Letters to the Editor: Lake Apopka aquarium, Presidents Day worth parade, teen drivers

Lake Apopka aquarium?

The Sentinel article "Tourists for Lake Apopka's Future?" on Feb. 8, describing the more than $180 million expenditure by state and local government to resurrect Lake Apopka, has Orange County Commissioner Fred Brummer asking, "How do we make these improvements on Lake Apopka work for us?"

The answer: an aquarium.

In the 1940s, the city of San Diego launched a long-term dredging project to turn a salt-water marsh and refuse dump (an embarrasment to the city) into a splashy aquatic playground. Waterways encircled islands with beaches and marinas for deep-sea excursions.

The project was completed in 1961 and Mission Bay Aquatic Park emerged. Entrepeneur George Millay thought this would be the perfect location for his new aquarium, SeaWorld, and the rest is tourism history.

An aquarium showcasing fish and aquatic animals native to the lakes, rivers and streams of Florida would attract tourists and locals alike, and its educational value would be priceless, since Lake Apopka is a perfect example of how human encroachment can affect Florida's delicate ecosystem.

If the TV show "River Monsters" can generate revenue, just think what an aquarium displaying lunker bass, giant softshell turtles and the formidable gar could do. And all of these lake monsters call Central Florida home.

Greg May Orlando

Presidents Day worth at least a parade

I would like to know why Presidents Day isn't more celebrated.

There were five parades in Central Florida celebrating the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., and I have no problem with that. He was a great man.

It's bad enough that two of our most famous presidents' holidays have been lumped into one day, as Russell Troutman so ably explained in Monday's My Word column, "Washington, Lincoln deserve own holidays."

But it's sad and despicable that the first president of our fine country, who led troops through two wars and brought our country out of its infancy into a world power, isn't honored more openly.

And neither is Abraham Lincoln, who led America through its own civil war, in which hundreds of thousands died to end slavery. He, like King, died because of his beliefs.

Two presidents, two heroes, who are chiseled into rock and whose faces are put onto our money because they were so great.

No parades, no honorary programs. Just another day off for government workers and some schools and discounts at local retailers.

Why aren't these men honored?

David Tonger Apopka

Shock teen drivers into watching roads

Teens and driving distractions cause a lot of accidents and, many times, death. Not only drivers, but innocent victims get hurt or lose their lives.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/orlandosentinel/news/opinion/~3/PVc-PHUobIA/story01.htm

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