Brighter holiday

To the editor:

Osceola County is no different than any other part of the country – except for one thing. It’s where we live. We work here, live here and raise our families here. It’s also a place that’s facing an epidemic that you may not even know exists – homelessness. Just because you don’t see someone sleeping on the streets or in a bus shelter, the economy has driven many families – and children – out of their homes. And for many of these families, the holiday season will be devastating.

Last year, a group of local business people, the Osceola County Business and Taxpayers Association (OCBTA), and some elected officials gathered to give these people a brighter Christmas. They formed a group named Christmas for the Kids, and in just over two weeks, raised enough money through monetary and toy donations to give a Christmas to 1,200 children who had no home. This year, the effort continues, and the goal is to give a proper holiday to 2,500 homeless and needy children.

On Dec. 10, Christmas for the Kids 2010 will take place at Osceola Heritage Park. Working through the School District homeless coordinator and all the school social workers, children have been identified and their families have been invited to take part in this event. Age-appropriate toys, clothing vouchers and food vouchers will be distributed to these families and the holiday spirit will be shared. However, the event will be impossible if the entire community doesn’t play a part. It is for this reason that we ask all of you to help.

If you’d like to make a monetary contribution, you can send a check made payable to the Osceola Council on Aging (700 Generation Point, Kissimmee, FL 34744) and just put Christmas for the Kids in the memo line. No amount is too small. If you’d like to donate toys, a list of drop-off locations is listed below.

Please, as the holiday season quickly approaches, we hope you will all consider doing your part to help these children and families have a Christmas season.

Danny Quinn
Chairman, Christmas for the Kids

Box locations:

All Osceola County fire stations; all city of Kissimmee fire stations; all Osceola County Fairwinds Credit Union branches; all Osceola County Washington Mutual branches; Market Street Gallery, 605 Market St., Celebration; Moe’s Southwest Grill, 19 Blake Blvd., Celebration; AMF Kissimmee Lanes, 4140 W. Vine St., Kissimmee; Barney E. Veal Senior Center, 700 Generation Point, Kissimmee; BVL Community Center, 501 Florida Parkway, Kissimmee; CenterState Bank, Osceola Parkway, Kissimmee; Florida Christian College, 1011 Bill Beck Blvd., Kissimmee; Fun Spot U.S.A., 2850 Florida Plaza Blvd., Kissimmee; Funeraria Y Crematoria Porta Coeli, 2801 E. Osceola Parkway, Kissimmee; Grissom Funeral Home, 803 Emmett St., Kissimmee; Kissimmee/Osceola County Chamber of Commerce, 1425 E. Vine St., Kissimmee; Orange Bowl, 1221 E. Pine St., Kissimmee; Orlando Harley-Davidson South, 5881 W. U.S. Highway 192, Kissimmee; Osceola Center for the Arts, 2411 U.S. Highway 192, Kissimmee; Osceola County Administration Office, 2 Courthouse Square, Kissimmee; Osceola Memory Gardens Funeral Home, 1717 Old Boggy Creek Road, Kissimmee; Osceola Tax Collector’s Office, 2501 E. U.S. Highway 192, Kissimmee; Property Appraisal Office, 2505 E. U.S. Highway 192, Kissimmee; Regions Bank — John Young Branch, 2000 N. John Young Parkway, Kissimmee; Farm Bureau Insurance, 1680 E. U.S. Highway 192, Kissimmee; Edward Jones, 109 E. Monument Ave. Kissimmee; Fisk Funeral Home, 1107 Massachusetts Ave, St. Cloud; Gold’s Gym, 4049 13th St., St. Cloud; Osceola Memory Gardens Funeral Home, 2000 13th St., St. Cloud; Personal Mini Storage, 350 Commerce Center Drive, St. Cloud; St. Cloud Greater Osceola Chamber of Commerce, 1200 New York Ave., St. Cloud; St. Cloud Police Department, 4700 Neptune Road, St. Cloud; First United Methodist Church, 1000 Ohio Ave., St. Cloud; Tractor Supply, 4267 13th St., St. Cloud; and Florida Decorating Centers, Inc., 200 13th St.,

St. Cloud.

You may also check with your local schools to see if they have a donation drop-off box.

Learning process

To the editor:

I wanted to share what we should learn from the 2010 midterm election process:

1. Attack ads work, even if they are blatant lies. Their users believe that if a person sees the same ad at least eight times, they will believe its message, even if the message is a lie. That’s brainwashing.

2. No candidate in Central Florida has come forward to tell the secret money groups to stop the lies against their opponent. Therefore, by their silence, they approve.

3. No Republican non-candidates have stepped forward to condemn the lies used. By their silence, they approve. The same goes for any lies by Democrats.

4. The people of Florida are easily brainwashed. How else could they elect an unindicted felon to be governor. Rick Scott fraudulently took over $10 billion from Medicare and Medicaid. The fine of $1.7 billion was worth it when you figure what he got to keep out of his fraud.

5. The seniors in Florida will “sell” their votes to the highest bidder. They do not look for the truth of a claim about their Social Security or Medicare — they just believe what they are told. This also happened in the 2004 presidential election.

6. The secret group “60 Plus” ran the most egregious lying ads. We still don’t know who they are.

7. No one who has benefited from the outsiders buying attack ads to influence the Florida election has stepped forward to condemn the use of outside millions from secret sources.

8. The Chamber of Commerce, a special interest group, has become part of the Republican Party. That chamber has participated more than any other private group in outsourcing our jobs overseas. We have lost more jobs to outsourcing than to the economic bust. Plus, we now know that those who outsource jobs get tax breaks to move our jobs overseas. They excuse their anti-American behavior by saying they have to pay too much to Americans.

9. The Chamber of Commerce was responsible for vicious and incorrect attack ads. No candidate who wins because of the money the chamber used in those ads will ever vote against a chamber issue. Their votes are now “bought.” If they don’t toe the chamber line, they face those nasty attack ads. Winning has become more important than ethics.

This list could go on, but it won't help us. Everyone I know, from any party, was aghast at the ruling in the Citizens United case that made a corporation a person when giving millions to political parties or candidates is involved. Now, where are all those people who thought that ruling was absurd? They are enjoying the result of the lies in those secretly funded attack ads. Next, the present Supreme Court will rule that a corporation, as a person, can vote.

I have heard, read or seen all the above and I fear for our democracy. Can’t we all, as Americans, let candidates know that we won’t vote for anyone who accepts attack ads from special interest or stealth groups? Can’t we expect civil discourse on issues and not just slogans and lies? Don’t we deserve better? Or is the old Doonesbury cartoon correct: “We have met the enemy, and he is us.”

May the winners and losers come together for civil discourse.

Nancy Smith
Kissimmee

Worthless

To the editor:

Florida has 67 counties and all had an election last week. Osceola won the prize as to which county could prove to all mankind that two-third of its citizens were nothing but pure trash.

We voted at the worst rate in the entire state. We have about 150,000 registered voters and just a little over 55,000 bothered to vote. There is not a single valid reason why people won’t vote except the fact they are dead, and even that didn’t keep about 20,000 Chicagoans from making JFK president.

About 100,000 of us didn’t even care that our sales tax might have gone up to 8 percent, the highest in the state. I say great, let’s raise it to 20 percent. Maybe all you worthless trash will vote then. What on Earth do you tell your kids why you are such lazy slobs when it comes to civic duty? The worst consequence of all this patriotic sloth is that they will become as worthless citizens as you.

Charles B. Tiffany
Kissimmee