SpeakOut 1/14

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Who's in charge of city-owned vehicles assigned to the housing authority, and what possible city-related business do housing authority employees have taking these trucks home at night? Gas usage, wear and tear and insurance on these vehicles for private use should not be paid for by our tax dollars. With a budget as big as the housing authority has, I'll bet there are plenty of other ways they're wasting money. Someone should look into it.

I see where the sheriff is having trouble with all his prisoners throwing food against the wall and on the floor. I think they should have just built a big pen up there with a tarp over it and horse-whip them if they got out of line - put the leather to them. That's what's wrong today, building these jails and prison so fancy. A lot of these crooks have a better place to stay in jail than they have at home. But that's the way things are going nowadays. I guess folks will start cutting back now.

Kudos to Mr. Jensen on his Jan. 8 article, "Nation's priorities don't reflect reality" with the main paragraph on numbers in this case don't lie and they clearly show should be much more concerned about flu than AIDS. I'm referring back, readers, to Page 3 which under "Newsbeat," at the bottom of the page under the headline, "Researchers report U.S. flu deaths up sharply since the '70s." The first paragraph plainly says the U.S. death toll is "... largely because of a vulnerable aging population for whom the vaccine is often ineffective, government research shows." In the third paragraph, Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson (who has plainly got his head up his statistics) said, "that influenza may be taking an even larger toll than we have realized" underscores the importance of flu shots, especially for older people. Duh. Didn't we just get through saying it's because the flu vaccine is often ineffective for older people? The next paragraph says, "... the main weapon doctors have against flu - a vaccine - has proven disappointingly ineffective in the most susceptible population: people 65 and older." The next to the last paragraph then says, "Older people are more prone to flu complications yet only about 65 percent of them get vaccinated." Well, duh. that means for the other 35 percent who get them, is largely ineffective.

I want to say thanks to the highway patrolman who patrols Salcedo Road. I feel much safer since they are out there giving tickets to speeders and pass you on bridges and at intersections. Thank you so much for being there.