July 17 Letters to the Editor

Death Row
Our governor is staged to sign orders to execute five who are on death row. If he were to sign five each day, five days per week, in only about 17 weeks the backlog could be eliminated.
There is a down side to this, however. There is perhaps one chance in a thousand that an innocent person would be executed. Absolutely nothing done by human beings is perfect, only degrees of perfection.
The plus side is that criminals will learn that Florida is no longer using natural death as its nearly universal method of execution and is now using lethal injection as the method of executing those who have been sentenced to the death penalty.
Since most murderers are craven cowards, think of the thousands of innocent people whose lives would be saved.
One last notation: We would need to change our philosophy from, "Protect the guilty at any cost to the innocent." to "Protect the innocent at any cost to the guilty."
Jim Rahenkamp
Avon Park

Wasted Fresh Water
Over 4,000 years ago, the Romans built aquaducts to supply the city of Rome with fresh water.
Are you trying to tell me that in this modern day and age of modern technology, we can't build underground water ducts to supply our cities and other dry areas with fresh water?
Billions of gallons of fresh water from the Mississippi River are being wasted and dumped into the Gulf of Mexico every day. Millions of gallons of fresh water from Silver Springs and other underground rivers and springs are being wasted and dumped into the Atlantic and Pacific oceans.
We have millions of gallons of fresh water from the Colorado River and many other rivers being wasted and dumped into oceans throughout America.
Are you trying to tell me that we don't have the intelligence to build underground aqua ducts to use these billions of gallons of fresh water that are being wasted every day?
Yet, we can spend hundreds of billions of dollars every year on wars that we should never have gotten involved in, in the first place.
Don H. Streeter
Sebring

Enough Is Enough
This is directed to the newspaper editors of America, the TV news directors and to the talk show hosts, including Rush, Hannity and Savage: Enough of Obama-McCain. Give us, the American people, some relief. Suspend coverage until after the conventions or better yet, until after Labor Day.
We are so tired of this presidential race that started so long, long ago. What a waste of space and time. Voters have already made up their minds except for a few who will decide in the closing days.
There are so many interesting things going on in our nation and world. Tell us something we can sink our teeth (and our minds) into.
Bob Hummel
Sebring

Public Transportation
I am writing about the Fourth of July activities in Sebring. First, let it be known that I do not drive and therefore am unable to get to downtown to see the musical at the Little Theatre. I heard it was quite nice.
Since I live on the west side of U.S. 27, there is also no way to get across to shop. Yes, there is a light at Thunderbird and U.S. 27, but it doesn't last long enough.
I used to live in Broward County where there are city buses so I was able to do things. The only suggestion I have would be to build an overpass so I and others could get over and maybe on special occasions take a little bus?
As I said, I would like to be able to get to the library and, if necessary, to the courthouse and the theater when the occasion arises. I live in an adult community for 55 and over, and a lot of us are that. I see people driving that shouldn't be driving, because of lack of transportation.
Marion Wrigley
Sebring

Apology Wanted
Sheriff Susan Benton stated in an article that was printed in the (July 8 edition of) Highlands Today newspaper that it was not her deputy sheriff-bailiff's responsibility to apologize to me for the embarrassment and humiliation that I suffered in the courtroom. Maybe, Sheriff Benton needs a refresher course in training.
As a child growing up, my parents taught me to apologize to the person that I had wronged, and then I was disciplined. The deputy sheriff-bailiff was wrong and got away with it, and that's not justice.
As a man I strive to be professional no matter what the task may be, but if I may make a mistake, the county sheriff would definitely make me pay for it. What makes Sheriff Susan Benton's deputy sheriff-bailiff so different?
Wellington E. Clarke Jr.
Sebring

EDITOR'S NOTE: In the story, Sheriff Susan Benton said that she or Maj. Mark Schrader should apologize on the bailiffs' behalf, implying that they should do so since they head the department. Clarke acknowledged to Highlands Today that he has received a written apology from Capt. Jeff Barfield, of the sheriff's office.