Justice rendered to the vandal of the synagogue
Justice was delivered on December 13 when Vincent Martinez was sentenced to five months in prison, five years probation and other restrictions, and required to compensate for vandalizing the Sinai Temple and the Emanu-el Temple in 2020.
Swift police action led to his arrest a few days later. And the diligent work of Attorney General Ed Brodsky resulted in this heavy sentence.
This punishment should serve as a stern warning to those who plan to degrade a religious institution. All places of worship, of all faiths, are sacred buildings in America.
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Those who threaten any religious establishment should think of Vincent Martinez sitting in a small prison cell, dining in the prison kitchen, dressed in an orange jumpsuit and labeled as a criminal forever.
The entire community of Sarasota owes a debt of gratitude to law enforcement and the justice system for the message sent to the enemies. Make no mistake: justice will be served. Your hate has no place here in Sarasota.
Marshal L. Horwitz, Sarasota
Florida Power & Light responds
It is irresponsible and unfortunate how the Sarasota Herald-Tribune can be used by ProPublica, a biased online news organization, to raise misleading concerns about Florida Power & Light Co.’s Manatee power station (“Parrish power station identified as hotspot for harmful emissions by investigation report, “December 20).
To be very clear – and as we told both ProPublica and the newspaper in writing – the Manatee power plant does not and has never used Orimulsion as a fuel source. In fact, the plant burns clean natural gas produced in the United States and has always operated in accordance with all state and federal certifications and permits.
The plant also shares the site with a 75 MW solar installation and the world’s largest solar battery system, which FPL commissioned in a ceremony last week. As for the reported minor increase in polycyclic aromatics, which the newspaper mistakenly referred to as Orimulsion, it was nothing more than the routine paving that took place on the property of the power generation facility in as part of the planned maintenance of the facility.
Of course, none of this is difficult to verify. In fact, FPL provides the Florida Public Service Commission with an online monthly report on fuel consumption data for all of our power generation units.
If the Sarasota Herald-Tribune reporter had taken very little time to review the publicly filed documents – rather than fall for the sensationalist story of a dishonest, non-factual organization – the newspaper would have avoided misleading its readers.
Instead, the newspaper sparked unnecessary concern and reinforced the deep skepticism and mistrust so many already harbor towards the media.
Bill Orlove, Juno Beach
Orlove is the Director of Corporate Affairs for Florida Power & Light.
New mothers need support long after birth
Cynthia Allen’s column in the December 17 newspaper is interesting (“If Roe falls, a woman in Texas will always try to save babies”). She says her Mother and Unborn Baby Care center has saved 9,000 babies and is providing support to mothers for as long as they need it.
I’m curious what kind of support is available: does it pay for child care so the mother can return to the workforce or to school? Does MUBC find affordable and decent housing in neighborhoods with good schools?
Does the center offer birth control so that the mother does not end up in a similar situation later on? Or what about medical or dental insurance, money for food / diapers / formula? Or the bike the child desperately wants so they can play with friends?
There is so much more to consider than saving a baby. A child is not a place in time, it is literally a lifelong commitment. Maybe “changing the whole universe for all eternity†isn’t always the same for everyone.
Lynn Wager Woodward, Lakewood Ranch
Unanswered questions about Thorpe Park
Your article reporting that “City of Sarasota Considering Proposed Agreement” to convert nearly half of Thorpe Park into a food court and rooftop bar did not raise a host of obvious questions (“The proposed bylaw would transform part of Paul N. Thorpe Jr. Park into a food court,” December 8).
First, why would city commissioners consider a “bylaw†regarding public lands when they know:
• The city owns this land; the property was settled in a 2020 court ruling.
• The city attorney believes that city property would survive legal challenges.
• City officials have designed, invested in and created a public good that everyone admires and loves.
• The price of $ 275,000 offered is less than 20% of the total amount invested by the City.
• The sale would replace a valuable downtown “green space†with a “non-public†asset.
• Patrons of a rooftop bar adjacent to park facilities would create a public nuisance after hours.
The reporter and the editors of the Herald-Tribune could have asked questions about these issues to give readers a better understanding. These questions would likely raise additional questions such as: “What does it take for a municipal official to vote?”noâ€At the suggestion of a developer? and “Who do city commissioners really represent?” “
Guy DiCicco, Sarasota
