SPD must stop leaking Ziegler info
While I am as guilty as everyone else of devouring “The Swinging Zieglers” story, one part of it that should concern everyone is the continued leaking of information from an active investigation.
Victims are rightly protected with anonymity, but alleged perpetrators are identified. That has always struck me as unjust, at least until charges are actually filed.
However, in the ongoing investigation involving Florida Republican Party Chairman Christian Ziegler, it is apparent that sources within the Sarasota Police Department are leaking information to an outlet almost daily.
While it may all be very interesting, it also does tend to prejudice public opinion about an ongoing case without providing any opportunity for anyone to rebut anything.
It is a betrayal of public office to share such information from an active investigation, but it doesn’t look as though the Sarasota Police Department is doing much to stem the flow of leaks.
One wonders how the Florida Department of Law Enforcement would view this.
Martin Hyde, Sarasota
‘Eyesore’ on river example of overbuilding
Readers have been complaining about nonstop building in Sarasota County and the city. Most recently, a high-rise hotel was approved on Siesta Key against residents’ wishes.
We have the same problem in Charlotte County and the city of Punta Gorda. The soon-to-open eightstory eyesore on the river, Sunseeker Resort Charlotte Harbor, is a prime example.
Since it has no beach, how long before the resort starts busing guests to Englewood Beach, an invasion we don’t need?
Sunseeker is owned by Allegiant Air, headquartered in Las Vegas, so the company doesn’t care about our longtime residents.
It also sold the land it owned on State Road 776 to build West Port, where the condos look like a POW camp.
It appears our county commissioners are only concerned with paving over or building on every last green space in Charlotte County. S.R. 776 is designated a scenic highway, but I see nothing scenic about strip malls and walled communities.
Our absentee governor needs to stop telling people to come to Florida.
We don’t need more roads; we need fewer people. We also need new commissioners.
Larry Brady, Englewood
School Board member lacks morals, judgment
In reference to a letter Dec. 7, Sarasota School Board Member Bridget Ziegler certainly has done something wrong considering she has moral issues with the LGBTQ community.
Ziegler has admitted that she and her husband had a threesome with another woman a year or so ago. The fact that two women and a guy were in a bed together leads one to believe that there was certainly contact between the women.
Therefore, from a morality perspective, Ziegler should step down from the School Board. You can’t be publicly against gay relationships or “morally disruptive” books, and then admit to being in a threesome.
Life doesn’t work that way! Do the right thing and step down, Mrs. Ziegler.
Russell Golden, Sarasota
Doctors in Maya case unqualified
Too many people miss the larger point in the case of Maya Kowalski.
The professionals who made the determination of Munchausen syndrome by proxy (now called Factitious Disorder imposed on Another) were not qualified to make such a diagnosis. They were physicians and not forensic psychologists.
The only psychologist involved in the case found that Maya’s mother was not engaging in Factitious Disorder Imposed by Another, but he was ignored in favor of the physician’s unscientific opinion.
I am a Ph. D. forensic psychologist with almost 50 years of experience with such syndromes. I am trained to use validated assessment methods. The audacity of assuming that a physician has expertise in psychology is criminal.
Robert M. Gordon, Ph.D. forensic psychologist, Osprey
House speaker may have admitted crime
House Speaker Mike Johnson has said he is blurring videos of the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol to obscure images of the attackers because “we don’t want them to be retaliated against and charged by the DOJ.”
It thus appears the speaker has publicly admitted commission of a serious federal crime.
The federal criminal code (18 USC 1519) provides for severe punishment of “whoever knowingly alters any tangible object … with the intent to impede, alter, or influence” a federal criminal proceeding.
Perhaps House Speaker Johnson should retain and follow the advice of a really good criminal defense lawyer.
Harry W. Quillian, retired lawyer, Bradenton
Sympathize with Israelis, their suffering
Last week I listened to the U.N. Security Council asking for a cease-fire in the Israel-Gaza War. When was a cease-fire requested for any other war?
No, it just happens when it comes to Israel, which didn’t initiate the war but must defend herself from those who want to wipe her off the Earth.
In what other war are there warnings of attacks ahead of time or supplies delivered to the enemy like Israel is doing?
The world should be demanding that Gaza: Release all the innocent hostages.
Allow the Red Cross in.
Stop having weapons in homes, schools and hospitals, putting its citizens in danger.
Require the Palestinians to recognize and accept the Jewish people and state of Israel.
If all this happened, the war would be over. Instead the world is asking Israel to agree to another cease-fire while Hamas is still firing rockets, release more Palestinian criminals and, after the war, negotiate a two-state solution.
Israel and her citizens are also suffering. Where are the concerns for Israel?
Harriet Joy Epstein, Sarasota