Friday, November 20, 2009

Nude beaches are

gentle moneymakers

Keep your shirt on, lady. To be naked is not to be immoral. To feel the warmth of the sun on your skin, cooling ocean breeze caressing your body or the freedom of swimming unencumbered by fabric is hardly immoral. If it makes you feel immoral to look at a naked body -- don't look. If you wish to expose your children to immorality, take them to Higgs Beach this afternoon.

Nudism is enjoyed by many of all ages. Families visit nude beaches and resorts together, older retired folks are retiring in clothing-optional resorts in droves, young people play and swim together. Eden taught us we should boycott apples, not bodies.

Nude beaches and resorts flourish nationwide. There are 22 organized nude resorts, beaches and clubs in Florida. Vacationers desiring a holiday naked in the sun will take their money elsewhere than Key West.

Where do they go? The closest nude beach to our "liberal" island is Haulover Beach. Haulover was a trashy, abandoned, drug-infested county park until the South Florida Free Beaches (SFFB) declared it clothing optional in July 1991. The drug dealers disappeared; parking revenues soared to over $1 million in 2002. Official status came in February 2002, when the Miami-Dade County Commission approved a Haulover master plan naming the nude beach as an official park feature.

Near Naples is a small, nude, family-run resort. Farther north, just north of Tampa, are three huge resorts that continue to sell real estate and grow. Kissimmee is the home of one of the older nude resorts. These resorts are expanding, flourishing and making money while Key West resorts sit empty.

We are missing a huge segment of the vacationing public. These vacationers ask little. We don't have to accommodate 6,000-passenger cruise ships or dig up our harbor again to attract them.

I don't know who you turn to for support. I can say if my God wanted me to be naked, I would have been born that way.

We desperately need a nude beach.

Geoff Schrader

S/V Three Dolphins

Key West

New health care plan

ill-tagged as 'socialism'

[Wednesday's] Citizen quotes gynecologist Sharon Ward on the report by the U.S. Preventative Services Task Force that most women need not begin routine mammograms under age 50. Insurance companies, says Dr. Ward, may use the report as a reason to deny coverage for mammograms for under-50 women. Given the eagerness of insurance companies to deny claims on any grounds at all, I am sure Dr. Ward is right to fear this effect.

But Dr. Ward goes on to speculate -- or so it seems -- that the report has some connection with the current "discussion of socialized medical care." "Socialized" is her word, apparently. It's also the word used typically by folks who regard publicly funded health care as a communist plot -- the "death panel" crowd.

Two points need to be made.

First, the task force was leaning toward its current recommendations way back in 2002 (Annals of Internal Medicine, 137 Part 1, 344-346). About the merits of their recommendations then and now, I wouldn't presume to comment. But certainly no one was talking about "socialized medicine" for America in 2002.

Second, the real threat is not from "socialism" but from good old capitalism, in the form of an insurance industry that gobbles premiums like candy and wriggles out of paying claims every chance it gets -- as Dr. Ward, and many in her profession, knows very well.

Bill McCarthy

Key West

Key West post office unfairly understaffed

This upcoming holiday season, thousands of gift parcels will be sent to various homes and businesses throughout the Florida Keys. To ensure the timely delivery of these items, the men and women of the Key West post office will work extended hours during the week and on holidays. I would like to praise this tremendous work force for their commitment and dedication to our Keys community.

Yet despite such a stellar record of service, customers of the Key West post office often face long lines and excessive wait times as a result of mandatory staffing shortages implemented by the U.S. Postal Service. These staffing shortages are intended to demonstrate that additional personnel can be reduced at the Key West branch without disrupting customer service. Clearly, such a plan is not producing the desired result. And for several years, USPS administrators have failed to adequately assess the staffing needs at the Key West post office. A staffing assessment, conducted in 2006, did not take into account the fluctuating population in the Keys due to tourists and seasonal residents. Nor did it fully consider increased demand during the holiday months.

As your elected representative in Congress, I will continue to work closely with Keys residents, post office personnel, and with various local and federal officials to ensure that the Key West post office is spared from unfair staffing shortages. It is imperative that our local post office receives the funding it requires, the staff it needs, and the recognition for outstanding service it deserves.

U.S. Rep. Ileana

Ros-Lehtinen

Florida 18th District