Letters to the editor

Embrace diversity of thought

After re-reading Ms. Kathryn Grammer’s letter to the editor dated Sept. 27, regarding Chris Jepson’s war on reality and Republicans, it seems to me that labeling women who spoke at the DNC in Charlotte as “hysterical,” “prison matrons” and “nincompoops” only confirms Mr. Jepson’s observation that an unusual amount of hateful and mean-spirited attitudes exist within the GOP ranks. And I can only assume that as a woman, Ms. Grammer must feel she’s in a unique position to label Ms. Sandra Fluke’s request for a little female respect as “phony sexist twaddle.” I say instead of resorting to name calling and innuendo, Ms. Grammer should just state the obvious: “Don’t try and confuse me with the facts, I’ve already made up my mind!” Finally, Ms. Grammer would do well to remember that democracy thrives on diversity of thought and should always be welcomed by both the left and right. To Mr. Jepson I say, thank you for embracing it!

— Ed Sabori

Winter Park

The Stepford Wives of Winter Park

In 1975 Katharine Ross starred in the movie “The Stepford Wives” about a Connecticut neighborhood where husbands turned their wives into submissive robots. A remake of the movie in 2004 starred Nicole Kidman.

Thanks to the elected Winter Park City Commission’s recent 4 to 1 vote, every wife and mother in Winter Park who dares to utter the words from a sidewalk, “Honey, you didn’t wheel the garbage can out to the curb,” now faces the possibility of 60 days in jail and a $500 fine. Lost in the debate about the city’s new “residential picketing ordinance” is the actual wording of the ordinance itself. That’s because the city of Winter Park doesn’t define “picketing” like you or I do. According to the ordinance as worded, it is defined as any criticism or complaint, whether noisy or silent, whether signs are used or not, whether done by one person or 100. Visit http://bit.ly/VK4UAz for the full text of the ordinance.

The reason I know this is because I attended the Sept. 10 Winter Park City Commission meeting where this was discussed. You can access an audio file of the meeting on the city’s website. It was at that meeting that the Winter Park city attorney acknowledged that a complaint by a spouse would be a misdemeanor crime under the ordinance.

So anxious was City Commissioner Tom McMacken to pass Winter Park’s “Stepford Ordinance” that he said at the Sept. 24 Commission meeting just prior to voting “Yes” that he would vote for it even if it were against the Constitution of the United States of America (which he swore by oath to defend at his inauguration to his office at the beginning of his term). Commissioner Steven Leary liked the Stepford Ordinance so much that he declared that opposition to it was simply “hate.”

Most surprising though is that Winter Park’s Stepford Ordinance was steamrolled through the City Commission by none other than rookie Commissioner Sarah Sprinkel, a woman herself, who agreed with the two men that it would bring “peace and tranquility” to the city. Even Commissioner Carolyn Cooper — herself a victim of bullying by city commissioners earlier in the year as they attacked her free speech rights in conjunction with the newsletter “Cooper’s Perspective,” which she provides to any resident who requests it — seemed to fall under the spell of Stepford and voted for it.

When the final vote was cast, Mayor Ken Bradley was the lone dissenting vote on the Commission to side with women’s rights pioneer Susan B. Anthony and those other brave women who throughout history have advanced the cause of the feminine gender though peaceful public protest. His words were simple prior to his sole “No” vote — The First Amendment to the Constitution. “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”

Now is the time for all good men (and women) to tell our Stepford politicians that we liked Winter Park just fine before their ordinance.

—Paul Vonder Heide

Winter Park