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Bidding for Beach Rights

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The Tampa Tribune

Published: March 12, 2009

Bidding for Beach Rights

Here we go again ... more of the same! Our illustrious County Commissioners discovering yet another way to put their hands in the cookie jar groveling around for those last crumbs in the bottom. Pine Island has been a complete, workable, beautiful little paradise for our area for 18 years, so now it's been discussed to open the bids for a new operator. Parks Director Pat Fagan quotes in one paragraph "it needs to be looked at with economic conditions to see if we can get more money," then admits "sometimes it's not always about the money" in reference to Willie Kochounian being a top-notch vendor and having no public complaints. So which is it County Commissioners? Have you just discovered another way to make more money from us common folk for the "county coffers" you refer to? Or does 18 years of good rapport and service speak for itself?

Heed the saying "If it ain't broke don't fix it!" Because we can bet our ever-shrinking middle-class paycheck that once our bureaucratic peanut gallery gets their "lunch hooks" into this latest scheme, our little oasis will become just another politically incorrect, back-biting, personal agenda tug-o-war. Simply because an individual can bid more money than you're now harvesting from Willie Kochounian does not ensure a better job than he has given us for 18 years now.

Do us beach lovers a big favor - leave it alone. Don't you people have enough issues on your plate to finish and clean up first?

Mary Kay Bratt

Spring Hill

What Water Shortage?

Is there really a water shortage in Hernando County? Has anyone noticed all the building that is going on in the county? How can there possibly be a shortage? Was this a ploy just to raise the rates on water usage?

The county commissioners need to explain themselves about this issue!

Pretty soon Hernando County is going to be known as the "Brown County!"

If there is a shortage, what are the county commissioners doing to relieve the problem? Are they drilling new wells? Are they building a desalination plant? Or just raising rates to try to stop people from using water? Or just raising money for their own use?

Melvin J. Hagner

Spring Hill

Living Within Your Means

It was so refreshing to read Ron Rae's column about living within your means. It's great for peace of mind and insulates you from most economic problems.

I have been out of debt and mortgage free since 1980. Mortgages are for people who want a lifestyle that they cannot yet fully pay for. Why not rent cheaply until you can buy a small home for cash that needs work? Fix it up, move up, repeat. Voila, no mortgage.

It's not just about saving money. It's about money you don't need to earn. With taxes and hidden taxes, you lose up to half your income anyway.

In 1988, I built a storm proof home for low cost insurance. To learn about other conservative ideas that won't confiscate your wealth, go to mises.org and lewrockwell.com.

Patrick J. Miketinac

Brooksville

Time Will Tell

I'm sure that no one wants to hurt the feelings of conservatives in noting that they were hasty in convincing large segments of the unsuspecting public that the private sector presents the best solutions for savings, investments, 401K retirement and all our requirements for well-grounded economic principles that are market driven.

However, our capital financial structures on the market side have collapsed in a whirlwind spin to cause a deep recession, loss of millions of jobs, bank failures by the hundreds and lack of credit and credit lines for faithful customers and major corporate enterprises that need to honor payrolls.

Most experts will point to hedge funds as part of the problem along with phony deals in the mortgage industry for purchasing homes, now with hundreds and thousands into the millions of home foreclosures in the rush for profits in a frenzy of greed with no consideration for ordinary people buying the American dream in home ownership along with those participating in the stock market who have watched their savings depleted in a matter months.

So, President Barack Obama's plan to reach deeply into our population base with stimulus offered in government-backed incentives is meant to lift the economy back into phases of prosperity again, employing millions to rebuild our infrastructure, allowing credit-worthy homeowners to lower mortgage costs and providing opportunities for those threatened with foreclosures to save their homes.

The current administration is restricting tax breaks for big corporations that search for loopholes and avoid tax commitments by hiding their companies profits in off-shore corporations or shifting jobs overseas for cheap labor. In addition, the big investors in agriculture may be well warned that payments for not growing crops will be restricted and big tax breaks for preferred commodities will cease.

Conservatives like to hide behind the shield of small business to state and restate their capitalistic views. But this is a ploy because small business provides the incentives for innovation and invention enough to seize upon the imagination of the general public who are in the marketplace invited by their products and production. Data support the fact that more than 65 percent of jobs in America are generated by small business and it is Democrats with a capital D who have best supported small business enterprises and urged tax breaks as incentives to keep them in business. Progressives have the reigns of government now, and time will tell if they are in good hands.

Deron Mikal

Brooksville

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