FLORIDA SUNDAY EDITORIAL ROUNDUP

Well, we got our first rain in more than a month early this morning; I hope you get yours. It certainly won't end what can be called a mini-drought, but it will help the grass get greener...at least temporairily.

Beginning our tour of Florida's editorial pages in Northwest Florida, the Pensacola News Journal offers an "attaboy" to First Judicial District State Attorney Bill Eddins for pursuing criminal charges against an Escambia County sheriff's deputy cited in a ECSO report for "criminal violations" regarding using excessive force. The sheriff's office did not notify Eddins' office of the information in it's report as it should have.

Heading east along I-10 to the state capitol, we see today's Tallahassee Democrat opinion agrees with U.S. Senator Mel Martinez (R - FL), the senate's only immigrant, who notes that responsible legislation to reform immigration will be both pragmatic and compassionate...and that either extreme, which would either amount to rounding up and deporting all "illegals" or giving anmesty for all, would be neither be practical or principled.

On the same subject, but well off the I-10 track, the Lakeland Ledger has much the same opinion. It mentions that so-called "bumper sticker reforms" won't work, and that while increased attention needs to be applied to border security and immigration enforcement, any "get tough" approach is doomed without a guest worker programme with a mechanism for illegal immigramts to obtain citizenship.

In Jacksonville, the Florida Times Union is working to bring more attention to the issue of suicide among young people, as Jacksonville-Duval County has ranked in the top three (with Pinellas County) for the most among Florida's metro areas. Today it is running the second of a series of three editorials dealing with the issue, and it supports bills in the legislature (House Bill 527 and Senate Bill 1008) which would establish an Office of Statewide Suicide Prevention to help address suicide and mental illness.

Should convicted terrorist Zacarias Moussaoui be sentenced to death for his role in the September 11, 2001 attacks on America? Although it does not say outright that he should die, the editorial in today's Miami Herald certainly leans in that directrion. It notes that the ultimate decision is up to the jury, but his own testimony and other evidence thus far condemn Moussaoui.

Now heading up I-95 along the east coast, the Fort Lauderdale-based South Florida Sun Sentinel is concerned about how the budget for Broward County commissioners, offices, and staffs have increased 65 percent in only five years. It reminds readers that there are no controls or guidelines which should be set in order to have reasonable levels of staff numbers and salaries.

Today's opinion in the Palm Beach Post responds to a new study financed by the John Templeton Foundation and appearing in The American Heart Journal which states that long distance prayer doesn't work. The editorial says that there is not too much to take from the study, as others have shown that prayer does reduce stress in the person praying, and that religion does not need scientific validation any more than science must confirm to religious doctrine.

Up the road still further in Melbourne, Florida Today notes that the Legislature is halfway through it's annual session without any action to resolve the state's hurricane insurance crisis. While there are several bills pending which would allow rates to go up further without getting state permission until later, the opinion is that such action must not be allowed to proceed. FT gives several ideas that it feels should be done to help consumers who continue to choke on higher rates.

Today's editorial in the Orlando Sentinel quotes a recent poll in Foreign Affairs magazine which says that a majority of Americans worry "a lot" about the nation's dependency on foreign oil in reminding us that President Bush and the Congress have ways right now to significantly reduce our dependence, but only need the will. It makes an excellent example with Brazil, who was importing 90% of it's oil three decades ago. Brazil is expected to achieve energy independence this year, thanks primarily to ethanol made from the country's sugar cane and cars built to run on it.

A different type of dependency is the concern of the Daytona Beach News Journal editorial: Humans' dependence on making their lawns and landscape look good with plants and grass not meant to be grown here, and in some cases have become a serious threat to our natrual ecosystem and waterways. While it notes that some localities such as Volusia County has some regulation, a statewide regulation could help reestablish native plants across Florida.

"Temporary" beach "amorings" to protect beachfront condos, hotels, and houses from erosion is the subject of today's opinion in the Gainesville Sun...not close to any beachfront, last time I checked the map. It does make a good point in that such "improvements" facilitate erosion elsewhere along unprotected streches of beach. The editorial calls on the Legislature to empower the state to remove such amoring devices, noting a constant, expensive cycle these items cause in subsdizing expensive development.

Down the road, the Ocala Star Banner is saddened at the news that the Florida Department of Law Enforcement is investigating mishandling of Community With A Heart funds by the head of one of the holiday charity's partner agencies. The editorial says that the organization did the right thing in ordering an audit of it's finances and in taking expediency and transparency to the inquiry, saying such action will go a long way to preserve it's reputation and future support.

Today's editorial in the Tampa Tribune says that current proposals to change the way property is taxed are "short-sighted", and calls on Senate President Tom Lee (R - Brandon) to stop efforts to send any constitutional amendment on the subject to voters, instead appointing a panel of experts, taxpayer advocates, and lawmakers who can compromise on thoughtful reforms to protect homeowners. It says that the Save Our Homes amendment warped the system in which a tax bill was based on the property's value, and that when the laws are straightened out, people should feel neither overtaxed nor caught in a tax trap.

Skipping down the coast a bit, the Fort Myers News-Press likes Same Our Homes, and doesn't like the idea of limiting portability of the percentage of protection homesteaders currently enjoy from it. It is urging readers to contact their legislators and advise them that you support the fewest restrictions possible.

Meanwhile, the Sarasota Herald-Tribune opines that the Bush administration isn't fooling anyone with the claim that wetlands are on the increase across America. In the government report by Agricultrual Secretary Mike Johnns and former Interior Secretary Gail Norton, golf course ponds and storm water retention ponds are included. The editorial reminds us that True wetlands serve as nurseries and habitat for wildlife, natural filters for pollution and barriers against flooding...A wetland has to be more than just wet.

Finally, the Naples Daily News supports the decision by City Manager Dr. Robert E. "Bob" Lee to take away the clicker used by Police Chief Steve Moore to access gated communities because how his private use of it may reflect on his job. He had been using it to access a shortcut home through a community next to his residence.

Make it a GREAT Sunday!