Union vote to reduce hours would have saved more jobs

I was disappointed at the city union vote against reducing the work week by 2.5 hours. For most of us the pay reduction would be inconvenient and make our budgets a little tighter. For those who will lose their jobs it could well be a disaster.

In my opinion it would have been much better to have everyone working. I applaud and admire those 40 who would give up a little for the sake of all.

-- Barbara Lopetrone

Anchorage

Mayor's tactic to persuade union to take cut backfired

As is typical of those of political persuasion, when the going gets tough, they tend to go for the jugular vein of the working class of people -- in this case, the unions who have legal contracts with the City of Anchorage. Mayor Dan Sullivan's first move to solve the monetary crisis was to ask the unions to take a 6.5 percent pay cut. If that fails he then waved the warning flag of big job losses. What kind of response did you expect from the unions?

-- Wilber D. McBride

Wasilla

It's time to take hard look at our own diets

While the battle over health insurance options rages, we have carefully kept our collective eyes averted from the elephant in the room, namely that the American health crisis is of our own making and we could turn this crisis around by changing our diets and lifestyles. Instead, we have tacitly agreed to argue over the most fair way to pay for medical treatments for what are largely preventable diseases.

As tragic as it is for people to be unable to obtain medical care or to go bankrupt trying to pay for unbelievably expensive medical treatments, it is even more tragic that with or without medical care, Americans are suffering from chronic, debilitating, painful, and often disfiguring diseases at an alarming rate.

Most tragic of all, however, is the fact that we continue to unwittingly plant the seeds of these diseases in our children in our homes, in our schools, and yes, even in our hospitals. We do this by feeding them high fat, salty, sugary, processed foods and animal products high in calories and low in nutrients. This diet leads to heart disease, cancer, diabetes, obesity, multiple sclerosis, and Alzheimer's disease, among others.

Until we address the root causes of these conditions, all the drugs and surgery in the world will not return us to health.

-- Delisa Renideo, instructor

The Cancer Project's Food for Life classes

Wasilla

Note: A longer version of this commentary appears in our Guest Columns: Web extra feature, adn.com/guestcolumns/webextra/.

Communities need to address bingo addictions, as well

Since we're talking about Bethel's social ills (namely alcohol issues), why don't we talk about bingo?

Obviously, addictions come in more ways than one. Maybe we need to consider using some bingo revenues for education, police, and economic development. Some of our communities have made some changes to their bingo hours to get parents home at a reasonable hour. However, I feel very strongly that bingo is also an addiction we need to talk about and I think this discussion should be statewide.

-- Sandy Shroyer Beaver

Kotzebue

French health care is not only cheaper, but better, merci

My Alaskan friends have been encouraging me to share my experience with the French health care system, as I have been living in Paris, France part time for the past two years. Here is how one French newspaper (Direct Matin, Sept. 9) reported on the U.S. health care situation, following President Obama's recent speech:

• Annual cost of U.S. health care system: $2 trillion.

• This represents 16 percent of U.S. GNP (France's health care system is 11 percent of its GNP).

• 46 million Americans have no health insurance. Eight million of them are children

• The U.S. ranks 37th in the world in terms of access to health care

• Around 27,000 American deaths each year are related to lack of health insurance

As a retired U.S. federal employee, I am insured by the Blue Cross Federal Employees Program, both while in Alaska and overseas. My excellent French M.D. told me recently: "The French can't understand the American opposition to health care for everybody." My visit with her cost $95 compared with $300 to see my Family Nurse Practitioner in Anchorage this summer. I also have two specialists in Paris that are better, as well as much cheaper, than any I have found in Anchorage.

-- Cynthia Wentworth

Anchorage/Paris

How do school buses fit into the new child restraint law?

I'm writing in response to the newly revised child restraint law. The new law states that "any child who is between 4 and 8 years of age and weighs more than 20 but less than 65 pounds and is less than 4 feet 9 inches (57 inches) tall, must be properly secured in an approved booster seat that is secured by a seat belt system or another approved child passenger restraint system."

I can understand why they changed the law, but what about smaller kids who ride the bus to school? Do the parents of these kindergartners through second graders have to provide them with a booster seat to take on the bus, or will the Anchorage School District be providing these?

-- Breanna Cooper

Anchorage

Bad behavior of Republicans will come back to bite them

From the streets of Anchorage all the way to Congress, bad behavior characterizes the Republican platform. Toting guns, hurling racial epithets and calling names is not how to engage in intelligent discourse. The country has serious problems at hand. By behaving badly, the Republicans are not only trivializing themselves but also creating an adversarial atmosphere that will come back to haunt them. When is the Republican party going to organize itself into a responsible participant in American politics?

-- Keenan Powell

Anchorage

Taking emergency vehicles to stores helps save lives, time

I was appalled when I read Mark Flaker's letter regarding his belief that firefighters and EMTs are wasting money when they use the ladder truck and EMT vehicles to go to Carrs, Costco, etc.

He should really get a grip. If the firefighters and EMTs get a call while they are shopping they immediately drop everything, get in their waiting vehicle, turn on the sirens and high-tail it to the emergency site. These guys are on duty whether they are shopping or cleaning equipment at the station, re-stocking first aid supplies, etc.

If they used their personal vehicles and got a call, then they would have to go back to the station, run to get into the emergency vehicle and then go. They'd lose precious time that could contribute to a death or disaster.

The firefighters, EMTs, troopers and police put their lives on the line every day so that Mr. Flaker, myself and all the other residents of our fine city can be as safe as possible. I urge Mr. Flaker and anyone who shares his belief to look elsewhere for property tax relief. A huge thank you goes out to all the public service workers who help keep me and my family safe; you are the best.

-- Teresa Edwards

Anchorage

Editor's note: We received several other letters making the same point.

To those in Alaska's Bush, wild meat is worth protecting

It always amuses me on how some people have a fit when we kill off predators to keep moose and deer for food sources. Don't people in the cow, sheep, chicken, and swine areas of the USA do away with the same predators when they come into the ranchers' areas and kill off their livestock? They even kill predators that encroach on all the beef and other meat-bearing animals that provide us with steaks, roasts and barbecue products.

In Alaska, wild game is our type of beef and where people can't afford to go to the supermarkets for meat, that is all they have.

Any questions?

-- Ann R. Whipple

Nome

How soon some conservatives forget bailouts started by Bush

Regarding Brett L. Hobde's September 24th letter about "ultra liberals" -- he seems to have forgotten that the bailout of the financial industry was initiated by the Bush administration.

-- Karolynn Cechowski

Anchorage

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