Make an informed vote: our children deserve this and more
Right now, I have teacher friends all over the country setting up their classrooms. They are excited to meet their new students, ready for a year of watching their little hearts and minds grow. They do this in their spare time so they can be prepared for meetings, trainings, and the sweet faces that come their way. Their hearts are big and their paychecks are small, but they are dedicated to a profession that chose them.
I have met hundreds of teachers during my own personal teaching career and also while volunteering weekly at my children’s school, and I have yet to meet one who wants to indoctrinate children . They are far too busy planning, grading, and constructing lessons based on state standards.
What I see and hear people say about teachers in my beloved little community breaks my heart. Where is the trust? The respect? Gratitude for the people who show up every day for our children?
Please inform yourself when voting for our school board nominees in August. It’s not about being ‘red’ or ‘blue’, in fact it’s a non-partisan race. There are powerful people trying to instill fear in us, while building a political base to support their personal agendas. Watch the forums, read the interviews, make an informed decision before you vote on August 23. I took the time to speak personally with the two candidates for seat 3 on our school board so that I could make an informed decision for myself. . I implore you to do the same. As a proud product of our Martin County school system, with two children enrolled in our public schools, I have a great interest in the matter.
Nikki Hackett, Hobe Sound
Shameful: Senators vote against aid for veterans exposed to toxic burning fireplaces
Sen. Rick Scott and the 39 other senators who voted “No” to the PACT Act should be ashamed. The Promise to Address Comprehensive Toxics (PACT) Act of 2022 would have provided relief to veterans exposed to toxics.
He and his fellow Republican senators should be held accountable by the American Legion and all other veterans.
Richard Sheehan, Vero Beach
Is it urgent to free a basketball star, but it wasn’t urgent to free a Marine?
I think it’s very telling and also very sad that a Marine has been sitting in a Russian prison for years and little has been done to bring him home. Yet let a sporting celebrity who attracts media attention get arrested and all of a sudden a prisoner swap is in the works.
Our values and ethics are challenged when we allow a man who signed on the dotted line to serve and protect including giving his life for this country to still be incarcerated while a big effort is being played out in the media for a basketball player.
Guess someone in power thinks releasing one or both as part of a package will help their numbers. This thought is as imperfect as his actions. Maybe he can find the answers on his son’s laptop.
Jan Belwood, City of Palms
Rep. Mast’s Recent Votes Don’t Represent Women, Common Sense
Recently, Rep. Brian Mast voted “No” on three very important roll-call votes in the House: Women’s Health Protection Act of 2022: (roll-call vote #360); Law of 2022 guaranteeing access to abortion: no; (roll-call vote #361); and the Right to Contraception Act 2022. (roll-call vote #385).
Unfortunately, that is the “representation” we have in the House of Representatives. Mast does not represent me, he does not represent the majority of women in this district, and he certainly does not represent common sense in providing proper health care to all women, especially those in the lower income brackets or who have brown skin. It’s part of the war on family planning. It is part of the war against women.
Pay attention, voters. You must beware. The GOP, which favors close votes in Congress, brings us closer and closer to the dystopian world created in “The Handmaid’s Tale”, where women are treated like slaves who have no control over their bodies or their lives.
Our country is a beacon of democracy for the world; vote blue to keep it a beacon of democracy, vote blue to ensure women are treated with respect, care and honour. Women are empowered to guide their own decisions and their own future; we don’t need others to tell us what we can and cannot do with our own bodies. If you are a woman or if you have daughters/granddaughters or if you are a man who loves women, vote as if your future depends on your vote, because it does.
Sharon Garland, Hobe Sound
The federal government’s money comes from those who pay the taxes
With reference to Andrew P. Napolitano’s July 21 column on the tyranny of the majority, I am a firm believer that money from any division of government is not manna from heaven. People pay taxes, not corporate lords.
Will Shakespeare in Hamlet: “Let it be nobler in spirit to suffer / The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune / Or to take up arms against a sea of trouble… Die, sleep.”
Undoubtedly, the people chose to sup at the watering hole. Die, sleep.
Lowell Sasser, Fort Pierce
I am an experienced worker looking for a job and no one will hire me
I set up an interview a few months ago at a restaurant as a part-time hostess for $13 an hour. I spent 90 minutes getting ready, 30 driving, arrived 10 minutes early and waited 30 minutes.
The interviewer collapsed. The director said the assistant would interview me. Fifteen minutes pass and he sticks his head out of the office, looks at me and laughs. I come in and sit down and wait another 15 minutes. Nothing.
I look about 42 and have three years experience as a waiter/hostess. I’m a professional chef, a professional event planner and I’m almost fluent in Spanish and French. I am told that I am “very attractive” to men all the time.
What’s wrong? Age discrimination. So I went home and cried. Big retailer? I have 12 years of retail experience. No answer. I have been looking since April. Age discrimination. Go ahead, people. I am a worker looking for a job and no one will call me. Be fed up.
Tova Hornung, Port Saint Lucie
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