Pine Hills gets its voice: Go vote!
The residents of Pine Hills celebrate our new District 7. After years of separation along Silver Star Road into districts 2 and 6, we had little voice in decision-making on the Orange County Commission. District 6 included International Drive and District 2 included Apopka, Pine Hills was that strip of land connecting the two, nothing more. We now, as one entity, may have some clout.
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What we need is strong leadership, with Pine Hills interests a priority. To accomplish this you have to vote. There is nothing more powerful than an informed voter when they exercise their right to vote. Two candidates I feel worthy of my support are Patricia Rumph (County Commissioner district 7) and Mayra Uribe (Orange County mayor). But no matter your choice, just get out and vote. The future of Pine Hills depends on it. A young voter asked by a reporter “Why did you vote?”, replied “My mother told me to.” Consider me your mother: go vote!
— Joan Ricketts, Orlando
Vote for work education
When soldiers came home from World War II, they faced an uncertain economy and dim job prospects, something a lot of young people would recognize all too well.
What changed their fortunes was a bipartisan promise: the GI Bill. Among its provisions was the right to attend college or vocational school at little to no cost. Entire generations gained the skills to fulfill their potential, and in doing so powered the greatest stretch of prosperity this country has ever known.
I know because it changed my own family. My father used the GI Bill after Vietnam to put himself through school, and that education carried him all the way to a professorship in economics and statistics at UCF and to a life here in Central Florida. Without that bill, our family’s story, and our place in this community, would look very different.
Today’s young people aren’t offered the same deal. Despite working hard, they take on massive debt for the education and training they need and current programs too often leave vocational school out entirely. At a time when AI and rising energy prices are pushing youth unemployment higher, that is a crime against our future.
Marialana Kinter, a Democrat running for U.S. House in District 7, has proposed universal free support for both college and vocational programs — filling a gap that current aid leaves wide open. As my father the economist would tell you, few investments pay back a community like an educated, employable young workforce.
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So on Aug. 18, let’s honor our past and fight for our future. Vote for candidates like Marialana who believe in college and trade school for all.
— Stephen Braun, Casselberry
We must value our protectors
I wholeheartedly agree with the position that the sight of armed troops is a blight on our nation’s capital when there seems no reason for their deployment (“Washington still grapples with Guard,” Aug. 12). Well, no reason other than one man’s fever-dream about rampant crime when, demonstrably, there is little.
But what about the citizen soldiers who are being dragged out of their civilian jobs, some out of their homes in other states and away from their families? Many patriotic employers subsidize the Guard members’ active-duty pay to assure that they will not be economically destroyed during their service. Purportedly, they should not suffer loss of seniority as a result of their service time away or loss of other non-financial “earnings” (e.g., training, on-the-job experience) and other factors that contribute to their advancement in their civilian careers.
We owe a huge debt to these individuals who already make a sacrifice to be ready to serve us in so many sudden and serious demands such as natural disasters. Why should they be penalized for the sake of politics? Can we get any yard signs saying, “Free the troops?”
— William E. “Bill” Thompson, Apopka
MAGA’s ‘magical’ ride
Ed Dean nailed it with his letter of sarcastic praise for President Trump’s term in office (“Higher prices? Measles? Sign me up,” Aug. 14). Trump, MAGA and his crew have obviously gotten this “ship of state” on the proper course, smooth sailing now and ahead. They’re doing a marvelous job, no question about it. Things are going so well now I don’t know how we can stand it. Of course the answer is to elect more Trump sycophants and continue MAGA’s magical ride… let’s keep it going!
— Tom Erickson, Orlando
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