LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Fresh Faces Needed

I wish the people at the county would make a recording on tape. About this time every year, they start crying about the budget and using scare tactics. The best one is when it comes to education and schools. If Hernando County School Superintendent Wayne Alexander was so worried about the budget, how come he got a hefty raise? He said he did a good job. That's what he was paid for in the first place. They all cry about the budget, but no one wants to give up their fat paycheck to help the situation.

Getting back to the county budget, you never hear about the increase in revenue in extra tax income. Let's take one example: Wal-Mart Supercenter on U.S. 19. Before it was built, all they were getting was tax on bare land. Can you imagine what they're getting now? Imagine the revenue they are receiving for all the new plazas on State Road 50. Now, they are building a 53-acre plaza on Spring Hill Drive near the Suncoast Parkway - two banks, a restaurant and a gas station, plus the large plaza on the corner of Barclay and Powell.

I have just mentioned a few of the new construction projects going on that bring in huge amounts of tax money into the pockets of the county, yet they keep crying and want the public to pay and pay. Do they pay attention to the people losing their homes? No. One way or another, they get their tax money. It's a shoo-in for the county.

They have done it again. Run off a small business to Pasco. A dog training business was not allowed to baby-sit dogs, yet it could train them. Reason being it might disturb the neighbors. What a joke! There's a business right next door that has tractor-trailers in and out 24 hours a day. The lot is so small, they have to back in to get on the property. On the other side of the dog training business is a bar that has karaoke and motorcycles roaring in and out all day long and through to the wee hours of the morning. And yet they say the dogs are going to disturb the neighbors? Another thing: The small business proprietor put up a small banner with the type of dog food he was selling. Code enforcement made him take it down.

Great going, Hernando County. You just helped another small business leave for Pasco.

One last word. That guy, Sen. Barack Obama, who is running for president, is right. We need change. Especially in Hernando County. Most of you people have been in office for far too long. We need fresh people.

Joseph Sam Allesi

Brooksville

Time For An Energy Czar

Southwest Airline's CEO Gary Kelly has kept the major airline carrier profitable in spite of record fuel prices. Competitors are losing millions and are laying off employees, cutting scheduled pay increases, imposing fuel surcharges and, in some cases, filing for bankruptcy protection. While competitors were wringing their hands, Southwest Airline management was locking in fuel pricing on the futures market when energy prices were around $51 per barrel. Translated, that means Southwest Airlines pays about 40 percent of retail pricing for their aviation fuel today.

For years Midwestern farmers have used the futures markets as a price protection tool. Months before their crops are harvested, they use futures contracts to lock in a specified dollar and volume amount relative to their future crop production and costs. As a result, they are not at the mercy of volatility in the spot market pricing.

Today individuals, private businesses and public entities in the St. Cloud, Minn., area are enjoying fuel pricing at year ago levels as a result of locking in pricing using forward contracting. A company that has been in business since the early 1980s offers a service that facilitates forward purchasing of fuel needs. This pricing protection has saved their customers millions of dollars, as they are paying more than $1 per gallon less than current pump prices for their fuel, simply because they locked in pricing based on projected needs one year ago.

And what about Hernando County vehicles, sheriff's department, school buses, etc? Has anyone, yes anyone, even remotely considered using market protection tools to protect the Hernando County taxpayer from energy market volatility? As an example, If Hernando County government's collective fuel consumption needs would have been forward contracted one year ago, the taxpayer burden for fuel pricing would be lessened by somewhere around $1 per gallon. Not an insignificant amount, given the annual fuel consumption of county vehicles.

Hernando County officials should get their collective heads together and begin examining the financial tools that successful airlines, Midwestern farmers and the average consumer in St. Cloud, Minn., use. It's time for "outside the box" solutions, and let's start by considering a county energy czar, or maybe even a regional energy czar shared by multiple counties.

Jim Gries

Weeki Wachee

Devastating Proposal

As a parent of five children in the Hernando County school system, I feel that it is very important to have sports for the children during their middle school years. The children become bored, and many of them find other things to do with their time, which leads many of our children into trouble.

Children look forward to becoming sixth-graders so they can take extracurricular activities that are offered. Children work harder at maintaining good grades so they can be part of a team representing their school. I feel that it is very important to keep sports in middle school, as many of Hernando County's children are less fortunate and may not be able to afford to play sports at the YMCA or a county recreation department due to not having the finances. Children should be able to play for their school without any questions other than grades.

Our children need things to do after school other than homework. After school activities can benefit children in many ways, such as socializing with other children and coaches, exercise, discipline (playing by the rules) and, most of all, self-confidence (building their self-esteem).

I hope that the board will reconsider eliminating middle school sports. Our children would be devastated.

Linda Tacy

Spring Hill

Bravo, David Hamilton

Hooray, County Administrator David Hamilton! Way to go. Your suggestion to consolidate services to departments is excellent.

Hernando County departments need to work together as a team to create a streamlined, cost-effective governing and serving entity. The first step needs to be elimination of duplicate services. It is time for belt-tightening and for working together.

Keep up the excellent ideas to more efficiently use taxpayer dollars.

Mary Kae Vickers

Weeki Wachee