Friday, March 24, 2006
Letters to the Editor
Tucson Citizen
Nods to Smith stance
Thank you for the Jeff Smith column Wednesday ("Feds waste money prosecuting kind-hearted kids").
I have been a No More Deaths volunteer for 2 1/2 years. I provide services to a migrant shelter in Nogales, Son.
- VERONICA VILLAVERDE
Inaction would spur more acts
"Jeffie" - aka Jeff Smith - would like us to look the other way, when kindhearted kids Shanti Sellz and Daniel Strauss transported illegal immigrants not to the nearest hospital, Border Patrol officer or first aid station, but to No More Deaths.
If the U.S. Attorney's Office drops this case and walks away, all bets are off. Any and every do-gooder and not-so-do-gooder has been given a green light.
Gas up the old station wagon, and let's go south to pick up a load of "sick" illegal immigrants to help them on their way to the land of milk and honey.
The U.S. government must look the other way, and we can all feel soooooo good about ourselves, or maybe that is the problem.
- BILL MATTAUSCH
Get the lead out
Thank you for your report on lead poisoning ("Lead poisoning: Is your child at risk?" Wednesday front-page article).
This topic is too often ignored and can be crucial in children's development.
My report on the role of lead poisoning in failing schools (http://azsba.org/lead.htm) is considered one of the more comprehensive summaries of lead poisoning ills.
Although you correctly noted the federal level of blood lead considered poisoning, the medical profession generally agrees that blood lead levels below that create brain damage and may lower IQs by up to 7 points.
Recently I became involved in a newly forming organization - American Lead Poisoning Help Association - created by mothers of lead-poisoned children. ALPHA will have its inaugural meeting in Charleston later this month.
You can view its Yahoo Groups page at: http://tinyurl.com/qcx6s.
Perhaps you could inform the mothers you interviewed of this organization, as I believe it will provide a March of Dimes-type organization for mothers to influence the federal "End Childhood Lead Poisoning by 2010" program.
Chapters are planned in all the states, but the main focus is to provide parents of children who have been lead poisoned with resources for what to look for in behavioral consequences and how to manage problems if they arise.
- MICHAEL T. MARTIN
research analyst
Arizona School Boards Association
Phoenix
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