Gnawing feeling

To the editor:

It kept gnawing at me that something should be different. This was not how it was supposed to be two months later.

On a recent drive down U.S. Highway 192, I noticed how it continues to be a petri dish of humanity – a breeding ground of crime, traffic, broken businesses and decay. An all-out assault on the senses. An eyesore pathway to the happiest place on Earth.

And then I began to wonder, did we not just change the city of Kissimmee motto to include “In God We Trust.” Where was the change that was supposed to be brought about by our voter-approved return to real American values? Where are the verdant fields, the legions of happy residents walking hand-in-hand into the glorious sunrise of our new tomorrow? Where are the clean streets and booming businesses, the gleaming architecture that will make Kissimmee look less like the vacuous remnants of a touristy wasteland and more like a new Athens?

“In God We Trust” was supposed to be our salvation, our one-way ticket to a better life. God would be pleased and all of our problems would be solved. We trust in God, not ourselves, we are not able. It’s implicit in the motto. Throw God a bone, put his name on the sewer covers and all will be right with the world. No fuss, no muss and no effort on our part.

But now I feel betrayed, lied to, given false hope. It seems as if a disingenuous and attention-starved politician began this campaign of deceit, all just to make a name for himself. Nothing has changed and nothing is going to. It is people who make change, not empty mottos emblazoned on city vehicles. To think otherwise is to delude oneself, which is perhaps the American way. It’s not my problem, let someone or something else fix it.

What this boils down to is a waste of time and effort. The intellectually challenged politicians who began this misguided crusade should be run out of office for not focusing on more important matters. This was just pandering, pure and simple.

Grown men and women given the opportunity to lead stood before the people, and with a straight face told us that this was something that needed to be done, for the good of everyone, for the soul of our fair city, that the invocation of words etched into the city motto was just what we needed to bring about change for the better.

This should be a red flag that our civic leaders have no idea what they are doing. Here, pay no attention to the serious problems we face, look at this cute thing we are doing with the city motto. Does everyone feel better now? Our city seems to be run by fools, and we should not be forced to suffer fools.

The thought that placing “God” on stationery and municipal trash trucks was ever going to serve a purpose is ridiculous. Kissimmee is in trouble. It has very little left to offer the world: Streets lined with abandoned motels and boarded-up restaurants, homelessness, meth labs and failing schools. It appears to be a dying city and it’s sad that this is the best we can do to fix it.

J.M. Palmer
Kissimmee

Wrong number

To the editor:

I just received a misrepresenting and annoying phone call on Tuesday, Oct. 5, at 7:55 p.m. from this telephone number: 1-877-717-3765 to my home phone. In my opinion, the gentleman misrepresented himself by claiming he is taking a survey about voting in Osceola County.

His question started out with what are my feelings toward the County Commission district 2 candidate. I do not remember the exact verbiage he used on whether I would vote for the Republican, he did not even mention the Democratic candidate.

The next statements to me were on Osceola County Commission district 4 candidates. His statements about the Democratic candidate were too negative for me to repeat.

Then he asked: How do you feel or how would you feel about Disney endorsing candidates?

He also talked about the governor’s race and U.S. Senate race, realizing this is a Republican survey and not a survey about voting in Osceola County.

I do not know what the plan or intention will be with the information that was and will be obtained by these so-called surveys about voting in Osceola County. In my opinion, this is no survey at all about voting in Osceola County but more about the Republican candidates. I wish they would just be up front about that.

Janice Rector
Kissimmee