Copyright 1999 Times Publishing Company
St.
Petersburg Times
November 27, 1999, Saturday, 0 South Pinellas
Edition
SECTION: EDITORIAL; LETTERS; Pg. 21A
LENGTH: 1721 words
HEADLINE:
Attack on 'tort reform' hit the nail on the head
BODY:
Re: Don't be misled by distortions of
litigation reform.
The Nov. 19 letter from John
Thrasher, speaker of the Florida House of Representatives, was an indication of
achievement and not an indictment of your columnist Martin Dyckman. In light of
the many misrepresentations presented to the public to protect the powerful
special interests and corporations these days, we should all appreciate
Dyckman's willingness to take the moral high ground and "tell it like it is."
To get that kind of backlash, Dyckman had to have hit the proverbial
"nail on the head." He has enlightened his readers to the irony that the
new "tort reform" law has first affected the wealthy and well known instead
of the common and unknown. Though we as Floridians suffer from failure to
educate ourselves about the goings-on in our Legislature, we are not as dumb as
Thrasher believes. Our rights to compensation for injury and death were taken
away on the day the Legislature, led by Thrasher, voted to let the affluent
airline industry off when a defective airplane crashes.
Thrasher says
that "Dyckman apparently favors imposing perpetual liability upon product
manufacturers." Yes. Yes. Yes. We certainly hope so. To make manufacturers
of products, including airplanes, accountable so that the products do not kill
or injure people was a just and fair law. It was a law promulgated to protect
the people.
Thrasher excuses the trashing of the rights of Floridians to
be compensated for the death of their loved ones as "the devastating impact of
perpetual liability on innovation" and compares a family member's right to
sue for damages to a "legal lottery." Then he tells us that the people of
Florida should "get the facts from a neutral and reliable source." Is this
alert to the public not to be "misled by distortions of litigation
reform" neutral and reliable?
Perhaps we should all be reading
Dyckman's column more carefully. If understanding is the first step to taking
action to protect ourselves and our state, we are fortunate to have such a
skilled and devoted writer in our midst.
Suzanne H. Suarez, attorney at
law, Tampa
Charter school would enhance system
Re:
Charter school plans find opposition, Nov. 20.
It is unfortunate that
Enrique Escarraz, lead attorney for the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, has not had
the opportunity to read the charter plans that have been submitted, specifically
the plan of HCL Institute Inc. If he had, he would find that innovative and
exemplary education is what is proposed. By no means does it "attack the concept
of a unitary school system," but rather enhances and encourages a stronger
public school system.
If he had read the HCLI plan, he would have found
on page 11 in the section for school governance our plan to meet and comply with
all regulations, old and new alike: ". . . the board of directors of HCLI and
the Pinellas County School District, members of both boards will meet to try to
reach a compromise. Because the Charter School Statute allows for the
modification of the charter in its initial term or in any renewal term upon
approval of both parties, we are confident that as concerns over the needs of
our students arise, we will meet these challenges as opportunities for
improvement and modify the charter in the student's best interest." This
passage was included to ensure compliance with all regulations, even those not
established yet. And since desegregation is a state law, specific reference to a
given statute seemed moot.
HCLI is not asking for or seeking a waiver of
this law. HCLI's plan simply is personalized education for all students,
especially those who are potential dropouts and dropouts who wish to "drop
in." The concept of personalized education offers all who participate a
unique experience in education. It reaches all learning styles and disabilities,
personalities and cultures, all students who want to learn. That is the only
prerequisite: to want to learn. With cooperation from the student, family unit
and community, success in education is ensured.
HCLI plans to open with
150 students in August 2000. We are the only true "high school" proposed.
HCLI extends an invitation to Enrique Escarraz and the NAACP Legal
Defense Fund to visit us and open a dialogue with us about the real issues we
are all interested in: educational opportunities for all students and highest
student achievement.
Floyd A. Hickok, president and CEO;
Donna
M. Bryan, director and executive vice president;
and Theresa M. Withall,
vice president of operations,
HCL Institute Inc., St. Petersburg
Uhuru charter school deserves support
The Uhuru charter school
will be a progressive step for the city of St. Petersburg once it is implemented
because it will be the only school of its kind that will teach African children
their true history and culture as well as educating them on the subjects where
the public school system has been failing them. This should be held up by
everyone, both in the African community and in the white community as an example
to the rest of the country on what can be done to help bring about self-reliance
and self-determination in the African community. The Uhuru Shule (school) as it
exists now, as a tutoring program, is having an incredible impact teaching
African children math and English above their grade level, giving children
access to computers at the Uhuru computer lab, teaching them African culture and
history and doing what the public school system has not done for the African
children. It is educating African children.
The question I have is: Why
doesn't Garnell Jenkins, president of the NAACP's St. Petersburg branch, want to
see a school that directly benefits the African working-class children? For that
matter, why would St. Petersburg City Council member Bea Griswold be against an
Uhuru charter school and go so far as to attack the supporters of this
progressive endeavor? The answers are as clear to me as they should be to
others. Bea Griswold and Garnell Jenkins do not have an interest in making sure
that African children are educated.
Jenkins is clearly scared of losing
her position of "leadership" in the African community. Supporting the Uhuru
charter school would mean admitting that the Uhuru movement and not the St.
Petersburg NAACP under Jenkins' leadership is the true voice and leadership
of the African working class.
As for Bea Griswold, she is completely
against the African community gaining any sort of self-determination or
self-reliance, preferring instead to keep the African community in poverty and
making sure its members have no access to a quality education.
The Uhuru
charter school will set a new standard for education of African children. It
will be a school controlled by the African working class community, and will be
a role model of progress for African people throughout the country. Let's
move forward and support the Uhuru charter school.
Jeremy Bornstein, St.
Petersburg
A hospital gone wrong
Re: BayCare's leaders take in $
2-million, Nov. 18.
Speaking as a physician who was associate director
of the laboratory at Bayfront Medical Center from 1971 until 1982, I am appalled
by the hospital's decision to deny health benefits to those professionals who
gave so much to make Bayfront a premier health facility in the bay area.
Those devoted individuals, many of whom I knew personally, worked long,
stress-filled hours, not for glory, not for hundreds of thousands of dollars a
year and not only for the sake of the institution, but for you, your parents,
your grandparents, the people of St. Petersburg. Yes, they devoted their lives
to the patients, who have become lost in today's corporate medical world when
executive salaries must be met at all costs - even if this means sacrificing the
elderly and infirm nurses who gave their all to the institution and the
community. They, too, must fall before that great mowing machine, greed!
At one time I was proud to say that I had been affiliated with Bayfront
Medical Center. Looking at the recent actions of the administrative officers, I
am ashamed.
J.D. Phillips M.D., Inverness
Democracy is no
cure-all
Re: Trading with China, Nov. 20.
It is refreshing to
read the column by David Ignatius (New agreement a winner for world) on the new
trade agreement with China as opposed to the accompanying one by Jim Mann
(Democracy's not part of the deal). Ignatius is pragmatic, realistic and forward
looking. By contrast, Mann falls into the ideological dogmatism of the Cold War
and of all those other "rights nutsies."
I am nauseated about all that
morbid preoccupation about democracy in China: Is democracy good without
economic freedom? Look at India, the world's largest democracy. Democracy did
not improve the life of the average individual, nor did it abolish the medieval
caste system. If China were to suddenly "democratize" the way Russia did,
it would be a total disaster for all the Chinese people.
Democracy is an
evolving process that requires time and takes on different forms.
Andre
Afourkeeff, Spring Hill
Picking on George Bush
Re:
"Tutored" Bush faces foreign policy exam,
Nov. 19.
Are we to believe this item of news required a front-page
headline?
I'm quite certain that all the presidential contenders have a
great many advisers (or "tutors"). Even Clinton may have a few (dozen).
This article almost sounds like the beginning of a sly, liberal media
campaign to discredit George W. Bush in the eyes of voters.
B.A. Whalen,
Dunedin
Stumbling on geography
Re: Bosnia prepares as
president's health fails,
Nov. 25.
Franjo Tudjman is the
president of Croatia not Bosnia as suggested in the headline.
I assume
this means that you will no longer write about the geographic knowledge of
George W. Bush. He speaks off the cuff. You had the AP dateline from Croatia as
a clue.
Richard Culver, Madeira Beach
Share your opinions
Letters for publication should be addressed to Letters to the Editor,
P.O. Box 1121, St. Petersburg, FL 33731. They can be sent by e-mail to
letters@sptimes.com or by fax to 893-8675.
They should be brief and must
include the writer's name, address and phone number. Please include a
handwritten signature when possible.
Letters may be edited for clarity,
taste and length.
GRAPHIC: BLACK AND WHITE
CARTOON, Don Addis; Two reindeer wait outside the "Nordic Club". Signs on the
building read "Midnight Sun Lounge" and "Lapp Dancing".
LOAD-DATE: November 27, 1999 
