Mental Wellness Month
National Mental Wellness Month, January, is designed to cut through stigma and encourage everyone to seek support they need for body, mind and spirit.
The effort took hold after a UK travel company declared the third Monday in January the most depressing day of the year (Blue Monday).
Factual or not, it points to a growing problem facing seniors across the globe — isolation, depression and the resulting physical and mental decline, plus increased risk of death, many older adults face.
Collier Senior Center – Golden Gate was founded in 2014 to address these concerns.
In 2020, we launched UPSLIDE, offering free professional counseling and a Friends Connection group to address depression, loneliness, isolation; help seniors build relationships and engage more socially, bringing peace of mind to more than 165 older adults.
Coupled with fellowship, enrichment and wellness offerings like a daily hot lunch and coffee bar; weekly food pantry; health fairs; research; birthday and holiday parties; fitness classes; art therapy, cards and games; Alzheimer’s support groups; crafts and other life-enhancing activities; we empower seniors to live meaningful, engaging lives their way.
Collaborations with respected agencies like AARP Foundation, Meals of Hope, Collier Area Transport and more, help seniors and caregivers transform their lives by giving them a place they not only belong, but tools to thrive.
Join us at Collier Senior Center-Golden Gate (9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday – Friday; 4898 Coronado Parkway) to Discover Balance at Your Center!
Senior Center Director Esther Lully, MSML, Collier Senior Center — Golden Gate
American Legion Post
Effective Dec. 19 last year, Pine Island American Legion Post 136 is a non-smoking location. All forms of smoking, use of tobacco products, vaping or other smoking products is prohibited anywhere inside the post’s building.
The Legion has a broad range of programs for family, youth, community and national affairs. With over 27 different programs, we’ve got you covered from the baseball diamond to our nation’s borders. Additionally, we make a difference not only within our local communities, but nationwide as an organization.
The American Legion, Department of Florida proudly stands at over 130,000 members with more than 300 Legion Posts across the state. Members rally to support our military and their families in a variety of ways through promoting strong national security, advocating patriotism and honor, mentoring youth, and sponsoring wholesome programs within our communities.
We’re brothers and sisters in arms. Together, we can make a difference. Your membership provides vital support to veterans’ services, lobbying efforts, and outreach in local communities. With membership, you get exclusive member discounts, have access to scholarships and programs, and receive 12 issues of American Legion Magazine. And then there’s the camaraderie. The American Legion is open to veterans, children/grandchildren and spouses of veterans. The American Legion has an active Riders program to support the American Legion Post. Come in as a guest, leave as a part of The Family.
Chuck Warren, American Legion Post 136, Saint James City
Hit-and-run jail terms
In the Thursday Naples Daily News, there were three hit-and-run fatal sentencings. A boater who ran over a man and left the scene received a 9-year prison term. A second man in Matlacha ran over a lady, didn’t leave the scene and received 24 years. But a local attorney who ran over a bicyclist and left him to die received a measly 4 years and is now out on bond while appealing the sentence. It will be interesting to see how the wheels of justice prevail.
Fritz Metts, Naples
Israel-Gaza, Red Dye 3
President Biden and his administration are going out with a flourish. Apart from finally brokering an Israeli-Gaza resolution, if it holds up under the next administration, on the domestic front, the outgoing administration has issued a flurry of rules, many of them dealing with environmental health and safety, among other matters. The latest two were banning the cancer-causing synthetic Red Dye 3 coloring in consumable products and ordering substantial reduction in the level of nicotine in cigarettes and other tobacco products. The two edicts came down concurrently Wednesday from one of the many “alphabet” federal agencies, the Food & Drug Administration (FDA).
There are several ironies at work here. One is that a ruling last year by the Supreme Court in Loper Bright Enterprises v Raimondo has significantly eroded the authority of federal administrative agencies like the FDA to enforce their directives by allowing affected parties, usually regulated businesses and licensees, to challenge more easily the regulatory determinations in lawsuits that could drag on for years, delaying and, if successful, defeating the agency determinations. Moreover, the Trump II administration is already stocking the agencies with appointees opposed to many regulatory efforts, possibly these two and others as well, and could undertake to bury them. Finally, it’s baffling why the Biden administration has taken so long to come up with this flurry of activity. It’s had four years to do so and, while it understandably takes some time to develop these policies, waiting until the last moment means that the unhealthy or unsafe conditions have been allowed to persist for such a long while and, their belated issuance could make them more vulnerable to legal challenges, especially before Trump-appointed judges. Further, rolling them out earlier may have provided somewhat of a political advantage because they could have been talking points for the campaign of Vice President Harris, although some may believe they might have been withheld to avoid upsetting the business community like tobacco interests in crucial states like Virginia and North Carolina.
But to the extent that the new restrictions on Dye 3 and nicotine are salutary, they may be charitably characterized as “better late than never,” or, put more caustically, “Biden late as ever.”
Marshall H. Tanick, Naples
Competence not required
In the real business world (not Trump businesses) every job has a job description which lists required job experience and core competencies (behaviors) that are required before a candidate can even be considered for a particular position.
Not in the Trump administration! Take Pete Hegseth as an example. While there are other Republicans who could easily meet the job requirements for the Secretary of Defense position, Pete Hegseth is not one of them. He simply will do anything Trump requests and that is why he was nominated by Trump.
His resume seems to be similar to Trump’s. He has zero experience in leading/managing large numbers of people or businesses. Two veterans’ groups he was involved in running fired him due to his inability to properly oversee the agency’s finances. Hegseth’s history with women is very troubling as is his drunkenness on many occasions. At age 44 he has been married three times. Even the FBI security clearance being performed on his background shows that key people were never interviewed.
So far, the Republican senators seem to have decided to surrender their “advise and consent” role identified in the Constitution in fear of threats from MAGA. Where is the Republican Party’s long voiced support of the military. It truly has gone up in smoke if Hegseth is approved as secretary of Defense.
JoAnn Stehr, Sanibel
Plethora of lies
Joe is leaving in but a few days and he leaves with the same plethora of lies that he uttered duing his inauguration speech. Joe spewed lie after lie first and foremost stating that he was a president of unity and on his first day in office he divided once again the already divided country.
Lying is just Joe’s method of communication. He said inflation was 9% when he took over. In fact it was about 1%. He claimed that he created many millions of jobs. The fact is the vast majority of these jobs were those that were lost during COVID and re-birthed. He said the U.S. is stronger and our enemies are weaker. Even a blind by loyalty Democrat knows that not to be the case. Our military is at a low point, due in part to DEI. The Chinese have accelerated their warship building. The U.S. has built but one or two. He boasted how great our departure from Afghanistan was. This disaster gave China and Russia the go-ahead on all of their aggression. They knew Joe and his merry band of wokesters would do nothing. Joe’s ego is so deflated that lying is the only way he knows to build up his ego. Lying comes naturally to Joe as does lying on the beach in Delaware. We would have been far better off had he never been elected.
Michael Zubrow, Naples
What a callous thing
It came as no surprise when the most uncaring person on the planet blamed the California wildfires on Governor Gavin Newsom instead of what he will do to prevent these disasters when he takes over. As soon as he heard about these tragedies, he put one of his unsympathetic, childish nicknames on the governor − Gavin Newscum. When he was president in 2017, he went to Puerto Rico with the intent to assuage the hurt caused by the hurricane. Instead of promising our unwavering support, he stood there and threw paper towels to the onlookers. What a callous thing to do. The only act that would have topped that would be throwing bags of marshmallows to the suffering owners in southern California. Thanks for your compassion once again.
Glenn Chenot, Cape Coral
Newspaper hates Trump, GOP
News-Press: Your never-ending display of outright hatred of Trump, DeSantis and all things Republican stands between you and journalism.
John Strickling, Fort Myers
Hope for Israel
Trump is not “better for Israel.”
A new blog titled The Contrarian is written by former Washington Post reporters who left when Jeff Bezos took over. Today’s article is titled “Undaunted.” It refers to the ceasefire in the Hamas Israel war that was negotiated by Secretary Blinken and others in the Biden administration over 15 months of painstaking diplomacy. It will now be up to the incoming administration to implement the conditions of the ceasefire.
The Biden administration has once again taken on an incredibly difficult task − this time sensitive foreign policy issues − and assured that the remaining hostages held for 469 torturous days will be sent home and that Gaza can begin to reconstruct.
There are many voters who believe Trump is “better for Israel,” but let’s acknowledge that — in addition to a strong economy, unprecedented job growth, and management of a global pandemic — he is now inheriting a sensitive peace negotiation brokered by a Democratic administration. Let’s only hope his administration can sustain it.
Lisa Freund, Naples
Special counsel report
Once again, one of our usual GOP/MAGA/RINO/CINOs is pontificating about something they know nothing about. Their letter claims that Jack Smith, former special counsel for the United States Department of Justice, who was prosecuting Trump for his attempted coup on Jan 6th, 2021, released a report that only tells one side of the story. So, for the edification of our letter writer, let me point out that that’s how the legal system works. The prosecutor spells out their case, which by the way, was vetted first by a grand jury after being presented with the facts, said, “Yes, there is a case here.” When the case goes to trial, the prosecution presents those facts to a jury, and then the defendant presents whatever facts they have to refute the prosecution’s case.
In this situation, because Trump won the 2024 election, Smith “was forced under a binding Justice Department policy to drop the case against him.” So, saying that Smith dropped it because he didn’t have the facts flies in the face of reality. His report lays out the facts, which the American public is entitled to know (although, apparently 56% of the electorate don’t care). And saying that Smith could just delay the case till Trump leaves office is preposterous to even address why that makes no sense − so I won’t.
However, if the letter writer would like to pursue this line of thought, maybe a letter to Trump telling him to put out a report telling his side of the story, with all the relevant facts to support his case, would be in order, although Trump’s track record on facts is pretty thin so I wouldn’t be holding my breath on that.
And just for the record, Smith could feel confident in saying he could win the case since federal prosecutors have a 95% winning percentage.
Ken Brindle, Cape Coral
More hypocrisy on Left
It is astounding how hypocritical many on the Left can be. Currently, they are expressing major concern that some lawyers who represented Trump in the multiple DOJ actions against him are being considered for positions in the Trump administration. Of course, prominent among them is Pam Bondi for attorney general. Many on the Left are suggesting that this is inappropriate and that she will not be independent. They seem to forget that Nixon appointed his personal attorney as AG. Obama appointed Holder who described himself as Obama’s “wingman.” JFK appointed his own brother as AG. It is all because of TDS (Trump Derangement Syndrome).
Here is another example. At one time, not very long ago, Bezos and Zuckerburg, among other Silicon Valley executives, were the darlings of the Left, even Musk at one time. They basically took orders from the Democrats, censored Trump and his supporters, hid vital news like Hunter’s laptop, endorsed DEI, BLM and woke initiatives and contributed to Democratic candidates. Now, if you listen to Biden’s farewell speech and Sanders’ questions in today’s hearing, these same people are a threat to democracy because they are oligarchs who are now talking to Trump. The reasoning is simple − they are not taking orders from the Democrats.
Ron Wobbeking, Naples
Presidential Oath of Office
The Presidential Oath of Office: “I (stated name) do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.”
I’m sure the late and greatest former President Carter would have gladly added to his Oath: “…and I solemnly swear to never lie to the American people.”
I wonder if the president-elect would gladly add this to his upcoming oath.
J. Cant, Naples
Honesty and integrity?
When I saw the headline of your January 8 edition, A Career of ‘Honesty and Integrity’ I thought an article about President Carter would follow since his funeral was scheduled later this month. But, I was surprised to see a photo and article about President Biden below this headline. “Honesty and Integrity” are accurate descriptors for President Carter but certainly not President Biden. Mr. Biden lied during a debate with Mr. Trump when he said that he had never participated in business meetings with foreign dignitaries while in office with son, Hunter, and there are now photos of him in these meetings. Or when he said that Hunter’s laptop was “Russian misinformation,” and finally, when he repeatedly promised that he would not grant a pardon to Hunter for his crimes but did it anyway.Honesty and Integrity are not words I would use to describe President Biden.
Arnold Angeloni, Naples
Keep losing elections
They all lied. Obama, Clinton, Pelosi, Schumer, Joe and Jill Biden, Harris, the entire Biden Cabinet and administration, the media-industrial complex, Hollywood, big Democratic donors, Newsom, Hochul, and Pritzker, lied to the American public about Joe Biden’s diminished mental capacity and his inability to perform his duties. They should have invoked the 25th Amendment. Instead, they lied to acquire and preserve power. Their lie backfired and it cost them the presidency, the House, the Senate, and their destructive cultural revolution. 77 million American voters have spoken. They don’t want the incompetent liars and their woke/DEI Marxist/identity politics. Incredibly, 75 million voted for Harris despite “le grand mensonge.” Perhaps they struggle with the cognitive dissonance of the shame and foolishness of being duped? Democrat party voters, ask yourself is a lie a lie if everyone knows it’s a lie? Yes it is. Keep blaming the voters. You’ll keep losing elections.
Michael Mainelli, Estero
This post was originally published on here
