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LETTERS

Happy Father’s Day

As we celebrate Father’s Day it is easy to reflect on our past. Our family vacationed in St. Johns County over the course of my 43 years and beyond. The trips that we made home occurred every year with my father, mother and siblings.

During those times traveling in our youth the South was different, and as a little boy you had lots of questions. I remember asking my mother why some rest stops had three bathrooms, which were titled “Colored, Women,” and “Whites.” My mother answered in a diplomatic way and that was that, but I never stopped wondering, why?

LETTERS

Amphitheater upgrade praised

To the editor:

I would like to thank the Saint Johns County Commission for something difficult to describe: a sense of place. As I have watched the new amphitheater go up, I have been impressed by its architecture and aware of its great potential as a theater. But over the past several weeks, prompted by events like EPIC’s Taste of Saint Augustine, those responses deepened. I started to really love the newly renovated amphitheater. I think the difference is because the County Commission so wisely decided to re-establish the amphitheater as a local resource, not merely as a piece of real estate. Over recent years, so many decisions at the county level have had the feel of strategic manipulations of a chess board. But the decision to keep the amphitheater under county management feels like a different kind of move. It is like they have pulled up chairs for me and my family at a table, and I am home. As a long time resident, former EPIC board member, and devotee of the arts in Saint Johns County, I am grateful.

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR -- JUNE 2

Nease’s gain is, sadly, Landrum’s loss

Dean Blue’s loss at  Landrum is a sad state of affairs for our middle- school age children. Nease parents and students are celebrating but there will be a huge void for children 11 to 13.
I was Kelvin Blue’s secretary for several years and I observed his interactions with the children of this community first hand. He is, in my opinion, irreplaceable. In a world where everything is measured in money or metrics he is the great intangible. How do you measure or put value on turning a child’s life around, taking young people destined for success and encouraging them to an even higher level, giving a student a sense of self-worth, instilling an attitude of pride and respect, of caring and service done with courtesy and a smile, or teaching that as great as winning is, how you win is more important?
How do we measure the lifelong impact on our young people who have had as a mentor a man who always puts the needs of others before himself or the lessons they have learned about duty to family, community and country? There is no way to measure these things which are Dean Blue.
We are all thankful for the years we had him as part of our lives and the lives of middle school children in their most formative years. 
Dean Blue is beyond special. Thinking of Landrum without him saddens me terribly.