Letters, 10/5: Hire regular drivers for kids
I have been involved in a local Foster Care Review Board for 12 years, and ever since the Department of Health and Human Services started contracting for transportation of foster children, I hear about the problems from foster parents, teachers and other staff at schools that send or receive children to parental visitations. Indeed, I testified to the auditors a few months back, and at the hearing referenced in the Journal Star editorial Sept. 25.
In addition to the problems with drivers and their performance, there is a problem with a lack of a uniform statewide identification system for drivers. Every company has its own IDs, but the people who are relinquishing kids to them don’t have any assurance that they are who they say they are.
The upshot of this problem is that every time a driver comes to pick up a child, they are at risk for being kidnapped because the drivers are not in possession of state-issued IDs. Furthermore, the children are frequently with a different driver every time, and because they were ripped from their parents and placed in a stranger’s home, different school, day care or whatever, their trust of adults is further deteriorated by all of the strangers transporting them. This deteriorating trust is a major cause of what is known as reactive attachment disorder.
The foster care system would be much better off if the state hired transportation aides to take the children from place to place, and the children then could become familiar and have much less anxiety about their transportation.
Goodness knows they have enough anxiety as a result of their separation from parents (sometimes children are very strongly bonded to some very bad parents) and their separation from a familiar environment. It also seems to me that paying a contractor plus the cost of effectively monitoring the contractors’ performance would always be a higher financial cost to the state than having transportation aides that would work for a case worker. Plus the oversight is built in.
John W. Seyfarth, Papillion
Save Spring Creek Prairie
I want to add my voice to those asking the county commissioners to close a minimum maintenance dirt road at Spring Creek Prairie.
Spring Creek Prairie Audubon Center, and the tallgrass prairie ecosystem it contains, are treasures and need protection. Located a little southwest of Denton, this beautiful place offers habitat for native birds, animals and vegetation as well as educational and recreational opportunities for the whole family.
The road in question must be closed to protect the land and the quiet beauty of the prairie from vandalism and criminal activity, which recently have become a serious problem. Closing the road would not cut off direct access to the property but would create a larger tract of important native prairie habitat.
Thanks to the Lincoln Journal Star for endorsing this action. I hope others will be equally supportive. With only 2 percent of tallgrass prairie remaining in Nebraska, it is up to all of us to protect what is left.
I am a Nebraska native now living in Kentucky, but I visit Nebraska often, and Spring Creek — at any time of year — is a favorite destination. My family and I are among folks from 47 states and 25 countries who have been uplifted by a visit to Spring Creek Prairie.
Visitors in years to come will praise the commissioners for their leadership and foresight in closing the road and making Spring Creek Prairie more secure and more intact.
Katharine Cohen, Murray, Ky.
Keep stem cell facts straight
The Nebraska Coalition for Ethical Research is prohibited by law from endorsing candidates. But it is not required to remain silent when someone skews the facts.
In a recent television interview, District 1 NU Board of Regents candidate Earl Scudder said embryonic stem cells were the only type of stem cells shown to be capable of treating Alzheimer’s disease. Scudder also has an ad asserting that embryonic stem cell research “could lead to a cure for” Alzheimer’s.
It brings to mind a June 10, 2004, Washington Post story, “Stem Cells an Unlikely Therapy for Alzheimer’s.” The story quoted researchers saying that embryonic stem cells probably would never be effective in treating Alzheimer’s. Then came this defense of exploiting Nancy Reagan and whipping people into a fever about embryonic stem cells someday curing Alzheimer’s:
“To start with, people need a fairy tale,” said Ronald D.G. McKay, a stem cell researcher at the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke. “Maybe that’s unfair, but they need a story line that’s relatively simple to understand.”
Here’s something relatively simple to understand: There have been no successful treatments of any conditions in humans with embryonic stem cells. All successful treatments in humans have been with non-embryonic stem cells, known as adult stem cells, which are harvested without harm to the donor. Harvesting stem cells from embryos destroys the embryos.
Breakthroughs in the news have nothing to do with embryonic stem cells. There aren’t even human trials involving embryonic stem cells because in two decades of trials with lab animals, embryonic stem cells have caused tumors and other abnormalities.
Embryonic stem cells have come nowhere near treating any condition, including Alzheimer’s, nor is there any prospect of success. Even James Thomson, the leading pioneer of embryonic stem cell research, has shifted his work away from embryo-destructive research.
Chip Maxwell, executive director, Nebraska Coalition for Ethical Research
Idea for executive pay
I have thought of a great way to save American jobs. Make all executive pay and board compensation a multiple of the average employee’s compensation. If the company is wholly American-based, the executive pay could be, say, 20 times the average wage compensation of its work force (but excepting the executive’s compensation).
If the company is internationally based, the multiple of 20 would be based on the worldwide company work force compensation (but excepting the executive’s). I would love to see the greedy company executives paid $20 a day.
Allen E. McClurg, Lincoln
New Manifest Destiny
Like Doris Davidson (letter, Sept. 29), I check a product’s country of origin before buying it. I lament when I realize I’ve purchased a product made in China. My thoughts turn to the nervous worker, under the watchful eye of the communist overseer, who is there to ensure that as much money goes to Beijing as possible, and not in the interest of safety, welfare or happiness of the employee.
Unlike Doris, I feel North American free trade is of great importance. Mexicans are hard-working people who deliver a quality product. Besides, it’s the least we can do. Mexicans are terrorized by drug gangs that are only feeding American addicts, drug gangs that stay in power because of the American prohibition of marijuana, which they use as a horse to peddle their cart of cocaine, meth and heroin.
American attitudes need to change if we are going to welcome our Christian neighbors as friends, instead of with fences, epitaphs and dirty jeers. Dissolve the borders — this is our new manifest destiny.
Wesley J. Halvorsen, Lincoln
Archbishop pro-all life
The Sept. 27 community column attempts to represent Archbishop Oscar Romero of El Salvador as valuing, first and foremost, a so-called concern for the unborn. Current partisan politics may be well served by this argument, but it fails to reflect the truth of the archbishop’s life and purpose. I write this as someone privileged to work for more than a decade with social services and human rights colleagues of Archbishop Romero.
Archbishop Romero’s clear priorities were for the poor already on this earth: for those living in fear of torture, of losing their land and their jobs. He worked for those without health care, clean water and education. He was “pro” the fullness of life that the eradication of poverty brings. He was not merely pro-birth, like so many politicians these days.
His own words say it best.
“We must not seek the child Jesus in the pretty figures of our Christmas cribs. We must seek him among the undernourished children who have gone to bed at night with nothing to eat, among the poor newsboys who will sleep covered with newspapers in doorways.”
— Archbishop Romero,
Dec. 24, 1979.
Suzanne Prenger, Lincoln, a founding director of Christians for Peace in El Salvador
Kleeb will get job done
Nebraska’s economy is in jeopardy and has been since long before the current crisis on Wall Street. We need strong leadership and a new perspective in order to have any chance of surviving the coming financial storms.
Scott Kleeb has the background to understand and address these issues, as well as to deal knowledgeably and with determination in foreign affairs. With advanced degrees in history and international relations, he has studied the sociopolitical texture of our world at a depth seldom seen in any political candidates.
Unlike his opponent, Mike Johanns, Scott Kleeb will get the job done. A vote for Kleeb is a vote for change that will directly benefit the working families of America.
Thomas J. Keller, Lincoln
In addition to the problems with drivers and their performance, there is a problem with a lack of a uniform statewide identification system for drivers. Every company has its own IDs, but the people who are relinquishing kids to them don’t have any assurance that they are who they say they are.
The upshot of this problem is that every time a driver comes to pick up a child, they are at risk for being kidnapped because the drivers are not in possession of state-issued IDs. Furthermore, the children are frequently with a different driver every time, and because they were ripped from their parents and placed in a stranger’s home, different school, day care or whatever, their trust of adults is further deteriorated by all of the strangers transporting them. This deteriorating trust is a major cause of what is known as reactive attachment disorder.
The foster care system would be much better off if the state hired transportation aides to take the children from place to place, and the children then could become familiar and have much less anxiety about their transportation.
Goodness knows they have enough anxiety as a result of their separation from parents (sometimes children are very strongly bonded to some very bad parents) and their separation from a familiar environment. It also seems to me that paying a contractor plus the cost of effectively monitoring the contractors’ performance would always be a higher financial cost to the state than having transportation aides that would work for a case worker. Plus the oversight is built in.
John W. Seyfarth, Papillion
Save Spring Creek Prairie
I want to add my voice to those asking the county commissioners to close a minimum maintenance dirt road at Spring Creek Prairie.
Spring Creek Prairie Audubon Center, and the tallgrass prairie ecosystem it contains, are treasures and need protection. Located a little southwest of Denton, this beautiful place offers habitat for native birds, animals and vegetation as well as educational and recreational opportunities for the whole family.
The road in question must be closed to protect the land and the quiet beauty of the prairie from vandalism and criminal activity, which recently have become a serious problem. Closing the road would not cut off direct access to the property but would create a larger tract of important native prairie habitat.
Thanks to the Lincoln Journal Star for endorsing this action. I hope others will be equally supportive. With only 2 percent of tallgrass prairie remaining in Nebraska, it is up to all of us to protect what is left.
I am a Nebraska native now living in Kentucky, but I visit Nebraska often, and Spring Creek — at any time of year — is a favorite destination. My family and I are among folks from 47 states and 25 countries who have been uplifted by a visit to Spring Creek Prairie.
Visitors in years to come will praise the commissioners for their leadership and foresight in closing the road and making Spring Creek Prairie more secure and more intact.
Katharine Cohen, Murray, Ky.
Keep stem cell facts straight
The Nebraska Coalition for Ethical Research is prohibited by law from endorsing candidates. But it is not required to remain silent when someone skews the facts.
In a recent television interview, District 1 NU Board of Regents candidate Earl Scudder said embryonic stem cells were the only type of stem cells shown to be capable of treating Alzheimer’s disease. Scudder also has an ad asserting that embryonic stem cell research “could lead to a cure for” Alzheimer’s.
It brings to mind a June 10, 2004, Washington Post story, “Stem Cells an Unlikely Therapy for Alzheimer’s.” The story quoted researchers saying that embryonic stem cells probably would never be effective in treating Alzheimer’s. Then came this defense of exploiting Nancy Reagan and whipping people into a fever about embryonic stem cells someday curing Alzheimer’s:
“To start with, people need a fairy tale,” said Ronald D.G. McKay, a stem cell researcher at the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke. “Maybe that’s unfair, but they need a story line that’s relatively simple to understand.”
Here’s something relatively simple to understand: There have been no successful treatments of any conditions in humans with embryonic stem cells. All successful treatments in humans have been with non-embryonic stem cells, known as adult stem cells, which are harvested without harm to the donor. Harvesting stem cells from embryos destroys the embryos.
Breakthroughs in the news have nothing to do with embryonic stem cells. There aren’t even human trials involving embryonic stem cells because in two decades of trials with lab animals, embryonic stem cells have caused tumors and other abnormalities.
Embryonic stem cells have come nowhere near treating any condition, including Alzheimer’s, nor is there any prospect of success. Even James Thomson, the leading pioneer of embryonic stem cell research, has shifted his work away from embryo-destructive research.
Chip Maxwell, executive director, Nebraska Coalition for Ethical Research
Idea for executive pay
I have thought of a great way to save American jobs. Make all executive pay and board compensation a multiple of the average employee’s compensation. If the company is wholly American-based, the executive pay could be, say, 20 times the average wage compensation of its work force (but excepting the executive’s compensation).
If the company is internationally based, the multiple of 20 would be based on the worldwide company work force compensation (but excepting the executive’s). I would love to see the greedy company executives paid $20 a day.
Allen E. McClurg, Lincoln
New Manifest Destiny
Like Doris Davidson (letter, Sept. 29), I check a product’s country of origin before buying it. I lament when I realize I’ve purchased a product made in China. My thoughts turn to the nervous worker, under the watchful eye of the communist overseer, who is there to ensure that as much money goes to Beijing as possible, and not in the interest of safety, welfare or happiness of the employee.
Unlike Doris, I feel North American free trade is of great importance. Mexicans are hard-working people who deliver a quality product. Besides, it’s the least we can do. Mexicans are terrorized by drug gangs that are only feeding American addicts, drug gangs that stay in power because of the American prohibition of marijuana, which they use as a horse to peddle their cart of cocaine, meth and heroin.
American attitudes need to change if we are going to welcome our Christian neighbors as friends, instead of with fences, epitaphs and dirty jeers. Dissolve the borders — this is our new manifest destiny.
Wesley J. Halvorsen, Lincoln
Archbishop pro-all life
The Sept. 27 community column attempts to represent Archbishop Oscar Romero of El Salvador as valuing, first and foremost, a so-called concern for the unborn. Current partisan politics may be well served by this argument, but it fails to reflect the truth of the archbishop’s life and purpose. I write this as someone privileged to work for more than a decade with social services and human rights colleagues of Archbishop Romero.
Archbishop Romero’s clear priorities were for the poor already on this earth: for those living in fear of torture, of losing their land and their jobs. He worked for those without health care, clean water and education. He was “pro” the fullness of life that the eradication of poverty brings. He was not merely pro-birth, like so many politicians these days.
His own words say it best.
“We must not seek the child Jesus in the pretty figures of our Christmas cribs. We must seek him among the undernourished children who have gone to bed at night with nothing to eat, among the poor newsboys who will sleep covered with newspapers in doorways.”
— Archbishop Romero,
Dec. 24, 1979.
Suzanne Prenger, Lincoln, a founding director of Christians for Peace in El Salvador
Kleeb will get job done
Nebraska’s economy is in jeopardy and has been since long before the current crisis on Wall Street. We need strong leadership and a new perspective in order to have any chance of surviving the coming financial storms.
Scott Kleeb has the background to understand and address these issues, as well as to deal knowledgeably and with determination in foreign affairs. With advanced degrees in history and international relations, he has studied the sociopolitical texture of our world at a depth seldom seen in any political candidates.
Unlike his opponent, Mike Johanns, Scott Kleeb will get the job done. A vote for Kleeb is a vote for change that will directly benefit the working families of America.
Thomas J. Keller, Lincoln
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