There's more to the osprey on Longboat

I enjoyed seeing recognition given to the osprey nest at the intersection of Gulf of Mexico Drive and Longboat Key Club Road, but it was a missed opportunity to tell an inspirational story.

For multiple seasons, residents have watched that nest be home to osprey as they patiently sat on their eggs, brought food to their young and fiercely chased off would-be predators. 

Watching those birds gave a sense of well-being — the world was spinning as it should be ... but last fall the world on Longboat Key spun apart. Many returned to find destruction and face the difficult task of letting go and rebuilding. Our world was not as it should be. Even our ever-faithful osprey nest was destroyed. We were all in this together. Smiling was difficult.

Then one day sticks began appearing where the old nest once sat. Today, it appears a new generation of ospreys are being nurtured. Watching their progress gives us a feeling of determination – If those birds can rebuild and start again, so can we!

 —Barbara Shockey, Longboat Key

Freedom to speak and rebuttal

Freedom of the press is alive. Look no further than the Longboat Observer letters to the editor and recent contribution from Raymond Roitman. Raymond is lucky to share freely his personal thoughts on his description of the wonders of the past democratic achievements.

I bet he was not silenced, condemned or deplatformed for questioning the science or propaganda coming from the media, like many doctors and health care professionals have been over the last four years. Raymond extolled the virtues of Dr. Fauci. What motivated Biden to pardon a man who has not "yet" been accused of doing anything criminal? A 10-year retroactive pardon just in case? Makes me even more suspicious of wrongdoing. The only thing I’d applaud from Fauci is a vaccine for Trump Derangement Syndrome (TDS).

So Raymond says America needs unity, not divisiveness, calmness, and not disruption. Would the prominent legislators like AOC, Schift, Waters, Hirono, and Schumer, screaming hate from the podium, be shining examples of this scenario? I have yet to hear any democrats condone the abuse, fraud and waste of taxpayers' funds uncovered by the DOGE investigations. Please, just acknowledge one example of the outrageous misuse of funds. Is that so hard to do?

Hey Raymond, on a positive note, if you look to the skies you will see a dramatic reduction and some days complete elimination of the chem trails in the skies of our area. The day DOGE suspended funds to USAID the chemical spraying of our skies stopped. It was amazing and many weather watchers noticed. We had days of beautiful, natural blue skies. For more information see GeoengineeringWatch.org.

—Ann Breslin, Longboat Key

County needs to remove dead fish from beach

My wife and I are Canadians who, along with the majority of American seasonal visitors, enjoy a reprieve from winter by coming to Siesta Key. 

To us, the beach is one of nature’s most beautiful attractions, but it quickly diminished last weekend. 

I understand fully that red tide is a phenomenon that can impact the area, is harmful to humans and aquatic life and that researchers hope to find ways to combat its effects. But just as importantly, your county needs to do its part to address the impacts. 

The first thing is to remove the rotting carnage. 

As seasonal residents, we pay extremely high prices to stay in this exclusive area. On top of the premium rates, we pay an additional tourist tax. Presumably, recognizing that tourism is a core economic component of the community, these funds are to supply the additional services such as public beach parking, the Siesta Key trolly and other amenities to welcome the additional in-flow of residents during their stay. 

According to Florida law, the shoreline where the dead fish end up is not private property. One would think that the removal of massive amounts of dead fish from the waterfront could be organized by state or municipal forces, not just for aesthetics but for the physical and fiscal health of the area.  

The state may not be able to stop red tide, but your tourist industry will end up like the forgotten dead fish if the thousands who come here like us stop coming because of such mismanagement.

—Michael Sidon, Schomberg, Ontario / Siesta Key