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Saturday, September 29, 2007

Parents should learn more about autism

Letters to the Editor

Recent letters to the editor

RoundTable blog

From the RoundTable blog

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Parents should learn more about autism

I am a parent concerned about the links to autism and some of the vaccines that are given to newborns and young kids.

As you may have seen, Jenny McCarthy was on the Oprah Winfrey show talking about this subject and her new book on autism; she was also in People magazine. The Centers for Disease Control is now hopefully looking into this and doing more research.

My main goal is getting my son better and to inform local parents just to look into some of these vaccines.

We noticed changes in our 3-year-old after his shots. Luckily, he is high functioning.

I am for vaccines, as I know most of them are necessary.

The autism rate is about 1 in 150 kids now; that number is growing at a rapid rate since the Hep B shot and others since 1989 were introduced.

I also understand genes, diet, environment and other factors contribute to autism. They say there is not a cure, but it has been reversed in thousands of cases. If this story could help just one child and family it would be well worth it. The health costs that insurance does not pay to get help is staggering.

MATT LEE
ROCKY MOUNT

Give the kids some lights so they can play

I think spending millions of dollars on the new art museum is outrageous. Who voted that we couldn't spend the money to rebuild Victory Stadium but can spend millions of our tax money on this museum? A few years after opening, no one will go to it, just like the science museum downtown.

And now no one wants to spend the money to add lights for the kids to play their sports on the field. Come on. What are kids going to do for fun? They have taken everything away from the kids of Roanoke and wonder why they join gangs or get into trouble. Well, hmmm, let's see. It couldn't be that Roanoke takes everything away from them, that they have nowhere they can go and enjoy sports or just hang out with friends.

I grew up here, and they did the same thing to us. The only thing we could do was go to the skating rink. Well, when you get older that gets old.

Take some of that money and add the lights to the Victory Stadium fields so the kids can play their sports and not get into trouble.

ANDREA EISENBACH
ROANOKE

Put one's cleanest foot forward

Please ask the ballerina featured on the billboards, advertising art, to please put on a clean shoe.

NOLA BEACH
SALEM

Green will make a fine Bedford sheriff

On Nov. 6 please vote for a person who will work for the citizens of Bedford city and county, have an open door policy for each and every citizen, listen to any concerns a citizen may have and speak with them directly, be involved with youth organizations in the Bedford community, never take his position and responsibilities as sheriff of Bedford for granted and will realize that as sheriff he is totally dedicated to the citizens.

We support Charles D. Green for sheriff.

CHUCK AND DEBBIE REID
BEDFORD

Here's a different benchmark to adopt

Setting benchmarks has not worked for some time now, so let me suggest to the commander in chief and the Congress that they become statesmen and prepare legislation that all can sign that states that when troop deaths reach 4,800 and injured reach 31,000, the president and the Congress, in a bipartisan way, order a withdrawal from both Iraq and Afghanistan and that all troops and war materiel be returned to the U.S. immediately.

The legislation should stipulate that the withdrawal take no more than one month. After all, we withdrew from North Korea in two weeks, returning almost as many troops and war materiel as we currently have in the Middle East.

It is my guess that at the current monthly rate of killing and injuring of U.S. soldiers, the wars should be over and the soldiers and their materials could be home by Christmas.

The Congress and the president should stop playing politics with the wars and the Congress should stop helping the president drag out these wars until the end of his term.

How inhumane can you get?

R.B. ST. LAWRENCE
SALEM
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