Brightline bust for St. Lucie, but what about Tri-Rail?
The opportunity to get a Brightline station has come and gone for our area. I don’t think it would have done well with people wanting to go to Orlando. The drive is just not that far from here.
However, it occurred to me today, as I was heading south from Port St. Lucie to Wellington, that many people from this area work south of Port St. Lucie. The highway had heavy traffic.
Why doesn’t St. Lucie County or the city look into expanding Tri-Rail into Port St. Lucie so people could use it to go to work in southern areas of Florida? Build a train platform on southeast Walton Road and run a shuttle from the parking areas in the Civic Center to the platform.
I think many people would take advantage of it. It could be expanded to Fort Pierce and Stuart. It would also be great for people who just wanted to go to the cities south of Port St. Lucie.
Ernie Beaudoin, Port St. Lucie
Can't vote in local races? Don't be shut out; temporarily switch parties
TCPalm's Keith Burbank reported the Martin County Commission District 1 primary will be closed once again. This seems to be the norm here to help incumbents increase their chances of winning due to write-in ghost candidates. This "closure" has occurred in every Martin County Commission election since 2012.
But here's something that relatively few residents know: A registered voter can change party affiliation any time within 29 days prior to the election. It's a very simple process and can be done online.
So, if one is a registered Democrat and wants to vote for a Republican candidate in the closed primary, just change your party affiliation and, voila, your vote will be counted. Then, after the election you may return to the party of your choice.
Thank you, Vicki Davis, elections supervisor, for making this an easy process.
Jan Belwood, Palm City
Agreed: More options to honor public servants who risk their lives
A couple of recent letters were published concerning the lack of days dedicated to honoring and remembering our brave women and men who have protected our freedom caught my attention.
We should have more days or even a monthlong celebration for the brave people who have served or are currently serving in the military or are police officers and firefighters and other first responders who protect our communities every day.
In one letter, the author asked if anyone had suggestions as to how we can help honor these heroes. I have a few simple responses to this question.
First, always thank anyone you meet for their service. Second, there are many organizations out there that are dedicated to helping the families of fallen and wounded military and first responders: Tunnels to Towers, The Wounded Warriors Project and The Gary Sinise Foundation, to name a few. A small monthly donation can go a long way to ensure these families can get on with their lives.
Last and not the least is to always keep these brave women and men in our prayers.
Jim Wilson, Port St. Lucie
Past mistakes leave us with immoral vs. mediocre
Let's be honest.
Donald Trump lost the last election, no doubt. He tried to overthrow the election by several means: organizing fake electors, pressuring Vice President Mike Pence to not accept the electoral votes and calling on his followers to come en masse to Washington in order to disrupt the election.
An investigation into all of this should have been started Jan. 7. His actions should have barred him from ever running for office again, and he knows this.
The gutless lifer politicians in Congress should have done their jobs and ousted him immediately. Instead we're stuck with a choice between immoral and mediocre.
Let's be real, people.
Tim Conboy, Stuart
What we learned from Biden conviction
We learned a lot from the conviction of Hunter Biden, the least of which is that he is a despicable human being, by any measure, which we already knew. But this is far from the most important lesson the mainstream media is trying to sell us.
It is merely an attempt to distract us from the corruption and incompetence of President Joe Biden's administration and all involved in it. They clearly simply sacrificed Hunter, nothing but a lowly criminal drug addict and whoremonger, for the benefit of the Democrats' cause.
So what important scary indisputable facts did we learn? We learned that Joe Biden lied when he told us he never discussed business with his son and never benefited from it. We learned that all those government officials lied when they signed that letter claiming the laptop was just a Russian hoax. And they lied when they claimed they didn’t know the laptop was authentic when they signed the letter, which the laptop proved is untrue.
We learned that Facebook and other social media outlets were dishonest and were trying to subvert an election when they censored the story from the New York Post. We learned that the FBI and Department of Justice are nothing but partisan political hacks covering for Biden to the detriment of the country.
Barry Godofsky, Port St Lucie
With Trump pronouncements, we're like frogs in boiling water
It’s amazing we do not see that Donald J. Trump is not waiting until November to take over the country.
His plan is being put into effect now.
It is being boldly proclaimed by the likes of fellow law violators like Steve Bannon.
We see his seconds already trumpeting the mantra of Trump being not president, but rather head of the country without regard to any limitations to power and/or actions.
As we can see by his own statements, it is his objective to obtain the presidency and behave without regard to any of the guardrails that have existed for more than 240 years.
The diatribe unleashed by Bannon in recent days is beyond the pale. They have taken off the gloves and that assumes they had them on first place, which I do not think really was the case.
I'm reminded of the story of the frog that sits in a pan of boiling water and does nothing as it was not boiling when he got into it.
Is that not the case currently with respect to our democracy?
Are we simply sitting there, awaiting whatever befalls us, when we know Trump will have armed people saying the election was rigged and he was, in fact, the winner.
It appears we are sitting on our hands.
What is the alternative?
That’s up to the folks in power to determine, and they best do so sooner rather than later.
Roy Bickford, Vero Beach
What's happening to our once-great country?
Why do the MAGA people like Donald Trump?
Have they ever voted for a convicted felon before? Do they want a dictator running our country like Vladimir Putin runs Russia?
The rest of the world can't understand Trump's appeal. The United States has had statesmen in the past running our country. The United States was a beacon for democracy to the world. No democratic country was ever ruled by a leader who threatens to kill his rivals or anyone he doesn't like.
Trump talks off the top of his head, and many times has no idea of what he's saying. His policies are almost nonexistent. His lackeys are afraid of him. When the court rules against him, the court is wrong or corrupt. But when the verdict goes his way, it's OK.
What's happening to my great country?
Rita Wolper, Stuart
Trump, followers should take Paul's advice
I think the following quote from Paul’s letter to the Romans is an appropriate response to Donald Trump’s and his loyal “Christian” followers’ desires for revenge:
“Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everybody. If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. Do not take revenge, my friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: ‘It is mine to avenge; I will repay’, says the Lord. On the contrary: ‘If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head.’ Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.” Romans 12:17-21 NIV
Melissa Reynolds, Vero Beach
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