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The Tampa Tribune

Published: December 7, 2007

Parents' Responsibility

Regarding "Depressed Man Kills 8, Self At Omaha Mall" (front page, Dec. 6):

The fact that the law allows parents to summarily evict their children out of their homes - at age 18 - needs to be re-examined. It's not like they could go to the woods and build a cabin.

It's not uncommon for single parents to choose new partners and begin campaigns to purge their adolescent children out of their lives.

Whatever the reasons, the fact is a solitary person cannot be expected to find food, shelter and clothing on minimum wage. Don't forget the first month, last month and security deposit and the two to four weeks' wait for a first paycheck. God forbid you have a police record.

Hearing gunshots where there were none before sends me a clear message. The voting age needs to be lowered to 16. Issues are not being heard.

DANIEL P. QUINN

St. Petersburg

A New Jobs Program

The mall shooting in Nebraska was a tragic shock. I believe there needs to be a stronger safety net for disaffected and unskilled youth in this country.

According to MSNBC online, "40 percent of the nearly 115 million households in the U.S. earned less than $36,000 a year." That's a scary statistic. It means that there are too many relatively unskilled households in America and almost half of U.S. households don't make enough to live comfortably.

New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman explained one way up and out for unskilled youth by introducing Van Jones. Jones, a black social activist from California and a Yale Law School grad, is also an environmentalist. He wants a "greener" America and wants the underprivileged and unskilled to benefit from going green by being involved in green building and retrofitting construction projects, thus acquiring valuable, cutting-edge construction skills and helping the environment, too.

Let's face it, many American manufacturing and other blue-collar jobs have left this country to the detriment of our lower and middle class. Many unskilled lower-to-middle class youths that would benefit from these blue-collar jobs now have nowhere to turn. Sending manufacturing jobs overseas has incredibly super-powered China and India, but has done nothing for our own lower and middle classes.

A new Civilian Conservation Corps or green building corps would offer skills, camaraderie, motivation and a way out.

ANDREW PATTERSON

Venice

Kids Behaving Badly

Regarding "States Rethinking Sending Youths To Adult Courts" (Nation/World, Dec. 2):

The problem with the entire system is the lack of separation of different types of criminals. As per a case just reported in West Palm Beach, some "kids" have already made a decision to do horrific things and deserve to be sent to an adult prison, but to completely take away this option will only create more problems.

The best solution would be to stop housing petty thieves and murderers in the same building, because the simple thief that may have a chance to turn around is the one who's going to come out with a much different mentality than he went in with.

JAMES JONES

Tampa

Where Is The ACLU?

Regarding "'Stop-Loss' Measure" (Letters, Dec. 4):

A young man enlisted in the Army for four years, served in Iraq and completed his four years, but instead of letting him out, the Army has chosen to keep him on active duty and send him back to Iraq for 15 months. How can this be?

Isn't an enlistment a contract that has term limits? Shouldn't it be honored unless, of course, the United States is under attack? Where is the American Civil Liberties Union? If anything is unfair and violates a legal contract, this is.

If the Army can't fill its requirements with enlistees, the draft should be reinstated rather than requiring the enlistees to stay on after their enlistment is up. However, I guess our politicians have become so corrupt and so afraid to lose their plush jobs that they do not dare do the honorable thing and reinstate the draft rather than requiring the same troops to be sent back to combat zones time and time again.

Come on, ACLU, get off your butts and do something worthwhile for a change and stop the unfairness of the "Stop-Loss" program.

ED RACIBORSKI

Tampa

Long-Range Plan Needed

Regarding "Meter Removal Will Help Ybor" (Letters, Dec. 3):

All due respect to our good friend and neighbor JT Crowder, but the simplistic solution of removing the meters in Ybor will not solve parking woes there. Here's why.

We know from past experience that when the meters are not being enforced - same as them not being there - that the people who work in Ybor compete for the best spaces early in the morning and then leave their cars in them all day long. That leaves no place for lunchgoers or cigar store patrons or any of the other retail shoppers to park.

What is needed is a meaningful dialogue with all the parties to work out the nuances of a comprehensive parking plan where all the parties involved will win because, as Crowder correctly points out, what we have now is not very good for Ybor or its patrons.

ERIC SCHILLER

Tampa

He'll Still Take Tampa

Regarding "Tampa Rated Least Walkable" (Metro, Dec. 5):

With Detroit ranked 18th in the country, I wouldn't be too concerned about this report.

Frankly, a stroll on Bayshore Boulevard beats a walk on Woodward Avenue or on Cass Avenue in downtown Detroit any day of the year.

JIM NELSON

Tampa

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