Taking my daily walks on the beach, I realize how bad our beaches are becoming … [they are] nothing more than LANDFILLS. The men paid to pick up the trash that washes onshore, “Beach Rakers,” are a joke. All they do is rake up the trash, dig a hole in the sand and bury it. Then when the next high tide comes in, the trash rolls back out into the ocean and collects on the next beach. This is a never-ending battle with no end in sight. They don’t even make as many raking trips as before because of the higher gas prices.

If the condo owners would simply require their maintenance men to pick up the trash that washes on their beaches and properly discard the trash, it would not go back out in to the ocean. The majority of the trash comes from the many boats fishing and boating off shore.

PLEASE HELP KEEP OUR BEACHES FROM BECOMING MORE OF A LANDFILL!

J.Huffman

Deerfield Beach

Let’s get Century Village back on track

Dear Editor:

Firstly, I want to thank you for the professional and informative manner in which you publish and distribute important information to your readers of the Observer. I have been a resident of Century Village for 16 years and your publication constantly keeps me apprised of many local issues that are of interest to me and not always in the local Sentinel/Post, etc.

I am President of my association for several years in addition to being a long- time resident as per the above. As a director, I attend almost every COOCVE meeting, so I am quite aware of what is unfortunately happening within the Village. It is truly is a shameful turmoil. In my opinion, what we are currently going through has been brought on by what I term a minuscule number of “newcomers.” From what I see, hear and witness at these meetings, these are residents who have possibly six years or less residency in the Village and maybe a few with a little more years who now have a “desire for status.” They probably never had this in their productive years and unfortunately, want their “15 minutes now” and many of the Village residents are encouraging them.

Complaints of the earlier years of Century Village management may be in order for the most part. However, that management put Deerfield Beach on the map and created a beautiful home for those who could never have been able to live in beautiful surroundings at a very moderate cost. It would be wise for the current management do research [on] the manner in which this earlier management did what they did for the good of the Village [rather than] refer to the mismanagement/dictatorship. (Do those words sound familiar?) They might be surprised of the good they might learn that could benefit all of us and get Century Village back on track to where we were. Let’s move on to become the place to live in Deerfield Beach.

We have a lot of knowledgeable, experienced individuals living in the Village and I am sure they would step up to the plate. However, these individuals are above being involved with what is going on now.

Setting aside what I expressed, I take offense to your permitting “KATHY RICHARDS” to express her personal feelings and obvious vendetta in her column. This type of reporting as a critic of Century Village Management by a non-professional and obviously uneducated individual in the journalistic field only adds insult to injury of what we are experiencing. She certainly has the right to “freedom of speech.” However, I believe her duty as a “reporter” [is] to write about what happening in the Village – IT’S NOT HER PLACE TO BE ALLOWED TO VENT HER PERSONAL OPINIONS IN HER COLUMN.

I thank you and trust you will consider taking my comments as constructive criticism at this time.

Don K.Winstone

Deerfield Beach

Don’t compare Al Lamberti with Ken Jenne

Dear Editor:

This letter is to express my disagreement with the article by Herschell Gordon Lewis comparing former Broward County Sheriff Ken Jenne, a felon convicted of abusing the power of his office for personal gain through the use of fraud and taking bribes, and Sheriff Al Lamberti.

The contributions Sheriff Lamberti has received for his election are from citizens who appreciate his honesty and effectiveness and know that, for the benefit of Broward County, he should be allowed to continue the excellent work he is doing as our sheriff.

When Al Lamberti was in charge of police protection in Deerfield Beach, before it merged with the county, he worked very hard to make this a safe place to live. I was particularly impressed with his interest in promoting the CAT program to protect seniors from car theft. Seniors were issued a decal to place in the rear car window. If such a vehicle was spotted on the road after 10 p.m., it would be stopped to be sure it was the car owner at the wheel and not a thief.

He was so concerned with the success of this program that he personally visited condominiums and other public gathering places to explain the safety to seniors of utilizing the CAT program.

When Ken Jenne was in office, every newspaper article from his department mentioned his name. You will notice that these type of articles from the sheriff’s office now list the name of the personnel responsible for making the report.

Al Lamberti is an honest, concerned, man of integrity we need to elect as the Sheriff of Broward County.

Betty Joye

Deerfield Beach

10/09/08