Brady Standard-Herald and Heart of Texas News (Brady, Tex.), Ed. 1 Wednesday, January 16, 2013 Page: 4 of 18
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Page 4 A
Letters to the Editor
What—or whom
do you believe?
Dear Editor,
The following comments
are in response to letters to the
editor submitted on Jan. 2 and
9. Three ofthe four letters were
on the smart meter electromag-
netic frequency (EMF) pollu-
tion topic and the fourth was on
accurate thinking. Personally,
I appreciate all of them for
making the effort to research
a topic, form an opinion and
compose a letter as this effort
is very time consuming and
requires a lot of energy.
No one can dispute that the
smart meter technology is very
controversial and that every
side of a controversy can come
up with their experts to support
whatever stance they desire. So
what matters is who and what
do you believe?
Here are a few highlights of
interest from the letters:
On Jan. 2, Dean LaFever’s
assessment of the mayor’s
and council’s stance of “don’t
confuse us with the facts,
our minds are made up” was
quite profound given he lives
in Amarillo and only gets his
info from the paper.
On Jan. 2, Gina Caldwell
wrote that in a matter of min-
utes, she found countless arti-
cles on the smartmeter subject.
I’ve never met Ms. Caldwell
and I found it interesting that
she referenced the same report
from the American Academy
of Environmental Medicine
(AAEM) that I hand delivered
to the council with two other
scientific reports onNovember
19. However, on December 17
on KLST news, Interim City
Manager Dale Brown denies
receiving scientific informa-
tion and said they only received
“Youtube” type information
from me. Hmmm... I believe
that is called a lie.
The AAEM report cited
that EMF exposure can cause
genetic damage, reproductive
defects, cancer, neurological
degeneration and nervous
system dysfunction, immune
system dysfunction, cognitive
effects, protein and peptide
damage, kidney damage, and
developmental effects have
all been reported in the peer-
reviewed scientific literature.
Symptoms such as headaches,
dizziness, tremors, decreased
memory and attention, auto-
nomic nervous system dys-
function, decreased reaction
times, sleep disturbances and
visual disruption have been
reported.
On Jan. 9, Quinn Williams’
letter cited that the AAEM was
deemed as a “questionable
organization” by Quackwatch.
Just go look up who Quack-
watch deems as “questionable
organizations”. The AAEM is
one of 129 different holistic,
alternative or integrative as-
sociations deemed as question-
able because, for example, they
dare to advocate alternatives
to chemo, radiation or surgery
to treat cancer. These holistic
organizations advocate the
benefits of natural and alterna-
tive therapies like acupuncture,
chiropractic, nutrition, mas-
sage therapy and care from
holistic nurses, physicians and
dentist etc. who look at the
body as a whole and look for
natural means for the body to
heal rather than just “treat” a
condition.
The AAEM is a group
of international physicians
who studies the effects of
the environment on health
and is accredited to provide
continuing medical educa-
tion for physicians by the
Accreditation Council for
Continuing Medical Educa-
tion. Quackwatch is written
by Stephen Barrett, M.D who
has been officially declared
by the U.S. court system, in a
published appeals court deci-
sion (NCAHF v King Bio),
to be "biased, and unworthy
of credibility." In a Canadian
lawsuit, Barrett admitted to the
following: "The sole purpose
of the activities of Barrett &
Baratz are to discredit and
cause damage and harm to
health care practitioners, busi-
nesses that make alternative
health therapies or products
available, and advocates of
non-allopathic therapies and
health freedom.”
So here’s a brief review of
the submitted letters.
Ms. Caldwell believes the
smart meters can cause fires
on houses, and the city had no
business spending $2.5 million
on this project and she believes
the health hazards outlined in
the AAEM report.
Mr. DeFever believes I’m
“banging my head against
the mayor and council” and
that I’m “trying to protect the
citizens.”
Ms. Williams believes
our old meters are obsolete,
become less and less accurate,
house fires are not a problem,
the technology is safe, we
should support our elected
representatives and she be-
lieves Quackwatch and that we
shouldn’t believe the AAEM
or reports of health hazards
from EMFs.
The mayor and city council
believe the Sensus sales reps
who sold the City $2.5 million
worth of equipment and tells
them that the technology is
safe. They don’t believe there
are any health hazards and
that we should believe them
because they were elected.
Many Brady and Mc-
Culloch residents and I believe
the scientific reports like the
AAEM, the countless con-
sumer reports of safety, health
and privacy problems, the city
had no business indebting our
community $2.5 million on this
project and our city council
members were not elected to
rule over us but rather to rep-
resent the will of the people.
So if we follow Joe King’s
belief that we should be ac-
curate thinkers, then who and
what do you believe? Remem-
ber, who and what you believe
will determine your thoughts,
words and actions.
Choose wisely.
SHEILA HEMPHILL
We live in
a declining,
divided nation
Dear Editor:
A great number of voters
who elected Obama don't care
that taxes are rising. They
don't pay any. They are liv-
ing on entitlements and other
government freebies.
The "working" people
who see their paychecks grow
smaller are supplying his
spending frenzy. Money that
our children, grandchildren
and great-grandchildren will
be liable for.
We live in a declining,
divided nation.
Our city government is on
a similar pattern. I hope they
realize that grants and loans
have to be paid for by us. It
seems that we have our own
"Obama" agenda within our
city government. "Ram our
policy through—read about
it later"—as Nancy Pelosi
would say.
BILLY JACKSON
Brady, Tex.
1211S. Bridge (across from Pizza Hut)
Monday - Wednesday - Friday 8 a.m. - 5 p.m — Brady Hours
Tuesday and Thursday 9 a.m. - 5 p.m —Eden Hours
Office 869-8471 Brady 597-0464 Residence 869-8781
Opinions
pratrp H>tantrai*tr - Jleraltr January 16,2013
Outdoor p
Outpost
with
KENDAL HEMPHILL
Vigil-ante
Ulanda Williams, a 6 foot
5 inch, 400-pound woman
who lives in Queens, N.Y.,
fell through a wooden side-
walk the other day, according
to a Fox News story sent to
me by an anonymous alert
reader. She had been stand-
ing on the sidewalk for about
10 seconds when it gave out
and dropped her into a vault
cellar, whatever that is.
Upon her discharge from
New York Presbyterian Hos-
pital, Ms. Williams was
quoted as saying, “Thank
God, they said that my size
was the only thing that saved
me.” A thinner woman, the
article said, might have died
from the fall.
I’m going to go out on a
limb here and speculate that,
had Ms. Williams weighed,
say, half what she does, the
sidewalk might not have
succumbed to begin with. Of
course, I could be wrong, but
I only mention this story to
demonstrate the differences
between the way I think and,
for example, the way some-
one who lives in New York
thinks. Or Boulder, Colo.
My friend, John Gammill,
sent me a Fox News story
(no, John didn’t send the
other one) entitled "Hundreds
attend vigil for elk killed by
police in Colorado." This
story was not a joke, as I
first thought. The folks in
Boulder, bless their hearts,
were evidently overwhelmed
with grief after losing this
elk, and decided to honor it
with, according to the article,
"a makeshift memorial of
candles, songs, and stories."
You might think, with that
kind of sendoff, the elk had
been a town pet or mascot or
something. No. It was just a
wild elk that wandered into
the neighborhood. Someone
evidently called the police,
maybe thinking the elk was
up to no good, perhaps plan-
ning to break into someone's
home and steal their rough-
age or something. An of-
ficer came and shot the elk,
killing it.
The olficer later said the
elk looked injured before he
shot it, but the story doesn’t
elaborate on that. It does
say that another officer, who
had called in sick that day,
came and hauled off the elk
for processing. This second
officer also has a Web site ad-
vertising taxidermy services,
although I don’t, personally,
think that information is rel-
evant.
Both officers have been
placed on leave, but the ar-
ticle didn’t say why. It also
didn’t say why the officer
shot the elk. Maybe it made
threatening gestures at the
officer. Maybe he just wanted
to see if he could kill it with
his service pistol. Maybe
someone dared him. We just
don’t know.
To me it sounds like the
officer saw an opportunity to
get some elk steaks, and of-
fered to split the meat with his
buddy, the taxidermist/cop,
for doing the heavy lifting,
even though he was playing
hooky from work.
Whatever the reasoning,
I ’ d have to say it was probably
a bad idea to shoot an elk in
a populated neighborhood if
it wasn’t a danger to anyone.
And let’s face it, it’s about as
rare to see an elk on a Colo-
rado street as it is to see a
deer on an Austin golf course.
It’s not like they go around
in gangs or something and
terrorize the locals. They’re
pretty harmless, generally.
So the neighborhood folks
decided to hold a vigil for
this elk. Which is kind of
touching, if you can get past
the bizarre aspect. Of course,
the vigil was probably more
of a protest against the cop
for going off full cocked
than a gesture of love for the
deceased wapiti.
Honestly, although I can’t
say I approve of vigils for
elk, I have to agree with
these folks. I don’t live where
large wildlife shows up on
my street uninvited, but if
I did, I don’t think I’d want
the police coming around
and blasting away at it. It
seems dangerous. The cop
might have missed the elk
and hit someone’s Jeep or
something.
But the problem I see with
the elk vigil is that it sets a
precedent that may be diffi-
cult to emulate, if the folks in
Boulder intend to be produc-
tive members of society in the
future. It is legal, after all, to
kill elk in Colorado. At least
it was the last time I checked.
I’m thinking if they held
a vigil for this elk, it would
be rude not to hold one for
the next elk killed there. And
the next. And so on. Once elk
season opens up next fall,
the residents of Boulder are
liable not to have much time
for work or anything else, if
they try to honor every elk
gunned down in their area
of the Centennial State. Elk
vigils are likely to become a
full time job.
The article didn’t mention
how big the elk in question
was, but I’d imagine it was
pretty good sized, which
might have been its downfall.
Contrary to Ms. Williams’
situation in New York, a
thinner elk might not have
gotten shot...
Kendal Hemphill is an
outdoor humor columnist
and public speaker who has
never, to date, fallen through
a sidewalk. Write to him at
P.O. Box 1600, Mason, TX
76856 or jeep@verizon.net
Make the dream
a reality.
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Stewart, James E. Brady Standard-Herald and Heart of Texas News (Brady, Tex.), Ed. 1 Wednesday, January 16, 2013, newspaper, January 16, 2013; Brady, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth740550/m1/4/?q=music: accessed July 18, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting FM Buck Richards Library.