Ironic

I am a 100-year-old Purple Heart combat veteran of World War II. At the age of 18 I made my first visit to Florida, a newly inducted private in the U.S. Army, for basic training at Camp Blanding in the northeast part of the state. We were being trained to fight an authoritarian country that, among other things, put non-citizens and minorities in concentration camps. We fought and died and succeeded in defeating that country, Nazi Germany, that would have established such detention camps in the United States. Now, over 80 years later, we find that an authoritarian country has set up concentration camps in the United States for noncitizens and minorities, including Florida’s Alligator Alcatraz and, ironically, at that same Camp Blanding.

Robert Hilliard, Fort Myers

Lives may depend on it

It’s 1 p.m., Monday, July 7, and the National Hurricane Center website shows the map and Forecast Cone for Tropical Depression Chantal as of Sunday, 11 a.m. – a forecast that is 26 hours stale. Is this what the drastic cuts from Trump/Musk/DOGE mean for citizens who live in the path of storms this hurricane season? Last year, maps with cone projections were updated every 4 hours – now it’s 26 hours and there is still a red-type banner reading “The Experimental Cone is currently processing and will be available soon” on the National Hurricane Center website.

With the tragic deaths from flash floods in Texas this weekend, no one in America is safe from the hazards the firings at the National Weather Service and NOAA have created. I urge every citizen to contact their congressional representatives and demand full funding for hurricane forecasting – our lives may depend upon it.

Laura Hansen Reynolds, Naples

We can do better

Naples: I noticed today that in our neighborhood grocery store we see the same employees every day stocking shelves, vegetables, fruits, and checking us out at the register. Many of these folks are black and brown and of Haitian and Hispanic heritage. I do not know if they are here legally or what their status is, but I know they work hard each and every day to make “us” feel comfortable that we have fresh foods and that our store is perfect in every way. Why would our system of government select one of these hard workers (male or female) and jump out of an unmarked van with automatic weapons, masked faces, ballistic vests and throw one of them to the ground and hoist them away to a gated prison in the Everglades? I spent a career in law enforcement arresting many drug trafficking organizations in this manner but with identification and not masked and would never think that it was necessary to apprehend a nonviolent undocumented person in this manner. Why do we (the government) not think of a way to assist these people who work and live and contribute to our economic system by finding a pathway to citizenship for them in place of cages and transporting out of the country where they have lived, worked, and contributed in many ways to our social and economic systems to make our state, county, city and community a better place for all? We can do better here in Florida for those that help support our communities.

Michael Bogenschutz, Naples

An abomination

The Everglades is a place of beautiful peace, and a critical water resource and animal habitat. Millions of dollars have been spent to maintain water flow which is clean and healthy enough to enrich Florida Bay. People spend much time hiking, camping and boating in this unique environment to learn and enjoy the incredible beauty of such an amazing gift of nature.

How tragic to see this phenomenal place portrayed as a fearful, fetid swamp filled with dangerous wildlife, or as a place perfect for massive infrastructure, electric wires, barbed wire, fencing, scraped land and substandard, ugly buildings for housing people perceived by some as criminals and imprisoned, many without due process. To turn this fought-for lovely garden of Eden, even a portion of it, into such a prison is an abomination.

Susan Miller, Pineland

Wasteful, inhumane and cruel

I can remember when I would ask my children − why didn’t you ask me? Their response − because we knew you would say NO! Something similar has happened with the hasty building of Alligator Alcatraz. The public and many local officials were unaware of the plans until construction began. The governor used a January 2023 emergency order called “Biden Border Crisis.” An order that has been renewed 15 times but saw little enforcement until now. The use of this order allowed him to seize land and ignore a review of environmental impact, oversight, bidding and consultation with impacted parties. It also allowed him to tap into 2 billion in Emergency Management funding, generally used for a response to natural disasters, allowing him to act quickly without legislative approval. What was the governor’s response when people began gathering to protest the attack on sacred land and a fragile ecosystem? When challenged or questioned about decisions he has made his tone is belittling, mocking, critical and sarcastic. He has demonstrated over and over that he only wants to hear from a small group of loyalists and is dismissive of voter concerns − environment, education, voting, petitions for constitutional amendments, access to reproductive health care and insurance. We should not take his dismissal as truth but continue to protest, speak out and challenge actions that lack transparency, are wasteful, wrong, inhumane and cruel.

Patricia Howard, Naples

Are you OK with this?

There will now be ten thousand additional masked ICE agents. They will be sweeping our streets, nursing homes, courthouses and farms to confine masses of nonviolent, formerly protected and productive individuals in actual concentration camps. Are you proud to see such chaos and cruelty conducted in your name? Are you proud of the Free State of Florida’s Alligator Alcatraz?

And I ask my colleagues in the legal profession; are you really OK with this?

$1,000,000,000 (Yes, nine zeroes) coerced in tribute payments by law firms to stave off their destruction for the crime of having once employed attorneys who challenged Great Leader or for having represented clients in their successful challenges to Great Leader’s unlawful acts. “First thing we do …”, right?

And, finally, to the editors and journalists that produce this publication; are you OK with this?

The coercion of and unlawful retribution visited upon your colleagues at CBS, ABC, Voice of America, Associated Press, et cetera as well as innumerable other authors and publishers whose voices have been banned or silenced by il Duce. How long will your vaunted Fourth Estate be permitted to exist?

Louis X. Amato, Bonita Springs

Redfish Pointe

Recently, Joe Mazurkiewicz, former mayor of Cape Coral from 1983 to 1993 and now a private consultant, wrote a piece supporting the construction of Redfish Pointe. In his pitch the author promoted the argument that building this project, which will devastate Rotary Park (a beloved 97-acre city resource), route commercial traffic through established neighborhoods, and decimate the Cape’s largest stand of coastal mangroves, is somehow a responsible act that will benefit all of us.  

At this time, the three parcels comprising the proposed Redfish Pointe are zoned for Conservation. The property’s owners have requested that the city re-zone all 350 undeveloped acres from Conservation to Mixed Development. Mr. Mazurkiewicz, who represents the owners, wants us to believe that Redfish Pointe is a wonderful thing and grossly downplays the damage this development will do. According to Cape Coral’s own Planning and Zoning Department, the majority of the impacted land is in the coastal high hazard area which has special limitations on development due to the probability of storm losses and increased evacuation times.  

Mr. Mazurkiewicz makes the unsupported claim that Redfish Pointe’s economic impact will exceed one billion dollars yet omits any mention of the area’s vital role as a storm buffer and mischaracterizes the function of this critical wildlife habitat. Further, he implies that the public should take the owners at their word that traffic, flood safety and environmental issues have all been adequately addressed. According to Mazurkiewicz, not only should we blindly accept the owners’ assertions as accurate and true, we should feel sorry for them. He claims they are “owed” a rezoning because when the city changed the land use designation back in 1989, they were never informed. How interesting that the owners endured a 36-year tax rebate without complaint and are only now protesting the unfairness of it all.  

The current shoreline configuration, including Rotary Park, provides the Cape’s citizens, human and otherwise, the benefit of almost 450 contiguous acres of critical mangrove habitat. Hollowing out this protective barrier to build condos on a tiny scrap of wooded upland, draining and backfilling significant portions of wetland to provide sufficient elevation for roads etc. will destroy what is now a functional ecosystem. Fanciful descriptions of future boardwalks and wildlife viewing pavilions are shameless pandering and should viewed as the cynical sales verbiage that they are. 

Let’s not lose sight of the fact that Redfish Pointe is a fantasy, a projection. If the zoning is changed the owners are free to alter the design or to sell any (or all) of the 350 acres as they please. The city should definitely not submit to the desires of these few, well-resourced and influential individuals. The bottom line is if you purchased swampland with marginal development potential and you are unhappy with the result, don’t try to salvage your investment by foisting your nightmare moneymaking scheme on your fellow taxpayers. 

Lane Jones, Cape Coral

Unhappy, unpatriotic leftists

In reading the letters to this paper one has to wonder why so many are unhappy and contemptuous of others. Perhaps this explains some of it. Most of the letters that are published are left-leaning. In searching for why all the hate and neuroticism a few studies will cast light. First, the leftists are unhappy and according to a GSS study they have been in every year going back to 1972. There are other studies that show a much higher level of neuroticism among leftists than conservatives. Why?

And another element is the level of patriotism. A 2023 Gallup poll found that national pride on the left has precipitously declined in the past two decades, for Democrats falling from extreme pride in 2003 of 65 percent to 29 percent in 2023. And conservatives have a much higher sense of patriotism than Democrats or leftists. Why? 

Now to a Sunday paper, Perspective section starts off with the very unhappy Howard Simon and urging massive demonstrations seemingly oblivious that such demonstrations eventually get taken over by the far left and lead to violence. And the letters to the editor are replete with unhappy and unpatriotic leftists reflecting the mood of their Democrat brethren. They also would like to see “massive demonstrations” and if a few people get hurt or killed it is for a “just” cause. Neurotic, unhappy and anti-American sentiment on full display.

Joe Kiernan, Naples

Who pays tariffs

I am confused, does President Trump believe foreign countries pay the tariff? Just now the Trump administration said it will send letters to countries telling them what their tariff rate will be and what they will have to pay to do business in the United States. It has been repeating this for some time. My understanding is that tariffs are paid, not by foreign countries, but by American businesses who import from foreign countries. American importers then will decide if they will absorb the fee or pass it along to consumers.

David Pryal, Estero

Trump’s vote numbers

I constantly see letters here were writers tout Trump’s “mandate” or “landslide” victory. Recently, a Trump critic cited Donald Trump received 51% of the vote. Donald Trump received 77.3 million votes or 49.8% of the total. Kamala Harris received 75.0 million votes or 48.3% of the population vote. Third party candidates accounted for the balance. While Donald Trump received the most votes in 2024, he did not receive a majority. Close, but not a majority. Donald Trump also claims he “received the most votes in history” which is also untrue. Joe Biden received 81.2 million votes in 2020, surpassing Trump’s total in 2024.

J.R. Anderson, Naples

Alligator Alcatraz

The new detention center for illegal aliens is open and the politicians have proclaimed the wonder of it all. It may be as wonderful as they say, but has anyone made weather-related structural estimates? These are standard wind load calculations using Bernouli’s equation and Newton’s laws. Over the years a large number of wind tunnel tests have been run to provide coefficients that make these estimates more precise. I believe decent estimates are possible and should have been done prior to a construction decision. The center might be a classic case of; Ready, Fire, Aim.

Since this is a temporary structure the usual Florida building standards are not applicable, but even criminals deserve a reasonable chance of survival during a disaster. A structural estimate of the actual construction would provide decision points in a disaster plan, e.g., will the actual structure withstand a gale force wind? In that regard, I would not trust the tent manufacturer’s wind speed rating, if the tents were used previously.

I would feel better if I knew that somewhere in Tallahassee there was a design document signed by a registered professional engineer.

Ronald Visness, Fort Myers

Making us less safe

Trump and Musk made severe cuts to the nation’s weather services. Almost immediately we see the unanticipated severe flooding in Texas cause many possibly preventable deaths. The weather services are understaffed and did not correctly predict the damage. Many people died including young girl campers. I think we can say that the reckless cuts with no planning were responsible for these deaths. Trump and Musk are to blame and should be called out. How many other deaths will be caused by cuts in air traffic controllers, highway safety engineers, food inspection etc.? America is now a much less safe place with Trump in charge.

Benjamin Glick, Naples

Social Security email

I have received an e-mail from the Social Security Administration (SSA) celebrating the passage of Donald Trump’s “Big Beautiful Bill”.

The message states: “The bill ensures that nearly 90% of Social Security beneficiaries will no longer pay federal income taxes on their benefits, providing meaningful and immediate relief to seniors who have spent a lifetime contributing to our nation’s economy.”

The bill actually provides a temporary tax break of up to $6,000 per person to individual filers 65 and older with a modified adjusted gross income of up to $75,000, or married couples up to $150,000. This tax break is only in effect for tax years 2025 through 2028 and will hasten the depletion of the Social Security Trust Fund at which time benefits will most likely be decreased.

The message I received from SSA is disingenuous and, in my opinion, there is not a lot to celebrate. We have grown accustomed to misinformation and, discouragingly, disinformation (there is a big difference) from our political leaders. It is disturbing, but not surprising, that this practice has been extended to official communications from the SSA, a huge government agency upon which many millions of Americans depend.

Americans are famously inattentive to the granular details of legislation passed by our elected representatives. I, like most Americans, have been too preoccupied with providing for my family, volunteering in my community, and saving for my retirement to make a close reading what is happening in the halls of Congress. This needs to change.

Peter Duggan, Cape Coral

This article originally appeared on Fort Myers News-Press: Letters to the editor for Wednesday, July 9, 2025

Reporting by Letter writers / Fort Myers News-Press

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