I'd like to suggest the local legislatures pass laws mandating that the police permit and encourage press coverage of official acts. Reporters would have to accept the risk of covering dangerous situations and would have to avoid interference in police actions. The police would have to accept the risk that what they do would be reported to the public and would have to avoid interfering with the reporters' gathering of information.
I, as a taxpayer, would feel much safer if these ground rules were made explicit and adopted by all parties. We simply cannot have a police force that doesn't want us to know what it is doing.
Jim Welles
Pompano Beach
Are you listening, Don Rumsfeld? Bravo on "You Can't Handle the Truth!" I don't deal in person with the police much. A lot of what I do is asking for basic information, and they seem to view providing even crime-prevention tips as a threat to national security....
Patrick Ogle
via the Internet
Ersatz Satz: Bob Norman did a great job on "The Wiz" (February 28). He turned over the rock.... Now it's time to dig for the rest of the story. Pompano Beach did not become the most corrupt community in the most corrupt county in the state by accident. It's a shame Broward County doesn't have a real state attorney.
Ed Foley
Pompano Beach
Titanic Beach: I applaud Bob Norman's article "The Wiz." Although it does much to shift the stone that covers the slimy relationship between Mayor (for now) Bill Griffin and Tom Johnston, it brings to light but does not pose the question that many of us in Pompano are asking: How can Bill Griffin preside over "quasi-judicial" hearings when he clearly makes his home not in Pompano but in Johnston's pocket? Rules of decorum, Mr. Griffin? We laugh and cry in a single sound.
I was also amused at the comments of Vice Mayor (for now) Skolnick. With the public focus on both himself and Griffin, it seems as though he's already dressed as a woman and heading for the lifeboats while Griffin and Johnston blow the whistle and steer Pompano toward the iceberg.
Liam McKay
Pompano Beach
Can you say "Swerdlow"? Finally, Bob Norman's story exposed what's really going on with the Pompano Beach city commissioners. They want to sell the last piece of public land on A1A to put Pompano on the map. If they want the Swimming Hall of Fame so bad, all they have to do is look five blocks south of City Hall. The old Cypress Plaza has been removed. Plenty of room for a thousand pools. But we know the real reason is a parasite who wants public land to build million-dollar condos.
Clayton Montgomery Jr.
Pompano Beach
Griffin? We've heard that name somewhere...: Congratulations on having the guts to say in print what has been so obvious on the front lines -- it's been a little disconcerting that none of the other reporters who regularly cover the City of Pompano Beach seem to notice. Congratulations also on a finely written article, regardless of the subject matter. It was a pleasure to read, as articulate and witty writing always is. Thanks for a great article.
Janice L. Griffin, Esq.
Mandel, Weisman & Brodie, P.A.
Pompano Beach
Merci: I was truly moved by Kathy Glasgow's "The Perils of Marilise" (December 20). Excellent coverage and awesome insight into the plight of the immigrant/damned. I think she left the readers with many issues to deal with.
On behalf of my entire family and, of course, our community, I want to thank you individually and as a collective.
Kimberly Anderson-Hansson
Boca Raton
