As an RN who worked at Brookside Health and Rehabilitation Center several years ago, I am sorry to hear of its closing. Thanks to Tom Ralston, a resident at Brookside, who stated in a Oct. 24 article that he appreciated the “caring staff.” I loved to go to work there because the administration allowed me the freedom to take the time I needed to interact with each resident as an individual. I had come from a facility in New Jersey where I had been told to “stop schmoozing with the residents.” Giving meds and treatments is inhumane if you have to become a robot while doing it. I loved the staff I worked with at Brookside, particularly the LNAs, who are absolutely vital (and often under-appreciated) in any facility, as well as each and every resident I had the privilege of serving.
Suzy Malerich
Bridgewater
There are fundamental reasons countries like Niger are breeding grounds for violent radical groups. When I was a Peace Corps volunteer in Niger in the early 1970s during a drought and famine, l found the culture to be as different as can be imagined from life in Vermont. After diving into everyday life, learning the local language, dressing in local garb and traveling alone on horseback long distances through the “bush” to live and work with remote villagers, I found that even though the people were unimaginably poor and largely illiterate, they were as kind and as intelligent as folks back home.
However, the majority of the 4.5 million people in Niger had little hope that their situation would improve. Much of the country is Sahara Desert with precious little land that can be used for farming and grazing. It was hard to see how 4.5 million people could sustain themselves.
Today there are over 21 million people in Niger and the population continues to skyrocket. How so many people can survive in such a harsh environment is beyond belief.
Such conditions breed desperation. Young men with no hope of a job, land or a future are easy prey for violent radicals who offer them guns and the opportunity to lash out at a world that has nothing for them. Kindness and intelligence vanish.
Trying to staunch this angry tide with military force is like trying to hold back a rising, angry sea with pails and shovels. Economic and agricultural development can help provide increased opportunities, but only if population growth rates are low. Education and family planning are the best long-term hope the world has to help desperate peoples better their lives and resist the destructive lure of violent radicals.
Gerry Hawkes
Woodstock
Regarding the Oct. 28 editorial, “Less Media Diversity,” it is surprising that the Valley News should worry about media diversity in an era where we have access to more news sources than ever before. Local news reporting won’t disappear any more than it has since the Canaan Reporter and Mascoma Week stopped publishing. The Valley News is itself proof of that.
Just as the Luddites couldn’t stop progress in textiles by destroying mechanical looms, neither can the government save local broadcast reporting by imposing rules and regulations that make no sense with today’s technology. FCC Chairman Ajit Pai recognizes that and is simply getting government out of the way. Local broadcast reporting will have to succeed or fail on its merits just as the Valley New does rather than relying on the government to prop it up.
Andrew Terhune
Canaan
The New Hampshire House will be dealing in 2018 with some very important issues that will affect each and every one of us. On the agenda for the upcoming session are topics such as school vouchers that would give public tax money to private and religious schools; Medicaid funding for addiction recovery, children and nursing homes; a woman’s access to health care and contraceptives; and adequate public school funding and building aid.
Voters in the special election for a representative for Plainfield, Cornish, Grantham and Springfield will determine who will represent them on these important issues. Their vote will be a message on where they stand to those on the local and national level who are attempting to rescind environmental protections, privatize public education, restrict a woman’s right to personal health care and contraception, dismantle anti-discrimination laws, and restrict voting rights.
Brian Sullivan stands for protecting our environment and addressing climate change now. He stands for strengthening and adequately funding our public schools. I know he thinks every citizen is important and deserves respect and inclusion. He trusts women to make their own health decisions and values protection of our voting rights. And, I know Sullivan will listen to his constituents and make informed decisions using common sense and an open mind. Please vote for Brian Sullivan on Nov. 7.
Linda Tanner
Georges MillsThe writer is a Democratic state representative.
Time-Wasting Conspiracies
Released, unreleased. Redacted, not redacted. A lifetime of conspiracy theories over the assassination of President John F. Kennedy has failed to accomplish anything, and has wasted time that would have been better spent fighting the poverty and feelings of hopelessness of our fellow human beings.
Barry Wenig
Lebanon