LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Fill Empty Houses First

I hope that I understand the proposal to cut our area's impact fees correctly. As I am reading, the purpose is to get into a state-offered grant program for housing assistance. Is the state program our only option for housing assistance?

Hernando County has one of the largest backlogs of empty and/or abandoned houses in the entire state, and now we are proposing a plan to build more? Why can't we work on getting assistance to get people into the many empty houses across the county?

While I do see the need to get our contractors back to work, the article that I saw Friday mentioned very limited and mixed success in Charlotte County - except for commercial building. Friday's article also mentioned the tax roll benefits for developing an empty lot. But what does an empty and nonmaintained house do to tax roles? Have we thought about the value depressing action of these houses?

I think that this plan is not in our best interests. We need to look at options to get people into the many empty houses that are already here first.

Duane Rieker

Brooksville

The Way Of The World

Thi,s past Sunday I read with some interest the letter from Dallas Dunlap in response to Lorne DeWitt's recent letter, and I came away with the impression, according to Dunlap, that if you don't believe that man is responsible for global warming, well, you must be ignorant of the facts or perhaps just plain stupid.

I always thought that liberals were supposed to be the open-minded intellectual ones and conservatives the closed-minded simpletons. But it's plain to see the opposite is true.

Dunlap would have you believe that the Earth never was in a Little Ice Age and yet the History Channel just recently re-ran a two-hour program stating that the Earth had gone through a period known as the Little Ice Age, showing documented proof that this event had occurred, along with numerous theories as how this could have happened, ranging from changing sea currents to excessive volcanic activities. There was even a year known as the Year Without Summer in which it snowed in August. I guess Dunlap never watches the History Channel or believes the episode is fabricated.

No one is saying global warming is a myth, but what many scientists are saying is that people like former Vice President Al Gore are pushing a lot of baloney on the public, just like a snake oil salesman. To think that mankind can somehow bring about massive changes to the climate is utter nonsense. That is what a number of reputable scientists across the nation are saying and that is not just my own opinion. Climate is cyclical; we go through hot and cold periods. It is the way of the world.

Peter Stathis

Spring Hill

Clarification

The purpose of this letter is to clarify expenditures made in regard to the 2008 Presidential Preference Primary sample ballot mailing. The June 25 Hernando Today article, "Mailings: Challenger Criticizes Elections Boss," left out pertinent information regarding the expenditure of funds.

Florida law (FS 101.20) requires the supervisor of elections to provide voters with a sample ballot. Prior to each election, this office receives thousands of requests for sample ballots. The funds used to pay for the printing and mailing of the sample ballots comes from a federal grant disbursement mandated by the Help America Vote Act of 2002. This federal grant money is earmarked for voter education activities such as the printing and mailing of sample ballots.

Due to time constraints, the sample ballots mailed to voters for the 2008 Presidential Preference Primary had to be mailed first-class presorted to ensure voters would receive them prior to Election Day. Depending on the destination, we received a discount of up to 10 cents per piece. The first-class rate was only paid on pieces that were required to be mailed first class, such as pieces going overseas. If the sample ballots had been mailed presorted standard, the post office would have had up to 14 days to deliver them to voters. If a voter were to receive the sample ballot after the election, the money spent on both printing and mailing would have been wasted.

In 2004, at a United States Postal Service workshop given by Postmaster Robert Carleton, my staff was informed that our office did not qualify to apply for a nonprofit postal permit. Recently, I was informed that the nonprofit status qualifications changed, and this office is now eligible to apply. I am currently in the process of applying for the permit.

It is my mission to ensure the integrity of the electoral process and empower each voter through continuous education.

Annie D. Williams

Hernando County

supervisor of elections