Lester’s cartoon belittles women of ‘Me, Too’
From The Seattle Times
State lawmakers who care about the health of Washington youth need to vote to make it illegal to sell tobacco, either for smoking or vaping, to anyone under 21. Smoking is still the most common preventable cause of death, from cancer, heart disease and stroke. The saddest part of smoking-related statistics is the fact that this slow-motion death sentence usually begins in the teen years. That’s when 95 percent of adult smokers told a national survey they started, and when the brain is most susceptible to nicotine addiction.
Raising the minimum purchase age restriction to 21 — from 18 — won’t stop every Washington teen from getting cigarettes, but it will squeeze the high-school pipeline of 18-year-olds buying cigarettes for their younger classmates.
Forty-one percent of tenth graders told Washington’s healthy youth survey in 2014 that it’s easy to get cigarettes.
Now that at least 200 municipalities plus California and Hawaii have voted to increase the age limit to 21, new data shows the policy change is having a positive impact.
A study published in the peer reviewed journal Tobacco Control found a law passed in Needham, Massachusetts, led to a 47 percent reduction in high school smoking. Other research predicts a 12 percent decrease in smoking overall if sales are restricted to buyers 21 and older, according to the New England Journal of Medicine. The journal goes on to predict a nationwide Tobacco 21 rule would result in 249,000 fewer premature deaths, including 45,000 fewer deaths from lung cancer. A fiscal note on Second Substitute House Bill 1054 says the measure would cost the state $12 million in lost sales tax revenue per biennium because of a decrease in cigarette and vaping supply sales. That’s a bargain compared to the long-term health costs related to smoking.
Another argument against the bill says the state should not restrict the choices of young people who volunteer for military service as young as age 18, the current minimum age to purchase tobacco products. But military officials say smoking is costly to the armed forces as well, because it contributes to troops being less combat ready and less physically fit. The House should vote Tobacco 21 off the floor Wednesday, the deadline for policy bills to pass out of their house of origin. This is a smart publichealth proposal that will save lives and health.
Mr. Whatley owned a drycleaners in the Five Points area for many years and was the leader in the formation and funding of the first Main High School Panthers Marching Band. A talented marching band, they played all the latest hits and put on an impressive show. The late Mr. Herman Scott was the band director. I’m told he taught James Brown! The story goes that James Brown was in prison at Battey, here in Rome, and during the incarceration Mr. Scott met him.
Years later he came to Rome in his limousine just to see Mr. Scott.
Mike Lester’s political cartoon appearing on your editorial page on Tuesday suggests that the women leading the “Me, Too” movement vicariously enjoy sexual harassment and exploitation.
Your cartoon belittles the women supporting this cause. In printing and distributing it, you do a shameful disservice to them and to our entire community. Janet White Morris
Rome
Ihave never heard a suggestion to repair/replace the broken arms of the Venus di
At these historic schools Rome’s African-American students learned algebra, history, science and English. They took band from the late Mr. Herman Scott and learned how to play a musical instrument. They took home economics from the late Mrs. Morrell Darko. The late Mr. Charlie Morrison taught them French and Spanish.
They took woodworking classes from late Mr. Bryson. They learned how to type and balance a check book. Upon graduation students were prepared for college.
Main High School closed its doors in 1970. Very fittingly on Oct. 24, 2002, the old Main High School, and the gymnasium, were put on the National Register of Historic Places.
The legacy continues with a new Main Elementary School, for which groundbreaking was held last week.
Although many graduates of Main High left Rome and started careers in other cities, they wouldn’t miss coming home to see all their friends at their annual reunions in May. Rome Colored School and Main High School were the African-American Community’s schools. Chaotic, demanding times.
Significant years. Their school. Their good times. Their great memories. Their cool music. Nobody can ever take that away.
Happy were the days. Milo. A damaged statue makes a bold statement in the Louvre; why not in Myrtle Hill. Instead of spending $200,000 to repair our iconic historical statue, why not leave it as evidence of what small, ignorant minds can do. Place beside it a plaque reading:
“On Dec. 22, 2017, cowardly vandals, under cover of darkness, slipped into the historic cemetery and tried to change history in a sacred place where more than 300 soldiers, both Federal and Confederate, are buried.”
These words are only a suggestion; more eloquent wording can be developed.
The money raised, in my opinion, can be put to better use in providing cameras, lights, and other security devices.
In addition, designate $10,000 as a reward for confidential information leading to the arrest of the misguided perpetrators of this crime. I imagine those responsible have bragged about their stupid behavior. Let us see how quickly their “friends” choose money over silence. Jeanne Cahill Rome