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Agencies have found vinyl is safe to use

Gregg Lewis' commentary ("Pick your poison, or demand change," Oct. 4) contained misinformation about polyvinyl chloride (PVC or "vinyl") that should be corrected so readers get a more accurate view of a material that has been used safely for years in household, health care and building applications.

According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, vinyl manufacturing accounts for a tiny percentage of U.S. dioxin emissions. More is generated by forest fires, backyard trash burning and internal combustion engines.

Total dioxin emissions have dropped 90 percent since 1987. During the same period, vinyl production in the U.S. increased to more than 15 billion pounds.

As for phthalates, substances added to vinyl to make flexible products such as toys and shower curtains, there is no scientific evidence of which we are aware that phthalates have caused harm from use in a vinyl product. The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission did a study of phthalates in toys before ruling that they were safe for use.

The effects of vinyl products on health and the environment have been investigated at every stage from manufacture through use and final disposal, and have been shown to be safe and environmentally sound.

For more information, readers can visit www.vinylnewsservice.net.

President, The Vinyl Institute

Defendant feared for his life

Shanna Flowers' column on Oct. 9 ("Verdict was what brother expected") is exactly what I would expect from this liberal paper: The verdict in the Timothy Workman trial was not based on evidence but only on the one-sided view of this reporter.

The deceased is the one who jumped out of his vehicle, grabbed Workman and had an accomplice with him. Workman feared for his life, and that is self-defense.

Her last sentence in the column asked what was Workman doing out at 2 a.m. as a father of four. His family was in Texas. I ask the same question: What were Bailey and his friend doing out at 2 a.m.? Wasn't he also a father and husband?

Support wounded troops as well

Veterans suffering from PTSD from experiences in Iraq deserve disability benefits.

Doctors report being pressured to diagnose them with personality disorder -- a pre-existing, lifelong condition that would show up by the adolescent years -- making veterans ineligible for disability benefits (The Nation, Oct. 15, "Specialist Town makes his case to Washington"). However, these veterans were screened before induction and were deemed fit for service without psychological disorders.

Add to this the conditions at Walter Reed Army Medical Center and the cover-up for more than 25 years of the effects of Agent Orange, both to save money. Many affected veterans are still having difficulty obtaining benefits. Now the administration is trying to remove full military benefits to National Guard veterans serving in Iraq.

Those offering up their lives in service to country deserve the utmost respect and honors their country can proffer, including full benefits such as medical care. Denying them benefits or requiring them to jump through endless hoops or fill out reams of paperwork is to disrespect them.

A change in administration can eliminate the hypocrisy rampant among those claiming to support the troops while denying them promised benefits.

Not all teens are having sex

"The modern world is desacralized; that is why it is in crisis. The modern person must rediscover a deeper source of life." Carl Jung (1875-1961).

The lead editorial on Oct. 2 ("Schools cannot silence abortion debate") reflects this modern world.

Public schools, kindergarten through grade 12, can prohibit anti-abortion and pro-abortion clubs; they can meet elsewhere. If what you say is true, that teachers are not allowed to talk about abortion with students, then I agree with Colonial Forge High School.

Under facts about teenagers, you write, "teens have sex." You should add that many are inspired to abstain. You write, "some of them choose abortion." You should add that some testify that they were coerced.

We must teach words from Deuteronomy that were part of my public education long ago: "I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore, choose life, that both you and your descendants may live; that you may love the Lord your God, that you may obey his voice ... for he is your life."

Congress must improve mileage standards

Congress worked hard this summer to pass energy bills that will benefit consumers and working people instead of making the world's richest companies even richer.

Now these companies are trying to convince everyone that making our cars go farther on a gallon of gas and getting more of our energy from clean, renewable sources like wind and solar is going to wreck the economy. This simply is not true.

In fact, the Union of Concerned Scientists estimates that raising fuel economy standards to 35 miles per gallon would create more than 170,000 American jobs, with tens of thousands of additional jobs created by the growth in wind and solar manufacturing that a renewable electricity standard would generate.

Just ask the hundreds of people at the GE plant in Salem who owe their jobs to building wind turbine generators. And the $25 billion consumers would save at the pump is more helpful in their pockets than the already deep pockets of Big Oil.

Congress should ignore slick ad campaigns and even slicker lobbyists and flip the switch on a cleaner, brighter energy future by passing a final energy bill that includes higher fuel economy standards and requirements for more renewable energy.

Lessons learned by the sting of death

This has been a difficult past few weeks for "Funky Winkerbean" readers. Tom Batuik's insights into the process of death, dying and cancer have caused many of us to identify with Les, Lisa and hospice.

Of course, this has been painful, but pain is still pain even though it may be vicarious. Pain, for me, is a great teacher and revealer of the sanctity of life, of which death is a part. Your article in the Oct. 2 edition ("For many, death in comic strip no laughing matter") was incendiary to some, but for me it was an opportunity to recall the sting of death in my own experience with close family members, friends, pets and colleagues who have made their transitions without my permission.

I find the modeling portrayed by Batuik through his characters to be exemplary of deep maturity and faith, i.e. the ability to tell a loved one that "it is OK for you to go." Perhaps many of us are working on that "OKness."

Thank you for including this article. For me, even in the midst of death, there does come the comic relief.

I found the October issue of Bella Magazine to be a marvelous resource of reality, inspiration and education on cancer and its many dimensions. I wondered if Batuik timed Lisa's death to coincide with breast cancer awareness month. (I think it is OK for us to have a "little pink sock.")

Church has done a fine job in the county

We need Joe "Butch" Church. After eight years of very faithful service as our supervisor, Church is now running for another term.

He has met the needs of our district, and any promises he made he has kept -- unlike many other office seekers. He responds extremely quickly to our needs and well represents the needs of the citizens he serves, as well as the county.

He is fiscally conservative, and taxes have been cut three times while he has been a supervisor. The real estate tax rate is currently 9 cents lower than Salem's, and Salem assesses real estate at 100 percent of full market value while Roanoke County assesses at only 83 percent.

West Roanoke County schools are of exceptionally high quality.

Church has served us well, and my entire family intends to vote for him this November. We truly do need him to continue to represent us in these times that we are facing now.