Tri-Rail pays the bills: Loved your article on Tri-Rail ("Hot Tracks," Tony Ortega, November 9). I've been using it and Broward County Transit for about a year and have saved $13,000 toward a home because I have no more car payment, insurance, or gas costs.
Marie Kerrigan
Sunrise
All that and you can ride your bike? I really thought your first-person story about using Tri-Rail was interesting. I didn't know so many people ride it, that people can use it to go to the Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport, and that you can take bicycles and luggage on it. But I think you should sign up for the employee discount so you'll have to pay only $60 instead of $80 per month. That's a big difference!
Susan Brown
Wilton Manors
Whose Fiasco?
Carlos don't do no peanut butter with frog legs: Perhaps Gail Shepherd doesn't know who Carlos Fernandez is on Top Chef ("The Television Hi-Life," November 9). He did not create the "frog leg/peanut butter/corn flakes fiasco." If she is going to dis someone, she should at least dis them on the correct dish. Seems she doesn't always get her facts straight.
Michael Shields
Lauderdale-by-the-Sea
Editor's note: Not just Carlos but all the contestants worked on that one.
Anti-Bi Bias
Bisexuals have feelings too: Although I see the irony of writing a letter to the editor to complain about a letter to the editor, the "Giving Crist a Bi" letter from Richard B. Golden (November 9) claiming that "bisexuals... are the biggest liars" is one of the most bigoted statements I've come across.
I have a hard time believing New Times would print someone's prejudiced generalization that blacks, Jews, or even gays are "the biggest liars." Bisexual people have enough problems dealing with prejudice and discrimination from the gay and straight communities. We don't need your newspaper to be used as a forum for hate speech.
Amy R. Moshier
Author of BiFocal for She Magazine
Plantation
Maybe a bisexual stepped on his toes: I was really surprised to see such blatant biphobia. I doubt you would seriously consider printing a letter from a reader with stereotypical negative comments to say about African-Americans or even homosexuals, for that matter. Why is it OK to print something like this about us?
I am guessing Golden had a bad experience with a bisexual. I'm sorry, but allowing him to use your publication as a way to vent about the chip on his shoulder is wrong and should be acknowledged as such.
Mike Killian
Davie
What About Dogs?
Do pit-bull owners go through random inspections? I read Jeff Stratton's "Off the Leash" (November 2) wondering what kind of response it would draw, and Roger Mahr, president of the American Veterinary Medicine Association, emerged (Letters, November 9). To be fair, Mahr's comments with regard to why pets should be chosen do make sense. One should not choose a pet for its shock value or trendiness. We all are aware of the dangers of owning any pet. There are several million dog bites per year in the United States. Biting dogs come in all sizes and breeds yes, even golden retrievers.
Recently in Coral Springs, a life was lost due to a pet presa canario. When city fathers were going to try to get the state to let them enact a breed-specific ordinance, more than a hundred people showed up to protest, "It's the owner, not the breed."
I have no problem with folks keeping pits, presa canarios, or any dog. Just keep them properly, in your home, on your property, confined. But, ya know, somehow they don't. Fighting dogs, no matter how sweet at any one moment, might, for a reason no one can fathom, react as their breed did historically. Bobcats, lynxes, and cougars, bred from generations of captive stock, will always be what they are. Wise owners who do not accept that wind up bitten and worse. Snakes bite; lizards bite. Damn it, everything bites.
In Florida, those of us keeping big cats and smaller alligators, crocodiles, venomous snakes, and more are permitted through the Florida Conservation Commission and inspected at irregular moments. Those of us who exhibit must be permitted through the USDA animal welfare act whose rules are becoming more and more draconian. Perhaps Dr. Mahr needs to give more thought to those children and older adults maimed and killed by pit bulls and other fighting dogs.
Alan W. Rigerman
Miami
Deputy's Brainless Opus
Assholes and guns shouldn't mix: Your recent story about Hallandale Beach band leader Lamont Snyder was both sad and inspiring ("Mr. Snyder's Opus," Thomas Francis, October 12). And, most of all, revealing. Give an asshole a gun and a badge, then call him a cop. No brains, no common sense, just that power. It comes with the job.
Too bad the arresting officer didn't get his ass kicked. It would have done him good.
Willy Kay (retired BSO deputy)
Coral Springs
Steph Has Your Back
You have to ride with her to know her: Have you ever met Deputy Stephanie Newton ("Tender Loving Justice," Tailpipe, September 28)? Well, I have. In fact, I actually work with Deputy Newton on the same shift. I would trust her with my life, and I have.
Many times, she responded to my calls as a backup unit and handled herself better then some cops I have worked with in my 13 years in law enforcement. I think it is unfair to say the things you have said about her unless you have worked with her or know her.
Name withheld by request
Lauderdale-by-the-Sea