Daily Archives: March 7, 2021

Where are you now?

"My life as a priest, pastor of a bilingual Catholic Church/ Hispanic-American Center, does not change in terms of routine duties, which include weekly services, funeral masses, 15 year-old celebrations, baptisms, weddings, and the occasional service that is directed to a special event, such as a Patron Saints Day. What increased was the number of visits to the elderly, couples and singles, who need company, conversation, and attention.

"My vocation, by definition, exposes me every day to the lives of my community. Family issues, illnesses, deaths, immigration worries, and the basics of life: loss of jobs, rent payments, and our church food pantrys operations.

I am challenged by people who need to feel protected and come for counsel. I am concerned with the young Hispanics in our community who are struggling between one language, one culture at home and another language, culture outside. It is important that they dont lose their mother tongue and know they can participate in both arenas.

The most significant issue has been the recent Covid-19 pandemic, which has affected all of us in the United States and the world. Travel has been seriously limited. I was unable to go to my native Spain this year, missing a family baptism, funeral, and my annual vacation.

It hurt to see my church closed; no Masses, no people kneeling in prayer and our pews sadly empty. In response to the Hispanic community needs, I am doing a weekly Sunday radio Mass in Spanish which is heard in both Sarasota and Manatee counties. Once we super-sanitized the church and received authority to re-open, parishioners came back but in small numbers.

"In my church the response to the Covid-19 crisis was a remarkable tribute to the faith and active approach of our community. Proper health protocols were established with full cooperation. Food and checks were donated. Time was donated to maintain the sanitary levels. Phone banks checked on the elderly. Bilingual assistance was available for rent, utilities, electricity payments. And, amazingly, a 2020 vehicle was donated as a raffle item, resulting in a $50,000 gift to the church. Through the years St. Jude has been blessed with volunteers who are dedicated to our mission of helping others. I witness this in awe and in gratitude. Donors regularly support the Food Pantry. Our ministries include migrant help in Myakka, Jail Counseling, Youth Group Workshops.

"Time, patience and prayer are needed for any project to succeed. "

"We are all individuals with backgrounds that dont always match. We must learn from one another. St. Jude, with its multiple nationalities represented, encourages tolerance by its very existence. Our many activities bring together the Hispanic and the Anglo communities to study, to pray, to work for others, and to appreciate the values of the opposition. We share examples of discrimination, racial profiling, bullying and ways to reject these behaviors and embrace tolerance and inclusion.

"I am always hopeful that people will understand the need to work together. The political divide is worrisome, but my faith tells me we are stronger and unity will return. Leadership, poised to do just that, is one way. The Golden Rule (Do unto others) is always a good practice, too.

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Father Celestino Gutirrez Believes in the Golden Rule - Sarasota

The tongue can bring death or life.

We have been talking about gossip. Sometimes, people will say, But what I said is true, like that makes it OK. The truth is you rarely know whats true in the life of someone else. And even if it is true, some things just dont need to be shared.

Remember, whenever we are talking about a situation with somebody who is neither part of the problem nor part of the solution, that is probably gossip, whether it is true or not.

The Golden Rule invites us to Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. Would you want other people to share personal, embarrassing or humiliating stories about you or one of your good friends?

The Proverb writer reminds us The tongue can bring death or life. (Proverbs 18:21a)

Our words have incredible power. And a powerful principle for us to remember is that everything that is said must be true, but not everything that is true must be said.

The Apostle James spoke to this idea. He said, If anyone considers himself religious and yet does not keep a tight rein on his tongue, he deceives himself and his religion is worthless. (James 1:26)

James compared our tongue to the rudder of a ship. The rudder is really very small in comparison to the size of a boat.

In very simple terms, if a captain wants to turn the boat, he turns a wheel that triggers a lever to move the rudder, which then turns the boat. The captain might make a slight adjustment to the rudder that could completely change the direction of a massive ship.

Since our tongue is like the rudder of a massive ship, we need to be willing to admit were the captain, and it is up to us to choose the direction of the ship.

Just like the rudder steers a ship in the direction the captain wants it to go, our tongue, our words will steer our lives in a specific direction, as well.

Have you ever thought about your tongue like the rudder of a ship? It has the power to direct your spiritual life off course, which is another way of saying away from God.

If God has spoken to you about your mouth, confess your sin (call it what it is) to God. Admit it to some trusted friends. Then ask them and ask the holy spirit to point it out if they see your rudder is causing you to head off in the wrong direction.

Steve Greene is the lead pastor of The Point in Seymour. Read his blog at pastorgreene.wordpress.com or email him at steve@gotothepoint.com. Send comments to awoods@aimmediaindiana.com.

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Column: Our words have incredible power - Seymour Tribune

By: Josh Sens March 5, 2021

There is no such thing as illegal hole locations, but there certainly are good ones and bad ones.

getty images

Location, location, pin location.

The golden rule of real estate is also a key consideration for golf-course superintendents.

After all, where supers choose to cut their holes, and how often they cut them, can have a profound impact on everything from course difficulty and conditioning to pace of play.

So, what goes into their decisions?

Matt Guilfoil, superintendent of Desert Canyon Golf Course, in Phoenix, and co-host of From the Jingweeds, a podcast devoted to the turf-care trade, takes us through the calculus.

Changing hole locations regularly is important, not only for variety and player enjoyment but also to preserve the health of the greens.

If you get golfers trampling over and over around the same spot, they really do a number on that part of the green, Guilfoil says. Plus, the cup itself gets beat up from so many people reaching their hands into it. (Or even more damaging, using their putter to retrieve the ball from the cup).

The tools of the trade.

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No wonder high-end courses, both public and private, tend to cut new pin positions every morning. At many other properties, though, the frequency depends on a range of factors, including maintenance budgets, turf type and time of year. From early fall, when he overseeds, through June 1, Guilfoil cuts new holes at Desert Canyon every morning. But come summer, he takes Tuesdays and Thursdays off.

Thats partly because the volume of play is down, so his greens arent getting as much wear and tear. But its also a matter of maximizing labor; it takes about four hours for one of his employees to cut new cups (while also setting the tee markers), and sometimes, Guilfoil says, Id just rather have that employee use those four hours to do something else.

Just as golfers have pin sheets, so, too, do superintendents. Many split their greens into numerical sections, which they rotate through from one day to the next.

At Desert Canyon, Guilfoil relies on a what he calls a modified 1, 2, 3 system that works in accordance to the shape of each green. If the green is long and narrow, the numbers refer to front, back and middle.

If the green is wide and shallow, the numbers refer to left, middle and right. By progressing through the sections, Guilfoil ensures that no single section of any green absorbs too much wear and tear.

Contrary to a common misperception, there is no such thing as illegal hole locations (anywhere on the putting surface is allowed). But there certainly are good ones and bad ones.

In the spirit of fairness, Guilfoil always cuts his cups at least one flagstick-length away from the collar, never any closer. Nor does he want a cup cut on a portion of the green with too much slope. How much slope is too much slope? As a rule of thumb, Guilfoil instructs his staff to straddle the hole with their feet and then a drop a ball, at arms length, from where theyre standing. If the ball rolls away when it hits the ground, that pin position sits on too much contour. Time to find a flatter spot.

Difficult pin positions can be perfectly fair positions. But Guilfoil avoids them on weekends and holidays, when the course is especially busy. Otherwise, youre looking at a nightmare in terms of pace of play, he says.

Green speed is also a factor. The same pin position that works on shaggy putting surface can be too extreme when the greens are running lickety-split. We like to get our greens running fast, Guilfoil says. But youve got to be careful. Lets say you get a sudden cold snap, and the grass goes dormant, and just like that the greens are super-quick and hard as a rock. Now that same pin position you thought you had is suddenly impossible.

Every time you cut a new hole, youve got to fill the old one. And while the task isnt brain surgery, it calls for care. If you leave the replacement plug too high, Guilfoils says, the mower will scalp the grass, leaving a bare, circular patch in the putting surface. Conversely, if you set the plug too low, the grass will grow longer, creating a darker discoloration circle that also runs at a different pace than the rest of the green.

On putting surfaces with a lot of grain, replacing the plug in the same orientation that it was cut is also important; otherwise, the grass inside that circle will grow in a different direction than the surrounding turf (a blemish that shows up as little smiley-faces on the green).

At a high-end club where Guilfoil used to work, the staff attached compasses to their hole-cutters to ensure that they replaced plugs in the proper position. At Desert Canyon, Guilfoil doesnt have that luxury, so he relies on a bootstrapping method. Whenever he cuts a hole, he finds a tree as a reference point. And then its time to replace it, I know I have to have the plug positioned in the same relation to that tree, he says.

You cant please all the people all the time. Just ask your local golf course superintendent.

No matter where I cut the holes, Guilfoil says, I can pretty much count on someone coming up to me at some point in the day and saying, Hey, why the hell did you put that hole there?

Well, now you know.

A golf, food and travel writer, Josh Sens has been a GOLF Magazine contributor since 2004 and now contributes across all of GOLFs platforms. His work has been anthologized in The Best American Sportswriting. He is also the co-author, with Sammy Hagar, of Are We Having Any Fun Yet: the Cooking and Partying Handbook.

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The logic behind where golf courses cut their holes, according to a superintendent - Golf.com

After a year of border closures, countrywide restrictions, and stay-at-home orders, hope for the American traveler is finally on the horizon. President Joe Biden says there will be a vaccine for every U.S. adult come May. Countries around the world are cautiously reopening for tourists. And after slashing flight routes last spring, airlines are now adding them back to their schedule. Were on the cusp of being able to go somewhere, and were dying to go this summer: A survey done by luxury travel company Virtuoso found that 60% of respondents planned to take a trip by Labor Day, and travel booking apps like Hopper are seeing a three-digit-percent increase in seasonal searches. Meanwhile, the TSA is preparing itself for the anticipated boom. Recently, it announced a nationwide recruitment effort to hire 6,000 new employees by summers start.

But what will leisure travel look like in a post-pandemic world? Will everything go back to normal, or does a new normal await us instead?

If we expect things to go back exactly as they were in 2019, were all going to be disappointed, says Misty Belles, managing director at Virtuoso. The reality is that much like September 11 forever changed travel, so will COVID-19.

Masks, Belles says, are here to stay. Why? While wealthy countries will be able to vaccinate 75% of their citizens by the end of 2021, itll take developing countries several more years to reach that target. (And even then, the virus will likely still lurk in corners of the globe: COVID-19 will likely be with us forever. Heres how well live with it, read a recent headline in National Geographic.) So facial coverings will still be necessary to stop the spread and protect the most vulnerable among us.

That also means six feet apart will continue to be a golden rule. Hotels that once prided themselves on beautiful and inviting public spaces will likely continue to encourage social distancing by limiting the seating options and opportunities for people to linger, Belles hypothesizes.

Prepare to pack your passport and Pfizer record: Destinations like the Seychelles and Iceland recently announced that vaccinated visitors could enter without quarantining and move without restrictions. Meanwhile, luxury liners like Crystal Cruises require all guests onboard to be fully inoculated. That rule may apply to flights too: In November, Qantas Airlines CEO made waves when he told CNN they might ask people to have a vaccination before they get on the aircraft. Belles expects more countries, and companies, to follow suit. Health passports will likely be required, meaning another document to keep current for traveling abroad, she says. Theres no consensus on what these health passports will look likewhether you need to show a physical card or submit an online formbut proof, in some shape or form, seems likely to be required.

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How Will the Vaccine Change World Travel? - Vogue.com

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By Kwena Manamela

Though law is an interesting career, the realm of law raises several interesting scenarios while the legal profession is under scrutiny.

For example, an attorney may today represent the State but tomorrow represent a client against the State. Simply put, a lawyer may represent an accused as much as a complainant. A legal officer takes instructions from an alleged thief, murderer, hijacker, burglar among others and their complainants thereof.

As we are introduced to the doctrine of law and the golden rule of innocent until proven guilty, the constitution distinguishes the three organs of state as the executive, legislature and judiciary. Though these organs of state are independent, they are also interdependent.

They are like the three legs of a pot wherein without one the State is incomplete or dysfunctional. The three operate separately, that is independently, but with an element of checks and balances or interdependency.

South Africas organs of state are fashioned such that they are pillars of our democracy, owing to years of human rights abuse, trampling on rules of natural justice and the apartheid rule. The country comes from a past where people were arrested without trial, bail, and even not appearing before any court until their release.

It is common knowledge that prior to 1994, South Africas justice system was meant to serve only 20% of the population while post-1994, there was one Department of Justice established to serve 100% of the population.

As our democracy matures, the judiciary has been highly stretched and tested, with individuals and organisations questioning its independence, impartiality, morality and ethics. Further that there are allegations that judges can be bribed to deliver a preferred verdict at the expense of justice with the sacrosanctity of the judiciary even called into question.

Information brought before the Judicial Commission of Inquiry into Allegations of State Capture, corruption and fraud in the public sector, including organs of state, headed by Deputy Chief Justice Raymond Zondo, contains allegations that the State Security Agency (SSA) offered bribes to some judges.

Allegations that there were bribes towards arriving at a particular outcome at the ruling partys 2017 elective conference needs to be formalised by those who are privy to the matter through evidence or further information.

Former Justice of the Federal Constitutional Court of Germany Professor Dieter Grimm describes judicial independence as, the constitutional safeguard against the threat arising from politicians to the judges proper exercise of their function. Grimm says also, it is directed against attempts to induce judges not to apply the law but to bend to political expectations.

As the country observes Human Rights month, let us continue to build a strong and resilient judiciary that will stand the test of time, jurisprudence and the doctrine of law. A judicial system that will stand out against its peers in the world for the sake of a united, non-racial, democratic and prosperous South Africa.

Addressing the Cape Law Society in November 2012, the late chief justice of South Africa Arthur Chaskalson said: The independence of the judiciary and legal profession are central pillars of our constitutional democracy, and that we should be astute to ensure that there is no erosion of these fundamental principles.

* Kwena Manamela is an author and social commentator.

** The views expressed here are not necessarily those of The Sunday Independent or IOL.

Sunday Independent

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Let's continue to build a strong, resilient judiciary that will stand test of time - IOL

He was called Glen by family and friends, and thats what I called him too, for Rodney Glen King was, indeed, a friend of mine.

Born in 1965, King came into the world just before the Watts riots and left as Barack Obama was completing his first term as Americas first Black president. Halfway through Glens all too short life, four Los Angeles Police Department officers beat him nearly to death while amateur video buff George Holliday captured the horror for all to see on coast-to-coast TV.

For the record:

An earlier version of this article incorrectly suggested that King was handcuffed before the beating started. He was handcuffed while on the ground after the beating.

Thirty years ago, on March 3, 1991, Glen King went out drinking and driving with pals until a patrol car spotted his car speeding on the freeway and gave chase. After a short pursuit, Glen parked and climbed out of the car. Then, upon direction from Sgt. Stacey C. Koon, the officers proceeded to pummel Glen, cracking his skull and leaving him with permanent brain damage.

The rest is one of the darker chapters in L.A. history, during which most media joined law enforcement in vilifying Glen as a violent felon on PCP who probably got the beating he deserved. A year later an all-white jury in nearly all-white Simi Valley acquitted Koon and three other cops, triggering the worst race riot since Watts, when 34 people lost their lives and another 1,032 were injured. By comparison, the Rodney King uprising of 1992 cost 63 lives and 2,383 injuries. Damage from Watts came to $40 million; damage after the King verdicts, about $1 billion.

A federal court corrected part of the injustice, convicting two of the four LAPD officers for violating Glens civil rights in 1993. He later sued and won a $3.8-million judgment from the city.

I first met Glen a couple of years after that. Upon recommendation of a mutual acquaintance, he asked me to help him write his autobiography. Mainstream New York publishers were not interested. King was considered a thug a drug-addled Black gangster who got a deserved beating at the hands of police. Such was the prevailing picture painted by rumor, innuendo and the press.

But I had come to know otherwise. The Rodney King I knew had been slowed by brain damage, and yet I never met a kinder, more forgiving and genuinely funny guy. He held no animosity against his attackers or the lawyers who took a big share of the settlement, or the media that misrepresented who he really was. He was human with human failings, but most of the time Glen was a living, breathing practitioner of the golden rule.

When I couldnt sell his book, I offered instead to film his story for a documentary, and thus began a 15-year odyssey. Joining forces with producer Ira Abrams, I met with Glen off and on every year or two, picking up his story told in his own words. I met his mom, his brothers, his friends, neighbors, attorneys, girlfriends, kids and came away amazed at how very, very wrong the world had gotten this gentle, humble man.

I do not discount his drug or alcohol abuse. His father died of boozing before Glens very eyes when he was still a teen. He struggled with addiction. I went to NA and AA meetings with Glen and saw firsthand how semi-celebrity and brain damage can be handicaps for recovery. I have no doubt he was self-medicating every time he picked up a doobie or a drink.

Glen survived and lived another 20 years following his confrontation with L.A.s finest. In 2012, He succumbed to heart arrhythmia in his own swimming pool at age 47.

Nowadays, I wonder what Glen would say about the Black Lives Matter movement. It arguably began when he was still an infant. Following six days of violence in August 1965, when whole city blocks burned to the ground, Gov. Pat Brown ordered the McCone Commission to study its causes. Almost none of the recommendations in the commissions report were implemented. After the King riots, a commission led by Warren Christopher performed a similar inquiry into the LAPD, also with very limited results.

So here we are, 30 years on, and the question Glen asked so many years ago Can we all get along? lingers still. It haunts every video shot by every cellphone user at the site of every police beating, shooting, tasing or pepper spraying in an era when hardly any news cycle ends without yet another report of white cops beating Black citizens.

When Glen made that plea to stop the riots, he also said, Well get our justice. Theyve won the battle, but they havent won the war.

Those words echo at the all-too-routine memorials and at the angry press conferences and courtroom rituals that follow. It remains to be seen, a generation later, whether Glens wish for justice will become reality for those who come after him and others like Trayvon and George and Breonna and Philando and Tamir.

Dennis McDougal, a former staff writer at the Los Angeles Times, is author of 14 books and co-producer of an upcoming documentary on the life of Rodney King.

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Op-Ed: What the world got wrong about Rodney King - Los Angeles Times

Treasure Coast Newspapers Published 4:00 a.m. ET March 7, 2021

The proposed House Bill 839 preempts energy infrastructure regulation, prohibiting local governments from regulating energy infrastructure.

It is distressing that the Republican Party, which once championed true cost accounting and local control of local decisions, now wants to direct county decisions from on high.

Local residents successfully fought a coal-fired power plant proposed for western St. Lucie County in 2005. Preventing citizens from making decisions about such proposals would be a terrible overreach of government.

The cost of carbon-based energy will be borne by Floridians far into the future. Energy lobbyists will saddle our descendants with the expenses of adapting to a degraded environment.

Our freshwater lakes, canals and rivers have fish consumption warnings and limits due to mercury contamination from power plants. Residents who depend most on fishing to put food on the table are often not aware of the danger. As a former teacher I have worried that children from struggling communities where local fish are an important part of the diet are too common in Exceptional Student Education programs. The personal costs to families and individuals notwithstanding, the economic costs of having a higher percentage of our labor force with mental or physical limitations brought about by environmental pollution has an impact now and on future generations.

I have seen sea level rise erode my propertys shoreline. The increase in extreme weather and hurricane damage has been driven by warming oceans. Ocean acidification brought about by increased atmospheric carbon dioxide affects shellfish and the food chain. These are economic impacts that energy production companies do not include in the cost/benefit analysis for economic impacts of energy infrastructure.

Locally elected city and county commissions, who know their communities and are directly responsible to the voters, should have the final say on energy infrastructure decisions.

Kevin Stinnette, Fort Pierce

Bell(Photo: Bell)

Many thanks to Phil Hunter, featured on March 2, for his tireless trash cleanup during his daily 6-mile walks. He truly represents the best in humankind.

What about the rest of us? Can we all be better citizens and demonstrate environmental respect by not littering in the first place? Lets all take care of our own garbage so people like Phil Hunter can hunt for natural beauty during their walks instead of hunting for our trash.

Coleen Oleski, Stuart

One outside-the-box solution to building affordable housing units is to use old or abandoned semi-trailers as shells for individual apartment units.

The trailers can be renovated for basic, clean and safe housing units and situated similar to existing trailer parks. They can be fitted with basic plumbing and cooling at a fraction of the cost of building units from scratch.

Other cities have succeeded in building these transitional housing units for indigent persons who need shelter to begin re-starting their lives.

Robert Savino, Fort Myers

Kathryn Jean Lopez, in her March 4 column, was right on the money when she called the Equality Act a euphemism. Everyone wants equality, so what is not to like? Well, it is an act that tips the balance of equality toward those who ascribe to an extremely liberal ideology. It negates any values that the opposition might hold religious or otherwise. How is that equality?

The bill does not respect parental rights. Do parents have any? It extends the LGBT agenda and, penalizes anyone who objects to it. If anyone wishes to transform his/her gender fine, but he/she should not use the taxpayers' money to fund it. All of us are Americans, and we should all have the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. We all should respect our fellow human beings. Maybe the Golden Rule is too religious?

Mary Lou Rodimer, Sebastian

Dr. Rachel Levine, President Bidens assistant secretary of health nominee, was grilled by Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., over her stance on transgender issues on Feb. 25, the same day the House passed the Equality Act.(Photo: Getty)

With all the negative news about vaccine appointments I would like to share a more positive experience.

I used CVS website after weeks of trying unsuccessfully for an appointment on the Publix site.

The website loaded quickly and I was able to obtain appointments for my husband and me within a reasonable driving distance. On the Publix site, the closest appointment offered last week was up in the Panhandle.

The day of our appointment we received a phone call that we could get in earlier as they had a cancelation. So up we go to Fort Pierce.

From the moment we entered the front door and were greeted by a staff member until we exited the premises we were made to feel like we were their friends or family.

Everyone was smiling and helpful: Don't worry we'll take care of you. The check-in process was quick and efficient. There was a lot of laughing and camaraderie between the staff and all of us!

The nurses who were administering the vaccine were top-notch;in fact if I had not felt her hand on my arm, I would not known she had injected me. We waited the allotted time, then checked out. Again, friendly goodbyes and "See you in a few weeks." And this was at almost 7 p.m. after a long day of this clinic.

Both of us were so impressed. We were not expecting this level of efficiency and professionalism.

This group of health care professionals and CVS far exceeded our expectations and we are so grateful to them all.

Neither of us has had the slightest reaction;no soreness at site no weakness/aches or pains .Looking forward to going back. When was the last time anyone thought they would look forward to a vaccination clinic?

Jan Belwood, Palm City

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Letters to the Editor: March 7, 2021 - TCPalm