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The Tampa Tribune

Published: July 23, 2008

Flight Meets Tragic Fate
Regarding "Small-Plane Crash Kills 3" (front page, July 18):

This tragedy reminds me of a bestselling novel, "Fate Is The Hunter," by Ernest T. Gann, a commercial, military pilot-author. A paperback version should be in the flight bags of active aviators.My heartfelt condolences go out to the families of this experienced aviator and his two passengers.

Eventually, the Federal Aviation Administration and other regulatory organizations will sort things out and determine the cause or causes of this crash on take off. In any event, "Fate Is The Hunter" says it all!

I remember Vandenberg Airport well, having taken flying lessons there, in a Cessna 152, an aircraft which was pilot friendly, many years ago.

Back then, there was one runway parallel to a canal which made it easy to line up for take offs and landings.

JOSEPH P. CORELL

Clearwater

Tenant Needs To Go

Regarding "Time To End Free Ride For Freeloading THA Commissioner" (Our Opinion, July 18):

Karen Peoples has got to go. And when I say "go," I am referring to her position as commissioner on the Tampa Housing Authority and her residency in a Tampa Housing Authority property.

She has been cited for nonpayment of rent, failed a housing inspection, failed to notify authorities that multiple co-residents no longer reside in her apartment and, on more than one occasion, did not cooperate in moving to a one-bedroom apartment which is required since she is currently the sole resident of her apartment. All these infractions indicate that she is a deadbeat who no longer deserves to live in a subsidized apartment where she has paid as little as $26 a month rent.

The fact that she is well-versed in the policies of the authority and exploits them to her advantage makes those of us who pay market rate in our apartments and homes resent programs that do not enforce the rules. The Tampa Housing Authority should get a backbone and dump this leach so that the four-bedroom apartment can be used by someone who really needs it.

SANDY LOUGHRIE

Tampa

Dollars More Desirable

Regarding "World Prefers English" (Letters, July 18):

The letter writer is sorely mistaken if he thinks the world prefers English. What the world preferred is actually the "Yankee dollar." Most people in foreign countries, in the past, learned just enough English to do business with the almighty American dollar. Now that the dollar's power has been supplanted by the Euro, the yen and many other currencies, the desire to learn English has fallen to a sharp degree.

The dollar can no longer command English-speaking business partners. I will agree that Spanish is not the only language to be learned as a second language. Japanese, Chinese, Arabic and Portuguese come quickly to mind. Any person, especially children, educated in a second language will benefit tremendously as we become world citizens in the 21st century.

LAURIE RUHL

Tampa

Still The Place To Be

Regarding "No Longer No. 1" (Letters, July 18):

I wonder what Web site this letter writer patronizes on her computer

My left knee was replaced by a doctor from India. My wife's cardiologist, heart surgeon, and our family physician, for the last 14 years, are all Pakistani.

The last time I filled my gas tank at a service station, the gentleman who waited on me looked like he was from Saudi Arabia. At the last convenience store I shopped at, the female looked like she was from Iraq. The boatloads of people who risk their lives in flotillas from Cuba add to our culture. Hispanics care for my yard.

We are No. 1. Why else would all of these people from all of these foreign lands choose to come here and risk the unknown.

During the last tsunami, who was the first nation to supply aid? When an earthquake occurs anywhere in the world, who is the first nation to supply aid? People every day try to sneak into America. Why?

Do we have problems in our great nation? Yes! Have we always had problems? Yes. Do we work to solve them? Yes!

JOE FRANK

Sun City Center

What's For Sale Next?

I have been reading about the pending sale of Anheuser-Busch to the foreign beer company, which does not need to be named. I am appalled, upset and very irate. How much is enough money?

If the sale goes through, I will not renew my Busch Gardens Senior Pass. I will finish my last Michelob Light 12-pack and will not purchase any more Anheuser-Busch products. A-B "was" an American icon and I cannot support selling out to the highest bidder.

So what is next for sale? Disney? The White House? Grandma's apple pie? I think true Americans should boycott A-B products. How about it America? Are you with me?

JIM KROT

Palm Harbor

Warming Is Cyclical

In his July 18 column, Michael Gerson cautions about global warming, neglecting to mention that 90 percent of the threat comes from Mother Nature. Like most worry warts on climate change, Gerson won't admit that global warming is cyclical.

Writing from the Svalbard Archipelago, deep inside the Arctic Circle, Gerson warns of receding glaciers but fails to note that these very same glaciers churn out thousands of fossils that bear testimony that the high Arctic was subtropical a million years ago. It may be headed that way again. The fossils, some of which I have in Brooksville, are imprinted with remaining traces of plant life such as ferns and shellfish that once thrived in the region.

The real threat to arctic conditions and wildlife are the plastics - shopping bags and soft drink bottles - that drift ashore on Svalbard from the U.K., Germany and Norway.

JOHN HERBERT

Brooksville

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