To the Editor:
Joe Average’s Feb. 28 column questions the qualifications of people running for president, criticizing
their qualifications and leadership abilities. JA fails to realize the horrible impact of FakePres45
upon our country. Voters have elected these people to public office in a desperate attempt to rid this
country of a seemingly immoral “wannabe” dictator.
JA laments “regulations” and fails to note that FakePres45 has rescinded numerous ones safeguarding
worker safety and public health in order to promote corporate profits and ensure the flow of money into
reelection campaigns. Removing workplace death information, allowing more dangerous coal ash dumping
upstream from communities, and removing stricter pollution controls on coal fired plants endangers
worker and public safety. Most conservative estimates on deaths directly related to burning coal are
around 7,500 per year. We kill 7,500 people every year so that approximately 30,000 coal mine employees
can keep their hazardous jobs. Is it worth it?
Regulations were supposed to protect the people of Flint and Washington, D.C., from pollutants in their
water supply. Extreme austerity programs and lying public officials caused untold damage to children in
both cities. Flint’s lead in water severity was mitigated by pediatrician Dr. Hanna-Attisha digging in
her heels and going eyeball to eyeball with government officials (including the state EPA).
Some 8,000 children in Flint and 42,000 in D.C. face developmental disabilities due to lead in drinking
water. Even the CDC was complicit in the D.C. case telling the public “not to worry.” Some public
officials in Michigan were punished. In D.C,. some were promoted. The CDC eventually backed down and
admitted the problem. Who will pay for treatment of these children? Will the government ever stop lying
to us?
Across the border, water pollution (year 2000) caused the death of seven people in Walkerton, Ontario,
with 2,300 ill. Austerity programs left the city with few funds to run the municipal utilities including
water treatment. One of the city’s wells became contaminated with bacteria from a confined animal
operation injecting liquid manure on farm ground. Some of that apparently found its way into an
abandoned unsealed oil well and into the aquifer. How many aquifers/wells in Wood County may be
contaminated?
Perhaps JA can enlighten us on how to achieve better critical thinking in this “age of oligarchy and
propaganda.”
Marvin Schott
Bowling Green