A jobs killer

An Amelia Island resident recently wrote in support of Amendment 4, arguing that as part of some collective effort to improve decision making by government, we should take one small part of what government does (regulate land use) and vote on each comprehensive land use change.

Never mind that there are other issues decided by local governments, like how much fire protection and police service is adequate, or how much to collect in taxes.

This is part of a belief that it is simply too easy and cheap to find a job, have a family and afford a home in Florida.

By making the system for land use amendments difficult or impossible, fewer people will be able to enjoy the Florida life.

Businesses with the flexibility to locate here will decide it is not worth the pain.

Our state's brightest young people will send their resumes north and west.

If we are to tell prospective businesses looking to locate in Florida to go through a two-year amendment process before they can break ground, how many will stick through that process rather than enjoy the sand beaches of Charleston, the red hills of Atlanta, the high Piedmont of Charlotte or the Appalachian foothills of Greenville?

Amendment 4 would leave Florida in a permanent recession, and affect those of us who have to work the most. Please vote "No."


Realtor, property manager,



Debt spill is greater

The oil gushing out of the broken well in the Gulf of Mexico is capped and the video will, no doubt, not be shown much.

In some strange way, I am going to miss it. What are the networks going to do without this dramatic video reminder of the disaster?

They should create an animation of a pipe sticking out of the Treasury spewing $100 bills.

I am certain that the Gulf of Mexico will recover over time. However, the United States may not be able to recover.

When it comes to hope and change, my hope is that we can change the current administration into one with some fiscal responsibility and save this country before it is too late.


St. Augustine


An alternative

An attorney's letter criticizing certain long prison sentences has prompted me to suggest an alternative.

I have been active in the Kairos prison ministry for the past several years. The key tenet is to bring the story of a loving God and personal Savior to the incarcerated.

We stress the importance of choices each person makes and the influence of choosing your associates.

Many of those I have come to know have been given freedom, only to return, because of choices they made and the associations they resumed when freed.

As an alternative to life-ending sentences for those guilty of crime by association, why not provide an alternative?

Why not have a voluntary program for sentence reduction that rewards offenders for participation in self improvement?

This would require hiring dedicated teacher/mentors who would focus on getting the "student" proficient academically while exposing them to life skills and behavioral skills.

This would cost money, but so does building more prisons and paying the cost of incarceration.

Life is precious and a wasted life is an affront to both the taxpayer and to our Creator.

Punishment has its limits when the offender's choices leave them out of the game of life.


Amelia Island


Learn from history

Excellent piece by Jessie-Lynne Kerr about bigger-than-life Napoleon Broward, his tugboat Three Friends and Jacksonville's long association with Cuba and Cubans.

In telling the story, it was inevitable that the sinking of the USS Maine should be retold, as it was the stated cause for the U.S. to attack Spain in 1898.

How did it happen? Who did it? No one knows for sure.

Some 65 years later, Congress gave President Lyndon Johnson carte blanche to retaliate against North Vietnam as the consequence of an unprovoked attack on an American naval vessel.

How did it happen? Was it unprovoked? Why were we there?

Recently, a South Korean naval vessel was sunk at sea, and world opinion followed South Korea and put the blame on North Korea.

Did the North do it? Was it a provocation from the South, or elsewhere? No one knows for sure.

Now comes the U.S. to put on a show of force, including a nuclear aircraft carrier.

Is this wise to provoke or invite an assault from North Korea, which is run by a clique unafraid of mass starvation at home or hostile invective from abroad?

If they call our bluff, will we be fighting three wars at once?

The U.S. is courting disaster by seeking to bulldoze North Korea - there is nothing to be won here and a lot to lose.


Atlantic Beach