Keeping rodeo tradition alive
Dear Editor: Your article about the Silver Spurs Club (Quadrille team) going to California made me cry this morning. Yes, I’m a sentimental 70 year old.
My parents started coming to Kissimmee in 1953 after I was born to help support the first group of Jehovah’s Witnesses before my Dad helped build the first Kingdom Hall in 1955. The Silver Spurs’ article brings back a lot of memories as I grew up. Yes, we had a cow and some chickens on our home property here off Michigan Avenue all those years ago when it was ‘rural’ Kissimmee.
I grew up with lots of kids who came from the ranching families and they were the most wellbehaved kids I ever knew. They, as adults now, have never changed and are still the best of Osceola County.
Thank you to the News-Gazette for keeping the tradition alive for us all.
Sherry Clay Marcoe
Kissimmee
Quest for alternate Poinciana toll route
Dear Editor: Saturday, young and old attended a meeting to learn about perhaps the biggest lifestyle change proposed for Poinciana. Some came believing that any road is better than no road when it comes to relieving traffic on Cypress Parkway and the feeder streets along the way. Most left understanding that a smartly located, easily accessed, less destructive route between I-4 and the Florida Turnpike was more desirable than what’s planned. Over 100 signatures were added to our Title VI Civil Rights complaint.
They learned first hand that the volunteers from Solivita are not sitting at home waiting for traffic commuters to clear out before they venture out. Like all most all residents, the volunteers also face the early morning rush to get to jobs, appointments, therapy, infusion and confusion. These volunteers are fighting for the future of Poinciana’s center. They heard our pledge to never stop fighting for the roads and infrastructure that were planned for this community but never funded. The Southport Connector is just the first in the battle for a better Poinciana.
Attendees, like the father who drives from Village 1 to Orlando each day, pledged to bring their neighbors together for another presentation, another woman said she will ask her Pastor to let SCAR present to their Spanish congregation, and an excited, animated, talented young Latina went on social media encouraged others to join her in local neighborhood meetings.
This was a huge success in our quest to see an alternative route chosen. More such gatherings will follow.
Bill Dalton
Poinciana
Director, Community Outreach, Southport Connector Alternative Routes (SCAR)
Leave animals alone
Dear Editor:
Regarding the story “50% discounts for Florida park passes and FWC hunting and fishing licenses” (Oct. 14), cutting the cost of state park passes as part of Florida’s Great Outdoors Initiative is a fantastic incentive in getting people outside — to experience the state’s extraordinary natural resources. However, rather than a discount on fishing licenses, a better plan would be to eliminate fishing.
Fish are every bit as complex as the dogs and cats who share our homes. They form emotional attachments and become depressed when they lose their mates. They can count and tell time, think ahead, and “talk” to one another.
They also feel pain. Culum Brown, a Macquarie University biologist studying the evolution of cognition in fish, argues that “it would be impossible for fish to survive as the cognitively and behaviorally complex animals they are without a capacity to feel pain.”
There are so many ways to enjoy Florida’s extraordinary waterways, parks, and other natural resources. Choose your own adventure. But leave animals alone.
Scott Miller
The PETA Foundation
Norfolk, Va.
Meat industry more scary than zombies
Dear Editor:
I had no fear of zombies, witches, or evil clowns lurking on Halloween. What really scares me is the meat industry.
This is the same industry that deprives, mutilates, cages, then butchers billions of cows, pigs, turkeys, chickens — animals who feel joy, affection, sadness, and pain, as we do … that exposes undocumented workers to chronic workplace injuries at below living wage and exploits farmers and ranchers by dictating market prices.
The industry that contributes more to our epidemic of diabetes, heart disease, stroke, and cancer than any other, then bullies health authorities to remove health warnings from dietary guidelines … an industry that sanctions world hunger by feeding nutritious corn and soybeans to animals, instead of people … the industry that generates more water pollution than all other human activities, that spews more greenhouse gasses than all transportation, that destroys more wildlife habitats than all other industries.
Fortunately, my local supermarket offers a wide variety of plant-based meats, milks, cheeses, and ice creams, as well as a colorful array of fresh fruits and vegetables. And sales of plant-based foods are growing each year. Nothing here to fear.
Earl Prake
Kissimmee
