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Gambling Woes

Getting Worse

Dear Editor:

The face of gambling has changed significantly in recent years. We have seen much more rapid progression of gambling problems and more negative consequences.

Crimes committed to finance gambling are becoming almost commonplace. More women, teens and seniors are developing gambling problems.

One thing, unfortunately, that has not seemed to change significantly is the general public's lack of knowledge of the warning signs of gambling problems and how to minimize their risk.

We strongly urge that parents keep a close watch on their teens' gambling and talk to them about gambling. What should a parent look for in a teen who might be developing a gambling problem? Here are some signs:

• Money and possessions appear and disappear.

• No other interests. • Withdrawal from family and friends who don't gamble.

• Spending too much time playing poker (or other gambling).

• Talk of becoming a professional gambler ("Why go to college if I can make a lot of money playing poker?")

We recommend against giving your children lottery tickets. Studies have shown that young children don't understand the odds and how unlikely they are to win. A big win at a young age could set up a child up to develop a gambling problem.

If you choose to gamble, model "responsible gambling" to your children:

• When you're gambling, set a time and money limit and walk away when you reach either.

• Don't borrow money or use money set aside for other things.

• Winning is fun, but don't count on it.

Gambling problems are easy to hide. If you're worried about someone else's gambling, you probably have good reason to be.

Renee C. Wert

Director Gambling

Recovery Program

Healthy School

Food Promoted

To the editor:

Kids are already well on their way to joining the 66 percent of U.S. adults who are overweight or obese.

One child out of three born in 2000 will develop Type 2 diabetes sometime in his or her life.

Stop and think about what this means. Blindness. Kidney dialysis. Amputations. Heart disease. Lifetimes of lost potential.

Half of children between the ages of 2 and 15 already have fatty streaks in their arteries, literally the beginning stages of heart disease. Cancer rates will climb as well, and 35 percent of cancer deaths are dietrelated.

Contrary to food industry public relations, there are good and bad foods. Whole, unprocessed, nutrient-dense plant foods contribute to good health.

Schools should be setting a good example by focusing on these foods. Children go to school to learn. When schools offer foods that are inconsistent with what is being taught about nutrition, what message are we giving them?

Children will not starve in a healthy school food environment. They eat junk food because adults make it available.

Schools are undermining the efforts of parents who feed their children healthfully at home. And for kids whose parents are not setting a good example at home, it's even more important that schools offer only healthy choices.

Making every choice a healthy choice will result in better health, attendance, grades and behavior.

Amie Hamlin

Executive Director

Coalition for Healthy

School Food

Exposing Wind

Power Myths

To the editor:

The U.S. Department of Energy projects that wind's share of electricity production will be less than one percent in 2030.

Modest conservation would avoid the adverse impacts of wind energy development.

Industrial-scale wind turbines are now typically well over 400 feet tall to the tip of their blades. They weigh anywhere from 150 to 350 tons.

Each turbine requires acres of clearance and is secured in a buried platform of tons of steel-reinforced concrete.

Wind energy companies are targeting vulnerable rural communities and landscapes for their construction. In May, the U.S. Congress was told about the increasing threat to birds and bats from unregulated wind energy development in migratory pathways and the degradation and fragmentation of habitat.

Reports of health problems caused by noise from the machines are increasing. A team in Portugal that's investigating heart, lung, and nerve damage from industrial low-frequency noise has found that the conditions for causing "vibroacoustic disease" exist inside houses near large wind turbines.

News reports in Canada tell of families forced to leave their homes because of headaches, dizziness, irritability, and sheer lack of sleep.

In Maine, neighbors of the Mars Hill facility were shocked by the noise as soon as the first turbine was turned on. Most of these people were initially supportive of the projects and believed the developers' assurances that they would not experience any problems.

This is not green energy, but a destructive boondoggle. It is even more intolerable that we as taxpayers are paying for it - in so many ways.

A little conservation can replace the perceived need to build giant wind turbines that do so much more harm than good.

Eric Rosenbloom

East Hardwick, Vt.

Stop 'Doe'

Hunting On

State Land

To the editor:

On Sept. 7, Unified Sportsmen of Pennsylvania (USP) petitioned Commonwealth Court to halt antlerless deer hunting on state game lands and state forest lands. We demand that the Pa. Game Commission scientifically document and substantiate the need to further reduce our valued deer herd on public lands.

For the past six years, the Game Commission and DCNR have conducted an accelerated deer reduction program, in direct contradiction to their "careful, expert and scientific" mandate.

Pennsylvania's deer population is grossly overestimated by the Game Commission. Its leaders readily acknowledge they do not know how many deer exist in Pennsylvania, and have resorted to subjective and ambiguous evaluations, such as the existence of desired plant species, to determine deer densities.

Such unconventional and careless decision-making has resulted in a dramatic and quite possibly an unsustainable decline of our public land deer herd.

Deer hunting in Pennsylvania is a $4 billion per year industry touching the lives of millions of citizens. USP believes the present deer management policies threaten the future of deer hunting.

There is a major discrepancy between the number of deer on private land vs. public land. We continue to reduce an already depleted herd on public land while private land is the source of our over-population problems.

The buck to doe ratio is not nearly as out of balance as the Game Commission claims.

Antler restrictions have been found to be detrimental to the deer herd in other states, and there is no reason to believe they will be successful here.

USP has challenged the Game Commission to improve the habitat on state game lands to sustain huntable game populations, instead of managing primarily for timber.

If USP sounds like an organization that represents your interests and beliefs, we would appreciate your support. Please call 717-651-6669.

Gregory D. Levengood

Chairman, USP