Thursday — 5:34 p.m.
You know, it's a pretty, sunshiny day and it has been all week. No rain, and you drive down Avalon Boulevard and there's all this work to be done and these contractors are so far behind, at three-o-clock in the afternoon, there's nobody out here working.
There ain't nobody out here working. That's ridiculous. But I did notice that they changed the completion date from 2013 to 2014.
There's a waste of money, cause they'll have to be changed at 2015 at the rate they're going. Our tax dollars at work. Thank you.
Friday — 8 p.m.
Yeah, my name is Everett. And I was reading the comments from Dale in the Press Gazette from Dale about the fire truck at a local restaurant eating. I really had to take a second and catch my breath. I couldn't understand where this guy comes from.
But around here, we value our firefighters. We appreciate them, and they are human beings and they do have the right to go out to a restaurant and eat.
I don't know what your problem is dude. It's not like that around here. You need to go back to where you come from. Thank you.
Saturday — 10:38 a.m.
Yeah, this is Bobby. I've been seeing where the Flea Across Florida is going to be in another couple of weeks.
Just want to say something to the people that bring their stuff out to sell. If you want top dollar—If I want to pay top dollar, I'll go to an antique shop. If you come out to sell, you're probably selling. But, a lot of people think there might be somebody that will buy it at an unreasonable price. Put a reasonable price on it and maybe you won't have to haul it on with you.
Saturday — 4:14 p.m.
Yes, don't forget that 31 or 32 years ago, they have more than killed 241 marines in Beirut, 1983. Now, all this is happening because a city we're inside in Beirut. They burned all the tree, from Lebanon tree, they did a lot of damage and finally they got out and I guess they go back in to kill people. And now McCain and Lindsay Graham, now they want to show they face and say we want the president to do something.
Before, they were saying the president, "why's the president not doing anything?" And now they need to say something. They back up and they don't even show their faces.
This is Maria, thank you.
Saturday — 7:56 p.m.
Hey, this is Dennis. Thank you, President Obama for taking a step back. I believe it took courage. Let's seek peace. I personally have had enough of war.
Saturday — 10:04 p.m.
Yes, I would like to make a comment about the contributor to the Speak Out line named Raymond. He frequently calls in and asks people to stop being a hater. Raymond needs to wake up, he's one of the biggest haters that contributes to the Speak Out call line. Thank you.
Saturday — 10:16 p.m.
Hello, this is Bob. As I was driving this morning, there was a young couple both riding bicycles in the road. I had to stop in the road, as there was oncoming traffic—otherwise I would have hit the young couple. As traffic went by, I was able to get over in the other lane and get around them.
When I was coming up, pedestrians and bicyclists were to ride facing the traffic, and as oncoming traffic approached, they were to get off the road because motorized vehicles had the right-of-way. Now, bicyclists and pedestrians walk with their back to oncoming traffic, which is not smart at all.
I saw an article recently in the Press Gazette, where you can elect them into office, but you can't make them think. Leaders were talking about spending thousands of dollars to build a bike lane on our roads. There are plenty of places for people to ride bicycles. If they do so, they need to do it facing traffic. It's dangerous to ride, or even walk on the highway. Motorized vehicles should have the right-of-way. Thank you for your time. Bye.
Sunday — 8:18 a.m.
This is Judy. In the trial for the Bass man that stabbed someone in Munson on Jan. 1 has been postponed yet again. This allows the attempted murderer to walk our streets. He was freed on bond and released later in the middle of the night, soon after the incident. I am disgusted with the Sheriff's department for letting this man walk our streets and do harm to someone else. Thank you.
Monday — 11:49 a.m.
I want the Sheriff's Office to stop sending moving traffic violators' names and pictures to the Santa Rosa Press Gazette to publish. Even my mother taught me that two wrongs don't make a right. Thank you.
Editor's note: To clarify: This information is public record. Anyone can find it on the Internet. We only publish traffic violations that are felonies. Thank you.
Monday — 1:50 p.m.
Hello, this is Katherine. I appreciate the man, the person, that wrote and called about the phone numbers and e-mail sections of our political people that you used to have. I'm glad that someone else besides me was concerned about it. And I appreciate the editor's note that they will again put this back in the paper. We'll be looking forward to it, soon.
Monday — 11:56 p.m.
Hello, yes, this is in response to the letter that was in the Saturday edition of the Press Gazette on Aug. 31. Someone had written in about the school-related employees and of course what SRPE, the Santa Rosa Professional Educators, had supposedly done to them.
I don't believe that this person is very knowledgeable, in that they don't appear to have read the proposal. In fact, the first proposal was an $1,800 increase for all instructional personnel. That would be teachers, administrators, guidance counselors, librarians, everybody—and the non-instructional would also get $1,800. It was the School Board who came back and proposed that everybody across the board, including the bus services, cleaning people they all get $1,400 dollars.
First of all, that was not the governor's intent by the money that he sent. In fact, his intent, as he stated many times in the paper, was to give $2,500 dollars across the board to increase teacher salary across the state. And that was based on the fact that teachers now have an evaluation based on performance of their students.
First of all, the non-instructional people have not had an evaluation tied to any type of student performance until this year. Those evaluations for them have not been done yet of that type.
My other point is that the Santa Rosa County School Board are the ones who voted to privatize the food service, the bus transportation and cleaning service. They decided many years ago, that they wanted to wash their hands of those people and they did not want to give them the same benefits that they gave to others. That is totally on them, not SRPE.
This article originally appeared on Santa Rosa Press Gazette: Speak Out – September 3, 2013