn’t a recitation of ship movements; it is about “the machinists, and the snipes in the engine rooms, and the gunners and the men in the handling rooms.” Best known is Ernest Evans, the Oklahoma-born captain of the USS Johnston. The Johnston, without waiting for orders, charged across miles of open sea, under withering fire, to fire a torpedo salvo and cripple the heavy cruiser Kumano.The ship would have been “entitled to call it a day,” as Hornfischer said in another speech, in 2014, but Evans had “a different understanding of his duty” and turned the heavily damaged Johnston back to engage Japanese ships with gunfire. His spirit: “Our lives don’t matter,” but the enemy “will not catch the carriers whose protection is our duty.”
Commanding the destroyer escort USS Samuel B. Roberts was reservist Lt. Cmdr. Bob Copeland, called away from his career as a lawyer. (Vermont Royster, editor of these pages from 1958 through 1971, interrupted his reporting career to command a tin can in the Pacific.) Copeland charged his diminutive ship into the fight, at great cost. Hornfischer tells of 18- year-old Seaman Second Class Jackson McCaskill, who, after a shell hit a boiler, calmly worked to secure the hot steam while his feet were burned to the bone.Both the Johnston and the Roberts would sink.

bone.Both the Johnston and the Roberts would sink. Copeland remembered seeing Evans, clothes blown off and short two fingers. Evans “turned a little and waved his hand.” Sailors spent days on rafts fighting off sharks drawn to the bloody mess. “On that raft,” Copeland said, “we were just 49 very wretched human beings,” and “it made no difference to us whether a man’s parents had been rich or poor” or whether someone was “black, brown or white.”
Evans posthumously became the first Native American in the Navy to win the Medal of Honor. Earlier this year, the Johnston was discovered in the Philippine Sea, 21,000 feet down, her hull still bearing the ship’s number in white paint: 557.
It’s no secret that interest in military service has been on the decline. But maybe more would be tempted if they encountered Hornfischer’s account of, as he put it, “how Americans handle having their backs pushed to the wall.”
Lt. Odell is a Navy pilot.