Letters to the Editor
Fight to End Alzheimer’s
One in three seniors dies with Alzheimer’s disease. The only leading cause of death in the U.S. that cannot be prevented, cured or even slowed, it is imperative that we have elected officials who are working to make Alzheimer’s a national priority.
As an Alzheimer’s Association Ambassador, I was fortunate to meet with meet with Congressman Dave Joyce (R-14th) to discuss the staggering impact of Alzheimer’s on Ohio other states across the nation.
In a recent meeting at his district office, I shared our own personal experience with this devastating disease. We implored Congressman Joyce to be a champion in Congress for the 220,000 Ohioans living with Alzheimer’s.
Thank you Congressman Joyce for being one of the 103 House members who already are co-sponsors of the BOLD Infrastructure for Alzheimer’s Act, introduced in Congress in November 2017. If passed by both houses and signed by the President, the legislation broadly recognizes the public health implications of Alzheimer’s.
Alzheimer’s disease meets the three-point criteria for identifying a public health issue: the burden is great; the impact is major; and there are ways to intervene.
Please join me in thanking Congressman Joyce for his support in the fight to end Alzheimer’s.
Steve Osgood
Bentleyville
Reducing Gun Violence
We are three high school students from Hershey Montessori School, located in Northeast Ohio. We are concerned about the well being of our schools and communities, and we are hoping to make an impact.
During our final trimester of school, we have been working on how to form governmental policy regarding gun violence and gun control in the United States. As a group, we are advocating a policy which will help reduce the amount of gun violence in America.
Here is a brief outline of our policy priorities:
- We believe that guns in America are too easily accessible. We think that the legal restrictions on car ownership are a good model to follow.
We believe there should be more stringent requirements for legal gun ownership, including mandatory safety training classes and tests, a required license renewal every four years, and a safety refresher course every eight years.
Registration and mandatory insurance, already in effect for car ownership, should be required for gun ownership as well.
- Background checks should be mandatory in all circumstances. There should be no time limit on investigations to look for information that may prevent someone from purchasing a gun. Background checks should be intensive and thorough.
In researching gun violence, we were greatly impressed by the thoroughness of process those in Japan and Australia must go through in order to purchase a gun. It’s clear to us that these greater restrictions lead to a significant decrease in gun related crimes in those countries.
We hope that by sending our policy suggestions to an editor and having our letter published, people will read it and take action of their own, and be inspired to help make a change to our current regulations and policies.
Sylvia Altman
Erin Finan
Abriella Minotti
Huntsburg Township
