Letters to the Editor: No hassle air screening, Seminole schools overbuilding and national religion

February 10, 2012

No-hassle screening

The article Thursday stating some passengers at Orlando International Airport should soon see no-hassle screening is offensive.

I am a flight attendant for a major carrier based out of OIA, reporting three to four days a week. Every day I remove my coat and shoes, screen my luggage and wait in an employee line to go to work. Yes, I leave a few minutes early because of this routine.

Do I consider this a hassle? No, it assures me that I am going to return home safely to my family that night. Most passengers are willing to wait longer in a coffee line than the time it takes to remove a few articles of clothing.

Shelley Soltis Orlando

Overbuilding understated

In response to the article "Seminole County Commissioners accuse School Board of overbuilding" on Wednesday: Overbuilding is an understatement. How can the School Board justify the building of the resortlike, lakefront Endeavor School in Lake Mary and the closing of the Hopper Center less than 5 miles away in a lower-income neighborhood of Sanford?

Superintendent Bill Vogel knows the taxpayers will continue to open their wallets to fund education, because it's for the children. It's not for the children. It's to support a bloated administration, consultants, architects, over-educated specialists, etc.

And then to blame private-school vouchers? School officials will blame everyone but themselves.

Dan Tracey Osteen

No national religion

Elizabeth Lefevre (Letters, Thursday) needs to reread the Constitution. Lefevre and millions of other people mistakenly believe that either the Declaration of Independence or the Constitution dictates separation of church and state; they are wrong. The First Amendment to the Constitution simply says the government may not establish its own religion (referring to the Church of England): "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof …"

Unfortunately, this has been changed over the years to mean separation of religion from government. The Founding Fathers were religious; they just didn't want a national religion. It's sad that so-called progressives want to drive religion out of our lives.

Richard H. Gleick Maitland

Shrinking deficit big news

The Orlando Sentinel on Wednesday reported that, according to the Congressional Budget Office, the national deficit has shrunk by about $70 billion in the first four months of the fiscal year, compared with the same time last year. The projected deficit by the end of 2012 is expected to be $1.1 trillion, down from $1.3 trillion.

This article was placed on Page A18. Why wasn't this worthy of the front page, since the national deficit is one of the biggest issues of our lifetime?

Ben Smith Lady Lake

Schools' shrinking options

Rita Solnet charges that a "parent trigger" law would privatize public education ("Furor erupts over bills to let parents decide poorly performing schools' fate," OrlandoSentinel.com, Jan. 24).

She forgets we're talking about failing public schools. The public option has failed. Why shouldn't there be a private option? What's the alternative? Apparently, just leaving the kids behind.

We all trust corporations for our vitamins and prescription meds, for bringing us healthy food and making safe cars and homes. Labels and hype about corporations shouldn't prevent kids with no opportunities from having a chance to finally find some.

Joy Pullmann Education research fellow, Heartland Institute, Chicago, Ill.

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