Device that shocks hearts could save many Maryland lives
Cardiac arrest kills more than 360,000 people a year in this country. That is one of the reasons why the Maryland General Assembly deserves applause for passing a bill "public access defibrilation" bill that will expand use of advanced technology for treating dying hearts.
Defibrillators are devices, often seen on medical shows, that shock the heart of a cardiac arrest victim. Until recently, they have mostly been used in ambulances and emergency rooms. But today, a new generation of these machines is computerized and automated, making them easy for trained laypeople to use. The American Heart Association supports CPR and early defibrillation as ways of helping people survive heart attacks, which are the number one killer of Americans.
The Maryland bill, passed by the legislature and now pending before the governor, will encourage the use of these automated defibrilators in public places such as schools gymnasiums, shopping malls, airplanes, police cars, hotels and golf courses. Within a few years, these machines should be as commonplace as fire extinguishers.
Since the establishment of the University of Maryland's Shock Trauma Center and the Maryland Institute of Emergency Medical Services System in the 1960s, Maryland has been in the forefront of emergency medical and trauma care nationwide. By encouraging public access to defibrilation, this new legislation will take the state to an even higher level of health care.
If he signs the bil, Gov. Parris Glendening will continue Maryland's tradition of health care leadership.
Dr. James A. D'orta, Washington
Support police dogs, not sports arena
I think we have our priorities mixed up when Baltimore County's police K-9 units have to resort to asking private citizens to donate their expensive German Shepard dogs, free of charge, yet there's talk of building a new sports arena for $200 million.
I thought public safety and police enforcement came first, but it seems when it comes to sports, that is forgotten.
I agree with Dan Rodricks that the new arena should be paid for by the "fat cats" and state money should go to the dogs!
Shirley Marx, Ocean City
Tobacco revenues will help addicts, teens
In his April 20 letter to the editor, "Use tobacco taxes to help nicotine addicts," Robert DiStefano argued that the revenue the state will get from the tobacco settlement and the 30-cent increase in tobacco taxes should go to provide treatment for addicted smokers.
The General Assembly has done just that. Maryland will receive more than $4 billion over the next 25 years under the settlement of the lawsuits brought against the tobacco industry by Maryland and other states. Under House Bill 751, which I introduced and the legislature passed, preventing teen smoking will be our first priority in spending this money.
The law mandates that at least half of the tobacco settlement money will be spent on: smoking cessation programs; reduction of tobacco use by minors; public education campaigns to discourage tobacco use; enforcement of the laws restricting tobacco sales; prevention, treatment, and research on cancer, heart and lung disease; primary health care in rural areas and those communities targeted for marketing by the tobacco industry; substance abuse treatment and prevention programs; alternative crop uses for agricultural land now devoted to tobacco; and providing health care to the uninsured through the Maryland Health Care Foundation.
Further, the law raising the cigarrete tax requires the state to spend at least $21 million a year for programs to reduce tobacco use in Maryland. Smoking cessation programs will be among the activities funded.
Samuel I. Rosenberg, Baltimore
The writer is a member of the Maryland House of Delegates from Baltimore.
County sheriff should focus on the job at home
The Sun's editorial praising Baltimore County Sheriff Anne Strasdauskas for her cleverness in orchestrating a personal appearance on the Rosie O'Donnell Show, ("The Anne and Rosie show," April 14) overlooked a few questions.
Did the Sheriff take a vacation day when she appeared on the program, or did she do it on county time? And why did she wear her official uniform to New York to attend the broadcast if she was attending the show as a private citizen?
The Sun has a long history of criticizing public officials who misuse the trappings of public office for purely personal reasons. I am therefore astonished that you would in this case condone, indeed applaud, a clear of such conduct here.
As a Baltimore County taxpayer, I am more concerned about the Sheriff's activities in Towson than her televised showboating. She should forget about Oprah and Rosie, and instead educate her constituents about her plans for the job she fought so hard to win.
Richard J. Cross, III, Timonium
New art critic really captured Sommer
The pleasure of learning that Glenn McNatt is The Sun's new art critic was only matched by the pleasure of reading his illuminating review of the photographs of Frederick Sommer at the Baltimore Museum of Art ("A master of powerful illusion," April 13). The review's discussion of objective and subjective reality in photographs, and the relationship of Sommer's photographs to surrealism, was very revealing.
Edna E. Heatherington, Baltimore
Public access and public television come together?
In his March 27 article, "Public-access fans battle network," David Zurawik made a huge assumption or a poor choice of words when he characterized the proposed merger of Hawaii Public Television and Olelo: The Corporation for Community Television as, public access "being folded into public television in Hawaii."
Public access and public television have much in common. Both seek to provide relevant and informative programming alternatives to the commercial networks whose schedules are dictated by their corporate owners.
Yet the two remain profoundly different. Community producers provide the public access channels' programming. They often work with no budgets and are driven by a desire to share their message with their communities. Public television programming is driven by PBS and its affiliated stations; their productions often involve large budgets.
If Oelo and public television merge, it will be because we succeed in creating an organization that integrates their missions, but protects each where they are mutually exclusive. The community will then benefit because it will not lose either public access or public television.
Lurline McGregor, Honolulu HI.
The writer is executive director of Olelo Community Television.
To avoid farm chemicals: don't buy farmland
If farmers in Maryland are forbidden to spread chemicals on their crops, as your April 19 article "Chemicals, conflict in air near farmland" about the conflict between James Baseman and John McGinnis suggests, it will set a terrible precedent for Maryland agriculture.
I can understand not wanting to have your children breathe chemicals, but if that is your concern, why buy land surrounded by farms?
People need to think before they buy property. If you don't like noise and noxious fumes, don't buy a house near a highway. If you are concerned about the effects of electromagnetic fields, don't buy next to a transformer station. And if you don't want to breathe fertilizer chemicals in the spring, don't buy farmland.
Judy Kinshaw-Ellis, Bel Air
Sound barriers backfire on the beltway
Your April 18 article "Homes won't get sound barriers" really hit home for me. Since sound barriers were erected on the beltway in the Lutherville area, the noise in my neighborhood has increased dramatically.
Before the barriers went up, and the trees were torn down, we could barely detect noise from the beltway; now I am privileged to hear 60 to 65 decibels of traffic noise at my bedroom window -- and my house is three streets from the beltway.
Our tax dollars paid for this travesty. Someone needs to hold the proper authorities accountable.
Keith F. Kelley, Lutherville