Your Letters: Friday

Thank a hunter

“Wildlife not for everyone,” a letter by Jack Williams on June 29, was a typical anti-hunting position in the name of conservation.

“Orwellian”? How about some facts that Williams failed to mention? State Game Lands 176 comprises 6,956 acres purchased with hunting license fees. The area is managed with fees from hunting licenses. There are 305 million square feet of land in it and Williams is complaining about 60,000 to be used to create a central location where Pennsylvania Game Commission biologists can work together on wildlife, habitat and, yes, conservation issues.

By the way, the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources operates the state parks, not the Game Commission. The evil hunting organizations that Williams mentioned have done more to promote and fund wildlife management and conservation issues than all the mountain bikers, hikers and bird watchers.

The next time you see a hunter, thank him, because without him you would not be able to hug trees in State Game Lands 176 and have this issue to complain about.

Joe Boston State College

Applauding legislation

Recently, President Barack Obama signed a historic bill to protect kids from the dangers of tobacco. I write to applaud U.S. Sens. Bob Casey and Arlen Specter for placing the interests of Pennsylvania residents above those of the tobacco industry by voting to pass legislation that gives the U.S. Food and Drug Administration the power to regulate tobacco products.

As a physician I witness firsthand the destructive toll tobacco takes on people’s health. Tobacco use is the leading preventable cause of death in our country. Each year it kills more than 20,000 people in Pennsylvania and costs our state more than $5 billion in health care costs. Every day, another 50 Pennsylvania kids become addicted.

Giving the FDA the authority to regulate how tobacco products are manufactured, marketed and sold will reduce the devastating consequences that tobacco causes in lives and money.

Eric Gertner Allentown

The writer is chairman of the Patient Advocacy Council of the Pennsylvania Medical Society.

Free us from fossil fuels

On July 4, 1776, we proclaimed ourselves free and independent from Great Britain. Today, 233 years later, we have an urgent need to declare ourselves independent of fossil fuels as our energy source.

Reliance on fossil fuels is changing our global ecology in ways we cannot manage. Imports of fossil fuels from countries unfriendly to us costs us our national treasury and our wealth in the form of our young men and women sent into harm’s way to secure these energy sources.

We can strive to be independent in the choices we make in transportation and in the support we give to wind and solar, large and small, as they replace coal-fired electrical power. For every gallon of gasoline burned, 22 pounds of additional CO2 is released into the atmosphere. Did you know that by increasing our fleet average mpg to 33, we can wipe out more than 40 percent of the petroleum we now import? When we do this, we shut down imports from unfriendly countries.

Did you know that the energy value of electricity generated from coal-fired plants is only 31.5 percent of the energy input into the process? By replacing coal with energy from wind and solar, we can cut this appalling and unnecessary addition of CO2 to our atmosphere.

Let us make this July 4, 2009, truly independent.

Mary Carol Frier Centre Hall

Suggestions for reform

We are in the early stages of health care reform. The final legislation should include a strong public health-insurance option that includes the following components:

First, all U.S. citizens should have the option to participate in the public health insurance plan. However, individuals should not be forced to enroll in the public plan. For those satisfied with their current plan, they should be able to keep it.

Second, a major part of reform is controlling costs and competing with private health insurance plans. To make this a reality, a strong public health insurance option must be available for all. Without a public option, insurance companies have no reason to solve the problems that currently plague the industry, such as reducing costs and refusing coverage because of preexisting conditions.

Third, the public option should be available immediately. If we sit idly by and do nothing or wait to implement the public option, health care costs will continue to skyrocket.

Fourth, as with any reform, health care legislation should provide accountability. A public plan will ensure that government leaders are held accountable. Moreover, the public plan will provide transparency for voters.

Mike Hritz Gallitzen

Ease the pain

It hurts! Who cares? Not Penn State’s Health Services. Pain management is not a priority, to say the least.

Torn rotator cuff, herniated disc, severely torn meniscus: Painful. University Health Services doesn’t care. You can get a referral for a specialist but pain management, don’t count on it. In my opinion, UHS physicians on the whole have no idea how or what to administer to their patients in pain. There are a dozen physicians on staff, and not one pain specialist.

If they cannot provide relief for their patients, why are they in the health care business? Isn’t there some sort of oath they take that dictates something along these lines?

Instead of a brand new building, which put the nurses out of their offices, maybe UHS should have considered hiring some pain-management physicians. But I guess that’s just silly. The physicians’ assistants and nurses are our only saving grace.

Bernie O’Hare Osceola Mills

An eye-opening film

Since I first heard about the movie “Under Our Skin: There’s No Medicine for Someone Like You,” I haven’t been able to stop talking about it. State College is fortunate to have a showing of this award-winning and eye-opening movie at 4, 7 and 9:30 p.m. July 18 at the State Theatre, 130 W. College Ave.

The film is described as “a dramatic tale of microbes, medicine and money that investigates the untold story of Lyme disease, an emerging epidemic larger than AIDS. Each year thousands go undiagnosed or misdiagnosed, told that their symptoms are all in their head.”

Following the stories of patients and physicians as they battle for their lives and livelihoods, the film brings into focus a haunting picture of our health care system and its inability to cope with a silent terror under our skin.

We live in an area highly populated by ticks. My family and I have been dealing with my chronic Lyme disease for 11 years, which is why I am so passionate about this film. I encourage you to go to support art, community, medicine and humanity all in one evening.

E. Emily Steffensmeier State College

A plea for continued funding

As a small-business owner I owe much to the Penn State Small Business Development Center, and I am concerned that the proposed budget cuts by our legislators will shut our center down.

How can they survive with additional cuts beyond the 24 percent already cut?

The SBDC helps small businesses with everything from filing a business name to information on importing/ exporting and everything in-between. Forfree.Small businesses bring jobs and dollars to our communities.

Legislators: Please continue funding that allows survival of SBDCs.

Marguerite Swope State College