- April 20, 2024
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Dear Editor:
This is in reply to the recent letter sent in about Sheriff Rick Staly opposing a mask mandate. Does this letter writer really think our Sheriff’s Office has time to go after everyone with no mask? Is he kidding? Does he not see how busy our deputies and detectives are getting all the criminals in Palm Coast?
Pat Stasio
Palm Coast
Dear Editor:
In this climate of hate and divisiveness based upon politics and racism, and, with the added devastation of the COVID 19 pandemic, there is no place for a School Board chairwoman such as Janet McDonald.
Ms. McDonald tweets and retweets false and explosive information on the coronavirus, stating it’s an intentional disease designed to destroy the presidency of Donald Trump. She retweets articles scorching the Black Lives Matter movement, the LGBTQ community, the media, liberals, the COVID 19 pandemic, vaccine science and others.
I am a retired elementary and middle school principal. I spent 49 years as an educator. After retirement, I moved from Ohio to Texas, where I taught in the school systems of Dallas and Austin. After moving here, I taught three years at Flagler Palm Coast High School.
FPC stands out as one of the best experiences I had as an educator. Why? Because I taught an international group of students of all races, colors and backgrounds. I considered them all my children! Some of my 11th and 12th grade students stated they were gay. It did not matter to me. I looked at my students through the eyes of love, the way we should view everyone!
As a school principal, I stressed to my teachers to treat all children, all parents, all custodians and other school employees with dignity and respect.
We hear every day of elected officials losing their jobs because of the hate-filled and bigoted statements they made. When we gain the public’s trust and are elected or appointed to positions of authority, it is incumbent upon us to do our jobs without bias and prejudice.
Janet McDonald must go! She can defend herself all she wants — saying she was merely retweeting what someone said, in order to promote critical thinking on the part of the reader. Ha!
She needs to step down.
Marva Jones
Palm Coast
Dear Editor:
I have to disagree with your thoughts of the candidates.
Mayor Milissa Holland has done nothing for the people living on the canals. When Levitt built this, he stated the canal depth would be held at 7 feet deep at mean low water. The City Council raises the water bill, runoff water bill, taxes and spends it on pet projects, like Holland Park. Wading pools for kids at $2 million after being told they would turn into public urinals by other cities that tried it.
There are areas that don't drain during and after a rain storm. Nothing is done.
When the heat makes the water meter's plastic housing brittle and they break, the city tries to make the homeowner pay for it. Hence the rewording. The meters belong to the city. We pay rent on them. Now the new meter contains both meters not two separate meters. Should be only one charge not two.
I have had all the candidates out and showed them the problems with the stormwater and the canals. They all had ideas how to fix it. She and her manager would not answer my request to come out. Deaf ears. She knows. Do nothing mode. Costs money. But we have money for pet projects. It's time she and the city manager go. Find other employment opportunities elsewhere.
Gary Kunnas
Palm Coast
Editor’s Note: The city of Palm Coast helped to provide some answers to your questions.
First, Holland Park was funded by three sources: local sales tax, impact fees and $500,000 of property taxes.
With regard to the drainage, the city has a Stormwater Master Plan to address problems, and more than two dozen major improvements were designed or begun this fiscal year — including some canal projects. For details, see shorturl.at/gsABV.
With regard to the water meter, the city utility absorbs the cost of replacing broken meters, not the homeowner, according to the city. And the only reason for two separate meters is if the homeowner has a reclaimed water meter in addition to the potable water meter.
Dear Editor:
Thirty-three Miami Dade County residents have now been infected with the West Nile Virus, a mosquito-borne illness, from local transmission.
There also have been 26 new case of Dengue fever reported in Monroe County.
You can be assured that the East Flagler County Mosquito Control District is doing everything possible to stop this virus from coming into Flagler County.
You can do your part by getting rid of any standing water on your property.
Jules Kwiatkowski
Chairman, East Mosquito Control District
Dear Editor:
My concern is that citizens may be lulled into a false sense of security by the Palm Coast Observer’s portrayal of two-week-old reports of month-old conditions as showing current Covid-19 conditions in Flagler.
The neighborhood talk is that the coronavirus spread is improving in Flagler County. While it may not be possible to get current conditions, the reporting would serve the public far better if it did not portray it as current and should clearly identify the age of the data.
First, the Observer’s Covid-19 Report online for Aug. 7 mistakenly states that positivity rates are higher than a month ago but ER visits are trending downward, indicating that the report shows data for right now. The article continues on to show supporting charts that clearly show the caveat that the data had not been updated for almost two weeks.
Second, in the e-edition under the headline that “Flagler County passed 1,000 cases,” the health officer was quoted as saying, "The positivity rate for the past 14 days is 6.2%, which is an improvement over the 7.1% of the previous two weeks.” Later in the article he said that test turnaround is two weeks. This appears to mean that test results ending July 24 are being cited for an improvement now when compared to test data from July 10.
This also means we passed 1,000 cases on July 24. Since it takes two weeks for the test to turn around, the articles are discussing trends reported two weeks ago for conditions that occurred a month ago. Since the spread is almost exponential without proper precautions, what does it mean for now?
Numerous experts report that two-week old test results are just about useless in stopping the spread. Also, public testing stopped in the state for four days and people were busy with Hurricane Isaias preparations. With test results so delayed, the safest route is to assume the current infection rate is two or three times higher, that you have it and can silently spread it. I hope I am wrong.
Joanne Reuter
Palm Coast
Editor’s Note: Thank you for your feedback. We do include the date ranges for the data, but we will work on how to make the conclusions more clear.
