Letters to the editor for Wednesday, March 12, 2025

Museum needs new space

America's Military and First Responders Museum is located in the Naples Airport where our exhibits attract several thousand visitors a year. Our airport space will no longer be available to us after year end due to airport expansion. We had been promised sufficient space by Collier County in a County Veteran's Service Center.  That commitment has changed due to repurposing and is no longer going to be available to us.

We currently operate out of 900 square feet but have enough material on which we need to pay monthly storage fees of nearly $2,000 which we projected to incorporate in the 5,000 square feet previously available. We seek donations, sponsors and a space large enough for our extensive exhibits if we are to continue as a functioning museum. Our website is https://amfrm.org/ where information can be found for contributing or contacting us about sponsorship opportunities.  Want your name or a veteran's name on a building?  We hope some support is forthcoming that will move us to a new level.

Charlie Berry, Naples

Thanks for CPR demonstration

On behalf of the residents in Village Walk (North Naples), I would like to thank Brian Torres, battalion chief of North Collier Fire, and Captain Jamie Cunningham of the Collier Sheriff's Office for taking the time to demonstrate CPR, defibrillator and Heimlich (choking) to a group of our residents. Many residents were previously certified in CPR but a majority in attendance never did a hands-on CPR or ever saw a defibrillator. Both Brian and Jamie took the time to show what to do in the event of an emergency. Call 911 and begin CPR, while awaiting help to arrive. I highly recommend other home associations and community groups to see a hands-on CPR demonstration. It can save lives. As a retired NJ police officer, I know that every second counts in an emergency. Both Brian and Jamie made it an enjoyable and informative experience.

Robert Brown, Naples

Lee Commission workshops

At the February 4th Lee Board of County Commissioners meeting, under “Public Presentation of Matters by Citizens” a Lee County resident suggested modifying workshops to allow public comment and citizen engagement, instead of waiting days or weeks to comment at the next Board meeting. With a great deal of aggravation Board Chairman Kevin Ruane mansplained that “Commissioners respond to groups not individual citizens,” and added “Government is not democracy.”

The 1st Amendment to the US Constitution protects the right of individuals not just groups to petition the government for redress of grievances. The time has come to push for the change we deserve. Demand our commissioners provide us with the opportunity to speak at their workshops, to share our perspectives, and to contribute to the decision-making process affecting our lives and our community's future.

Public participation in local government has several benefits. Studies have shown that citizens' input can enhance the quality and effectiveness of public service delivery and policy decisions (Public Administration Review, 2018). However, there is a striking disconnect in Lee County, as citizens like you and me are unable to express our thoughts, ideas, and concerns during workshops.

We must hold our elected officials accountable and demand transparency in public processes. Stand with other Lee County residents in urging the Lee County Board of Commissioners to open the floor to citizen voices during their workshops. Since the Board has said they only respond to requests by large groups, let’s give them a group. Call and or email your Lee County Board commissioner and tell them open the floor to citizen voices during their workshops.

Daniel Becker, Fort Myers

Museum leader retiring

I am a Board member of the Catholic-Jewish Dialogue of Collier County (CJD), an interfaith organization which has been in existence in Collier County for almost 25 years. Susan Suarez, the retiring president and CEO of the Holocaust Museum & Cohen Education Center and the Museum have been steadfast partners and supporters of all CJD’s programs, most notably, our annual Kristallnacht Commemoration. Under Susan’s leadership, the Museum has expanded its size, exhibits and offerings to Southwest Florida. Her commitment and dedication to the Museum as an educational center has produced many outstanding educational programs and activities to students of all grade levels. Under her leadership, the Museum also provides programs and exhibits to the general public to continue the Museum’s message of promoting Holocaust education. Thank you, Susan, for all you have done to learn the lessons of history.

Ginny Segaloff, Naples

What is the point?

Last summer, I met a wonderful older couple from Ukraine. They had fled their country when Russian missiles whizzed past their window. They grabbed what they could and drove west, eventually settling in the U.S. "Vlad" got a job as a school bus driver but was able to stay in touch through Ukrainian news agencies. Now, Donald Trump wants to send them back to rubble. Their home has been destroyed and their lives are in danger. What is the point? Is it because Zelensky did not thank him enough? Is it because he didn't get the Ukrainian minerals he wanted? Is it because he believes Putin's lies? Why does Trump always seem to stand with Russia? It is undeniable that Russia invaded Ukraine, a free and independent country. Why can't Trump admit that? I believe that his motives are cruelty and greed. His talks about "peace" are very one-sided. He wants Ukraine to cede territory and Russia to give up nothing. Does he see future business deals for himself there?

Mary Calabrese, Bonita Springs

Will our democratic republic last?

In under two months, the country has gone from a leader in the world since WW II to a country closer to the Titanic short voyage.

Internationally we now bow to Putin, a mass murderer who interferes in our elections. Countries no longer know how to deal with our tariffs causing our own markets to crash and create long term stress in relationships. Our revered veterans who comprise 25% of government jobs are being cast aside in numerous departments by the tens of thousands. Basic Medicare and Medicaid are under attack affecting nearly a third of all Americans. Innocent immigrants are under attack and deportation is substantially less than the last six months of the last administration.

The old song " Only in America" praised " the land of opportunity" and it strongly appears that opportunity has been replaced by a narcissistic psychopath at the helm with the world's richest man at his side clueless in government and flailing daily.

Will we have a democratic republic in four years?

Glenn Mueller, Naples

Chainsaw massacre

Chainsaw massacre is the best way I could describe what is happening to the government of the United States of America. Picture Elon Musk waving a chain saw and gleefully dancing behind an approving president, like some schoolboy who has just harassed a vulnerable schoolmate, and made them cry. His dissemination of our protected private information and indiscriminate cutting of government funding to dozens of U.S agencies, with no basic knowledge of their importance or function which is crucial to the running of our country and of the health, and welfare of our citizens, is appalling and criminal. Cost cutting for efficiency and better performance is one thing, but this is entirely for the single purpose of eliminating $9 trillion dollars from the budget so that they can give the wealthiest of people substantially more wealth. Note that four U.S. billionaires sat right behind the president at his inauguration, and his Cabinet all sat behind them. That tells you the importance they are to the president relative to the people who are supposed to serve us, the citizens of our country. Their rampant and questionable cost cutting is of little, if any, benefit to our country, and is strictly a means for turning our nation into an authoritarian dictatorship, run by a verifiably narcissistic person, who has no concern for our country, or for our people, and would exclusively benefit himself. Thus the urgency to make this happen. Recall the complete lack of empathy or concern for anyone other than himself, when his answer to the question asked when informed that his vice president was being sought for hanging on Jan. 6th., 2021, was "So what." Is this what we want going forward as a free nation, governed by the rules of law, and the Constitution, rather than by such an individual whose agenda is solely himself?

William Bond, North Fort Myers

GOP's selective memory

I almost choked on my Cheerios this morning after reading letters to the paper decrying the Dems' behavior during Trump's diatribe the other night. How quickly the writers forgot about Matt Gaetz, Lauren Boebert and Marjorie Taylor Greene booing President Biden's address. Or how all the Republicans refused to stand or clap for any part of Biden's speech. What a bunch of hypocrites!

And this thing of hundreds of girls losing out on scholarships to men in women's sports. Stop spouting lies, show me facts and figures. Also, it is disgusting that Trump talks about a girl, beaten and murdered by an illegal alien. Using her tragic story to push his agenda. It is horrible, but exactly how many women are beaten and or murdered everyday by U.S. husbands/boyfriends? Where is your outrage over this? And one more thing, someone at Zelensky's meeting with Trump criticized him for not dressing up for a meeting in the White House. Meanwhile the minion Musk wears a t-shirt and a baseball hat there, while looking like a dopey, grinning terminator.

Dennis Brown, Bonita Springs

Democrats spiraling down

Last summer I wrote the Mailbag and stated that the Democrats' open border policy was going to be the downfall of the Biden/Harris administration and possibly the continuing downfall of the Democratic Party. That along with their man in women’s sports program has really put them in a bad position. All you negative Trumpers really need to take a hard look at your party and realize it's in a spiraling downturn and might not survive over the next few years if changes are not made. Give up the negative Trump stuff and make plans for the future, don’t embarrass yourselves like the Democratic Congress did this week when Trump was making his speech.

Jim McMenamy, Fort Myers

Democrats cover up corruption

It amazes me that the media in this country are up in arms about Elon Musk helping President Trump run his DOGE agenda. Yet when Biden was president the media covered up the fact that he was not running the country, calling it a conservative conspiracy theory. Well now it comes to light that many of the executive orders that Biden signed were done with autopen, an automatic signature signing machine. Now I know why President Trump signed all his executive orders in the Oval Office in front of various media − to prove he is running the country! The Democrats are very good at covering up all the corruption that they unleash on the American people. Who was running the country for the last four years? Obama? Pelosi? Hillary? George Clooney? We have a right to know and Congress is going to get to the bottom of another scam perpetrated by the Democrats.

Bob Iervolino, Naples

Tyranny of the stupid

In their zeal to confine U.S. history to only what straight (by the way they were not all straight) white men told us they and they alone achieved, the Trump administration has decreed that all DoD online postings and photographs containing the word “gay” and any others that do not elevate this particular cohort, are to be removed. Convicted felons, serial adulterers, abusers of women, racists, business fraudsters, white nationalists, nazis, and seditionists among others of ill-repute can remain. Anything that hints at diversity is verboten. This decree has flagged for removal a photograph hanging in the Pentagon of the Enola Gay, the B29 bomber the U.S. used to bomb Hiroshima in WWII and bring an early end to the war against Japan. Under Mr. Trump and MAGA, ideology can be underpinned by almost criminal stupidity, and it matters not. Here’s hoping that criminal stupidity is not infectious to us non-MAGA folks. Someone will need to be around to help in the recovery when the country comes off life support post-Mr. Trump.

Thomas Minor, Bonita Springs

Trump's Ukraine strategy

In a single week, Donald Trump has undertaken five specific actions that, together, reveal his Ukraine policy. First, he declared his refusal to discuss the future of Ukraine's national security prior to concluding an agreement on U.S. access to billions of dollars of natural resources. This sequence constitutes extortion in the guise of seeking reimbursement for Washington's wartime aid, the amount of which he repeatedly exaggerates by almost 100%. Second, the ugly televised humiliation of Volodymir Zelenskyy in the Oval Office and his subsequent ejection from the White House were designed to pressure him to accept Trump's priorities as a condition of American aid. "You have no cards without us," Trump berated. Third, declaring that he had "determined that (Zelenskyy) is not interested in peace," Trump ordered the immediate and indefinite suspension of miliary aid, thus undermining Ukraine's defensive capability and inviting intensified Russian bombardment. Fourth, Trump ordered the cessation of intelligence sharing with Kyiv, thereby depriving its defense strategists of crucial battle-related information. Fifth, he ordered the discontinuation of all offensive cyber activity aimed at Russia, a dramatic signal of a shift in sympathy toward the Russian view of Ukraine in particular and of the world order in general. The sum of these actions, taken together with Trump's refusal to acknowledge Ukraine's sovereign right to participate in peace negotiations, is the essence of his goal: to force Kyiv to sue for peace on Russian-American terms, terms that will grant to the U.S. much of Ukraine's natural wealth and cede a significant amount of territory to Russia. Thereafter, the U.S. will bear no responsibility for Ukraine's defense should Russia resume its aggression after rebuilding from its current military debacle.

Walter Jones, Estero

Waste, abuse in government

In the early 1980's I assumed corporate responsibility of a subsidiary that produced machine guns for the U.S. military.  As the sole source for 50 caliber and 30 caliber guns, we received over $7,000 for each 50 caliber gun.  When I reviewed our costs, I learned our "overhead" for costing was 150% higher than in our automotive plants. I asked staff to work on reducing this cost. Their response was:  "We are sole source.  Our contract with the government is that we receive profit based on our cost.  If we reduce cost, the actual profit we get declines."  There was no incentive to reduce cost, but actually an incentive to increase any cost the government would accept. 

Shortly thereafter we were told we would receive no additional orders for the 50 caliber gun since they had inventory to meet projected needs for the next 7 years.  We advised a U.S. senator who was running for reelection during a stop at the plant that we would commence laying off approximately 200 workers as a result of no orders.  He responded: "Let me see what I can do."   Two weeks later he advised us we would receive an order large enough to keep production going for another 1 1/2 years.  He added, "I had to agree to vote for a couple things I didn't want to vote for." 

Much of the equipment we used to produce the weapons was owned by the government.  We were to pay rent based on usage.  I learned we owed the government over $1 million for unpaid rent.  I asked why we had not paid.  The answer was that while we were making current payments, no one would admit their department had been negligent in accepting past payments.  It took us almost an additional year to clean this up.  We were receiving an interest free $1 million loan from the government.

All of this with a tiny (1980s) $40 million supplier.  Our government has an unsustainable national debt.  If we do not attack the waste and abuse in government, we will become Argentina II.

Jim Thomas, Bonita Springs