Excessive seaweed should be removed
Jensen Beach is disgusting with excessive seaweed!
Are we just going to let it keep piling up until the beach is no longer usable?
Enough is enough. Something must be done about it.
Carol Hansen, Port St. Lucie
Sargassum seaweed blankets this St. Lucie County beach
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Sargassum seaweed blankets the shoreline just north of Herman’s Bay Beach on Hutchinson Island on May 20, 2026, in St. Lucie County. While it’s a beneficial resource in the ocean, including providing habitat for an array of animals, it piles up on beaches, produces a horrid stench as it rots, and hosts organisms that can irritate the skin.
(CRYSTAL VANDER WEIT/TCPALM)Service to others classic American story
As we celebrate the 250th, I am reflecting on history and the meaning of service.
For me, service is our family legacy.
I didn’t stumble into public service. It was planned long before I entered this world, and you can’t stop fate. “I did take the road less traveled.”
Examples were set by generations of family members who answered the call to serve their country, even before the United States existed via our Native American heritage.
My family of veterans served in the American Revolution. According to the National Park Service, 44 served during the Civil War — 32 for the Union,12 for the Confederacy, and in Vietnam.
My family is native to St. Johns County, the first county established by Military Gov. Andrew Jackson in 1821, after the transfer to the United States from Spain.
We have participated in the growth of our nation — from the Revolutionary War era, through the Civil War, Reconstruction, Vietnam and to today.
Their experiences remind me that America has never been perfect, but always been a nation striving to improve.
Family members led by demonstrating a commitment to something greater than themselves.
My love for this country has less to do with any historical figure; more to do with the values of character passed down through generations.
Those values taught me to always ask what I can do for our fellow citizens?
Leadership begins at home and is learned through example, responsibility and service to others.
Throughout life, I’ve come to embrace leadership by “knowing the way, showing the way, and going the way.”
True leaders, lead by example.
As we celebrate 250, remember our nation has always rested in ordinary citizens willing to serve for others.
Service to others unselfishly is the foundation of the American story.
Derek Boyd Hankerson, Fort Pierce
Sargassum seaweed blankets the shoreline just north of Herman’s Bay Beach on Hutchinson Island on May 20, 2026, in St. Lucie County. While it’s a beneficial resource in the ocean, including providing habitat for an array of animals, it piles up on beaches, produces a horrid stench as it rots, and hosts organisms that can irritate the skin.
Ehrlich’s population book remains warning to humanity
One of my idols was Dr. Paul Ehrlich, who passed away in March 2026. He tirelessly championed the warning to humankind that the world was overpopulated and in danger of consuming all of the planet’s limited resources.
He was a deeply moral person, but was challenged for being just the opposite. His ideas ran counter to the growth goals of our economic systems and our deeply ingrained ways.
There is nothing pleasant in his sobering message, which rings even truer today.
By every conceivable measure we are overrunning our planet with too many people and too much human activity. His now classic book, “The Population Bomb,” was a dire warning to humanity.
Tom Tomlinson, Palm City
White House UFC event no way to celebrate independence
Our independence was secured with a revolution; secured for many reasons, one being taxation.
Our nation’s growth and development always had an element of violence in its history.
Even today, we are a violent nation. Shootings, racism, domestic violence and the attacks on Iran, warranted or not, are some examples, or symptoms.
So, on the eve of celebrating our nation’s Independence, we honored violence with a UFC event on the lawn of the White House.
There is a better way to show our nation’s struggles for freedom, independence, equality and justice. Promoting violence to our citizens and the world is not one of them, nor in our best interests.
Shame on our complicit leaders and the sources of the wealth paying for this event.
I am a third-generation immigrant whose grandparents fled violence seeking a better life in the United States. I celebrate our nation’s independence; l advocate for peace, not violence.
I tip my hat to all those opposed to this event.
May this country, its citizens and its military be protected and strive for peace.
Ronald D. Roberts, Sebastian
Democrats playing into Trump’s hands
Warning from an Independent voter:
Democrats are going to lose again if they allow declared socialistic candidates to dominate the party. As liberal as I am, I am not a socialist, and I will not vote for one.
They are playing right in to Donald Trump’s rhetoric by not challenging these socialist candidates.
Democrats still have time.
They must do something now.
Mary Oliver, Port St. Lucie
DeSantis, minions should stop trying to fix unbroken Florida
It seems as though our state and national governments try to maintain an ongoing mood of chaos and disruption.
The most recent example is our governor’s attempt to reduce our property taxes. He has misappropriated millions of dollars from Medicare, spent hundreds of millions on Alligator Alcatraz, millions on his State Guard and vetoed millions in clean energy grants.
He does, however, have two notable distinctions: He presides over a state with the worst K-12 education system in the country and the lowest teacher pay.
There is a direct correlation between states with aggressive voucher systems and inferior educational systems.
Currently, this administration and its cohorts seem to be doing everything possible to destroy our public school system. This is evident in the dismal pay scale of our educators and the eroding infrastructure of our schools.
His latest attempt to wrest controls from local governments is to cut property taxes. Property taxes have been around since the Roman Empire. They have played a key role in supporting the needs of local communities since the inception of our democracy .
They allow local governments to respond to the needs of their constituents.
This latest attempted power grab smacks of yet more Trumpism.
Some of us are lucky enough to live in communities where our elected officials have been excellent stewards of the public trust. If officials falter, they can be voted out of office.
No one enjoys paying taxes except Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, who stated, “I like taxes, with them I buy civilization.”
To our governor and his minions: If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.
Charles W. Eastman, Vero Beach
Matthew gives insight into November choices
If the Keystone Kops and the Gang That Couldn’t Shoot Straight had a baby, it would be the Trump administration!
I beg all fellow Americans, please get out and vote these bums out in November. Wake up and smell the coffee, Donald Trump and all his pals have been lying and taking from all of us for too long, and it’s time for them to go.
Vote even though Trump is trying to make it hard for you. Don’t capitulate, cave or give in.
“Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold, but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved,” said Jesus in, Matthew 24:12-13. God is using Trump to punish America for turning away from God to our new god: money.
Things are not going to end well on the current path. We can re-examine all we have been taught, and now grow up and reject what insults our soul. Think about what freedom really means in November, and vote wisely.
Melissa Reynolds, Vero Beach
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This article originally appeared on Treasure Coast Newspapers: Florida beach trashed. Clean it up. DeSantis breaking state | Opinion