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Hernando Today

A Matter Of Safety, Convenience, Sustainability

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The Tampa Tribune

Published: November 5, 2008

A Matter Of Safety, Convenience, Sustainability

I am a proud member of the United States Coast Guard Auxiliary, Flotilla 15-8, headquartered in Hernando Beach. The excellent facility you see on Calienta Street was built entirely by auxiliarists and completed in 1978. For those of you not familiar with the auxiliary, a bit of background:

The United States Coast Guard Auxiliary was established on June 23, 1939, by an act of Congress as the United States Coast Guard Reserve and re-designated as the auxiliary on Feb. 19, 1941. Today, as does the Coast Guard, the auxiliary operates under the auspices of the Department Of Homeland Security. It is a uniformed civilian auxiliary of the United States Coast Guard (USCG) that acts for and with the Coast Guard in nearly all the varied Coast Guard responsibilities. The main exception is that auxiliary members are prohibited from directly participating in law enforcement.

Auxiliarists are civilian volunteers, and as of Nov. 18, 2007, there were 30,074 of us. Not only are we not paid for services we perform, we buy our own uniforms and use our own boats, aircraft and radios. We also directly support the Coast Guard with specialized skills such as carpentry, cooking and professional skills such as medical, legal, computer sciences and as language interpreters. In this calendar year, our members have donated more than 13,000 hours of their time to auxiliary efforts accomplishing more than 978 events, such as public education classes in boating safety, free vessel safety inspections (both commercial and private), marina visits, on-the-water safety patrols, red tide monitoring in cooperation with Florida State University and, most importantly, search and rescue.

The training center we have built to serve Hernando County is one of the largest and best auxiliary facilities in the Southeast. But there is a challenge: It costs money to use and maintain and, due to auxiliary restrictions, we are not allowed to participate in fundraising activities. In an effort to solve this problem, a not-for-profit corporation, the Hernando Beach Marine Safety and Support Group (HBMSSG), was established a number of years ago. Membership in the HBMSSG consists of both auxiliarists and members of the public, and its sole purpose is to raise the necessary funds to maintain the facility from which the auxiliary conducts its operations. The auxiliary, for its part, pays a user fee for the use of the building to HBMSSG with membership dues. The effort to sustain this facility has become increasingly difficult due to rising maintenance costs for both the structure and the equipment that supports public boating safety education.

Recently, the HBMSSG was approached by a company interested in erecting a cell phone tower on a small portion of the property on which our facility stands. This tower, if approved, will be a "mono-pole" and not the steel girder "Eiffel Tower" type and will mean a vast improvement in the notoriously bad cell phone reception in the area. Improved cell phone coverage will also provide an increased boating safety factor, because many boaters do not own marine radios and rely on cell phones in the event of an emergency. The compensation derived from this project will be divided equally between the HBMSSG and the Hernando County Utilities Department from whom we lease this property.

It is our hope to garner support for this project from the local community and the Hernando County Commission, for it will ensure we in the auxiliary can continue our mission to promote a safe boating environment for our community, maintain our stewardship of the local marine ecosystem and to stand at the ready 24/7 for search and rescue needs or any local disaster.

Thomas P. Cannariato

USCGA Flotilla 15-8 member

vice president, HBMSSG

Hernando Beach

Getting Back On Track

In a recent article, the county administrator, David Hamilton, indicated that he would like to establish a new department (administrative services), with Larry Jennings as director. I think this is a good idea, as we will be better utilizing Jenning's abilities and because the county empire needs to be reined in.

The county attorney, Garth Coller, would be under Jenning's supervision, instead of reporting to the county commissioners. As far as assistant attorney Jon Jouben's assertion that this would be a demotion for Coller - ridiculous! I'm sure he is just parroting what Coller says in that Coller would not be on equal footing with the county administrator. For one thing, why should he be? And why is the county commission considered to be his client? I would assume that the county attorney represents all of Hernando County. The reasoning of the county attorneys seems very arrogant to me.

I think Hamilton is doing a great job. I'm sure the commission got more than they bargained for with him, in that he has been able to accomplish more in his short tenure than all of his recent predecessors put together, and he has plans to do even more. I hope he continues to take back Hernando County for the "people" and gets rid of the self-serving employees who do nothing to benefit us.

We've been victims of a greedy local government for far too long, and it's so refreshing to finally have someone in authority who actually knows how to get the county back on the right track.

Eileen L. Spadea

Weeki Wachee

Early Voters Made

Election Day A Breeze

I sincerely want to thank all those took the hours needed to vote early in order to avoid long lines on Election Day. Because of their thoughtfulness, I was able to vote on Tuesday in just 12 minutes.

John S.V. Weiss

Spring Hill

Lifesaver

Countless times in my life, I have witnessed the unfortunate callous nature of medical professionals. Recently, by the grace of God, I have experienced the absolute opposite. Dr. Shamir Shakfeh of Spring Hill has saved my life.

This past year has been incredibly challenging. I was diagnosed with cancer and began the fight of my life. I fought the cancer and won. Dr. Shakfeh was part of my support and medical team. Dr. Shakfeh does more than cure with his intelligence; he cures with his warmth and compassion. Every time Dr. Shakfeh walks into a room, he has a smile on his face and is truly happy to help.

Dr. Shakfeh genuinely cares about the well-being of his patients. For example, he called me on a Saturday night, during his personal time, to make sure I was feeling well. Dr. Shakfeh is honestly one in a million with a true healing heart. Hippocrates himself would stand and applaud Dr. Shakfeh, as the good of his patients takes first priority.

This letter is to thank Dr. Shakfeh for everything he has done for me, to thank him for being a friend, doctor and an angel. I highly and sincerely recommend Dr. Shakfeh to anyone looking for a wonderful doctor who really cares.

Dr. Shakfeh practices anatomic/clinical pathology, obstetrics and gynecology. His office is located at 221 Mariner Blvd., Advanced Women's Health Center, Spring Hill, Fla. 34609.

Loretta Rodeo

Brooksville

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