Paramedic skills can increase survival
As a firefighter-paramedic for Fire District 6, I know firsthand it has never been safer to survive a heart attack in Clark County. Please vote “yes” on Aug. 17 to maintain Fire District 6 paramedics.
With firefighters and engine companies in place, it is a great benefit to have a firefighter-paramedic on board. Paramedic skills are best served immediately, without delay. Paramedics have a phrase, “time is tissue,” when it comes to cardiac care. This means the longer one waits to treat a heart attack, the more tissue damage will occur to the heart. Paramedic training and modern technology allow heart attack treatment to begin in the home, not waiting for the emergency room. This practice has improved heart attack outcomes right here in Clark County and throughout the United States.
Clark County paramedics are able to take an EKG reading of a patient’s heart, begin their treatment and send the EKG reading by phone line to the ER physician while the patient is on the way to the ER. Doctors may make additional treatment decisions before the patient arrives. This system is the best chance to fully survive a heart attack.
Please vote “yes” for EMS and Fire District 6 paramedics.
Mike Swanson
Ridgefield
What did a false plea accomplish?
It was with considerable dismay that I read of the resolution of the nude biking case in which the perpetrator was coerced into confessing to an offense of which both he and the Vancouver city attorney agreed he was not guilty. (June 30 Columbian story “Nude bicyclist agrees to pay $50 ticket to end criminal case.”)
The perpetrator had ridden about in Vancouver on a bicycle in the nude. Those facts were never disputed. The perpetrator was arrested and charged with indecent exposure (an offense punishable by a $1,000 fine and 90 days in jail). A trial jury was unable to reach a unanimous decision. The jury found, 5-1, that the perpetrator was not guilty of the alleged offense. Without a unanimous decision, the city had the option of either dropping the case or retrying it. Unwilling to admit defeat, the city attorney would continue to pursue a charge of indecent exposure. Under the threat of a greater charge, the perpetrator confessed to having ridden a bicycle without wearing a helmet. Both he and the city attorney knew that was a lie.
What did this nonsense cost the citizens of Vancouver for the services of the city attorney and the public defender who acted on behalf of the alleged perpetrator? What, after all, was accomplished?
Boyd W. Kelly
Vancouver
Baird fails at finding solutions
In the June 27 Columbian story “Washington State Democratic Convention: Democrats want to claim middle class,” U.S. Rep. Brian Baird was quoted, “Every day, people are waking up and asking, ‘How can I pay my mortgage?’” Really? All the way in Washington, D.C. As Democrats, we should never forget that.
Well, not only did Baird and company forget … they sold out the middle class to build their utopian government. Yes, truly building up government on the backs of the people.
No wonder the G20 are scared over the Democrats’ lack of fiscal responsibility over the U.S. debt. Just pass it off on the backs of the “middle class.” Nice work, Congressman.
Randall King
Felida
Slow down, be safe and enjoy life
Honestly, the number of old curmudgeons who constantly complain about bicyclists and their “road habits” is truly amazing. It takes such a short amount of time to allow these nonmotorized vehicles to cross or get out of a car’s way. Life is far too short to be constantly complaining about such things. Just hold up and let them go past. You can’t be in that much of a hurry that five seconds will keep you from a serious engagement.
Bikers pay taxes, the same taxes you do. They pay for roads, the same as you do. It would be terrific if we had a separate “roadway” system for bicyclists and even a third system for trucks. It’s not going to happen. So get smart, slow down, enjoy life, let the bikes pass and feel good about at least one thing you’ve done right today.
I am not a bicycler, and I don’t know any now. But there was a time in my daughter’s life when she commuted by bike up to OHSU for both school and work. I worried a lot about her safety, mostly because of shorttempered motorists like those who still today think that because they have a car, they own the road.
Vivian E. van Dijk
Brush Prairie
Have we learned anything?
We’re all suffering through, and with, the largest man-caused disaster in America’s history. Tragically, this is far more devastating than BP or our government have been openly willing to tell us. There has been so much minimization, misinformation and outright deception. Is this confusion by design?
The economy and the ecology of the Gulf are in ruins for two reasons:
- We refuse to alter our dependency on, and gluttonous abuse of, fossil fuels.
- We (our society) put a greater value on huge profits and income than we do on the wisest and safest uses of our God-given natural resources.
How many decades of tar balls washing up on what were pristine beaches are we facing? How many miles of priceless ecosystems must we destroy? How many generations of fishing families will no longer know that way of life? How many life forms and their habitat have been decimated by this completely irresponsible exhibition of Big Oil’s inexcusable greed and recklessness?
The proven risk of irreversible damage potential from deep-water drilling is evident, and many find it unacceptable. Some consider it criminally reckless. How blind is it that the courts have, so quickly, seen fit to overturn the president’s moratorium on deep-water drilling? Do profits and income mean more than common sense?
Rod Steckler
Vancouver
Columnist objects, again
Thomas Sowell, in his June 29 guest opinion, “Where will political generals lead us?” objects that the Obama administration is doing nothing to stop Iran from going nuclear. “This may be the most grossly irresponsible policy in all of history,” laments the overwrought columnist. That might be the cheesiest, most overripe declaration ever to be authored by a syndicated writer. Look it up in the archives.
