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The Tampa Tribune

Published: November 20, 2007

How About Other Parks?

Regarding "Safety Trumps Segway At Disney Parks" (Our Opinion, Nov. 13):

Why just Disney? There are other theme parks that don't allow Segways, so why sue Disney? Because it is the most known name? Greed? Yes, that is what I think, greed.

Get over it or make it fair and sue the other theme parks that won't allow Segways.

What is wrong with the electric scooters? People need to get out of the self-proclaimed "oh poor me" attitude and quit tying up the court's time with useless garbage like this.

ELIZABETH SOUHRADA

Clearwater

Safety Is The Issue

One day ticket at Disney World: $71. Average one-night stay at Disney themed hotel: $110. Suing Disney Corporation for lack of Segway support: $0. That is what should be decided by throwing out the case that Disney is discriminating by not letting three people use Segways inside their theme parks.

There are children, multitasking, bag-holding, stroller-pushing parents, free-roaming cast members/vendors and motorized scooters/power wheelchairs. The average walking speed of a human is 3 mph. The top speed of a motorized scooter is 5 to 7 mph. The top speed of a Segway is 12 mph.

The people presenting the suit say that dignity is an issue for not wanting to be in a wheelchair. Would they feel better if they ran over a few people using this device or won a suit that allowed others to?

Safety is the issue at hand and already we know how bad some people can be driving a slower scooter; why would we want a person in a faster object?

DAVID HARDY

Valrico

No Facts, Just A Feeling

It is a shame that the editorial board got suckered into the wrong side of the Segway issue. The key to the issue is even given in the editorial from the American Council of the Blind: "They feel the device is hazardous." Not facts, not reality, just feeling - and from a council that probably would just as soon have all vehicles make "beep-beep" sounds emitting as soon as they are 10 feet from a blind person.

The real reason Disney and others won't allow them is not their supposed lack of safety, but because of lawsuits from idiots who deserved being run over. If a motorized wheelchair accidentally ran over someone's foot, there would not be a cry to banning them from public places, but if someone got bumped by a Segway, lawsuits all over.

ROBERT MALCOM

Tampa

Serve The Public First

Regarding "Join Sink In Largo - And Skip The Tally Trip" (Business, Nov. 12):

The gist of the report is our CFO, Alex Sink, is going to speak at a forum in Largo put on by two local groups and it will cost $25 each to attend. I assume the money will go to the groups involved and will be well spent for the benefit of the local citizens. Since this is the case, I suggest two things should happen.

One, any organization that wants to make money for its cause should be able to schedule our CFO to speak.

Second, for those who cannot afford to pay to hear a public servant speak on affairs of our state, a public forum, held at a state-owned venue, should be made available so that "any citizen of the state" can hear our CFO or any other state public servant speak on affairs that affect us all.

JERRY ASHTON

Land O' Lakes

It's Part Of Our History

Regarding "Civil War Monument Troubles Plant City" (Metro, Nov. 15):

The headline about the civil war monument is misleading. I don't read where anyone but the one black city commissioner has a problem with it.

I am a white Southern male that is proud of my heritage. Anytime anything is mentioned about the Civil War or slavery, all I hear is about the pain these people feel or as Marry Yvette Thomas Mathis said, "her heart is very troubled." I doubt if any of these people were slaves just like I didn't own any slaves.

We have Hispanic Heritage, Black History Month, Martin Luther King parades and no one complains about that. This is the South and the Civil War is part of history whether some people like it or not.

SCOTTY McLENDON

Lutz

Warming Goes Way Back

When I read "What Killed The Dinosaurs?" (Nation/World, Nov. 11), one sentence concerning the end of the Cretaceous period particularly caught my eye: "At the time, sea levels were higher and New Jersey was warmer."

Huh? How did that happen? How did the Earth undergo so much global warming without our help? No SUVs. No coal-fired power plants. Nada.

Must have been all that dinosaur flatulence.

JOHN S.V. WEISS

Spring Hill

Prescription For Trouble

Regarding "Solving The Physician Shortage" (Other Views, Nov. 15):

The article is misleading and inaccurate. The author implies that allowing nurses the prescribing privilege to put more dangerous narcotics into our citizens' hands is a good thing.

Many of the controlled narcotic pain relievers have the same molecular entity as heroin. Heroin was banned in 1924 for medical use and oxycodone and hydrocodone contain the same addictive molecular entity. That opinion exemplifies the lack of knowledge in our medical system about controlled substances.

Addictive drugs should be reserved for use by terminally ill and severe short-term pain situations. If you want your nurse to treat you for those conditions, then I, too, will begin to advocate for the addictive, controlled substances to be at their disposal.

Until then, let's bring some honest articles to the paper to reveal the epidemic of prescription drug misuse that we have in our country.

LARRY GOLBOM

Largo

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