LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Supreme Court

Ruling Applauded

I applaud the decision of the United States Supreme Court regarding the Second Amendment.

My opinion is that all states and the United States have a great many laws regarding the possession and use of firearms, yet every time a firearm is used in a crime there is a knee jerk reaction to pass yet more anti-gun laws instead of strict enforcement and prosecution of criminal use of firearms.

The Federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) is charged with enforcing the federal gun laws that have been on the books for many years, yet they are good at tracing firearms but badly lacking in their enforcement of federal gun laws.

States are also slow to enforce and prosecute violations of their firearms laws - laws that they have had as tools against firearms violations. Florida is one exception; firearms violators are vigorously enforced and prosecuted.

The current laws should be more than enough to allow enforcement and prosecution of violators without the need to become a tool used to attack our rights under the Constitution.

Go after the illegal users of firearms. Law-abiding firearm owners and users do not deserve to be lumped into the "gun criminal" groups.

John Henault

Brooksville

Finding Little Fault

Re: Hernando County Supervisor of Elections

It seems after digging deep and hard to find fault with Hernando County Supervisor of Elections Annie Williams, apparently all that could be found is that perhaps Ms. Williams possibly spent more than necessary on postage to mail out sample ballots.

When we first moved to Hernando County some 14 years ago, Ms. Williams was running for supervisor of elections for the first time. After careful study of the candidates, we voted for Ms. Williams because of her experience and qualifications. Over time, we have had numerous occasions to need assistance from Ms. Williams's office. We never fail to find a warm and cheerful atmosphere and a high level of professionalism.

Ms. Williams is a person of high integrity. She is thorough, knowledgeable, methodical, painstaking and impartial - a person that goes by the book. Yet she maintains an affectionate relationship with her staff.

Thanks to her vision and foresight, Hernando County has the most reliable voting machines in the state. And because of Ms. Williams, Hernando County is one of the few counties in the state that has never had a problem with counting our votes. As far as elections go, the other counties in the state would do well to duplicate Ms. Williams's methods.

Yes, it's very hard to find any fault with our supervisor of elections and if anything ever happens to her, hers will be a hard act to follow. We would do no better than to keep Ms. Annie Williams as Hernando County Supervisor of Elections.

Pat Hernandez

Brooksville

Hard-To-Look-At Realities

The Hernando County Board of County Commissioners wants hard numbers concerning reducing impact fees.

Here are some hard-to-look-at realities, Gasoline is $4 per gallon, and the commission has devoted itself to approving development after development, saying how good for the county this is because the developer would pay impact fees to pay for the infrastructure improvements needed. Even after the housing market bubble burst the commission stayed in fantasyland and approved more subdivisions.

Well, guess what? Because the commission catered to the developers, homebuilders and the real estate agents, Hernando County has enough housing approved to satisfy the requirements for years to come. The problem is that if commissioners had looked at reality, they would have figured out by now that if they build every single-family residence already approved, they would sit empty.

The reason they would sit empty is because the commission has spent all of its time and effort on new developments instead of working as hard as possible to lure major businesses to this county with the best access to Tampa and Orlando there could be. So, anyone wanting to move to Hernando has to say "Gee I cannot live that far from any chance of employment and pay $4 per gallon for a 50-mile one-way commute. If I buy near the Suncoast Parkway, I get to pay $4 per gallon plus $6 in tolls for my 50-mile commute.

These commissioners and their replacements have got to bring major employment to the county. I have only lived in Hernando County eight years, but in that time I have not heard a single member of the commission talk about anything except development. How many of the current commissioners have contacted Jabil Circuits, which seeks a new headquarters and manufacturing facility? Who on the commission tried to get The Renaissance Festival to boost tourism, tried to get the Bass Proshop, talked to PODS or Chris Craft? These job and/or tourist dollar-producing enterprises have made or looked at a move in the past eight years. I am sure there are a lot of enterprises that could have been attacked by commissioners to bring stable jobs.

But we do not need to worry; the commission has built our economy around home construction and as soon as the jobs get in the counties that surround us, we can be the bedroom community that gets to build roads, schools and sewage plants, increase law enforcement, fire protection and expand the landfills to support the people who will work and shop outside of our county. Not everyone shops exclusively at Wal-Mart.

Richard Ross

Brooksville

Say A Little Prayer For You

To the person who ripped out the wire from the Habitat for Humanity house under construction. Thought you might want to know that we started the day Wednesday praying for you.

Fred Ulmer

Spring Hill