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Hernando Today

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

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The Tampa Tribune

Published: December 12, 2008

Remembering Dr. Berrios

I just felt I needed to express my sympathy for the Berrios family.

As a young girl in 1978 and 1979, Dr. Berrios operated on me even though I had no insurance and no money. I was raising two children alone. His first surgery was a double-cone biopsy of the cervix for cancer. Then he had extracted fluid from a large tumor in my breast and tested the fluid. In 1979 he said the tumor must come out. That was on a Monday and he made arrangements to operate that Friday. I said, "Dr. Berrios, I don't have any insurance or any money." He said, "Connie, it is coming out whether you pay me or not, that is fine, but this tumor has to come out."

He was not concerned about the money.

He said I would just have to make arrangements with the Brooksville Hospital to make payments with them. He never asked me to make arrangements with him to pay. He never charged me for either surgery. Only the hospitals did, and I paid $25 a month to them.

Dr. Berrios is what we used to call a real doctor. His concern wasn't money; he was concerned only for the patient. He was a dedicated man who cared about people. I even called Dr. Berrios when I had the flu and he took care of me.

Dr. Berrios was so gentle and loving and caring about his patients. He would explain and talk to you and you actually felt his true concern and interest for you. What a dedicated, true doctor and person.

My heart goes out to his family and friends. He is a true man and a true doctor that will be missed.

Connie Brandon

Brooksville
Personnel Practices Questioned

The incident as reported in The Tampa Tribune, Hernando Today, on Dec. 11 concerning "Questions Raised About Employee's Absences" is a clear indication of various violations of personnel practices and procedures.

Earned sick leave does not equate to absence unless an employee does not have available sick leave accrued, or an employee has been placed under some type of disciplinary probation for prior abuse of the use of sick leave, which would required to be proven and supported by a written document being placed in the employee's personnel records. It is normal personnel practices to document all formal disciplinary actions prior to the formal disciplinary actions being administered.

A verbal command is nothing but a verbal command, and since it was verbal, it would have to be further supported by a written command that would then be placed in an employee's personnel folder for public record.

According to the article, Mr. Booker was given a verbal command on Aug. 22. If this is true, then the employee would have to account for only sick leave taken after this date. Personnel practices and procedures do not allow for reprimands concerning retroactive sick leave taken that was previously approved. And, if there are no written reprimands in an employee's personnel records addressing or substantiating abuse of sick leave, the sick leave taken before Aug. 22 is sick leave that was approved. You can not approve then a year later disapproved any time off for the purpose of applying disciplinary actions.

The prior actions by the Hernando County Department of Utility allowed it employees to engage in activities that related to hate crimes, yet no criminal charges were ever levied. The actions by Hernando County Department of Utility's supervisor is a strict violations of personnel practices and procedures, and a violations of the employee's civil rights as it applies to timeliness of the actions by the county.

The article titled "Questions Raised About Employee Absences" stated; "In an attempt to resolve the issue, a meeting was arranged between Mr. Booker and Human Resources Director Cheryl Marsden." If this is true, then the actions of the county are highly the suspect because it is not normal practice for an annual to have direct contact with the human resources director without all parties being present, which includes the employee, his supervisor, any union officials and a representative for the employee if so desired. This meeting has the appearance of a setup meeting.

The concern is not the number of times he called in sick. Instead, it is whether the employee is being accused of abusing his sick leave. It is quite possible that a person can be sick 11 times in a year.

What is even stranger about the situation is it did not surface until after the racial harassment complaint was filed. Also, it is highly unusual to be verbally disciplined for excessive use of time off without any written document being filed and placed in the employee's personnel records, and even this document has a time limit that it can remain in an employee's personnel record, it do not remain active for life.

I find it hard to believe there is a personnel policy addressing excessive use of sick leave. Normally, the category is "abuse of the use of sick leave."

Why the county administrator does not find their actions as retaliatory is a mystery. If the situation was reversed, and the employee had been terminated because of abuse of the use of sick leave and then filed a racial harassment complaint, the county would have claimed that he was a disgruntled employee who was filing a complaint because he had been terminated.

The actions by the county are a blatant act of retaliation and the county should be ashamed of its actions, but, like always, Hernando County operates as though the laws do not apply to Hernando County.

Richard L. Howell

Brooksville

Good Move For VA

The appointment to the U.S. Veterans Administration of Gen. Eric Shinseki should provide fresh impetus to get the VA moving in directions now bogged down in bureaucracy with poorly trained adjudicators in major regional office markets who deny obvious claims and issues that do meet criteria for compensation and cause appeals to pile high.

Waiting months and months to be served by a more knowledgeable rater, many appeals having to move into the Board of Veterans Appeals, some so simple as hearing loss and tinnitus from a veteran having been exposed to high-density noise levels in the military, a simple claim to adjudicate and rate in favor of the veteran.

Veterans are proud of their service, proud of combat service and eager to be acknowledged for their dedication and commitment to the uniform they wore. Veteran Services available to large numbers from every conflict and every war along with peacetime veterans provide significant opportunities for compensation and benefits awarded to these well-deserved men and women, many who are coming home as heroes of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and Desert Storm, along with some who still seek benefits from their service in World War II and Korea and the 7.1 million Vietnam veterans whose participation in the jungles of Vietnam are being rewarded with compensation and benefits in the legacy and tradition of the Veterans Administration.

Deron Mikal

Brooksville

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