Community college system vital for Florida education
Focusing on Central Florida’s contributions to higher education (“How higher education grew in Central Florida,” Jan. 8) was a great way to kick off Orlando Sentinel 150.
As I read the article, I thought about a luncheon I attended in Tampa hosted by the Florida Association of Community Colleges in the 1980s where I was seated next to Leroy Collins, a former Florida governor. After hearing my Boston accent, he asked how I had ended up in Florida and seemed skeptical when I replied that he was partially responsible.
I explained that Jim Wattenbarger, the man whose doctoral dissertation became the template for the first comprehensive system of community colleges in the nation, served as a consultant to those of us working to create a similar system in Virginia. Wattenbarger had nothing but praise for the strategic role Collins played in the Florida community college system. After working at Northern Virginia Community College alongside many veterans of the Florida system, I decided to migrate to the Sunshine State.
Collins and I agreed that community colleges were America’s unique contribution to higher education and provided much needed educational opportunities for the underrepresented and the underprepared, those seeking a second chance, and those who are new to higher education or to this country. Collins identified his role in the creation of that system as one of his greatest lifetime achievements.
Maggie Culp Longwood
Projection and obstruction
I was dismayed and angry to read Duncan S. DeMarsh’s guest column in the Thursday section of the Sentinel opinion page. From where I’m sitting, the article is full of obfuscation. Even the title is misleading: “America seeks liberty for the people of Venezuela” (Jan. 8). Donald Trump said many times he’s doing it for the oil, and he’s controlling the money. That is like letting a wolf into the hen house.
DeMarsh states that Maduro “operates with impunity,” “dismantles a nation,” “enriches the ruling elite” and “exports instability across the hemisphere.” How is that any different from Trump?
I believe that Congress has nothing to do with checks and balances anymore. Lawmakers were not even briefed about the invasion until after the fact. DOGE, under Trump’s direction, dismantled educational, social, consumer and civil rights institutions and facilities. In my opinion, his billionaire friends are the only ones profiting from his Big Bugly Bill. ICE is killing citizens in the street, and Trump lies about it. And how is attacking Venezuela with impunity any different from any other dictator plundering sovereign countries? Yes, Maduro is a bad man. So is Trump. What happened to America First?
Americans cannot afford food, housing, insurance or health care. Illegal gerrymandering of districts and other shenanigans are proceeding at Trump’s insistence. We have endured one constitutional crisis after another. Essays such as DeMarsh’s are steeped in hypocrisy. However, I do agree with DeMarsh about one statement in his essay: Accountability is long overdue.
Elizabeth Randall Lake Mary
Impeachment isn’t the answer
In the continuing effort to “flood the zone,” Donald Trump found time to “warn” that if he loses the House and/or Senate, he believes he will be impeached, all the while knowing that this will never happen without breaking the filibuster. So this is nothing but bluster in order to appeal to those who react only to the anger he stokes with these nonsense statements. On the other hand, if the Democrats actually decide to waste time with such an action knowing full well that it will never pass the Senate, then they will be just as bad as the GOP party of inaction, when they could be using their dominance to actually get things done that won’t require such a majority and tie up the government with this action only so that he can be labeled as a “three-time” impeached president. That will get him as far as his 34 felony convictions. In other words, it means absolutely nothing but will be very costly. I honestly and truly hope this is not part of the agenda. If they keep playing tit for tat, well, we will never get out of this democracy death spiral.
Alex Jimenez Winter Park
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