High schoolers’ final game

Dear Editor:

Someone needs to inquire why the graduating class of 2012 is not allowed to play in their last high school game, due to a couple of hurt egos by the coaching staff … After a disappointing season, they took Monday off from practice to de-stress. At this point, meetings are being held to discuss the punishment, but no parents have been notified. In these meetings, the coaches were threatening the players that they would not help them get into college. It’s no wonder why the parents of Deerfield are looking for [schools] outside the city limits to send their children. I hope this isn’t the future that the students will have to endure — the unprofessionalism of the teachers, coaches and other employess of the system.

Upset Parent

Deerfield Beach

Dear Editor:

I am extremely disturbed by events that are transpiring at my old high school, Deerfield Beach High School (DBHS). It has been reported to me that the Senior Class of 2012 football players are not being allowed to play the final game of their high school careers at their home stadium and players are even being silently retaliated against for voicing their opinions and disgust with the situation.  These kids deserve better. I will personally be writing the school and the school board of Broward County on this. Please review and investigate, as I was informed this is a group being punished for the actions of a few. Thank you.

Carlos Luis Maysonet Hernández Jr.

Deerfield Beach

Editor’s note: According to DBHS football coach Allen Jackson, “They played that game — last Friday.” Were any not allowed to play because of disciplinary action? “They all played.”

 Vinny Tozzi, the school’s athletic director, said, “If it’s a situation where a coach was disciplining players who obviously didn’t come to practice – if you don’t show up to practice, someone has to practice in your spot, and they deserve the right to play. If that’s what you’re asking, I support the coach 100 percent!”

Solar power

Dear Editor:

Clean energy is the best way to create the jobs we need, and there is no question we need jobs now. There are more than 5,500 solar companies putting more than 100,000 people across the country to work, and this industry keeps on growing at a time when few industries are.

Since a solar company called Solyndra recently fell victim to a competitive marketplace a few weeks ago, politicians and pundits who depend on Big Oil and King Coal have been using Solyndra as an excuse to vilify an industry that is one of the best ways to get Americans working again. An investment in solar energy creates seven times more jobs than the same investment in dirty coal, nuclear or natural gas. The attacks on solar energy are a purely political maneuver to keep our country chained to dirty energy at a time when we desperately need to move forward toward a clean energy future.

Politicians can talk about creating jobs all they want, but that’s all I have seen so far — talk, no action. The ones who are actually working to address the unemployment rate are the ones who are calling for more investments in clean energy, like solar power. Investing in clean energy companies is one of the few ways we can actually see American industries grow.

Sarah Ryan

Delray Beach

Dear Editor:

Why? Who puts more people to work than solar companies?  Dirty energy (like coal) is an old tired investment. Nuclear could bring Fukushima-like clean-up jobs –but — who needs that? Realistically, investment in clean energy like solar power has given us an American Industry that is actually growing. That’s where we can create jobs. Don’t you agree?

Ms. Beth Widzowsky

Boca Raton

The Cove

Dear Editor:

To all the residents who have, like myself, stayed clear of “The Cove Plaza” all summer due to the constant construction, I encourage everyone to put it back on their list of places in Deerfield to do business. The city has done a wonderful job on the re-planning effort. The local businesses have suffered, so we all need to go out of our way and try to shop or eat there and support our local businesses.

Hillsboro Boulevard is also looking good with all the new trees and flowers planted. It’s good to see our tax dollars at work. GOOD JOB!

J. Huffman

Deerfield Beach

Hillsboro Lighthouse

Dear Editor:

My family visited the Hillsboro Lighthouse on Saturday, and it was the best! Our group consisted of two adults and four small children — three boys: 5, 3 1/2, almost 3, and a girl, 2. We swam in the small inlet area first and played in the beautiful Intracoastal waters for about an hour. Then, we climbed all the way to the top, even the little ones. Once there, they looked out, enjoying the sights and posed for some photos. The climb down was a bit slow, and extremely hot, but we made it without an incident.

The tour director explained my daughter was really too small, but I was so grateful for the opportunity to reach the top. Otherwise, our party probably wouldn’t have got to enjoy the very best part of the day — the lighthouse.

It was by sheer accident that we stumbled upon the tour day, when I was searching for activities in Coral Springs (where we were staying) the day before the event. The boys found it so entertaining, they asked to go back the following day! But we’ll wait until the next tour date, Nov. 19. We did struggle a bit to find where to get on the boat, but I see now that it really was all there on the site. Next time, we will get to tour grounds, as our little ones were exhausted after the climb (in desperate need of a nap).

Thanks again for the wonderful day,

Leigh Tahirovic

Naples

RE: Utility Tax, FPL bills

Dear Editor:

“Oh what a tangled web we weave, when first we practice to deceive.” That is a fitting quote for what the city has done to thwart the will of the voters who signed the Rescind Unfair Taxes petition.

In the beginning, the city attorney told us the goal was 10 percent of 41,850 registered voters at the last municipal election. Not so, said the Supervisor of Elections (SOE). The number is 41,280. So we did not have to get 4,200 signatures to have our petition validated …  only 4,128.

On Wednesday, Rescind Unfair taxes paid the city $47 to have copies made of all the signatures we had submitted to the city clerk on Sept. 6. That gave us the opportunity to count every signature, for a total of 6,220. The SOE only got 5,614. What happened to the other 606?

In addition, a letter to the Supervisor of Elections, the Deerfield City Clerk with the approval of the city attorney, asked that the precinct numbers be verified. The Supervisor of Elections stated that they have never been required to validate precinct numbers to verify that the signer was a registered voter. The Deerfield charter asks that the precinct be added, but nowhere does the charter ask that the number be verified. In our conversation with the Division of Elections, we were told that if the city charter did not specify that the precincts had to be verified, the SOE could have ignored the directive from the City of Deerfield Beach that made that demand, since the state statute does not require precinct verification to identify a registered voter.

Since Dr. Snipes claims their hands were tied, the SOE threw out 973 names and disenfranchised those voters at the request of the city clerk and the city attorney. The map given to us to determine the precincts was defective and inadequate, to say the least. The job done by the SOE was not stellar either. They threw out any voter who had a Pompano Beach address, thereby eliminating at least 12 registered voters, although these were newly-annexed registered voters. They threw out the name of Gloria Battle as being in the wrong district, whatever that meant.

With FPL charging residents a 10 percent utility tax for usage in September when the tax was not effective until Oct. 1, and the city making the same error on the water bills, maybe it’s time for the city to listen to the majority of the city residents and rescind this oppressive tax.

Jean Robb

Chairperson, Rescind Unfair Taxes, Deerfield Beach, FL

Editor’s note: “Management has become aware of a billing cycle issue regarding the public service tax (utility tax). “We are in the process of working to address the situation, and will provide an update as soon as more details become available,” said the city last Friday.

As of press time Wednesday: “We are still reviewing the Florida Statutes to determine what actions to take. We recognize there is a misperception about the October billing cycle, but would not describe it as a ‘problem.’ Nonetheless, we are reviewing what option the City may take if in fact we deem it to be an issue.”

RE: FPL bill

Dear Editor:

Well, it’s here … my electric bill at my repair shop in Deerfield. Ready for this? These are the actual numbers of all the taxes on the bill. Gross receipts tax: $8.05, Utility tax: $23.19 and Florida Sales Tax: $23.89. Never mind the Franchise Charge: $19.31, whatever that is. So the Grand Total of taxes is $55.13. Multiply that times 12 … the Grand Total per year just in taxes is $651.56. What about the electric? Oh, that’s only $310.78. Thanks to all, we will be out of business soon, or we will have to raise our prices just to pay taxes.

P.S. Did not see the house electric bill yet, which is also in Deerfield. Double tax … why not?

Steven Fabrizio

  Deerfield Beach, FL

RE: Immigration — Excerpted from letter from retired border patrol agent

Dear Senator Frist:

There is a huge amount of propaganda and myths circulating about illegal aliens, particularly illegal Mexican, Salvadorian, Guatemalan and Honduran aliens.

• Illegal aliens generally do NOT want U.S. citizenship. Americans are very vain thinking that everybody in the world wants to be a U.S. citizen. Mexicans, and other nationalities, want to remain citizens of their home countries while obtaining the benefits offered by the United States, such as employment, medical care, in state tuition, government-subsidized housing and free education for their offspring. Their main attraction is employment, and their loyalty usually remains at home. They want benefits earned and subsidized by middle class Americans. What illegal aliens want are benefits of American residence without paying the price.

• There are no jobs that Americans won’t do. Illegal aliens are doing jobs that Americans could otherwise take and still support their families. Illegal aliens take low-wage jobs, live dozens in a single residence, share expenses and send money to their home country. There are no jobs that Americans won’t do for a decent wage.

• Every person who illegally entered this nation left a home. They are NOT homeless and they are NOT Americans. Some left jobs in their home countries. They come to send money to their real home, as evidenced by the more than $20 billion sent out of the country each year by illegal aliens. These illegal aliens knowingly and willfully entered this nation in violation of the law and, therefore, assumed the risk of detection and deportation. Those who brought their alien children assumed the responsibility and risk on behalf of their children.

• The United States is welcoming legal immigrants. Illegal aliens are not immigrants by definition. The U.S. accepts more lawful immigrants every year than the rest of the world combined.

For about four decades American politicians have refused to secure our borders and look after the welfare of middle class Americans. These politicians have been of both parties. Do you have the courage to do what is right for America? Or, will you bow to the wants and needs of those who don’t even have the right to remain here?

David J. Stoddard

US Border Patrol (Ret.)

Hereford , AZ

New laws threaten coast, fish

Dear Editor:

Are you aware that the Florida Wildlife Conservation Commission [FWCC] is proposing to change the rules on the harvest of Spotted Sea Trout?  [New rules would expand the season and double the catch limit]. If passed, the new “law” could possibly be the demise of the Spotted Sea Trout here in Florida.

Commercial saltwater fishing impacts Florida’s economy with over $1 billion annually and over 10,000 jobs. The numbers, both recreational and commercial, add up to one huge chunk of change for Florida annually and that, my friend, is a wonderful thing. But ask yourself, “Am I willing to put at risk the extermination of such a wonder fishery so that a chosen few can gain some quick cash in place of an industry that supports Florida with $5 billion in revenue every year? Am I willing to jeopardize one of the state’s largest tourism magnets and chance the destruction of some of the world’s most wonderful marine nurseries and estuaries so that a chosen few can make some quick cash? Is changing the rules worth the risk?”

Remember what happened to the Redfish stock in the 1980s due to commercial fishing over-harvesting? Redfish in the state of Florida were all but wiped out, and it took many years to bring the Redfish population back to healthy stock levels. Billions of dollars were lost and the fishing tackle industry took a monstrous hit. Not to mention the unknown amount of money spent on getting the stock back to present-day levels.

As recreational anglers, it is in our best interest to do everything we can to see that the rules are not changed in order to ensure the future of the Spotted Sea Trout Fishery. I strongly urge you to write the FWCC today and voice your opinion regarding this matter of great importance.

www. myfwc.com/contact/staff-contacts/senior-staff/commissioners

Capt. Danny Barrow

Director, Snook & Gamefish Foundation

Thank you – Pink Heals Tour

Dear Editor:

All of us at American Cancer Society’s Relay For Life for Deerfield Beach, Lighthouse Point & Hillsboro Beach, and Making Strides of Boca Raton want to thank the Greater Broward Firefighter Charities, Broward Fire-Rescue and BSO for bringing the Pink Heals Tour to our wonderful city. This tour brings us HOPE for the CURE.

We especially want to thank: BSO Fire Chief Neal De Jesus, Deerfield Fire Chief Chad Brocato and Sheriff Al Lamberti; their outstanding support staff including Doug Watler, Marisol Tambling, Debbie Rittinghouse, Courtney Palmer, Sebastien Locurto; as well as Carol Sjursen, Al Santana of CERT and the Explorers of the Fire Dept. & Police Dept. We also want to thank the Black Pearl Pipe & Drums Bagpiper for returning for our Luminaria Ceremony, along with Broward Fire & Rescue Ladder Truck to take that fabulous photo with all of us encircling HOPE.

Nona Breitenstein, Gordon Vatch, TJ Eagen, Karen Hardy, Lorraine Sylvia, Carlos Sanchez, & Patty Miranda

Thank you – and Happy Birthday!

Dear Editor:

On behalf of the LHP LifeSavers, a heartfelt ‘thank you’ to all who attended, sponsored and donated to the 3rd Annual LHP Luau held on Sept. 16 at Lighthouse Point Yacht & Racquet Club.

With your help, we were able to raise $11K to help local patients and their families in the fight against breast cancer and create a world with more birthdays!

Patty Miranda & Janis Sreenan

Lighthouse Point

P.S. Our entire family and staff wish to Mr. David Eller a Happy Birthday, filled with health, happiness and abundance of graces. – Olympia Flame Diner

RE: Taxes

Dear Editor:

In the 9-29 Observer Letters to the Editor, a resident asked to know where the money goes regarding the Communications Services Tax on his cell phone bill.

The communications services tax applies to telecommunications, cable, direct-to-home satellite, and related services. Two parts comprise the tax: the Florida communications services tax and the local communications services tax.  The Communications Services Tax Simplification Law, which applied to bills issued by communications services providers on or after Oct. 1, 2001, also provided for locally imposed communications services tax to be administered by the Department of Revenue. Chapter 2001-140, Laws of Florida, established the revenue-neutral tax rates for the statewide and local communications services taxes.

Florida Portion

The Florida portion of the tax includes a state tax rate plus a gross receipts tax rate, for a combined rate of 9.17 percent. The rate for the state tax is 6.65 percent. The total rate for the gross receipts tax is 2.52 percent, which is composed of .15 percent and 2.37 percent.

Dealers may bill and collect the 6.65 percent state tax rate, along with the .15 percent gross receipts tax rate (a total of 6.8 percent), provided the amounts are properly reflected on the tax return.

Local Portion

Each local taxing jurisdiction (municipality, charter county, or unincorporated county) has a specific local tax rate. All municipalities in Broward County have a communications services tax. For major Broward County cities, the rates range from 4.80-5.62 percent. In Deerfield Beach, and the majority of Broward cities, the rate is 5.22 percent.

The communications tax was implemented on Oct. 1, 2001.  Prior to that, the City imposed a franchise fee on the telecommunications providers.  Local governments may exercise their home rule authority to impose a franchise fee upon a utility for granting a franchise and the privilege of using local government’s rights-of-way to conduct the utility business. The fee is considered fair rent for the use of such rights-of-way and consideration for the local government’s agreement not to provide competing utility services during the term of the franchise agreement.

Rami Altherr Musto

Marketing Communications Manager

City of Deerfield Beach

Palm trees on Dixie Hwy.

Dear Editor:

I can’t believe my eyes. I just looked outside the front bay door of my repair shop on Dixie Highway to the east, which, if you don’t know are railroad tracks in Deerfield, and they are planting palm trees. I cannot believe this. There are thousands of people in Florida losing their homes, and somebody had this bright idea: Palm trees on Dixie. There has got to be a better way to spend money than that!

Steven J. Fabrizio

Deerfield Beach

RE: Taxes

Dear Editor:

With times being so hard financially, everybody is cutting back where they can. Recently, looking at my cell phone bill, I noticed a $4.59 charge that says “Deerfield Beach City – Comm Service Tax. In last week’s Observer, the mayor said we should know our facts. I would like to know where that money goes. Let’s stop the taxing. We just can’t afford it. Period!

Steven J. Fabrizio

Deerfield Beach

RE: Utility Tax

Dear Editor:

“I find it ironic … The people who are paying the least are the ones screaming the loudest.”

Have you thought, commissioner, that these people paying the least because they are using the least is because they cannot afford to use more? And now, more $$ on their bills that they probably cannot pay?

I don’t see how that is hard to understand. My A/C is set at 82. I guess now I will have to set it at 84? And water? It costs over $80 a month to water correctly. I haven’t done that since Deerfield Beach raised the water rates. Talk about flushing money down the drain!

Donna Lavoie

Deerfield Beach

Restore harmony in Budget process

Dear Editor:

At last night’s commission meeting, I heard thoughtful and well-articulated positions from each commissioner and the mayor.  What a pity that the people who needed to hear them the most had stormed out of the meeting.

A few citizens spoke in favor of restoring harmony and the planning that has been done by our leadership.  How sad that most of the people who attended did so only to object to something that they clearly do not understand.  Am I the only one who noticed that every few weeks the math (supporting the ‘no utility tax’ position) changed completely?  When one set of numbers was proven wrong, they just came up with a new one.

The leaders of the movement against the utility tax have gained support by spreading rumors and offering total falsehoods as “facts.”  Their positions are always stated around personal attacks on members of the administration (or with personal attacks on other citizens; Robb hit a new low last night).

I attended all the meetings and workshops that went into creation of the new budget.  I have applauded the transparency and accountability that has been brought to the process and to the city finances as a whole.  Since taking office, this commission has worked each year to reduce expenses in the general fund.  They have made a great many hard decisions (not just the utility tax) in order to bring fiscal responsibility and fairness to our city.

A lovely woman [Marge Norwich] spoke that she felt we were losing our identity with fights like this one.  She said the budget must be a plan for the future of our city.  She hoped that the commission could make Deerfield Beach come alive again and I add my support to her statement.

Sally Potter

Deerfield Beach

Apology

Dear Editor:

This is a letter I must write to apologize to [retired firefighter] Tim Hanley for my outburst at the last commission meeting. When he said, [“I was raised to be respectful,] blame it on my parents,” I said, “They are both dead.” I meant no disrespect. I know both Jay and Terry Hanley, and I attended both of their funerals.

Tim can call me all the names he wishes, but he seems to forget that his dad came to me when Tim wanted to get on the Fire Department, and the chief did not want to hire a third Hanley since Mike and Terry were already with the department. I spoke to the chief on Tim’s behalf, and he was hired.

I am doing this last thing for Tim. I have never been a supporter of the fire department pensions; but I am a firm believer in giving the retirees the things they were promised. The commission made those concessions, and now they can change the game for the newcomers, but not those who have already retired. All of the concessions made to the fire department such as health insurance, retirement age, and benefits, were promises made that should be kept.

Jean M. Robb

Deerfield Beach

William E. Bucknam

Tuesday, Sept. 11, 2001 was going to be an exciting day for me. It marked the 20th anniversary of my employment as the Vice President & General Counsel for MWI Corporation in Deerfield Beach and, because of my involvement in securing the passage of the African Growth & Opportunity Act  in 2000, I was honored to receive an invitation to a meeting at the White House for a briefing on the Bush Administration’s African trade policy. That meeting was to take place in the Old Executive Office Building on the west side of the White House grounds in the early afternoon. As I often did, I departed West Palm Beach on the 7 a.m. US Airways flight bound for Reagan National Airport and I was scheduled to return on the evening flight on the same day.

As I walked off the aircraft at Reagan National at 9:03 a.m., I was about to learn that the whole world had just changed. Merle called me to tell me that two planes had just hit the World Trade Center in New York. I quickly walked outside to wait for a cab to go into town. For some reason, that line was much longer than any I had ever encountered at Reagan National. The US Airways terminal is the northernmost terminal at Reagan National and, as I waited in line, facing north, I watched a huge cloud of thick black smoke pass by.

When I finally got into the cab and was headed across the 14th Street bridge into D.C., I turned around and I could see that the Pentagon was on fire. The thickest blackest smoke I had ever seen was rising up from the far side of the Pentagon. That fact had not yet been reported since all eyes were still on New York. I called many of my friends from the cab to report the fire at the Pentagon. Once across the bridge, there was utter and complete chaos. In my entire life, I had never seen Washington like this. Traffic finally came to a grinding halt, and I gave up and decided to just get out and walk to my friend Warren Glick’s office. Cell communication suddenly stopped so it was impossible to get updates on the events of the day. As I walked to Warren’s office, I could hear many people on the street talking about another plane that was supposedly headed to D.C.

There was no television in Warren’s office, so we just sat and talked without really knowing exactly what was happening. We finally decided to look for a place to have lunch, and we learned that most of the restaurants were closing. We finally headed over to the Palm Restaurant, which was nearby and which remained open, and it was there that we had lunch. When we finally exited the restaurant, Washington looked like a veritable ghost town. There was virtually no traffic on Connecticut Avenue. The meeting at the White House had obviously been cancelled and, since all air traffic had been grounded, there was no way that I would be flying back to West Palm Beach that evening. I finally found a cab to take me to the home of my brother Bob in North Arlington.

It was only when I saw the television at Bob’s home that the magnitude of what had happened earlier in the day finally began to sink in. I learned, for the first time, that both twin towers of the World Trade Center had actually collapsed and fallen to the ground, that the Pentagon had been hit by a jumbo jet, and that another jumbo jet had crashed somewhere in Pennsylvania under mysterious circumstances. I sat there dumbfounded and I have often wondered ever since if my fate might have been different if US Airways had flown a jumbo jet from south Florida, where the hijackers had been based, to Reagan National instead of the much smaller Boeing 737.

The next day, Bob drove me to the Pentagon to assess the damage, and we got as close as we could get. It was shocking to see a large section of the Pentagon totally destroyed, and the pungent smell of burning human flesh that still lingered in the air remains with me to this day.

Since all air traffic was still grounded nationwide, I decided to look for a rental car to begin the journey back to Florida. I was lucky to find a car at Hertz, and, for $100, I could head home. I picked the car up on Thursday afternoon, Sept. 13, and I drove as far as South Carolina before I checked into a motel to collapse. I got up very early on the morning of Friday, Sept. 14 to continue my journey to West Palm Beach. While I drove, I listened to the remarks of President Bush at the prayer service at Washington’s National Cathedral, and I was really moved. I think the entire nation was moved by what I felt was his best speech ever.

I finally made it back to West Palm Beach around 4 p.m. on Friday afternoon and Merle picked me up at Hertz and told me that I looked shell-shocked. In retrospect, I guess I was still in the state of shock, and I know that these are four days that I shall never forget. The irony of having been invited to a meeting at the White House on Sept. 11, 2001 is truly amazing.