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Letter to the editor

Today's Letters: Groups tried to help program

By LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Published October 24, 2007

Re: Government at fault for problems, letter by Jay Keyes, Oct. 21

The government was not the problem with Ervin's All-American Youth Club (in Clearwater's North Greenwood). Government provided the building and facilities on Holt Avenue for that program. Financial aid was also provided. Then there was support from service clubs, and foundations wanted to help.

However, proper supervision was often lacking, and the promised after-school programs and tutoring were often missing. Very young children playing with brooms, mops and dirty buckets, supervised by young teens, with no adults present, did not constitute a program worthy of support. A large-screen projection TV paid for by my Sertoma Club never showed up at the center.

As CEO of a major area community foundation, I tried to supply significant annual grants to Ervin Harris, but each time, for more than five years, he failed to return our simple one-page grant request form along with the program budget and audit report. The program missed out on many, many thousands of easy-to-obtain dollars while we were making substantial grants to five other non-profit programs in his area. The others are still supported.

Tom Bruckman, Clearwater

Re: Government at fault for problems, letter by Jay Keyes, Oct. 21

Blame parents, not government

Congratulations on a good letter, however, every social problem is not the fault of our government.

Yes, government was definitely wrong when it removed all mention of God and the Ten Commandments from our government offices, schools and any other place it thought it could manipulate the people. The government agencies are not living in the Dark Ages, they are living in a world where they worship the almighty dollar, like we used to worship God.

As to Ervin's All-American Youth Club, that was a shame, but not all of it can be blamed on the government. Was anyone in charge? Did they count the upkeep cost as well as the building cost? Even when government donates, it's not a never-ending donation. Even a single family home costs a fortune today for upkeep.

Since when is any outside activity like the youth center responsible for what becomes of our youth? If the youths have returned to the streets, they were allowed to be there before the center was in existence. What has happened to the parents who brought them into the world? Where's their responsibility in the behavior of their children?

How did the youth of 30-40 years ago survive without recreation centers and outside entertainment? Most of us survived to become decent, hard-working individuals. Yes, we were allowed to have God and his Ten Commandments in schools and government offices, but we also had God-fearing parents who loved us and led us in the right direction. They didn't depend on teachers and leaders to teach them right from wrong. They knew it was their job and no one else's.

We played in our back yards or out in the parks, which didn't have anything but God's green grass to play on. Mom could look out and see what was happening and correct what was not right. Today, moms are mostly in the office or on some other job, while the children fend for themselves, so no wonder they want outside activities and others bringing up their children while they make dollars to try to make up for their absence at home.

Until today's parents take back control of the home and the children in that home, we will always have troubled children in this world, and later on they will become troubled adults, who neither know nor appreciate anything. Manners, compassion, respect for self and others, kindness and yes, even the worship of God can only come from mom and dad. There is no substitute for parental love.

Fran Glaros-Sharp, Clearwater

Bus drivers can be dangerous

I don't know about other parents, but I would never let my child ride a Pinellas County school bus.

At 5 this evening I watched a school bus make a high-speed left turn from eastbound Walsingham Road onto northbound Indian Rocks Road against a red light that had been red for some time. The driver then made a right turn into the Barclay Square parking lot, got out and was heading for McDonald's.

It was obvious the driver, a middle-aged male with shoulder length white hair, knew what he had done, as he approached my car while I was writing down the bus numbers: Route 212, bus number 29421. I left quickly to avoid an encounter.

This was not the first time that I have observed careless and reckless driving of this sort by school bus drivers. If nothing else, having neighborhood schools would get rid of dangerous drivers.

George Goodenough, Largo

Mammograms help save lives

A woman today has a lower risk of dying from breast cancer than at any time in decades. This remarkable progress has been made possible by increased use of mammography, which can detect tumors early, when they are smaller, easier to treat and, most important, survivable.

But while mammography rates increased from just 39 percent in 1987 to 70 percent in 2000, new data show a troubling trend: Mammography rates declined by 4 percentage points between 2000 and 2004. This should concern us all, as these declining rates threaten to reverse the progress we've made.

I urge all women 40 and older to get a mammogram this year and every year. Mammography is the most effective screening test for the early detection of breast cancer. Women can sign up to receive a free e-mail from the American Cancer Society at www.cancer.org/mammogramreminder to help remind them to schedule their test.

Mammograms can help save lives, but for many women, they are financially out of reach. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's National Breast and Cervical Cancer Early Detection Program provides mammograms to low-income, uninsured and underinsured women, but lack of funds limits the program to serving only one in five eligible women ages 50 to 64. The society's sister advocacy organization, the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network, is urging Congress to increase funding so that more eligible women can be served. For more information about this program or to get involved, call 1-800-ACS-2345 or visit www.acscan.org/makingstrides.

We want to continue making strides against breast cancer, but we can only realize our goals if we remain vigilant in the fight.

Amanda Gillespie,associate director, American Cancer Society Pinellas Unit

Your voice counts

You may submit a letter to the editor for possible publication through our Web site at www.tampabay.com/letters, or by faxing it to (727) 445-4119, or by mailing it to Letters, 710 Court St., Clearwater, FL 33756. You must include your name, address and phone number. Letters may be edited for clarity, taste and length.

[Last modified October 23, 2007, 21:36:38]