Lower those fees
To the editor:
Having lived in the city of St. Cloud for over a year I feel it’s time to express myself.
The cost of everything has our attention these days. One thing we have made an effort to establish in our home is energy savings. The electric consumption is a little easier to control than the water. We have had readings low enough that the electric bills for the month have been in the $40 and $50 range. As for the water consumption, it has been a challenge. First, we put quart-size bottles in the toilet tanks to save on flush refills. We added an energy-saving, front-load washing machine. We added to that a rain barrel for hand watering plants, scrubbing floors and washing cars etc. The fee charges seem to be the biggest problem.
First, there are the costs for meters (we have two) then there is sewer, stormwater, garbage, emergency medical and utility tax. I have resided in a lot of different cities, counties and states. This is the first area that attached these fees to the utility bills, which we believe makes for higher fee charges. Most areas add these fees to property tax bills. Having to face the property tax every year is no picnic for the property owners or you. But it is a one-time fee, not a gasp and slap in the face every month. People in the community have had to tighten their belts and do without. There are some without jobs for months, some have exhausted their unemployment, those living on fixed incomes and those dipping into 401 savings.
We do not expect anything for free but are more than willing to make the effort to do our share. We think it’s time for those who set the fees to look into lowering them to a more reasonable level. How many times do we have to pay for the water meters? This is a subject that needs your attention. Now would be a good time to start.
Carol Smith
St. Cloud

Lazy and stupid
To the editor:
Once again, 66 percent of us can prove we are black, Latin or white trash.
By weight of numbers, we could be an electoral force that would give us a chance to have better schools and more government spending helping our 15 percent of unemployed.
Since most of us are lazy, stupid and selfish losers, we let our betters in Winter Park who vote at twice our rate, get political goldmines while we get the shaft.
We will get a man who took the Fifth Amendment 76 times before a federal grand jury and forced his company to pay a multi-billion-dollar fine, or an arrogant vote panderer who actually told people he was against victims of incest being allowed the morning after pill or an abortion. These jerks will be forced on us because we won’t get off our rear-ends and vote.
To add insult to injury, we will also get a man who used his position as a Republican hot shot to live it up. He is a Miami politico of Cuban descent, who would turn Osceola County into a toxic waste dump if he had the chance. Most of you reading this are not members of the lazy pack. Make copies of this letter and post it up all over town; even translate it into Spanish.
See you at the polls, fanatics.
Charles B. Tiffany
Kissimmee

Animal suffering
To the editor:
Oct. 2 marked the 28th annual observance of World Farm Animals Day, dedicated to exposing and mourning the suffering and death of 58 billion land animals in factory farms and slaughterhouses.
There have been undercover investigations showing male chicks suffocated in plastic garbage bags or ground to death, their female counterparts crammed together in tiny wire-mesh cages, pigs clobbered by metal pipes and killed by hanging and assorted farm animals skinned and dismembered at the slaughterhouse while still conscious.
Studies have linked consumption of animal products with elevated risks for heart disease, stroke, cancer, diabetes and other chronic killer diseases. A 2007 United Nations report blames meat production for 18 percent of greenhouse gases, and the animal waste "dead zone" in the Gulf of Mexico is actually larger than the BP oil spill.
We’re certainly much more aware of the devastating impacts of animal agriculture — on animals, the earth and humans — than we were 28 years ago. Let’s acknowledge all the suffering, disease and destruction connected with animal agriculture and adopt a plant-based diet.
It would do a world of good.
Tony Wells
Kissimmee