Copyright 2000 Times Publishing Company
St.
Petersburg Times
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April 20, 2000, Thursday, 0 South Pinellas
Edition
SECTION: EDITORIAL; LETTERS; Pg. 15A
LENGTH: 1813 words
HEADLINE:
Hillsborough shouldn't bow to region on water
BODY:
It is easy to become angry about the water situation in Hillsborough
County. For years, our officials have been warned that we are running out of
water. Giving little or no thought as to where the needed resources are going to
come from, they continue to pile development on top of development, even
offering "free" water hookups in some cases to further entice more "growth
and progress."
Now the day has come. There is not enough water, even as
our lakes and wetlands are being drained dry and the lower Hillsborough is no
longer a river, degenerating into a salty backwater all the way up to the dam,
over which no fresh water is allowed to flow. (It has all been appropriated by
the city of Tampa Water Department.)
Now the finger-pointing. At the
public officials who have failed to do their job? No. At the consumers.
The proposed solutions? A desalination plant on the shore of Tampa Bay,
where the briny discharge will further degrade and deteriorate the estuary,
already suffering a slime problem from the lack of fresh water from the
Hillsborough River; and a huge new reservoir to hoard "excess" rainfall
from both the Alafia and Hillsborough rivers, thus preventing such rainfall from
providing needed nourishment for the rivers themselves and the estuary that
depends upon their flow to remain healthy.
The real solutions? First and
foremost, Hillsborough County must regain its sovereignty. Our local officials
have allowed us to be put into a position where others, who bring little or
nothing but their wants to the table, can force upon us decisions for their
benefit and to our detriment. They claim that the aquifer belongs to everybody
and that we should have no control over the water under our feet. Perhaps. But
our lakes and wetlands do belong to us, and we should be under no obligation to
allow them to be pumped dry or to build a desalination plant to keep Pinellas
lawns green. Let Pinellas build its own desalination plant.
It is
interesting to note that, while claiming the aquifer to be a regional resource,
Pinellas buys "wellfields" in Hillsborough and Pasco counties and feels
free to pump water to the extent of destroying nearby lakes and wetlands and
then tries to sue residents who dare to complain.
Desalination? Of
course. But not where it will pose a threat to the environment - certainly not
the Stone & Webster location. We might not even need desalination if we
weren't having to make up Pinellas County shortages. It is time for us to
divorce ourselves from both Pasco and Pinellas counties and start making
decisions to protect the people and resources of Hillsborough.
Perhaps
we should again be looking at turning Old Tampa Bay, above the Courtney Campbell
Parkway, into a freshwater lake. This was proposed some years ago, but the idea
was abandoned when Pinellas County refused to cooperate. Current needs and
circumstances might make them more amenable this time around. It may not be
feasible, but it would certainly be preferable to the "diked" area proposed
to be "built" in southern Hillsborough County - limited in scope, harmful
to our rivers and estuary, and with the ever-present danger of breakage and
flooding.
Sydney K. Potter, Tampa
City Council working on
Bayfront issue
It is a violation of civil and religious rights to
impose Catholic directives on the patients at Bayfront Medical Center, because
they consciously chose a secular hospital, not a Catholic one. The St.
Petersburg City Council has acted responsibly in trying to protect its
citizens' rights.
The St. Petersburg Times has a right to criticize
the City Council as it tries to settle this issue through negotiation and a
lawsuit. However, in several editorials, including the April 2 Rushing the
hospital into court, the Times has named several City Council members and
accused them of using "strident tones." This is not a fair way to argue,
because it criticizes the style of the people with whom the Times disagrees and
not the substance of their positions. It attacks the messenger and not the
message.
In addition, the Times' characterization is not accurate.
When I attended a number of City Council meetings, those members whom the Times
accuses of "strident tones" were only trying to solve the problem as well
as defend the civil rights and health care needs of St. Petersburg citizens.
Ruth Whitney, Ph.D., St. Petersburg
Contract basics were
overlooked
I am in awe over the controversies between the city of St.
Petersburg, Bayfront Medical Center and Baycare Health System.
As senior
citizens, we are constantly warned about not signing any contract before we
fully understand any and all particulars. That seems to be what happened here.
What with all the intelligent people involved, how could this issue be
so involved unless, of course, the money was the most important issue. Let's
learn from this fiasco and save the taxpayers both time and money.
Ruth
Angeli, St. Petersburg
City should divest itself of Bayfront land
I cannot figure out why the St. Petersburg City Council doesn't just
deed the property Bayfront Medical Center sits on so the city won't feel
responsible for everything the hospital does or doesn't do.
Following
that no-brainer task, the council members could get on with the task they were
elected to do: that is, run the city and not feel responsible for decisions that
are none of their business anyhow.
Alan Campbell, St. Petersburg
Pinellas clinic offers AIDS care
Re: AIDS care getting
harder to find, March 14.
The Pinellas Cares Clinic was not mentioned as
a referral for clients in this article and, in fact, clients are being referred
to the Pinellas Cares Clinic and to other physicians in the area. This could
have been an oversight by the author of the article.
The Ryan
White CARE Act was created in 1990 to help states, communities and
families cope with the growing impact of the AIDS epidemic. The program, which
is administered by the U.S. Health and Human Services' Health Resources
Services Administration, supports systems of care for people with AIDS who do
not have adequate health insurance or other resources.
The AIDS epidemic
had created a need for primary medical care that was exceeding the capacity of
local health departments, hospital emergency rooms and other health-care
institutions. Individuals and families affected by HIV/AIDS were struggling to
obtain desperately needed medical care. Ryan White provides support services for
low-income and underinsured or uninsured people living with HIV/AIDS and their
families, preventing hospitalizations and improving the health of those infected
with HIV. Services include health care and support services such as medical and
dental care, prescription drugs, transportation and home hospice.
Historically, the Pinellas County Health Department has provided
patient-care services to the HIV/AIDS community for more than 12 years. In 1997
the Pinellas County Health Department contracted with a local provider to begin
a full-service HIV/AIDS patient-care clinic, the Pinellas Cares Clinic, which is
funded through state general revenue dollars and Ryan White Title I dollars,
along with support from St. Anthony's Hospital. The clinic is contracted to
provide care to 250 eligible clients, and it is currently serving 600 clients.
The Pinellas Cares Clinic uses the HHS treatment guidelines to provide the
highest quality of care for clients in Pinellas County. Our health department
offers access to the AIDS Drug Assistance Program and Ryan White pharmaceutical
services for clients who meet the eligibility requirements.
HIV patients require a significant amount of time during
their visits. Thus, health plans and managed care will need to take into account
higher treatment costs associated with HIV patients.
A Web site to
obtain the latest HHS HIV/AIDS treatment guidelines is www.hivatis.org. If you
do not have access to the Internet, please contact the Pinellas County Health
Department HIV/AIDS Program office. In addition, the Florida AIDS Education and
Training Center can provide HIV/AIDS training and updates for health care
providers.
Lisa Cohen, OMC II, Pinellas County Health Department,
St. Petersburg
There's something about Hillary
Re:
Hillary has what few do: star power, by Bill Maxwell, April 12.
I don't
know what I'd do without my St. Petersburg Times columnists. They are my sole
source of continuous fiction.
Maxwell left out one important fact about
Hillary: She has not yet been indicted!
Robert W. Bryson, Spring Hill
Don't turn away from diversity
Re: Don't cater to social
segregationists, April 8.
I concur with the points made in
this column. A copy should be forwarded to all university presidents throughout
Florida and the country.
One goal of an advanced education is to expose
a person to a
wide variety of life experiences and viewpoints so as to
better prepare him or her for the complexities of the real world.
It is
unreasonable to allow this kind of campus segregation when it is against (I
suspect) the very charter of the schools in which it operates.
I have
lived overseas extensively. In many places you can tell a person's nationality
just by looking at him and listening to his speech. One of the truly impressive
things about Americans is that you cannot tell their nationality by their looks
or speech but mostly by their attitude and beliefs.
Let us celebrate our
diversity and let our children learn to appreciate this as one of our greatest
strengths.
C. Gene McConnell, Treasure Island
A lasting
Holocaust reminder
Those who would deny the Holocaust may think
their mission might become easier once the last survivors have died, but they
are wrong.
A friend of mine had visited Dachau in 1949 and said the
stench of burning flesh hung in the air everywhere. I visited Dachau a
quarter-century later. That smell of burning flesh doesn't hang everywhere, but
one can still smell it in the wind.
The survivors will die, as all of us
will, but the stench of burning flesh will always be given off by those
chimneys.
Charles Farrell, St. Petersburg
A "bon' to pick
with the Times
Your April 16 headline,Louisiana, France still bon amis,
should have read "bons amis."
If you wish to keep your coarse weekly
attacks on France, at least try to pay attention to the grammar.
Jeanine
Beynon, Port Richey
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LOAD-DATE: April 20, 2000
