Tried-and-failed theories

It’s interesting that Nathan Crabbe’s Feb. 24 column on Gainesville traffic congestion made no mention of the city's fondness for making major roads two lanes or for basically ignoring cars in general. An example is planning Depot Park (wonderful!) with incredibly inadequate parking for even mild usage, which is even more woefully inadequate for the delightful community events for which it is otherwise a terrific venue.

I will withhold my thoughts on the “interesting” parking in front of the Cade Museum; the best I can say is that it reminds me of something M.C. Escher might have designed.

Crabbe’s column trotted out all the old tried-and-failed mass transit theories, which are expensive and based upon the forlorn hope that Americans (read: the other guy) will give up the freedom and flexibility that comes with the automobile.

I had hopes that Uber might help, but New York City claims that all those circling drivers actually add to congestion rather than relieve it.

Nathan Collier, Gainesville


Too many risks

The Florida Legislature is considering whether Florida classroom teachers can be armed while instructing our kids. When I consider the expansion of “stand your ground” laws in recent years, I can’t help wondering what will happen when these two policies collide.

Schools are already stressful environments. Sometimes that stress bubbles up in the classroom, resulting in teachable moments about self-control and growth. But what happens when a teacher thinks a student has gone too far? If a kid gets too close or too loud?

How does the scene change when a gun is in the desk drawer? Or at the teacher’s hip? How does just the fear of over-reaction change our kids’ abilities to function at school? And how will these policies continue to disproportionately impact our students of color?

There are too many questions and too many risks to be fast-tracking this poorly conceived policy through the Legislature.

Margaret Hamer, Gainesville


Part of history

The annual reenactment of the Battle of Olustee gives a glimpse into the American Civil War as living history. It highlights the importance of African-American units (U.S. Colored Troops) to the Union Army and the heroic rearguard action by the first black regiment, the 54th Massachusetts, to evacuate wounded men and cover the Union retreat.

Another aspect should be remembered. Robert Broadwater’s “The Battle of Olustee 1864” is available in local libraries. Broadwater quotes letters written home immediately after the battle by Georgia soldiers who boast of shooting wounded African-American soldiers who had been taken prisoner.

Although U.S. Colored Troops were a large part of the Union force and many were battlefield casualties, the official return of prisoners of war taken by the Confederates was almost exclusively white. The inescapable conclusion is that the systematic murder of African-American soldiers after the battle is an integral part of the Olustee story.

Richard K. MacMaster, Gainesville


New leadership

After watching the Gainesville City Commission and some of its recent actions, I also considered candidate responses at a recent candidate forum. I think new leadership with Robert Mounts and Jenn Powell will be our best choices in the upcoming election.

Terry Thorkildson, Gainesville


Incessant lying

The wise old axiom — there are none so blind as those who "will not see" — speaks directly to Donald Trump’s base. As for Trump's incessant lying, there are none so deaf as those who "will not hear" and there are none so mute as those who "will not speak" when silence implies consent to a nefarious situation.

Marjorie Hodge, Gainesville


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