Tampa Bay Times from St. Petersburg, Florida • H2

2 unda ecembe 22 20 13 ampa ay imes HER ta mpab ay om pinion A week after commissioners unanimously named Count Administrator Len Sossamon as their point person on economic development, hairman Da vid Russell at tempted to reverse the decision uesda telling the board while quoting Dale Carnegie that he fa vored a full-time business recruiter Then Commissioner Ji Adkins suggesting Sossamo hold the title nly temporarily while the county contracted with a headhunter to conduc a simultaneous job search fo the full-time economic development director job that has been acant since September Adkins the original advocate for giving Sossamon both jobs, didn a tic- ulate a reason for his changed position. is inexplicable flip flops are becoming routine. Adkins also mismanaged a bumbling at tempt at human resources work. He suggested a six-month salar boost for Sossamon of $20,000 and a new management title and corresponding pay increase for the cu rrent number wo in that of ice, Economic Development Wa ing not the a to get it done in business ernando County needs to send a stronger message to its business development prospects than it sending to the guy in charge of the industrial recruiting Ti me ed itoria Yo ur etters Share our opinions go to tampabay ters Of fende re at yo ur wn ar It ver ceases be amusing when the progressive liberals, with their long histor of deriding the Constitution as an outdated impediment to progress, and as an irrelevant xt for a modern society rush to hide behind its skirt when the issue of separation of church and stat rears its head. As it relates to Brooksville plywood hristmas a rds, columnist a uthor Dan DeWi tt is seemingly of fended by the Ho ly rinity Lutheran Church Christmas message, and appears further mif fed that it is legally permissible under the public forum doctrine.

eeling hand cu ff ed by he egalit he hen regrets the lack of cards from other religions or politically left wing organizations that would genuinely us ge in the true Christmas irit. We I think that I a ve a solution. ead down to owe and pick up a sheet of plywood and some paint, and create your own card. ou know do some finger wagging of your own. ll ven of fer up a message: The state loves you, underlined in red of course.

Alex Va Brooksville Pe ace on ar th fo al of I recently had a phone call from Dan DeWit asking about Mu slims taking part in the religious display at the cour thouse in Brooksville and I mentioned to him that this Christmas holiday is the opportunity for our fellow friends of Christian faith to xpress their religious holiday and rightfully so enjoy it and I mentioned to him that the love of esus shared by uslims and Christians alike should bring them closer than ever this holiday season. I thought it would bene- icial to share some facts that Mu slims love and respect esus as prophe of God who was sent with guidance to the people of Is rael and who is mentioned in the holy Koran more times than the prophet of I slam, oham- med (P eace be upon im). It is ver interesting to notice that Christians now the holiest places in hristianity in eru- salem, but ver few know that it is actually two uslims who open and close the holy door to these hristian sites and ser ve as the cu stodians of the entrance. Their names are Adeeb oudeh and ajeeh Nuseibeh, both are Pa lestinians and uslims bearing the key to the heart of Chris- tianit y. Wa ching world vents and the amount human suf er- ing and all conflicts created out of ignorance and manipulated under religious context, one comes to realize that the only viable path to achieving peace is by education and dialogue, not by wars and killing Although uslims do not cel- ebrate hristmas, we do celebrate the ssage of peace of all prophets on a basis.

Let us work for peace in the season to make peace on Earth a realit not just in the hristmas card. Dr Adel Eldin, Brooksville Fe st iv tr ee li gh ti ng as a it He nando County did itself proud! he lighting of the hrist- mas tree at the courthouse was an A-one production once a ain. It could not ha ve been bet ter and the crowd seems to be ge t- ting larger ver year! It was an vening of fellowship and singing and yes, ven some of us making a feeble at empt at dancing along ith the Brooksville Dance Academ y. All in all, I am glad I was part of such a festive vening and am already looking for ward to next time. ulia inkens, ooksville Co mm en ta to rs ju st ge it Columnist Dan DeWit predictably ook S.

ep. ich Nugent to task for his vote on the budget deal in a Dec. 18 column. I paragraph after paragraph of smarm commentar he disparaged Nugent ote. I is until the ver end that he acci- dently states the real reason for his vote.

Nugent was reflecting the will of his constituents. Why is it so dif fic ult for commentators (local and national) to understand that in our system of representative democrac the people send their representatives to do the will of the people not the will of the self-defined elite Ray Ke ll Spring Hill OU VO ICE COUNTS Yo may submit a letter to the editor or possible publication through our website at tampabay.com/letters, or by faxing it to (352) 7 546133, or mail it to: Letters to the Editor, Hernando Times 15365 Cortez Brooksville, FL 34613. ou must include your name, address and phone number. Letters may be edited or clarity, taste and length. Super visor alerie Pianta.

He was out of line on both counts. Sossamon salar is a negotiable item under his soon-to- be amended contract and it i the administrator role, not the commissio to determine the duties and compensa tion of individual subordinates. Th at the commission is so easily flummoxed by what should ha ve been a routine appointment doesn instill public confidence in i ts ability to set and help xec ute appropriate economic development priorities in a county tr ying to hed its reliance on residential construction and low-wage ser vice sector jobs. he waf fling in the astute obser vation of urrent commission candidate and former busi- ness xec utive Ji mmy odato, reinforces the count reputation of instability and will lea ve potential business prospects with the impression the local government doesn know what it doing Ku os to Commissioners Nick Nicholson and Diane Rowden for at tempting to hold firm in their choice of Sossamon a nd questioning the motives of their contradictor counterparts. Ev ntually the commission a greed to ive the job to their administrator and to re-evaluate the decision in six months.

Nicholson and Rowden had advocated for one-year appointment, and certainly nine months (the end of the urrent iscal year on Sept. 30) would ha ve been a more logical point to review the dual roles. Sossamon, as Russell pointed out, has emerged as the face of the county overnment, ven riding on a float in the recent hrist- mas parade through downtown Brooksville. His background in business and airport development i No rth arolina is significant asset of which the commission should take maximum advantage. A commission commit ed to building a bet ter business environment shouldn sidetracked by second-guessing their own decisions or be so easily manipulated by private-sector interests doing likewise.

The ommission had it right the firs time. Gues column r. Rao usun uru let stress ruin holida ys Mo st of the pa tients ha ve one common xplanation for their dif erent ailments stress. And nobody can tell what tha xactly means. am under a lot of tress, is all they sa y.

The diction- ar defines stress (a noun) as factor tha induces bodily or mental tension or a state induced by such a stress. Tha really does not tell me much. he medical definition of mental stress is a feeling or threatening factor accompanied by sympathetic overac- tivit y. I do not think people read this before deciding they are under tress. The commonsense xplana- tion is results when environmental demands ceed a erson resources to meet thos demands.

I nnate biological, immune, and beha vioral responses to tress cause many immediate and long-term a verse af fects on many organs in the bod y. any times, a person has no immedi- a te control over the ac ute (example: disease or death in the family) or chronic (example: low socioeconomic status) factor that cause stress. The important issue is how much stress is self- induced and unknowingly self- promoted. ven more important is how a person handles it. As Ev angelical pastor harles Swindoll said, is 10 percent what happens to you and 9 0 percent how you react to it.

he most common reasons for self-induced stress include jealousy hatred, anger ignorance, impatience, arrogance, greed and fea r. Un fortunately tress increases around the holidays. A 2006 survey by Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research found people are ore likely to feel their tress increase because the holiday can be hectic for many dealing with strained finances, a lack of time and the hype and commercialism of the season. Of course, ere are tress reducers. There is enormous scientific evidence that faith heals.

Religion is a good medicine to treat tress in the right dose. When overused, it leads to resistance and when misused, it can lead to disaster ood ysical health leads to good mental health and vice versa. editation, yoga, prayer and relaxation xercises can eep one aw ay from edications. editation is nothing other than foc used a wareness, a et hod of breaking habitual pat terns of thought. Consider the isdom of he Dalai Lama who said, sacrifices is health in order to make money Then he sacrifices money to rec uperate his health and then he is so anxious about the future that he does not enjoy the present.

he result being tha he does not live in the present or the future. lives as if he is never going to die and then dies ha ving never really lived. Ju st as important, consider the wisdom of vocalist Bobby Mc er- rin. He told us, worr happy ven around the holidays. Rao usunuru is a cardiologist in practice at Regional edical Center Bayonet oint in udson Musunuru.