Letters to the editor for Aug. 26, 2010

Published: Thursday, August 26, 2010 at 6:30 a.m.
Last Modified: Wednesday, August 25, 2010 at 11:27 p.m.

A grateful teacher

Parents are the most influential factor in a child's life. Teachers, coaches, counselors, etc., are all quite significant, but after 14 years of teaching, I have learned that the parents and their efforts matter the most in the life of a child. The adage "It takes a village to raise a child" is true; therefore, to all the parents whose children have been my students, I owe you my thanks:

For helping your child with projects, but backing off enough to make the work his own; for letting him fight his own battles, but stepping in when the fight is unfair; for telling me about your child and how he learns; for bringing your academic concerns to me so that we could work together as partners; for checking planners and teacher websites with your child; for sending in enough snacks for all the students in your child's class; for communicating with me about something that might affect your child's behavior or performance for that day, month or year; for making your child sit down and read and do his homework; for signing all the reading goals (quarterly, bi-weekly and even daily); for your patience when assignments took longer to grade; for attending orientation, open house and conferences; for treating school as a place of learning; for asking questions and making suggestions; and, most of all, for understanding that we are all life-long learners.

This year marks my 15th as a teacher in Marion County. Some celebrate this year because they are halfway to retirement (I'd be insane to say that I haven't thought about it!), but I celebrate because my career is about more than just me. I am part of that village raising those children.

Heather Sanborn Ramirez

Howard Middle School


Dangerous dogs

Victims of aggressive animal attacks are tired of pet owners not taking accountability or responsibility for aggression by their animal. No pet that is unlawfully off its owner's property needs to be intimidating or attacking neighbors or their pets. A human life is more important than an animal's.

I love animals, but when it comes down to a child being mauled to death or putting the animal to sleep, I elect destroying the animal. If pet owners are attached so emotionally to their pets, don't let them run the neighborhood. A person does have a right to protect themselves and their property from destruction by an aggressive animal.

A year ago, I lost a pet who I loved very much to a pack of dogs. The dogs' owner was given written notices by Animal Control to keep his dogs on his own property. The dogs started being aggressive toward people in the neighborhood. Every time Animal Control came out, the dog owner always had an excuse.

The dogs aggressively came at me, and killed my cat. It took Animal Control two hours to find the dogs running at large. The dogs were taken to the Marion County Animal Center and later euthanized, because the owner did not want to pay the $500 (the commissioners have since reduced the fee to $250) dangerous, dog fee.

The dog owner never received a fine for his dogs killing my cat, nor have I ever received restitution from the dog owner. I would have killed those dogs if they came back to the neighborhood.

Patricia Reed


Harness the sun

Remember last winter when, on some of the coldest days, the school kids did not have any heat at school.

We definitely have a never-ending supply of sunshine, so why aren't all of the government buildings, schools, stadiums, etc. equipped with solar panels? Maybe it should be a requirement and added to the building code.

I wonder if the new multimillion-dollar courthouse that was just completed in the Panhandle has solar power. It said on TV that each judge had his own kitchen. How nice.

We could also save on water if we had Arizona-type lawns made of mulch or small stones.

Oh, well, that's my two cents worth.

Jeanne Simoneau


Time's up

I am writing in response to the Aug. 24 article, "17 arrested in West Ocala drug bust."

It was almost a year ago to this day that I wrote a letter to the editor suggesting the Multi-Agency Drug Enforcement Team had allowed "drug houses" to exist for two years, until a convenient time to make arrests - just as funding decisions were being made for the next fiscal year.

Lo and behold, here we are again. In their infinite wisdom, or lack thereof, the task force named their effort for this budget season "Operation Time's Up."

So, here we go again. Even their own description of this year's effort suggests that the drug dealers were allowed a certain amount of time to operate on our streets before their "time was up." What I want to know is how much time were they allowed?

Also, who gets to decide how much time a drug dealer gets on our street? Was it until budget time came around and a news story about how great the task force is would be effective for those making funding decisions, or is it simply a matter of drug dealers in our community needing a fair chance at making a living? How much time will drug dealers have next year before their "time is up."

I would like to ask the drug task force to answer this last question in particular, so that I will know when it will be safe to take a walk down the street.

Don Boyd



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